Worth Sharing This Week: If Not Now...

Last week, several social influencers, as vloggers, bloggers, and instagram personalities are now called, determined to increase content in order to give their audience a respite from the news and situations surrounding CoVid19.  I admit I freely partook of their extra content and I appreciate the great amount of work that went into those added activities.  Especially the vloggers, who have a longer editing process after filming.



One vlog that John enjoys said something on his latest post that just resonated with me deeply.  "Why not make this time count?" he asked.  "If you've always wanted to record an album, why not do it now? If your dream is to write the next great novel, get it started.  If you want to compose a symphony, you've got all the time you need to begin."

As I listened to this man, I thought of Tracy Chapman's song "If Not Now, Then When?"

So what have you put off doing?  All those recipes saved on Pinterest, that project, art piece, novel, flower garden, quilting, vegetable garden...Why not do it now?



"To a Wild Rose" is a lovely piece of music.     I discovered the composer when reading through my 1924 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine Saturday evening and out of curiosity went to have a listen.

Edward MacDowell, an American pianist and composer born in New York City in 1860 was one of the Romantic period.  He came of humble background, neither poor nor privileged.   He was given music lessons by a Columbian violinist who lived with the composer's parents at the time.  He continued his training with the violinist's friends.   When he was 17 his mother decided to take him to Paris.  He won a competitive scholarship to the Conservatory of Music and studied there for two years.   After two years, he went to Frankfurt to study.  It was while at the conservatory that he performed a Robert Schumann piece during a recital attended by Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann.  The next year he paid a visit to Liszt and performed his own compositions, including his "First Modern Suite, Op.10" which Liszt recommended for performance and then introduced MacDowell to his own music publishers.

He remained in Germany until 1888, studying, teaching and composing.  He married an American girl who had been his student for 3 years during this time and they remained in Germany.  During the final two years, he devoted his time almost exclusively to composition which brought the couple to financial ruin.  At that time they returned to the United States, settling first in Boston and then later in New York after he was offered a Professorship in Music at Columbia University.

In 1896 his wife Marian bought a rural property in  New Hampshire for a summer residence.  Here MacDowell's creativity flourished.  He composed in a rustic log cabin on the property that he used as a studio.  In two years time he wrote 13 pieces which he published under the name of Edgar Thorne.  It wasn't until 1917 that he was credited with the compositions.

By 1904 he resigned from Columbia University due to conflicts with the president.  He also suffered an accident in which he was run over by a hansom cab.   The depression that resulted from the loss of his position as well as the accident resulted in dementia as well as physical disabilities.

He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1904, one of the first seven to receive that honor.   He died in 1908.

MacDowell is known for his 'big' works but performers often turn to his small pieces, such as "For a Wild Rose" as their favorite performance pieces.  For a full listing of his works see this Wikipedia site.  And take time to listen to his lovely calming pieces.



Having mentioned my March 1932 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I think it worth also mentioning that other articles I found of interest in this issue included a '20 Minute Dinners" article and the article I've mentioned several times before about meal planning twice a week instead of once a week in order to take advantage of clearing the fridge of any leftovers, planning them into meals and using up all the foods.

I am so amused at that stylized bunny next to that copper pitcher of spring blooms.  Right now both copper and bunnies are  in fashion once more.   Proof yet again that what goes around, comes around!



"I am told that visitors to the mosque of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, are greeted with fragrance when they enter the building.  This fragrance pervades the entire place because when the mosque was built a thousand years ago the stones and bricks were laid in mortar mixed with a solution of musk.  If we, in our youth, build our years out of helpful, friendly, neighborly acts, we will offer to the world the fragrance of lovable personalities when we go down the western slope.  I am thinking, too, that ever after we have passed away, as the builders of the mosque have passed away, our works will go on living for us and praising us." `~ Thomas Dreier