Happy Valentine's Day!

Most people will recognize the panic I felt on Valentine’s Day in 1993 when I realized I had done nothing, bought nothing for my Lovely First Wife to mark the occasion. In what would be considered a miracle in most organized religions, I composed a lovely little waltz (in one day!) as a gift. I’m not sure she was convinced, but it was a lovely little tune.

I re-used it in 2004’s Am Südpol, denkt man , es ist heiß, a children’s opera I wrote for a competition in Germany. Based on a popular children’s book there, the opera is about the penguins at the South Pole who eagerly await the annual arrival of the Opera Boat. Unfortunately the opera company is a more than a little inept, and their production of La Traviata disintegrates before it even really gets off the ground. The idiot tenor saves the day by stepping up and singing a lovely paean to love, i.e., the Valentine piece.

I came across it in looking over my music recently, and I contacted Maila Springfield, piano goddess, at Valdosta State University to see if she would record the piece for me. Maila was the staff accompanist for the music department of the Governor’s Honors Program, and she is amazing. (It was for Maila that I wrote Six Preludes (no fugues).)

Of course she said yes — she is as kind as she is brilliant — and after a Zoom consultation which was more of a joyous reunion than a musicological discussion, she sent me the video.

Happy Valentine’s Day!