This Is Our Story

This is Our Story

Humanity United in Action,
Driven By Love and Compassion,
Informed by Science and Reason.

MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Read This First
  • About
  • Cycle-of-Life Season
    • 1 Dormancy
      • Week 01: Human Worth
      • Week 02: Universality
      • Week 03: Justice
      • Week 04: Suffering
      • Week 05: Humility
      • Week 06: Avoiding Harm, or Evil
      • Week 07: Engaging the World
      • Week 08: Order
    • 2 Sowing
      • Week 09: Preferences (Desire)
      • Week 10: Autonomy
      • Week 11: Life as a Journey
      • Week 12: Renewal
      • Week 13: Hope and Optimism
      • Week 14: Self-esteem (Self-worth begins)
      • Week 15: Self-confidence
      • Week 16: Independence (Self-competence)
    • 3 Growth
      • Week 17: Our Future
      • Week 18: Honesty
      • Week 19: Obligation in the World
      • Week 20: Duty toward Others
      • Week 21: Awakening
      • Week 22: Obstacles and Opportunities
      • Week 23: Individuality and Community
    • 4 Ripening
      • Week 24: Honoring
      • Week 25: Excellence
      • Week 26: An Ethic of Generous Service
      • Week 27: Openness
      • Week 28: Transcendence
      • Week 29: Wisdom
      • Week 30: Caring
      • Week 31: Courage
      • Week 32: Citizenship
    • 5 Interlude
      • Week 33: Grounding and Well-Roundedness
      • Week 34: Assertiveness
      • Week 35: Restoration
    • 6 Fulfillment
      • Week 36: Creativity
      • Week 37: Truth
      • Week 38: Love
      • Week 39: Faith
      • Week 40: Rebirth
    • 7 Assessing
      • Week 41: Home and the Past
      • Week 42: Vitality
      • Week 43: Self-actualization and Integrity
      • Week 44: Connectedness
      • Week 45: Empowerment
      • Week 46: Equality
    • 8 Harvest and Celebration
      • Week 47: Flourishing
      • Week 48: Focus and Perspective
      • Week 49: Change
      • Week 50: Finding Our Niche
      • Week 51: Accepting / Surrendering
      • Week 52: Living Religiously
      • Week 53: Celebration and Remembrance
  • Weekdays
    • Sunday
    • Monday
    • Tuesday
    • Wednesday
    • Thursday
    • Friday
    • Saturday
You are here: Home / Cycle-of-Life Season / 8 Harvest and Celebration / Preparing

Preparing

Gustave Caillebotte, Bather Preparing to Dive (1878)

We prepare so that we can be ready for what comes next.

  • By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail. [widely attributed to Benjamin Franklin]
  • He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration. [attributed to Samuel Taylor Coleridge]

Medical doctors may spend a decade in medical school, residency, and fellowship before beginning practice in their field of specialty. Opera singers may train for as long to attain the skills to perform in lead roles at top opera houses. Most teachers attend college for four years, plus a year or two in a Master’s program. A tradesperson may spend several years in apprenticeship before becoming a journeyman.

More proximately, actors may rehearse for weeks or months before performing before an audience. Orchestras and solo musicians rehearse. Sports teams practice and strategize.

Couples considering a long-term relationship may spend years developing their relationship before committing to each other. In many fields of endeavor, people prepare, if they are wise.

Real

True Narratives

Technical and Analytical Readings

Photographs

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Franz Liszt, Les préludes (The Beginnings) (Poème symphonique No. 3), S 97 (1863) (approx. 16-18’) – Liszt wrote this preface in the 1856 score: “What else is life but a series of preludes to that unknown song, the first and solemn note of which is sounded by Death? Love is the enchanted dawn of all life; but what fate is there whose first delights of happiness are not interrupted by some storm, whose fine illusions are not dissipated by some mortal blast, consuming its altar as though by a stroke of lightning?” 

The All-Night Vigil (Всенощное бдение) is a staple in Russian Orthodox music. It “is a service that sets before us the turning point in time between the day now passing and the day now coming.”

  • Sergei Rachmaninoff, All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 (1915) (approx. 54-63’)
  • Pavel Chesnokov, All-Night Vigil (1915) (approx. 49’)
  • Alexander Grechaninov, All-Night Vigil, Op. 59 (1912) (approx. 47’)
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, All-Night Vigil, Op. 52, TH 77 (1882) (approx. 49-67’)
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, All-Night Vigil (1881) (approx. 60’)
  • John Tavener, Orthodox Vigil Service (1984) (approx. 97’)
  • Einojuhani Rautavaara, “Vigilia” (1972, rev. 1986) (approx. 71’)

