The Well-Tempered Ear
What made Beethoven sick and deaf?
2 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
What made Beethoven (below) deaf and sick his entire adult life?
Scientists think they have an answer, although their opinion is not unanimous.
Here is a news story from Classic FM about the latest research:
https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/scientists-hair-analysis-deaf-mystery/
Tags: #ClassicFM, adult, alcohol, alcoholic, Android, answer, AODA, Apple, arsenic, Arts, Beethoven, Bing, blog, British, Classical music, composer, contaminated, deaf, disability, Disease, drink, duckduckgo, English, Europe, evidence, Facebook, failure, gastrointestinal, gene, genetic, Google, Google Alert, Google Alerts, Google Search, Great Britain, hair, health problems, hearing disabled, hepatitis, ill, Jacob Stockinger, journalism, kidney, latest, lead, life, link, liver, Ludwig van Beethoven, medical, medicine, mercury, metal, Microsoft, Microsoft Bing, Music, news, online, opera, opinion, Orchestra, Piano, poison, pollution, post, posting, problem, Radio, renal, research, Safari, science, scientists, search, search engine, share, sick, Sonata, story, symphony, tag, The Ear, The Well-Tempered Ear, Twitter, UK, unanimous, Website, Well-Tempered, Well-tempered Ear, welltempered, Wine, WordPress, Wordpress.com, X, you
Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200 today
2 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Perhaps the only symphony more iconic than Beethoven’s Ninth is the Fifth Symphony by the same composer (below).
But today we celebrate the premiere of the pioneering Ninth Symphony that took place 200 years ago on May 7, 1824. Below is the original poster announcing the concert program with the premiere, which Beethoven conducted in his total deafness.
Here is a link to an anniversary story, with lots of historical background about the original performance, by the PBS affiliate WETA in Washington, D.C.:
https://weta.org/fm/classical-score/may-7-1824-200th-anniversary-premiere-beethovens-symphony-no-9
The 70-minute-long Ninth — also called the “Choral” Symphony — is a remarkable work in so many ways. It remains perhaps the most universal music ever written, meaningful to many different individuals and cultures.
Unlike most symphonies of the time, the opening does not immediately announce a theme. It seems to drift around until it finds a solid key and recognizable theme and rhythm. And then it takes off. It reminds The Ear of the depiction by Haydn, Beethoven’s teacher, in his oratorio “The Creation.”
The New York Times also has an essay by Daniel Barenboim about the meaning of Beethoven’s Ninth. No doubt that would be interesting and enlightening to read. But unfortunately the Times hides it behind a pay wall. Only subscribers get to see it right now.
Instead, here is a comprehensive look in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Beethoven)
The famous choral setting of German poet Friedrich Schiller’s 1785 “Ode to Joy” of the last movement is also the official hymn of the European Union. This was the first use of a chorus in a symphony but would not be the last.
In Japan, the same “Ode to Joy” is sung en masse with a chorus up to 10,000 in stadiums every New Year’s Day and on other special occasions, as you can see in the YouTube video at the bottom, an event that took place after a horrendous earthquake and tsunami. The idealistic music embodies the journey from despair to hope, and to brotherhood and solidarity with all people and all nations.
Leonard Bernstein directed it in Berlin to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall and the coming of German reunification.
As its theme, the nightly Huntley-Brinkley New Report on NBC used to use the percussive, pounding, rhythmically propulsive Scherzo movement — which is The Ear’s favorite movement.
The Ear also thinks that the soulful slow movement has strong suggestions of the lovely and well-known slow movement of Beethoven’s earlier “Pathétique” piano sonata. But it doesn’t seem to have been used as a theme or in a movie soundtrack. Does anyone know differently?
What does the Ninth Symphony mean to you?
What do you think of the Ninth and how do you rank it among other symphonies?
Do you have a favorite recording or performance?
What is your favorite movement of Beethoven’s Ninth?
What other uses of The Ninth do you know of?
