The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: It’s summer. Which composers and musical works have been inspired by insects?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It’s summer.
The Ear likes to watch the fireflies or lightning bugs and hear the crickets that come with the season.
But he is much less fond of ants and spiders, of bees and wasps, and especially of mosquitoes, which seem particularly plentiful and aggressive after the very wet spring Wisconsin experienced.
But it turns out that, over many centuries, insects have inspired a lot of composers to write music that mimicked them and their noises and movements.
Professional violist and music educator Miles Hoffman (below) recently discussed insect music on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Here is a link:
You can read the printed transcript, but the real fun and learning come if you listen to the audio clip that includes musical excerpts.
Some prominent ones were overlooked or not mentioned, including Romantic composer Robert Schumann’s “Papillons” (Butterflies) for solo piano, which you can hear played by Wilhelm Kempff in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Can you think of other composers and pieces that focus on insects?
Leave the name or title, plus a YouTube link to a performance if possible, in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: It’s Valentine’s Day 2018. Let us now praise musical couples and say what music we would play to celebrate romantic love
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ALERT: If you are a fan of new music, you might not want to miss a FREE concert this Thursday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall by the UW-Madison Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.
The program of “Ideas and Landscapes,” assembled and directed by UW’s award-winning composer Laura Schwendinger, includes works by UW students and alumni as well as a world premiere of a work for solo oboe by Schwendinger herself.
For more details about the composers, the performers and the complete program, go to:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/contemporary-chamber-ensemble/
By Jacob Stockinger
It is Valentine’s Day 2018, and music plays a big role in celebrating the holiday — as the portrait of Cupid (below) expresses.
This week, musician and teacher Miles Hoffman was featured by National Public Radio (NPR) on the program “Morning Edition” with a most appropriate story about famous musical couples who were also linked romantically.
The Ear was particularly pleased that a same-sex couple – British composer Benjamin Britten (below left) and British tenor Peter Pears (below right) — was recognized during this time when the homophobic administration of President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence keeps attacking the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people under the guise of protecting and promoting religious tolerance. The leaders use the concept of religious freedom as camouflage for bigotry, zealotry and prejudice.
But more conventional and traditional couples were also recognized, and deservedly so.
Here is a link to the story that also contains some wonderful musical samples:
And here is what The Ear wants to know:
First: Can you think of other musical couples – especially local ones — to single out for recognition on Valentine’s Day? The Karp family as well as pianists-singers Bill Lutes and Martha Fischer plus singers Cheryl Bensman Rowe and Paul Rowe, conductor Kyle Knox and Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Naha Greenholtz, and violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino and cellist Leonardo Altino all come immediately to mind. But surely there are others The Ear has overlooked.
Second: What piece of classical music would you listen to or play in order to express love for your Valentine?
Leave the names and information, with a YouTube link if possible, in the COMMENT section.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
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Classical music: NPR explores Opus 1 works to mark Jan. 1 and New Year’s Day
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By Jacob Stockinger
Each year, the media look for new ways to mark the holidays and especially New Year’s Day.
One of the best and most original The Ear has seen and heard in a long time came from National Public Radio (NPR).
On Morning Edition, the radio network consulted Miles Hoffman (below), a violist, conductor and educator, about the first works – the Opus 1 works – that various composers published.
Hoffman’s remarks touch on quite a few young composers and prodigies, including Ludwig van Beethoven (below top), Felix Mendelssohn (below middle) and Ernst von Dohnanyi (below bottom).
Here is a link to the story, which should be listened to, and not just read, for the sake of the music and sound samples:
And from YouTube here are two more Opus 1 works that The Ear would add.
The first is the Rondo in C Minor, Op. 1, by a young Frédéric Chopin (below, in a drawing from Getty Images) and performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy. It shows just how early Chopin had found his own style and his own distinctive voice:
And here are the “Abegg” Variations by critic-turned-composer Robert Schumann (below), played by Lang Lang:
Can you think of other Opus 1 works to add to the list?
Please leave the composer’s name, the work’s title and a YouTube link to a performance, if possible, in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Art Works, Arts, Beethoven, best, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, conductor, critic, educator, Ernst Dohnanyi, Feix Mendelssohn, fistinctive, Getty Images, Holiday, Jacob Stockinger, Lang Lang, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, media, Miles Hoffman, Morning Edition, Music, Music education, new, New Year, New Year's Day, NPR, opus, original, performance, prodigies, prodigy, rondo, Schumann, Sound, Teacher, title, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, voice, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, work, young, YouTube
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