Music History Monday: A Child (and a Man!) of the Theater
May
13th,
2019
On this day in 1767 – 252 years ago today – Wolfgang Mozart’s first opera, entitled Apollo and Hyacinthus received its premiere in Mozart’s hometown of Salzburg. The composer was 11 years old. Mozart in 1777. Mozart’s father Leopold wrote of this portrait, ”It has little value as a piece of art, but as to…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Schubert, String Quartet No. 14
May
7th,
2019
Rolling Stone Magazine cover; issue 963; December 9, 2004 I am taking a one-week hiatus from my celebration of mid-century American orchestral composers because of something I wrote yesterday in Music History Monday for May 6, 2019. That post was about the inception of the song (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by Keith Richards. Here’s…
Music History Monday: How We Love Our Toys!
May
6th,
2019
Keith Richards (born 1943) in 1965 It was most likely sometime during the evening of May 6, 1965 – 54 years ago today – that Keith Richards, the lead guitar player for the Rolling Stones, worked out the opening riff for the song (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. Satisfaction went on to become one of…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Samuel Barber – Symphony No. 1
April
30th,
2019
Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Let’s get this out of the way right away: Samuel Barber is among the greatest composers ever born in the United States, a composer of operas, symphonies, concerti, numerous other orchestral works and piles of chamber music, piano music, choral works and songs. Almost all of his music has been published and…
Music History Monday: The Creation
April
29th,
2019
A rather flattering portrait Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) by Johann Carl Rößler, 1799 On April 29, 1798 – 221 years ago today – Joseph Haydn’s oratorio The Creation was first performed before a star-studded, invitation-only audience at the Schwarzenberg Palace in Vienna. Getting older, or “when I’m 65.” An ugly confession. Eleven days ago, on April…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Peter Mennin
April
24th,
2019
Peter Mennin (1923-1983) Peter Mennin was a symphonist: of his 26 works, 9 were symphonies. (Let’s get this “the curse of the 9-thing” out of the way here and now. Mennin completed his Ninth Symphony in 1981, at the age of 58. In 1982, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died on June 17,…
Music History Monday: A Marriage of Convenience
April
22nd,
2019
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) in 1746, by Elias Gottlob Haussmann On April 22, 1723 – 296 years ago today – the 38-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach was elected music director and cantor of St. Thomas church in Leipzig. Despite the fact that it was a prestigious position, Bach felt scant enthusiasm for the job and considered…
Dr. Bob Prescribes William Schumann
April
16th,
2019
William Schuman (1910-1992) circa 1965 In last week’s Dr. Bob Prescribes post, I asserted that the composers Roy Harris (1898-1979) and his student William Schuman (1910-1992): “are generally considered to be the two greatest American composers of symphonies to have yet graced our planet.” I have received no evidence in the intervening week that that…
Music History Monday: The Empress
April
15th,
2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqeNtqywBEA Bessie Smith performing W.C. Handy’s St. Louis Blues in a 16-minute movie of that name, filmed in 1929. It is the only known movie of Empress Smith” Today we celebrate the birth – on April 15, 1894, 125 years ago today, in Chattanooga, Tennessee – of the American contralto Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith We…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Roy Harris
April
9th,
2019
Roy Harris (1898-1979) I continue on my self-avowed mini-mission to bring to you some of the most glorious music (and recorded performances) I know, music by mid-century, so-called American “populist” composers. This week and next will feature symphonies by two composers who are generally considered to be the two greatest American composers of symphonies to…