Updates soon: Delayed due to illness

 I've been a bit ill. Nothing serious, but enough to keep me in bed.  I'm feeling better,

May 23 - Ignaz Moscheles (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 23rd may be found here: Robert Moog (2019), Artie Shaw (2020), Alicia de Larrocha; Johann Bernhard Bach (2022), Rosemary Clooney (2022), Jean Françaix (2023), and Helen O'Connell; Rosemary Clooney; Johann Caspar Vogler (2024)

+++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (23 May 1794 – 10 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passing Fancy

Although Moscheles's music was now being looked on as a little old-fashioned… – Wikipedia

When Ignaz sat down at the keys

He aimed to impress and to please,

But, alas, he was fated

To be musty and dated

In slowly increasing degrees.

 

 

 

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

 

 

May 22 - Richard Wagner (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Limericks re-telling the plots of the Ring operas may be found here: Ring (2019).  Limericks re-telling the plots of the canonical non-Ring opera may be found here: non-Ring (2020). Additional limericks on Wagner are here: Wagner (2021). A post on Morrissey is here. (2022) Wagner limericks are here (2023), and here (2024)

 

Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) revolutionized opera in the last half of the nineteenth century.

++++++++++++++++++

  

The Meister Speaks

My oeuvre is meant to be done

With all the arts working as one,

And if we're all swamped

In a Kunst so gesamt,

At least we'll have oodles of fun!

 

 

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

 

May 21 - Fats Waller (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 21st may be found here: Fats Waller (2019), Maurice André (2020), Heinz Holliger (2021),  Fats Waller (2022), Fats Waller (2023), and Dennis Day (2024)

+++++++++++++++++++ 

 

Fats Waller (21 May 1904 – 15 December 1943) was an innovative and virtuosic jazz pianist and composer.

+++++++++++++++++++  

Taking It in Stride

There's a challenge for pianists, and that's

Playing stride at the keyboard like Fats,

With each note in the bass

In its accurate place,...

And if you can do it, congrats!

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

May 20 - Cher (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

 

Previous posts for May 20th may be read here: Felix Arndt (2019), Cher (2020), Cher (2021), Beniamino Gigli (2022), Cher (2023), and Felix Arndt (2024)

+++++++++++++++++++++

Cher (b. 20 May 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality.

++++++++++++++++

 

Cher and Cher Alike

There are things in this world

   That are truly iconic:

A flag that's unfurled,

   Or a dry good gin and tonic,

Though the word is degraded

   By bland overuse,

When tastes have grown jaded

   And judgement defuse.

But Cher is an icon,

  (We'll say it flat out),

That you can click like on

   Of that there's no doubt!

 

 

 

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

 

 

May 19 - Alice Mary Smith (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 19th may be found here: Albert Hay Malotte (2019), Nellie Melba (2020), Nellie Melba (2021), Johann Jakob Froberger (2022), Albert Hay Malotte (2023), and Albert Hay Malotte; Grace Jones (2024)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Alice Mary Smith (9 May 1839 – 4 December 1884) was an English composer. Her compositions included two symphonies  and a large collection of choral works, both sacred and secular. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Rites

Her anthems "Whoso hath this world's goods" and "By the waters of Babylon" were performed in a liturgical context at St Andrew's, Wells Street by Sir John Barnby in February 1864, making them the first recorded instance of music by a woman composer to be used for the liturgies of the Church of England. – Wikipedia

Alice Mary Smith

   Didn't have a name

That lent itself to myth

   Or legendary fame.

But if you do a search,

   Her bio makes it clear

That in the English church

   She was a pioneer,

So raise a festal sherry,

   A make a toast therewith,

Say something honorary

   For Alice Mary Smith!

May 18 - Meredith Willson (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 18th may be found here: Perry Como (2019), Meredith Willson (2020), Margot Fonteyn (2021), Ezio Pinza; Boris Christoff, Meredith Willson (2023), and Meredith Willson (2024)

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

Meredith Willson (18 May 1902 – 15 June 1984) had a varied and successful career as a musician, but is best remembered for his Broadway musicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Music Man Vignettes

 

"One Grecian Urn"

The well-cultured ladies took turns

In a pageant with tasteful concerns

Of the sort that one meets

In that poem by Keats

About classical Greeks and their urns.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Trouble?

There were ladies in Classical poses,

There were men who intoned "Lida Roses;"

So the little town faced

A division of taste

In the contrast of "theses" and "thoses".

 

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

 

May 17 - Birgit Nilsson (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 17th may be found here: Erik Satie (2019), Birgit Nilsson and Zinka Milanov (2020), Erik Satie (2021), Erik Satie; Enya (2022), Erik Satie (2023), and Erik Satie; Bob Merrill (2024)

++++++++++++++++++++++ 

Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a Swedish dramatic soprano and the supreme Wagnerian of her day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anything You Can Do…

Then there were the usual run of manipulative managers, impresarios, and the occasional tenor, most notoriously Franco Corelli, with whom she contested the duration of high Cs in Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot. (Both singers have said that this rivalry was more for the press than actual animosity.) – Dewey Faulkner, "The Last Valkyrie" @ https://yalereview.org

Birgit Nilsson and Corelli

Sang together, and woah Nellie!

When they had a high C battle

They could make the rafters rattle.

Their rivalry of jealous spite

Was re-enacted every night,

But later on in times less stressed

The artists (both of them) confessed,

And they admitted their duplicity

In having done it for publicity.

 

 

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