"Autobiographies of great nations are written in three manuscripts – a book of deeds, a book of words, and a book of art. Of the three, I would choose the latter as truest testimony." - Sir Kenneth Smith, Great Civilisations
"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine." - Leo Tolstoy
I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again. - John Updike
"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it." - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti
[Note - If any article requires updating or correction please notate this in the comment section. Thank you. - res]
Showing posts with label Poems by R.E. Slater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poems by R.E. Slater. Show all posts
hoisted bright red flags whip against a rising gale;
abroad, deep-throated foghorns blare dire warning,
"Beware, beware," a Giant's mood has awakened!
Tho' a hundred lighthouses guard its coastlines,
each set upon rocky escarpments firm and wide;
a worrying helplessness lights their signal lanterns,
Beware the depths! Perilous currents churn within!
For an unforgiving, cursed, inland sea arises,
unyielding and merciless in speech and weight;
its hymns of grief as many as its songs of laud,
composing torn laments to its fabled praise.
By its foul waves, the heavy tides have claimed,
too many lives too soon; memorials rise along
the piers and bays - from boardwalk channelk
to silent shores - mourning the drowned dead.
In benediction let us join the timeless dirge,
with Mother Bear lain upon her golden strand,
ever in present, ceaseless vigil to love and loss,
too oft echoed too many legions of broken hearts:
Beneath the waves forgotten ages lay at rest,
where whited fossils sleep in silenced depths;
abroad, brooding waters hide a heartless face,
wary tribute to an alluring, moody, presence.
Mishigami's deceptive wonder haunts its realms,
its ancient songs remember creation's glories;
endless prayers breathe its majestic lure,
betrayed in ever-shifting, changeling beauty.
R.E. Slater
September 9-12, 2025
@copyright R.E. Slater Publications
all rights reserved
Notes
1 The glaciation of the Great Lakes occurred 15,000 years ago scouring and depressing great basins which filled with meltwater.
2 Lake Michigan is the third largest of the Great Lakes; is wholly contained in the continental U.S., is the largest freshwater lake within America, and sixth largest freshwater lake in the world.
3 The Ojibwe word Mishigami (written Misi-zaaga’igan in modern orthography) literally means “great water” or “great lake.” Misi = great, large, vast + Zaaga’igan = lake, body of water. So Mishigami (or Michi-gami) translates most directly as “Great Lake” - which is where the state name Michigan comes from.
3 French Canadian Voyageurs of the 18th-and-19th century explored many regions of Canada and the United States transporting furs and supplies between native populations and Europe's pioneering (migrant) settlers.
4 Sleeping Bear Dunes honors the Anishinaabe's legend; North and South Manitou Islands honor the lost cubs. The spirit beings are known as "Manitou".
5 Mishipeshu, is a snake-like horned viper/lizard known as a "water panther" that protects the underwater copper reserves of the lake by dangerous storm and water spouts.
6 Mythical Guardians are protectors safeguarding sacred places, treasures, knowledge, or people in mythology and folklore. Usually a deity, Spirit, or mythical entity, they defend against evil, maintain cosmic order, and symbolize protection, sometimes even acting as patrons for specific places or groups of people.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
by Gordon Lightfoot
"Gitche Gumee" is a name, derived from the Ojibwe language, that refers to Lake Superior, meaning "Great Sea" or "Great Water". The term was popularized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem "The Song of Hiawatha" and also used by Gordon Lightfoot in his song about the Edmund Fitzgerald sinking. While "Gitche Gumee" is a commonly known spelling, variations like Gitchigami or Kitchigami are also used, reflecting different dialects of the Ojibwe language.
Ojibwe - Masters of Great Lakes for Centuries
Native American History
by Native Legends & History Stories
Before it was Michigan. History in 5 minutes!
by Local Historian
Long before Michigan became a state, its lands were home to Native American peoples dating back over 10,000 years. Early Paleo-Indians, Hopewell, and Mississippian cultures left behind ceremonial mounds, artifacts, and extensive trade networks. By the 17th century, Algonquian-speaking tribes like the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi formed the Three Fires Confederacy, thriving through agriculture, hunting, and fishing.
