Dead-Composers Society

[AC Benus]

Peter posted an aria earlier on, and it seems apropos to post this one too. *Warning* – Listen only on a settled stomach, and when you're firmly in a happy place. This is a lark.

 

But since there is a new movie on her, may I present the real Florence Foster Jenkins "performing" the Queen of the Night's Second Act aria.

 

The woman was well heeled, and could afford to rent concert halls for her "performances" and did so quite regularly.

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6ubiUIxbWE

[Lux Apollo]

Oh god, we talked about her in the Music & New Musicology course I took in third year when we were discussing reception theory and audience expectations. Her events were in demand as comedy, and she didn't realize it until after Carnegie Hall. Poor bird.

[skinnydragon]

OMG -- she should have done what Anna Russell did and change careers. But at least Anna had a voice!

 

https://youtu.be/eN5dAQLYYrs

[AC Benus]

Oh, Anna!!!! I love a live recording made of Ditter's Arcifanfano, King of Fools, in a performance translation by Auden! It's a wonderful Gay meshing of Goldoni, the male singer who created this female role on stage, then Auden - to Anna's camp delivery - it's golden.  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ObVeF25peU

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD69uSLQxio

Edited August 8, 2016 by AC Benus

[skinnydragon]

Oh, Anna!!!! I love a live recording made of Ditter's Arcifanfano, King of Fools, in a performance translation by Auden! It's a wonderful Gay meshing of Goldoni, the male singer who created this female role on stage, then Aufen - to Anna's camp delivery - it's golden.  

 

 

OMG!  Thank you for that, AC!

[AC Benus]

Carl Ditters (for those who may not have heard of him) was Gluck's chief protegee, and interestingly enough, his main instrument was the oboe. Probably due to this, he became a master at the concerto form, and his influence on Mozart was vast. 

 

Here's a charming recital version of one of his double bass concertos

 

 

 

(If you think this will not appeal, at least listen to the rondo starting at min 10:10 )

Edited August 8, 2016 by AC Benus

[J.HunterDunn]

...

 

Lol I was writing such a comprehensive response you got to it before I did.

 

It was definitely a longer response than mine, but I enjoyed your thourough approach very much. 

[J.HunterDunn]

Peter posted an aria earlier on, and it seems apropos to post this one too. *Warning* – Listen only on a settled stomach, and when you're firmly in a happy place. This is a lark.

 

But since there is a new movie on her, may I present the real Florence Foster Jenkins "performing" the Queen of the Night's Second Act aria.

 

The woman was well heeled, and could afford to rent concert halls for her "performances" and did so quite regularly.

  

 

 

It won't come as a surprise to you that I have a slight preference for the version I posted.

 

Fortunately I had never heard (of) the woman before. What makes me very sad is that this obvious talentless creature had the money to indulge in her horrendous hobby, while there must have been talented people who never got the opportunity to study and shine because of lack of funds.

[J.HunterDunn]

OMG -- she should have done what Anna Russell did and change careers. But at least Anna had a voice!

 

 

 

That was hilarious ! Thanks for sharing. I would never have thought Der Ring would make me laugh ... but this one did.

[Parker Owens]

Here is a charming piece for a summer evening...

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPrcBAq28Q

[dughlas]

Here is a charming piece for a summer evening...

Is it awful that I didn't wait until evening but indulged this afternoon in an effort to combat melancholia? It helped. Thanks Parker.

[skinnydragon]

Here is a charming piece for a summer evening...

 

 

 

Well, I didn't get online until evening, so I followed the rules. 

[Drew Espinosa]

Enrique Granados was a Spanish composer and pianist who left his own unique mark on classical music. His style often reflected his own culture, so many of his pieces had a Spanish flare to them, especially his Danzas Españolas.

 

So for anyone who hasn't heard his work, I hope you enjoy this:

 

Danzas Españolas No. 2 Oriental

 

and the same piece with guitar:

 

While I love both renditions, I slightly prefer the guitar version.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Drew Espinosa

[Lux Apollo]

Feeling a little introspective tonight. 

 

 

 

 

 

Anatoly Lyadov was a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, and one of the teachers of Prokofiev and Stravinsky. His compositional technique and sounds are fairly conservative, and once famously yelled at Stravinsky and Prokofiev that if they wanted to write with some of the extended tonality innovations and other things they were doing in their music, he didn't know why they were studying him, and they should just go study with Strauss or Debussy. He was known to be very clear, concise and observant in his criticisms of work, but his tendency towards indolence was offputting to some. 

[Parker Owens]

Enrique Granados was a Spanish composer and pianist who left his own unique mark on classical music. His style often reflected his own culture, so many of his pieces had a Spanish flare to them, especially his Danzas Españolas.

