April 15 - Johann Friedrich Fasch (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 15th may be found here: Bessie Smith (2019), Neville Marriner (2020), Johann Friedrich Fasch (2021), Domenico Gabrielli (2022), Neville Marriner (2023), and Neville Marriner (2024)

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Johann Friedrich Fasch (15 April 1688 – 5 December 1758) was a German violinist and composer. [NB: In spite of the several pictures mistaken listed in a Google search, there is no know image of Fasch.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singet!

"It appears that most of his vocal works (including 9 complete cantata cycles, at least 14 masses and four operas) are lost, while the instrumental works are mostly extant."  New Grove Music Online, as qtd. in Wikipedia

Johann Friedrich Fasch awoke

Devotion in his Lutheran folk,

   With Sunday service piety.

But Time and Fate saw fit to quash

The sacred works of J. F. Fasch

In all their weekly variety.

 

 

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April 14 - Morton Subotnik (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 14th may be found here: Morton Subotnik (2019), Loretta Lynn (2020), Julian Lloyd Webber (2021), Loretta Lynn (2022), Edgar Stillman Kelley (2023), and John Wainwright (2024)

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Morton Subotnik (b. 14 April 1933) is one of the pioneers in using electronic sounds in composition and live performance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Period Instruments: Performance Practice

In future times, and soon enough,

When folks perform Subotnik's stuff

They'll find their earnest efforts thwarted

By older tech that's unsupported.

It's then that musicology

Will study old technology

And reproduce the miles of wires

That such outdated tech requires.

 

 

 

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April 13 - Frederic Rzewski (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 13th may be found here: William Sterndale Bennett (2020), Howard Keel (2019), Frederic Rzewski (2021), Félicien David (2022), William Sterndale Bennett (2023), and William Sterndale Bennett (2024)

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Frederic Anthony Rzewski (b. 13 April 1938) is an American composer and pianist  who often incorporates social and political themes in his works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resistance

Frederick Rzewski, whose "People United"

  Has earned him a place in the musical annals;

Will not be surprised when his opus is cited

  By the Kennedy Center's new censorship panels.

 

 

 

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April 12 - Joseph Lanner (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 12th may be found here: Tiny Tim (2019), Lily Pons (2020), Montserrat Caballé (2021). and Helen Forrest; Caffarelli (2022), Montserrat Caballé; Lily Pons (2023), and Felice Giardini (2024)

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Joseph Lanner (12 April 1801 – 14 April 1843) was an Austrian dance music composer and dance orchestra conductor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lanner and Strauss: Two for One-Two-Three

Lanner is best remembered as one of the earliest Viennese composers to reform the waltz from a simple peasant dance to something that even the highest society could enjoy. He was just as famous as his friend and musical rival Johann Strauss the Elder. – Wikipedia

Joseph Lanner wrote the waltz

Before it had devolved to schmaltz;

His charming dances, deftly made,

Are still upon occasion played,

Concerning Lanner, do not grouse

Because he wasn't Johann Strauss.

When both are programmed á la carte, 

It's hard to tell the two apart.

 

 

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April 11 - Joel Grey (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous postings for April 11th may be found here: Alberto Ginastera (2019), Louise Reichardt (2020), Alberto Ginastera (2021), Joel Grey (2022), Joel Grey; Louise Reichardt (2023), and Alberto Ginastera (2024)

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Joel Grey (b. 11 April 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theater director.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Willkommen

One couldn't scrub

The Kit Kat Club

Enough to make it chaste;

And Joel Grey,

Made up and fey,

Was suitably debased.

 

 

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April 10 - Claude Bolling (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous postings for April 10th may be found here: Claude Bolling (2019), Eugen d'Albert (2020), Charles Swinnerton Heap (2021), Jorge Mester (2022), Marilyn Maye (2023), and Eugen d'Albert (2024)

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Claude Bolling (10 April 1930 – 29 December 2020) was a jazz pianist  and composer who became extremely popular in the 1970s due to a several crossover recordings made with well-known classical artists, including Jean-Pierre Rampal, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, and others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cross Over Crossover

Although the [crossover album with Rampal] drew criticism from both classical and jazz purists as, in the words of one article, “watered-down jazz with a thin classical veneer,” the listening public loved it. – Neil Genzlinger, "Claude Bolling, Jazzman With Crossover Appeal, Dies at 90" (www.nytimes.com)

According to our recent polling,

Neither pressure nor cajoling

Could keep a connoisseur from scrolling

Past a birthday verse extolling

Music by the late Claude Bolling

(Unless they stopped to do some trolling).

 

 

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