The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Today is Memorial Day – a good time to remember the civilian dead as well as the military dead. The Ear likes Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin.” What music would you listen to to mark the holiday?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Memorial Day, 2019, when the nation honors the men and women who died in military service. The Ear would like to see much more attention and remembrance paid to the huge number of civilians — much higher than military personnel and soldiers — who have died in wars and military service, whose lives weren’t given but taken.
In fact, why not establish and celebrate a separate holiday to honor civilian deaths in war? Perhaps it would help to know the detailed history and background of the holiday, since it is not as straightforward or modern as you might expect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
What piece of classical music would you listen to in order to mark the holiday?
There is a lot to choose from.
The Ear especially likes “Le Tombeau de Couperin” by the early 20th-century French composer Maurice Ravel. It is a “tombeau” – a metaphorical “tomb” or “grave” used by the French to mean paying homage to the dead – in two senses.
Its neo-Classical or neo-Baroque style recalls the 18th-century world of French composers and harpsichordists including Jean-Philippe Rameau and Francois Couperin. But in a second sense, Ravel (below, in 1910) dedicated each of the six movements to a friend – in one case, two brothers — who had died during World War I. So part of its appeal is that it is a very personal statement of grief.
Here is more detailed background about the piece:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_tombeau_de_Couperin
The work was orchestrated later, which added sonic color but cut out two movements. The Ear prefers the original piano version, which seems a little more percussive, austere and straightforward — less pretty but more beautiful, and more in keeping with the holiday by evoking sentiment without sentimentality.
In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear it in a live performance by Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt.
But there are lots of other works to choose from by many composers: John Adams (“The Wound Dresser” after poetry of Walt Whitman); Samuel Barber (Adagio for Strings); Ludwig van Beethoven (slow movements of Symphonies 3 and 7, and of the Piano Sonata Op. 26); Johannes Brahms (“A German Requiem”); Benjamin Britten (War Requiem); Frederic Chopin (Funeral March from Sonata No. 2, polonaises, preludes and the “Revolutionary” Etude); Aaron Copland (“Fanfare for the Common Man” and “Letter From Home”); Edward Elgar (“Nimrod” from “Enigma Variations”); Gabriel Faure (Requiem and Elegy for cello); Franz Joseph Haydn (“Mass in Time of War”); Paul Hindemith (“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d – A Requiem for Those We Love”); Charles Ives (Variations on “America” and “Decoration Day”); Henry Purcell (“When I Am Laid in Earth”); John Philip Sousa (“Honored Dead” March); Ralph Vaughan Williams (Symphony No. 3 “Pastoral”); and many others, including Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Here is a list from the British radio station Classical FM:
Here is a list of patriotic music from Nashville Public Radio:
Here is another list from an American source:
http://midamerica-music.com/blog/five-classical-works-memorial-day/
Here are more sound samples from NPR:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104341851
And here is another one from Northwest Public Radio:
https://www.nwpb.org/2015/05/22/memorial-day-music-commemorate-celebrate/
What do you think of a holiday commemorating civilian deaths in war?
What favorite piece of classical music would you play and listen to as you mark Memorial Day?
