The Well-Tempered Ear
Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200 today
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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
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Muti to conduct an opera academy in China
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By Jacob Stockinger
Italian maestro Riccardo Muti (below) — the 83-year-old retired music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and longtime music director of the iconic La Scala Opera House in Milan— will take his workshops for young conductors and musicians to China for the first time this coming November and December.
Muti is a devoted advocate and practitioner of music education, and has led similar academies in: Ravenna and Milan, Italy; Tokyo, Japan; and Seoul, South Korea.
In a story published in Chinese media, Muti explains why he chose China this time. There he will work in the city of Suzhou with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra and with individual applicants from around the world.
“During the past decades, classical music has gained a large fan base in China, with new concert halls and new symphony orchestras appearing in the country,” Muti adds. “There are also many great Chinese musicians performing around the world — pianists, violinists, singers and conductors — who have become like bridges, bringing our countries closer to each other.”
The repertoire he has chosen to work on is the one-act Italian opera “Cavalleria Rusticana” (Rustic Chivalry) by Pietro Mascagni.
It seems a perfect choice to The Ear. It is shorter and easier to stage than most full-length operas. It uses the Roman Catholic Church and religion as well as other aspects of European and Italian society and culture. This includes the famous “Regina Coeli” or Easter Hymn (below):
The opera itself has beautiful parts for the vocal soloists, the chorus and the orchestral instrumentalists — as you can hear above and in the famously melodic Intermezzo (in the YouTube video at the bottom) that was used in the film “The Godfather.”
Here is a link to the full story from the China Daily newspaper:
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202404/13/WS661a1d39a31082fc043c1c81.html
You might also recall an earlier blog post about the recent successes of Asian classical musicians:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=Asian+musicians
When it comes to Western classical music in China, it seems that success keeps building on success.
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Revisit historical and forgotten pianists with Mark Ainley’s ‘Piano Files’
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By Jacob Stockinger
Who were Jascha Spivakosky, Gitta Gradova, Wilhelm Backhaus, Marcelle Meyer, Benno Moisiewitsch, Guitar Novaes (below), Eugen Indjic and Solomon — pianists from Russia/Ukraine, the United States, Germany, France, England, Brazil, Serbia/US and England, respectively?
Who was the Polish-American Josef Hofmann (below) and why did Sergei Rachmaninoff and others consider him the greatest pianist of his day while others considered him — and still do — dangerously radical?
Why was the early death of Dino Lipatti (below) such a major loss for classical music?
Most of all: How did these performers play the piano? What made them special? And what did they sound like?
Just ask Mark Ainley (below).
Ainley’s online Piano Files goes back to the earliest days of recordings and resurrects forgotten virtuosi on Facebook and the web.
His frequently posts entries — often on birthdays or anniversaries of deaths and certain concerts — offers concise, well researched and well-written summaries of their lives and careers.
And he finds the best surviving or available recordings by those pianists — usually on YouTube or reissued CDs and LOPs (below) — and links to them so you can hear differences and decide for yourself.
For example, The Ear found the 1930 recording of Chopin mazurkas that Polish pianist Ignaz Friedman (below) recorded (on YouTube at the bottom) quite revealing about historical stylistic and rhythmic differences — freer rubato and hands not always played together — compared to more mainstream interpretations by, say, Arthur Rubinstein or Vladimir Horowitz or Martha Argerich.
You can also learn much about the Big Names, including pianists who studied with students Chopin and Liszt. Ainley celebrates well-known piano virtuosi like Rubinstein, Horowitz, Gina Bachauer, Claudio Arrau, Jorge Bolet and Dame Myra Hess as well.
Ainley’s Piano Files save you a lot of time and searching on your own, and are available for you to subscribe to for downloads and sharing on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ThePianoFilesWithMarkAinley
You can also go to his online website — which I prefer — and bookmark it if you like. There is a lot to explore, to read and listen to. The archives of past entries go back to March of 2011:
https://www.thepianofiles.com/author/Mark
And here is email if you have or a tip or suggestion for Ainley, or a reaction to his site and his written and recorded postings:
What do you think of the Piano Files?
Do you learn anything from them?
Will you use them and enjoy them?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Making music saves senior brains, studies find
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By Jacob Stockinger
If you are a senior and think that making music— even as a beginner — is for younger people, you couldn’t be more wrong.
A newly released British study offers convincing evidence that singing in a choir (below top, the now-defunct UW-Madison Choral Union) and playing an instrument (below bottom) helps to boost memory, and save the brains of older people, possibly averting or postponing cognitive decline, dementia and possibly Alzheimer’s disease.