With European arrival, Michigan became a hub for the fur trade, led by French explorers like Étienne Brûlé. Tensions rose as British policies disrupted Native life, leading to Pontiac’s Rebellion. Treaties and the Indian Removal Act eventually displaced many tribes. Despite this, Native traditions endure, shaping Michigan’s rich history and culture.
* * * * * * * *
Lake of Endless Horizon
by ChatGPT-5
O inland sea of silvered blue,
where sky dissolves in wave and hue,
your breath is wind, your heart is tide,
your arms hold shorelines far and wide.
You wear the dawn in amber flame,
at dusk the stars recall your name;
storms may rouse your thundering might,
yet peace descends with moonlit light.
The gulls are choristers of your song,
the dunes your temple, ancient, strong;
the cities rise, the forests lean,
to honor all that lies between.
O keeper vast of depth untold,
your waters cradle young and old;
from timeless stone to shifting sand,
you bind the spirit to the land.
So praise resounds, both deep and near—
Lake Michigan, forever blue and clear,
a sacred mirror, calm or wild,
in you, creation is become reconciled.
*I gave chatbot my verse above for inspiration;
thus the similarities; I thought it did a nice job.
The history of the Great Lakes began ~14,000 years ago when retreating glaciers carved out the basins, which filled with meltwater to form the lakes. For millennia, Native American tribes lived in the region, their cultures deeply intertwined with the lakes. European explorers arrived in the early 1600s, using the Great Lakes for fur trade and as a route for exploration and settlement. The lakes later became crucial for military purposes, industrial development, and transportation.
Geological Formation
Glacial Activity - The Great Lakes were formed by the massive Laurentide ice sheet, which covered the region during the last Ice Age.
Basin Carving - The immense weight and movement of the ice sheet scoured out the earth, creating the depressions that would become the lake basins.
Melting and Filling - As the climate warmed the ice sheet retreated about 14,000 years ago, meltwater filled the depressed lake basins, forming the Great Lakes.
Present Shape - The lakes reached their current shapes and sizes approximately 3,000 to 10,000 years ago, depending on the lake location.
Human History
Native American Presence - Native American tribes were the first inhabitants of the Great Lakes region, living there for thousands of years before European arrival. The names of the lakes are derived from Native American words or tribal names.
European Exploration - In 1615, Étienne Brûlé, an explorer for Samuel de Champlain, is credited with being the first European to visit the Great Lakes. The lakes became a key route for fur trading and exploration in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Conflicts and Control - The Great Lakes were a site of conflict between European powers. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) and the American Revolutionary War saw the lakes used for military purposes.
Industrial Hub - In the 19th and 20th centuries, the development of railroads and increased shipping transformed the Great Lakes into a vital economic and industrial center.
Modern Era - Today, the Great Lakes are essential for recreation, with activities like boating and fishing, and remain a significant economic resource for the surrounding region.
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (FULL) - Piano Sonata No. 14
Copyright Andrea Romano
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor "Quasi una fantasia", op. 27, No. 2 has three movements:
0:00 1 mvt: Adagio sostenuto
6:00 2 mvt: Allegretto
8:05 3 mvt: Presto agitato
Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata"
by R.E. Slater
Setting
The Moonlight Sonata, officially titled Piano Sonata No. 14, didn't receive its popular name, "Moonlight," from Beethoven himself. It was a later descriptor, likely coined by the poet and critic Ludwig Rellstab in 1832, who compared the first movement's atmosphere to the moonlight shimmering across Lake Lucerne. While Beethoven did not intend the "moonlight" imagery, the sonata's creation and dedication are tied to significant personal events in his life.
