Yes. You need to hear what this guy wrote. He was born in England and seemingly moved all around Europe but his main residency of interest to me anyway was a stint on a grapefruit plantation in central/north Florida after the turn of the century. If you head west out of St. Augustine and go a bit south of Jacksonville, you wind up in St. John's County where the St. John's river (' is added for clarity)...anyway he was there. Let me tell you how hot Florida is when you get away from the ocean.
He loved the place so it seems. The St. John's River on which he lived moves at about 1/3 mile per hour which means it is like a lake rather than what we think of as a river. Swamp is probably more like it.
He wrote some elegant and gorgous music as a result. His Florida Suite, actually written in Leipzig in 1887 well after his sojourn to Florida, is a remarkable piece and Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite's inspiration. It is remarkably beautiful.
I mention all this as there is a lesson to be learned. The great shinning lights of his or this or any generation are all well and good but there is a second layer to the onion....the one of very good and very competent imaginaries who add the underpinings of grace and beauty to the world. They fill in between the big bricks and stones of the masters and form the continuity that makes life bearable.
I go to bed each night and wake up each morning hoping that my little bit of muse will find the light of day and fill in a crack somewhere. You should too.
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