Sumer Is Icumen In

Loudly sing cuckoo.”  For those who may not be up on their Middle English, that’s the opening line for a traditional round, and possibly one of the oldest works of written musical counterpoint or polyphony. The title, roughly translated, means "Summer has come in," and the piece is by an anonymous composer from around the mid 13th century.  (The rest of the lyrics, in various translations, are about all the interesting things that animals do in response to the arrival of summer.)  I’ve always liked that opening line, because it’s an expression of real, animal joy at the arrival of the warmest months of the year.

And we are definitely in summer mode now at SFGC.  Auditions for the Chorus School happen this Saturday and next, but then the program takes a holiday until the end of July, when preparations for summer music camp begin in earnest.  I’m going to be taking a holiday as well, so this blog will stop for a few weeks and resume sometime closer to August.  After a quick trip to Atlanta for the annual Chorus America conference (which SFGC will proudly be hosting, along with Chanticleer, here in SF next June, 2011!!), I’m heading to the hills, literally, to spend a couple of weeks at our Lake County house, soaking up the sun, sulfuring the vines, and doing whatever we can to sculpt a bit more beauty out of the “frozen music” of our rustic house.  Goethe wrote that “architecture is frozen music,” and we have MUCH work to do to turn our little block of ice (which gets pretty hot in the summer) into something lovelier and more refined.
So, until the “dog days” are upon us, let’s enjoy the long blue hours of the solstice evening, engage in some serious star gazing, visit a sandy beach, taste that first peach or watermelon, and really listen to the dawn chorus of a hundred birds.  We may just feel like joining in to sing “cuckoo” a little loudly as well.

Happy Summer!