The Ear wants to hear
Tags: #ClassicFM, 1824, 2024, America, American, Android, anniversary, anthem, Apple, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Beethoven, Beethoven's Fifth, Beethoven's Ninth, Berlin Wall, Bing, blog, Broadcast, brotherhood, CD, celebrate, chaos, China, Chinese, choral music, Choral Symphony, chorus, Classical, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, conductor, culture, Daniel Barenboim, deaf, deafness, depair, different, disability, drift, duckduckgo, earthquake, en masse, European Union, Facebook, fampus, favorite, Fürtwangler, fifth, film, Friedrich Schiller, German, Germany, Google, Google Alert, Google Alerts, Google Search, Haydn, hearing disabled, hope, Huntley-Brinkley, hymn, icon, iconic, ideakistic, idealism, individual, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, journalism, journalist, key, Korea, Korean, Leonard Bernstein, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, May 7, mean, meaning, Microsoft, Microsoft Bing, movement, movie, Music, NBC, New Year's Day, New York Times, news, ninth, Ode to Joy, official, opening, oratorio, Orchestra, original, OS, pathetique, Pathetique Sonata, PBS, perform, performance, Piano, pioneering, poem, Poetry, Poster, premiere, program, propulsive, recording, remarkable, report, reunification, rhythm, Romantic, Safari, Scherzo, share, solidarity, soloist, Sonata, soul, soulful, soundtrack, South Korea, South Korean, stadium, Student, suggestion, symphony, tag, take off, takeoff, Teacher, Television, The Creation, The Ear, The Well-Tempered Ear, theme, tidal wave, today, Toscanini, tsunami, TV, Twitter, U.S., United States, universal, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, use, vocal music, wander, well-known, Well-Tempered, welltempered, WETA, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, WordPress, Wordpress.com, work, X, you, YouTube
What classical music is good for studying, reading and writing?
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
It is about to be Finals Week here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in many other places.
Little wonder, then, that The Ear recently read a good story about the role of of music in studying.
It was written by a student journalist for The State Press at Arizona State University in Tempe. It covered more kinds of music than classical, but it had some good comments about the ability of music and its various components — melody, rhythm, tempo, text — to focus one’s attention or to distract from the necessary focus.
Here is a link to the story, which also includes 100 music selections from mixed genres:
It got me to wondering what classical music do you readers like for studying, reading and writing — if you like it at all for such serious and intense tasks.
The Ear tends to love listening to Baroque music — especially Vivaldi violin concertos and Bach harpsichord concertos such as the one in the YouTube video at the bottom — and to chamber music and solo piano music.
So, what music do you like to listen to when you are: studying? reading? writing?
Do you have a favorite style, or favorite composer, or favorite pieces?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, America, American, Android, Antonio Vivaldi, Apple, Arizona State University, Arts, Asia, asian, attention, audience, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Bing, blog, Cello, Chamber music, Chinese, Chiuna, choral music, Classical music, component, composer, concentrate, Concert, concerto, distract, duckduckgo, ear, Early music, Education, Europe, European, exam, Facebook, favorite, feature, final, final exams, finals week, Focus, genre, Google, Google Alert, Google news, Google Search, harpsichord, Harpsichord concerto, hear, higher education, hip-hop, instrumental, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, journalism, journalist, link, listen, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, melody, Microsoft, Microsoft Bing, mixed, Mozart, Music, news, Newspaper, opera, Orchestra, OS, Piano, piece, pop, post, posting, rap, read, reader, reading, rhtyhm, Romantic, Safari, share, sing, singer, Singing, solo, Sonata, southwestr, story, student'journalism, study, studying, style, symphony, tag, Taiwan, Taiwanese, Tempe, text, The Ear, The State Press, The Well-Tempered Ear, Twitter, UK, United States, universities, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, Viola, Violin, Vivaldi, vocal, vocal music, week, Well-Tempered, Well-tempered Ear, welltempered, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WordPress, Wordpress.com, write, writing, X, you, YouTube
Why do we like sad music?
6 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Why does sad music — or sad art — appeal to so many of us?
One psychologist and brain researcher — Matthew Sachs of Columbia University (below) — says it serves an evolutionary and social purpose by eliciting empathy for other humans and purging us of negative emotions, according to a story and interview on NPR (National Public Radio).
To The Ear, the explanation sounds a lot like the ancient Greek philosophy of catharsis that was the cornerstone justification for the public staging of great ancient tragedies by writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and of course the famous tragedies of Shakespeare such as “Romeo and Juliet,” Hamlet” and “King Lear” that were famously popular dramas as well as great masterpieces of Western literature.
Consider the case of Samuel Barber’s often-played “Adagio for Strings,” analyzed at length in a book called “The Saddest Music in the World.” Or perhaps the “Pathétique” piano sonata by Beethoven and the “Funeral March” piano sonata by Chopin. Or the requiems by Mozart and Brahms.
