I hardly know what to say today. It’s time for my own farewell post to Musica in Extenso, and the truth is, I really don’t know how to say goodbye. It took me a while to track down my very first post here in April of 2014, after a Romanian college student contacted me on Tumblr out of the blue to ask if I’d like to join his blog (then called “The Nob”) as a contributor twice a week. I don’t know why he invited me. I don’t know why I said yes! I’m usually very protective over my time and reluctant to commit to things that require a regular schedule. But he did invite me, and I did say yes. And here we are, eight years later, saying goodbye to the blog, but with eight years of friendship between us, across oceans and generations. I’ve felt honored to witness our editor-in-chief’s journey from college student to fully-grown adult with a beautiful wife and a bona-fide career and one of the kindest, most generous hearts I have ever known.
Here’s what I said on my personal blog the day I reblogged my first post here:
So, recently I was asked to contribute musical selections at the Tumblr known as the NOB. Today was my first post there, featuring portions of Randall Thompson’s The Peaceable Kingdom. I offer it to you as well for your morning listening!
A personal anecdote: I sang some of this piece with the Carnegie-Mellon University Concert Choir when I was a student, and my friends and I liked to interpret the oft-repeated text “as when one goeth with a pipe” as a fond ode to violence rather than the spritely expression of gladness most likely intended (like a million undergraduates before us, I suspect, but we thought we were hilarious).
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Reblogging for the evening crowd. Okay, that was a lie. Reblogging for the pipe joke.
I do still love that joke. Thank you, Krisztián, for everything. And to all the co-bloggers who have contributed along with us for the past eight years. I feel so lucky to know you. - Melinda Beasi
