jmc's classics
Today is the anniversary of the Death of Italian composer Alessandro Stradella in 1682. he was murdered for running off with the mistress of a venetian nobleman. He had embezzled money from the Catholic Church.
There were a number of operas and plays based on his life. The most famous one is that of Federich von Flotow (1812-1883). Flotow was a German. This opera is not popular right now. Flotow's most famous work is Martha which also is not popular. However several recordings of Martha are available at the present time. There have been several attempts to revive it in recent years. The most notable is that of the Wexford Operas Festival in Ireland in 2001. At the present time I can't find any recordings of this work. However there are some recordings of individual arias of this work. In the past, I have seen one complete recording of this work but not at the present time. There is a better fate for Martha. On Arkiv Music there are four recordings of this work available. As well as some individual recordings of some of the arias. It was featured in the 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera with Nelson Eddy and Claude Rains. It also featured music from I Pagliacci by Rugerio Leoncavallo (1857-1919). I personally like this movie. It is not as gory as the book of the same name and other versions of Phantom of the opera. It does snot have a lot of the same story lines of the story and the Broadway version. I do like this movie. I also like a lot of the movies from this time. I hope that in the near future both works become more popular and are revived. Martha is one of my favorite operas. I have a copy of the 1944 version with the Berlin Staaktskapelle conducted by Johannes Schuler. This recording is stillavailable
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This is the anniversary of the premier of The Barber of Seville by Rossini in 1816. it along with Bizet's Carmen are two of the most iconic operas. The libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini (1784-1831) who collaborated with Rossini on two other operas. It is based on the play of the same name written by French writer Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799). he was influential in the court of King Louis XVI. he wrote other plays. Another play, The Marriage of Figaro has the same characters was made in to an opera by Mozart. This opera is known for a few arias. Mozart's two most famous operas were Don Giovani and the Magic Flute Another Italian composer Giovani Paisiello (1740-1816) also wrote an opera based on The Barber of Seville but is not as famous. This opera is more centered on the romance between Count Almaviva and Rosina. I have heard some of Paisiello's keyboard concertos which I like.
It is set In Seville Spain in the 18th Century. Bartolo Physician has Rosina in his custody. Count Almavica wants to marry her. However Bartolo wants to have her as his wife. Figaro the barber helps Count Almaviva to win Rosina. That is the basic synopsis. It is in two acts. Tis is an opera buffa which means comic opera. It is known for its aria "Largo al Factorum" which is sung by Figaro and one of the most famou9s opera arias. This has been in many movies etc. and there are many parodies have ben made of this aria. I remember when I was a child my family had a copy of this opera on 78 RPM. It was one of the first operas that I had heard of. Rossini wrote other operas and religious works and several string sonatas. He retired from composing in the 1830s. Like Jean Sibelius he did not write much the later part of his life. Rossini's other famous opera was William Tell or Guillaume Tell. This opera is based on the legend of the Swiss hero and is known for its overture which was used in the Lone Ranger. The Barber of Seville is usually knon by its Italian title Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Seville is a city in south-west Spain Yesterday was Valentines Day. Today is Presidents Day.
Valentine Day is to celebrate romance and love not the short one piece concertos. In musical terms, this is the definition of a romance. a short one movement concerto. We had George Washington's birthday as a national holiday. In Illinois, Lincoln's birthday is a state holiday. I don't know if it still is. Today is the birthday of American composer John Adams (1947-) and also of composer Christopher Rouse (1949-2019). Both were friends. Adams is not related to the president with the same name. He wrote an opera in 1985 called "The Chairmen Dances" about Richard Nixon visiting China in 1972. Until then china was a closed society. I am not familiar with this opera or his music. Adams and Rouse were friends and had conducted each other's music. Rouse had an interest in Rock and Roll. He wrote a piece for eight percussionists 1988 called "Bonham" after John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. He wrote five symphonies. he also wrote a concerto for cello. I can not find any CDs of this work available. I have a copy of this work. It is with Yoyo ma and The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by David Zinman. It also contains works for celloand orchestra by Richard Danielpour and Leon Kricher. David Zinamn was also the conductor of the Baltimore Ochestra. Rouse was born in Baltimore. St Valentine was an early Christian martyr. he encouraged Roman soldiers to merrie their famale friends. The Roman emperor did not want his soldiers to be merried. Valentine was eventually arested and killed. A Christian Martyr's day is now assoicate with romance. There are many pages related to classical music on Facebook. One such site is Great cellists of the 20th and 21st Centuries. It has some interesting articles and links to you tube. the videos are of cello performances. It has a lot on Rostropovich and Casals who were two of the greatest cellists of the 20th century.