Or consider the music “Beautiful Sadness” by the contemporary composer Cliff Masterson (below). You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Here is a link to the NPR story that discusses “the rules of musical melancholy.”
You can read it, or take four minutes to listen to it:
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/06/1173993223/understanding-the-joy-that-many-find-in-sadness
Do you find solace in sad music?
Does sad music make you feel better?
Do you have a favorite piece of sad music?
Or maybe a favorite tragic play, opera or work of art?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, Adagio for Strings, Aeschylus, Ancient Greece, appeal, arranger, Art, Arts, audience, Bach, Baroque, beautiful, Beethoven, blog, Brahms, Brain, Britten, catharsis, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, choral music, Classical music, Cliff Masterson, Columbia University, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, contemporary, cornerstone, discuss, Early music, emotion, empathy, Euripides, evolution, evolutionary, explanation, Facebook, favorite, feel, funeral march, great, Greek tragedy, Hamlet, happiness, happy', Hollywood, human, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, journalism, Joy, justification, King Lear, link, literature, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Matthew Sachs, melancholy, movie, Mozart, Music, National Public Radio, negative, news, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, pathetique, philosophy, Piano, play, pleasure, popular, psychologist, psychology, purge, purpose, Radio, Requiem, research, rid, Romeo and Juliet, rule, sad, sadness, science, scientist, score, Shakespeare, share, social, solace, Sonata, Sophocles, soundtrack, story, symphony, tag, The Ear, tragedy, Tragic, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Western, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work of art, Writer, YouTube
Con Vivo woodwind quintet plays a FREE outdoor concert TONIGHT on Madison’s west side
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear wants to thanks the many readers who sent congratulations and best wishes to him on the return of his blog.
He also wants to post the following announcement:
Con Vivo! … music with life has been opening its 18th season of chamber music concerts with free concerts in city parks performed by CVQ — the con vivo! woodwind quintet (below).
The last FREE performance will take place TONIGHT – Saturday, June 12 — at 7 p.m. at Rennebohm Park (below, the exterior and interior of the shelter), 115 North Eau Claire Ave., on Madison’s west side not far where the old state DMV building used to be.
The concert will include music by Aaron Copland, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Franz Danzi and Beethoven.
The woodwind quintet is composed of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn.
The event is free and everyone is welcome. So bring a lawn chair or blanket, and join us for what will prove to be an enjoyable evening of live music!
For more information, visit www.convivomusicwithlife.org or call (608) 277-8087.
This project is supported in part by Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation; The Evjue Foundation, Inc., the charitable arm of The Capital Times; the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation; and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AmericanComposer, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ConVivo, #ConVivoQuintet, #DaneArts, #DepartmentofMotorVehicles, #DrpartmentofTransportation, #EndresMfg.Company, #EvjueFoundation, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzDanzi, #FrenchHorn, #HolidaySeason, #InstrumentalMusic, #JacobStockinger, #LiveMusic, #LouisMoreauGottschalk, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonWisconsin, #MusicWithLife, #PleasantT.Rowland, #RennebohmPark, #TheCapitalTimes, #TheEar, #W.JeromeFrautschi, #WestSide, #WindMusic, #WoodwindInstruments, #WoodwindMusic, #WoodwindQuintet, Aaron Copland, American, arm, Arts, audience, Bassoon, bassoonist, Beethoven, blanket, blog, building, chair, Chamber music, charitable, charity, city, city of Madison, clarinet, clarlinetist, Classical music, composer, Con Vivo, Concert, Copland, CVQ, Dane Arts, Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Transportation, DMV, DOT, Early music, Endres Mfg. Company, enjoyable, Evjue Foundation, exterior, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, flutist, forward, foundation, Franz Danzi, free, French horn, funding, Gottshalk, hornist, instrument, instrumental music, interior, Jacob Stockinger, journalism, last, lawn, life, like, link, live music, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, manufactoring, Mozart, Music, Music With Life, obie, Oboe, oboist, old state, Orchestra, outdoors, parks, performance, Pleasant T. Rowland, post, posting, Rennebohm Park, Saturday, Season, share, Sonata, sponsor, state, tag, The Capital Times, The Ear, tonight, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, W. Jerome Frautschi, welcome, west side, wind music, Wisconsin, woodwind music, Woodwind quintet
Classical music: In 2019 who died? What recordings won prizes? What music had its premiere? Here is a comprehensive and detailed worldwide retrospective from Wikipedia
2 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
A new year is always a good time to do a review and take a look backward to assess the previous year.
