The Archangels

Today is the feast of three of the seven archangels. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are the only angels specifically named in the Bible. Gabriel was the angel at the Annunciation and received Mary’s acceptance of God’s will to bear the Savior. Raphael appears in the book of Tobit and assists his son Tobias. He’s also thought to be the angel that appears in the Gospel of John to stir the pool where the first one lowered will be healed of his affliction.

Michael is the Prince of the Heavenly Host and is the leader of God’s army against Satan and all evil. This, I must admit, is my idea of an angel. The good angels have been in battle with the fallen angels since creation and personally, I’d rather be protected by an angel with armor and a sword, not a soft pink being with a cute halo and fuzzy wings. This statue of St Michael about to do away with Lucifer is the statue we have in the entry way of our apartment. We take him with us, figuratively, when we go and thank him when we come home safely.

There’s been evil in the world before Adam and Eve sinned in the garden and it just keeps getting worse. On this feast day – and every day – say this prayer to St Michael for protection and thank God that He provides such a powerful army to defend us. St Michael, pray for us. St Gabriel, pray for us. St Rafael, pray for us. Guardian angels, pray for us.

St Michael the archangel defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

 

St Vincent de Paul

Today is the feast of St Vincent de Paul, patron saint of charitable societies. This story of his life comes from the website franciscanmedia.org from their saint of the day section.

The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de Paul’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life.

The Countess de Gondi—whose servant he had helped—persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.

Later, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, “whose convent is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city.” He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war, and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries.

Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others.

Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.

May we all have the love in our hearts for our neighbors as St Vincent de Paul did. St Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

American Popular Song 4

Although he wasn’t always the first one to record a particular song, once he did it was his from then on. Frank Sinatra recorded “It Was a Very Good Year” for his 1965 album September of my years. The song was written by Ervin Drake in 1961 and recorded that year by the Kingston Trio for their album Goin’ Places. Their version inspired Sinatra to record the song, Sinatra’s recording using a very similar arrangement (Sinatra’s chart was written by Gordon Jenkins). As usual, Sinatra’s interpretation and vocal technique bring the nostalgia of the piece to life – a man looking back at the special women he knew throughout his life. He won a Grammy for best male vocal performance. And rightly so.

I love this lyric and it’s form. The last four lines of each verse are rhyming couplets that describe the memory of the singer beautifully. Here are the lyrics followed by Sinatra’s recording. 

It Was a Very Good Year

When I was seventeen

It was a very good year

It was a very good year for small town girls

And soft summer nights

We’d hide from the lights

On the village green

When I was seventeen

 

When I was twenty-one

It was a very good year

It was a very good year for city girls

Who lived up the stair

With all that perfumed hair

And it came undone

When I was twenty-one

 

When I was thirty-five

It was a very good year

It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls

Of independent means

We’d ride in limousines

Their chauffeurs would drive

When I was thirty-five

 

But now the days are short

I’m in the autumn of the year

And now I think of my life as vintage wine

From fine old kegs

From the brim to the dregs

It poured sweet and clear

It was a very good year

 

 

 

Alice Meynell Birthday

 

We first met Alice Meynell on December 30, 2020. (You can look at the right to see Blog Archives, click on December and scroll down to see this post.)

Since today – September 22 – is her birthday, I thought we’d enjoy another of her poems. This, appropriately, is called “In Autumn.”

In Autumn

The leaves are many under my feet,

And drift one way,

Their scent of death is weary and sweet.

A flight of them is in the grey

Where sky and forest meet.

 

The low winds moan for dead sweet years;

The birds sing all for pain,

Of a common thing, to weary ears, -

Only a summer’s fate of rain,

And a woman’s fate of tears.

 

I walk to love and life alone

Over these mournful places,

Across the summer overthrown,

The dead joys of these silent faces,

To claim my own.

 

I know his heart has beat to bright

Sweet loves gone by.

I know the leaves that die tonight

Once budded to the sky,

And I shall die from his delight.

