Dr. Bob Prescribes Rossini Overtures
July
20th,
2021
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and his wife Clementine (1885-1977), circa 1944 It's All About Branding Yesterday’s Music History Monday post marked the use of the first four notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as a call sign for a BBC radio show called London Calling Europe, a propaganda/information show broadcast from London into Nazi-occupied Europe. It…
Music History Monday: “V” for Victory!
July
19th,
2021
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill (1874-1965), circa 1944 On July 19, 1941 – 80 years ago today – the BBC World Service began using the first four notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 of 1808 as a “linking” device on its broadcasts into Nazi-occupied Europe. Why the BBC chose to use music…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Johann Joachim (“J. J.”) Quantz
July
13th,
2021
I regularly receive emails from people who want to post music blogs on my Facebook Page, for which - they are always thrilled to tell me - they’ll only charge me $50, or $100, or $200; whatever. Holding my 1966 edition of Quantz’s On Playing the Flute I receive, on average, upwards of 500 emails…
Music History Monday: Johann Joachim Quantz and his Most Famous Student
July
12th,
2021
Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) in 1735, by Johann Friedrich Gerhard (1695-1748) We mark the death on July 12, 1773 – 248 years ago today – of the German composer, flutist, and teacher Johann Joachim, or “J. J.” Quantz, in Potsdam Germany, at the age of 76. Honchos Who Can Play We contemplate the musical abilities…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: George Rochberg, String Quartet No. 3
July
6th,
2021
George Rochberg (1918-2005) George Rochberg, the subject of yesterday’s Music History Monday post, is most famous for his string quartets, seven in number. We turn to his String Quartet No. 3 of 1972, a work Rochberg explains: “is the first major work to emerge from what I have come to think of as ‘the time…
Music History Monday: George Rochberg and the Great Dilemma
July
5th,
2021
George Rochberg (1918-2005) We mark the birth on July 5, 1918 – 103 years ago today – of the American composer George Rochberg (pronounced ROCK-berg). He died at the age of 86 on May 29, 2005. Rochberg was of that generation of composers who, having served in the military during World War Two, found himself…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Adolphe Sax and the Saxophone
June
29th,
2021
Inventors are a breed apart. They range from a simple tinkerer trying to improve a pre-existing technology (perhaps attempting to build a better mousetrap) to creating, like Steve Jobs, products that no one knew they needed until he made them. Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) circa 1850 For all their differences, it seems to me that most…
Music History Monday: Adolphe Sax
June
29th,
2021
Adolphe Sax (1813-1894) in 1844 On June 28, 1846 – 175 years ago today – Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone family as a group of eight (not seven, as is often erroneously stated) instruments. Of these eight “saxophones”, four remain in common use today: the soprano and tenor saxophones, both pitched in B-flat, and the…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Tony Bennett and Bill Evans
June
22nd,
2021
Tony Bennett (born 1926) in January 1960 I’m altering my usual MO here. Usually, when my Music History Monday post celebrates the premiere of a piece of music, the next day’s Dr. Bob Prescribes post goes on the recommend a recording of that piece. As yesterday’s Music History Monday was about Richard Wagner’s The Mastersingers…
Music History Monday: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
June
21st,
2021
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) circa 1868 We mark the premiere performance on June 21, 1868 – 153 years ago today – of Richard Wagner’s music drama The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. The performance took place at the National Theater Munich, which today is the home of the Bavarian State Opera. Conducted by Franz Liszt’s student (and son-in-law)…