Many local publications – newspapers and magazines — do Best of the Year round-ups.
But The Ear has never seen a more comprehensive list with major news and almost daily entries around the world than he found in Wikipedia, which has retrospectives going back to 2009 and looking forward to 2029.
In short, all the reviws are well worth exploring for the reminders they hold that, as the proverb goes, “Ars longa, vita brevis” or “Art is long, life is short.” (It is usually quoted in Latin translation from the original ancient Greek that was written by Hippocrates.)
There are seven different categories to click on, each with long entries. If you hover the cursor over the names or words that are spelled in blue, you will see more text and often a photograph. The categories are:
EVENTS
NEW WORKS
NEW OPERAS
ALBUMS
DEATHS
MAJOR AWARDS
REFERENCES
There are so many details that you may want to check out just one or two categories at a time over several days.
Here is a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_in_classical_music
Do you know of someone or something – especially of local importance, such as the death in October of longtime Madison music critic John W. Barker (below, in a photo by Mark Golbach) – that did not make the list? Please leave word in the Comment section.
And here’s hoping that 2020 brings us even more important and memorable new and old music, but less loss.
Tags: #BaroqueMusic, #BestoftheYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalGreek, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GrammyAward, #GramophoneAward, #GramophoneMagazine, #InstrumentalMusic, #JohnW.Barker, #JunoAwards, #LatinLanguage, #MadisonWisconsin, #MarkGolbach, #MusicCritic, #NewMusic, #NewYear, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #TheEar, #VocalMusic, #Wikipediaentry, 2019, 2020, Album, ancient, Ars longa, Arts, assess, audience, award, Bach, backward, Baroque, Beethoven, Best of the Year, blog, blue, brass, category, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical, Classical music, classicalmusic, comment, Compact Disc, composer, comprehensive, concerto, conductor, cursor, daily, day, dead, death, detail, Early music, entries, event, explore, Facebook, forward, Franz Schubert, Grammy, Gramophone, Gramophone Award, Greek, Hippocrates, hover, important, instrumental, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, journalism, Juno, Latin, like, link, list, local, look, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, magazine, major, Mark Golbach, memorable, Mozart, Music, music critic, name, new, New Music, New Year, news, Newspaper, October, old, online, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, performer, photograph, Piano, post, posting, prize, proverb, publication, recording, reference, retrospective, review, round-up, share, Sonata, spell, symphony, tag, text, The Ear, translation, United States, Viola, Violin, vita brevis, vocal music, Website, Wikipedia, winds, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, word, world, year
Classical music: Why does Pavarotti – the man and now the movie – fascinate us?
Leave a Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend a lot of people nationwide will go see the movie “Pavarotti,” the documentary by Ron Howard about the legendary Italian tenor who died 12 years ago.
Luciano Pavarotti (below) was and remains a superstar, a major cultural phenomenon, which is why Decca Records is cashing in by releasing not only the soundtrack to the documentary film but also a new 3-CD compilation of Pavarotti’s best singing.
It’s all so curious, especially if you compare Pavarotti’s artistic accomplishments against those of, say, Placido Domingo.
Pavarotti couldn’t read music.
He couldn’t act very convincingly.
The roles he learned were relatively limited in number.
He made major personal and professional missteps.
Yet we remain deeply drawn to Pavarotti.
Why?
It certainly has to do with his extraordinary voice, the tone and power of which could make your neck hairs stand on end, give you goosebumps, bring tears to your eyes and make you sob out loud.
Just listen to his singing of Puccini’s “Nessun dorma,” the crowd-pleasing signature aria from “Turandot” that Pavarotti performed over and over again in concerts, operas and at the famous “Three Tenors” stadium concerts. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
But there is more to Pavarotti as a cultural phenomenon, much more, that tells us about ourselves and about the appeal of opera in general.
Without question, the best cultural analysis of Luciano Pavarotti that The Ear has ever seen or heard came recently from the critic Zachary Woolfe in The New York Times.
As Woolfe deconstructs “this hulking, sweaty man with stringy hair, a patchy beard and an unforgettable sound,” you learn much about the popular appeal – both high and low — of opera as well as the commercial and artistic appeal of Pavarotti.
