Music #433 - Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

(sometimes spelled Strawinsky or Stravinskii)
[ˌiɡərʲ strɐˈvʲinskʲɪj]  (1882 - 1971)

A Russian, and later French and American composer, he is considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century.


He first achieved international fame with three ballets: 
* The Firebird
* Petrushka
* The Rite of Spring

Firebird / L'oiseau de feu

The Firebird ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the firebird that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor. 
* Infernal Dance to start of Finale
* Finale
* Ballet

Petrushka  

The ballet tells the story of a Russian traditional puppet Petrushka, who is made of straw and with a bag of sawdust as his body, but who comes to life and develops emotions. 
* Part 1   * Part 2   * Part 3 

The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps)

After various primitive rituals celebrating the advent of spring, a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and dances herself to death. 
* Mariinsky Ballet

* Jeffrey Ballet 1987

Source: Wikipedia 

Music #432 - Barber

Samuel Barber 

(1910-1981)  

He is one of the most celebrated composers of the 20^th century.

An American, he was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music, for
* opera Vanessa
* Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.

Also widely performed is his Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a work for soprano and orchestra.

His Adagio for Strings has earned a permanent place in the concert repertory of orchestras. 

Source: Wikipedia

Adagio for Strings - String Quartet No.1 Mvt 2

This music piece can be solemn, 

* as sung with mass prayer Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) in Latin

It can be light and heavy: 

* heavy metals added to light it up, and to speed it up!

* digitized

It can be a sad requiem L.  
Besides the funeral of President FD Roosevelt, it was performed in ...

* mourning the deaths in 911

* trailer theme in the Platoon movie 

* end theme in the Elephant Man movie 
   - “I am not an animal! I am a human being! 
        I … am … a man!”  Good grief!

Music #431 - Gershwin

George Gershwin  - a story of Gershwin 

(1898 – 1937)

Gershwin is an American composer and pianist. His compositions spanned both popular and classical genres. 

Among his best known works are the orchestral compositions:
* Rhapsody in Blue
* An American in Paris
* Porgy and Bess.

Rhapsody in Blue 

“... a musical composition for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.” 
  
* Melodica concerto version from the Nodame Cantabile series

* Piano concerto  - Leonard Bernstein on piano & conducting

An American in Paris   

“... a symphonic composition inspired by time Gershwin had spent in Paris.”

* Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra 

* I got rhythm in the An American in Paris (film) - Gene Kelly.   

Porgy and Bess  
"... tells the story of Porgy, a disabled black beggar living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina. He attempted to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent and possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, the drug dealer."

* Summertime
* AGT
* 15 songs in a movie made 

Source: Wikipedia

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Extra: 
Gene Kelly tap dancing on roller skates in one film.

Music #430 - Copland

Aaron Copland 

[KOPE-land]  (1900-1990)
   
An American, he was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition. In his later years he was often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"

Works include 
* the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo
* Third Symphony
* Fanfare for the Common Man

Source: Wikipedia

Fanfare for the Common Man  

This fanfare has only percussion & brass sections.

* Composed to motivate Americans during WW2. 

* It was played to motivate Americans after 911.

Simple Gifts  
by an elder of the Shakers, a Christian division in USA

Hancock Shaker Village

- This former Shaker commune emerged in the towns of Hancock, Pittsfield, and Richmond in the 1780s, organized in 1790, and was active until 1960.

- An independent non-profit organization now operates the property as an open-air museum.

- Hancock, Massachusetts (USA)

Centre Family Dwelling House

- Micajah Burnett (1791-1879) & Moses Johnson (1752-1842), 1824-34

- Pleasant Hill, Kentucky (USA)

* It was a dancing song/hymn in the Shakers' chapel  (with lyrics) 

Copland made this melody well-known by borrowing it into section 7 (of 8) of his Appalachian Spring ballet suite.  
* Simple Gifts in Appalachian Spring


The Appalachian ["appa-LATSCH-en"] Mountains 
(brown in color on map) run among the 13 Atlantic states and Louisiana. 

Music #429 - Poulenc et "Les Six"

Francis Poulenc   - top tracks
[fʁɑ̃sis pulɛ̃k]
(1899 – 1963)

A French composer, Poulenc composed various genres of music.  
He was a member of the French group Les Six (see below).







* Les biches / Female Deer  - a ballet with chorus and jazz idioms

* Les chemins de l'amour / The Ways of Love - one of his most popular songs

* Les mamelles de Tirésias / The Breasts of Tirésias

* La voix humaine / The Human Voice

* Sinfonietta (pour orchestre) - light and full of dance rhythms

Les Six   - top tracks
Les Six [le sis] is a name given in 1920 to a group of six French composers working in Montparnasse. Their music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner and the impressionist music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

The six members were: 
* Georges Auric,
* Louis Durey,
* Arthur Honegger,
* Darius Milhaud,
* Francis Poulenc,
* Germaine Tailleferre.

Source: Wikipedia

Music #417 - Holst

Gustav Holst  

(1874 - 1934)

An English composer, Holst is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets.
 
The suite has 7 movements, each of which is named after a planet (other than Earth) of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst.   

Source: Wikipedia

Digital, or Prom 90
* Mars, the Bringer of War
* Venus, the Bringer of Peace
* Mercury, the Winged Messenger
* Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
* Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
* Uranus, the Magician
* Neptune, the Mystic

Music #416 - Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams  - top tracks
/ˌreɪf ˌvɔːn ˈwɪliəmz/  (1872 – 1958)

My Lady Greensleeves

An English composer and a collector of English folk music and song, Williams composed an orchestral piece in 1934 entitled 
* Fantasia on Greensleeves 
In it, the tune of Greensleeves alternates with that of Lovely Joan. 

Both are traditional English folk songs and tunes.
* Greensleeves with lyrics 
* Lovely Joan - lyrics
  
   

Anne Boleyn & Henry VIII

There is a persistent belief that Greensleeves was composed by Henry VIII for his lover and future queen consort Anne Boleyn. 

Boleyn allegedly rejected King Henry's attempts to seduce her and this rejection may be referred to in the song when the writer's love "cast me off discourteously". 

Yet, Henry did not compose "Greensleeves",which is probably Elizabethan in origin and is based on an Italian style of composition that did not reach England until after his death.

Source: Wikipedia

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Partsongs  

* Three Shakespeare Songs - music by Williams, words by Shakespeare:  
   1. Full Fathom Five - The Tempest (Act 1 scene 2)
   2. The Cloud-Capp'd Towers - The Tempest (Act IV scene 1)
   3. Over Hill, Over Dale - A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act II scene 1)

A Midsummer Night's Dream

* Loch Lomond / The Bonnie Banks o' Lake Lomond   
   - traditional Scottish, arranged by Williams