Recently, Dr. Jovanni-Rey de Pedro, Assistant Professor of Piano and Pedagogy at Samford University here in Birmingham, stumbled on to my published music while visiting Ellis Piano. Actually, he had a little help from owner, David Ellis. I manage the Music Department, and compositions that I have written are located by the counter where customers make their purchases. Speaking like a true musician, I am not good at tooting my own horn, so the boss tooted it for me and introduced Dr. de Pedro, or simply, Jovanni, as he is known to us, to my music and to me, also.
Jovanni immediately took an interest and asked me if I had any intermediate level piano pieces. He was to give a pedagogy recital for the Birmingham Music Teachers Association meeting that was going to be held at Ellis Piano the following week and was wanting to play some music at that level. He was interested in music that had been written by a living composer, more specifically, a living female composer. I was definitely a living composer, on most days, anyway, and I also fit the female qualification.
“Sure, I do!” I answered quickly. “Wow – that would be such an honor for me if you played one of my pieces,” I continued excitedly.
I showed him two intermediate pieces – “The Proud Prince” and “Celestial Lullaby.” He asked me which one was the more difficult. “Celestial Lullaby” is the more advanced,” I replied. With that, he chose the lullaby, which was an even bigger thrill because that was the first piece that I had self-published under my own name – Loretta Pritchard Music – back in 2013. A Theme and Variations in form, the piece had been played often in different settings – student recitals, Sunday morning church services, weddings, and even a baby shower, since it is a lullaby – but never in a more formal, educational setting for a group such as BMTA. It was definitely a step-up for me in my compositional career . . . one that had taken me completely by surprise!
(To hear a recording of this piece, click on the picture.)
“Will you be here for the recital?” Jovanni asked. “Oh, absolutely – I wouldn’t miss it!” I replied enthusiastically.
I went home that night and shared my good news with two of my biggest fans – my parents. I knew that Dad, especially, would be excited that Jovanni would be playing the piece that I had self-published since HE was the one who had suggested that I obtain my own publisher’s license in the first place. He and Mom, indeed, were as excited as I was when I told them about the upcoming performance.
The next few days, I daydreamed about Jovanni playing my piece on my favorite handmade piano – the beautiful Bosendorfer, handcrafted in Vienna, Austria. One of the highlights of his recital was to be the showcasing of music on 4 of Ellis Piano’s most prestigious handmade pianos – Bosendorfer, Fazioli, Shigeru Kawai, and Yamaha. I love ALL of them; it is like tasting different varieties of chocolate in that they are all wonderful! But, as I said earlier, I have always been partial to the Bosendorfer. I love its special tone, which always reminds me of bells chiming.
Well, sometimes daydreams come true! A week later, Jovanni came back to Ellis Piano on Tuesday evening to rehearse for his performance, which was scheduled to be held the next morning during the BMTA May meeting. He wanted to know which was my favorite piano in the recital hall where he would be giving the performance. At first, I thought he was asking my opinion just for the sake of his personal interest, so I immediately started verbally darting through the different brands and what I liked about each one. He said, “You have to pick ONE!” I said, “Well, if I have to pick one, it would be the Bosendorfer. That has always been my first love.” He said, “Ok! Then I will play your piece on the Bosendorfer!” “Oh!” I replied. “I didn’t realize that is why you were asking. I would love to have my piece played on the Bosendorfer!” I didn’t tell him that I had been daydreaming about that for the entire past week.
Jovanni also gave me a copy of the printed program and asked me to proofread it to make sure that he had correctly spelled all of the information concerning my piece. When I looked at the program, I literally gasped. Looking at the composers who were listed, I read the following names: Beethoven, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and, lo and behold . . . Pritchard!
“I’m right there in the lineup with the masters!” I thought to myself with excitement. I was especially delighted to be placed after Debussy. Born exactly 100 years before me in 1862, he is one of my favorite composers whose music I have always loved performing and has greatly influenced my humble compositional career. Of course, I am not in the genius league with these masters, but seeing my name following them on the program was still a great source of pride.
Not wanting to sound boastful, I kept all of these thoughts to myself at first until David Ellis appeared on the scene again and spoke my thoughts out loud. Jovanni had also given him a copy of the program. When he saw the lineup and where my piece had been placed, he said, “Wow – that’s impressive. You’re there with the big ones!” “I know,” I replied, looking at Jovanni with sincere appreciation. “How exciting!”
For the rest of the evening, I reflected on this wonderful chain of events that had suddenly come my way without any warning at all. I began to think about my website, “The Writings and Music of Loretta Pritchard,” that I had designed just two years earlier. The original purpose of the website was to house a writer’s blog that I had entitled “The English Rose.” Also having a passion for writing words, as well as music, the blog was to consist of true, short stories that I had written about my family and other past and current events in my life. As I developed the website, I came to realize that it wouldn’t be complete without including music that I had performed and composed. For the home page, I featured my composition entitled “Ripples on a Mountain Lake,” a type of Program music which had been influenced very much by the compositions of Debussy. Later on in the website, I devoted two entire pages to music that I had composed, and I featured “Celestial Lullaby” on the page entitled Loretta Pritchard Music. Just as in the program, Debussy, or his influence, rather, on my music, was followed by “Celestial Lullaby.”
