Back in early December, Margo Garrett asked me to write something for her Collab Corner in the NATS Journal of Singing. An idea simmering on the back burner for a while was finding a correlation between the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 with the sudden emergence of the first significant lieder repertoire in the months following, most notably Schubert's Erkönig and Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte. How could they be related?
What followed was a month of research how the fallout from Tambora devastated economies in North America and Europe and a search for subtle changes in the musical output of European composers. Volcanic eruptions don't usually figure into the annals of music history, so the effects of the fallout were largely hidden from view in the literature. But Margo came to the rescue and sent me several useful books on Beethoven that helped me pinpoint exactly where he was in 1815-1816. Checking and fine-tuning references took a significant amount of time, and I have a lot of respect for anyone who sticks with it to compile an entire book or dissertation.
For those of you who are NATS members, my article appears on page 711 of the latest Journal of Singing that should be arriving in your mailbox in the coming days. Here's a PDF link: This Isn’t the First New Normal: Finding Correlations Between the Tambora Climate Disaster and the Development of Lieder in 1815–16.
Earlier in the week I came across some advice from Thelonius Monk. This quote is particularly apt for those getting ready for the re-emergence of performing life in the coming months:
Stay in shape! Sometimes a musician waits for a gig & when it comes he's out of shape and can't make it.
Some interesting articles from the last week:
- 6 Caution Signs Musicians Can't Afford to Ignore - How do you know when you're taking on the right musical opportunity? How do you know when you're crossed a line? Rhonda Rizzo talks about how to calibrate our personal guidance system. My favorite line: "we're not just entertainers, we're truth-tellers".
- Recharge Your Battery - Some ideas from Rika Sukenik on how to calm down and reconnect with your body during the course of an otherwise overstimulated day. Even 10 minutes will do it.
- My way or the cahier - Pete Denison's ode to the humble cahier, the perfect intersection of usefulness and elegance. You'll always find a few of these arrayed around my workspace (along with fountain pens).
- Why You Should Learn to Journal Like the Stoics - Put those cahiers to good use with careful reflection to help you keep the big picture in mind.
- 5 tip on how to improve productivity with flow - A short video from Mariana Vieira about how to get into a flow state. Hint: the level of challenge should be moderate but not excessive.
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This week's painting is Wendy's Whispers of Hope, which is sized at 40x30 inches. If you feel that this painting would look great in your own living space, you can order it here. Wendy will even drive it out to you if you live around the GTA. She also finished another one yesterday afternoon which I'll be featuring on the next newsletter.