Dr. Bob Prescribes Vernon Duke and Concert Works
October
11th,
2022
Compositional Bipolarity Alec Wilder, in his classic study, American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 (Oxford University Press, 1972), writes: “Vernon Duke was only one half of his musical self; the other half was Vladimir Dukelsky, a composer of concert works. Unfortunately for all of us, the concert, so-called ‘serious’ side of the man’s talent…
Music History Monday: Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky, AKA “Vernon Duke”
October
10th,
2022
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky/Vernon Duke (1903-1969) We mark the birth on October 10, 1903 – 119 years ago today – of the Russian-American composer of concert music Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky. As a composer of popular music, and as a major contributor to the Great American Songbook, he is known as Vernon Duke. The Great American Songbook…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Carl Nielsen, Symphony No. 4, Op. 29
October
4th,
2022
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) in 1908, at the aged of 43 Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) composed six symphonies which are, outside of Denmark, his best-known works. His first symphony was completed 1892, when he was 27 years of age. As we would expect from a first symphony by a young composer, Nielsen’s influences are clearly in evidence:…
Music History Monday: Carl Nielsen
October
3rd,
2022
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) in 1917 We mark the death on October 3, 1931 – 91 years ago today – of the Danish composer and violinist Carl Nielsen in Copenhagen, at the age of 66. Nielsen had what we colloquially call “a bad ticker.” He suffered his first heart attack in 1925, when he was sixty…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
September
27th,
2022
Yesterday’s Music History Monday post marked the 77th anniversary of Bartók’s death in New York City, and the circumstances leading to what he himself called his “comfortable exile” in the United States between January 1940 and his death in September 1945. Among the works he composed while living in New York was his Concerto for…
Music History Monday: Béla Bartók’s American Exile
September
26th,
2022
Béla Bartók (1881-1945) and his second wife, the pianist Ditta Pásztory (1903-1982), photographed in New York City circa 1942 We mark the death on September 26, 1945 – 77 years ago today – of the pianist, composer, and Hungarian patriot Béla Bartók. Born in what was then the Hungarian town of Nagyszentmiklós(now Sînnicolau Mare in…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 10
September
20th,
2022
Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel (1879-1964) and Franz Werfel (1890-1945) in 1935 A Nice Hike In early September of 1940, Gustav Mahler’s widow Alma (1879-1964) – now married to the Jewish author Franz Werfel (1890-1945) – walked from France to Spain in order to escape the Nazi occupation of Europe. (Time out. We read constantly…
Music History Monday: Day Gigs
September
19th,
2022
“Don’t give up your day gig.” Along with “don’t eat yellow snow” and “fake it ‘til you make it”, “don’t give up your day gig” remains one of the oldest, hoariest, clichéd pieces of advice anyone can give or receive. But unless you were lucky/wise enough to heed the other greatest piece of advice any…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana
September
13th,
2022
Romanticism The nineteenth century saw the emergence of a new sort of European literature. The cutting-edge writers of the time were consumed by a number of particular themes: the glorification of extreme emotion, particularly love; nostalgia for a distant, mystical, legendary past; and a passionate enthusiasm for nature wild and free, unspoiled by humanity and…
Music History Monday: Robert and Clara, Sittin’ in a Tree…
September
12th,
2022
Robert (1810-1856) and Clara Schumann (née Wieck, 1819-1896) in 1847 We mark the marriage on September 12, 1840 – 182 years ago today – of the pianist and composer Clara Wieck (1819-1896) to the composer and pianist Robert Schumann (1810-1856). The couple were married the day before Clara’s 21st birthday (September 13, 1840), for reasons…