Let us know, with a YouTube link if possible, in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #18thCentury, #20thCentury, #AaronCopland, #AdagioforStrings, #AmericanPatriotism, #AngelaHewitt, #BaroqueComposer, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #CharlesIves, #ChoralMusic, #Classicalera, #ClassicalStyle, #DecorationDay, #EdwardElgar, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FanfarefortheComonMan, #FrancoisCouperin, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FredericChopin, #Frenchcomposer, #FrenchHarpsichord, #FrenchMusic, #FuneralMarch, #GabrielFaure, #HenryPurcell, #IraqWar, #Jean-PhilippeRameau, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnAdams, #JohnPhilipSousa, #KoreanWar, #LeTombeaudeCouperin, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MauriceRavel, #MemorialDay, #NashvilleTennessee, #NationalPublicRadio, #NimrodVariation, #PatrioticMusic, #PaulHindemith, #PianoMusic, #PianoSonata, #PublicRadio, #RalphVaughanWilliams, #SamuelBarber, #TheCivilWar, #TheEar, #ThemeAndVariations, #VietnamWar, #VocalMusic, #WaltWhitman, #WarDead, #WarRequiem, #Wikipediaentry, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldWarI, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, 18th century, 20th-century, Aaron Copland, Adagio for Strings, Afghanistan, American, Angela Hewitt, appeal, Arts, attention, audience, austere, Bach, background, Baroque, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, blog, British, brother, Canada, Canadian, Cello, Chamber music, Charles Ives, choral music, Civil War, civilian, Classical, color, Compact Disc, composer, dead, Decoration Day, die, Early music, Earth, Edward Elgar, Elegy, evoking, Facebook, Fanfare, Fanfare for the Common Man, flag, FM, forward, François Couperin, Franz Joseph Haydn, Frédéric Chopin, French, friend, funeral march, Gabriel Fauré, give, given, grave, grief, harpsichord, Henry Purcell, History, Holiday, homage, Home, honor, Iraq, Iraq war, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Adams, John Philip Sousa, Korean War, Le tombeau de Couperin, letter, like, link, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrics, Madison, mass, Maurice Ravel, memorial, Memorial Day, military, modern, movement, Mozart, Music, Nashville, Nimrod, northwest, NPR, opera, Orchestra, orchestrate, original, other, part, pastoral, Pastoral Symphony, PastoralSymphony, patriot, patriotic music, patriotism, Paul Hindemith, percussive, performer, personal, Piano, Piano sonata, Poetry, polonaise, Prelude, public radio, Radio, Ralph Vaughan Williams, remember, remembrance, Requiem, Samuel Barber, sentiment, sentimentality, service, share, Sonata, sonic, source, statement, style, symphony, tag, take, taken, The Ear, theme and variations, today, tomb, UK, United States, variations, Vietnam War, Violin, vocal music, war dead, War Requiem, we, Website, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, works, World War I, World War II, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Youth Choirs will perform immigrant music in “Sounds Like Home: Music in Diaspora” this Saturday and Sunday
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A REMINDER: Subscribers to the Madison Symphony Orchestra‘s current season that just ended have until May 5 — this Thursday — to renew and save their current seats. New subscribers can receive up to 50 percent off and other discounts are available. For more about the programs of the 2016-17 season and about subscribing, visit:
http://www.madisonsymphony.org/16-17
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following notice from the Madison Youth Choirs about three concerts this coming weekend:
On this Saturday, May 7, and Sunday, May 8, 2016, in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center for the Arts, the young singers of Madison Youth Choirs (below, at the winter concert in 2014) will bring to life the musical creations of several groups who have left their homelands throughout history, under a variety of circumstances.
How do we keep our traditions in a place where they may not be tolerated? How do we maintain our identities in the face of great change? How do we preserve our stories and our history for future generations?
We invite you to ponder these questions with us as we explore the rich choral work of the African-American, Indian, Cuban, Arabic, Irish, Jewish and additional musical traditions as well as several works based on the biblical diaspora as told in Psalm 137.
At the Saturday evening performance, MYC will also present the Carrel Pray Music Educator of the Year Award to Dan Krunnfusz (below), former artistic director and conductor of the Madison Boychoir and a longtime choral and general music teacher in Madison and Baraboo public schools.
MYC Spring Concert Series: “Sounds Like Home: Music in Diaspora.” Capitol Theater, Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin
Saturday, May 7, 2016, 7 p.m.: Boychoirs
Sunday, May 8, 2016, 3:30 p.m. Girl choirs; 7:30 p.m. High School Ensembles
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students ages 8-18. Children 7 and under receive free admission but a physical ticket is required for entry. AUDIENCE MEMBERS WILL NEED A SEPARATE TICKET FOR EACH CONCERT.