One recent photo on this site says "I have a therapist. Her name is Music" You could put "His" instead of "Her". Music is good therapy. There is an interesting article on Elgar's Cello Concerto. This work is in five movements: Adagio, Lento, Adagio and Allegro. This work dates from 1919. It was his last major work. I can not recap the entire article it is worth reading. Elgar is mainly Remembered for His Pomo and Circumstance Marches (Opus#29) which is played at graduations. My two favorite cello concertos are those by Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937) and Johan Svendsen (1840-1911) (Opuses 41 and 7 respectfully). Unfortunately, these are not very popular works right now. Neither are the two above mentioned composers. Unfortunately, I probably spend too much time on Facebook. It is a good way to check on people from the past. there are many good articles and links on Facebook. There are a lot of pages connected with classical music. Many orchestras have their own pages and there are pages dedicated to composers. Personally I like the above mentioned quote about therapy. As I had mentioned, February third is the birthday of Mendelssohn. he wrote "Hark the Herald" The Christmas carol which is used in A Charlie Brown Christmas. It also featured "Christmas Time is Here" by Vince Guaraldi.
Among the other characters in this comic strip were Schroeder who had a toy piano and liked Beethoven and who Lucy was in love with. In one episode Schroeder had a bust of Beethoven and Lucy destroyed it. The next thing is that Schroeder goes to a closet and gets another bust of Beethoven out. He had a closet full of Beethoven statues. I remember this iconic cartoon. It was probably the most famous of the comic strips from the late 20th century. It ceased publication in 2000 after the death of its creator Charles Schultz. The most famous characters in this strip were the dog Snoopy and his bird friend Woodstock. Charles Schultz said in an interview ( I don't remember when) that he had complaints tat Snoopy and Woodstock were taking over the cartoon. I remember that cartoon from when I was a child. Both in the newspapers and on the TV specials which apereded on holidays. I liked the Great Pumpkin Halloween episode. My favorite cartoon is Blondie. I remember there was a short lived sitcom from 1968 based on Blondie. It stared Pamelyn Ferdin as Cookie and Peter Robbins as Alexander. Ferdin and Robbins both played the voices of Lucy and Charlie on some of the Peanuts specials. I have seen some reruns on You Tube of this sitcom. I have also connected with Ferdin on Facebook. She is an animal rights activist. Classical music is also seen in the cartoons. I do like Hark the Herald and Christmas Time is here. I like some of Vince Guaraldi's music and have some of his CDs. Guaraldi (1928-1976) ws a jazz pianist. he is also famous for his song "Cast Your Pate to the Wind". this piece is influenced by bosso nova which is a Brazilian type of Jazz music. Today is Groundhog's Day. it was made famous by the movie of the same name which As of now I have never seen. It is also the Presentation of Christ in the Christian calendar. In some countries the Christmas season lasts until that day.
It is the anniversary of the premier of Dvorak's Eighth Symphony (Opus#88) in 1890. His most famous symphony was his Ninth (Opus#95). As I said earlier, my favorite works of his are his Sixth Symphony (Opus#60) , String serenade (Opus#22) and Violin concerto (Opus#53). Tomorrow is the birthdate of Felix Mendelssohn(1809-1847). He was born the same month as Abraham Lincoln. He is most famous for his song Hark the Herald which is played around Christmas It was featured on A Charlie Brown Christmas. He is also famous for his Fifth Symphony "Reformation". It dates from 1830 and was a commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession of Martin Luther which was part of the Reformation. The Reformation was a series of events in Europe in the Sixteenth Century when the Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity split. I have a copy of this work. It is on the Deutsche Grammophon label. It is of the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel. It is paired with Cesar Frank's only symphony. These two works don't have too much in common in my opinion. They are both in the key of D. Franks in D minor and Mendelssohn's in D major. Both are good symphonies which I enjoy |
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