re: The Last Thing I Shall Do
to: Catherine Laub, William George, Matthew MacTavish, Fiona Blackburn, Sandra Joy Friesesn and Julia Nolan
from: Larry Nickel
Hi Everyone,
It's a big thrill to write for you guys and I hope you'll have lots of fun with this piece. I got up at 3 AM today to finish the saxophone solos.
It's been an interesting challenge to balance humor with death. My Easter Oratorio is called "No More Fear of Dying" so this piece follows that sentiment.
All of these deathbed quotations are for real, apparently. The lyrics are below.
Please download the PDF file of the score here: The Last Thing I Shall Do - score
Please listen to or download a computerized simulation here: The Last Thing I Shall Do - MP3
Julia, I used a flute voice for your solos - because the saxophone simulation is pathetic.
The Last Thing I Shall Do
Die, my dear doctor? That’s the last thing I shall do.
Die, my dear doctor? That’s the last thing I shall do.
You may be high and mighty, rich and famous, good and true.
You may be low and humble, poor and needy, sad and blue.
Who can see beyond the curtain? in the Lord I put my trust.
In the end we’re all mere mortals; each and every one of us will turn to dust.
Final words of famous people:
Julius Caesar; “Et tu, Brute?”
Joe DiMaggio; “I finally get to see Marilyn.”
Anna Pavlova; “Get my costume ready.”
Pablo Picasso; “Get married, it’s useful.”
Glenn Miller; “Hey, where are the parachutes!?”
Ramón Maria Narváez; “I won’t forgive my enemies, I’ve had everyone of them shot.”
Jean Phillipe Rameau; “Stop singing to me, priest. You are out of tune!”
Die, my dear doctor? That’s the last thing I shall do.
Die, my dear doctor? That’s the last thing I shall...
(interrupted by coughing)
Final words of famous authors:
Dylan Thomas; “Eighteen straight whiskies, that’s the record I believe.”
Oscar Wilde; “Get rid of that wallpaper. Either that wallpaper goes, or I do!”
Voltaire; “This is no time to make enemies with the devil.”
Karl Marx; “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who still haven’t said enough.”
Somerset Maugham; “Dying is a very dull and dreary affair. My advise – have nothing whatsoever to do with it.”
Die, my dear doctor? That’s the last thing I shall do.
Die, my dear doctor? That’s the last thing I shall do.
Final words of great musicians:
Hector Berlioz; “One thousand greetings to Balakirev.”
Gustav Mahler; “Mozart.”
Felix Mendelssohn; “I’m weary, very weary.”
Ravel; “I look like an Arab!”
Anton Webern; “I’m shot! It’s over.”
Arnold Schoenberg; “Harmony.”
Ludwig Beethoven; “Applaud my friends, the comedy is over.”
You may be high and mighty, rich and famous, good and true.
You may be low and humble, poor and needy, sad and blue.
Who can see beyond the curtain? in the Lord I put my trust.
In the end we’re all mere mortals; each and every one of us will turn to dust.