Ann Michelini

I was alone while my husband was traveling. I play piano a bit and was working on a Shubert piece that had many chords and a pronounced rather hymnlike rhythm. It began to play in my head and eventually became quite intrusive. I needed to exorcise this demon tune and I decided to use another piece to drive it out. I used a favorite bass aria at the end of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. I find it immensely moving: mache dich mein herze rein. The singer wants to bury Jesus’ body in his heart—a weird concept. I can’t remember the Shubert piece now but the Bach aria has begun to play now in my head. It worked , by the way on the earlier occasion