Dr. Bob Prescribes THE CONCERT and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy
December
22nd,
2020
Thomas Forrest Kelly: First Nights – Five Musical Premieres Thomas Kelly’s book First Nights – Five Musical Premieres is outstanding: well researched, beautifully written, and highly entertaining. It tells the stories behind five musical premieres, premieres that by their inclusion in the book implies that Kelly considers them to be the most important/interesting premieres in…
Music History Monday: The Top “ZZ’s” – Frank Zappa and Zdeněk Fibich
December
21st,
2020
We mark and celebrate two composers born on this date. Zdeněk Fibich was born on December 21, 1850; 170 years ago today. Frank Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, 80 years ago today. The two had more in common with each other than just a name that started with the letter “z”. They were…
Dr. Bob ‘Sort of’ Prescribes Beethoven – Der glorreiche Augenblick
December
15th,
2020
Beethoven (1770-1827) officially turns 250 years young tomorrow, and we can only wish that we were able to gather together in celebration of the great man’s birthday. Thanks a lot, COVID-19, for pooping Beethoven’s party. We persevere. Today, I’m offering up something a bit different from the usual Dr. Bob Prescribes post. The avowed mission…
Music History Monday: Wozzeck
December
14th,
2020
Left-to-right: conductor Erich Kleiber (1890-1956), Alban Berg (1885-1935) and bass-baritone Leo Schützendorf (the first Wozzeck, 1886-1931) at the State Opera in Berlin, December 1925, prior to the world premiere of Berg’s Wozzeck We mark the premiere performance on December 14, 1925 – 95 years ago today – of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck in Berlin, conducted…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Sergei Nakariakov
December
8th,
2020
Buckingham Park (later called “Bookbinder”) Elementary School, Levittown/Willingboro, N.J., which I attended from 1959-1965 We routinely decry the death (or near death) of music education in public schools, slowly and incrementally over the last few decades. However, if my experience is any indication, I would suggest we temper our outcry in the unvarnished light of…
Music History Monday: The Worthy and Unworthy, from High Taste to Low
December
7th,
2020
Prince Josef Lobkowitz and Some Number One Songs That Will Live in Infamy! We have three items on our calendar-driven agenda today, which also happens to be the 79th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. One of these items is a birth; one of them is…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Charles-Valentin Alkan
December
1st,
2020
Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888), one of the two known photos of Alkan Yesterday’s Music History Monday post acknowledged the anniversary of the birth of Charles-Valentin Alkan on November 30, 1813. A contemporary (and friend) of both Chopin and Liszt, Alkan was – in his lifetime – considered their equal as a pianist and by those (few)…
Music History Monday: Furtwängler
November
30th,
2020
Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954) in 1912 We mark the death on November 30, 1954 – 66 years ago today – of the German conductor and composer Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler, who was one of the most important and controversial musicians of the twentieth century. We will talk all about Maestro Furtwängler in just a…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Manuel de Falla, El Amor Brujo
November
24th,
2020
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) Yesterday’s Music History Monday post offered up a heart-felt happy birthday to the Spanish composer and conductor Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu (“y Matheu”, because Spaniards customarily add their mother’s maiden surname to their own), who was born on November 23, 1876 in the Andalucían port city of…
Music History Monday: Musicians Behaving Badly
November
23rd,
2020
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) Before getting on to our central topic for today’s post – naughty, naughty musicians – we need to give a shoutout to the great Spanish composer and conductor Manuel de Falla who was born on November 23, 1876 – 144 years ago today – in the Andalucían port city of Cadiz.…