Here is a link to Woolfe’s “Critic’s Notebook” analysis, which is well worth reading on its own or either before or after you see the new film.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/arts/music/pavarotti-ron-howard.html
And here is the official trailer for the film, with comments from many of his colleagues, which gets mixed reviews:
What do you think of Zachary Woolfe’s analysis of Pavarotti?
Why do you think the singer was so popular?
What is your favorite performance of his?
And if you saw the film, what did you think of it? Do you recommend seeing it?
Leave a comment.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CompactDisc, #Crowd-pleasing, #CulturalPhenomenon, #DeccaRecords, #DocumentaryFilm, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FilmReview, #FilmSoundtrack, #GiacomoPuccini, #LucianoPavarotti, #MacArthurFellow, #MovieReview, #MovieSoundtrack, #NessunDorma, #OperaAria, #OperaMusic, #OperaSinger, #PlacidoDomingo, #RonHoward, #SuperstarTenor, #TenorSinger, #TheNewYorkTImes, #ThreeTenors, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, #ZacharyWoolfe, accomplishment, act, analysis, appeal, aria, artistic, artistic accomplishment, Arts, beard, best, blog, Classical music, colleagues, comment, comments, commercial, comoilation, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, convincingly, critic, crowd, cultural, culture, death, Decca Records, deconstruct, died, documentary, extraordinary, Facebook, famous, film, film soundtrack, goosebumps, hair, high, hulk, hulking, Jacob Stockinger, journalism, learn, legend, legendary, like, link, listen, low, Luciano Pavarotti, Madison, major, man, misstep, movie, Music, nationwide, neck, Nessun Dorma, new, Newspaper, notebook, official, opera, ourselves, Pavarotti, People, perform, performance, performer, personal, phenomenon, Plácido Domingo, please, popular, power, professional, Puccini, recommend, relative, relatively, review, role, Ron Howard, share, singer, Singing, sob, Sound, soundtrack, stadium, stand, superstar, sweaty, tag, tears, tenor, The New York Times, Three Tenors, tone, trailer, Turandot, unforgettable, United States, vocal music, voice, weekend, why, Wisconsin, YouTube, Zachary Woolfe
Classical music: Today is the summer solstice. Here is information about the solstice plus 20 pieces of classical music to mark the coming of summer
1 Comment
ALERT: Today is the fifth annual Make Music Madison. More than 300 FREE outdoor performances will be featured at some 100 venues. For information about artists, kinds of music, places and times, go to: http://www.makemusicmadison.org
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Thursday, June 21, 2018.
The summer solstice arrives in Wisconsin early today at 5:07 a.m. Central Daylight Time.
If you want to know more about the summer solstice, here are two stories from NBC and The Washington Post with some interesting information you might not know:
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/what-summer-solstice-ncna884991
Quite a few composers and works of classical music celebrate the coming of summer.
Twenty of the best-known are featured on a blog at the famous classical radio station WQXR FM in New York City. Here is a link:
https://www.wqxr.org/story/20-summertime-classical-pieces-maximum-chill/
The blog posting features many terrific sound samples, including such well-known works as “Summer” section from “The Four Seasons” violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi.
Still, some of the titles – including the famous Overture to “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn – are not accompanied by sound.
That includes one of The Ear’s favorites, “Knoxville, Summer 1915” by the American composer Samuel Barber with words by the journalist and documentarian James Agee.
Here it is, in a much-praised recording by soprano Dawn Upshaw, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Here’s hoping summer is better in this part of the country than spring was, what with record cold in April and record rainfall in May that seems to be continuing with disastrous flooding in June.
Happy Summer, all.
Tags: #AntonioVivaldi, #AntonWebern, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CentralDaylightTime, #DawnUpshaw, #EdvardGrieg, #FelixMendelssohn, #FrankBridge, #FrederickDelius, #GabrielFaure, #HectorBerlioz, #JamesAgee, #JosefSuk, #Knoxvile, #MarkO'Connor, #MidsummerNight'sDream, #MikhailGlinka, #NaturalDisaster, #NBCNews, #NedRorem, #NewYorkCity, #PeterTchaikovsky, #PeterTchaikowsky, #SamuelBarber, #SergeiProkofiev, #SummerSolstice, #TheWashingtonPost, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #WilliamGrantStill, #ZoltanKodaly, April, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Berlioz, blog, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, cold, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, country, Delius, disaster, documentarian, documentary, Early music, flood, flooding, georgegershwin, Gershwin, Glinka, Grieg, information, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, journalism, journalist, June, Kodaly, Madison, Mark O'Connor, May, Music, NBC, Ned Rorem, New York City, news, Overture, posting, Prokofiev, Radio, rainfall, solstice, soprano, station, Stonehenge, storms, Suk, Summer solstice, Summer1915, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Webern, wet, William Grant Still, WQXR-FM
Classical music: Madison Opera travels to the jungle for the local premiere of the Spanish opera “Florencia en el Amazonas” this Friday night and Sunday afternoon
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the Madison Opera travels to the jungle to present the Madison premiere of Florencia en el Amazonas (with sets from the production by the Arizona Opera, below) by Daniel Catán on Friday night, April 27, at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, April 29, at 2:30 p.m. in the Overture Hall at the Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street.