Tickets are available through Overture Center Box Office, and may be acquired in person at 201 State Street, Madison; via phone at (608) 258 – 4141; or online at http://www.overturecenter.org/events/sounds-like-home-music-in-diaspora
This project is generously supported by American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, the Green Bay Packers Foundation, the Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation, the Madison Community Foundation, the Madison Gas and Electric Foundation, the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, and Dane Arts with additional funding from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation. This project is also supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the Madison Youth Choirs (MYC, see below in a photo by Jon Harlow on its tour to an international festival in Scotland in 2014): Recognized as an innovator in youth choral music education, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) welcomes singers of all ability levels, annually serving more than 1,000 young people, ages 7-18, through a wide variety of choral programs in our community.
Cultivating a comprehensive music education philosophy that inspires self-confidence, personal responsibility, and a spirit of inquiry leading students to become “expert noticers,” MYC creates accessible, meaningful opportunities for youth to thrive in the arts and beyond.
Here is the repertoire of the MYC 2016 Spring Concert Series “Sounds Like Home: Music in Diaspora”
Saturday, May 7, 2016, Capitol Theater, Overture Center for the Arts
7 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Boychoirs)
Purcell
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child…Traditional spiritual, arr. Burleigh
Hashivenu…Traditional Hebrew, arr. Rao
Rolling Down to Rio…Edward German
Britten
The Minstrel Boy…Traditional Irish, arr. Benjamin Britten
Super Flumina Babylonis…Giacomo Carissimi
Duke’s Place…Duke Ellington, arr. Swiggum/Ross
Holst
As by the Streams of Babylon…Thomas Campion
A Miner’s Life…Traditional Irish, arr. Houston
Combined Boychoirs (below, in a photo by Joanie Crump)
The Riflemen of Bennington…Traditional, arr. Swiggum
Babylon…Don McLean
Sunday, May 8, 2016, Capitol Theater, Overture Center for the Arts
3:30 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Girlchoirs, below in a photo by Karen Brown)
Choraliers
Babylon…Don McClean
Beidh Aonach Amarach…Traditional Irish, arr. Dwyer
Ani Ma’amin…Traditional Hebrew, arr. Caldwell/Ivory
Gospel Train…Traditional spiritual, arr. Shirley McRae
Alhamdoulillah…Traditional Arabic, arr. Laura Hawley
Con Gioia
Folksong arrangements (2, 3, 4)…Gideon Klein
Hope is the Thing with Feathers…Marye Helms
Wild Mountain Thyme…Traditional Irish, arr. Jay Broeker
Stadt und Land in stille Ruh…Traditional German canon
Capriccio
Mi’kmaq Honor Song….arr. Lydia Adams
Thou Shalt Bring Them In…..G.F. Handel
Iraqi Peace Song…..Lori Tennenhouse
Bring Me Little Water, Silvy…..credited to Leadbelly, arr. Moira Smiley
Capriccio, Cantilena, and Cantabile
Across the Water (world premiere)… UW-Madison alumnus Scott Gendel (below)
7:30 p.m. Concert (Featuring High School Ensembles)
Cantilena
We Are…Ysaye Barnwell
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child…Traditional spiritual
Jai Bhavani…arr. Ethan Sperry
Hej, Igazitsad…Lajos Bardos
Ragazzi
An Wasserflüssen Babylon…Michael Praetorius
Uz mne kone vyvadeji (from folksong arrangements)…Gideon Klein
Son de Camaguey…Traditional Cuban, arr. Stephen Hatfield
Loch Lomond…Traditional Scottish air, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams
Cantabile
In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles (from Alarcón Madrigals)…Roger Bourland
Riawanna…Stephen Leek
Barchuri Le’an Tisa…Gideon Klein
Kafal Sviri…Traditional Bulgarian, arr. Liondev
Cantabile and Ragazzi
O, What a Beautiful City…Traditional spiritual, arr. Shawn Kirchner
Tags: African American, Arabic, Artistic director, Arts, Baraboo, Bible, biblical, blues, BMO Harris Bank, boychoir, Britten, Bulgaria, Canon, cantabile, Capriccio, choral music, Classical music, conductor, counterpoint, Cuba, Cuban, Dane Arts, dispora, Duke Ellington, Education, folk song, German, Germany, girl choir, gospel, Green Bay Packers, Handel, Hewbrew, high school, Holst, Home, homeland, hope, immigrant, immigration, indentity, India, Indian, Iraq, Ireland, Irish, Jacob Stockinger, Jewish, Leadbelly, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Music, Music education, National Endowment for the Arts, Overture Center, peace, polyphonic, polyphony, pop music, psalm, Purcell, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Scotland, Scott Gendel, spiritual, tradition, traditional, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board
Classical music: The new opera “Fallujah” is based on the Iraq War. Will the Madison Opera or the University Opera be interested in staging it? Plus, this afternoon is your last chance to hear “Carmina Burana” performed by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Read three rave reviews.
