by Kurt Knecht | May 17, 2023 | Uncategorized
When I was coming up as an organist, I complained to a friend once about some goings on in a meeting of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He replied with the classic joke, “Well, you know, the AGO is really just an organization for little old...
by Kurt Knecht | May 9, 2023 | Uncategorized
“For how stands the case, for instance, if we endeavor to explain the cause of the rising of the Nile? We may say a great deal, plausible or otherwise on the subject; but what is true, sure, and incontrovertible regarding it, belongs only to God. Then, again, the...
by Kurt Knecht | Apr 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply, And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For...
by Kurt Knecht | Apr 24, 2023 | Uncategorized
When we descry the liminal space between music and words, we find ourselves observing the brackish waters of gutturals. The groans and utterances that words can’t express come bubbling to the surface of the crucible of our emotional life in piquant vowels that...
by Kurt Knecht | Apr 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
Gazing on thee I feel, I know Green stalks burst forth, and bright flowers grow, And living shapes upon my bosom move: Music is in the sea and air, Winged clouds soar here and there, Dark with the rain new buds are dreaming of: ‘Tis love, all love! Percy Bysshe...
by Kurt Knecht | Apr 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
Jabberers I RISE out of my depths with my language. You rise out of your depths with your language. Two tongues from the depths, Alike only as a yellow cat and a green parrot are alike, Fling their staccato tantalizations Into a wildcat jabber Over a gossamer web of...
by Kurt Knecht | Apr 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
At the beginning of March, I had the chance to play at Carnegie Hall for the first time. I have had music that I’ve written performed there before, but I’ve never been there when it happened. I’ve also never been playing on the concert. The old saw...
by Kurt Knecht | Apr 4, 2023 | Uncategorized
On Tuesday’s in Holy Week, I usually present a half-hour program of music. This year, it’s Bach’s Partita No. 2 on the harpsichord. I wrote the following essay for the program. It includes a new translation I made of Rilke’s “Archaic...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 30, 2023 | Uncategorized
I was back in Lincoln for a concert a while back, and I wondered over to the music building. I ducked my head into John Bailey’s office to say hello. John is a brilliant flutist and scholar and someone I’ve always admired. I first met him when I was a...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
In February, I had the chance to do a concert with my friend, Forrest (Farhad) Pierce. The conceit of the event was that we would each write a piece for the concert that would be sung by the incomperable Sarah Anderson with me playing the organ. Forrest is a...
by Kurt Knecht | Mar 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
I’m reading some Justin Martyr again. He was the Father with the most unfortunate last name. (“What, mom?! I’m called Martyr, and I’m going to be a martyr?! I’ll be a laughing stock!” – Thanks Eddie Izzard.) To me, Justin has...
by Kurt Knecht | Apr 5, 2021 | Uncategorized
In the middle of Lent, I had the chance to re-visit J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 which I used as a prelude for our Palm Sunday service at St. Paul’s KCMO. It was a piece I had learned in my late teens, and I wanted to visit it again to see how much I had...
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