Shostakovich: String Quartet No.6 in G Major Op.101 [1956]

LIGHTS ARE BRILLIANT AS IF THE COMPOSER IS AT THE SEASHORE.

We are in the present day.

I watched the people at

The beach and the waves

Themselves I watched as

The gulls tackled each

Other over scraps of food

I saw us for what we are

And always will be

I saw a family of Chassids

Out for a walk

Taking the air

We are all breathing it in

That is most likely too simple

For the simpletons who seem

To require complexioned

Complexities; it’s so simple.

And that gets them riled.

They wish for a specially

Crafted simple complexity

They much prefer it that way.

LIGHTING SUGGESTS HE HAS WANDERED OFF AND CLOUDS ARE GATHERING IN THE SKY

We hear the beginning of the andante caloroso from Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No.7

{this could be interpreted by any instrument}

All of this aside—can you

Believe how fate put Sergei’s

Death right under Stalin’s?!

No one spoke of Prokofiev

They all got busy, industriously

Grieving as if their lives depended

On the one death and in truth

They did!

But I’m thinking about Sergei

Never thought I’d miss him this way

I miss so many of you now

And as priggish as he was

I wish that more of us had been

At his tiny funeral; after all

As different as we were and are

A larger picture’s to be seen

And this is what’s possible in the key of G major

Savor it the way you savor fish

Or wine or chocolates or a kiss

Or waking up knowing you’ve survived

Equilibrium

Up the back stairs

and let myself in the side door

Put my coat in the closet

And sketch these ideas out

Before laying myself down

Progression and balance

I can build something

The way they make

Tiers of hanging crystal

In the chandeliers, I can

Wrap these tones together

In braids and loops and

Spirals, you will see me

With my arms in the air

I will actually spin as if

I was a dancer which I’m not.

(Honestly, no! Of all things!)

But this is a dance I’ve written.

So that you might feel it too.

There’s no need for subsidy.

Or public discourse.

This is highly personal.

He gestures with cupped hands, ending with both arms outstretched towards the audience.

Catch the housefly.

And release him outside.

BLACKOUT

© arwulf arwulf 2015