The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: June is Gay Pride month. How many LGBTQ classical composers and performers do you know about? Which ones are your favorites or most surprise you?
2 Comments
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. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
ALERT: This Sunday, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s Virtual Chamber Music Festival begins online. It is called “Bach’s Lunch” and will send out short concerts every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday through Sunday, June 28, when a grand finale is planned. It is FREE. But you have to sign up by emailing crownover@bachdancinganddynamite.org
By Jacob Stockinger
This past week the Rainbow flags (below) have started flying, including at the Wisconsin state Capitol.
Last year was the 50th anniversary of the riot or uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that eventually gave birth to a worldwide movement to insure that queer people deserve and will receive human rights.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pride, which started with parades and marches to celebrate that initial victory and the start of a global gay liberation movement that continues and widens today.
On this first weekend in June 2020, it seems fitting to recall the many LGBTQ composers and performers in classical music.
The gay rights movement has opened the closet doors not only of individual lives today but also of historical figures. When The Ear was taking piano lessons and started going to concerts and listening to recordings, and learning about classical music, the subject remained shrouded in silence and secrecy.
You could read and hear about Tchaikovsky (below top) and Leonard Bernstein (below bottom, in a photo by Jack Mitchell) – to take a very popular composer and a renowned composer-conductor — but no one mentioned the role of homosexuality in their lives and careers.
So here are several lists that may teach you something new about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer musicians – both composers and performers.
Some of the calls seem very iffy to The Ear. For example, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin (below and in the YouTube video at the bottom) lived at a time when a homoerotic friendship did not necessarily mean a queer sexual identity. But one way or the other, historical proof and documentation can be hard to come by. And clearly there is much more to find out about the past.
Take a look. No longer is such information a rarity. From both the quantity and quality of the entries, at least you will see how scholars are taking new looks and undermining the heterosexual assumption that has wrapped so many historical and even contemporary figures in a wrong or mistaken identity.
Freedom, acceptance and respect are not zero-sum games in which one party can win only if another party loses. There is enough of each to go around.
So enjoy the information, whether it is new or not, and the respect it should inspire for the central role of LGBTQ people in the arts both past and present.
Here is a pretty comprehensive alphabetical list from Wikipedia of LGBT composers, both living and dead. It includes Chester Biscardi (below), who did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You don’t have to click on each name. Just hover the cursor arrow over the name and you will see a photo and biographical blurb:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_composers
And here is a list, also in alphabetical order and also from Wikipedia, of LGBT musicians and performers, not all of them classical. It works by clicking on sub-categories that include nationality – though one wonders if musicians from extremely homophobic countries and cultures are included:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
Here is a similar list from QueerBio.com that also includes links to similar lists for rock, country, hip-hop, jazz, Christian music and more:
https://queerbio.com/wiki/index.php/LGBTQ_Classical_Music_Composers
Here is a more selective list from The Advocate, an LGBT magazine, of 18 queer composers who made history and you should know about:
And here is a similarly selective list from radio station WFMT in Chicago of 15 LGBT composers — including Corelli, Handel (below) and Lully — you should know about:
https://www.wfmt.com/2015/06/25/15-queer-composers-know/
From Arts Boston, here are 10 contemporary composers who are queer:
http://artsboston.org/2018/06/21/10-contemporary-lgbtq-composers-you-should-know/
Finally, here is a list from the Spotify streaming service that features many samplings of actual pieces by historical and contemporary queer composers:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX75gMjYMWCsk
Which names most surprised you?
If you have questions, comments or additional names and information to add — The Ear doesn’t see the acclaimed pianist Jeremy Denk listed — please leave word in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Happy Pride, everyone!
