I need to engage in an involuntary legal proceeding against an influential German newspaper publisher. After I was bullied from his Facebook account a month ago, he denied responsibility for this incident and issued a cease and desist order, followed by an application for preliminary injunction to keep me from reporting on the case. I refuse to give in to this attempt to intimidate and silence me, and therefore need to defend myself in court. As I probably won’t be able to cover the legal expenses and attorney fees involved in this procedure on my own, I set up a crowdfunding campaign. I’ll be grateful for any support!
Children’s Corner
My adorable children start entering the stages of Berlin! This coming weekend, Lionel will have his own music performed by a professional ensemble for the first time. His minuet for five instruments is presented in the closing concert of a composition workshop led by Jobst Liebrecht on Saturday, 24 February, 12 noon, at Apollosaal of Staatsoper Unter den Linden. On that same day he will also appear as a guitarist in the regional competition of Jugend musiziert.
In the meantime Cosima is rehearsing as a harpist with the Children’s Opera Orchestra of the Staatsoper and Giuseppe Mentuccia, preparing music by Antonín Dvořák and Marius Felix Lange soon to be performed. The first concert will take place on Good Friday, 29 March, 11:30 am, at the Staatsoper. Besides, both children have been accepted for the talent promotion programme of Musikschule Fanny Hensel.
Analysing Form in Popular Music
I compiled an overview tutorial on the formal analysis of twentieth-century popular music, available on the platform Open Music Academy, and including the models of strophe and refrain, AABA form, verse-chorus form and its variants, as well as structural elements of EDM productions. Represented styles and genres are Broadway musical, rock’n’roll, rock, pop, and trance; examples are taken from the music of George Gershwin, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, ABBA, and Faithless so far. This is my first serious approach to examining popular music, so I’ll be grateful for any remarks and comments—in particular, if you have suggestions for including convenient examples from rap music, metal, or punk rock.
The Music of Lili Boulanger
Recently I had the chance to listen to several performances of choral music by Lili Boulanger, which struck me as extraordinarily beautiful and appealing both in structure and atmosphere. In particular, there were the profound setting of Psalm 130, which I heard in a concert of Cantus Domus Berlin, and Vieille prière bouddhique with Unichor Düsseldorf. In this context I consider myself lucky to participate in performances of Boulanger’s compositions Hymne au soleil, Sous bois, and La source very soon! These pieces are part of an all-French concert programme for mixed chorus and piano, also including music by Francis Poulenc and Morten Lauridsen, and staged by Vokalsystem Berlin, conductor Johannes David Wolff, and pianist Artschi Loyan. So this is a cordial invitation to our »Realités absurdes«, taking place at Martin-Luther-Kirche Berlin-Neukölln on 17–18 February! Please refer to this website for tickets.
An Inconvenient Affair
Some of you might remember my controversial exchange with Theo Geißler, the editor of neue musikzeitung and head of ConBrio Verlag, that started a few years ago. The dispute now took a somewhat disgraceful turn, which I tried to document from my perspective here. Not sure how to proceed.