November 30 - Carl Loewe (The Musical Birthday Series)

Carl Loewe (30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869) was a composer, now largely remembered for
effective ballads for solo voice and piano.

“In 2012 an urn thought to contain the heart of Carl Loewe was found inside the Szczecin 
Cathedral’s southern pillar during the renovation works carried out that year. A special 
commission appointed by the Szczecińsko-Kamieńska Metropolitan Curia has deduced, on the 
basis of historical records and an inscription on the pillar, that the urn indeed contains the
 heart of Carl Loewe.” --Wikipedia
 
Hearts and Flowers

A story most strange to impart

Is the story of Carl Loewe’s heart.

It seems, when he died, 

They put it aside,

And buried the rest à la carte.


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November 29 - Gustave Reese; Gaetano Donizetti (The Musical Birthday Series)

Gustave Reese (29 November 1899 – 7 September 1977) was a towering figure in mid-century American musicology.

Sic transit

Gustave Reese whose books were weighty.

Read ‘til circa 1980,

Now, perhaps, they are passé,

But you should read them anyway.

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪ 


Gaetano Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was one of the most important and popular 
of nineteenth-century opera composers.

And So It Goes

Lucia, in Lammermoor plaid,

Is told that her man was a cad.

So, urged by her brother,

She marries another,

Then sings a sextet, and goes mad.

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November 28 - Jean-Baptiste Lully (The Musical Birthday Series)

Jean-Baptiste Lully (28 November [O.S. 18 November] 1632– 22 March 1687) was the greatest and most influential musician working in the mid-17th century French court.

Show Off, Show On

In the court life of Louis Fourteen

There developed a royal routine.

He’d commission a score

For a ballet de cours

When he wished that his Person be seen.

Quel Scandale

When J.-B. Lully fell from grace,

The reason was not hard to trace.

He was caught with a page

Of a much younger age

In an intimate carnal embrace.

Déploration

The cause of his death was a gaffe

That they hid from his tomb’s epitaph.

While pounding the beat

He had injured his feet

With his oversized time-keeping staff.

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