Tags: #AlphabeticalOrder, #ArcangeloCorelli, #ArtsBoston, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueComposers, #BaroqueEra, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolSquare, #ChamberMusic, #ChesterBiscardi, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChristianMusic, #Classicalera, #ClassicalMusician, #ContemporaryComposer, #COVID-19, #EmailAddress, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #GayHistory, #GayLiberation, #GayPride, #GenderNon-Conforming, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #Hip-hopmusic, #HistoricalFigure, #HumanRights, #JacobStockinger, #Jean-BaptisteLully, #JeremyDenk, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeonardBernstein, #LGBTQrights, #LiveStreaming, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #ModernComposers, #MusicLessons, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PianoLessons, #PrideFlag, #PrideMonth, #RadioStation, #RomanticComposers, #RomanticEra, #SexualIdentity, #StateCapitol, #StonewallInn, #StonewallRiot, #StonewallUprising, #TheAdvocate, #TheEar, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VladimirHorowitz, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #YouTubevideo, 2020, acceptance, alphabetical, anniversary, Arcangelo Corelli, arrow, Arts, Arts Boston, assumption, audience, Audio, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, Beethoven, Bernstein, biography, birth, Biscardi, bisexual, blog, blurb, Capitol, career, celebrate, Chamber music, Chester Biscardi, Chicago, Chopin, choral music, Christian, Classical, Classical era, Classical music, click, closet, composer, composer-performer, Concert, concerts, conductor, contemporary, Corelli, coronavirus, country, culture, cursor, dead, deserve, documentation, downtown, Early music, email, entry, Facebook, festival, figures, finale, forward, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, free, freedom, friendship, game, gay, gay liberation, gay Pride, gender, George Frideric Handel, global, globe, graduate, grand, Handel, heterosexual, historical, historical figures, History, homoerotic, homophobic, Homosexuality, Horowitz, human rights, identity, information, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jeremy Denk, Johann Sebastian Bach, June, Leonard Bernstein, lesbian, lesson, LGBTQ, life, like, link, list, listen, live, lives, living, longer, look, lose, Ludwig van Beethoven, Lully, lunch, Madison, magazine, march, Mead Witter School of Music, mention, mistaken, modern composers, month, movement, Music, nationality, new, New Music, New York City, no longer, non-conforming, online, opera, Orchestra, order, pandemic, parade, party, past, People, performer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, photo, Piano, piano lessons, pieces, popular, present, pride, Pride flag, proof, quality, quantity, queer, QueerBio.com, Radio, rap, rarity, receive, Recordings, respect, riot, Rock, role, Romaniticism, Romanticism, sample, sampling, Saturday, scholar, Schubert, secrecy, sex, sexual, sexual identity, share, shrouded, sign-up, silence, Spotify, Spotify.com, state, Stonewall, streaming, subject, Sunday, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, teach, The Advocate, The Ear, Thursday, time, today, transexual, transgender, transsexual, Tuesday, undermine, United States, University of Wisconsin School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, uprising, UW, UW-Madison, vategory, victory, video, Viola, Violin, virtual, Vladimir Horowitz, vocal music, weekend, widen, Wikipedia, win, Wisconsin, WMFT, work, world, worldwide, wrong, YouTube, zero sum
Classical music: Tonight’s Concert on the Square features an 11-year-old cello prodigy and the Middleton High School Choir in an all-Russian program. It will be repeated on Wisconsin Public Television this Saturday night at 6 p.m.
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Tonight’s Concert on the Square promises to be a special event on several scores.
The “Slavic Dances” concert starts at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capitol Square.
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of music director Andrew Sewell, will perform an appealing all-Russian program.
It features a Concert Waltz by Alexander Glazunov; the beautifully melodic and very accessible “Variations on a Rococo Theme” for cello and orchestra by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (heard with Yo-Yo Ma in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the Intermezzo and Women’s Dance by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Adding to the appeal is the appearance of Miriam K. Smith (below) in the Tchaikovsky. Smith, who played and was interviewed on Tuesday’s edition of “The Midday” on Wisconsin Public Radio, is an 11-year-old prodigy on the cello who already has an impressive history of concert appearances.
As a kind of preface or program note to read if you are at the concert, here is a link to Smith’s interview and appearance on “The Midday”: https://www.wpr.org/programs/midday
For more biographical information about Smith and about the concert, in general including rules (blankets can go down starting at 3 p.m.), etiquette and food vendors, go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/concerts-on-the-square-3-3/
Also joining the WCO is the Middleton High School Choir (below).
NOTE: If you can’t make the concert tonight in person, you can take consolation in the fact that the concert will be videotaped and then broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television on this coming Saturday night at from 6 to 7 p.m. on Channel 21 (Cable Channel 600).
Tags: #AlexanderGlazunov, #All-Russian, #AndrewSewell, #CapitolSquare, #ChoralMusic, #ConcertsontheSquare, #ConcertWaltz, #MiddletonHighSchoolChoir, #MiriamK.Smith, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #StateCapitol, #ThemeAndVariations, #TheMidday, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinPublicTelevision, #Women'sDance, #YouTubevideo, Andrew Sewell, Arts, biographical, biography, blanket, Broadcast, Cello, choral music, Classical music, composer, concerto, Concerts on the Square, dance, etiquette, food, Glazunov, History, information, intermezzo, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, melodic, melody, Music, Orchestra, prodigy, program, Rococo, rules, Russian, Slavic, symphony, Tchaikovsky, The Midday, theme and variations, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Waltz, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, women, 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: The 35th annual summer Concerts on the Square start this Wednesday night and will feature a lot of classical music
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Maestro Andrew Sewell usually makes sure the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra programs a fair amount of classical music for its annual summer Concerts on the Square (below).
