The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Do you hear “On, Wisconsin” in this piece of classical music? Do you know of others?
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ALERT: In the era of #MeToo and #Time’sUp, it is hard to think of a better and more appropriate program than the FREE all-female concert at the UW on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Mills Hall.
That’s when the acclaimed UW faculty violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino (below) and guest pianist Jeannie Yu will perform works by Amy Beach, Cecile Chaminade, Rebecca Clarke and Lili Boulanger. Sorry, but The Ear can find no mention of specific works on the program.
For more background and biographical information about the performers, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/faculty-recital-soh-hyun-altino-violin/
By Jacob Stockinger
There he was.
On an ordinary afternoon, The Ear was just sitting at home listening to Wisconsin Public Radio.
On came the rarely heard Sonata for Clarinet by the French composer Camille Saint-Saens (below). It is a late work, Op. 167, written in 1921 and rarely performed.
And right away: BAM!!!
The neglected work sounded familiar.
That’s because the opening theme sure sounds like the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s fight song “On, Wisconsin!” which, with modified lyrics, is also the official state song of Wisconsin.
You can hear the familiar tune in the unfamiliar work’s first movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Is its appearance by accident or chance?
Is it a deliberate borrowing?
Today seems like an ideal day for asking the question, listening to the music and then deciding because it is a football Saturday. (The New Mexico Lobos and the Wisconsin Badgers will fight it out starting at 11 a.m. in Camp Randall Stadium (below, in a photo by Jeff Miller for the UW-Madison). It will be televised on BTN or the Big Ten Network).
Maybe history can help answer the question.
Here is the Wikipedia entry for “On, Wisconsin” with the history and lyrics of the song that was composed in 1909 — 11 years before the Saint-Saens clarinet sonata.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On,_Wisconsin!
The Ear could swear he has heard the same theme in other classical works, maybe even one by Mozart. But he can’t recall the name of that work or others.
Can you?
If you can, please leave the name of the composer and work, with a link to a YouTube video if possible, in the cOMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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