January 2 - Mily Balakirev; Michael Tippet; Gardner Read (The Musical Birthday Series)

Mily Balakirev (2 January 1837 [O.S. 21 December 1836] – 29 May [O.S. 16 May] 1910) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor.

Double Dactyl for M.B.

Higgledy piggledy,

Mily Balakirev

Mentored the Handful, now

Known as the Five.

Teaching his musical

Russificationist

Theories for keeping the

Folksong alive.

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

Michael Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an important British composer.

Second Place

There are people who've not heard a snippet

Of music by Sir Michael Tippett,

But they know it’s not written

By Benjamin Britten,

And given the chance, they would skip it.

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

Gardner Read (2 January 1913 – 10 November 10, 2005) was an American composer, teacher, and authority on musical notation.

Hard Copy

Though you use Sibelius,

Or though you use Finale,

You still need your Gardner Read

To keep you out of folly.

(If you enjoy these posts, please consider helping me by sharing.)