 

So for anyone who hasn't heard his work, I hope you enjoy this:

 

Danzas Españolas No. 2 Oriental

 

and the same piece with guitar:

 

While I love both renditions, I slightly prefer the guitar version.

I agree with you, Drew, the guitar version is better. Granados is an under appreciated composer, I think, but so much of the work of his I have experienced has been inspiring and evocative. You can hear traces of Satie in this, perhaps.

Feeling a little introspective tonight. 

 

 

 

 

 

Anatoly Lyadov was a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, and one of the teachers of Prokofiev and Stravinsky. His compositional technique and sounds are fairly conservative, and once famously yelled at Stravinsky and Prokofiev that if they wanted to write with some of the extended tonality innovations and other things they were doing in their music, he didn't know why they were studying him, and they should just go study with Strauss or Debussy. He was known to be very clear, concise and observant in his criticisms of work, but his tendency towards indolence was offputting to some. 

This was a new composer to me. I have some exploration to do. Thanks, Lux.

[Lux Apollo]

I think Alban Berg is my favourite composer of the so-called 'Second Viennese School', revolving around Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils (like Berg). Berg perhaps did not go quite as far as Schoenberg and Webern in completely eschewing aspects of tonality for chromaticism, but some of his music does. He was among the important figures that experimented with using 12-tone serialism (or dodecaphonic) structures in his compositions, but his music is beautiful and lacks some of the chaos found in others of the time. I have a strong love for his Violin Concerto - while using serialism, he manages to firmly immerse the work into the world of tonality.

 

Here's a recording of his third published string quartet:

 

[Parker Owens]

Part of the fun of serialism is its geometry. I actually use 12-tone principles to illustrate geometry and graphing concepts in math classes. Inversion and retrograde are just reflections around an axis, after all...

[dughlas]

Part of the fun of serialism is its geometry. I actually use 12-tone principles to illustrate geometry and graphing concepts in math classes. Inversion and retrograde are just reflections around an axis, after all...

I haven't the foggiest though I suspect there's Greek involved ... me, I just listen to all the pretty notes.

[Mikiesboy]

I haven't the foggiest though I suspect there's Greek involved ... me, I just listen to all the pretty notes.

I'm with you dugh.. 

[Lux Apollo]

The wiki description isn't bad:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-tone_technique

 

In some ways it was a bizarre attempt to structure something that they would then unstructure with the different voicings (different instrumental lines, or hands on a keyboard, etc.). I guess one theoretical beauty of it was what kind of sounds they were able to produce despite the limitations imposed by the technique. Though, one might argue that over the history of man any style/genre of music conceived has always had limitations of one sort or another. I guess some forms' limitations are just easier for the ear to adapt to...

[Lux Apollo]

Today I've got some Lutoslawski to share - but in this case it was an early work from when he was a student. The funny thing is, while this piece is gorgeous, Lutoslawski grew to hate his music from this period. He didn't want it published, and was furious when a pianist got ahold of a manuscript of this piece and recorded it without his permission. It remains to this day an almost unknown work. People do not think of this when they think of Lutoslawski, as it sounds more like an impressionist piece - akin to something Debussy or Ravel would have written.

 

[AC Benus]

Here is a charming piece for a summer evening...

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPrcBAq28Q

A lovely piece and a lovely performance. Thanks for posting this, Parker!

[J.HunterDunn]

When I was ironing my shirts this morning (oh joy!) I listened as usual to a classical music radio station.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the piece of music you'll find at the end of this post. I wanted to find out more and now think that it may be well known in the US; for me it was a first.

 

The story of its birth can be found on Mr Whitacre's website. If you are interested in a horrible tale about petty heirs and copyright on poems I invite you to read this first:

 

http://ericwhitacre.com/music-catalog/satb-choral/sleep

 

The lyrics to the music can be found all over the internet, so I won't include them here.

 

This is the piece of music I heard:

 

[Lux Apollo]

When I was ironing my shirts this morning (oh joy!) I listened as usual to a classical music radio station.I was pleasantly surprised by the piece of music you'll find at the end of this post. I wanted to find out more and now think that it may be well known in the US; for me it was a first.The story of its birth can be found on Mr Whitacre's website. If you are interested in a horrible tale about petty heirs and copyright on poems I invite you to read this first:http://ericwhitacre.com/music-catalog/satb-choral/sleepThe lyrics to the music can be found all over the internet, so I won't include them here.This is the piece of music I heard:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9shXm0cIeEY

A lot of his music is wonderful; he's built quite a reputation for his choral works. The choir I sang with for a few years during my MSc times sang a few of his pieces and they were both a joy to perform and to listen to.

Edited August 14, 2016 by lux_apollo

[Lux Apollo]

As far as 20th Century composers, I love Toru Takemitsu's works. I took some definite inspiration from his ability to manipulate tonality and ensemble timbres during my time in the music composition program at my alma mater.