You wouldn’t ordinarily laugh during a classical concert, but a lot of people couldn’t help themselves last Saturday night at the “Think Outside the Bach” concert. It came during Michal Nowicki‘s reading of PDQ Bach’s biography (in his beautifully accented English), who is described by PDQ’s creator, Peter Schickele as “the son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena Bach; the youngest and oddest of Johann Sebastian’s 20-odd children.” He died May 5, 1807, though his birth and death years are often listed on album literature in reverse, as “(1807–1742)?”
Even I had to smile during the choir’s rendition of “My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth,” a parody of “My Bonnie Lass She Smileth” by Thomas Morley (1595). Here are the lyrics:
My bonnie lass she smelleth,
Making the flowers Jealouth.
Fa la la (etc.)
My bonnie lass dismayeth
Me; all that she doth say ith:
Fa la la (etc.)
My bonnie lass she looketh like a jewel
And soundeth like a mule.
My bonnie lass she walketh like a doe
And talketh like a crow.
Fa la la (etc.)
My bonnie lass liketh to dance a lot;
She’s Guinevere and I’m Sir Lancelot.1
Fa la la (etc.)
My bonnie lass I need not flatter;
What she doth not have doth not matter.
Oo la la (etc.)
My bonnie lass would be nice,
Yea, even at twice the price.
Fa la la (etc.)
What made the performance even more humorous was the little bit of choreography on the part of the choir! Yes, the LCH Choir! And the set of variations called “The Art of the Ground Round” for three baritones (Keane Ishii, Jeremy Wong, and Scott Fikse) and “discontinuo” was absolutely hilarious.
By all accounts, the concert was a great success, considering the large and enthusiastic crowd which rewarded the performers with a well-deserved standing ovation.
I was out of my comfort zone, as you know, playing the harpsichord in public but I was secretly pleased at the “Duet for violin and harpsichord, op. 72” by CPE Bach which I practiced at length with violinist Darel Stark—in total we had four rehearsals! You see, all these years my husband Carl Crosier always took it upon himself to play any harpsichord or piano accompaniments, and I was *most* content to play the organ. I did make a small flub when I was changing manuals at one point, and I guess this is because the harpsichord keyboards are not overlapped like they are on the organ!
But thanks to my page turner, Sophia Stark, I was able to take all the repeat signs fluidly; Darel and I were mostly on the same wavelength, and most importantly, I didn’t fall off the stage!
Last night, I was with my “peeps,” the Hawaii Chapter of the American Guild of Organists at our annual dinner meeting. I am afraid that there are fewer and fewer of us, and we have a very big challenge to keep organ playing alive in Hawaii.
I was happy to announce that I will be attending the 2019 Western Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists where my former student, Joey Fala, will be performing, the first ever student from Hawaii to be so honored. A few weeks later, I will be traveling to North Carolina to attend his wedding to Sarah Jones in Goodson Chapel at Duke University. All this amid trips to the Boston Early Music Festival, 9 days in Greece (Athens, Santorini, and Mykonos), the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, and 2 weeks in Norway!
