June 30 - Esa-Pekka Salonen (The Musical Birthday Series)

Esa-Pekka Salonen (b. 30 June 1958) was the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for nearly 20 years.  He will take the reins at the San Francisco Symphony as of next season. 

The Wonderful World of Disney

When Salonen parleyed with Gehry

To discuss architectural theory,

Said Frank, “Esa-Pekka,

For a big enough check, a

Hall can be ever so cheery!”



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June 29 - Frank Loesser (The Musical Birthday Series)

Frank Loesser (29 June 1910 – 28 July 1969) was one of the great Broadway composers who also wrote his own lyrics

How to Succeed

A verdict reached sooner or later

Is, yes sir,

Few Broadway composers are greater

Than Loesser.







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June 28 - Richard Rodgers (The Musical Birthday Series)

Richard Rodgers (28 June 1902 – 30 December 1979) wrote some of the most beloved musicals and song standards of the 20th century.

R & H & H

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Or Rodgers and Hart?

Here’s how to easily

Tell them apart:

Hammerstein’s lyrics are

Gently vernacular;

Hart’s are more tart and his

Rhymes more spectacular.




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June 27 - Anna Moffo (The Musical Birthday Series)

Anna Moffo (27 June 1932 – 9 March 2006) was a beloved lyric coloratura.

Avid Diva

Anna Moffo,

Always boffo.

Praise or damn her,

She had glamour!

Stratospheric

Lovely lyric.

Overparted

When she started.

Wrecked her voice

By that choice.

Here we leave a 

Favorite diva.

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June 26 - Leopold Koželuch (New Musical Birthday Series)

Leopold Koželuch (26 June 1747 – 7 May 1818) was considered one of the leading composers of Europe in the late 18th century.  Even today he has been given the full Bärenreiter Urtext treatment.


This is a double dactyl, a genre of biographically inspired humorous poem with very strict structural rules.  Here are links to two definitions for those who are curious.  The first from the Poetry Foundation is clearer but less accurate than the second, from Wikipedia.  Take your pick.  The classic statement is the book Jiggery-Pokery:  A Compendium of Double Dactyls by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander (New York, 1967).

Higgledy piggledy

Leopold Koželuch,

Rival of Mozart and

Beethoven too,

Served as the Emperor’s

Kammer-Kapellmeister,

Giving Herr Koželuch

Something to do.



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June 25 - Gustave Charpentier (The Musical Birthday Series)

French composer Gustave Charpentier (25 June 1860 – 18 February 1956) had an improbably long life and one highly successful opera.

One Hit Wonder

No doubt there is plenty to please

In Charpentier’s opera Louise,

But “Depuis le jour”

Is the principal lure

For all but its rapt devotees.

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June 24 - Terry Riley (The Musical Birthday Series)

Terry Riley (b. 24 June 1935) is an important and innovative composer best known for his minimalist scores.  There is no biographical basis for the bit on fantasy below.

 

 Life of Riley

When Riley was writing In C,

He wrote a rough draft as In B,

But hearing the harps

Complain about sharps,

He transposed it up a degree.

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June 23 - Carl Reinecke (The Musical Birthday Series)

Carl Reinecke (23 June 1824 – 10 March 1910) had an important influence in 19th century European musical life.

Also Ran

Pity Carl Reinecke, always the B side,

  Never the main attraction.

At a vacation spot down by the seaside

  He’d be an indoor distraction.

Pity Carl Reinecke, safe and benign,

  One of the almost great.

If you were choosing a flatware design,

   He wouldn’t be sterling, but plate

In short, Carl Reinecke, teacher-performer

  Had a respected career;

Posterity’s verdict is rather lukewarmer --

  A smile disguising a sneer.

 

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June 22 - Peter Pears (The Musical Birthday Series)

Peter Pears (22 June 1910 – 3 April 1986) was one of the most prominent English tenors of the twentieth century.  

Partners in Grimes

When Peter Pears met Benjamin Britten

He heard some songs that he had written

And was smitten.

When Benjamin Britten heard Peter Pears

He knew they would have long careers

Of joint premieres.

And thus began, not quite at random,

A long artistic life in tandem,

And mutual fandom.



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June 21 - Alois Hába (The Musical Birthday Series)

Alois Hába (21 June 1893 – 18 November 1973) experimented extensively with unusual tunings and scales.

Betwixt and Between

Alois Hába,

Having grown weary

Of regular scales,

Tried microtone theory.

His microtone pieces

Are gathering dust,

Seldom performed,

But often discussed.

So Alois Hába

Is damned with faint praise

For inventing a game

That nobody plays.

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June 20 - Jacques Offenbach (The Musical Birthday Series)

Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) perfected an operetta style that influenced Arthur Sullivan and Johann  Strauss.

Dance Card

When Offenbach composed a waltz

He did without Vienna’s schmaltz,

Instead, when writing one-two-three,

He did it with a French esprit.

And when he wrote a dance in two,

He did it with much ballyhoo,

And such vivacity, the crew

Was out of gas when they were through.

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June 19 - Heinrich Schenker (The Musical Birthday Series)

Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was one of the most influential music theorists in the 20th century.

Yo(ur) Linie

Heinrich Schenker apprehended

Everything as deep reduction.

We’re born, we breathe, and then it’s ended,

All the rest is mere construction.

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June 18 - Johann Stamitz (The Musical Birthday Series)

Johann Stamitz (18 June 1717 – 27 March 1757) and his two sons were extraordinarily important in the development of the high classical style.

Rocket Man

While there are no Mannheim Comets

In the symphonies of Stamitz,

His whole family filled their pockets

By composing Mannheim Rockets.







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June 17 - Charles Gounod (The Musical Birthday Series)

Charles Gounod (17 June 1818 – 17 or 18 October 1893) was once enormously popular as an opera composer.  Several of his works still hold the stage today.

Taste Secrets

A thing a musician should know,

Is how to react to Gounod.

When enjoying the treacle

Of which Faust is a vehicle,

You shouldn’t admit that it's so.









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