November 21 - Sigfrid Karg-Elert (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 21st are here: Ernest Charles; Coleman Hawkins; Björk; Sigfrid Karg-Elert (2019), Malcolm Williamson (2020), Sigfrid Karg-Elert (2021), Eleanor Powell; Lorna Luft (2022), and Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (2023)

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Sigfrid Karg-Elert (21 November 1877 – 9 April 1933) was a German composer, best known for his compositions for pipe organ and reed organ. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes More IS More (1)

His profound knowledge of music theory allowed him to stretch the limits of traditional harmony without losing tonal coherence. – Wikipedia

Though his scores may convey an appearance

Of a negligent lack of adherence

To tonality’s norms,

You will find he conforms

With an erudite tonal coherence.

 

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Sometimes More IS More (2)

If you’re learning a Karg-Elert score,

You will find it a terrible chore.

There are more accidentals

In the man’s instrumentals

Than you’ve ever encountered before.

 

 

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November 20 - Daniel Gregory Mason (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 20th are here: June Christy (2019), Dick Smothers (2020), Kaye Ballard; Daniel Gregory Mason (2021). Gary Karr (2022), and John Wall Callcott (2023)

 

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Daniel Gregory Mason (20 November 1873 – 4 December 1953) was an American composer and music critic.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True To His Name

He was a fastidious composer who repeatedly revised his scores. – Wikipedia  

Daniel Gregory Mason's compositional style is resolutely conservative based in the Germanic tradition.  – archives.nypl.org

What’s in a name? The Poet asks;

   Does it inspire or chasten?

Does it predestine roles and masks

   That we must find our place in?

Imagine then, the heavy tasks

   Of someone christened “Mason.”

 

 

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November 19 - Tommy Dorsey (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 19th are found here: Tommy Dorsey (2019), Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (2020), Pierre Leclair (2021), Tommy Dorsey (2022) and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (2023)

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Tommy Dorsey (19 November 1905 – 26 November 1956) was an important jazz trombonist and big band leader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lowe Notes

“I’ll Never Smile Again” never was cheery,

It’s sad, sentimental, and maudlin, and teary,

And yet when Sinatra and Dorsey recorded it

All of the record shops called up and ordered it.

With the help of Sinatra’s and Dorsey’s techniques

It stayed at the top of the charts for twelve weeks.

Envoi

Though Sinatra and Dorsey could bask in the glow,

Of success, there is something I’m curious to know:

Did the woman behind it, composer Ruth Lowe,

Head off to her bank with her share of the dough?

 

 

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November 18 - Carl Maria von Weber; William Horsley (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 18th are here: Carl Maria von Weber; Henry Bishop; Amelita Galli-Curci (2019), Ignacy Jan Paderewski (2020), Carl Maria von Weber; Johnny Mercer (2021), William Schwenck Gilbert (2022), and Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (2023).  A previous verse on Horsley appeared on November 15, 2022

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Carl Maria von Weber (18 or 19 November 1786 – 5 June 1826) was an important German early Romantic composer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knowing Your Place

Carl Maria von Weber's clarinet works are part of the clarinetist's daily bread. –  Eric Simon, ‘Weber's Clarinet Composition,” The Clarinet, Fall 1950

When hearing Weber what you get

Is often for the clarinet;

He is, in fact, it’s sometimes said,

The clarinetist’s daily bread.

 

 

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William Horsley (15 [or 18] November 1774 – 12 June 1858) was an English composer and musician, once famous for several books of glees.  [NB: There is disagreement on his birth, e.g., Wikipedia gives his birthday as 18 November while Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians gives 15 November. A previous verse on Horsley appeared on November 15, 2022.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Gleedom

East of rough Atlantic seas

William Horsley wrote his glees,

A genre now dismissed as trivial,

But older Britons were convivial,

And raising pints and singing coarsely

Reveled in the glees of Horsley.

 

 

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November 17 - Hershy Kay (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 17th are here: Charles Mackerras; Hershy Kay (2019), Gordon Lightfoot; August Wilhelm Ambros (2020), Alberich Zwyssig (2021), Michele Carafa (2022), and Michele Carafa (2023)

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Hershy Kay (17 November 1919 – 2 December 1981) was an important arranger and orchestrator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scoring Points

Later collaborations with Bernstein [after On the Town] include Peter Pan and Candide. Other collaborators were Marc Blitzstein, Harvey Schmidt, Cy Coleman and Andrew Lloyd Weber. -- www.kennedy-center.org

Note the date and shout "Hooray!"

Commemorating Hershy Kay,

Who has a claim to fame and it’s

He orchestrated Broadway hits.

He’d take a basic piano score

And make it into so much more;

It scarcely can be overstated

How much the shows he co-created

Gained from his instinctive knack

For taking piano white and black

And giving it the kind of glitz

Expected from those playhouse pits.

 

 

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