This week’s rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday are pivotal as we prepare for our concert on Saturday evening. Please continue to care for your health so you are in fine form for the week.

Monday’s rehearsal begins as usual at 7:30 pm, but please remember that Wednesday’s dress rehearsal begins at 6:30 pm. This was necessary because of the AP exams this week and the need to get the NV-Demarest students home as early as possible. Please plan on arriving at 6:15 pm, we cannot get into the hall before 6:30 pm, but will need to set up quickly. I’m not concerned about the time to set up, as it will take some time to organize and the 120 voices settled. (We are rehearsing Carmina first.)

I never shared this YouTube video of a performance of the Fantasia in G on the original instrument. It’s interesting to note that the first and third sections of this piece are almost completely melodic with no supporting chord structure, that the Fantasia as we know it is nested in the middle, and that the piece as we know it ends on a diminished seventh chord. Goldman constructed the ending with plenty of suspensions to match the rest of the piece (like all those theory assignments all of us music ed majors did in undergrad theory). It’s also amazing how the orchestration makes it much more expressive. Clearly, Bach didn’t allow for an extra hand to change the stops during the Fantasia!

You can also examine the full score in the Petrucci library.

Happy Mother’s Day to all, and I’ll see you Monday.