The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Ear asks again — why hasn’t an opera about Martin Luther King Jr. been written? What classical music should be played to honor him?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is an important and, in some parts of the United States, still controversial holiday: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Such an occasion and its artistic celebration assumes even greater importance now that we are on the verge of the Trump Era, which starts this coming Friday with the Inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Once again The Ear looked for classical music to mark the occasion and the holiday. But the results he found were limited. Do we really need to hear Samuel Barber’s famous and sadly beautiful but overplayed “Adagio for Strings” again on this day?
So The Ear asks the same question he asked two years ago: Why hasn’t anyone written an opera about the pioneering civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968 and would today be 88?
Here is a link to that more extended post that asks the same question:
If you know of such an opera, please let The Ear know in the COMMENT section.
Or perhaps a composer could write something about King similar to Aaron Copland‘s popular “A Lincoln Portrait.” King certainly provided lots of eloquent words for a inspiring text or narration.
And if there is classical music that you think is appropriate to mark the occasion, please leave word of it, with a YouTube link if possible.
In the meantime, in the YouTube video below The Ear offers the first movement from the “Afro-American Symphony” by the underperformed black American composer William Grant Still (1874-1954):
Tags: -elect, A Lincoln Portrait, Aaron Copland, Activism, Adagio for Strings, African Americans, Afro-American, Arts, assassination, beautiful, beauty, Civil and political rights, civil rights, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, era, inauguration, inspiration, Jacob Stockinger, Martin Luther King Jr, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Music, narration, Nobel Peace Prize, opera, Politics, President-elect, sad, Samuel Barber, symphony, text, Trump, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, William Grant Still, Wisconsin, words
Classical music: Twin-sister pianists, the Naughtons return to their hometown this weekend to perform a Mozart concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The powerful Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich is also on the program. On Election Day, what piece of music should be played for the new president-elect?
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ALERT: Today is ELECTION DAY. Be sure to vote. Then leave a COMMENT and maybe a YouTube link telling The Ear what piece of classical music should be played for the new president-elect — Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement:
This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO, below), with music director John DeMain conducting, performs two early 20th-century works. One is neglected and rarely performed while the other one is considered a powerful masterpiece,.
Madison’s very own Christina and Michelle Naughton (below) also return, for a performance of the witty and energetic Concerto for Two Pianos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The concert begins with Le Printemps (“Spring”) by Claude Debussy, an Impressionist ode to the living.
The Naughton twins then perform the lyrical Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos, followed by a performance of the Symphony No. 5 by Dmitri Shostakovich. It showcases the composer’s artistic triumph over the forces of Soviet repression. This is also the piece conductor John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) conducted for his impressive audition here over two decades ago.
The concerts are in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on Friday night, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday night, Nov. 12 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday afternoon, Nov. 13, at 2:30 p.m.
An early version of Debussy’s Le Printemps was actually lost in a fire. The piece, originally written in Rome in 1886-87, premiered in Paris in 1913. Upon writing the score, Debussy (below) wrote to a friend, “…I’m calling it Printemps, not ‘spring’ from the descriptive point of view but from that of living things.”
The Naughtons will then play Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos. This piece, which is said to have been a favorite of Mozart (below, with his sister), was originally written for himself and his sister Maria Anna, nicknamed “Nannerl,” to perform. (The concerto was featured in the soundtrack to the Academy Award-Winning film “Amadeus” and you can hear the last movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
This is the first time this piece will be performed by the MSO. The listener will be able to imagine a smile, or at least a sly wink from Mozart to Maria Anna hidden within the harmonic score.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 was originally completed in 1937. This will be the third time this piece has been performed by the MSO.
The Soviet Union oddly enough was a major influence for this work. In 1933 a doctrine was released, which was intended to control the content and style of Soviet literature and other various forms of art, including music. Soviet music was hence used to serve the propaganda needs of the state.
Symphony No. 5, which the composer subtitled “The practical answer of a Soviet artist to criticism,” is a composition that was written to save Shostakovich (below) from imprisonment. You can hear the personal anxiety of an artist being controlled by the State in this historic symphony.
One hour before each performance, Anders Yocom (below), Wisconsin Public Radio Host, will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, visit the Program Notes by MSO trombonist and UW-Whitewater professor Michael Allsen at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1617/3.Nov16.html
Single Tickets are $16 to $87 each, available online at madisonsymphony.org/naughtons, in person at the Overture Center Box Office, 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734.
For more information visit, madisonsymphony.org/groups
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Box Office, 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $15 tickets. More information is available at: madisonsymphony.org/studentrush.
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Tags: "Amadeus", Academy Award, Anders Yocom, anxiety, Arts, brother, Christina and Michelle Naughton, Classical music, concerto, Debussy, Democrat, Dmitri Shostakovich, doctrine, Donald J. Trump, Election Day, energy, Hillary Clinton, John DeMain, lyricism, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, movement, Mozart, Music, Nannerl Mozart, Orchestra, Oscar, Piano, President, President-elect, Printemps, professor, propaganda, repression, Republican, sister, Soviet, Soviet art, Soviet music, Spring, state, symphony, Symphony No. 5, Trombone, twins, two-piano, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USSR, UW-Whitewater, vocal music, Wisconsin, wit, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Does Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni” reveal anything about Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump”?