Operatic Overtures:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (1807) (approx. 8-10’)
  • Beethoven, Leonore Overture No. 2, Op. 72b (1805) (approx. 14-16’)
  • Beethoven, Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72c (1805) (approx. 17’)
  • Beethoven, Egmont Overture, Op. 84 (1810) (approx. 8-10’)
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro Overture (1786) (approx. 4-5’)
  • Mozart, Die Zauberflöte Overture (1791) (approx. 6’)
  • Mozart, Don Giovanni Overture (1787) (approx. 6’)
  • Richard Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer Overture (1840) (approx. 10-12’)
  • Wagner, Tannhäuser Overture (1845) (approx. 14-16’)
  • Gioachino Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia Overture (1816) (approx. 7’)
  • Rossini, La Gazza Ladra Overture (1817) (approx. 10’)
  • Rossini, La Cenerentola Overture (1817) (approx. 8’)
  • Rossini, Guillaume Tell Overture (1829) (approx. 12’)
  • Rossini, L’Italiana in Algeri Overture (1813) (approx. 7’)
  • Rossini, Semiramide Overture (1823) (approx. 12-14’)
  • Giuseppe Verdi, Aida Overture (1870) (approx. 11’)
  • Verdi, La Traviata Overture (1853) (approx. 4’)
  • Verdi, Nabucco Overture (1841) (approx. 8’)
  • Verdi, Un Ballo in Maschera Overture (1858) (approx. 4’)
  • Verdi, Les Vêpres Siciliennes Overture (1855) (approx. 9’)

Organ preludes by Max Reger:

  • 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 (1902)
  • 13 Chorale Preludes (Choralvorspiele) for Organ, Op. 79b (1901-1903)
  • 30 Little Choral Preludes, Op. 135a

Other works:

  •  Johann Sebastian Bach, Great 18 Chorale Preludes, BWV 651-668 (651-661) (1740-1750) (approx. 85-90’)
  • Dmitri Shostakovich, 24 Preludes, Op. 34 (1933) (approx. 30-31’)
  • Katherine Hoover, Preludes (1996-2004) (approx. 21’)
  • Gabriel Fauré, 9 preludes, Op. 103 (1910) (approx. 22-23’)
  • John Adams, Two Fanfares: 1. Tromba Lontana; 2. Short Ride on a Fast Machine. (2005) (approx. 8’)
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff, 10 Préludes, Op. 23 (1903) (approx. 34’) (here is an excellent recording of Rachmaninoff’s Préludes, including Opp. 3, 23, and 32)
  • Rachmaninoff, 13 Préludes, Op. 32 (1910) (approx. 40’)
  • Felix Blumenfeld, 4 Preludes for Piano, Op. 12 (1890) (approx. 8’)
  • Healey Willan, Overture to an Unwritten Comedy (1951) (approx. 4’)
  • Johann Wilhelm Wilms, Overture in D Major (1829) (approx. 10’)
  • Raga Nayaki kanada is a Hindustani classical raag for late evening. Performances are by D.V. Paluskar, Apoorva Gokhale and Mallikarjun Mansur.
  • Raga Sohini (Sohni) is a pre-dawn Hindustani classical raag. Performances  are by Kishori Amonkar, Ulhas Kashalkar and Nikhil Banerjee.
  • Rag Bhupali (Bhoopali): a request for the gods to wake at dawn. Performances are by Ajoy Chakrabarty, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Gajanan Joshi, and a performance on cello by Nancy Lesh.
  • Igor Stravinsky, The Wedding (Les noces) (1922) (approx. 23’): a ballet consisting of scenes depicting ritual preparation for a Russian wedding. Top performances are conducted by Stravinsky in 1934, Ančerl in 1964, Bernstein in 1977, Eötvös in 1987 (1923 and 1917 versions), and Craft in 2001. Videos of the ballet by the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet, conducted by Gergiev, and by La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, are on YouTube.
  • Hans Gál, 24 Preludes for Piano, Op. 83 (1960)
  • Manuel Ponce, 24 Guitar Preludes (1930)
  • Anton Rubinstein, 6 Preludes for piano, Op. 24 (1854) (approx. 35’)

Music: songs and other short pieces

  • The Temptations, “Get Ready” (lyrics)
  • The Fugees, “Ready Or Not” (lyrics)
  • Imagine Dragons, “On Top of the World” (lyrics)

Visual Arts

  • Victor Borisov-Musatov, Summer Melody (c. 1904)
  • Paul Cézanne, The Railway Cutting (c. 1870)
  • Ilya Repin, Preparation for the Examination (1864)
  • Alexey Venetsianov, In the Fields. Spring. (1827)
  • Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, The Morning Toilet (1741)

Film and Stage

August 26, 2010

Previous Post: « Interlude
Next Post: Anticipating »
  • Email
  • Twitter

Topics

Acknowledging Anticipation Appreciation Belonging Choosing Confidence Focus Honoring uniqueness Judgment Motivation Planning Prudence Remembrance Restraining Retreat Reverie Self-knowledge Tenacity Transcending ego Week 01: Human Worth

Web Developers Studio
© Paul L. LaClair, 2025
About | FAQ