The Well-Tempered Ear
YOU MUST HEAR THIS: No piece captures the mixed emotions of Memorial Day better than Charles Ives’ “Decoration Day”
3 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
Today is Memorial Day, 2022.
It is the annual holiday to remember those who died in military service to the country. (Below are flags placed each year at the tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.)
If you want to honor survivors and current service members, that would be Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
All weekend long the radio has been playing music and the television has been showing war movies.
A lot of the music is familiar and repeated every year: Sousa marches and Morton Gould suites, elegies by Gustav Mahler, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein; requiems by Mozart and Fauré; a hymn by John Williams and other movie scores. This year has also seen the playlist include rediscovered works of homage by African-American composers such as William Grant Still.
But only this year did The Ear finally hear — thanks to Wisconsin Public Radio — the one piece that, to his mind, best captures Memorial Day with its blending of consonance and dissonance, its mix of major and major keys, of familiar or “found” music and original music.
It is called, simply, “Decoration Day” and it was composed in 1912 — but not published until 1989 — by the 20th-century iconoclastic and early modernist American composer Charles Ives (below, 1874-1954). It ended up as part of a work the composer called “A Symphony: New England Hollidays.”
See if you agree with The Ear.
Listen to the 8-minute performance by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Listen to the deep anguish and and sense of loss conveyed in the opening, when a solemn remembrance procession goes to a cemetery to plant flags and lay flowers and wreaths to “decorate” the graves of the fallen.
Listen carefully and you will hear a faint version of “Taps” and ringing church bells in the atmospheric music.
Then as so often happens in reality, life suddenly intrudes in the form of a celebration by a loud marching brass band as it leaves the cemetery for the celebratory marches, picnics and fireworks.
But at the end, the darkness briefly returns. The sense of loss lingers long after the actual death and long after the holiday has been celebrated.
There is no closure.
Just resignation.
Just living with loss.
Here is the background from Wikipedia about how the holiday started as Decoration Day after the Civil War and when it evolved into Memorial Day in 1970: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day
And here is biographical background, with the actual sources and depictions of “Decoration Day” — just go down the page to compositions and click — about Charles Ives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives
Did you know and like Charles Ives’ music?
Does “Decoration Day” impress or move you?
What music most embodies Memorial Day for you?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #African-AmericanComposer, #ArlingtonNationalCemetery, #BandMusic, #BlackAmericans, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassBand, #BrassMusic, #CharlesIves, #ChurchBells, #CivilWar, #DecorationDay, #FacebookPosting, #GabrielFaure, #GustavMahler, #JacobStockinger, #JohnPhilipSousa, #JohnWilliams, #LeonardBernstein, #MajorKey, #MemorialDay, #MilitaryService, #MinorKey, #MixedEmotions, #MortonGould, #NationalPublicRadio, #NewEngland, #OrchestralMusic, #OriginalWork, #SamuelBarber, #TheEar, #ThePresident, #TheU.S., #UnitedStates, #UnitedStatesMarineBand, #USMarines, #VeteransDay, #WarMovies, #Wikipediaentry, #WilliamGrantStill, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, 20th-century music, Aaron Copland, actual, African American, American, American Civil War, Ameriuca, anguish, annual, Arlington, Arlington National Cemetery, Arts, atmosphere, atmospheric, audience, background, band, band music, Barber, Bernstein, biographical, black, blog, bottom, brass band, brass music, celebration, celebratory, cemetery, Charles Ives, church, church bells, Civil War, Classical music, Classical Revolution, closure, compose, composer, Composition, Concert, consonance, Copland, darkness, dead, death, Decoration Day, deep, depiction, dissonance, early, Early music, Elegy, embody, emotion, evolution, evolve, Facebook, fallen, familiar, Fascebook, Faure, film, Fireworks, flag, flower, found, Gabriel Fauré, Gould, grave, Gustav Mahler, hear, Holiday, homage, honor, hymn, iconoclast, iconoclastic, impress, information, intrude, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, John Philip Sousa, John Williams, Leonard Bernstein, life, like, linger, listen, living, loss, loud, Mahler, major key, march, Marines, mark, Memorial Day, military, minor key, minute, mixed, modern, modernist, morph, Morton Gould, move, Movies, Mozart, nation, national, National Public Radio, New England, NPR, opening, orchestral, original, performance, picnic, piece, plant, playlist, post, posting, President, procession, psalm, publish, Radio, reality, rediscover, remembrance, repeat, Samuel Barber, score, sense, service, show, solemn, soundtrack, source, sources, Sousa, Still, suddenly, Suite, symphony, Taps, Television, thanks, The Ear, TV, U.S., United State Marine Band, United States, veterans, Veterans Day, video, war, war movies, weekend, Wikipedia, William Grant Still, Williams, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, wreaty, year, you, YouTube
Should the 1812 Overture be played this Fourth of July?