 

O leaves, so quietly ending now,

You have heard cuckoos sing.

And I will grow upon my bough

If only for a Spring,

And fall when the rain is on my brow.

 

O tell me, tell me ere you die,

Is it worth the pain?

You bloomed so fair, you waved so high;

Now that the sad days wane,

Are you repenting where you lie?

 

I lie amongst you, and I kiss

Your fragrance mouldering.

O dead delights, is it such bliss,

That tuneful Spring?

Is love so sweet, that comes to this?

O dying blisses of the year,

I hear the young lambs bleat,

The clamouring birds i’ the copse I hear.

I hear the waving wheat,

Together laid on a dead-leaf bier.

 

Kiss me again as I kiss you;

Kiss me again;

For all your tuneful nights of dew,

In this your time of rain,

For all your kisses when Spring was new.

 

You will not, broken hearts; let be.

I pass across your death

To a golden summer you shall not see,

And in your dying breath

There is no benison for me.

 

There is an autumn yet to wane,

There are leaves yet to fall,

Which, when I kiss, may kiss again,

And, pitied, pity me all for all,

And love me in mist and rain.

 

Well Read Mom

We revisit today one of the helpful links found at the right of the screen. Well Read Mom is an international book club founded in Minnesota some ten years ago. Here’s what I said in that post from November 18, 2020:

A book club that knows that time for reading is precious and difficult to come by. The website describes the group thus: “Well-Read Mom accompanies women in the reading of great books and spiritual classics to encourage personal growth, friendship, and meaningful conversations in order to explore the human condition and reorient ourselves to what is good, beautiful, and true.”

I bring it up again now because we’re just about to start the current season and there’s still time for you to visit the website and see if you’d like to find a group near you. Not all the books will be to everyone’s liking, but it is interesting to read a book by an author you haven’t heard of. And I’m blessed to be part of a group of women who are smart and nice and a joy to be with.

I highly recommend Well Read Mom – and you don’t have to have children to join and appreciate what you can give and receive. Click on the link to the right to check it out.

William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams (17 September 1883 – 4 March 1963) wrote plays, novels, essays, short stories, and especially poetry. His primary occupation though was as a physician, both general medicine and pediatrics. Work all day, write all night.

 

His mother was a painter and paintings influenced Williams’s writing. Besides individual poems connected with paintings, Williams wrote a book called Pictures from Brueghel, written pictures of the artist’s paintings. Even poems not associated with specific pictures still brought a vivid image to mind. In fact, his early work was of the Imagist movement before he abandoned it for Modernism.

 

The Red Wheelbarrow

 

so much depends

upon

 

a red wheel

barrow

 

glazed with rain

water

 

beside the white

chickens.

 

 

Throughout his life he maintained close friendships with artists and writers such as Man Ray, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, Marcel Duchamp, and Charles Demuth. In a turnabout, Williams wrote the poem The Great Figure, inspiring Demuth to create a painting “I saw the figure 5 in gold.”

 

The Great Figure

 

Among the rain

and lights

I saw the figure 5

in gold

on a red

firetruck

moving

tense

unheeded

to gong clangs

siren howls

and wheels rumbling

through the dark city.

 

 

Galileo's Daughter

Galileo Galilei had three children, all illegitimate, although the youngest Vincenzio was legitimized when he was thirteen. The daughters, Virginia and Livia, were placed in a convent when they were thirteen and twelve. Although this sounds as though Galileo was a distant and uncaring parent, he loved his children dearly, especially Virginia. The convent was probably the best he could have done for them since they would not have been able to make good marriages. Virginia, who took the name Maria Celeste at her profession of vows, adored her father. Their letters throughout Suor [the word for Sister] Maria Celeste’s life told the story of their deep and abiding love for each other and it was these letters that provided so many details of their lives.