Here are links, on Classic FM radio station’s website, to the stories about the two studies:
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/piano-choir-keeps-brain-memory-active/
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/piano-lessons-older-age-delay-dementia/
How does your own experience measure up to findings in the studies?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Will you help revive the UW Choral Union?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Soprano Janet Murphy was a longtime and enthusiastic participant in the UW Choral Union.
(You can see it below performing Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “A Sea Symphony” under former director Beverly Taylor during its inaugural appearance with the UW Symphony Orchestra in Hamel Hall. At the bottom you can see and hear the UW Choral Union singing “He Watching Over Israel” from Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah” 12 years ago in Mills Hall).
In the wake of the Choral Union being ended by former music school director Susan C. Cook this past summer, many participants were outraged and disappointed that the campus-community group would no longer exist.
Among them, Murphy formed a support group, Friends of the Choral Union, and met in person with the new director of the UW School of Music.
Murphy now seems optimistic that the Choral Union can be revived — IF there is enough public support.
She sent the following appeal and asked The Ear to post it:
A message from Friends of the UW Choral Union:
As many of you know, the UW Mead Witter School of Music decided to disband the Choral Union after 130 years. They have heard a great deal from the community about that!
Dan Cavanagh, the new director of the School of Music, has graciously offered to hold a conversation with the community this Monday evening.
He seems open to re-establishing the Choral Union if there is a lot of support for that.
It’s now or never for classical music lovers and fans of the Wisconsin Idea to show the School of Music that we want the Choral Union back.
We need many hundreds of fans to come.
A big turnout will mean as much as anything we say.
Please…
Bring your family and friends
Post on social media
Email broadly
A conversation with Dan Cavanagh (below top) and Director of Choral Activities Mariana Farah (below bottom) will take place this Monday October 23, 7-8:15 p.m. in Hamel Music Center, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, 740 University Ave.
That’s where the UW Choral Union overfilled the 660-seat concert hall last April. Let’s fill the hall again!
Editor’s note: If you are looking for background, here are the previous stories dating back to the announcement of ending the Choral Union in June. It is also telling to read the many comments from participants and the public:
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Opera Props merges with UW-Madison, becomes Friends of University Opera
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By Jacob Stockinger
After more than 40 years of supporting the opera and voice programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, Opera Props will become Friends of University Opera. (Below is a recent poster and at bottom is YouTube video of the production of Puccini’s popular “La Bohème”).
The new organization will be jointly administered.
Here is the official announcement:
Exciting news!
Change is coming!
Opera Props is now Friends of University Opera!
Opera Props Board members, working for two years with the Mead Witter School of Music and the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, have laid the groundwork for a wonderful collaboration.
On July 1, Opera Props became Friends of University Opera!
The Friends group will continue to support the Voice and Opera program with newsletters and mailings, as well as hosting events to support our students, engage donors and encourage new audiences.
Friends will continue as advisors to Voice and Opera Faculty on use of funds for scholarships and production support.
This year we were able to award $35,000 in scholarships.
Cooperation with the Foundation will help us do even more!
Gifts to the University of Wisconsin Foundation will be designated for the Opera Program Fund (112625070).
Join, donate, show your support and meet the new singers at the Fall Showcase Concert ( in the beautiful Collins Recital Hall of the Hamel Music Center on campus.(Below are the participants of a past Fall Showcase concert at the First Unitarian Society in Madison)
Save the Date: Saturday, September 30, at 2 p.m.
A more detailed letter has been sent to the Opera Props mailing list under the signature of the current president Kathleen Harker. But The Ear cannot find the full version of it posted yet online at any website.
For more information about Opera Props, now Friends of University Opera, including past email newsletters, go to: https://www.uwoperaprops.org
For information about the prize-winning UW-Madison Opera program, go to: https://music.wisc.edu/university-opera/
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UW-Madison School of Music kills off the venerable campus-community Choral Union
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By Jacob Stockinger
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music will end the long-lived campus-community Choral Union (below at the top, with soloists and the UW Symphony Orchestra at the bottom) starting this fall. You can hear an excerpt from Handel’s “Elijah” performed in the old Mills Hall in the YouTube video at the bottom.
The news, dated June 1, was posted quietly and anonymously on the school’s website. As The Ear understands it, members of the Choral Union were not contacted directly. They just had to find it. Plus, the summer seems a suspicious and inauspicious time for the announcement. Student, faculty and community members are on vacation. In addition, the new director Dan Cavanagh (below) will take over the office from Susan C. Cook in a little over two weeks, on July 1. No word on how he stands about the move.
