Music and Words

WAM:  Madame Moreno, you promised me we would spend more time together.

MM:  I know.  I did.  And I’m sorry.  But I’m just way too busy today.

WAM:  Every Wednesday, you said.  From here on in, we would attend to our blogging every Wednesday.

MM:  I said that, yes, Amadé.  And I meant it at the time.  But that was last week, before I knew I had a final exam in music theory due tomorrow.

WAM:  Music theory, you say?  Now who could be more helpful to you than mois?  Who could enlighten you more?

MM:  Please don’t think me unkind Herr Mozart, but I’m afraid post-tonal music theory is beyond anything you’ve experienced.

WAM:  (SNORTS LOUDLY)  Madame?  To whom do you think you are speaking?

MM:  The musical genius of the 18^th Century, of course.

WAM:  Musical genius of all time, my dear.  Excepting, of course, dear Mr. Bach.

MM:  Yes, Amadé, but there are those who have followed you and developed new techniques in the art of writing music. Berg.  Schoenberg.  Messaien. And too many more to mention here.

WAM:  Music is music, my dear.  Now allow me to help you with your examination questions.

MM:  Okay.  What is combinatoriality?

WAM:  Excuse me?

MM: Define invariant sectors.

WAM:  I beg your pardon.

MM:  Help me construct a 12-tone matrix.

WAM:  Are you making fun of me?

MM:  No, Amadé.  I’m just trying to illustrate how much 21^st Century music differs from the music of the classical period.

WAM:  Evolved?  Indeed!  Are you saying it is superior to my music?

MM:  Of course not. But music reflects life the way it is today.  Contemporary composers don’t want to write like you, or Mr. Bach.  They can’t.  Their work would be poor imitations.  So they strive to create something completely different.

Come to think of it, it’s pretty much the same with writing fiction. Contemporary authors don’t try to imitate Jane Austen, or Agatha Christie, or Hemmingway.  We strive to write with original voices.

WAM:  Voices, yes.  Now that is something I can understand thoroughly.  When I composed my arias, I always took into consideration the unique properties of the voice of my soprano…

MM:  I don’t have time for this right now, Amadé, I really don’t.  I need to get back to my exam.

WAM:  (NO RESPONSE)

MM:  Please don’t be like that.  I promise we’ll get together next week and we’ll write something together.  Perhaps a new murder mystery.  Perhaps one that takes place in 18^th C. Vienna.

  

MALICE AND MOZART AND MURDER, OH MY!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart here, reporting in after an extended absence. Mme. Moreno and I have recently returned home from a delightful weekend in the company of people who commit murder for a living.

MM:  You may wish to clarify that, Amadé, lest readers get the wrong impression.

WAM:  From what I could gather, between visits to the lobby bar, my dear, Malice Domestic is an annual gathering of writers dedicated to partying and creating general mayhem, am I not correct?

MM:  Maybe I'd better take over from here.

WAM:  Please!  Must you always interrupt me?  You are not the only writer in the room, Madame!

MM:  True, but I'm the writer who purchased this computer, so I'll interrupt as I see fit, especially when I catch you straying from the truth, Amadé.  Malice Domestic is an annual event that celebrates the traditional mystery,  and it brings together both the authors and their fans.

WAM:  Now, fans are something I understand, although in my day we referred to them as audiences. Thousands of people from all over the Continent celebrated my music and attended my concerts and operas.

MM:  They still do today, and their numbers have swelled to millions. I am, perhaps, your biggest fan, Amadé, striving as I am to bring you into the 21st Century with your very own series of murder mysteries.

WAM:  Merci, Madame.  I am looking forward to that event with great anticipation.

MM:  So that's why I decided to attend my first Malice and get a better grasp of how this business works.



On the social side, I got to spend quality brainstorming time with my fabulous agent, Christine Witthohn, and to party with her extraordinary group of writers whom I'd previously met only online - Liz Lipperman, Kari Lee Townsend, Joni Sauer-Folger and Barbie Mahoney.





In a surprising moment of synchronicity, I sat next to a New York neighbor and multi-published author, Elizabeth Zelvin, at Saturday morning's Sisters In Crime breakfast.