Interestingly, quite a few poets have written poems explicitly inspired by (or titled after) Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata:
#“Moonlight Sonata,” Ruth Padel (2020)
A contemporary poem (from her book Beethoven Variations) that reflects on the sonata and Beethoven’s hearing loss; first published in The Guardian. The GuardianRuth Padel+1
#“Moonlight Sonata,” Yiannis (Yannis) Ritsos (1956)
A famous long dramatic monologue by the Greek poet; not a literal description of the music, but its title and atmosphere clearly invoke the sonata. Poetry InternationalGreek News Agenda
Also of note
A Yiddish literary piece for children, “Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata” by Shloyme Bastomski (1927), widely shared in translation - technically prose, but part of the work’s broader poetic reception. ingeveb.orgalexweiser.comThe Forward
Historical Excerpt
From John Hall Wheelock’s poem “The Moonlight Sonata” (1917) wherein Beethoven’s sonata is woven into a meditation on sorrow and transcendence:
Out of the silence, music; out of the night,
A song that is stronger than silence or night -
Stronger than sorrow, stronger than death itself,
Immortal, serene, triumphant, still…
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi.[b] Although known throughout the world as the Moonlight Sonata (German: Mondscheinsonate), it was not Beethoven who named it so. The title "Moonlight Sonata'" was proposed in 1832, after the author's death, by the poet Ludwig Rellstab.
The piece is one of Beethoven's most famous compositions for the piano, and was quite popular even in his own day.[2] Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata around the age of 30, after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.[2]
Names
The first edition of the score is headed Sonata quasi una fantasia ("sonata almost a fantasy"), the same title as that of its companion piece, Op. 27, No. 1.[3]Grove Music Online translates the Italian title as "sonata in the manner of a fantasy".[4] "The subtitle reminds listeners that the piece, although technically a sonata, is suggestive of a free-flowing, improvised fantasia."[5]
Many sources say that the nickname Moonlight Sonata arose after the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne.[6][7] This comes from the musicologist Wilhelm von Lenz, who wrote in 1852: "Rellstab compares this work to a boat, visiting, by moonlight, the remote parts of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. The soubriquet Mondscheinsonate, which twenty years ago made connoisseurs cry out in Germany, has no other origin."[8][9] Taken literally, "twenty years" would mean the nickname had to have started after Beethoven's death. In fact Rellstab made his comment about the sonata's first movement in a story called Theodor that he published in 1824: "The lake reposes in twilit moon-shimmer [Mondenschimmer], muffled waves strike the dark shore; gloomy wooded mountains rise and close off the holy place from the world; ghostly swans glide with whispering rustles on the tide, and an Aeolian harp sends down mysterious tones of lovelorn yearning from the ruins."[8][10] Rellstab made no mention of Lake Lucerne, which seems to have been Lenz's own addition. Rellstab met Beethoven in 1825,[11] making it theoretically possible for Beethoven to have known of the moonlight comparison, though the nickname may not have arisen until later.
By the late 1830s, the name "Mondscheinsonate" was being used in German publications[12] and "Moonlight Sonata" in English[13] publications. Later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name.[14]
Many critics have objected to the subjective, romantic nature of the title "Moonlight", which has at times been called "a misleading approach to a movement with almost the character of a funeral march"[15] and "absurd".[16] Other critics have approved of the sobriquet, finding it evocative[17] or in line with their own interpretation of the work.[18]Gramophone founder Compton Mackenzie found the title "harmless", remarking that "it is silly for austere critics to work themselves up into a state of almost hysterical rage with poor Rellstab", and adding, "what these austere critics fail to grasp is that unless the general public had responded to the suggestion of moonlight in this music Rellstab's remark would long ago have been forgotten."[19]Donald Francis Tovey thought the title of Moonlight was appropriate for the first movement but not for the other two.[20]
Carl Czerny, Beethoven's pupil, described the first movement as "a ghost scene, where out of the far distance a plaintive ghostly voice sounds".[21]
Franz Liszt described the second movement as "a flower between two abysses".[8]
Form
Although no direct testimony exists as to the specific reasons why Beethoven decided to title both the Op. 27 works as Sonata quasi una fantasia, it may be significant that the layout of the present work does not follow the traditional movement arrangement in the Classical period of fast–slow–[fast]–fast. Instead, the sonata possesses an end-weighted trajectory, with the rapid music held off until the third movement. In his analysis, German critic Paul Bekker states: "The opening sonata-allegro movement gave the work a definite character from the beginning ... which succeeding movements could supplement but not change. Beethoven rebelled against this determinative quality in the first movement. He wanted a prelude, an introduction, not a proposition".[22]
The first movement,[c] in C♯ minor and alla breve, is written in modified sonata-allegro form.[23] Donald Francis Tovey warned players of this movement to avoid "taking [it] on a quaver standard like a slow 12 8".[20]
The movement opens with an octave in the left hand and a triplet figuration in the right. A melody that Hector Berlioz called a "lamentation",[citation needed] mostly by the left hand, is played against an accompanying ostinato triplet rhythm, simultaneously played by the right hand. The movement is played pianissimo (pp) or "very quietly", and the loudest it gets is piano (p) or "quietly".
