February 18 -- Pee Wee King (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 18th are here: John Travolta (2020), Yoko Ono (2021), Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck (2022), Johann Christian Kittel (2023), and Tom Jones (2024)

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Pee Wee King (18 February 1914 – 7 March 2000) was an American country music  songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing "Tennessee Waltz".   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson Learned

All versions of the lyrics to the "Tennessee Waltz" narrate a situation in which the persona has introduced his or her sweetheart to a friend who then waltzes away with her or him.  – Wikipedia, s.v. “Tennessee Waltz”

To honor his birthday, let us sing

“The Tennessee Waltz” of Pee Wee King,

Which warns us we should never lend

The love of your life to a dancing friend;

You never can know when he or she

Will respond to that waltz from Tennessee,

While leaving you lonely, seeking answers,

Ignored by the clusters of circling dancers.

 

 

 

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December 24 - Peter Cornelius (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 24th are here: Harry Warren (2019), Ricky Martin (2020), Peter Cornelius (2021), and Charles Wakefield Cadman (2022)

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Peter Cornelius (24 December 1824 – 26 October 1874) was a German composer, writer about music, poet and translator.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughts on The Barber of Baghdad

Der Barbier von Bagdad (The Barber of Baghdad) is a comic opera by Peter Cornelius based on The Tale of the Tailor and The Barber’s Stories of his Six Brothers in One Thousand and One Nights. -- adapted from Wikipedia

Alas for Cornelius,

  Who couldn’t foretell

That the name of his opera

  Wouldn’t age well.

You can call geopolitics

   A sinister game,

But today, no marquee

  Would emblazon that name.

 

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July 8 - George Antheil (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for July 8th are found here: Steve Lawrence; Percy Grainger (2019), Raffi (2020), and Billy Eckstine (2021)

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George Antheil (8 July 1900 – 12 February 1959) was an American composer, pianist, author, and inventor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiet!!!

 

Antheil’s most celebrated work, Le Ballet Mécanique, scored for player pianos, automobile horns, electric bells, and airplane propellers, produced a hostile outcry in Paris (1926) and New York (1927). -- britannica.com

His noisy Ballet Mécanique,

Is not for the timid or weak,

It attained notoriety

With its brash impropriety

And was thought to be terribly chic.

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Spotlight

Antheil became the self-styled enfant terrible of modern music.  Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (8th ed.)

 

As part of his "bad boy" behavior, Antheil provocatively pulled a revolver from his jacket and laid it on the piano.- Wikipedia

The “Bad Boy of Music” arose

As a kind of elaborate pose,

With dogged devotion

And blunt self-promotion

And the attitude “anything goes!”

 

January 28 - Giovanni Battista Velluti; Ferdinand Hérold (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for January 28th are here: John Tavener (2020) and Artur [Arthur] Rubinstein; Johann Ernst Bach (2021)

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Giovanni Battista Velluti (28 January 1780 – 22 January 1861), was an Italian castrato.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operation

...a local doctor castrated him at the age of eight as treatment for a cough and high fever. -- Wikipedia

At times it is best to think twice

Before taking your doctor’s advice.

It’s best to demur

From a surgical cure,

When a pill and some rest might suffice.

 

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Productivity

 

Upon his retirement from the stage, he became an agriculturist and died in 1861. -- Wikipedia

Giovanni Battista Velluti, it seems,

  Was “the last of the great castratos.”

He retired from the stage and its squabbling schemes,

  And quietly planted tomatoes.

 

 

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Ferdinand Hérold (28 January 1791 – 19 January 1833) was a French composer, best known for his many operas and ballets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging In There

The overture to Zampa by

  Ferdinand Hérold,

Is now the only reason why

  His music has a hold.

Alas, Hérold, you once stood tall

  With masters of your day,

And now this noisy piece is all

  That anyone will play.

 

 

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October 28 - Howard Hanson (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Howard Hanson (28 October 1896 – 26 February 1981) was a composer, music administrator, and advocate for new American music. This bit of facetiousness entirely imaginary, and may or may not reflect reality.

[For last year's comments about Howard Hanson and Cleo Laine click here.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Howard Hanson; or, The Ballad of Wahoo

He was born and bred in Wahoo

   And the neighbors heard him say,

As is often said in Wahoo,

  “I have got to get away!”

Well, you shouldn’t take to task a

  Man who had a mission,

And staying in Nebraska

  Could stifle a musician.

He had ceased to dwell in Wahoo,

  And at an early age

He had said farewell to Wahoo

  To attempt the world stage.

He went to New York City,

  And he went to Illinois,

Where he seldom would admit he

  Was a former Wahoo boy.

In Winter cold, old Wahoo

  Would woo his weary spirit,

But no one told old Wahoo

  That he didn't want to hear it.

 

 

 

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