jmc's classics
This is the anniversary of the birth of Johan Svendsen (1840-1911) who I have spoken of. he is Norwegian and best known for his Romance for Violin and Orchestra. He is obscured by Edvard Grieg. Svendsen is one of my favorite obscure composers.
Several operas premiered on this day: Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin in 1925,The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet in 1863 and finally The Magic Flute ( Die Zauberflote) by Mozart in 1791. Mozart died less than three months later. The Magic Flute is a fairy tale opera. It is based on masonic principles. Mozart was a Free Mason. So was the librettist Emanuel Schikander. Masons or Shriners are members of a masonic lodge. This is a type of men's organization. It is part of a genre of opera called singspiel which was popular in the German speaking lands in the 18th Century. This genre of opera uses spoken dialogue in addition to singing. There are also themes from the enlightenment in this opera including the age of reasoning and knowledge. The Masons at that time and still now are looked down on by the Catholic Church. Mozart was Catholic and wrote several masses and other religious works. It is difficult to give a synopsis of the entire work. it is set in ancient Egypt. It involves a prince Tamino and the bird catcher Papageno. both are looking for wives. It has some vary famous areas and duets in it.one such is "Der Holle Rcah kocht" which is sung by the queen of the Night and is one of the most difficult areas in opera it has an F4 range.. My favorite area from this work is Pa Pa Papageno by Papageno. I recommend this opera. The version I have is of Karl Bohm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic on the London Label from 1955. it does not have the spoken dialogue. It is a 2 disc set. With the spoken dialogue it would take three discs. There are many other excellent versions. Checkk it out on You Tube.
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Ruth Bader Ginsberg evidently liked opera and wanted to be an opera singer when she was young. There has been an opera written about her and fellow Justice Antonin Scalia.
It is called Scalia Vs. Ginsberg. It premiered in 2015. It has only three characters: Ginsberg, Scalia and The Commentator. Both the music and the libretto are written by Derrick Wang who I can't find any information about. I have done a google search of this work. According to Wikipedia "It mixes Verdi Puccini, Christmas Carols, The Star Spangle Banner and Jazz". There is one CD of this work listed on Arkiv.com. There is an opera about Nixon in China : The Chairmen Dances by John Adams (1927- ). Adams is a contemporary American composer. This month begins Octoberfest. on the Seasonal channel on cable TV they Feature German folk music. Octoberfest began in Germany in the early 1800's. Many communities in America with large German populations, There are Octoberfest events even on south America and where ever there are German communities. It began in Munich in 1810 as a celebration on the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwing of Bavaria to Princess Therese. Until 1871 there was no united German nation. It was a loose confederation of independent states and principalities. It usually lasts in Munich from late September until mid October. later it became a celebration of German agriculture. It was canceled in 1813 because of the French invasion.
On yourclassical.org in the "Favorites" section there is an entry from September 19 of 2019 that has Octoberfest music. mainly that of Richard Strauss and W. A. Mozart. Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra and Der Rosenkavalier and Mozart's Oboe Quartet and Piano Sonata #4. Both composers fathers were also composers in their own right. When we think of German music we think of ompa bands and polkas. There used to be two or three German radio programs in St. Louis on Sunday afternoons. There are a lot of people of German decent in St. Louis. Octoberfest is associated with German folk music and food. German food includes bratwurst, sourkraut, schnitzel and potato pancakes to name a few things. Germany is known for beer. There is usually special Octoberfest brew during this season I have never been to Octoberfest in Munich. But I have been to some events in St. Louis. it was very crowded. St. Louis has a strong German heritage. Also do much of the outlying areas in Missouri and southern Illinois. When we think of "Walton" we usually think of the 1970's TV show or Wal-Mart and Sam's. There is then the British composer William Walton (1902-1983) who I spoke of in my last article. I do not like Wal-Mart or Sam's. They do not treat their workers right and destroy competition. I don't like Amazon either for the same reasons. Sir William Walton like Svendsen wrote two symphonies and one each concerto for the violin and for the cello. He also wrote a viola concerto. He is remembered for his First Symphony, his cantata Belshazzar's Feast and the viola concerto. In addition he wrote an opera Troilus and Cressida which is based on Geoffrey Chaucer' Epic poem about the Trojan WAr. Chaucer was an English writer and poet who lived in the 14th century. As well as music for several films.
Belshazzar's Feast is based on The Book of Daniel and Psalm 137 about the Jews exile in Babylon. I am not familiar with that work. It was dedicated to his friend and benefactor Lord Beners. it was first performed in 1931. it is for soloists and chorus. He briefly lived in Italy after getting married. His wife was from Argentina and 24 years his junior. she lived until 2010. England and Argentina were at war over the Falkland islands in 1982. His music was considered to be old fashioned. However he experimented with the altonism with a string quartet in 1921. Altonism was a movement in music where notes were not on the chromatic scale. He wrote another string quartet in 1945-46. I have not heard these pieces. I so not like Wal-Mart. maybe there should be a store called Svendsen-Mart and Widor-Mart. I like the web site people of Walmart. peopleofwalmart.com this is funny! Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) was a French organist anad composer. He also wrote two symphonies and one each violin and cello concerto. I have a CD of his Second Symphony and Violin Concerto and the Scapino Overture. with Andrew Litton conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on the London Label. It features Tasmin Little on the Violin. The Second is in three movements: Allegro Molto, Lento assai and Passacaglia. I recommend this recording. Walton was also working on a third symphony but he scraped the project. Svendsen also worked on a third symphony. Several parallels between the two! In my previous article I spoke of a new CD of Krommer's Symphonies. i have purchased anthher one fo Svendsen's Cello Concerto (Opus#7). it is on The Dacord label with Erling Blondal Bengtsson on the cello with Ole Schmidt conducting. This is a Danish label.