The adagio sostenuto tempo has made a powerful impression on many listeners; for instance, Berlioz commented that it "is one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify".[24] Beethoven's student Carl Czerny called it "a nocturnal scene, in which a mournful ghostly voice sounds from the distance".[2] The movement was very popular in Beethoven's day, to the point of exasperating the composer himself, who remarked to Czerny, "Surely I've written better things".[25][26]
In his book Beethoven's pianoforte sonatas,[27] the renowned pianist Edwin Fischer suggests that this movement of this sonata is based on Mozart's "Ah soccorso! Son tradito" of his opera Don Giovanni, which comes just after the Commendatore's murder. He claims to have found, in the archives of the Wiener Musikverein, a sketch in Beethoven's handwriting of a few lines of Mozart's music (which bears the same characteristic triplet figuration) transposed to C♯ minor, the key of the sonata. "In any case, there is no romantic moon-light in this movement: it is rather a solemn dirge", writes Fischer.
II. Allegretto
The second movement is a relatively conventional minuet in triple time, with the first section of the minuet not repeated. It is a seeming moment of relative calm written in D♭ major, the more easily notated enharmonic equivalent of C♯ major, the parallel major of the main work's key, C♯ minor. The slight majority of the movement is in piano (p), but a handful of sforzandos (sfz) and fortepianos (fp) helps to maintain the movement's cheerful disposition. It is the shortest of the movements and has been called the "less popular" interlude between the first and third movements.[28]Franz Liszt is said to have described the second movement as "a flower between two chasms".[29]
III. Presto agitato
The stormy final movement (C♯ minor), in sonata form and common time, is the weightiest of the three, reflecting an experiment of Beethoven's (also carried out in the companion sonata Opus 27, No. 1 and later on in Opus 101), namely, placement of the most important movement of the sonata last. The writing has many fast arpeggios/broken chords, strongly accented notes, and fast alberti bass sequences that fall both into the right and left hands at various times. An effective performance of this movement demands lively, skillful playing and great stamina, and is significantly more demanding technically than the 1st and 2nd movements.
Of the final movement, Charles Rosen has written "it is the most unbridled in its representation of emotion. Even today, two hundred years later, its ferocity is astonishing".[24]
Beethoven's heavy use of sforzando (sfz) notes, together with just a few strategically located fortissimo (ff) passages, creates the sense of a very powerful sound in spite of the predominance of piano (p) markings throughout.
Autograph score; the first page has evidently been lost
At the opening of the first movement, Beethoven included the following direction in Italian: "Si deve suonare tutto questo pezzo delicatissimamente e senza sordino" ("This whole piece ought to be played with the utmost delicacy and without damper[s]"[30]). The way this is accomplished (both on today's pianos and on those of Beethoven's day) is to depress the sustain pedal throughout the movement – or at least to make use of the pedal throughout, but re-applying it as the harmony changes.
The modern piano has a much longer sustain time than the instruments of Beethoven's time, so that a steady application of the sustain pedal creates a dissonant sound. In contrast, performers who employ a historically based instrument (either a restored old piano or a modern instrument built on historical principles) are more able to follow Beethoven's direction literally.