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ALERT: This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall is your last chance to hear the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in “Carmina Burana” in the MSO’s spectacular season-closing program. Read three rave reviews by local critics:
Here is what John W. Barker wrote for Isthmus:
http://isthmus.com/music/big-orchestra-monuments/
Here is what Greg Hettmansberger wrote for Madison Magazine and his blog WhatGregSays:
https://whatgregsays.wordpress.com/2016/04/30/farewells-to-a-season-and-some-friends/
And here is what Jessica Courtier wrote for The Capital Times:
By Jacob Stockinger
Who says you can’t mix art and current events?
Especially if the current events also count as history, which has often been an inspiration for fiction and art.
Iraq and Afghanistan — the United States’ longest wars — are back in the news again making big headlines. And PTSD or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is a story that never goes away.
But not all of the news has to do with politics, suicide bombings, increased troop commitments and fierce fighting in a civil war.
It also has to do with art.
Specifically, opera — that potent combination of theater and music.
The Long Beach Opera commissioned and recently premiered a new chamber opera based on the Iraq War and PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), and us based on the life and work of U.S. Marine Christian Ellis . It is called “Fallujah” and it is the first such opera to be written. (A photo below is by Keith Ian Polakoff for the Long Beach Opera.)
You can hear librettist Heather Raffo and composer Tobin Stokes discuss the opera in the YouTube video at the bottom.
It makes The Ear wonder if it might find its way into an upcoming season of the Madison Opera, which tends to use its smaller winter productions to stage works that are newer, smaller, more adventurous and more exploratory.
Or maybe the University Opera at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music might find it a good choice for a student production?
Anyway, here is a fine write-up that you can find on NPR or National Public Radio:
Tags: 2003 invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Art, Arts, Baghdad, blog, choral music, Christian Ellis, Classical music, critic, current events, Falluja, Fallujah, fiction, Greg Hettmansberger, Heather Raffo, historical fiction, History, Iraq, Iraq war, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jessica Courtier, John W. Barker, Long Beach Opera, Madison, Madison Magazine, Madison Opera, Marine, Music, NPR, opera, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment, Post-Traumatic Stress DIsorder, Posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD, review, Saddam Hussein, suicide bombings, The Capital Times, theater, Tobin Stokes, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, US, vocal music, war, Weapon of mass destruction, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Meet Zuhal Sultan, the founder of the Iraqi Youth Orchestra
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By Jacob Stockinger
Wouldn’t it be nice for a change to hear good news from Iraq?
Usually we hear about sectarian violence, suicide bombings and widespread government corruption.
So for a change of pace, meet Zuhal Sultan (below), the woman who founded the Iraqi Youth Orchestra.
Her words remind us of what must have been in the mind of Marvin Rabin when he founded the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra, which is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Sultan’s words about the importance of music education and music performance have meaning not only to Iraq and other nations at war but also to us.
Not that she and the Iraqi Youth Orchestra (below) don’t continue to face major obstacles, especially from The Islamic State (or ISIS or ISIL) as they were preparing for a tour. (You can hear the orchestra during a festival in Scotland in a YouTube video at the bottom. Be sure to check out the comments by readers and listeners as wells by Zuhal Sultan.)
