Music History Monday: Handel Ripped Off
January
10th,
2022
George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) circa 1720, “The Chandos portrait of Georg Friedrich Händel” by James Thornhill We mark the premiere on January 10, 1713 – 309 years ago today – of George Frederick Handel’s opera Teseo at the King’s/Queen’s Theater (also-known-as the “Italian Opera Theater”) on Haymarket, in London. It was the still 27-year-old Handel’s third…
Dr. Bob Prescribes The Beatles
January
4th,
2022
George Martin and the Beatles in London’s Abbey Road studios, February or March 1963 The Beatles made their first studio recordings – with George Martin at the helm as their producer – on September 4, 1962, at London’s Abbey Road studios. Out of the six songs they rehearsed and recorded, Martin chose two for their…
Music History Monday: The Fifth Beatle
January
3rd,
2022
The Beatles taking a break while recording their first full album, February 11, 1963: left-to-right, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and George Martin We mark the birth on January 3, 1926 – 96 years ago today – of the English record producer, arranger, conductor, composer, audio engineer, and musician Sir George Martin,…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Aaron Copland, Symphony No. 3
December
28th,
2021
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906-1975) in 1942 Yesterday’s Music History Monday postmarked the 80th anniversary of the completion of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 on December 27, 1941. The utterly cinematic first movement of the symphony depicts a magnificent and lyric “landscape” gutted by a brutal invasion theme that grows from nothing to a vicious, overpowering,…
Music History Monday: Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 7
December
27th,
2021
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) in his fireman’s garb, stationed on the roof of the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Conservatory, 1941 We mark the completion on December 27, 1941 – an even 80 years ago today – of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, the so-called “Leningrad Symphony.” He had begun the symphony at home in Leningrad but completed…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Frédéric Chopin: Nocturnes
December
21st,
2021
Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849), painted by his friend Eugene Delacroix in 1838 Network television has traditionally served up certain types of programming at certain times of the day. Non-stop cartoons for kids? When I was growing up, that what Saturday mornings were all about. Soap operas? Traditionally broadcast on weekday afternoons before 3 pm, presumably…
Music History Monday: Arthur Rubinstein: Fake It ‘Til You Make It
December
20th,
2021
We mark the death on December 20, 1982 – 39 years ago today – of the Polish-born American pianist Arthur Rubinstein, at the age of 95. A happy pianist: Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982) in 1971 Practicing the Piano Question: does anyone really like to practice the piano? Answer: believe it or not, yes. However, we’d observe…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: “A Frenchman in Rio”
December
14th,
2021
Yesterday’s Music History Monday post celebrated - in part - George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, a work inspired by two visits to Paris (one in 1926 and the other in 1928). Taking our cue from An American in Paris, today’s Dr. Bob Prescribes post might be called “A Frenchman in Rio”, as it celebrates…
Music History Monday: Why We Shouldn’t Bring Our Dogs to Work: A Cautionary Tale
December
13th,
2021
As those who read via blog and/or listen via podcast to Music History Monday know, as often as not I’ll mention two, three, or even more date related items before getting to the “main attraction” of a particular post. However, every now and then, one of those preliminary items will take on a life of…
Dr. Bob Prescribes The Music of Bright Sheng
December
7th,
2021
Bright Sheng (born 1955) My Music History Monday post for November 29 focused on the composer Bright Sheng (born 1955), who made the unforgivable mistake of playing Laurence Olivier’s movie of Shakespeare’s Othello to an undergraduate class at the University of Michigan without first offering up a prophylactic explanation/apologia for Oliver’s makeup (the character of…