Elena Urioste
#UriPosteJukeBox 88: Morgen
Tom and I were feeling all the emotions as we made this recording this morning. Our 88-day #UriPosteJukeBox journey — a day for each piano key — has been one of the most memorable and meaningful experiences of our lives; we’ve mentioned to each other repeatedly that in many ways this project has embodied our most authentic musical selves.
You, dear audience, have made #UriPosteJukeBox what it is, and we are unspeakably grateful for the connections it has allowed us to feel with friends old and new, and for all the amazing requests we received. At this hour of reckoning for the world, when we’re physically separated from loved ones, more conscious than ever of inequalities and injustices, and, in the arts world, perilously aware of the fragility of our entire existence, we have been truly overwhelmed by the warmth, love, and kindness shown by this community, and by the power of music of all kinds to bring us together as we try to process everything that’s going on.
This definitely isn’t a goodbye — this daily chapter may be closing, but we’ll still be popping up with posts now and then, and are busy figuring out how we can incorporate JukeBox elements into our live concerts in the future. All of our videos will remained archived at www.elenaurioste.com/jukebox and on my YouTube channel in a handy #UriPosteJukeBox playlist. We are always a message away.
So, for Day 88, we leave you with Richard Strauss’s radiant song ‘Morgen!’ (‘Tomorrow!’), written as a wedding present for Strauss’s wife Pauline, setting words by John Henry Mackay (which I’ve shared below in translation). Of course the one thing our arrangement misses is a singer; that “lost” voice seems an apt metaphor for our friends, families, and musical partners we miss terribly, and with whom we look forward to being reunited very soon.
With acknowledgement of each past moment that has led us here; with every ounce of my love and gratitude for Tom, my greatest present of all; and with hope for a brighter future for each of you, for our planet, for all, we take a little bow... for now. ♥️
Morgen! (Tomorrow!)
And tomorrow the sun will shine again
And on the path that I shall take,
It will unite us, happy ones, again,
Amid this same sun-breathing earth...
And to the shore, broad, blue-waved,
We shall quietly and slowly descend,
Speechless we shall gaze into each other’s eyes,
And the mute silence of bliss shall fall on us...