But NPR, or National Public Radio, has done a public service by offering us a fine interview with her, by showing harmony amid conflict.
Here is a link to the story done by the reporter and new host of “All Things Considered” Ari Shapiro. You can read the set up piece, but you a should also listen to the audio:
Tags: All Things Considered, Ari Shapiro, Arts, Baghdad, Bomber, bombing, Cello, Classical music, festival, harmony, Iraq, ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Music, NPR, Orchestra, Scotland, Suicide attack, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO, YouTube
Classical music: Remember the Cellist of Sarajevo from 23 years ago? Now there is a Cellist of Baghdad. Read or hear all about him on NPR.
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By Jacob Stockinger
How music persists and endures in even the hardest and bloodiest and most unlikely of circumstances!
Perhaps you remember that during the Balkan wars, when Serbian snipers threatened daily life in Sarajevo, there was Vedran Smailovic (below), better known as the Cellist of Sarajevo, who defied the killers and resisted terror with beauty.
Now in the midst of the chaos created by religious conflict and the barbarism of ISIS comes The Baghdad Cellist. If you listen to the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear him playing — and it seems to be music, an excerpt from the solo suites for cello, by Johann Sebastian Bach, perhaps the most universal of composers.
And why the cello in both cases? Perhaps, The Ear thinks, because it so approximates the human voice and seems a perfect stand-in for a human being in such inhuman situations. What do you think?
Read or hear about Karim Wasfi, the extraordinarily brave professional musician who performs at the sites of terrorist car bombings and who was recently featured on NPR or National Public Radio:
http://www.npr.org/2015/06/08/412284066/amid-violence-in-baghdad-a-musician-creates-a-one-man-vigil
Tags: Arts, Bach, Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, Baghdad, Balkan Wars, Baroque, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnians, Cellist of Baghdad, Cellist of Sarajevo, Cello, Classical music, DASH, Iraq, Iraq war, ISIL, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karim Wasfi, Madison, NPR, Sarajevo, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Suite, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Is Beethoven still relevant and our political contemporary with his opera “Fidelio”?
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By Jacob Stockinger
You might recall that Ludwig van Beethoven (below) composed only one opera.
It is “Fidelio,” and it reflected his Enlightenment-era political ideas about equality and democracy –- despite the composer’s own financial reliance on patronage by aristocrats and royals.
And you may recall that the Madison Opera has slated “Fidelio” for a production this coming season in Overture Hall on Friday night, Nov. 21, and Sunday afternoon, Nov. 23.
The production comes during a time of great political unrest and perhaps upheaval at home, with crucial national and state elections, and especially overseas and in foreign affairs with Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Africa’s Ebola strife and many other hot spots showing no sign of letting up.
So will the local production of “Fidelio” be more or less a traditional one? Or will the Madison Opera’s general director Kathryn Smith and its artistic director, John DeMain, who is also the music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, have other ideas about how to tweak the opera and recast it for modern or contemporary relevance?
It will be interesting to see, although The Ear understands that the production will be traditional.
Here is a link to the Madison Opera’s website:
http://madisonopera.org/performances-2014-2015/
Currently, the acclaimed Santa Fe Opera is staging a controversial new version of “Fidelio”(below), created by director Stephen Wadsworth, that takes place in the Nazi death camp Bergen-Belsen. Sounds very Peter Sellars-like. (You can hear the moving music from the Prisoners’ Chorus at the bottom in a YouTube video.)
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, of The New York Times, did not like it and, in fact, said it offended her because it belittled the Holocaust. She also complained that the roles in the actual text did not match the roles that the new staging created. She saw the production as too inconsistent.
Her larger complaint seems to reflect the notion that after the Holocaust, writing poetry and creating art is impossible, that beauty has been ruined.
It is an ambitious, lofty and tempting thought, but one that is clearly not true. In fact, it is downright wrong. Great suffering and art are old pals. Sometimes art takes you away from suffering; sometimes it takes you deeper into it. It depends on the work and on the performers. But we need both.
