jmc's classics
It is now Christmas Season. Many of the familiar Christmas Carols are actually Classical in nature. I did not originally that a lot of this is of Classical nature. I must comment that like many people I do not like the fact that Christmas is being secularized! I love many of the Holiday TV specials. SEveral that are of a religious nature have not been seen for years. Such as Little Drummer Boy, Nestor The Long Eared Donkey and the Frosty episode where Frosty gets married and they build a "snow parson" Christmas is about the birth of Christ. Not materialism. Many of the beloved carols come from the Christmas Masses and services that were held during Christmas. As Mentioned hark the Harold and O Holy Night are from well known classical composers. No Christmas is complete without listening to Hanlde's Messiah or Tchiakovsky's Nutcracker. Silent Night, O Holy Night, The First Noel are some of the best loved ones. Some of the lesser known ones are The Coventry Carol, Noel We Sing and Gabriel's Message. The latter one is of Basq origin and became popular in the 19th century. The Basqs are a minority people in Spain and France. Their language is not part of the Indo European Family of languages. This carol has become more popular in recent years. Especially after Sting made a recording of it in the 1980's. The Coventry Carol is very haunting. It refers to the slaughter of innocents by Harrod after Jesus was born. there are several good versions of this one.
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Today is Thanksgiving. Am Watching dog show on NBC. Just watched Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Many of the beloved Christmas Carols are originated in Classical Music. I will get to that later. I don't like that Christmas is being secularized.
The late Swedish operatic tenor sang a good version of the Thanksgiving hymn We gather Together together by Edward Krencer on the Firestone Hour which in the 50's played Classical musicwwwyoutube.com Type in 'Juissi Bjorling' in the search area. I have attended two recent concerts one on November 19 and another one on November 11 Veterans Day. Thank you to all Veterans!!
The one on the 19th featured Charles Ives The Unanswered Question, John Adams the Transmigration of Souls and Mozart's Requiem. Ives and Adams(not to be confused with the president.) The Transmigration and requiem deal with death and mourning. The Transmigration was written in the wake of 9-11 and has spoken voice. both works I did a lot of contemplating while I was listening. the cooncert on the 11th Featured Leonard Slatkin's Kinah which was written in memory of his parents who were also classical musicians. Barber's Piano Concerto, Copeland's Billy the Kid and George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Suit. Porgy and Bess is best known for its song 'Summeritme'. It was also one of the first operas to have an all black cast. Barber and Ives were both American and lived out their lives in the second half of the 20th Century and may seem to be in contrast to Mozart who was Austrian and lived almost 200 years earlier. Slatkin who conducted the work on November 11 is also American. He is not much of a composer. It begins with themes form the second movement to Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello(opus #102) "double Concerto" Which his parents were practicing before his father died in 1963. Brahms Double Concerto is one of my favorite pieces. Leonard Slatkin is not known as a composer. German Conductor Willhelm Furtwengler (1886-1954) and Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals (1876-1973) were both composers in their own right. I volunteer with the St. Louis Symphony stlsymphony.org which is located at the historic Powell Hall on Grand Boulevard at Delmar in Midtown St. Louis. my main activity is helping with the Friday morning matinee concerts ( aka Coffee Concerts) Which are held several times during the season. I get free tickets to the concerts.
The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is a world class orchestra and is currently led by David Robertson. leonard Slatkin , Hans Vonk And Jerzey Semkow have also served as conductors. Classical music is used in commercials. There is a commercial for Aleve that uses on of Tchiakovsky's pieces. Wagner's Ride of the Valkuries and Richard Strauss' Thus spoke Zarathrustra have been used in commercials as well as Beethoven's 5th and9th symphonies.
About 20 years ago the second movement of Schubert's second Piano Trio was used in a commercial for a cell phone company. Best buy used Rugerio Leoncavello's The Sobbing Song from I Pagliaci in a commercial. There are many others. Pagliaci is the iconic opera about a clown. Written by Rugerio Leoncavello who is a "one hit wonder" he wrote several other operas and operettas. The Anvil song from Il Travitore by Guisippi Verdi was used I a commercial for Pepsi about 22 years ago. |
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