January 16 - Ethel Merman; Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for January 16th are here: Lin-Manuel Miranda; Marilyn Horne; Brian Ferneyhough (2020), Marilyn Horne (2021), and Roger Wagner (2022)

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Ethel Merman (16 January 1908 – 15 February 1984) was an American actress and singer, known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Business Like It

When Ethel Merman plowed

Through numbers, brash and loud,

Her force of nature wowed

The eager Broadway crowd.

When finished, justly proud,

She waved and beamed and bowed.

 

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Amen

I’m sure that the great Ethel Merman

Could have brought down the house with a sermon,

And it would have been swell.

And have gone just as well,

If she sang it in Middle High German.

 

 

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

 

 

Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon (16 January 1740 – 26 September 1799) was an English peer, music patron, and amateur composer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advice from the Best

Abingdon was a patron of Haydn’s, who may have encouraged him to compose. Abingdon is credited with the composition of one hundred and twenty musical works. –Wikipedia

The Fourth Earl of Abingdon, Willoughby Bertie,

Was odd and eccentric, and lived life pell mell.

We’re told that Herr Haydn was there to assert he

Should take up composing, and thus it befell.

 

 

 

 

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