Music History Monday: Altamont
December
6th,
2021
The concert at the Altamont Speedway, December 6, 1969; the nearly ground-level stage is directly beneath the top balloon, in between the two speaker towers We mark the disastrous concert held on December 6, 1969 – 52 years ago today – at the Altamont Speedway here in Alameda Country in the San Francisco Bay Area. …
Dr. Bob Prescribes: The Triumphs of Oriana
November
30th,
2021
Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) In yesterday’s Music History Monday post, I mentioned a very few of the virtually countless sins that would cause me to be drummed out of today’s academia. Among those I have indulged in the past – and which would undoubtedly get me into trouble in the present - would be making…
Music History Monday: What to Do About Otello?
November
29th,
2021
Before getting to the question that drives today’s post, we would recognize five date-worthy events: a tragedy; two notable cancellations, and two notable opera performances. George Harrison (1943-2001) in 1961, at the age of 18 First, the tragedy. On November 29, 2001 – 20 years ago today – George Harrison died in Los Angeles of…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Benjamin Britten, String Quartet No. 1
November
23rd,
2021
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) in 1938 Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) and his partner, the tenor Peter Pears (1910-1986), left England in late April 1939 for North America. Their ship arrived in Quebec on May 9, 1939, then sailed on to Montreal. After staying a few weeks in Canada, Britten and Pears set off for New York, where…
Music History Monday: Benjamin Britten: The Making of a Composer
November
22nd,
2021
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) in 1948 We mark the birth on November 22, 1913 – 108 years ago today - of the English composer, pianist, and conductor Edward Benjamin Britten in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on the eastern coast of England, roughly 105 miles northeast of London. He died in nearby Aldeburgh on December 4, 1976, at the…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, Show Boat (1927)
November
16th,
2021
World War One began on July 28, 1914. All of the warring parties – the Central Powers of principally Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Turkey and the Triple Entente of mainly France, the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, and Italy – believed they would be victorious and home by Christmas. They were all very, very wrong. Across…
Music History Monday: A Day of First Performances!
November
15th,
2021
We will observe the first performances that occurred on this date and contemplate, as well, the nature and reality of a “first performance” in a moment. But first. I know; I know. We collectively wait, with breaths bated, for today’s “This Day in Musical Stupid.” Sadly, aside from this very post, I have not been…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Beethoven’s Three String Trios, Op. 9
November
9th,
2021
Yesterday’s Music History Monday post featured the composer, pianist, friend of everybody (including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert), the Benedictine abbot Abbé Maximilian Stadler (1748-1833). During the course of that post, we observed that Stadler believed the music of Mozart to be the very last word when it came to artistry and expression. We also…
Music History Monday: Maximilian Stadler: Witness to History
November
8th,
2021
Abbé Maximilian Stadler (1748-1833) We mark the death on November 8, 1833 – 188 years ago today – of the Austrian pianist, composer, and Benedictine monk, Maximilian Stadler. Born on August 4, 1748, in the Austrian city of Melk, Abbé Stadler died in his adopted home city of Vienna. Witnesses to History We contemplate “witnesses…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Vincenzo Bellini: Norma
November
2nd,
2021
By the early nineteenth century, opera in Italy had become a universally popular art. In addition to large cities like Naples, Rome, Florence, Milan, and Venice, there were operatic performances in almost every town of moderate size on the Italian peninsula. Much of this popularity was attributable to the rise of opera buffa, which itself…