Once again it has little to do with this post - but I did warn you - and indeed feel uniquely entitled to be as contrary as I choose since I have now written 200 posts. Loud fanfare!!! Ok quiet cheer, oh alright then.
I've just accidentally watched the tail-end of the Alan Titchmarsh show. I know, serves me right, but it finished with a very pretty young girl singing a newly released recording of the "Downton Abbey" theme which has now been given a lyric of sorts, to go with its rather haunting melody.
The girl who sang it is called Mary Jesse, probably wrongly spelt
and has a very unusual thin high voice, for me, reminiscent of the young Sarah Brightman.
This lead me to wondering where she might end up, how well she might do, how famous she might become and whether she is 'built to last'
Few of us I think have any real idea of where our lives will take us, though of course we all dream.
Some just wish, others work for a particular goal and many, I'd say most, just drift.
On Monday I had a singing lesson with my excellent teacher, theoretically just to keep the voice 'up to scratch' rather than 'screech', but actually because i have never quite given up the dream of a new singing career as a contralto.
This could be just a part of the 'Peter Pan' approach of one who despite advancing years, has never really embraced the idea of being an adult, a kind of arrested adolescence, or perhaps an unwillingness to admit that there really is no longer any hope.
Being told one is young for one's age, is not necessarily a compliment, because while growing up is inevitable, being grown up, is quite another thing and means we have to take responsibility for our own lives.
Whatever my own level of maturity or immaturity might be, as I sang Schubert's Du bist die rue I wondered just fleetingly, where I might perform it and the other two pieces I'm currently working on, Elgar's "Where corals lie" and Tchaikovsky's "None but the lonely heart".
Please, don't wake me up.
Wow, 200 posts! Many congratulations, Ray. That puts my less than 50 very much in the shade :-)
ReplyDeleteA very thought-provoking post to mark your double century. I think we all have dreams, however old we are and I certainly agree that we can never know where life will take us. Keep up with the singing lessons. Those are wonderful pieces you're working on and I really wish i could hear you sing them.
Well done Ray, and youve certainly kept me going straight to 'Daydreamer '.
ReplyDeleteKeep going with the lieder, Colin and I would love to hear you too. He calls you my 'opera singer friend'. I have just had a friend translate into English 3 and 4 of Strauss's '4 last Songs'-that would be something to hear them sung in English, but I suppose the phrasing would be out. Do keep writing about your singing.
Keep daydreaming Ray, praying no-one dares to try and wake you up! x x x x x
ReplyDeletePerpetua and Margaret. Thanks for the comments, but if I actually had to perform these days, I'd die of fright, while my audience would probably suffer with earache for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane. I will keep daydreaming, it's what I'm good at.
ReplyDeleteWoe betide anyone who makes me face reality!