The opera will be sung in Spanish with English supertitles. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.
Tickets are $18-$130 with discounts available for students and groups. For more information about tickets and the production, go to www.madisonopera.org
Mexican composer Daniel Catan’s lush and accessible orchestral soundscape brings the Amazon River to life in this magical and mystical journey.
Set in South America at the turn of the 20th century, the story begins when Florencia Grimaldi, a famous opera singer, embarks anonymously on a voyage down the Amazon River to sing a concert in Manaus, Brazil.
She is traveling to the concert incognito; her real hope for the journey is to be reunited with the lover she left behind, a butterfly hunter.
On the boat with her are a young journalist, Rosalba, who is writing a biography of Grimaldi; a couple feeling the strain of their long marriage, Paula and Alvaro; the boat’s captain; the captain’s restless nephew, Arcadio, who falls in love with Rosalba; and a man who is a rather mystical presence, Riolobo.
Over the course of the journey, the passengers encounter a storm, piranha, and ultimately cholera.
“Florencia en el Amazons is simply gorgeous,” says Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill), Madison Opera’s General Director. “I heard only wonderful things about it following its 1996 premiere, and when I saw the opera 10 years ago, I realized why audiences love it so much.
“The music is ravishing, the setting is physically beautiful, and the characters are fascinating. I am delighted to be presenting it in Madison, as part of our vision of sharing operas from all time periods and in all languages.”
Florencia was the third opera composed by Daniel Catán (below, in a photo by Gina Ferazzi for the Los Angeles Times) and the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by a major U.S. opera company. Houston Grand Opera premiered the work in 1996; it has since been performed across North America and Europe, with companies like Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle producing it multiple times due to audience demand.
The opera’s libretto, while an original story, was inspired by the writings of the Nobel Prize-winning Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez (below) author of 100 Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. Librettist Marcela Fuentes-Berain was a protégé of Márquez; according to Catán, he and Fuentes-Berain would show García Márquez parts of the libretto as they were finished. Elements of the author’s trademark magic realism pervade many parts of the opera.
Catán’s music was acclaimed for its lush writing. The New York Times said, “Mr. Catán’s writing for the voice is luxuriously lyrical; and he orchestrates with skill.” (You can hear the opera’s opening scene in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Catán wrote two more operas before dying at age 62 of a heart attack. At his sudden death in 2011, Plácido Domingo called him “one of the great opera composers of our time, beloved by audiences and especially by the musicians who had the privilege of performing his incredible work.”
“I am so happy to have the opportunity to perform this absolutely gorgeous opera,” says John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad), Madison Opera’s Artistic Director. “I had the pleasure of knowing Daniel Catán, and commissioned an orchestral suite from this opera for the Madison Symphony Orchestra, which we performed in 2003.
“We all were struck by the power and sweep of the music. This story of the power of love and music in all of our lives will be sung by a great cast of singers, and the orchestral fabric will lift audiences out of their seats and transport them to the magical world of the Amazon. This is an opera written in our time, with a musical score that will leave audiences wanting to hear it again and again.”
Madison Opera’s cast features a number of returning favorites. For revealing 10-question interviews with cast members, go to the MadOpera blog at: http://madisonopera.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Caballero (below) sings Florencia Grimaldi, a role she has sung for New York City Opera and Nashville Opera. The Cuban-American soprano debuted with Madison Opera at Opera in the Park in 2007 and returned in Carmen, La Traviata,and Don Giovanni. Last month, she sang Mimì in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera.
Rachel Sterrenberg sings the journalist Rosalba; she debuted in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird here last season.