Galileo didn’t have it much better than his impoverished daughters. Through the money he earned from his teaching and tutoring and from stipends that he was awarded, he was able to help out the convent from time to time. However, he suffered greatly from many afflictions that would keep him bedridden for months at a time. He also suffered at the hands of the Inquisition, being accused of teaching and publishing heretical material. Deeply devoted to his Catholic faith, but at the mercy of the enemies who spread rumors and lies, Galileo adhered to the restrictions the Office of the Inquisition put on him. Although he had many friends in Italy and all over Europe who were devoted to him personally and professionally, he spent the last decade or so of his life imprisoned in his house, slowly going blind. As bad as his physical ailments were, it sorrowed his soul more that he was kept separated from his daughter. Eventually, Galileo was proven right in his scientific discoveries and acknowledged as the genius he was. 

Dava Sobel, author of Galileo’s Daughter, also wrote Longitude, another book I very much enjoyed. She has a real gift for making science understandable and for making the story gripping. 

Shakespeare's Sonnets: XIV

Back in the day – the Bard’s day, that is – a reference to Astronomy didn’t mean the true science it is now. After all, people still thought the Sun circled the unmoving Earth. Shakespeare says he has “Astronomy, But not to tell of good or evil luck.” People looked to the Sun, Moon, and planets they could see to try to predict the future. Even doctors would cast horoscopes to determine how to treat people. The poet doesn’t need to use “Astronomy” to tell the youth’s future, he can tell from his eyes.

Sonnet XIV

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;

And yet methinks I have Astronomy,

But not to tell of good or evil luck,

Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;

Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,

Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,

Or say with princes if it shall go well

By oft predict that I in heaven find:

But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,

And, constant stars, in them I read such art

As truth and beauty shall together thrive,

If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;

                Or else of thee this I prognosticate:

                Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.

 

Tolstoy's War and Peace

How many of you have read War and Peace? All the way through? The War parts and the Peace parts? It is a challenge (my copy 1455 pages) but one so worth it. Not bragging, just a fact, I’ve read it twice. I just loved this book.

Leo Tolstoy (9 September 1828 – 20 November 1910) was from a noble family, his ancestor Pyotr being given the title “Count” by Peter the Great. Losing his parents at a young age Tolstoy and his siblings were raised by relatives. He did not do well in his studies and left the university to live a “lax and leisurely lifestyle” (Wikipedia). He began writing and had his first book published in 1852. He and his brother joined the army and fought in the Crimean War. This and other experiences in his travels led him to pacifism. His correspondence with Gandhi influenced his philosophy of non-violence, and ultimately Martin Luther King’s. (Philip Glass’s marvelous opera Satyagraha brings the three of them together.)

War and Peace (1869) has inspired many translations, as well as movies, television series, and operas. The 1956 film version starred Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, and Mel Ferrer. Although it was heavily edited and many felt Fonda was too old to play Pierre, the film was nominated for several Oscars and Golden Globes. The 1972 – 1973 20-part series from the BBC was able to delve more into the book than a movie could hope to. In this version the great Anthony Hopkins plays Pierre. The series was remade in 2016. The opera by Sergei Prokofiev has gone through many transformations and has been recorded on several labels. While all of these versions show the enduring nature of Tolstoy’s story, none is so rich in detail as the book. The 1968 translation by Ann Dunnigan is considered one of the best because of her ability to catch Tolstoy’s phrasing and idioms. Whatever version you choose to read, I highly recommend giving it a go.

 

Antonin Dvorak

Whether you prefer symphonies, opera, concerti, chamber music, or vocal music, Antonin Dvorak (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) had something for everyone. Born in Bohemia, he was deeply influenced by the folk music and styles of Czech music and was one of the first Czech composers to be widely known outside of his own country. He won composition competitions and was touted by Brahms as one of the best new composers of the era. Brahms was influential in getting his own publisher to bring out Dvorak’s works.

Dvorak’s European career was illustrious over the course of his life and led to his being invited to be the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City from 1892 – 1895. It was here that he composed his most famous symphony, Symphony No 9 From the New World and his Cello Concerto in B minor. The summer of 1893 was spent in Spillville Iowa, a heavily Czech community, and he composed his String Quartet in F (American quartet).