I got to meet published authors whose work I've admired for years - Harlan Coben, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Louise Penny. (Why didn't I think to get my picture taken with them??? Oh, well, maybe next year.)

I attended panels on how to negotiate the rocky road to joining their ranks. And I got to meet editors who may or may not publish our book one day.

WAM:  Brava!

MM:  But best of all, I came home fired up with enthusiasm, full of ideas for new projects, and renewed commitment to daily writing.

WAM:  If you do not mind my asking, what was the most important thing you learned?

MM:  I learned from Harlan Coben that even multi-published, successful authors are terrified of not being able to produce another book.  And that the only way to overcome this fear is to sit down and write!  So that's where I'm headed now.  Back to MS Word to work on the new novel.

WAM:  Mind if I tag along?

MM:  I wouldn't have it any other way!

360º of MOZART

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, here, reporting from NYC in the 21st Century, and I must say, it is a bit more exciting than Vienna in the 18th.  Of course, back then Americans were preoccupied with asserting their independence, and not much concerned with culture.  But now - oh, my dear, the new world's innovations in music and concert presentations literally make my heart dance!  I must thank Mme. Moreno for providing me with the most exciting evening I've experienced in centuries.    

MM:  That concert was over two weeks ago, Amade.  A little late in your posting, aren't you?

WAM:  My dear, I see no room for criticism on your part, considering that you have not been heard from in well over a year.

MM:  Touche.  Anyway, I'm happy you enjoyed the concert.  I certainly did.  But then, you know I always love hearing your music.  Especially the work you composed during your Vienna days.

WAM:   Enjoyment is too modest a word for the emotions I felt whilst observing my Act I Finale from Don Giovanni performed in a most unique venue.  I believe "enraptured" would be more appropriate.  I must congratulate your generation on its innovation in concert programming, particularly as it applies to my music.

MM:  My friend is referring to the NY Philharmonic's concert presented in the drill room at the Park Avenue Armory on June 30, billed as "Philharmonic 360."  It was surround sound without benefit of Bose speakers.  And it was enhanced by lighting and living theater.

As we entered the drill room, we were greeted by a display of statues depicting women in 18th century gowns and powdered wigs.  At least I thought they were statues, until one by one, they started making subtle gestures like winks, smiles, and unobtrusive head turns.

WAM:  I could have sworn I saw my dear little wife, Constanze, in the milieu.

MM:  The audience was seated on risers, set up stadium style, with three stages for the orchestra interspersed among them.  There were also ensembles set up on a catwalk on either side of the room, as well as a group of woodwinds and percussion within our section.  The idea here was to perform spatial music the way the composers originally intended.

WAM:  My Don Giovanni Act I finale takes place in the scoundrel's castle, where he is entertaining a large group of guests that consists of both peasants and aristocracy.  I, in my genius, succeeded in composing a score that consists of three orchestras playing simultaneously in three different styles:  There was the main orchestra, usually seated in the pit, accompanying the arias and recitative, and two off-stage orchestras, one playing a minuet in 3/4 time for the aristocrats' dance of preference, the other playing a countredance in 2/4 time, popular among what you might now call the "middle class."  Later, another ensemble joins in, playing a German teisch, so popular among the peasants.

One might think that this would result in a cacophony, and in the hands of a lesser composer it might well have.  But I managed to weave all these disparate elements into harmonious bliss. 

MM:  Yes, you did, and the way the Philharmonic presented it was blissful, as well.  Before the Don Giovanni, the orchestra(s) played two other spatial pieces, by Gabrieli and Pierre Boulez.  While the setting up for the Mozart, the audience's attention was distracted by the living "statues," who ran into the room and performed a little theater, engaging with the audience members who were seated in the middle of the room, and pretending to sip champagne.  It turned out that these people were the chorus that accompanied the soloists.

Several of the soloists were seated, unnoticed, among the audience and would simply stand up at the appropriate times for their entrances and sing as they made their way down to the center of the room.  

