April 16 - Play of Shadows

Proceeding apace, in the fore and aft of the day, orchestrating Solomon: VIII. You Know (The Building of the Temple and Palace), then flying through space,



past the still lifes of the Sulfur Springs Mountains and


St. John Mine Hill Ranch.



to Dioclesian/Diocletian final dress rehearsal, with Alison and Kim at home resting, Alix's ankle on the verge of full recovery, Maria marking by the end of the evening, and Indre standing in as Drusilla for



the latter work's



I. First Paragraph Music,



II. E-I-E-I-O Thunder ("Great Diocletian



a bore has become /



Old Mars and Venus



mutually inspire all of life's passions"),



III. Happy Funeral Music



("Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy...")



IV. What Shall I Do,



V. Speak, Flame



("Joy Can Be Yours /



Great Diocletian,



The Great Persecutor"), and



VI. Country Dance



("Diocletian executed



his memorable resolution abdicating authority /



Retiring immediately to a villa in Luciana



where he was unable to find any lasting tranquility or



peace").

January 31 - Diocle[t](s)ian

Up seemingly ridiculously early, and out the door with H (at least the traffic is congenial at such hour) for our first rehearsal at Chamber Arts, in Berkeley, San Francisco Cabaret Opera's production of Henry Purcell's Dioclesian and the ten-minute version of my Diocletian, with Harriet March Page, Kathleen Cornelius, Maria Mikheyenko, Erin Lahm, Marilyn Pratt, Allison Collins,


Shauna Fallihee, Annemarie Ballinger, Kimberley Anderman, and Alexandra Jerinic -- all sounding wonderfully in these early stages of both pieces, with Skye at fantastically at the piano, and an-across-the-hall occasional-serenade of



impressive students in the J.S. Bach Orchestratl Suite No. 2,



complete with dog, whereupon (after dropping Alix off at Ashby Bart) we head home, coming up, between the two of us, with the intriguing notion of treating the little D as an intermezzo, with the pillars of Purcell on either side (this will actually be appropriate story chronology, too). Pleased, we have the rest of another well-appreciated (but potentially disaster-draughty inducing) sunny afternoon at leisure, which includes the orchestration of page 8 of Babe Ruth: IV. Daybreak Dance / Feria (Turn Aside).