David Hush: ‘Mass in B Minor’, ‘Beethoven’s Late Bagatelles’ and ‘Sephardic Songs’

Mass in B Minor

Bach’s summa,
Majestic pillars of sound,
Transcending race, religion or creed,
Woven across the valleys of time.

Engraved on our memories,
On our consciousness,
Upon the very soul,
Of our inner being.

David Hush

Beethoven’s Late Bagatelles

Six Bagatelles,
Opus 126.

Perhaps the purest,
The most distilled,
Crystallized musical thoughts,
Ever bequeathed.

A pattern of tempi,
Marking the rhythm of life.

How far removed,
Do these short pieces seem,
From the Sonata Pathétique!

Thus do a great artist’s bagatelles,
Mark no mere distance travelled,
But quantum leaps ahead.

David Hush

Sephardic Songs

Enchanting songs,
From a distant land.

Melodies ancient,
The plaintive cry,
Of Jewish voices.

The songs’ inner rhythms,
The dance of life.

The spirit of Andalusia,
Of resident Moors.

Where does one influence end,
And the other begin?

Different races,
Living in harmony,
For hundreds of years.

David Hush