Bengtsson (1936-2013) was a Danish cellist. He started playing the cello at age four. He studied at the Curtis institute of Music in Philadelphia when he was 16. I have only recently heard of him. This is a two CD set it also features Bengtsson playing cello concertos of Bent Lorentzen (1925-2018), Leif Thybo(1922-2001), Svend Westergaard (1922-1988), Franz Xavier neruda (1834-1915), Emil hartmann (1836-1898) plus Tchaikovski's Roccoco Variations (Opus 35). I am not familiar with the other composers. I have two other recordings of Tchaikovsky's Rocco Variotions. One with Mstislav Rostropovich and Herbert Von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. It is coupled with Dvorak's Cello Concerto. The other is with Misha Maisky and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and includes Tchaikovsky's other Cello woks. My favorites on that one are The Nocturn for Cello and Orchestra (Opus #19) and the Andante Cantabile (Opus #11) from his String quartet. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is based in New York and plays with out a conductor. Svendsen is one of my favorite composers. Johan Svendsen (1840-1911) Was Norwegian and spent most of his career in Denmark. He was also a conductor and a violinist. he is mainly remembered for his Romance for Violin and Orchestra (Opus #26) The Cello concerto lasts about 17 minutes it is in the standard three movements: Allegro, Andante and Tempo: allegro. I especially like the beginning movement. There is one other reccording abaiolable of this work that is with Neemi Jarvi conducting the Bergen Philharmonic with Truls Mork on the Cello. It is on the Chandos label and coupled with Svendsen's Second Symphony (Opus#15) I have seen several videos on You Tube of this concerto. Another Favorite Cello concerto of mine is that of Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937) (Opus #41). Widor was a French organist and is mainly known for his organ works. Like Sventsen adn William Walton (1902-1983) he wrote two symphonies and one each violin and cello concerto. I enjoy this CD. All of the other composers on this disc except Tchaikovsky are very obscure. I hope that the cello concertos of Svendsen adn Widor both become more popular in the near future! I have recently purchased some new CDs. One is that of the Third, fourth and Seventh symphonies of Franz Krommer (1759-1831). He was a Czech composer. During his lifetime, he was considered to be a strong rival to Beethoven. However, soon after his death his popularity faded. Like J.S. Bach, his music became forgotten after his death. He has been remembered mainly for his Clarinet Concerto (Opus#36) of whihc there are six versions available. he also wrote several other pieces for clarinet and for other wind instruments.
Two reasons sited for his obscurity is that he was eclipsed by Beethoven and the spelling of his name. Sometimes it is "Krommer" the German spelling of "Kramer" the Czech spelling. He lived in Hungary. he served as a violinist in the court orchestra of the Duke of Styria and as a choir master at the Catholic cathedral in Pecs which is in Hungary. Krommer was trained as both a violinist and an organist. He was a younger contemporary of Mozart. The Classical period in music which is roughly between 1740-1830 is dominated by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. It is called the "Classical Period" because there was at that time an increased interest in classical Greek and Roman culture. I am still listening to the symphonies. The fourth (Opus #102) is the one that is the most popular. It is in four movements: Largo, Adagio, Menuetto: Allegreto and Allegro, The fifth (Opus #105) is divided iin to four movements: Adagio, andante Menuetto: Allegretto and Allegro moderato. The seventh which does not have an opus number is in G minor and divided in to: Largo, Adagio, Menuetto and Adagio. It haver did not appear in print. an autograph score dates from 1824. All three works last around 25 minutes. I have heard Krommer's Clarinet concerto a few times over the past few years. Krommer also wrote several religious works. The CD is on the CPO label which is a German label. They have released a lot of CDs if obscure composers. It Features the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana which is in Italian orchestra which had its beginnings in 1935. It is conducted by Howard Griffiths. I applaud the CPO label for making CDs of some of the music of obscure composers and obscure wroks by not so obscure composers. It is Labor Day weekend. It is also the birthday of two Antons : Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) and Anton Dvorak (1841-1904). My favorite works by Bruckner are his Third Symphony and Intermezzo for String Quintet. My favorite works of Dvorak are His Sixth symphony, Violin Concerto and String Serenade (Opuses: 60, 53 and 22). Bruckner's works are cataloged as WAB instead of opus. Both men were born in the Austrian Empire. Bruckner was Austrian. Austrians speak German. Dvorak was Czech which at that time was part of Austria.
Dvorak overshadows a lot of other Czech composers including Bedrich Smetena (1824-1884). Both men used Czech folk music as basis for their music. I like Richard Strauss's early symphony in F minor (Opua#12). It sounds somewhat like a Bruckner symphony. It dates from 1884. I am not sure what influence Bruckner had on either Strauss or Dvorak. I like Richard Strauss' early works better. Another great Third Symphony is that of Sibelius which is in C major (Opus#52). Sibelius was Finish. This symphony is in three movements instead of the standard four. It lasts about 30 minutes. The movements are: Allegro moderato, andantino con moto and Moderato: Allegro ma non tanto. I hope that things will start getting back to normal soon. This has been a strange year so far. I wonder what next will happen. Music is a good escape. |
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