March 4 - Charles Dibdin (The Musical Birthday Series, 8th Annual Cycle)

Previous entries for March 4th are here: Antonio Vivaldi (2019), Antonio Vivaldi (2020), Paul Mauriat; Antonio Vivaldi (2021), Antonio Vivaldi; Mario Davidovsky (2022), Antonio Vivaldi; Egbert Van Alstyne (2023), Antonio Vivaldi (2024), and Antonio Vivaldi; Nicolai von Wilm (2025)

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Charles Dibdin (bapt. 4 March 1745 – 25 July 1814) was an English composer, musician, dramatist, novelist, singer and actor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Dibs

Dozens of [Dibdin's] songs had the same sort of cultural currency as the Beatles’ songs do now. -- heavily adapted from "Charles Dibdin and Popular Song in the Romantic Period" at www.bars.ac.uk 

'No actor now, or actress, longs

To entertain with Dibdin's songs.

The comic songs of yesteryears

Fall flat when heard by modern ears,

And songs once sure to get a laugh

Now languish silent on the staff;

When every joke and cheeky pun

Must be explained, they've lost their fun.

And songs of faded party schisms

Or patriotic jingoisms

Are apt to lose their salty sting,

And may not be the thing to sing

When erstwhile foes become our friends,

And parties work to different ends.

 

And songs of beaus and yielding lasses,

Which once amused the middle classes,

Have lost their cool erotic kick,

And strike us now as sexist ick.

 

No actor now, or actress, longs

To entertain with Dibdin's songs.

 

 

 

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December 13 - Dick Van Dyke (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 13 are here: Heinrich Heine; Phillips Brooks (2019), Taylor Swift (2020), Taylor Swift; Carlos Montoya (2021), Taylor Swift (2022), Taylor Swift (2023) and Taylor Swift (2024)

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Richard Wayne Van Dyke (b. 13 December 1925) is an American actor and comedian  who often appeared in musicals on Broadway and in films.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jolly Holiday 1

You mustn't think that we'd ignore

That Dick Van Dyke has reached four score!

And we'll return to write again,

When he has reached four score and ten!

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Jolly Holiday 2

The hundred years of Dick Van Dyke

Will cause a streaming ratings spike,

For Mary Poppins and the like;

So doom and gloom can take a hike!

Sing birthday sentiments and strike

Up the band for Dick Van Dyke!

 

 

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

 

 

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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Febraury 14 - Víkingur Ólafsson; Fred Scott (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 14th are here: Renée Fleming (2020), Aida Overton Walker (2021), Francesco Cavalli; Alexander Dargomyzhsky (2022), Francesco Cavalli; Fernando Sor (2023), and Michael Costa; Irving Gordon (2024)

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Víkingur Ólafsson (b. 14 February 1984) is a Grammy Award-winning Icelandic classical pianist.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double Dactyl for V. O.

NB. A double dactyl is a biographically inspired humorous poem with very strict structural rules. Here are links to two  definitions for those who are curious. The first from the  Poetry Foundation is clearer but less accurate than the second, from Wikipedia.  Take your pick.  The classic statement is the book Jiggery-Pokery:  A Compendium of Double Dactyls by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander (New York, 1967).

 

But now I find another metaphor more apt: that of a grand oak tree, no less magnificent, but somehow organic, living and vibrant, its forms both responsive and regenerative, its leaves constantly unfurling to produce musical oxygen for its admirers through some metaphysical, time-bending photosynthesis.” – Víkingur Ólafsson on Bach’s Goldberg Variations at www.theguardian.com

Higgledy-piggledy

Víkingur Ólafsson

Played through the Goldbergs

Again and again,

Thereby affecting his

Neurobiology,

Since Bach brings Nirvana

To mere mortal men.

 

 

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Fred Scott (14 February 1902 – 16 December 1991) was an American actor best known as a singing cowboy star in Westerns during the 1930s and 1940s. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sic transit

A household name

   Fred Scott

   Is not,

He staked a claim, 

   Was hot

   To trot, ---

But who's to blame?

   He got

   His shot.

 

 

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

 

July 3 - Betty Buckley (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for July 3rd are found here: Ruth Crawford Seeger (2019), Leos Janáček (2020), George M. Cohan (2021), Johnny Hartman (2022), and Audra McDonald (2023)

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Betty Buckley (b. 3 July 1947) is an American actress and singer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Was Beautiful Then

In 1982, Buckley starred as Grizabella in the original Broadway production of the musical Cats. She stayed with the production for 18 months. -- adapted from Wikipedia

Eighteen months on Broadway doing Cats

   For Betty Buckley probably was tough,

But in the end there’s recompense, and that’s,

  She certainly had memories enough!

 

 

 

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