Tomislav Baynov and His Metrorhythmia

Photo of  Tres Amigos taken by the blogger at the 2012 June Leondar Chamber Music Competition

Three of my piano students form an ensemble called Tres Amigos, and they play six-hand pieces for piano in competition.  A piece they are currently working on to be performed next year is the very modern and percussive piece, Metrorhythmia by Tomislav Baynov (born 1958), which is a piece for one piano-six hands.  Baynov is a Bulgarian composer who promotes, arranges, and composes works for multiple hands and multiple pianos.  He's won many awards, and his percussive works are quite engaging, especially for high school-age boys.

What I didn't know about Baynov is that he started studying piano at age four, won his first competition at age six, and began composing when he graduated high school.  The piece Metrorhythmia contains music that symbolizes his homeland, Bulgaria.  Click here to listen to this piece, and for more information click here.

What did you learn today?

Classical Music For The Birds

Photo of male house finch, one of my favorite songbirds, courtesy 123rf.com

Today's topic, ornithology in music, was requested by one of our European followers, @MiscVixen on Twitter.  Several classical music works immediately come to mind: 

Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral:  In the second movement cuckoos, nightingales, and quails are depicted.

Respighi composed The Birds.

Vivaldi's work, Spring, depicts birds singing.

Haydn's Toy Symphony employs two or three toy birds.

Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute, has the comic-relief character, the Bird Catcher.

However, this blog is about learning something I didn't know about this topic, so the following are a few rather interesting things I didn't know.

First, there is a classical music album you can buy that was expressly compiled for your bird's enjoyment:  Classical Music for Birds:  Calming Instrumental Music for Your Bird.

Next, there are many people who are avid bird-watchers, also called "birders", who are lovers of classical music, and have conducted experiments watching the reactions of birds to classical music.  Birder South describes itself as a "magazine for bird-lovers in the Southern United States, and has a wonderful article published in 2008 about birds, birders, and classical music:  click here to read that wonderful article.

Last, the composer Messien, who wrote pieces based on transcribed bird songs, said:  "Birds are the opposite of time.  They represent our longing for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant song."

Thanks to @MiscVixen on Twitter for requesting today's topic!  What did you learn today?

John Philip Sousa: Patriotic Man, Patriotic Music, Patriotic Life

Photo of USMC Marine Forces Reserve Band courtesy 123rf.com

Today's topic, music, was requested by Riddle Me This from Charleston, South Carolina, @EgoAenigma on Twitter.  Since Fourth of July celebrations will be on Wednesday, and a new book has been published about that great patriotic musician, John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), he will be the music topic for today.

At the turn of the 20th century John Philip Sousa was one of the most famous people in the United States and the world.  People who didn't know the name of their senator or even the president knew who John Philip Sousa was.  His patriotic marches were and still are well-known and well-loved.  He conducted over 14,000 concerts around the world in his lifetime, and they were consistent sell-outs averaging 60,000 people in attendance.  He also composed other music including songs and operettas.

As a boy, Sousa wanted to join a circus band and attempted to run away at age 13 to join one.  So his father assisted him in joining the marines as an apprentice, where his love for his country deepened.  After leaving the military, the first band he formed was named Sousa's New Marine Band.

To visit the fabulous website dedicated to Sousa click here.  Thanks Riddle Me This, @EgoAenigma on Twitter for today's topic!

What did you learn today?

Benjamin Britten, Pack-Rat!

Photos of orchestral instruments courtesy 123rf.com

Thanks to the English Chamber Orchestra from South Ealing, London, @ECOrchestra on Twitter, for suggesting today's topic:  Benjamin Britten.

One of my favorite childhood memories is discovering The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten.  Later I enjoyed the interactive computer program designed by a Mr. Winter in southern California that taught more about Britten and the Guide.  One of my most profound experiences as a young lady was seeing the Metropolitan Opera's production of Billy Budd in New York.  Then during my first semester in grad school I was assigned to read and report on the 744 page Benjamin Britten:  A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter.  So to say that Britten has been a thread throughout my life isn't an exageration.

What I didn't know is that Britten saved nearly everything he wrote, he rarely threw anything away, so that now the collection of his works, letters, and other writings is the most comprehensive collection by a composer of any other in the world.  This collection is kept in his home in England, The Red House, for all to see.  For more information click here.

Thanks again to the English Chamber Orchestra, @ECOrchestra on Twitter, for suggesting today's topic.  What did you learn today?

Benny Goodman & Bela Bartok

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

Benny Goodman (1909-1986), the King of Swing, also played classical music on his clarinet with the Budapest String Quartet, and commissioned Bela Bartok to write a work for him to perform with the quartet.  Mr. Goodman died on this day in 1986.  For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

The Messiah's 270th Anniversary

Photo of Handel statue in Halle, Germany courtesy 123rf.com

George Frideric Handel's (1685-1759) oratorio, The Messiah, was performed for the first time two-hundred seventy years ago today.  For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

My Favorite Beethoven

Public domain photo of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) painted by Willibrord Joseph Mähler (1778-1860) in 1815, two years after the premier of his 7th Symphony.

My favorite of all Beethoven's music is the second movement of his 7th symphony.  198 years ago today, December 8, 1813, this symphony premiered in Vienna at a charity concert benefiting wounded soldiers.   Beethoven began writing Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92 in 1811, 200 years ago, and completed it in 1812.  What I didn't know is that the second movement was encored at the first performance, and was so popular that it was often performed separately from the other movements.

Which is your favorite of Beethoven's compositions, and why?

Council of Trent and Music

Photo courtesy FreeImagesLive

On this day in 1563, 448 years ago, the deliberations of the Council of Trent ended.  A result of the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent had a heavy impact on all art forms, in particular music, which became less polyphonic and more rhythmically simple. 

I won't go into all the implications the Council of Trent had on music, nor the supposed and actual interactions the composer Palestrina had with the Council of Trent, because I am familiar with all of this.  I will share, however, one of my favorite pieces of Counter-Reformation music, which is the Kyrie that Palestrina composed for his own funeral mass, Missa pro defunctis.  The most beautiful recording of this Kyrie I've ever heard is by Chanticleer, but I can't find one of their performances of this Kyrie on the internet.  Instead, click here for a performance by Capella Victoria Jakarta.

What is your favorite piece of music from this era, and why?