Music History Monday: I Left My Heart in Doylestown, Pennsylvania
June
29th,
2020
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) circa 1888 On June 29, 1941 – 79 years ago today – the Polish pianist, composer, philanthropist, vintner, and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski died in New York City. He was 80 years old. Before moving on to the story of that truly remarkable man’s life, we would grudgingly allot 230 words…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Mahler, Symphony No. 3
June
23rd,
2020
Mahler (1860-1911) ca. 1896 Mahler composed the great bulk of his Symphony No. 3 during the summers of 1895 and 1896. (Mahler was a “summer break” composer, who had to work around his conducting schedule.) It is a huge, sprawling, 6-movement work, roughly 100 to 105 minutes in performance. (The recommended performance, conducted by Claudio…
Music History Monday: The Damrosch Dynasty: Where Would We Be Without Them?
June
22nd,
2020
Frank Heino Damrosch (1859-1937) We mark the birth on June 22, 1859 – 161 years ago today – of the German-born American conductor and educator Frank Heino Damrosch. Permit me, please, a personal reminiscence before moving on to establish why Frank Damrosch, his father Leopold, his brother Walter and his sister Clara were nothing…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Ella Fitzgerald
June
16th,
2020
Here’s what happened: On November 21, 1934, the 17 year-old Ella Jane Fitzgerald participated in one of the first “Amateur Nights” held at the Apollo Theater, the famed music hall located at 253 West 125th Street in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood. Fitzgerald and a friend named Charles Gulliver had created a dance routine that they performed…
Music History Monday: Ella Fitzgerald: Singer and Musician
June
15th,
2020
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917-1996) in 1948 We mark the death on June 15, 1996 – 24 years ago today – of the singer and musician - the First Lady of Song, the Queen of Jazz, Lady Ella - Ella Jane Fitzgerald at the age of 78. We contemplate singers. I would begin by making a…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Flamenco
June
9th,
2020
“Flamenco” is a genre of Spanish song and dance that originated in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía. It is an utterly remarkable, physically and expressively thrilling hybrid/synthesis/melding of native Spanish, North African, Arab, and especially gypsy influences. In my humble (but well-informed) opinion, Flamenco is – along with jazz - the most viscerally exciting…
Music History Monday: The One Who Doesn’t Want Me Can Lick My [expletive deleted]
June
8th,
2020
Maria Aloysia Antonia Weber Lange (1760-1839) We note the death on June 8, 1839 – 181 years ago today – of the German soprano Aloysia Weber Lange. Don’t know who she is? You will soon enough. Our story begins in March of 1777, in the city of Salzburg, in the spacious 8-room apartment at No.…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Robert Helps
June
2nd,
2020
I will be forgiven, please, the overtly autobiographical nature of todays post. In a number of ways I was something of a late-bloomer as a musician. Sure, I started piano at a fairly young age and played the “classics” that come with piano lessons; yes, my grandmothers – one a professional pianist and the other…
Music History Monday: Elvis Presley’s Birth House
June
1st,
2020
Elvis Presley’s birth house in Tupelo, Mississippi, prior to its restoration, circa 1955 It was on June 1, 1971 – 49 years ago today – that the two-room shotgun house in Tupelo Mississippi in which Elvis Presley (1935-1977) was born was opened to the public as a tourist attraction. The house, located at 306 Old…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Beethoven Piano Concerto WoO 4
May
26th,
2020
Aw, gosh, jeez, thanks for remembering my birthday! What a birthday rip-off. Until roughly March 15 of this year, I had always assumed that the two worst birthday rip-offs were being born on December 25 (“we’re giving you a combined birthday/holiday gift this year . . .”) and February 29 (“we’ll celebrate again in four…