jmc's classics
Yesterday was the birthday of Adolph Adam (1803-1856). He was a French composer. he is remembered for the Christmas Carol O Holy Night ( not to be confused with Silent Night). One of his other major compositions was the ballet Giselle.
This ballet
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The harpsichord is a Baroque era instrument which is usually associate with the music of that era. Some rock and jazz musicians have incorporated it in to their works. One of my favorites was the Jamies in their song Summertime Summertime from 1958. That song first came to my attention on Labor Day weekend of 1984. That song has stuck with me since them. The Jamies were a Doowop group based in Boston. I have heard them on on Spotify. They have several other songs including Searching for You and When the sun goes Down which I have also taken a liking to. The song Summertime makes use of the Harpsichord.
The American Jazz and Big Band star Artie Shaw used it for his song Summit Ridge Drive in 1937. It is on his album Begin the Beguine. I have a copy of that album. I like the songs on it Stardust and Moonglow. both songs do not use the harpsichord. Artie Shaw (1910-2004) was an American Jazz and Big Band clarinetist and composer. his real name was Arthur Jacob Arshawsky. He retired from music in 1954. Like Rossini and Sibelius, he retired form music but live al long and productive life. he was also an author of both fiction and non fiction. J.S. Bach, Handle and other Baroque era composers made use of the harpsichord in their music. however Vivaldi did not like the harpsichord and wrote no music for it. The harpsichord fell out of favor at the beginning of the 19th century when the piano became more popular. In a harpsichord, The keys pluck the strings compared to a piano when hammers hit the strings to make a sound. The piano is sometimes considered to be a percussion instrument. The harpsichord was used in the 1960's in Baroque Rock or Baroque Pop which is a sub-genre of music which was popular then. I have spoken of this genre before. The British Conductor Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) said that they sounded like "two skeletons on a tin roof in a hail storm". Evidently he did not like this instrument. |
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