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By Jacob Stockinger
For generations, the conquests of the legendary Don Juan were treated as seductions.
But were they really rape?
The question is important in considering the masterpiece opera “ Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
One blog writer for slate.com – Bonnie Gordon, who teaches a class on music and gender at the University of Virginia — draws a link between the charismatic historic nobleman and the current charges of “womanizing” and allegations of sexual assault made against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (below).
She doesn’t bring up whether the same discussion applies to former Democratic President Bill Clinton, but it doesn’t seem a stretch.
She raises questions about what is sexual assault, seduction and rape – and how the definitions of a “rape culture” have changed over time and depending on whether it comes from a man’s or a woman’s point of view.
She pegged her essay to LAST weekend’s broadcast performance of the opera by “Live From the Met in HD” with Simon Keenlyside in the title role. In the YouTube video at the bottom, with English subtitles, Don Juan’s servant Leporello sings an aria about his master’s thousands of “conquests.”
But despite the week that has passed since the broadcast of the production, to The Ear the essay still seems relevant as the national election approaches.
Here is a link to that essay:
What do you think about the essay and its main argument or point?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: aria, Arts, Bill Clinton, blog, candidate, catalog, catalogue, Classical music, course, culture, Democrat, Democratic, Don Giovanni, Don JUan, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Election, English, gender, History, Jacob Stockinger, Leporello, Madison, man, men, Met Live in HD, Metropolitan Opera, Mozart, Music, national, New York City, noble, opera, Orchestra, Politics, President, presidential nominee, rape, Republican, Republican Party, seduction, servant, sex, sexual assault, Simon Keenlyside, Slate.com, subtitles, United States, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, woman, womanizing, women, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: What will the fall concert season will look like? And what will the post-pandemic concert world be like?
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By Jacob Stockinger
This past week, The Ear listened to and read a lot of news about COVID-19 and the arts.
And it got him thinking: What will happen this fall with the new concert season? And even later, what will a post-pandemic concert world look like? (Below is the Madison Symphony Orchestra in a photo by Peter Rodgers.)
As you may have heard, the Tanglewood Festival, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been canceled this year. So too has the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Locally, American Players Theatre in Spring Green also just canceled its summer season.
So far, the summer season seems to be one big cancellation for the performing arts.
True, there are some exceptions.
The Token Creek Chamber Music Festival has yet to announce its plans for August.
One also has to wonder if crowds of up to 20,000 will feel safe enough to attend the Concerts on the Square (below), now postponed until late July and August, by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra?
Will people still want to attend the postponed Handel Aria Competition on Aug. 21 in Collins Recital Hall at the UW-Madison’s new Hamel Music Center, assuming the hall is open?
Fall events seem increasingly in question.
Last night on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that sports events and concerts will be among the last mass gatherings to take place safely, probably not until next spring or summer or even later, depending on when a vaccine becomes available.
Some public health experts also offer dire predictions about how easing up lockdown restrictions too soon might lead to an even worse second wave of the coronavirus virus pandemic this autumn and winter, despite all the happy talk and blame-shifting by Team Trump.
So, what do you think will happen beyond summer?
The Ear wonders what the fallout will be from so many music groups and opera companies turning to free online performances by solo artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles.
Will season-opening concerts be canceled or postponed? What should they be? Will you go if they are held?
Will at-home listening and viewing become more popular than before?
Will the advances that were made in using streaming and online technology (below) during the lockdown be incorporated by local groups — the UW-Madison especially comes to mind — or expected by audiences?
In short, what will concert life be like post-pandemic and especially until a vaccine is widely available and a large part of the population feels safe, especially the older at-risk audiences that attend classical music events?
Will larger groups such as symphony orchestras follow the example of the downsized Berlin Philharmonic (below, in a photo from a review by The New York Times) and play to an empty hall with a much smaller group of players, and then stream it?
Will some free streaming sites move to requiring payment as they become more popular?
Live concerts will always remain special. But will subscriptions sales decline because audiences have become more used to free online performances at home?
Will most fall concerts be canceled? Both on stage and in the audience, it seems pretty hard to maintain social distancing (below is a full concert by the Madison Symphony Orchestra). Does that mean the health of both performers – especially orchestras and choral groups – and audiences will be put in jeopardy? Will the threat of illness keep audiences away?
Even when it becomes safe to attend mass gatherings, will ticket prices fall to lure back listeners?
Will programs feature more familiar and reassuring repertoire to potential audiences who have gone for months without attending live concerts?
Will expenses be kept down and budgets cut so that less money is lost in case of cancellation? Will chamber music be more popular? (Below is the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet during its suspended Beethoven cycle.)
Will fewer players be used to hold down labor costs?
Will imported and expensive guest artists be booked less frequently so that cancellations are less complicated to do?
Will many guest artists, like much of the public, refrain from flying until it is safer and more flights are available? Will they back out of concerts?
Will all these changes leave more concert programs to be canceled or at least changed?
There are so many possibilities.
Maybe you can think of more.
And maybe you have answers, preferences or at least intuitions about some the questions asked above?
What do you think will happen during the fall and after the pandemic?
What do you intend to do?
Please leave word, with any pertinent music or news link, in the comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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