Announcing New Trips With The Great Courses
January
8th,
2025
First — the nitty gritty details – Trip 1: The What: Great Music Masters of Vienna: The Romantics The When: May 4-10, 2025 The Where: Vienna, Austria The How: The trip is offered by The Great Courses Journeys, the travel brand for The Great Courses Plus! The How to Register: Click Here Pricing: Double Occupancy: $6,795…
Music History Monday: An American in Paris
August
26th,
2024
We mark the London premiere on August 26, 1952 – 72 years ago today – of the film “An American in Paris.” With music by George Gershwin (1898-1937), directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, and Oscar Levant, the flick won six Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. While the film…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Igor Stravinsky, Pulcinella Suite
August
20th,
2024
Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929) in 1904, by Valentin Alexandrovich Serov Yesterday’s Music History Monday marked the death of the Russian impresario and polymath Serge Diaghilev (1872-1929). Serge Diaghilev was a facilitator of genius. His special gift was for “creative administration.” He could spot talent from 100 miles away, then bring that talent together, all the while…
Music History Monday: Serge Pavlovich Diaghilev
August
19th,
2024
Serge (or Sergei) Diaghilev (1872-1929) in 1916 We mark the death on August 19, 1929 – 95 years ago today – of the Russian impresario, patron, art critic, and founder of the Ballets Russes Serge (or “Sergei”) Pavlovich Diaghilev, in Venice. Born in the village of Selishchi roughly 75 miles southeast of St. Petersburg on…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Giovanni Gabrieli
August
13th,
2024
Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1555-1612) Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1555-1612) By the last years of the sixteenth century, the multi-choral/multi-ensemble (or just “polychoral”) religious music being composed for performance at the Basilica of San Marco (St. Mark’s) in Venice had virtually nothing to do with the sober spirit and musical dictates of the Counter Reformation. Rather, it had…
Music History Monday: Giovanni Gabrieli and the Miracle That is Venice!
August
12th,
2024
Giovanni Gabrieli (circa 1555-1612) We mark the death on August 12, 1612 - 412 years ago today - of the composer Giovanni Gabrieli. Born in Venice circa 1555, he grew up and spent his professional life in that glorious city, and died there as a result of complications from a kidney stone. Gabrieli’s magnificent, soul-stirring…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Guillaume Du Fay
August
6th,
2024
Yesterday’s Music History Monday post celebrated the 627th birthday of Guillaume (“William”) Du Fay (1397-1474). He was, by every measure, one of the greatest composers yet to have lived, and was considered - in his lifetime, by his contemporaries - to be the greatest among them. Guillaume Du Fay (on the left) stands next to a…
Music History Monday: The First Professional Composer
August
5th,
2024
Easy Times! We’ve been having a good time, an easy time here at Music History Monday these last few weeks. Five of our last six MHM posts have featured fairly recent musical events from the “popular” side of the musical aisle. Music History Monday for June 24 focused on Disco; on July 1, the invention and…
Music History Monday: Cass Elliot and the Making of an Urban Legend
July
29th,
2024
We mark the death of Cass Elliot on July 29, 1974 – 50 years ago today – in an apartment at No. 9 Curzon Street in London’s Mayfair District. Born on September 19, 1941, she was just 32 years old at the time of her death. Cass Elliot (born Ellen Naomi Cohen); 1941-1974 Brief Biography…
Dr Bob Prescribes Georges Bizet, Carmen
July
23rd,
2024
As often happens, the topic of a previous day’s Music History Monday post has become, here, the inspiration for today’s Dr. Bob Prescribes. As a reminder: yesterday’s Music History Monday – entitled “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” – focused on a pair of Taylor Swift concerts in Seattle that shook the ground beneath the stadium with such violence…