Adriana Zabala (below), who sang in The Tales of Hoffmann and at last summer’s Opera in the Park, sings Paula, a role she has also sung at San Diego Opera and Arizona Opera.
Nmon Ford (below, in a photo by Guy Madmoni), who sang Scarpia in Tosca with Madison Opera in 2013, sings the mysterious Riolobo.
Mackenzie Whitney, who debuted as Rodolfo in La Bohème with Madison Opera in 2015, returns as Arcadio, the Captain’s nephew. Levi Hernandez, who debuted in The Magic Flute here in 2005, returns as Alvaro. Bass Ashraf Sewailam (below) makes his Madison Opera debut as the Captain of the El Dorado.
Kristine McIntyre (below) returns to direct this Madison Opera premiere. She has directed many successful productions for Madison Opera, including Dead Man Walking and The Tales of Hoffmann. Recent work includes productions at Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Kentucky Opera.
The production prominently features members of Kanopy Dance Company, playing spirits of the river. Lisa A. Thurrell, co-artistic director of Kanopy, has created choreography for her dancers and this production.
The set (below) comes from Arizona Opera, with costumes designed by Madison Opera’s Karen Brown-Larimore, who designed the costumes for The Abduction from the Seraglio in February.
As always, the opera features the Madison Opera Chorus and the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Madison Opera’s production of “Florencia en el Amazons” is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Thompson Investment Management, Inc., Carla and Fernando Alvarado, Thomas Terry, the Ann Stanke Fund, Kennedy Gilchrist and Heidi Wilde, and Charles Snowdon and Ann Lindsey.
Tags: #AbductionFromtheSeraglio, #AmazonRiver, #ArizonaOpera, #ChadHutchinson, #CharlieParker'sYardbird, #ChoralMusic, #ClaudeDebussy, #Cuban-American, #DanielCatan, #DonGiovanni, #EnglishLanguage, #FlorenciaenelAmazonas, #GabrielGarciaMarquez, #GeorgesBizet, #GiacomoPuccini, #GiuseppeVerdi, #HoustonGrandOpera, #JacquesOffenbach, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnDeMain, #KanopyDanceCompany, #KathrynSmith, #KristineMcIntyre, #LaBoheme, #LaTraviata, #LosAngeles, #LoveintheTimeofCholera, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonOperaChorus, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #magicrealism, #MarcellaFuentes-Berain, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MetropolitanOpera, #MexicanMusic, #MexicanOpera, #NashvilleOpera, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NewYorkCityOpera, #NobelPrize, #NorthAmerica, #OneHundredYearsofSolitude, #OperaInThePark, #PlacidoDomingo, #SanDiegoOpera, #SpanishLanguage, #StephenShewan, #TheMagicFlute, #TheMet, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheTalesofHoffmann, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, Abduction From the Seraglio, accessible, Arizona Opera, Arts, Bach, Baroque, beautiful, Beethoven, biography, blog, boat, Brahms, Brazil, butterfly, captain, Carmen, cholera, choral music, Classical music, composer, Concert, costume, Cuban, dance, dancer, Daniel Catan, Debussy, Don Giovanni, Europe, Franz Schubert, free, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Houston, investment, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, journalism, journalist, journey, jungle, Kristine McIntyre, La bohème, La Traviata, language, libretto, lives, Los Angeles, Love, lover, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marriage, Mexico, Mozart, Music, mystical, Nashville Opera, New York City Opera, New York Times, opera, Opera in the Park, Orchestra, Overture Center, Piano, piranha, Plácido Domingo, power, Seattle, set, Sonata, Stephen Shewan, storm, strain, supertitle, surtitle, symphony, The Magic Flute, The Tales of Hoffmann, tickets, time, Tosca, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, voyage, weekend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Brian Jefferies on Classical music: A major reass… |
 | welltemperedear on What made Beethoven sick and… |
 | rlhess5d5b7e5dff on What made Beethoven sick and… |
| welltemperedear on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
 | Robert Graebner on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Starting this Sunday, radio station WORT-FM 89.9 will air recordings that Rich Samuels made of many live performances in the Madison area
6 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
ALERT: The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will be suspending the remainder of its spring season until further notice. Music director Kyle Knox and executive director Bridget Fraser says they are hopeful that an adjusted end-of-year schedule might be possible. Many ideas are under consideration. But they say they have no idea at this point what might be possible given the restrictions currently in place at the UW-Madison. “All we can do is explore possible scenarios and be ready to react if the restrictions are lifted,” they add.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following note from Rich Samuels (below), a retired Chicago reporter and broadcaster who is often seen at concerts with microphones and a laptop computer. His public service is especially commendable and useful during the current coronavirus pandemic when almost all live concerts in music-rich Madison have been canceled or postponed for the foreseeable future.
