November 3 - Vladimir Ussachevsky; Vincenzo Bellini (The Musical Birthday Series)

Vladimir Ussachevsky (3 November 1911 – 2 January 1990) was a composer who played an important in the development of electronic music.

Set in Concrète 

Ussachevsky recorded some tape,

  Then took out his scissors to clip it,

Giving the music its undulant shape

  By splicing together each snippet.

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Vincenzo Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was one of the most important Italian opera composers of the nineteenth century.

 

A Norma Quartet

Irony

A soprano who aims to achieve a

Stunningly soft “Casta diva,”

Is proud when the crowd

Is especially loud

With brava, huzzah, and evviva.

Rivals

Adalgisa and Norma sing thirds

Like a brace of mechanical birds,

With trills and roulades

Which the public applauds -

And who gives a damn about words.

Adalgisa Swipes Right

It’s no wonder that Norma was pettish.

Her lover, it seems, had a fetish

For young priestess Druids,

And his bodily fluids

Responded when they were coquettish.

Pollione Swipes Right; or, Meet Me Behind the Stonehenge

Pollione, the Roman commander

Decided that he would meander,

Intending to find

A priestess inclined

To meet, and play goose to his gander.

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