9 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
The Ear recently noticed that the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has once again scheduled the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky (below) as part of the finale of its Fourth of July concert on the evening of July 6, 2022.
The performance is part of this summer’s FREE Concerts on the Square (COS) by the WCO that run on six consecutive Wednesday nights from June 29 through Aug. 3. Concerts start at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capitol Square in downtown Madison, and will be conducted by Andrew Sewell.
For more information about the series and individual performers and programs, go to: https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/concerts-on-the-square
An asterisk says programs are subject to change.
Which got The Ear to thinking: Should Tchaikovsky’s perennial favorite, the flashy and loud 1812 Overture, be played again this year?
It is a tradition that was started on Independence Day in 1974 by Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops, according to reputable sources.
But this year might be a very different case because of a quandary that might cause organizers, including PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth,” to rethink the program.
It is a choice that will confront many musical groups across the U.S., given the current unprovoked brutality and and war crimes being committed by Russia against Ukraine.
After all, many music groups, including the Metropolitan Opera, have already banned Russian performers who support Russian President Vladimir Putin and his unjustified war in Ukraine (below).
So here’s the question: Is it appropriate to play a favorite work celebrating a Russian military victory while Ukraine, the United States and Western allies, including NATO, are desperately trying to defeat Russian forces?
As you may recall, the overture was inspired by Russia’s victory over the invading forces of Napoleon who was attempting go conquer Russia. Like Hitler and the Nazis, Napoleon failed and the Russians prevailed. That is why, in the work, you hear the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” overcome by the chimes and cannons of the Russian victory hymn. (There was no Russian national anthem until 1815.)
Here is a link to more background in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture
Will the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra or other orchestras as well as radio and TV stations around the U.S. find a substitute piece? Perhaps it could be the Ukrainian national anthem that is performed (as in the BBC Proms concert in the YouTube video at the bottom and as many other orchestras around the world, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and John DeMain, have done).
What else could the WCO and other groups play — especially since Sousa marches are already usually featured on The Fourth?
Do you have a suggestion?
The Ear will be interested to see how the quandary is solved — with explanations and excuses, or with alternative music?
Meanwhile, as comedian Stephen Colbert likes to say: What do you think?
Should the “1812 Overture” be played on this Fourth of July?
Why?
Or why not?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #ACapitolFourth, #AdolfHitler, #AndrewSewell, #ArthurFiedler, #AudienceFavorite, #BBCProms, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonPops, #CapitolSquare, #ChamberOrchestra, #ConcertsontheSquare, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FourthofJuly, #FreeConcert, #IndependenceDay, #JacobStockinger, #JohnDeMain, #July4, #LaMarseillaise, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MetropolitanOpera, #NapoleonicWars, #NationalAnthem, #NaziGermany, #NorthAtlanticTreatyOrganization, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #RadioStation, #SocialMedia, #StephenColbert, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #TheMet, #TheU.S., #TVstation, #UnitedStates, #VladimirPutin, #WarCrimes, #WebPage, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, 1812 Overture, @1812Overture, A Capitol Fourth, Allies, alternative, America, American, Andrew Sewell, Arthur Fiedler, Arts, asterisk, audience, ban, BBC, BBC Proms, blog, Blog post, Boston Pops, brutal, brutality, cannons, Capitol, Capitol Square, celebrate, chamber orchestra, chimes, choice, Classical music, comedian, commit, composer, Concert, Concerts on the Square, conductor, confront, COS, downtown, evening, excuse, explanation, Facebook, Facebook post, favorite, finale, flashy, force, Fourth of July, France, free concert, French, Germany, group, help, Hitler, home website, hymn, Independence Day, individual, information, inspire, invasion, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, John Philip Sousa, July 4, justice, La Marseillaise, link, loud, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, march, Metropolitan Opera, military, Music, Napoleon, Napoleonic Wars, national anthem, NATO, Nazi, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Orchestra, organizer, PBS, perennial, performance, performer, performers, piece, play, President, program, Putin, quandary, Radio, radio station, reputable, reputation, rethink, Russia, Russian, say, schedule, series, share, singer, social media, solve, source, Sousa, Stephen Colbert, suggestion, support, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, Television, The Ear, the Internet, the Met, think, tradition, TV, TV station, U, U.S., Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, unjust, unjustifiable, victory, video, war, war crimes, WCO, web, Website, Western, why, why not, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world, World War II, YouTube
Classical music: Today is the Fourth of July. Independence Day is the right time to celebrate American classical composers and patriotic concert music. Here are three ways to do that
7 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the Fourth of July – Independence Day.