I also thought about the title, “The English Rose,” that I had chosen for my blog site. Back in April of 2013, my Aunt Dorothy, along with my brother and me, had given my parents a surprise 60th Wedding Anniversary party. A picture taken that day of a lovely rose, one of many used by my Aunt Dorothy to decorate the food tables for the event, became the icon for my entire website, and the inspiration behind the title for the writer’s blog page.
As I said earlier, the writer’s blog had been inspired by stories about my family, so the English part represented our name, Pritchard, which is English in descent. I knew that there was actually a species of roses called English Rose, and even though the rose in the picture was not an English Rose, I still thought it would be a great name for my blog site. After all, I love flowers – especially roses. So, the title represented two loves in my life - the love of my family and our English name, Pritchard, and my love for roses.
Finally, reflection and daydreaming time was over as Wednesday morning, May 8, 2019, arrived. The morning of the BMTA meeting and Dr. Jovanni-Rey de Pedro’s concert was imminent.
I arrived at work at my usual time of 9:00 a.m. I did my routine duties since the meeting did not start until 10:30. Part of my regular morning work obligations was to check my emails and then Facebook messages, which I proceeded to do. When I opened Facebook, I had a most pleasant surprise. At the top of my screen was a Facebook Memory that Facebook provides. It was a picture from my parents’ 60th Wedding Anniversary celebration - the event from which came the picture of the rose that I had used on the homepage of my website. This homepage picture had inspired the title of my blog, “The English Rose,” and was accompanied by the composition that I mentioned earlier, “Ripples on a Mountain Lake,” that was reminiscent of Debussy. The date of the memory was May 8, 2013, which was also a Wednesday! (The anniversary party had occurred on a Sunday near the end of April, but I had not gotten around to posting the pictures from the event until May 8.) Also, as I said earlier, I had used “Celestial Lullaby” as a feature composition later on in my website because it was my first self-published composition, which also occurred in 2013!
It was another gasping moment for me; so many happenings were intersecting at once, and it was obvious that God had orchestrated them all!
There’s not a better feeling in the world to know that God has given us signs to show that He not only approves of our dreams, but has also helped to make them come true. In fact, maybe HE was the one who put them in our hearts to begin with!
I believe this to be true for “Celestial Lullaby.” The night that I composed this piece, I was actually at Ellis Piano. It was in December of 1996 and I had only been working there a few months. I was scheduled to work late that evening for a special event that we were having, and I was in my studio where I taught piano lessons at the time, waiting for the event to begin. Something drew me to the piano. As I sat down, my hands went straight to the key of A flat Major and I began to play the piece spontaneously as if I were reading it from a manuscript. A higher power literally dictated it to me from start to finish. There was no work at all . . . no struggling or rewriting one note. It was an instant creation, so much so that I have a hard time calling myself the composer of this piece. I am more of a medium through which God used to write this particular work, thus the name “Celestial Lullaby” . . . meaning “heavenly lullaby” sent by God.
(To hear a recording of this piece, click on the picture.)
The final “Godwink” in this story is that the lullaby received a performance of a higher level in the same location in which it was born – Ellis Piano, and the man who hired me, David Ellis, was the one who made it come to pass by introducing Dr. de Pedro to my music.
Sometimes, the planets line up, so to speak, or more accurately put, God lines them up, and things simply fall in to place – usually when we least expect it.
What a joy to sit back and allow God to orchestrate wonderful blessings in our lives!
APPENDAGE: It is with great heartfelt sadness that I now have to add another part to my story. It is now Monday, August 19, 2019 and I have just heard that Jovanni unexpectedly passed away yesterday. He and his wonderful wife, a physician, had been traveling throughout 14 countries over the summer as Jovanni performed and gave masterclasses in all of these locations. They were in Indonesia when a mosquito bite gave him a strain of malaria that, apparently, no one can survive, even under the best of circumstances. He became ill this past Friday, went in to a hospital there on Saturday, and died on Sunday.
A little over 3 months from the time of his performance at Ellis Piano, we are all in shock and grieving his loss. He was an incredibly vivacious person and musician, going over and beyond the call of duty to inspire and educate his students. His warm and friendly personality won him many friends during his brief, 1-year tenure at Samford University.
Much too young to leave this world so soon, he will truly be missed by his students, colleagues, and many others who came to love and admire him. My "Celestial Lullaby" that he performed so beautifully now has another meaning as we all say to him, "Sleep in Heavenly Peace Forever, Jovanni."