December 1 - Castil-Blaze (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 1st are here: Bette Midler (2019), Agathe Backer-Grøndahl (2020), Bette Midler (2021), Giuseppe Sarti (2022), Bette Midler; Franz Xaver Richter (2023), and Ernest Reyer (2024)

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François-Henri-Joseph Blaze, known as Castil-Blaze (1 December 1784 – 11 December 1857), was a French musicologist, music critic, composer, and music editor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blazing

Castil-Blaze was, without a doubt, in France, the first music critic to have studied music.  — Wikipedia

It's likely that musical criticism,

    If done by non-musicians,

Will depend on bravado and witticism

    To cover this omission.

When critics fell short of the standard

    Of musical awareness,

They took up their pens and they pandered

    In uninformed unfairness.

A critic who's gained a perspective,

    Who's played, composed, and such,

Might temper his bile and invective, -

    But not by much!

 

 

 

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July 17 - Donald Francis Tovey (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for July 17th are here: Peter Schickele; Vince Guaraldi (2019), Peter Schickele (2020)., Isaac Watts (2021), Eleanor Steber (2022), and Peter Schickele (2023)

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Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 1875 – 10 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fons et Origo

 

He also contributed heavily to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, writing many of the articles on music of the 18th and 19th centuries. -- Wikipedia

If the Britannica was their preference

As a sourcebook and a reference,

It was Donald Francis Tovey’s prose

That tutored music through those rows

Of august, bound-in-leather tomes

In well-appointed English homes.

 

 

 

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April 27 - Nicolas Slonimsky (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 27th may be found here: Friedrich von Flotow (2019), Nicolas Slonimsky (2020), and Johann Adam Reincken (2021)

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Nicolas Slonimsky (April 27 [O.S. April 15] 1894 – December 25, 1995) was a Russian-born American conductor, author, pianist, composer and lexicographer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops!

Then in 1953, Slonimsky brought out the Lexicon of Musical Invective ("Critical Assaults on Composers since Beethoven's Time"), a collection of hilariously scathing, insulting, vituperative, and enraged contemporary critiques of musical greats in their time. -- Wikipedia

Old Slonimsky got some laughs

Revisiting reviewers’ gaffs.

He show how much they missed the mark

While lost in the aesthetic dark.

They little thought that their reviews meant

They'd be fodder for amusement.

Nor could they know that cruel posterity

Would read their judgements with hilarity,

And not an ounce of Christian charity.

 

 

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September 11 - Friedrich Kuhlau; Eduard Hanslick (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 11th are here: Arvo Pärt (2019) and Harry Connick Jr.; William Boyce (2020)

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Friedrich Kuhlau (11 September 1786 – 12 March 1832) was a Danish pianist and composer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brighten the Corner Where You Are

It’s your birthday! here’s to you now,

Danish master, Friedrich Kuhlau!

Though your reputation still remains 

High among your fellow Danes,

Elsewhere, I regret to say,

Your works have mostly gone away,

Though piano students learn to play

Your sonatinas to this day.

But, of course, such sonatinas

Are never heard in big arenas.

 

 

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Eduard Hanslick (11 September 1825 – 6 August 1904) was an important music critic and aesthetician.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beautiful in Music... Is What I Say It Is

Eduard Hanslick, old curmudgeon,

Got into a lofty dudgeon 

When he heard somebody play

Progressive music of his day.

His aesthetic sense dismissed 

Works by Wagner, works by Liszt.

Eduard Hanslick turned to Brahms  

In search of compensating balms.

 

 

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