Here is the music school’s website posting: https://music.wisc.edu/choral-ensembles/
It doesn’t come as a complete surprise to The Ear, since performances were reduced from two semesters to one semester shortly after Mariana Farah (below) became the new Director of Choral Activities in 2021 after the retirement of Beverly Taylor, who continues to serve as the choral director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Student, alumni and community protests are already coming in expressing the resolve to reverse the decision.
Little wonder since the Choral Union was founded in 1893 and is one of the oldest on-going organizations on campus. It is hard to think of a better embodiment of the Wisconsin Idea. That concept is that the public university is to serve the taxpaying public that funds it — and these days community engagement is still supposed to be a high priority.
The Choral Union also seems like an exemplary educational program that gets soloists, the choir of students and the public, and the symphony to work together on a major project that also raises money for the music school.
Over many years, the Choral Union performances have also provided much of the most memorable music-making The Ear has ever heard at the university — or in the city. Works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Verdi, Faure and Benjamin Britten, among others, come to mind.
Here is the exact text, which is vague about any reasons for the cancellation of the 130-year-old Choral Union:
Choral Union Update (June 1, 2023)
“Starting Fall 2023, the Mead Witter School of Music will no longer offer Choral Union. This change will allow the School of Music to devote resources to our core mission of serving UW–Madison students as well as to focus our public programming around new goals.
“The School of Music and its choral program deeply value and appreciate the partnerships we have formed over the years with the Madison-area choral community. And we recognize that ending the Choral Union may be disappointing to some.
“We hope that community members who participated in the Choral Union will continue to partake of the many opportunities available to engage with the School of Music such as choral concerts and the multitude of performances, lectures, and workshops we offer every year.”
The negative reactions and feedback have already started. Here is one example:
The oldest organization at the UW-Madison has been canceled with an unsigned email and no public input?
This can’t be right.
The Choral Union is a beloved institution.
We won’t let it go like this. We need to know what the issues are and solve them.
Let the discussion begin.
–Janet Murphy, alto member of the Choral Union, 2008-present
Spread the word. Should you or others wish to express an opinion of support or opposition, here are some email addresses and phone numbers:
General office:music@music.wisc.edu; 608.263.1900
School director Susan C. Cook: director@music.wisc.edu; 608.263.1900
Director of Choral Activities: mariana.farah@wisc.edu; 608.263.1900
What do you think of the UW killing off the Choral Union?
What would you like to know about the decision?
Would you like the UW School of Music to reverse its decision?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Juilliard cracks down on faculty sex abuse and discrimination
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By Jacob Stockinger
The MeToo and Time’sUp movements have come to the famous Juilliard School (below) at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Juilliard is investigating allegations, firing professors and changing its regulations in an effort to punish and prevent sexual misconduct and harassment — abuse, assault and discrimination — by faculty members against students.
Some of them include well-known composers and performers, including American composer Robert Beaser (below), who chaired the Juilliard composition department for 25 years and has been fired.
Here is a link to the story from National Public Radio (NPR) that has details about specific cases and problems:
It makes one wonder: Has similar abuse and misconduct happened — or is still happening — at other music schools and conservatories?
Or among private teachers?
Do you know of similar cases?
Do you have firsthand knowledge of — or experience with — such behavior?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Why are Asians dominating Western classical music?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The month of May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage month in the U.S.
And here is a perfect story to provide questions and raise issues that pertain to that theme as it figures in classical music.
We have not seen many of them booked for concerts locally, but perhaps you have noticed how so many Asian musicians, particularly pianists, have been winning major competitions.
Those competitions include the Van Cliburn (Korean Yunchan Lim, below top), the Chopin (Chinese-Canadian Bruce Liu, below bottom), the Tchaikovsky, the Arthur Rubinstein, the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, the Leeds Competition, the Geneva Competition and many others that are less famous.
Perhaps you have also noticed how we hear more Asian opera singers at the Met and more Asian string players in orchestras around the world.
More Asians also seem to be studying and performing in lower and higher educational institutions and organizations.
And perhaps you, like The Ear, have wondered what is behind that trend?
Here is a terrific first-person story — with research, details, photos and performance videos – written by a Canadian musician of Japanese descent that appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
But The Ear thinks it could easily apply to the United States, Australia and other non-Asian places and cultures.
Here is a link:
Do you think this story applies to Asians and Asian-Americans in the U.S.?
If you yourself are an Asian or Asian-American musician or music student, do the observations and analysis in the story ring true to you own experience?
Do you have other thoughts to add about the cultural reasons for the surge of Western classical music in Asia and among Asians elsewhere?
Are there important lessons here for non-Asian people and places?
The Ear wants to hear.
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