August 31 - Amilcare Ponchielli (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 31st are here: Alma Mahler (2019), Joseph Schillinger (2020), and Alan Jay Lerner (2021)

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Amilcare Ponchielli (31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886) was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera La Gioconda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As If Dancing Ostriches Weren’t Bad Enough…

 

Although, in his lifetime, Ponchielli was very popular and influential only La Gioconda regularly performed today. It's ballet "The Dance of the Hours" is widely known thanks in part to its having been featured in Walt Disney's Fantasia and in Allan Sherman's novelty song, "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh". - adapted from Wikipedia  

If Amilcare Ponchielli knew

  That most of what he wrote had been forgotten,

Perhaps he’d blink, and wipe a tear or two,

   And stoically accept that life was rotten.

But he would curse the heartless higher powers

   With imprecations never heard in sermons,

To learn his dainty tune for dancing hours

   Is now considered Mr. Allan Sherman’s.

 

 

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August 30 - Johnny Mann (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 30th are found here: Regina Resnik (2019), George Frederick Root (2020), and Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke (2021)

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Johnny Mann (30 August 1928 – 18 June 2014) was an American arranger. composer, conductor, and singer, best known as the leader of the highly successful Johnny Mann Singers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mann Handled

Along with Lawrence Welk, Mitch Miller, Ray Conniff and other bandleaders who offered popular melodies in palatable choral arrangements, Mr. Mann helped define a musical genre that was potently counter-countercultural.   – Bruce Weber, “Johnny Mann, Leader of Easy-Listening Singers, Dies at 85, New York Times (24 June 2014).

If you think back

  Perhaps you can

Recall a track

   By Johnny Mann,

Whose cheerful clutch

   Of smiling singers

Had just the touch

   For cautious swingers

Who thought that rock

  Might be OK,

But shouldn’t shock

   Such folks as they.

 

 

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August 29 - Raphael George Kiesewetter (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 29th are here: Charlie Parker (2019), Michael Jackson; Dinah Washington (2020), and Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel (2021)

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Raphael Georg Kiesewetter (29 August 1773 - 1 January 1850) was an important and prolific scholar og Music history. His large collection of musical books and scores is still house in the Austrian national library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tilling the Field

Raphael Georg Kiesewetter,

Some will know as a begetter

   Of modern musicology.

The many volumes that resulted

Are now no longer much consulted,

   The victims of chronology.

But though his work was superseded

He did what at the time was needed,

   And owes us no apology.

 

 

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August 28 - Umberto Giordano; Agostino Accorimboni (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 28th are here: Umberto Giordano; Ivor Gurney; Léon Theremin (2019), Carolmannus Pachschmidt; Peter[von] Winter (2019), and Paul Henry Lang (2021)

 

Umberto Giordano (28 August 1867 – 12 November 1948) was a composer known for his operas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Hit

Giordano, it’s needless to say,

Is known for Andrea Chénier,

And maybe Fedora,

But frankly that’s more a

Specialty interest today.

 

 

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

 

Agostino Accorimboni (28 August 1739 - 13 August 1818) was an Italian composer who composed thirteen operas which are now totally forgotten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marketing 101

… last name also given as Accoramboni, Accorimbeni or Accorrimboni – Wikipedia

Accorimboni,

   Forgotten by fame.

Perhaps should have known he

   Needed a name

Less prone to caprices

   Of variant spelling –

Good branding increases

   Your chances of selling.

 

 

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