Anyway, here is the review from the Times as well as another one with a different take. Read them for yourself. Then decide and make up your own mind. It sure sounds like a concept worth pursuing, even if flawed, to The Ear.
Critic Heidi Waleson, of The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, praised the production:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/opera-review-santa-fe-opera-1407191039
Be sure to tell The Ear, and other readers, including members of the Madison Opera, if you have ever seen an updated version of “Fidelio” and what you thought of it.
Where do you think “Fidelio could be recast to best advantage The Holocaust? The Spanish Inquisition? The Soviet Gulag and Great Terror? The Killing Fields of Cambodia? The Rwandan genocide? Abu Graib prison in Iraq? A CIA black site torture prison in Egypt? The Chinese Cultural Revolution?
Or, given the fact that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, how about a Supermax prison in Wisconsin?
You get the idea.
Go wild with your imagination, and then write in.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: 18th century, Abu Graib, Africa, Arts, Beethoven, Bergen-Belsen, black site, Cambodia, China, choral music, CIA, Classical music, concentration camp, Cultural Revolution, death camp, Ebola, Egypt, Enlightenment, Fidelio, genocide, Germany, Great Terror, Gulag, Hitler, Holocaust, incarceration, Iraq, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Nazi, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Peter Sellars, prison, prisoner, Rwanda, Santa Fe Opera, Spanish Inquisition, Stephen Wadsworth, Supermax, Syria, The Killing Fields, torture, Ukraine, United States, virus, Wall Street Journal, YouTube
Classical music: What music will you listen to on Memorial Day? The Ear offers several stirring stories about music and Memorial Day, from Walt Whitman and the Civil War through World War II to the Twin Towers and the War of Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Memorial Day, 2014
My Mom always referred to it as Decoration Day
I liked that name. It seemed to fit the occasion better.
To be honest, The Ear has always liked the idea of honoring military service, but is much less inclined to celebrate unabashed militarism with parades and flag-waving (below is a photo of a Memorial Day parade in Chicago).
I think of Memorial Day as a sadder, more introspective and memory-driven holiday, as well as the traditional start of summer -– which, especially after a Wisconsin winter like the last one, is nothing to apologize for.
In any case, here is a link to an informative but very accessible history of the holiday that also highlights the important difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
But putting history aside for a moment, how would you celebrate the holiday artistically, especially musically?
That is what The Ear wants to know.
Every year, the excellent blog “Deceptive Cadence” on NPR offers its musical take on Memorial Day. This year is no different and NPR has chosen some moving words and music that you should check out:
But over the past years, The Well-Tempered Ear has also offered previous blog posts – some offering suggested listening, others seeking it — that still seem relevant and still invite readers to participate.
Here is one from last year:
And here is a link to memorable 2011 posting, which made a lot of suggestions for composers and specific works, then asked for reader feedback and also featured the moving version of Sir Edward Elgar’s beautifully poignant “Nimrod” Variation from the “Enigma” Variations (heard in the original orchestration at the bottom in a YouTube video that has almost 2,5 million hits and features Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and Norah Jones in her “Hymn to America,” both used convincingly and touchingly in Ken Burns’ mammoth documentary film “The War”:
Finally, here is a stirring story, much of it previously unknown to me, about the history of “Taps” that appeared on NPR:
What music comes to your mind and heart when you think of Memorial Day?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: 9/11, Afghanistan, Arts, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Civil War, Classical music, Daniel Barenboim, Decoration Day, documentary, Edward Elgar, Gulf War, Iraq, Jacob Stockinger, John Adams, Ken Burns, Korean War, Korrean War, Memorial Day, Music, Naval Hymn, Norah Jones, NPR, On the Transmigration of Souls, Second World War, Taps, The War, Twin Towers, United States, Veterans Day, Vietnam War, Walt Whitman, Wars, Wisconsin, World Trade Center, World War I, World War II, YouTube
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