December 18 - Christina Aguilera; Michelagnolo Galilei (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 18th are here: Keith Richards; Edward MacDowell (2019), Christina Aguilera; Fletcher Henderson (2020), Charles Wesley; Edward MacDowell (2021), Betty Grable (2022), Keith Richards (2023), and Camille Pleyel (2024)

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One Good Note Deserves Another

John Eskow of The Huffington Post named Aguilera a main proponent for "oversouling", described as the "gratuitous and confected melisma".   — wbssmedia.com

When Aguilera sings a note

Some impulse in her supple throat

Compels her to embellish it.

As if she cannot relish it

Without her own embroideries

And vocal hoity-toiteries.

Melismas as a fad have faded,

And I, for one, am thrilled that they did.

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brotherhood

His relationship with his brother Galileo became especially difficult in his last years. Many of the letters between the two have been preserved; Michelagnolo (sometimes spelled Michelangelo) ceaselessly implored his elder brother for money. – Wikipedia

When you choose to play the lute,

You might not end up destitute,

But think it through before you start

Employment in this field of art.

Musicians often ask, will they be

Able to survive, well maybe,

But if your efforts aren't successful,

Sponging from your kin is stressful.

 

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February 12 - Thomas Campion (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for February 12th are here: Thomas Campion (2020), (2021), Thomas Campion; Julian Scriabin (2022), and Thomas Campion; Roy Harris (2023)

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Thomas Campion (12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was a composer, poet, and physician.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

While Campion had attained a considerable reputation in his own day, in the years that followed his death his works sank into complete oblivion, when the vogue for masques and song-books proved ephemeral.  – adapted from Wikipedia

Thomas Campion in his lifetime had

  Success when masques and lute songs were a passion;

But both, alas, were just a passing fad,

  And Thomas Campion faded with the fashion.

 

 

 

 

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October 12 - Ralph Vaughan Williams; Sylvius Leopold Weiss (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 12th are here: Ralph Vaughan Williams (2019), Ralph Vaughan Williams; Luciano Pavarotti (2020), Ralph Vaughan Williams (2021), and  Ralph Vaughan Williams; Johann Ludwig Krebs (2022)

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Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was one of the most important British composers of the last century.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greensleeves et al.

Consider Vaughan Williams and it

Is apparent you’ll have to admit

That when finding the gold in

The times of “Ye Olden”

He was never just any old Brit.

 

 

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  

 

Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 1687 – 16 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battle Royal

 

"Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J.S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues."  -- Johann Friedrich Reichardt, qtd. in Wikipedia, s.v. "Sylvius Leopold Weiss"

Old Silvius Leopold Weiss

Did battle with Bach once or twice;

And those who attended

Declared them both splendid,

And the tickets were well worth the price.

 

 

August 18 - Francesco da Milano (The Musical Birthday Seires, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 18th are here: Antonio Salieri (2019), Benjamin Godard (2020), Antonio Salieri (2021), and Otto Harbach (2022)

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Francesco da Milano (18 August 1497 – 2 January 1543) was an Italian lutenist and composer heralded throughout Europe as the foremost lute composer of his time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High Strung

Francesco's reputation today rests on his ricercars and fantasias, but contemporaries apparently held his intabulations of vocal works by other composers to be the best part of his œuvre.-- Wikipedia

Of all of those who played the lute,

  Francesco da Milano was

Regarded as the most astute,

  And this assessment was because

He had a knack for finding ways

  Of playing polyphonic strands

From vocal music of those days

  With just his lute and agile hands.

 

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

 

July 15 - Julian Bream (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for July 15th are here: Harrison Birtwistle (2019), Julian Bream (2020), Dorothy Fields (2021)., and Charles Anthony (2022)

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Julian Bream (15 July 1933 – 14 August 2020) was a British classical guitarist and lutenist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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