Babe: Elaboratio: A Tribute to My Mother

There aren’t enough trees to make enough paper to write enough words to say how much I love my mom, and words would just make a big bucket of ink. I only knew her for a short time, as she died when I was thirteen, but those years gave me infinite joy and strength. I carry her with me every day. The love we had for each other will last me my entire life. She dreamed I’d become a musician—a famous musician. She would say, “I want to be known as Beethoven’s mother.” It was her dream to see me perform at Carnegie Hall. She made this known to me at an early age. She always said it with a smile, but I knew she really meant it. I never performed at Carnegie Hall because I wanted to save it for a special occasion. That occasion finally became a reality on May 22, 2026, the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of my mom, Anita-Francis Livingston Connick. What you’re about to read is an elaboration, an elaboratio, a swirl of truths and legends as I remember my mother, which also serves as a blueprint for the music by the same name that I’ve written in her honor.