[ Ashokan Farewell plays ]
Dearest Martha. Day three of my home HVAC repairs has come to a close. Day four looms ahead. If I shall survive this trial and live to see you again, I know not
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@dan This isn’t even the project I wanted to get done. It’s the project that has to get done in order to be able to do the project I wanted to get done
@jalefkowit I look forward to the posts from your fully climate controlled underground bunker.
Because it was all over Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary, people generally assume that “Ashokan Farewell” is a traditional American tune. They are usually surprised to learn that it was composed in 1982
“I composed Ashokan Farewell in 1982 shortly after our Music & Dance Camps had come to an end for the season. I was feeling a great sense of loss and longing for the music, the dancing and the community of people that had developed at Ashokan that summer. I was having trouble making the transition from a secluded woodland camp with a small group of people who needed little excuse to celebrate the joy of living, back to life as usual, with traffic, newscasts, telephones and impersonal relationships. By the time the tune took form, I was in tears. I kept it to myself for months, unable to fully understand the emotions that welled up whenever I played it. I had no idea that this simple tune could affect others in the same way.”
The Ashokan Music & Dance Camps are still held every year at the Ashokan Center in the Catskill Mountains. Registration for next year’s spring camps starts in November.
@jalefkowit 4 days of HVAC repairs?
Dear lord.