MARK ALBURGER, 2022: March 30

Zoom with Davis Community Church's Elisa Stone, on this the birthdays of

Maimonides (1135-1204) and

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), here in Self-Portrain in his Studio (1790) -- who who seems worlds away from F.J. Haydn, 1732-1809, W.A. Mozart (1756-1791, and Franz Schubert (1797-1828), although perhaps akin to William Blake (1757-1827). Anyone who paints

Yard with Lunatics (1794)

mid-career in this time period was bound on a unique trajectory, that involved not a little of the sobering realities of life, as seen in ensuing works such as

Self-Portrait (1795),

The Black Duchess of Alba (1797, patroness, 1762-1802, and possible paramour),

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (1799),

The Naked Maja (1800 -- several possibilities as to the model, including the Duchess above),

Charles IV of Spain and his Family (1801 -- flattery / intimacy / satire?),

The Clothed Maja (1805),

The Third of May, 1808 (1814)

Josefa Bayeu (or Leocadia [Zorrilla] Weiss (1815, evidently Goya's wife, 1747-1812, bore resemblance to his maid and likely later lover, 1790-1856),

Self-Portrait (1815) -- by this time the artist suffering through mental illness and

The Disaster of War (1820), a series of 81 engravings, begininning with I. Gloomy Presentiments of What Must Come to Pass --

Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta (1820 -- recalling my taking of pictures in the infirmary last September),

The Black Paintings (1823, 14-or-15 works painted directly on walls of Quinta de Sordo, purchased in 1810, and including Saturn Devouring His Son and

The Witches's Sabbath -- Ah! Finally a slightly later musical analog in Hector Berlioz, 1801-1869 and his 1830 Symphonie Fantastique: V. Dream of a...),

and maybe winding up in a better space at the end with

Milkmaid of Bordeaux (1827, a third portrait during his career of Goya's maid-as-mistress, known for her fiery temper!).

Today is also the anniversaries of John Stafford Smith (1750-1836),

Vincent van Gogh (1854-1887 -- Self-Portrait, 1887), and

John Astin (b. 1930 -- with Carolyn Jones, 1930-19843, in The Addams Family, 1964).--

this the 53rd day of spring, high down 9 to 65...

a good time to begin update of

Joshua Fought the Battle, Op. 64 (June 1, 1998)

do the Percussion parts for

Three George Crumb Tropes, Op. 392 (2022), from The Decameron: Fifth Day, Op. 247 (2015)
   Novel VII. Pietro Teodoro, being enamoured of Violante, daughter of Messer Amerigo,
             his lord, gets her with child, and is sentenced to the gallows (Black Angels [1970]: I-V, VII, X)

and text up

Book of Dreams, 2022, Op. 376 (2022)
     March 29-30
          2pm She's Still Living in a Quarantine Situation; No, She isn't, She's Living at the House...
               Harriet and Mark on the Back Sofa in Narthex of Church, with Computers on Table...
          9am Harriet and Mark, Aloft and Not...
          11am Large Multicultural Family Walking Down the Street...