That makes it exactly the right time to think about American composers and American patriotic music – both of which have been receiving well-deserved airplay all week on Wisconsin Public Radio.
Here are three items that seem appropriate because they pertain to American composers and American classical music.
ITEM 1
Tonight at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capital Square in downtown Madison, guest conductor Huw Edwards (below) will lead the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in its Concert on the Square for the Fourth of July.
The “American Salute” program includes: “American Salute” by Morton Gould; the Overture to “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein; “Wisconsin Forward Forever” by march king John Philip Sousa; and, of course, “The 1812 Overture” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Blankets can go down on the ground starting at 3 p.m. For more general information about attending the concert including weather updates, rules and etiquette, and food caterers and vendors, go to:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/concerts-on-the-square-2-2/
ITEM 2
Can you name 30 American classical composers? The Ear tried and it’s not easy.
But thanks to Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, California – which will also play and stream (click on the Listen tab) such music today — it isn’t hard.
Here is a link:
You can click on the link “Playlist for Independence Day” and see the photo of the composers and the titles of compositions that will be played.
You can also click on the composer’s name in the alphabetized list and see a biography in Wikipedia.
Can you think of American composers who didn’t make the list? Leave the name or names – Henry Cowell and Virgil Thomson (below) come to mind — in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
ITEM 3
Finally, given the controversial political issues of the day surrounding immigration, The Ear offers this take on perhaps the most virtuosic piano transcription of patriotic music ever played.
It was done by someone who immigrated permanently to the U.S. in 1939 and then became a naturalized citizen in 1944. He also raised millions through war bonds during World War II.
He was the Russian-born pianist Vladimir Horowitz, here playing his own celebrated virtuoso arrangement – done in 1945 for a patriotic rally and war bonds concert in Central Park — of ”The Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa.
Here is a link to his biography in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Horowitz
And here is the YouTube audio of his own performance of the Sousa piece, with the score, including all the special technical demands, especially lots of Horowitz’s famous octaves, to follow along with. It’s a performance that has become justifiably legendary:
Tags: #AmericanCitizen, #Americancomposers, #AmericanMusic, #AmericanSalute, #CentralPark, #ConcertsontheSquare, #FoodCaterer, #FoodVendor, #FourthofJuly, #HenryCowell, #HuwEdwards, #IndependenceDay, #JohnPhilipSousa, #LeonardBernstein, #MortonGould, #NaturalizedCitizen, #OrchestraConductor, #PatrioticMusic, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PoliticalControversy, #PublicRadio, #StarandStripesForever, #StateCapitol, #VirgilThomson, #VladimirHorowitz, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, @1812Overture, American, Arts, biography, California, Candide, caterer, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, citizen, Classical music, composer, composers, conductor, controversy, demands, etiquette, food, Fourth of July, guest, Henry Cowell, Hew Edwards, Horowitz, immigration, Independence Day, Jacob Stockinger, John Philip Sousa, listen, Madison, march, Morton Gould, Music, New York City, octave, Overture to Candide, patriotic, patriotic music, patriotism, Pianist, Piano, playlist, Politics, program, public radio, rule, Sacramento, score, Sousa, Stars and Stripes Forever, symphony, Tchaikovsky, technical, technique, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vendor, Viola, Violin, Virgil Thomson, vocal music, weather, Website, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin State Capitol, YouTube
Classical music: What is your favorite Sousa march for the Fourth of July? What other classical music celebrates the holiday?
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day, when we mark the day and the Declaration of Independence when the U.S officially separated from Great Britain to become not a colony but its own country.
Over the past decade The Ear has chosen music from many American composers to mark the event – music by Edward MacDowell, Charles Ives, William Grant Still, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, William Schuman, Joan Tower, John Adams and so many others.
And of course also featured around the nation will be the “1812 Overture” by Peter Tchaikovsky.
You will probably hear a lot of that music today on Wisconsin Public Radio and other stations, including WFMT in Chicago and WQXR in New York City.
Here is a link to nine suggestions with audiovisual performances:
http://www.classical-music.com/article/nine-best-works-independence-day
But The Ear got to thinking.
It is certainly a major achievement when a composer’s name becomes synonymous with a genre of music. Like Strauss waltzes. Bach cantatas and Bach fugues. Chopin mazurkas and Chopin polonaises.
The Ear thinks that John Philip Sousa is to marches what Johann Strauss is to waltzes. Others have done them, but none as well.
So on Independence Day, he asks: Which of Sousa’s many marches is your favorite to mark the occasion?
The “Stars and Stripes Forever” — no officially our national march — seems the most appropriate one, judging by titles. “The Washington Post” March is not far behind.
But lately The Ear has taken to “The Liberty Bell” March.
