Dr. Bob Prescribes The Last Waltz
February
7th,
2023
The Band The Band; left-to-right: Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, and Rick Danko The group of five musicians that eventually became known as “The Band” began to gather in Toronto, Canada, in 1957. However, it wasn’t until 1968 - after working as the backup group for the Canadian rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins…
Music History Monday: Johannes Ockeghem and the Oltremontani
February
6th,
2023
We mark the death on February 6, 1497 – 526 years ago today – of the composer and singer Johannes Ockeghem, in Tours, France, at the age of 87 (or so). He was born circa 1410 in the French-speaking city of Saint-Ghislain in what today is Belgium, about 5 miles from the border with France. …
Dr. Bob Prescribes Francis Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1932)
January
31st,
2023
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) The New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg offers this appraisal of the music of Francis Poulenc in third edition of his book, The Lives of the Great Composers (W. W. Norton, 1997): “It seems clear that Francis Poulenc has emerged as the strongest and most individual member of Les Six [that…
Music History Monday: Francis Poulenc: “a bit of monk and a bit of hooligan”
January
30th,
2023
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) in Paris, circa 1955 We mark the death on January 30, 1963 – exactly sixty years ago today – of the French composer and pianist Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc, in Paris. A Parisian from head to toe, he was born in the tres chic 8th arrondisement in that magnificent city on January…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: The Criterion Collection – Paul Robeson, Portrait of the Artist
January
24th,
2023
James Baldwin (1924-1987) In 1965, the American writer James Baldwin wrote: “At a time when there seemed to be no hope at all, Paul Robeson [1898-1976] spoke out for all of us.” By “all of us,” Baldwin is, of course, referring to Black America. In 1998, the American scholar, historian, author, and social historian Lerone…
Music History Monday: Paul Robeson: Truly Larger Than Life
January
23rd,
2023
Paul Leroy Robeson (1898-1976) in 1942 We mark the death on January 23, 1976 – 47 years ago today – of the American bass-baritone singer, stage and screen actor, civil rights activist, professional football player, and graduate of Columbia University Law School Paul Robeson at the age of 77, in Philadelphia. Born in Princeton, New…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Richard Wagner: The Flying Dutchman
January
17th,
2023
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) in 1861, at the age of 48 Had I not taken a necessary holiday respite from both Music History Monday and Dr. Bob Prescribes, my January 2 and 3, 2023, posts would have featured Richard Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman, which received its premiere on January 2, 1843, in Dresden. The story…
Music History Monday: The Blockhead – Anton Felix Schindler – and Beethoven’s Conversation Books
January
16th,
2023
Anton Felix Schindler (1795-1864) We mark the death on January 16, 1864 – 159 years ago today – of Anton Felix Schindler, in Frankfurt, at the age of 68. Born on June 13, 1795, in the town of Medlov in today’s Czech Republic, Schindler was, for a time, Beethoven’s “factotum”: his secretary and general assistant. …
Dr. Bob Prescribes The Memoirs of Sir Rudolf Bing
January
10th,
2023
Yesterday’s Music History Monday post celebrated the birth of the opera impresario Sir Rudolf Bing in 1902 and, using excerpts from his memoir 5000 Nights at the Opera, sketched his life and career up to 1950: the year he took over as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. Bing was not the first, nor –…
Music History Monday: An Impresario for the Ages: Rudolf Bing
January
9th,
2023
Rudolf Bing (1902-1997) circa 1944 We mark the birth on January 9, 1902 – 121 years ago today - of the opera impresario Rudolf Bing, in Vienna Austria. The general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1950 to 1972, Bing died in Yonkers, New York in September 1997 at the age of…