November 30 - Clay Aiken (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 30th are here: Carl Loewe (2019), Allan Sherman (2020), Charles-Valentin Alkan (2021), and Weston Noble (2022)

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Clay Aiken (b. 30 November 1978) is an American singer, television personality, actor, politician, and activist. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

In all, he has sold over 5 million albums, and is the fourth-highest-selling American Idol alumnus. – Wikipedia

One wouldn’t have thought that Clay Aiken

Would have the panache to awaken

A passionate fandom,

But though it seems random,

He proved he could bring home the bacon.

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Rigged Election

On May 21, 2003, Aiken came in a close second to Ruben Studdard, who won the contest by 134,000 votes out of more than 24,000,000 votes cast. The result was controversial, as some hypothesized that Idol's voting system was incapable of handling the number of attempted calls. -- Wikipedia

The tally, they said, is mistaken;

And faith in the system was shaken.

And people still bridle

That American Idol

Gave second, not first, to Clay Aiken.

 

 

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November 29 - Billy Strayhorn; Gaetano Donizetti (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 29th are here: Gustave Reese; Gaetano Donizetti (2019), Gaetano Donizetti (2020), John Gary; Gaetano Donizetti (2021), and Gaetano Donizetti (2022)

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Billy Strayhorn (29 November 1915 – 31 May 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist,   and arranger who collaborated with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gone Astray

Though Duke Ellington took credit for much of Strayhorn's work, he did not maliciously drown out his partner. Ellington would make jokes onstage like, "Strayhorn does a lot of the work but I get to take the bows!” – Wikipedia

It’s hard to imagine the Ellington band

Without Billy Strayhorn’s arrangements on hand,

And it wasn’t quite fair, though acknowledged aloud,

That he did the work, but Ellington bowed.

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Can't Miss It

In his operas, comic or grand,

He’s never insipid or bland,

But you’ll have to admit

After hearing a bit,

That subtlety wasn’t his brand!

 

 

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November 28 - Anton Rubinstein (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 28th are here: Jean-Baptiste Lully (2019), Anton Rubinstein (2020), Paul Shaffer; Ferdinand Ries (2021), and Jean-Baptiste Lully (2022)

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be That as It May

When caught up in the moment of performance, Rubinstein did not seem to care how many wrong notes he played as long as his conception of the piece he was playing came through. — Wikipedia

When Rubinstein played in the zone

He played with aplomb all his own;

But musical thinkers

Complained of the clinkers

To which his performance was prone.

 

 

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November 27 - Anton Stamitz (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 27th are here: Jimi Hendrix (2019), Hilary Hahn (2020), Rudolph Reti; Margaret Ruthven Lang (2021), and Anton Stamitz (2022)

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Anton Stamitz (bapt. 27 November 1750 – c. 1798–1809) was a German composer and violinist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stars

Stamitz was the surname of a family of German Bohemian musicians, the principal members of which were: Johann Stamitz (1717–1757), founder of the Mannheim school; his two sons Carl Stamitz (1745–1801) and Anton Stamitz (1750–c.1800) – adapted from Wikipedia, s.v. “Stamitz”

Anton disappeared from public view around the time of the 1789 Revolution, and a contemporary report suggests that he had been admitted to an asylum for the insane; the exact date of his death remains unknown. –  interlude.hk/mapping-musical-genome-stamitz-family/

Not all of the family Stamitz

Were born under promising comets;

Both Johann and Carl were prominent

In making the Mannheim School prominent,

While Anton dissolved into history

In an unexplained musical mystery.

 

 

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November 26 - Johannes [Johann] Bach (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 26th are here: Tina Turner; Robert Goulet (2019), Earl Wild (2020), Johannes Bach (2021), and Robert Goulet (2022)

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Johann or Johannes Bach (bapt. 26 November [O.S.] 1604 – buried 13 May 1673) was a German composer and musician.  [English language Wikipedia and Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (8th ed.) give his birth as 26 November, while German Wikipedia gives this as his baptismal date and clarifies that this is the Julian Calendar date, while the Gregorian date is 6 December.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Existential Questions

His most often performed work is his motet "Unser Leben ist ein Schatten" [Our Life is a Shadow] – translated from de.wikipedia

Johannes Bach is now forgotten.

Did he think that life was rotten?

Perhaps an answer could be sought in

“Unser Leben ist ein Schatten”.

But if our life is but a shadow,

Does it matter, good or bad?...  Ohhh!

 

 

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