Here it is a YouTube video with the same Marine Band that Sousa, The March King, once led and composed for:
And if you want music fireworks in the concert hall to match the real thing, you can’t beat the bravura pyrotechnical display concocted and executed by pianist Vladimir Horowitz, a Russian who became an American citizen and contributed mightily to the war effort during World War II.
Horowitz wowed the crowds – including fellow virtuoso pianists – with his transcription of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” in which it sounds like three or four hands are playing. Judge for yourself. Here it is:
Of course, you can also leave the names of other American composers and works to celebrate the Fourth. Just leave a word and a link in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear!
Tags: 1812 Overture, Aaron Copland, America, Arts, audiovisual, Bach, band, Baroque, brass, Cantata, Chamber music, Charles Ives, Classical music, colony, composer, concert hall, country, Edward MacDowell, England, Fireworks, Fourth of July, freedom, fugue, genre, George Gershwin, Great Britain, Holiday, Horowitz, independence, Independence Day, Jacob Stockinger, Joan Tower, John Adams, John Philip Sousa, July 4, Leonard Bernstein, Liberty Bell, Madison, march, Marine, mazurka, Music, National Public Radio, NPR, Orchestra, Piano, polonaise, pyrotechnics, Radio, Russia, Samuel Barber, Sousa, Stars and Stripes Forever, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, U.S., UK, United Kingdom, United States, United States Declaration of Independence, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, Waltz, Washington D.C., Washington Post, WFMT, William Schuman, Willian Grant Still, wisconsin public radio, World War II, WQXR, WW II, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Today is the Fourth of July. Here are two extended playlists of American masterpieces
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
Today is Independence Day – the Fourth of July holiday.
It is a good occasion to listen to classical music by American composers (below), which you can hear much of the day on Wisconsin Public Radio.
But here are two other extended playlists of American classical music:
Here, thanks to a California radio station, is a list with complete performances of some of the best American masterpieces, including the “New World” Symphony by Antonin Dvorak, the “Afro-American” Symphony by William Grant Still (below), “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin and “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein:
https://www.capradio.org/music/classical/2019/07/04/playlist-american-classical-music-for-your-fourth-of-july/
And thanks to Minnesota Public Radio, here are four hours of patriotic music for the holiday: https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2018/06/29/celebrate-the-fourth-of-july-with-our-4hour-patriotic-classical-playlist
Finally, in the YouTube at the bottom is the “American” String Quartet by Antonin Dvorak (below), who summered in Spillville, Iowa. He loved hearing and tried to capture sounds of nature, including bird songs, traditional Black spirituals and music by Native Americans.
The Ear especially likes it because it is proof that just as Americans have been influenced by European composers, European composers, European composers have been influenced by American composers.
Do you have a special or favorite piece of classical music to help celebrate the Fourth of July?
What do you like about it?
Leave a comment with a YouTube link if possible?
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AaronCopland, #African-AmericanComposer, #African-AmericanMusic, #AfricanHeritage, #AmericanComposer, #AmericanPatriotism, #AmericanStringQuartet, #AmyBeach, #AntoninDvorak, #BirdSongs, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #EuropeanComposer, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FlorencePrice, #FourthofJuly, #IndependenceDay, #JacobStockinger, #JohnPhilipSousa, #JohnWilliams, #July4, #JulyFourth, #LeonardBernstein, #NativeAmerican, #NegroSpiritual, #NewWorldSymphony, #PianoConcero, #RhapsodyinBlue, #SamuelBarber, #StreamingService, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #UnitedStates, #VocalMusic, #WestSideStory, #WilliamGrantStill, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #YouTubevideo, Aaron Copland, African American, American, American String Quartet, Amy Beach, Antonín Dvořák, Arts, Barber, beach, bird songs, blog, blue, California, celebrate, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, comment, complete, composer, concerto, conductor, Copland, dances, day, Dvorak, Europe, European, Facebook, favorite, Florence Price, forward, Fourth of July, George Gershwin, georgegershwin, Gershwin, good, hear, Holiday, Independence Day, Independence Day (United States), influence, Iowa, Jacob Stockinger, John Philip Sousa, John Williams, July 4, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, list, Love, Madison, march, Minnesota, Music, Native American, Native American music, nature, new, New World Symphony, occasion, online, opera, Orchestra, patriotic, patriotism, performance, Piano, piece, playlist, post, posting, proof, Radio, rhapsody, Rhapsody in Blue, S., Samuel Barber, share, Sound, Sousa, special, spiritual, Spotify, Still, stream, String quartet, summer, symphony, tag, The Ear, today, U, United States, Violin, vocal music, West Side Story, Willian Grant Still, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, world, WPR, YouTube