November 27 - Margaret Ruthven Lang (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 27th are here: Jimi Hendrix (2019), Hilary Hahn (2020), Rudolph Reti; Margaret Ruthven Lang (2021), Anton Stamitz (2022), and Anton Stamitz (2023)

+++++++++++++++++++++ 

Margaret Ruthven Lang (27 November 1867 – 29 May 1972) was an American composer. She was one of the first women to have an orchestral piece play in America, but is remembered chiefly for her songs and small piano pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life's Quirks

Her father was also a friend of  Richard Wagner. Margaret knew Wagner's children as playmates. – adapted from Wikipedia

Margaret also holds the record for the longest consecutive subscriber to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, totaling 91 years. – Wikipedia

In years gone by the rafters rang

With songs of Margaret Ruthven Lang;

With time her repertoire has faded,

As tastes, alas, became more jaded.

Today I wish to bring to mind

Some factoids of a different kind. –

Her father, bless him, had connections,

Which led her in unique directions;

Imagine being (if you can)

A playmate with the Wagner clan!

And she was loyal and devoted,

And Wikipedia has noted

That loyal to her local band,

For many decades was on hand,

Subscribing to the BSO

For ninety seasons in a row.

 

 

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

 

September 16 - Hildegard von Bingen (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 16th are here: Hildegard von Bingen (2019), Charlie Byrd (2020), Nadia Boulanger (2021), Nick Jonas; Hildegard von Bingen (2022), and Hildegard von Bingen (2023)

++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 17 September 1179) was one of the most accomplished minds of the Middle Ages, distinguishing herself in a number of fields. We do not know when she was born, but September 16 is cited occasionally, although it is unclear on what evidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mysticism for All?

 

In the early 1990s, recordings of her work suddenly hit the pop charts, a time when medieval chant, new age music and meditative practices were enjoying a boom. -- Brian Wise,@ www.wqxr.org/story/97514-hildegards-striking-music-comes-to-life-vision

Medieval scholars still regard

The sacred chants of Hildegard

As music up there with the best

Produced in the medieval West.

And scholarship, (there is a ton)

On Hildegard, the Bingen nun,

Has opened up to everyone

The beauties of medieval chant, —

Though purists have averred this can’t

Be done without the grim result

Of morphing to a New Age cult.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

September 6 - Isabella Leonarda (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 6th are here: Manfred Gurlitt; Sylvester (2019), Anton Diabelli (2020), Georg Christoph Bach (2021), Anton Diabelli; Isabella Leonarda (2022), and Henry Diltz (2023)

++++++++++++++++++++++  

 

Isabella Leonarda (6 September 1620 – 25 February 1704) was an Italian composer and Ursuline nun. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice Rumination

Isabella Leonarda, who was Ursuline,

  Resided in a convent all her days.

Which meant she had a place to hold rehearsal in,

  With a minimum of hassles and delays.

Rehearsing the motets that she had written,

   She found it was a perk that can’t be priced

To have a spacious choir loft to sit it

   While singing with her fellow brides of Christ.

 

 

 

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

 

  

July 11 - Liza Lehmann (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for July 11th are found here: Hermann Prey (2019), Liza Lehmann (2020), Mattiwilda Dobbs; Liza Lehmann (2021), Nicolai Gedda (2022), and John Hill Hewitt; Antônio Carlos Gomes (2023)

++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Liza Lehmann (11 July 1862 – 19 September 1918) was an English composer and operatic soprano. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victoriana

Lehmann’s vocal quartets cycles with piano: The Daisy-Chain (L. Alma-Tadema, R.L. Stevenson and others); In a Persian Garden (E. FitzGerald, after O. Khayyām); More Daisies; Nonsense Songs (from L. Carroll: Alice in Wonderland); Breton Folk-Songs (F.M. Gostling); Prairie Pictures (Lehmann); Parody Pie (1914) - as listed in Wikipedia

Cycles of songs for vocal quartet

Might strike us as a risky bet,

But in Miss Lehmann’s time and place

Her offerings found a warm embrace.

They helped the creeping hours advance

By giving evening guests a chance

To show their genteel vocal talents

To other cultured maids and gallants.

 

 

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

 

May 31 - Louise Farrenc (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 31st are found here: Alfred Deller (2019), Marin Marais (2020), Louise Farrenc (2021), Johnny Paycheck (2022), and Bruce Adolphe (2023)

+++++++++++++++++++++++ 

Louise Farrenc (31 May 1804 – 15 September 1875) was a French composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfectly Farrenc

But, despite some new editions of her chamber music after her death, her works were largely forgotten until, in the late 20th century, an interest in women composers led to the rediscovery – and thence to the performance and recording – of many of her works.  -- Wikipedia

 

Louise Farrenc, who has, of late,

  Received renewed acclaim,

Has suffered from that frequent fate,

  The fickleness of fame.

Though canon-makers give more weight

  To secondary men,

Her music, on the edge of great,

  Is in the air again.

 

 

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

 

As critics re-evaluate

  The music from her pen.

 

September 16 - Hildegard von Bingen (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 16th are here: Hildegard von Bingen (2019), Charlie Byrd (2020), Nadia Boulanger (2021), and Nick Jonas; Hildegard von Bingen (2022)

++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 17 September 1179) was one of the most accomplished minds of the Middle Ages, distinguishing herself in a number of fields. We do not know when she was born, but September 16 is cited occasionally, although it is unclear on what evidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mine, All Mine; or, Thinking Ahead

Several manuscripts of her works were produced during her lifetime, including the Dendermonde Codex, , which contains one version of her musical works. At the end of her life, and probably under her initial guidance, all of her works were edited and gathered into the single Riesenkodex manuscript. -- adapted from Wikipedia

If you are called upon to sing

   An old medieval chant,

And you should ask who wrote the thing,

   You’ll never know, you can’t.

The names are lost within the mists

   Of dark medieval mysteries,

And so “anonymous” persists

   In our medieval histories.

But Hildegard’s productions are

   Exceptions to this fact;

She labored at her escritoire

   With the foresight to redact.

She sat in Bingen on the Rhine

   And held her holy pen,

And then by some Divine Design

  She wrote her chants.  Amen.

 

 

 

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