November 30 - Allan Sherman (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Allan Sherman (30 November 1924 – 20 November 1973) had a short career in the early 1960s singing enormously successful comic song parodies.

[For last year's limerick on Carl Loewe click here.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choices

At the start of his career, Allan Sherman,

Took barely one gig to determine

That a song that is funny

Makes rather more money

Than a hymn, an oration, or sermon.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well Chosen

When singing of old Camp Granada,

With rhymes such as muddah and fadduh,

It’s no casus belli

To use Ponchielli

Instead of a Mozart sonata.

 

 

 

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November 29 - Gaetano Donizetti (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

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

[For last year's limerick on Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and quatrain on Gustave Reese click here.] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If You’ve Got It (1)

A soprano possessing the means

To warble those three English queens,

Must first sink her teeth in-

To things ‘lizabethan

Before she can chew up those scenes.

If You’ve Got It (2)

If a tenor can sing a high C,

He will surely attempt “Mes amis,”

And though all that squalling

Is kind of appalling,

It has to be sung in that key.

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Tales: Great Art Repurposed.]

 

 

November 28 - Anton Rubinstein (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Anton Rubinstein (28 November [O.S. 16 November] 1829 – 20 November [O.S. 8 November] 1894) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor, whose pianism was said to rival Liszt's.

[For last year's limericks on Jean-Baptiste Lully click here.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold Standard

Steinway's contract with Rubinstein called on him to give 200 concerts at the then unheard-of rate of 200 dollars per concert (payable in gold—Rubinstein distrusted both United States banks and United States paper money), plus all expenses paid.---Wikipedia

Anton Rubinstein, so we’re told,

Insisted he be paid in gold.

He didn’t trust the U.S. banks --

To paper money said, no thanks.

If he came to tour again, though,

Maybe he’d consider Venmo.

 

 

 

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November 27 - Hilary Hahn (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

 Hilary Hahn (b. 27 November 1979) is an American violinist. 

 [For last year's tribute to Jimi Hendrix click here.] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moments musicaux

 

She commissioned 26 contemporary composers to write short encore pieces.... For the 27th encore she held an open contest that drew more than 400 entries.... --Wikipedia

Hilary Hahn, in need of closers,

Commissioned encores from composers,

And thus the repertoire increases

By twenty-seven afterpieces.

 

 

 

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November 26 - Earl Wild (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Earl Wild (26 November 1915 – 23 January 2010) was an American pianist renowned for his virtuoso technique.

[For last year's verses on Tina Turner and Robert Goulet click here.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Born to Be Wild: A Short Bio in Doggerel

In 1931 he was invited to play at the White House by President Herbert Hoover. The next five presidents... also invited him to play for them, and Wild remains the only pianist to have played for six consecutive presidents. -- Wikipedia

The teen-aged Earl Wild

Who doubtless beguiled

     When playing concertos by Liszt,

Played with Mitropoulos

In this very metropolis

     With our orchestra there to assist.

Of course, a teenager

Who does something major

      Is often a flash in the pan,

But young Earl’s career

Went on year by year,

     Until he was quite an old man.

 

And over the years,

To the envy of peers,

     He was often requested to play 

A gig at the residence

Of American presidents, 

     From Hoover until LBJ.

 

 

If you enjoy these posts, please help me, and consider sharing.  [Also, please visit my other blog: Alternate Tales: Great Art Repurposed.]