WAM:  I couldn't have staged it better myself.  Well, I really couldn't, because the Vienna Staatsopera would not have allowed such intricate choreography.

MM:  The evening was rounded out by Stockhausen's Groupen, written for three orchestras, and Charles Ives "The Unanswered Question," a riveting piece that features the strings and woodwinds playing pianissimo and a lone trumpet repeating its poignant question throughout.  I left the Armory feeling as if I'd just had a gourmet musical meal, and so grateful to be living in New York.

WAM:  Yes, my dear, I will agree that your New York is growing on me, as well.  What's on for us next?

MM:  Tonight,  Madama Butterfly in the park!

WAM:  Hmm...yes, Puccini has his charms, as well.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mozart

Yes, it's another birthday for Mozart, today being the 255th anniversary of his arrival on this planet.  I thought it fitting that I take over his blog on this occasion, and discuss what it is about Mozart that captured my heart and my imagination.  The short answer would be his genius.

The longer one requires a little backstory.  You see, I was born to be a diva.  I discovered my coloratura voice at age nine, as did our neighbor, a mezzo soprano with the Lyric Opera, who offered to take me under her wing and tutor me.  My father, being on the run from the Chicago mob, didn't want me performing in public, lest I draw their attention to the Moreno family.  (He even changed the spelling of our name from the original Marino to throw them off the track!)

So there went my opera career.  Later in life, after I got out from under Dad's thumb, I moved to New York, became a rock singer/songwriter and destroyed my upper vocal range.  But at least I got to perform in public.  I also developed my skills as a writer of prose and promotional materials, and after a lucrative career in advertising and corporate communications, I turned my attention to writing fiction.

About eight years ago I  re-ignited my passion for opera and orchestral music.  I enrolled in Juilliard's evening division, and began taking courses in composition, orchestration, counterpoint, etc.  In one of my first classes we analyzed Mozart's Symphony No. 39, and with apologies to Messrs. Bach, Beethoven, Berstein, Copland and Stravinsky, it slammed me like no other composer ever has.  So, while immersing myself in contemporary music, (and winning a NY Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Composition along the way) I spent hundred of hours studying Mozart's symphonies, chamber music and operas.  No one wrote for the soprano voice like Mozart.  No one.

What sealed my relationship with him, though, was a visitation from the little scamp one New Year's Eve, several years ago.  (Okay, yes, I was drinking champagne, but that had nothing to do with it.)  The incident propelled me to write a mystery series loosely based on opera plots, and to introduce Mozart as a key character.  Why not bring him back to life?  He was way too young to leave us at age 35!

So Happy Birthday, Mozart, dear, and thanks for all the inspiration you've given me.  I hope you and your music will be around for another 255 years.

Departed but not Forgotten

Today, people all over your world commemorate the anniversary of my departure from said world.  It has been 219 years since I made my transition.  Still, I am alive as ever, expressing myself through my music, which is even  more popular now that it was in my lifetime.  Ever ahead of the curve, so to speak, my music was often considered too dissonant by 18th century audiences.  Yes, I know that is difficult to believe, my friends, but I was the Bartok of my day.  I took chances with harmony.  I delighted in the untried.  I reveled in the unexpected.  And while Vienna audiences had an insatiable appetite for new music - unlike the typical concertgoers of the 21st century, I must say - it sometimes caused them to exhibit a certain fickleness when relating to their musical artists.

Let us leave the past to the past, however, and look to the present.  I am still here, my friends, and I am immensely enjoying your brave new world.  Electronic music.  Digital downloads.  Social networking.  What fun!  So much to keep my occupied as I await my rebirth via Mme. Moreno's mystery novel which feature ME as a key character.  I cannot wait to wreak even more havoc and mayhem in the world of crime fiction.

Mme. Moreno begs me to be patient while she continues the editing process with her agent.  Unfortunately, patience has never been one of my virtues.  Oh well, I suppose while I am waiting I can learn how to Tweet.

Publishing in Two Cities

 Have you missed us?  Mme. Moreno and I have been enjoying ourselves in the country for the past several weeks.  So we have been remiss in keeping our blog current.  But now that autumn approaches we are both committed to do better.  

