"I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom. I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients." Gustave Courbet

30 October 2022

The Oyster Months Notebook, revised October 2022

Into October and the Oyster Months have become "smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight."

THE POET'S RAMBLE IN OCTOBER

Ripe are October's glories : Come away! 
Hushed are the waiting woods : their rustling robes 
Of mildest tints, create within my soul 
Emotions meet for melancholy song! 
See, Winter in white robes, with icy spear, 
Comes slowly o'er the northern hills snow-capp'd. 

Then pause with Nature, ye that live estranged 
Amid the city's roar ; and list the voice 
That calls you forth to cull emotions sweet, 
And gaze entranced across the garnished woods. 
Mark how the forest now hath doffed its green, 
And Nature dons her cloak of many hues; 

Now reigns the holy beauty of Decay! 
How calmly sleeps the lake : the coloured woods 
Reflected on its face in thousand tints 
Now flash across that dome of thought the mind 
And brighter lift Imagination's eye. 
Like rainbows wreck'd, all the gay woods do sing, 
The Hawthorn hedge gleams like the Pheasant's breast. 

Its silvery candelabra's lights long out 
The Chestnut sweeps, in saffron hues, the lawn. 
Skirting the field the Whin, repellant, throws 
His golden offering at grim Winter's feet; 
And, "beautiful for ever," daisies lift 
Their sleepy eyes to the receding sun. 
See how Betula dreams herself away, 
Or showers her myriad leaves on brakens brown; 
Sambucas, glittering, floods the groves with wine. 

Mark how yon boulder with the bramble burns, 
It's jetty blobs, like eyes, peer from the grass; 
And here and there along its spiny arms, 
A spray of silken blossoms yet appears 
Like aged Laurette, crowned with fruit of song, 
Still waking music in his country's heart. 

Lo, the pale Poplar like an amber tower 
Quivers beneath the Beech's flaming flag; 
The Oak, by summer's scorching rays, hath tanned 
His rugged face beside the late-robed Ash, 
Whose garments heavy drop in faded green 
Among the Rose's scarlet lamps the hips 
That to the now mute birds are light and food. 

Winding the boles th' immortal Ivy clings; 
And, sombre, over all the sturdy Pine, 
Expectant, waits its robe of ermine snow. 

From out yon nimbus cloud, the mighty sun 
Sweeps o'er the raptured woods his golden beams, 
And wakens in my soul such dulcet chords 
As harp or breathing organ never swelled. 

O, what a charm hath Nature for her child! 
Let me but lie upon her matron lap 
And gaze adoring on her lovely face 
The reflex of my God and I am bless'd! 

James Rigg

'Tis Autumn. 

REVISED October 2022 ...

A Meeting Place: Medieval & Renaissance Music for Lute & Ud
August Denhard and Münir Nurettin Beken 


Notker Balbulus: Sequnezen, Tropen & Gregorianischer Choral aud dem Kloster St. Gallen
Ordo Virtutum and Stefan Morent 


Johann Rosenmüller in Exile
Acronym and Jesse Blumberg


Thomas Morley: Fantasies to Two Voices
Jonathan Dunford & Jérôme Chaboseau


Biber: Harmonia artificioso
Musica Antiqua Köln and Reinhard Goebel


Joseph Bodin De Boismortier: The Complete Opus 37 Trio Sonatas (1732) for Flute, Viola da Gamba and Chamber Organ
Flauti Diversi


Die Weisheit des Alters: Ars moriendi im Minnesang
Ensemble Für Frühe musik Augsburg


REVISED September 2022 ...

Philipp Friedrich Buchner: Plectrum Musicum
Parnassi Musici


Le Secret de Monsieur Marais
Vittorio Ghielmi, Luca Pianca, Il Suonar Parlante Orchestra


Telemann: Sonate for Oboe, Bassoon, and Continuo
Sans Souci


Johann Jakob Walther: Hortulus Chelicus
Sills, Dirst, Dirst, and Wang (no offense)


Thomas Lupo: Fantasia
Fretwork


Fürchtet Euch Nicht: Bassoons & Bombards Music from the German Baroque
Syntagma Amici, Vox Lumini


Johann Georg Weichenberger: Lute Works 
Joachim Held


REVISED March 2022 ...

Fantasia! Dialogue for One
Pauline Oostenrijk


February 2022 ...

Jacon van Eyck: Der Fluyten Lust-hof
Erik Bosgraaf


Marin Marais: Pieces de Viole de Cinq Livre
Jordi Savall, Ton Koopmann, Hopkinson Smith, Christophe Coin, Anne Gallet


The Cosmopolitan: Songs by Oswald von Wolkenstein
Ensemble Leones, Marc Lewis


Toys for Two: Dowland to California
Margaret Koll and Luca Pianca


REVISED January 2022 ...

Scheidt: Ludi Musici
L'Acheron, Francois Joubert-Caillet


Handel: The Complete Sonatas for Recorder
Marion Verbruggen, Ton Koopman and Jaap ter Linden


Buxtehude: Complete Chamber Music
Ton Koopman


Songs of Olden Times: Estonian Folk Hymns and Runic Songs
Heinavanker


Ockeghem: Requiem; Missa Mi-Mi; Missa Prolationum
Hilliard Ensemble


REVISED November 2021 ...

Masters of the Baroque Hurdy-Gurdy
Matthias Loibner


Weiss: Sonatas for Transverse Flute and Lute
Duo Inventio


Holborne: Pieces for Lute
Federico Marincola


THE ORIGINAL COLLECTION (Autumn 2020):

Holborne: Pavans and Galliards, 1599
The Consort of Musicke & The Guildhall Waits, Anthony Rooley & Trevor Jones


Purcell: Sonatas Of 3 Parts, 1683
Pavlo Beznosiuk, Rachel Podger, Christophe Coin, Christopher Hogwood


Telemann: Trio Sonatas
Erik Bosgraaf (recorder), Dmitry Sinkovksy (violin)


German Lute Music of the 18th Century
Alberto Crugnola 

No comments: