This is a first for me, my
friends. This release contains my own
compositions.
I was a painfully lonely youth when
I went off to college in Fall, 1974. I
had taught myself to play piano, note by note, from paltry, heartfelt guitar
knowledge. I ached to communicate
something meaningful to somebody else. A
friend from the high-school yearbook took this photo of me “pouring out my
simple soul,” as Joni Mitchell put it.
Although some of my acquaintances
were at the same college, they were popular with others; I was not. My rapidfire sarcasm ensured folks wouldn’t
come too close.
Filled with loneliness though unable
to behave like a friend, I took solace in the open rehearsal rooms in the music
building. There must have been twenty or
more rooms, about ten by ten feet, each with an upright piano. Best of all, in those pre-computer-ID days,
the rooms were open nearly twenty-four hours.
I wrote several dozen songs (many
more not worth remembering) in those rooms.
Besides words-and-music, I had solely instrumental thoughts. Rick Wakeman’s album The Six Wives of Henry VIII
prompted me to tailor these ideas around specific characters from Beowulf,
the epic whose grim Nordic vistas of blood, battle, and desolation had touched
my lonely heart. Thank you, Della
Craighead, for introducing me to the struggles and glories of the Geats! Here’s the version we read in English Lit at
Sooner High School:
In my hours of solitude, the characters
of Beowulf
came to life for me. I conjured,
composed, memorized, and played music to embody them. On a night in November, 1975, in my second
year at school, I took my cassette deck into the college chapel’s choir room
and plugged in a mic. I recorded these
pieces in single takes. (Track 6,
performed on guitar, was recorded separately.)
It was all from memory, of course, because I can’t read music.
Last week I dubbed the cassette,
tried to remove hum or hiss, and
regularized the volume.
The pieces are:
01. Wealhtheow (5:18)
02. Hrothgar (6:33)
03. Grendel (3:06)
04. Beowulf (8:36)
05. Beowulf's Pyre (6:33)
06. Heorot (3:50)
Wealhtheow Track 1, “Wealhtheow,” is named for King
Hrothgar’s wife, whom I imagined as a regal presence like Olivia de Havilland
in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Wealhtheow’s public persona was was submissive and sedate, but I
pictured her as full of tumult and worry within, as her realm was being ruined
by Grendel’s rampage.
Hrothgar Track 2 is a sketch of the king Beowulf came
to aid. Like all of these pieces, its
motives travel inward and then reverse course.
I think of Hrothgar as being serious and stately, but then his mind is
filled with despair and sorrow because of his age and Grendel’s attacks. Then comes the section I originally called
“Jerusalem Rag,” which symbolizes Hrothgar’s lost, carefree youth. Then sorrow returns with an acknowledgement
that such frolics are in the past. The
regal, jaunting theme returns, capped by a campy laugh at the absurdity of all
life.
Grendel Track 3:
I was pretty happy when I arrived at the opening “creeper” theme for the
villainous beast Grendel. The middle
section, which putt-putts along like musical clockwork, exemplifies that
however horrific its results, evil is in itself hollow and unable to conceive
anything truly creative.
Beowulf Track 4, named for our hero, is in two main
sections. The first five-minute stretch
conveys Beowulf’s heroism and conflict against both men (the swimming contest)
and monsters like Grendel and its mother.
His struggles completed, the final section of the piece conveys
Beowulf’s peaceful reign in old age, after he returns home to Geatland, in
southern Sweden.
Beowulf’s Pyre Track 5:
After a long, successful reign, Beowulf’s kingdom is troubled by a
terrible dragon. Many warriors have
tried and failed to drive the beast away, so Beowulf arrays himself once more
in his battle gear. After an extended
fight he kills the drake, suffering mortal wounds himself. The Beowulf poem concludes at Beowulf’s
pyre, as his kingdom celebrates his memory.
Performance-wise,
the reason for the plethora of fumbles in this piece is simple. This was the most recently composed, and it
was too fresh for “performance memory” to have set in. However, I think the heroic processional
theme which FINALLY emerges from the clouds at 3:41 is something solid.
Heorot Track 6, named after the mead hall of King Hrothgar,
evinces a time before the evil monster Grendel arrived from the night to kill
and terrorise the Danes. It’s
deliberately uncomplicated, like the revels it depicts. By the way, archaeologists
may have found Heorot.
So, my
friends, I’m sharing this “suite of character sketches”
with you. If you like any of it, leave a
comment. Thanks for your goodwill in
listening.
PS: See you on Monday, July 3. We’re taking the rest of this month off in
prep for SoonerCon 26. See you then!
