Music History Monday: Dvořák in America
September
27th,
2021
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904), photographed in New York City circa 1893 We mark the arrival on September 27, 1892 – 129 years ago today - of the Bohemian-born Czech composer Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) to the United States, here to take up the Directorship of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. He retained the…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach
September
21st,
2021
It was a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. Like Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922 and Hiram Bingham’s discovery of the “lost” Incan citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru in 1911, Peter Schickele’s discovery of P.D.Q. Bach is the stuff of legend. Very Full Professor of Music Pathology Peter Schickele of the University of Southern…
Music History Monday: Finland, Jean Sibelius, and the Case of the Missing Symphony
September
20th,
2021
Johan Julius Christian “Jean” Sibelius 1865-1957 We mark the death on September 20, 1957 – 64 years ago today – of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, in Järvenpää (yes, that’s a lot of umlauts), Finland. Born on December 8, 1865, in Hameenlinna, Finland, Sibelius was 91 years old when he died. Scandanavia Scandinavia is the Canada…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Complete Beethoven Sets
September
14th,
2021
Spending Other People’s Money I’ve always had a talent for spending other people’s money. Hi-fi shopping: where to start? 35 years ago, when Berkeley California had more hi-fi/stereo shops then fleas on a feral dog, I used to take anyone who asked me stereo shopping. (I had a lot of requests as I was teaching…
Music History Monday: Leopold Stokowski
September
13th,
2021
Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) in 1945, by Yousuf Karsh We mark the death, on September 13, 1977 – 44 years ago today – of the British conductor Leopold Anthony Stokowski, in Nether Wallop, Hampshire, United Kingdom, 67.6 miles (give or take) southwest of London. Born in London on April 18 (the maestro and I share that…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Wolfgang Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito
September
7th,
2021
Deadlines! Domenico Guardasoni (circa 1731-1806) On July 8, 1791, Domenico Guardasoni (circa 1731-1806), the newly hired superintendent of the Estates Opera in Prague, was charged with producing an opera on criminally short notice. The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II (Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard; 1747-1792, the brother of the recently deceased Emperor Joseph…
Music History Monday: Mozart in Prague
September
6th,
2021
Mozart in April 1789 by the German portrait artist Dora (Doris, Dorothea) Stock (1760-1832) We mark the premiere on September 6, 1791 – 230 years ago today – of Wolfgang Mozart’s final opera La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency [or Mercy] of Titus), K. 621. Commissioned by the Prague-based opera producer and impresario Domenico Guardasoni (circa 1731-1806), the…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Heitor Villa-Lobos: 5 Preludes and 12 Etudes for Guitar
August
31st,
2021
A thing of beauty and a joy forever: an Alhambra Linea Pro Classical/Spanish Guitar, hand crafted in Muro De Alcoy, Spain Oh, the Conceit, the Arrogance! Yesterday’s Music History Monday post noted that the rock guitarist Paul Rossoff – he of the 20 Quaalude-a-day habit - is (or at least was, at one time) ranked…
Music History Monday: Oh, Behave!
August
30th,
2021
Every now and again, circumstances force us to plum the tawdry here in Music History Monday. Usually, those “circumstances” are a dearth of good topics to write about; today is such a day. (In fact, there is an excellent, August 30th-associated topic we could have focused on: the completion of Shostakovich’s extremely controversial Symphony No.…
The Composer is Always Right
August
28th,
2021
This weekend, we begin what I consider to be a great adventure: the serialization of my book The Composer is Always Right. (I will be forgiven for calling this a “great adventure”; given the current state of my life, I must take what adventure I can where I find it.) I am making the first…