18 July, 2023

The Corona Diaries Vol. 90: Vernal Musings

(Listen to the prelude.)

(early May 2023)

We had some excitement at the end of last month when a black bear, fresh out of hibernation, moseyed into town on the southwest side, presumably in search of a picnic basket meal. It ended up relaxing in a tree near my father-in-law's house. Here’s a photo that my Frau's stepmother took as neighbors gathered to get a glimpse of the ursine visitor.

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Earlier this month I took my first spring trek down to Acewood Park. It was a Friday so I was working from home. As soon as the whistle blew, I yelled "Yabba dabba doo!" and jumped on my bike and was off.

The water was not yet weed-choked and the foliage was still coming in. Overall, it was calm and peaceful. Well, until a couple of Canada geese landed near another pair. This led to a big fight across the pond that sent threatening honks echoing throughout the park.

You may recall that last year I wandered around the park during a spring snowstorm and came upon a mother goose sitting on her nest. I was curious to know if there was another nest full of eggs out on the little peninsula so I headed over.

No eggs this time. Had they hatched already? Was a happy anserine couple who were expecting yet to move in?

However, I did spy many birds this trip. For instance, here’s a cardinal. It was fairly close to me yet I only managed to get it nearly in focus.

As you might expect, there were robins everywhere. So of course I managed to get only one photograph in focus.

I wandered down the culvert to the cattails at the south end of the pond. On the way there, I pissed off some corvine friends as a murder of crows flew from a spot that they were presumably comfortable at to another one closer to the pond. They cawed in irritation all the while.

I also spotted many deer tracks such as these.

No poop, though. I reckoned they sleep in the cattails and then wander down the culvert in search of food.

As I was standing by the cattails, I heard the loud trill of a bird. It was moderately familiar and coming from the top of a nearby tree. I struggled to find the source of the song but, luckily, the bird just kept singing. Eventually I found the creature responsible: an American goldfinch way up high.

Was it doing a mating call? Sounding a warning klaxon that a pesky human was nearby, perhaps?

I made my way back up the culvert and was standing around listening to bird song and keeping my eyes peeled when I heard a woodpecker. Not only did I hear it, but I also saw it. And, not only did I hear and see it, but it actually flew towards me and landed on a tree not too far away. It was a red-bellied one. I think.

It poked around various tree limbs for a while but never pecked. After several minutes it flew off into the distance.

Ooh! I almost forgot. Geese.

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The Frau and I took in some high culture this month with the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s season finale. The show featured Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 in C minor and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Price was an African-American woman whom I first heard of a couple years ago in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement's rise to prominence. We were told during the pre-performance lecture that she was rather well-known during her lifetime but eventually disappeared down the cultural memory hole. I figured her standing rose once again as the classical music world scrambled to diversify itself after the Summer of Racial Reckoning. However, I was wrong as Price was “rediscovered” back in 2009 when a cache of her scores and manuscripts were unearthed in an old house south of Chicago that was her summer getaway.

Although born in Arkansas, she practiced her art in the Windy City. She was the first African-American woman to have a work performed by a major orchestra when her First Symphony was played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.

Maestro John DeMain took to the podium looking every inch the part with his angular features and black Nehru-looking jacket. For me, if you look up orchestra conductor in the dictionary, you get a picture of him. (Photos found at the MSO Facebook page.)

I rather liked Price’s piece. It was upbeat with great melodies and it incorporated African-American elements in a way that reminded me of Aaron Copeland’s use of American folk music. The third movement is called “Juba” after the African-American dance, a.k.a. – hambone.

After the intermission, DeMain returned to the stage which had swelled by dozens as the Madison Symphony Chorus joined the Symphony for Orff’s masterwork.

Whenever I hear the opening piece, “O Fortuna”, I picture scenes from the movie The Omen in my head. I can see the young Damien, spawn of Satan, doing his master’s bidding as his human "father", played by Gregory Peck, looks on in horror as the opening song of Orff's cantata evokes an infernal sense of menace. I just cannot help it.

While I thought that “O Fortuna” was used in the film, I apparently suffer from whatever you call the Mandela Effect for just one person as I can find no evidence that the song can be heard in it. The soundtrack was scored by Jerry Goldsmith and it has a piece called "Ave Satani" which bears more than a passing resemblance to "O Fortuna" so I suspect my mind just did a little switcheroo.

The lovely Jeni Hauser sang soprano in a red dress which was wholly appropriate as she performed pieces from the Court of Love section. She sang of a girl who “stood in a red tunic” and a glorious creature “redder than the rose”.

I adore Carmina Burana. It has great melodies and big, dramatic waves of choral goodness; songs about the caprices of Fortune and odes to drinking away one’s cares in a tavern; the laments of lonely women pining for a man and the songs of lustful young men.

The perfect piece for spring.

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Bonus photo! No cats this time. Instead it’s Rodney Dangerfield on the UW's Bascom Hill here in Madison relaxing between takes during the shooting of Back to School in what I think is the fall of 1985.

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