Today we have invited Donna Fletcher Crow to take over our blog.  By way of background, Donna is the author of 35 books, mostly novels dealing with British history.  The award-winning GLASTONBURY, The Novel of Christian England is her best-known work, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history.  A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, book 1 in the Monastery Murders series is her reentry into publishing after a 10 year hiatus, and today marks its U.S. publication. 

On a personal note (and I do love to get personal with the ladies) Donna and her husband have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren.  She is an enthusiastic gardener and you can see pictures of her garden, watch the trailer for A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, and read her international blog at www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com

Welcome, Donna!   What have you been up to this summer?

DONNA:  Thank you Mary and Amadé, it's lovely to be back with you again.  I always find an instant entry into your world, Amadé, when I hear a piece of your music, as do the characters in my books.  

I have just finished the second book in my romantic intrigue series, the Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries.  This one,  A MIDSUMMER EVE'S NIGHTMARE is set in a Shakespearean Festival with lots of wonderful references to the Bard.  Since this is meant to be a bit of a honeymoon for the newlyweds, Richard takes Ellizabeth out for a French dinner and Elizabeth enjoys her Pears Hélène to the accompanying strains of a Mozart Air.

MOZART:  Ah, Pears Hélène, one of my favorite sweetmeats!

DONNA:  And I told you last time how "your" Miserere is in the very first chapter of A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE.

MOZART:  Showing exquisite taste on your part, my dear.

DONNA:  Today, however, Mary has asked me to tell your readers what it's like working for two publishers, one in England and one in America.  I would have to characterize the delightful, sometimes frustrating and always confusing experience as being like having twins.  Let me explain:

My twin granddaughters were born eight years ago - and I clearly remember the knot of excitement that sat at the base of y throat, the desire to run through the streets shouting the news, the almost frantic wondering, "What do I do now?"  And now, here I am, at the ripe age of ...(expletive deleted)...having twins myself.  

At least, that’s what it feels like.  My ecclesiastical thriller A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, Book 1, The Monastery Murders, released in the UK on June 1.  On June 2 I received a note from my American publisher that my thought-provoking romantic intrigue THE SHADOW OF REALITY was up on Kindle and Smashwords.  “Surprise,” the doctor said.  “There’s another one in there.”

The excitement was intense; the complications perplexing.  I wanted to run through the streets of London announcing the arrival of Private Grave. Well, okay, I don’t think that’s done there.  But a launch party with sherry and truffles at Waterstone’s would have been nice.  But I’m 7000 miles away.  Likewise, I wanted to do all I could to make the launch of Shadow of Reality a success, but I’m not quite sure how one promotes an Ebook.  So maybe I’m doing all I can by blogging about it. Rather like sitting and rocking Jane while daughter-in-law Kelly fed Adela.

Actually, this dual birth will be something of a case study for the marketing experts in this brave new electronic age we’re all doing our best to grope our way through.  A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE is published by Monarch Books, an imprint of Lion/Hudson, a very traditional, established publisher in Oxford.  (You don’t get much more traditional than that.)  THE SHADOW OF REALITY is from Stone House Ink a young, new publisher whose reason for being is to “embrace the new technology.”

Monarch, holding to the old model, is reticent about bringing out Ebooks because “We don’t want to compete with ourselves.”  For Stone House the Ebook is the primary release.  Print books will follow along about Christmastime after the Ebook has made it’s mark in the world.

Monarch sells through Waterstones, AmazonUK and their own catalog.  They have given me superb editing,  postcards and a trailer (which you can see here: http://ning.it/ac80sQ) and a beautiful baby with a glossy cover which I love to caress.

Stone House has given me a beautiful electronic cover and a carefully edited book available in all Ebook formats with a marketing plan which focuses on setting the right price for maximum sales.

($2.99 here:  http://ning.it/bCi2iA)

Book 2 in the Monastery Murders, A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH won’t be contracted for until sales figures are in.  Book 2 in Richard & Elizabeth A MIDSUMMER EVE’S NIGHTMARE is scheduled to release next spring.  And so the balancing act continues.