The FREE popular outdoor concerts — billed as “The Biggest Picnic of Summer” — usually draw up to at least 20,000 people for each performance on the King Street corner of the State Capitol.
They start this Wednesday night at 7 p.m. – blankets can go down at 3 p.m. — and run for six consecutive Wednesday nights through Aug. 1.
But this year Sewell (below) seems especially generous with the classical fare he is serving up. In fact, four of the six concerts are all classical – a much higher percentage than in most past years, if The Ear recalls correctly.
For the complete lineup of the concerts – and to compare this year’s offerings with those of past years — go to the website: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performance-listing/category/concerts-on-the-square
Then you can click on “More Info” for each individual concert date to get the full program and information about the performers.You can also find what you need to know about following rules, parking, reserving tables, listening etiquette, volunteering, donating and support, and finding menus for food providers.
For this opening concert “Carnival” on Wednesday, the WCO will showcase 18-year-old Kenosha high school senior Matthew Udry (below), a cellist who won this year’s Young Artist Concerto Competition. Udry will perform the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Also on the all-Slavic program are two Czech compositions: the “Carnival” Overture by Antonin Dvorak (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom); and “Three Dances” from the opera “The Bartered Bride” by Bedrich Smetana.
An all-Russian concert is slated for July 11 with another student cellist, Miriam K. Smith (below top), and the Middleton High School Choir (below bottom). The program includes the Concert Waltz No. 2 by Alexander Glazunov, the “Rococo” Variations by Peter Tchaikovsky and the Intermezzo and Women’s Dance by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The July 25 concert features the up-and-coming guitarist Colin Davin (below) in a programs of Spanish and Hispanic music including Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” Alberto Ginastera’s “Estancia: Four Dances,” and Roberto Sierra’s “Fandango.”
Finally, on Aug. 1, baritone Jubilant Sykes (below) is featured in a program that includes: the “Norwegian Rhapsody No. 1” by Johan Halvorsen; Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs,” including “Simple Gifts” and “I Bought Me a Cat” as well as two spirituals, “Were You There?” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”; the Interlude from the symphonic ode, “La Nuit et l’Amour” (Night and Love), from the cantata “Ludus pro Patria,” by the French composer Augusta Holmes; and the Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” by Antonin Dvorak.
Of course other programs include pops and rock music, plus patriotic music for the Fourth of July concert — only fitting for the occasion.
But The Ear still thinks the classical fare is generous and noteworthy.
Of course, loud chitchat, eating and other neighborly noise could interfere with your ability to listen closely to the music.
But Andrew Sewell and the WCO still deserve a big shout out!
Bravo, all!
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AlbertoGinastera, #AlexanderGlazunov, #AmericanPatriotism, #AndrewSewell, #AntoninDvorak, #AugustaHolmes, #BedrichSmetana, #CarnivalOverture, #CelloConcerto, #CelloMusic, #ClassicalMusc, #ColinDavin, #ConcertoCompetition, #ConcertsontheSquare, #ConcertWaltz, #ConciertodeAranjuez, #Czechcomposer, #DmitriShostakovich, #FoodCaterers, #FoodProviders, #FourthofJuly, #Frenchcomposer, #GuitarConcerto, #GuitarMusic, #HighSchool, #HispanicMusic, #IndependenceDay, #JoaquinRodrigo, #JohanHalvorsen, #JubilantSykes, #JulyFourth, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonHighSchoolChoir, #MiriamK.Smith, #NewWorldSymphony, #NorwegianRhapsody, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PeterTchaikovsky, #PopsMusic, #RobertoSierra, #RockMusic, #RococoVariations, #RussianMusic, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SimpleGifts, #SlavicMusic, #SpanishMusic, #StateCapitol, #TheBarteredBride, #ThemeAndVariations, #WisconsinCapitol, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, Arts, August, baritone, blanket, bravo, canata, Carnival, cellist, Cello, choral music, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, Concierto de Aranjuez, Czech, dance, donate, etiquette, Fandango, Fourth of July, Ginastera, guitarist, high school, Hispanic, Independence Day, information, intermezzo, Jacob Stockinger, Joaquin Rodrigo, Johan Halvorsen, July, July Fourth, June, Kenosha, listening, Love, Madison, menu, Milwaukee, night, noise, opera, Orchestra, Overture, parking, patriotic, patriotism, picnic, program, reserving, resveration, rule, singer, spitiruals, summer, support, symphony, table, theme and variations, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, volunteer, Waltz, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, women, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 