Returning to Bohemia in 1895, Dvorak continued to compose and conduct. In 1900 he wrote his best known opera Rusalka. Based on a fairy tale that was similar to The Little Mermaid, Rusalka became successful in Czech areas and all over Europe. Rusalka, a water nymph, sings a “Song to the Moon,” hoping that the human prince she loves will hear and love her too. He does, but the story has no happily-ever-after ending. Here is the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko singing in silk and honey tones this lovely song. Enjoy!

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day everyone. I hope you have had a good and restful long weekend from your labors. Let’s celebrate with Walt Whitman.

I Hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Eugene Field

Maybe some of you will remember the poem that we look at today: “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.” Written in 1889 by Eugene Field (2 September 1850 – 4 November 1895) it was one of many poems written for children during his short 45-year life.

Born in St Louis, Missouri, Eugene Field lost his mother when he was six and his father when he was nineteen. (His father was the attorney who represented Dred Scott, the slave who sued for his freedom.) Field attended several colleges without completing a degree. He tried his hand at several occupations but none took until in 1875 he became a journalist and worked for newspapers in Missouri, Kansas and Denver. In 1883 he moved to Chicago and wrote for the Chicago Daily News, publishing a light-hearted column Sharps and Flats.

In 1879 he started publishing poetry, much of it for children, and also wrote short stories. Some of his books were illustrated by Maxfield Parrish and some of his poems were set to music. Lucy Simon adapted the poem and wrote the music for “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” that she and her sister Carly recorded. Other folk singers such as the Brothers Four and the Mamas and the Papas also recorded it. 

Here is the poem and then the charming song sung by the Simon Sisters.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

 

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
   Sailed off in a wooden shoe,—
Sailed on a river of crystal light
   Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
   The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring-fish
   That live in this beautiful sea;
   Nets of silver and gold have we,"
            Said Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
   As they rocked in the wooden shoe;
And the wind that sped them all night long
   Ruffled the waves of dew;
The little stars were the herring-fish
   That lived in the beautiful sea.
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish,—
   Never afraid are we!"
   So cried the stars to the fishermen three,
            Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
   To the stars in the twinkling foam,—
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
   Bringing the fishermen home:
'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed
   As if it could not be;
And some folk thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
   Of sailing that beautiful sea;
   But I shall name you the fishermen three:
            Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
   And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
   Is a wee one's trundle-bed;
So shut your eyes while Mother sings
   Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
   As you rock in the misty sea
   Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:—
            Wynken,
            Blynken,
            And Nod.

   

Engelbert Humperdinck - the original

Today is the birthday of Engelbert Humperdinck. No, not that Engelbert Humperdinck. He just ripped off the name.

The original Humperdinck was a German composer and teacher who lived from 1854 to 1921. He taught all over Europe and composed many works for the stage. Most of these were singspiele, a type of German play with dialogue and songs. It’s considered a genre of opera now. When he worked with Richard Wagner in 1880-81 assisting him in the production of Parsifal, he also tutored Wagner’s son Siegfried. In 1900 he moved to Berlin where he taught composition. One of his students there was Kurt Weill who turned out to be renowned himself.

Humperdinck’s most famous opera was Hansel und Gretel, completed in 1893 and premiered in December of that year by the composer/conductor Richard Strauss. It was an instant success and has been performed regularly ever since. When the Metropolitan Opera began its Saturday matinee broadcasts on the radio in 1931, Hansel und Gretel was the first opera broadcast. Because it premiered near Christmas and is an opera that children can easily understand, it is performed mostly at Christmas-time.

With the exception of the Father who is a baritone, the other characters are all women’s voices. Young boys are often portrayed by mezzo-sopranos because a boy’s voice hasn’t changed yet. In this clip of the "Evening Prayer" from Act 2, Kathleen Battle (soprano) sings Gretel and Frederica von Stade (mezzo-soprano) sings Hansel. It’s sung in the original German, although it is often performed in English. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/V6Fr3I4fUAo