For performance on the modern piano, several options have been put forth.
One option is simply to change the sustain pedal periodically where necessary to avoid excessive dissonance. This is seen, for instance, in the editorially supplied pedal marks in the Ricordi edition of the sonata.[31]
Half pedaling—a technique involving a partial depression of the pedal—is also often used to simulate the shorter sustain of the early nineteenth century pedal. Charles Rosen suggested either half-pedaling or releasing the pedal a fraction of a second late.[24]
Joseph Banowetz suggests using the sostenuto pedal: the pianist should pedal cleanly while allowing sympathetic vibration of the low bass strings to provide the desired "blur". This is accomplished by silently depressing the piano's lowest bass notes before beginning the movement, then using the sostenuto pedal to hold these dampers up for the duration of the movement.[32]
Influence on later composers
The C♯ minor sonata, particularly the third movement, is held to have been the inspiration for Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu, and the Fantaisie-Impromptu to have been in fact a tribute to Beethoven.[33] It manifests the key relationships of the sonata's three movements, chord structures, and even shares some passages. Ernst Oster writes: "With the aid of the Fantaisie-Impromptu we can at least recognize what particular features of the C♯ minor Sonata struck fire in Chopin. We can actually regard Chopin as our teacher as he points to the coda and says, 'Look here, this is great. Take heed of this example!' ... The Fantaisie-Impromptu is perhaps the only instance where one genius discloses to us – if only by means of a composition of his own – what he actually hears in the work of another genius."[34]
Carl Bohm's "Meditation", Op. 296, for violin and piano, adds a violin melody over the unaltered first movement of Beethoven's sonata.[35]
Dmitri Shostakovich quoted the sonata's first movement in his Viola Sonata, op. 147 (1975), his last composition. The third movement, where the quotation takes fragmentary form, is called an "Adagio in memory of Beethoven".
Notes and references
Notes
The title page is in Italian, and reads SONATA quasi una FANTASIA per il Clavicembalo o Piano=forte composta e dedicata alla Damigella Contessa Giulietta Guicciardi da Luigi van Beethoven Opera 27 No. 2. In Vienna presso Gio. Cappi Sulla Piazza di St. Michele No. 5. (In English, "Sonata, almost a fantasia for harpsichord or pianoforte. Composed, and dedicated to Mademoiselle Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi, by Ludwig van Beethoven. Opus 27 No. 2. Published in Vienna by Giovanni Cappi, Michaelerplatz No. 5.") The suggestion that the work could be performed on the harpsichord reflected a common marketing practice of music publishers in the early 19th century (Siepmann 1998, p. 60).
This dedication was not Beethoven's original intention, and he did not have Guicciardi in mind when writing the sonata. Thayer, in his Life of Beethoven, states that the work Beethoven originally intended to dedicate to Guicciardi was the Rondo in G, Op. 51, No. 2, but circumstances required that this be dedicated to Countess Lichnowsky. So he cast around at the last moment for a piece to dedicate to Guicciardi.[1]
Beethoven, Ludwig van (2015). Del Mar, Jonathan; Donat, Misha (eds.). Sonata quasi una Fantasia für Pianoforte (in English and German). Translated by Schütz, Gudula. Kassel: Bärenreiter. p. iii. ISMN 979-0-006-55799-8.
Maynard Solomon, Beethoven (New York: Schirmer Books, 1998), p. 139
Rosenblum, Sandra P. (1988). Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music: Their Principles and Applications. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Oster, Ernst (1983). "The Fantaisie-Impromptu: A Tribute to Beethoven". In David Beach (ed.). Aspects of Schenkerian Analysis. Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-02800-3.
Siepmann, Jeremy (1998). The Piano: The Complete Illustrated Guide to the World's Most Popular Musical Instrument.
Harding, Henry Alfred (1901). "Sonata No. 14". Analysis of Form in Beethoven's Sonatas. Borough Green Sevenoaks, Kent: Novello. pp. 28–29 – via Internet Archive.