Water is a frequent image in Bach’s music. Placid rivers sing the praises of enlightened monarchs. Other streams rush by, murmuring their eternal truths of earthly life’s fleeting nature. Elsewhere, storms rise up, from strafing…
Posts published by “David Yearsley”
If the organ is the King of Instruments, its monarchy is built on deception. The largest, most technologically complicated, most tonally diverse, and most visually stunning of musical objects, the organ was often held to…
The report to President Nixon submitted on June 11th 1971 by the U. S. Tariff Commission considered the petition of the “Pipe Organ Workers Federal Labor Union, AFL-CIO, with the assistance of the United Furniture…
In American academic institutions it is now common practice, though by no means universal, to begin conferences, convocations, and even the occasional concert—though not yet, in my experience, sporting events—with land acknowledgements. These lay out…
Inscribed on the nameboard of an ottavino spinet (a small tabletop, or even laptop, harpsichord) dated 1710 and now in the Russell Collection of musical instruments at the University of Edinburgh, runs the motto: “Dum…
It was only after I left the Bar Bayeux in Brooklyn last Friday night, elated after two riveting sets from the Michael Sarin Quintet, that I realized that the club’s name was a clever pun…
J. S. Bach’s most famous arias, “Schafe könne sicher weiden” (Sheep may safely graze) projects safety for the governed secured by enlightened leadership. Above a pulsing B-flat drone whose static harmony conveys contented repose, a…