Former Member

Galuppi's most oft recorded piano sonata. Remind you of Mozart any? LOL!!!!!!!!!

Tallyho!

And why is Galuppi's piano work so hard to find again . . . ?

It's shocking he died so young, and at the height of his powers as a writer too. A sad day indeed

If you know, you know. Niccolò Piccinni is more responsible for 21st century musical stagecraft than almost anyone else. Not only did his Cecchina of 1760 establish the model of what a perfect comic opera (or play, for that matter) should be, his Iphigénie en Tauride won 'the battle of the clowns' in Paris (over Gluck) and established beyond refute Le grand opéra. No opera coming after Iphigénie en Tauride would remain unaffected. But besides laurels, Cecchina remains perennially fresh. The action married to the music is timless and spiritually refreshing. Love will win. And his Iphigénie en Tauride is ever majestic and tragic on the stage; an intoxicatingly well-balanced draught of chorus usage, the dance, solos and ensanbles to tell an ancient Greek tale as vital and real as your own heartbeat. Here is Jordi Castella performing O Notte, o Dea del mistero solo on piano

And as I understand it, this song cycle meant a great deal to the composer, for though there is a made-up origin story involving a girl, who was actually no more than an acquaintance of the young man -- crafted decades later by a clean-up crew of biographers -- Mahler kept coming back to this early composition to revise it, and ultimately, provide full orchestration for it in the 1890s No one would write this as a reaction to anything but a rejection of one man's love for another

More from the "They Keep So Much From Us" category. Who out there discusses the irrefutable fact that Mahler's song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen -- for tenor -- is Gay af? In it, the protagonist first laments his love is getting married; but mein Schatz is the male form. So, a Gay guy is bummed his sweetheart -- a man -- is falling into the trap of conformity and marrying a woman. This tone sets up the entire morose atmosphere of the cycle, coming back around several times in the grammar to hammer home the situation that the be-grieved, lost love is a man. When others try to hide this by having sopranos sing the cycle, the grammar is messed up because the singer also has to be male for the syntax to function correctly. There is simply no argument to be made that Mahler did not "mean" same-sex love to be discussed here, as he himself wrote the text

I found this recording on youtube this morning! I bought the CD containing this chamber music nearly 30 years ago, and it's the first time I'm seeing it online. This Ukrainian composer is the Russian Empire's Haydn, having composed numerous works throughout a long career, including the hymn that became Russia's national anthem before the Bolsheviks replaced it. The Moscow Ancient Music Ensemble perform Bortniansky's 1790 Piano Septet

Oddly, this 1837 scherzo movement reminds me strongly of Mahler

Interesting, but it's from 18th century botanical Latin -- or so the OED tells me. The word also gets applied to blackberries, raspberries and such (little bunches of fruit-ettes with the seed inside each segment)

"Sausages in tutus! How Gay can ya get!"

"Amen!"

Four of Renée de Brimont's same-sex love poems were set to music by Gabriel Fauré as Mirages ["Illusions"] in 1919. Here is the third of the series called Jardin nocturne ["Nocturnal Garden"] performed by Marianne Crebassa. The text follows. Jardin nocturne by Renée de Brimont Nocturne jardin tout empli de silence, voici que la lune ouverte se balance en des voiles d'or fluides et légers; elle semble proche et cependant lointaine... Son visage rit au cœur de la fontaine et l'ombre pâlit sous les noirs orangers. Nul bruit, si ce n'est le faible bruit de l'onde fuyant goutte à goutte au bord des vasques rondes, ou le bleu frisson d'une brise d'été, furtive parmi des palmes invisibles... Je sais, ô jardin, vos caresses sensibles et votre languide et chaude volupté! Je sais votre paix délectable et morose, vos parfums d'iris, de jasmins et de roses, vos charmes troublés de désirs et d'ennui... ô jardin muet! -- L'eau des vasques s'égoutte avec un bruit faible et magique... J'écoute ce baiser qui chante aux lèvres de la Nuit. Nocturnal Garden A nocturnal garden filled with silence the open moon sways in light, flowing veils of gold; she seems near and yet far away... Her face laughs in the heart of the fountain and the shadows pale beneath the black orange trees. No sound but the faint sound of the wave dripping on the edge of the round basins, or the blue shiver of a summer breeze, furtive among invisible palms... I know, O garden, your sensitive caresses and your warm, languid voluptuousness! I know your delectable, morose peace, your fragrances of iris, jasmine and rose, your charms troubled with desire and ennui... O mute garden! -- The water in the basins drips with a faint, magical sound... I listen to the kiss that sings on the lips of Night. [DeepL translation]

Valentine's Day, and once again I present the most perfect chocolate-box opera to give your love. Vincent Martín i Soler's 1788 L'arbore di Diana. High-minded Cupid comes down to frigid Diana's sacred grove to spice things up. And oh, do things get hot! Of musical note is the opening number of three nymphos, um, nymphs discovering a lush young man in their grove. Da Ponte's scene here was later rolled into a similar situation in Mozart's Magic Flute, and the music shows it.

Gérard Poulet and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra -- led by Vladimír Válek -- perform the most convincing version of Lalo's famous Concerto Russe I've heard

Ursa was common Latin slang for women-loving women (due to Callisto in Greek myth being turned into the "big bear" star constellation as the tragic result of her love for Diana). So, ursine in English should also carry the meaning of Lesbian(ish) 😇

Said the man after seeing "Top Gun" for the first time

I presume the "seasonal atmosphere" of Uranus is due to an excess of holiday indulgence 🤣

"Make the season GAY!"

"Tis the season?" "Mary, it's always the season for THAT!"

Victor Julien-Laferrière, and Marie Jacquot leading the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, perform Korngold's cello concerto in January of 2023. (I start the vid with the ravishing second subject of the first movement)

L'amico Fritz. Before Puccini, there was Mascagni -- and what a glorious production this is