May 5 - Hans Pfitzner (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 5th may be found here: Charles Rosen and François-André Danican Philidor (2020),Tammy Wynette (2019), T. Tertius Noble (2021), Ola Gjeilo (2022), and Adele (2023)

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Hans Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist whose best known work is the opera Palestrina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pfading Away

That said, Palestrina is unlikely to enjoy any repeat performances in this

country. Despite the hype and considerable interest within opera circles,

the production didn't fill the Opera House. – Douglas McLennan, review of Palestrina at Lincoln Center in 1997

It can be said of Palestrina

That few of us have heard or seen a

Live production, and the score

Is widely held to be a bore.

Critics, by and large, are baffled

By a contrapuntal scaffold

That it only seems to slow and clot

The movement of the heavy plot.

And yet the show has its adherents

Who work against its disappearance

With somewhat cult-like perseverance. —-

(The tickets will be sold at clearance.)

 

 

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February 29 - Gioachino Rossini (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

A previous post for February 28th is here: Gioachino Rossini (2020)

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Gioachino Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was one of the greatest composers of Italian opera in the early nineteenth century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chance of Birth

Take a moment now to weep here

For Rossini, born in leap year;

He doubtless raised a fist and cursed

Because it wasn’t March the First.

The story has been often told:

Rossini quit when not yet old.

No one knows the reason why,

Perhaps he was a lazy guy,

Or was the explanation merely

That the lack of birthdays yearly,

Affected him, and that, severely,

And with his twisted sense of time,

He up and quit while in his prime.

Though future’s future, past is past,

And nothing makes an instant last,

Perhaps he thought it would be pleasant

To linger in the birthday present.

 

 

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Rossini’s Overture to…

The famous  overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia was actually recycled from two earlier Rossini operas, Aureliano in Palmira and Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra. – adapted from WIkipedia

In fact they became interchangeable,

  For uses both comic and serious,

Like a cog in the works, rearrangeable,

  To preface the low and imperious.

 

 

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October 21 - Giuseppe Giacosa (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 21st are here: Malcolm Arnold; Dizzy Gillespie (2019), Joseph Canteloube (2020), and Malcolm Arnold (2021) 

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Giuseppe Giacosa (21 October 1847 – 1 September 1906) was an Italian poet, playwright, and librettist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Putting It Together

He also wrote the librettos used by Puccini for La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly in conjunction with Luigi Illica. Illica supplied the plot and dialogue, and Giacosa polished the libretto into verses. — Wikipedia

Puccini had a choice and chose a 

Chance of working with Giacosa.

With Illica, the three of them

Wrote Tosca, Butterfly, Bohème.

The lucky moments that connect a

Group and forms a true trifecta,

Depend upon the whims of Fate, --

Before LinkedIn, at any rate.

 

 

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May 12 - Jules Massenet (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 12th may be found here: Jules Massenet; Gabriel Fauré (2019), Burt Bacharach (2020), and Johann Baptist Wanhal (2021)

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Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer best known for his thirty plus operas, especially Manon and Werther. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naming Rights

Jules Massenet, I’m sure you know,

Didn’t write Manon Lescaut;

He wrote Manon, without the surname,

Because, he reasoned, that was her name.

Puccini had a different whim

And so he used her patronym.

 

 

 

 

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April 16 - Milton Cross (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for' April 16th may be found here: Henry Mancini; Charlie Chaplin (2019), Dennis Russell Davies (2020), and Herbie Mann; Edie Adams (2021)

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Milton Cross (16 April 1897 – 3 January 1975) was an American radio announcer best known as the voice of the Metropolitan Opera, hosting its Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts for 43 years. - adapted from Wikipedia

Cross Purposes

The cultured tones of Milton Cross

   Untangled operatic knots

And rescued listeners at a loss

   In complicated lyric plots.

Each week the Met was on the air

  From Canada to Mexico,

And Milton Cross was always there,

  As brought to us by Texaco.

 

 

 

 

 

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