Jake:
WORT (89.9 FM and at wortfm.org) will shortly start to air recordings of past public performances by Madison area classical musicians within its regularly scheduled classical music broadcasts.
This should help keep our local musician friends in the public ear even though their local venues have been shuttered and their gigs canceled.
I’ve had the good fortune to record hundreds of hours of local performances since 2012. I’m now editing them into segments that can be inserted into the shows of WORT’s classical music hosts.
The first segment to air, if all goes well, will be part of the “Musica Antiqua” early music program, hosted by Carol Moseson, this Sunday, March 22, from 8 to 11 a.m.
It will feature Eric Miller on viola da gamba and Daniel Sullivan on harpsichord performing a suite by French Baroque composer Louis Couperin. I recorded the concert (below) last Oct. 11 in the Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS).
Other such segments will follow on the weekday classical music shows that air from 5 to 8 a.m. We are still working on the details.
Additionally, I’ll be pre-recording three-hour broadcasts that can be run in place of the regularly scheduled classical music shows, assuming the host, for whatever reason, is unable to make it to the station.
These will hopefully include complete concert performances from the FUS Friday Noon Musicale, Grace Presents (in the YouTube video at the bottom) and Willy Street Chamber Players (below) series.
I gave up my own Thursday morning WORT show about a year ago after my wife developed some health issues. But I’ve continued to record local musicians whenever possible. (My wife, by the way, is presently in good shape).
Hopefully, this WORT effort will benefit both local musicians and their audiences. (Below is Samuels recording at Bach Around the Clock, which has been canceled this year.)
Please join The Ear in thanking Rich Samuels and WORT for their service to the community by leaving word in the Comment section.
What do you think of his project?
Share this:
Tags: #BachAroundtheClock, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BridgetFraser, #CarolMoseson, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClassicalMusician, #COVID-19, #DanielSullivan, #EricMiller, #ExecutiveDirector, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #Frenchcomposer, #FridayNoonMusicale, #GoodFortune, #GracePresents, #HarpsichordMusic, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #KyleKnox, #LandmarkAuditorium, #LaptopComputer, #LiebesliederWaltzes, #LiveConcert, #LiveMusic, #LivePerformances, #LocalMusicians, #LouisCouperin, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicaAntiqua, #MusicDirector, #NewsUpdate, #PeriodInstruments, #PublicService, #RadioBroadcast, #RadioHost, #RadioStation, #RichSamuels, #SundayMorning, #TheEar, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VioladaGamba, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, adjust, air, area, assume, attract, audience, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, blog, Brahms, Bridget Fraser, Broadcast, broadcaster, cancel, canceled, Carol Moseson, Chamber music, Chicago, Classical, classicalmusic, commendable, comment, community, complete, computer, conductor, consideration, coronavirus, Couperin, current, Daniel Sullivan, details, ear, Early music, earlymusic, edit, end, Eric Miller, event, Executive director, explore, Facebook, first, First Unitarian Society of Madison, fortune, forward, France, French, Friday Noon Musicale, friends, FUS, future, gigs, good, good fortune, Grace Presents, harpsichord, Health, historically informed performance practices, hope, hopeful, host, hours, hundreds, idea, insert, issues, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, join, journalism, Kyle Knox, laptop, laptop computer, Liebeslieder Waltzes, like, link, live, live concert, live music, live performances, local, local musicians, Louis Couperin, Love, Madison, Mead Witter School of Music, microphone, Music, Music director, Musica Antiqua, Musician, news, nite, notice, own, pandemic, performances, performers, period instruments, possible, post, posting, postpone, pre-recording, project, public, public service, Radio, radio station, react, reader, record, recording, remainder, reporter, restrictions, retired, Retirement, rich, Rich Samuels, scenario, schedule, Season, segment, series, service, share, show, shows, shuttered, Spring, station, subscriber, Suite, Sunday, suspend, tag, thank, thanking, The Ear, think, unable, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, update, usefuul, UW-Madison, venue, viola da gamba, Waltz, weekday, wife, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, word, work, WORT-FM 89.9, WYSO, year, YouTube