Recent life

Time is flying away so fast. I am still doing fine. So is my wife. One event we had was that our daughter, working as a public nurse at a municipal office nearby, has sprained an ankle. She had to take days off for a week or two. Until her returning to work, she would stay with us. And we have to prepare more meal for her. My wife and she have been tweeting a lot like old days. 

I am still busy at house chores. Did I say that I would replace lawn like weeds at the property by the entrance road, which is about 400 sq meters or so, to "real lawn". That weeds look like lawn but too high fertility and may invade other parts of the property. Cutting the roots deep in the soil with sword tip scoop, the weeds are digged out a small hand scoop. Tiring work. Concentrating on such a simple work as well as seeing things getting tidy is a fun for me. When my father moved this place abandoned for decades from Tokyo in his retirement, he used to dig out big tree roots. Different from that work, this lawn planting job might be similar. He would have enjoyed this work as well.

On Jan 27th 2018, Professor Isoyama, a famous reseracher in Bach, has wounded seriously at head when he was coming home from a chorus competetion as a judge. He has died about in a month. I have written about him and the consequence in a post then as follows;

https://nuttycellist-unknown.blogspot.com/2018/02/professor-isoyama-has-passed-away.html

Remembering of him, I started Bach's biography by him. It is a pretty old book first published in 1985. He might be around 40 years of age or a bit younger. I have bought this book as a used one when I was in fifties. It is not merely a biography which depicts Bach's life in chronological way but a work which shows how Professor Isoyama has devoted himself to Bach. From his description on Bach, we could vividly picture how Bach has lived and composed his works.

It was over 10 years ago when I first read it and most of the content have been away from my poor memories. Smiling bitterly to myself realizing I could enjoy such a book as this one for many times in my senior years with less long term memories, I am progressing with it slowly before going to bed. 

As you may know, Bach has lost his parents in his young days and has lived with his oldest brother. He should move to a church school in Lueneburg where he has trained with playing instruments and composing music. It is still a matter of debate which works are his earliest works. Professor Isoyama thought the 3 organ choral partita BWV 766 to 768 were works those days, even if they have been revised some times. It is believed to be composition in his high school age days. Professor Isoyama recommends BWV 768 as the best which reminds us of his young days. A music of sensibility characteristic for young days. 

It is unlikely that I could travel Germany or the other parts of Europe any longer. I won't feel sorry for that at all. I am a man staying home and doing something like listening to music or cooking etc. But it sure is a regret I might lose a chance to visit the places Bach was born and has grown up. Instead, I could enjoy his music as a universal cultural product in human history.