Who Was At The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece

Photo of U.K. stamp commemorating the 1948 London Olympics courtesy 123rf.com

Many famous people from all walks of life participated in the ancient Olympic Games including Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Demosthenes, Hippocrates, and other physicians, philosophers, musicians, artists, historians, poets, and more.  Married women were not allowed to attend the games until after Kallipateira the Pherenice taught her son the art of fighting and trained him for the games, where he won and she was discovered in attendance dressed as a man, and thereafter all women were allowed to attend.  For more information click here and click here.  What did you learn today?

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?

Music on the Thames for the Diamond Jubilee

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

There are ten music barges on the Thames today as part of Diamond Jubilee Celebration for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  For a list of the barges including their instruments and the list of the music being played, click here and enjoy!  What did you learn today?

aka Decoration Day

Photo of Arlington National Cemetery with the Washington Memorial in the background courtesy 123rf.com

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, and there was a hymn dedicated to Southern women who decorated the graves of the Confederate dead.  For more information click here and 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?

Marian Anderson Anniversary

Photo of U.S. Stamp honoring Marian Anderson courtesy 123rf.com

On this day in 1939 contralto Marian Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  For more information click here.

This brings back a precious memory for me:  in the summer of 1968 I met Marian Anderson at a student music seminar in New York City, where she gave a speech to the 50 of us.  It was a wonderful week of inspiration and learning.

What did you learn today?

Beautiful Women of Classical Music

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

Click here to go to a website that shows pictures and biographies of some of the beautiful women who perform classical music.

What did you learn today?

The Musical Instrument in the Sky

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

There is a constellation that is a musical instrument:  Lyra.  For information on the history of the lyre as well as the constellation click here.  I looked this up because Jessica T., one of my piano students, wrote a story about a constellation that was a piano.

What did you learn today?

The Music of Origami

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

I have just seen the best documentary I've ever seen, "Between the Folds:  Exploring Origami."  One of the most interesting parts of this documentary is how the evolution of Western Art Music is compared to the evolution of origami.  Some of the most breathtaking origami I have ever seen is presented.  There are different genres of origami--very much like music--and some even moves!  Another very interesting part of the film is the scientists who do and study origami for practical application in medicine and other fields.  It is a riveting 56 minutes.  On top of all that, I thought the score was genius in that it sounded like what origami looks like!  I hope you will see this documentary, then leave a comment here on this blog. 

For more information click here and click here.  What did you learn today?

Gardenias and Secret Love

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My favorite flower and bush is gardenia.  Billie Holiday often wore a gardenia in her hair, and she's also one of my favorite jazz singers.  I'm considering planting a new gardenia this year, and I discovered that I didn't know the following.  This plant was named after the very interesting character Alexander Garden; and the flower is the symbol for purity, sweetness, joy, and secret love.  For more information click here and click here.

WHO Helped Fund the American Revolution ?!?!

Photo of oil painting of French author Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) by French artist Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766) courtesy Giraudon/Art Resource, New York, via EncyclopediaBritannica.com

I like Mozart's (1756-1791) operas, and think Beaumarchais's plays (from which the libretti for some of Mozart's operas are taken) are fabulous.  What I didn't know is that Beaumarchais "coordinated the initially secret French program to supply the nascent U.S. of A. with money and arms early in the Revolutionary War".  For more information click here.

What operas do you like?  (You may leave comments below.)

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?

Golden Section & Stradivarius Violins

Photo courtesy FreeImageFinder.com

The golden section (also known as the golden mean, the golden ratio, and divine proportion), is a mathematical calculation that produces what is considered to be the most aesthetically pleasing proportion.  What I didn't know is that Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), the greatest violin maker in history, was aware of the golden section and used it to place the f-holes (pictured above) in his famous violins. 

I also didn't know that there has been quite a bit of research to find the golden section intentionally and unintentionally used in classical music compositions.

For more information, see the links above and the website on Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section in Art, Architecture, and Music.

Steam Powered Church Organ

Photo courtesy freeimageslive.co.uk

Pope Sylvester II (946-1003), also known as Gerbert, built church organs powered by steam, a great innovation of the time, which eliminated having people force air through the organ pipes by physically operating bellows while another person actually played the organ keys.

He also constructed the precursor to Galileo's telescope, and became one of the first great collectors of books.

For more information, see the websites of Christian Classics Ethereal Library, and Encyclopedia Britannica.

Hindu Doctrine: Music is Origin of Life

"Music was linked with the origin of life itself in some traditions, notably in India where sound is regarded in Hindu doctrine as the primordial vibration of divine energy.  From this comes the legend of Krishna's flute, which brought the world into existence."  Dictionary of Symbols: An Illustrated Guide to Traditional Images, Icons, and Emblems, by Jack Tresidder, published by Chronicle Books.