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On Tuesday night I had my first rehearsal for the next concert I’m doing with the TSO Chorus.

One of the things I love about singing with them is that it’s my only real exposure to classical music at the moment. I really do like classical music, but I don’t usually go out of my way to listen to it. Instead, I generally listen to Triple J, which doesn’t expose me to much that appears in the repertoire of the TSO.

Even when I was briefly considering whether I should attempt a career in singing rather than computing I didn’t go out of my way to find and listen to classical music that I hadn’t heard before. Looking back that’s a definite indicator that I made the right choice, and also looking back I can see (if I’m brutally honest with myself) that while I may have made a good singer, I’d never have been brilliant.

So, getting back to my point - on Monday I picked up my copies of the pieces we’re doing in the next comment. One of them is Benjamin Britten’s choral work Rejoice in the Lamb, which contains a solo piece with these lyrics:

For I will consider my cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the living God.
Duly and daily serving him.

For at the first glance
Of the glory of God in the East
He worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body
Seven times round with elegant quickness.
For he knows that God is his saviour.
For God has bless’d him
In the variety of his movements.
For there is nothing sweeter
Than his peace when at rest.

That struck me as being a) rather unusual for sacred choral music, and b) a witty and insightful poem about a cat.

I decided to look it up online, and it turns out that this extract from Christopher Smart’s Jubilate Agno (written while he was committed to a lunatic asylum) is quite well known. The full text of “My Cat Jeoffry” has even more wit and insight, and yet is also slightly disturbingly unhinged. I love it.

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.
For this he performs in ten degrees.
For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.
For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.
For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.
For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.
For fifthly he washes himself.
For sixthly he rolls upon wash.
For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.
For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.
For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.
For tenthly he goes in quest of food.
For having consider’d God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
For when his day’s work is done his business more properly begins.
For he keeps the Lord’s watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
For he is of the tribe of Tiger.
For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.
For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.
For he will not do destruction, if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.
For he purrs in thankfulness, when God tells him he’s a good Cat.
For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.
For every house is incomplete without him and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.
For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
For every family had one cat at least in the bag.
For the English Cats are the best in Europe.
For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.
For the dexterity of his defence is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.
For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.
For he is tenacious of his point.
For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For he knows that God is his Saviour.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
For he is of the Lord’s poor and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually–Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.
For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better.
For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.
For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.
For he is docile and can learn certain things.
For he can set up with gravity which is patience upon approbation.
For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.
For he can jump over a stick which is patience upon proof positive.
For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.
For he can jump from an eminence into his master’s bosom.
For he can catch the cork and toss it again.
For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.
For the former is afraid of detection.
For the latter refuses the charge.
For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.
For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.
For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.
For he killed the Ichneumon-rat very pernicious by land.
For his ears are so acute that they sting again.
For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.
For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.
For I perceived God’s light about him both wax and fire.
For the Electrical fire is the spiritual substance, which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.
For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.

In other non-cat-related news: Sebastian is four months old! Well, he’s seventeen weeks old today, and four calendar months old on Sunday. He’s growing quickly, and he’s gorgeous. I really ought to put some more photos up.

Also, I’m waaay behind on book reviews. I want to write reviews for:
The Prince, by Machiavelli: a great read, and quite undeserving of the nasty reputation that has caused the author’s name to become an insult in our language.
Where Wizards Stay up Late: The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon: an enjoyable “docu-drama” in book form, retelling the story of the original ARPANet from which the Internet is descended.
Geeks by Jon Katz: Much better than I expected given my dislike of the author’s hyperbolic rantings on Slashdot. I only picked it up because I’m a sucker for a troll, but it was a reasonably good read.

..plus others I’ve probably forgotten. I’m currently reading Falling Towards England by Clive James, and next up isThe Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester (again!). This must be my year for non-fiction.