It’s a fascinating study and both publishers have been absolutely stellar to work with.  Of course, I’m trying to do everything I can to help both succeed beyond their wildest expectations. And now I’m holding my breath as the older twin A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE steps out into the big, wide world of it’s North American release in September.  After all these months of waiting, my readers in the US and Canada will no longer have to be satisfied with clicking a “pre-order here” button, but can actually get the book for immediate shipping through Amazon.com or through my website:  http://www.donnafletchercrow.com/index.php

In the meantime, I have to remember that books are like children in another way.  We do our best to mold their future, but they do grow up with minds of their own and have adventures of their own which we can enjoy watching while we hope and pray for their success.

MARY:  Thank you for stopping by, Donna.   And we both wish you success with your “children!” 

Intimidation and Inspiration

Today I am turning over my blog to Mary Moreno, freelance writer, author of The Writer’s Guide to Corporate Communications, composer and aspiring novelist.  I use the term, “aspiring,” because while she has completed two novels, she has not yet published them.  Personally, I am quite annoyed with her, because her second novel (and first mystery) features mois as a key character, and I am growing impatient with the delay.  That said, I now turn this space over to Madame Moreno:

MM:  Thank you Amadé, and let me first assure you that I am doing everything in my power to polish up the manuscript so that it is worthy of your participation – which is why the editing process is taking so long. 

Writing a mystery is way different from writing memoir-based fiction and I am still learning the craft.  I’ve been busy cutting, pruning, paring, slicing, dicing and polishing, and all that takes time.  Every time I re-read my manuscript I find something more to work on.  (Truth be told, every time my agent reads it, she find something to change, as well.)  While deadlines work well for nonfiction, for fiction they just make me nervous, resulting in too much ice cream consumption.

WA:  If I may interrupt, I do love ice cream.  Back in Vienna, I would often indulge myself as a reward after the successful premier of one of my pieces.

MM:  Yes, I know, but we are talking about ME today, not YOU.  And what I want to discuss is intimidation and inspiration, because in my case, they sometimes go hand in hand.  Or back to back.

As a composer, I listen to music for inspiration and study scores for technique.  As a writer, I read for pleasure, but also for inspiration and technique.  But sometimes I get intimidated.

When I first heard Copland’s Symphony No. 3, I said, “Why do I even bother trying?  I’m never going to write something as wonderful as that.”  Likewise, Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste. 

WA:  What about my Sinfonia Concertante?  My Prague Symphony?

MM:  YES, those, too.  The point I’m trying to make is that while I first become discouraged by these works of genius, after taking some time off for therapy (walking in the park, eating pizza)…

WA:  Pizza!

MM:  I eventually make my way back to the keyboard and give it another go, all the while chanting my mantra, “progress, not perfection.”

And so it goes with my mystery writing.  I just finished reading Michael Koryta’s So Cold the River.  This man not only knows how to weave a compelling story, the language he uses to tell it is simply astounding.  EXAMPLE:  In describing an early Indiana spring, rather than just say something like, “Spring arrived early and stayed,” he writes:  “…this year spring settled in and put up its feet, and winter didn’t have much to say about it, just a few overnight grumblings of cold rain and wind.”  After reading this and many other almost poetic passages, I put my computer to sleep and took myself to an afternoon movie.  (The Girl Who Played With Fire.)

Fortunately, I woke up the next morning with my fighting spirit and my desire to be published firmly restored.  I resolved to learn from Mr. Koryta rather than be intimidated by him.

WA:  If I may just interject, I felt quite the same as you when I first saw the manuscript for Bach’s Well Tempered Klavier.  The counterpoint can only be described as a work of genius, and yes, for a moment, I, too, was intimidated.  But only for a moment, and then I went back to my composing and indeed, I saw my work take on a new dimension, due to the inspiration awakened in me by Johann.

MM:  Exactly.  Yes, I did the same thing.  I went back to my manuscript and challenged myself to do better.  To make my words sing, rather than just sit there.

WA:  Brava, Madame!

MM:  Hold the brava’s until I've finished.  I’m not done editing yet.  Now, back to work!