I see that it ain't gonnna be a sad event :grin:
Yup ... either they will be happy for the upbeat music or just plain happy to see me finally go ... :lol:
Mat said:
Right, can you tell me why everyone call the second movement Goin' Home? I often hear this theme in different kinds of jazz arrangements and the name is always Goin' Home.
Certainly ... here are my program notes from my last recital on this very piece.
Goin' Home, from the Largo of the New World Symphony by Anton Dvorak (1841-1904) - Lyrics by William Arms Fisher, a pupil of Dvorak.
Fisher's comments about Dvorak and the Largo:
"The
Largo, with its haunting English horn solo, is the outporing of Dvorak's own home-longing, with something of the loneliness of far-off prairie horizons, the faintmemory of the red man's bygone days, and a sense of the tragedy of the black man as it sings in his "spirituals." Deeper still, it is a moving expression of that nostalgia of the soul all human beings feel. That the lyric opening theme of the
Largo should spontanously suggest the words, "goin' home, hoin' home," is natural enough, and that the lines that follow the melody should take the form of a negro spiritual, accords with the genesis of the symphony." (William Fisher, Boston, July 21, 1922)
The words, by Fisher:
Goin' home, goin' home, I'm a goin' home;
Quiet like, some still day, I'm jes' goin' home.
It's not far, jes' close by, Through an open door;
Work all done, care laid by, gwine to fear no more.
Mother's there 'spectin' me, Father's waitin' too;
Lots o'folk gather'd there, All the friends I knew,
All the friends I knew.
Home, home, I'm goin' home!
Nothin' lost, all's gain, No more fret nor pain,
No more stumblin' on the way, No more longin' for the day,
Gwine to roam no more!
Mornin' star lights the way, Res'less dream all done;
Sahdows gone, break o'day, Real life jes' begun.
Dere's no break, ain't no end, Jes' a livin' on;
Wide awake, with a smile goin' on and on.
Goin' home, goin' home, I'm jest goin' home;
It's not far, jes' close by through and open door.
I'm jes' goin home .... ... ... Goin' home.