December 26 - Victor Hely-Hutchinson (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 26th are here: Earle Brown (2019), Steve Allen (2020), George Winston (2021), and George Winston (2022)

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Victor Hely-Hutchinson (26 December 1901 – 11 March 1947) was a British composer, conductor, pianist and music administrator. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Place in the Cupboard

In Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s "Old Mother Hubbard set in the manner of Handel" (1932) the rhyme's opening stanza is treated in the style of an oratorio. – adapted from Wikipedia, s.v. “Old Mother Hubbard”

V. Hely-Hutchinson’s comedy kitsch,

Fills an irreverent repertoire niche.

His song a la Handel to verse from the nursery,

Has earned him some lines for his birth’s anniversary. 

 

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December 25 - A Christmas Carol (The Musical Birthday Seires, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 2th are here: Orlando Gibbons (2019), Cosima Wagner (2020), Cab Calloway (2021), and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (2022)

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Hodie, Hodie

The angel choir, so we’re told,

Filled the riven skies of old,

Expressing their celestial joy

To greet the Father’s Holy Boy;

Exhausting their divine thesaurus

For epithets in fugue and chorus

While Mary, in the stable yonder,

Perplexedly was led to ponder

Whether heaven’s host could maybe

Be more quiet for the Baby.

 

 

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

 

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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December 23 - Chet Baker (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 23rd are here: Chet Baker (2019), Mathilde Wesendonck (2020), Ross Lee Finney (2021), and José Greco (2022)

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Chet Baker (23 December 1929 – 13 May 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nocturne

As quiet music sets a mood

Romantic couples nibble food, —

The wistful trumpet of Chet Baker, –

The flash of the martini shaker.

How sad it is that jazz so cool

Is now a cheap designer’s tool

When clients give him the assignment

To set a vibe of louche refinement.

 

 

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

 

 

December 22 - Giacomo Puccini; Maurice Gibb; Robin Gibb (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 21st are here: András Schiff; Michael Tilson Thomas (2019), Michael Tilson Thomas (2020), Frank Zappa; Werner von Trapp (2021), Michael Tilson Thomas (2021), and Edgard Varèse; Giacomo Puccini (2022)

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Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 – 29 November 1924) composed several of the most beloved operas in the repertoire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three on Tosca

(1)

While critics have often dismissed the opera as a facile melodrama with confusions of plot—musicologist Joseph Kerman famously called it a "shabby little shocker”—the power of its score and the inventiveness of its orchestration have been widely acknowledged. – Wikipedia, s.v. “Tosca”

Alright, so it’s shocking and shabby,

And it makes intellectuals crabby,

But with intrigue and torture,

This Italianate scorcher

Is never Germanically flabby.

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(2) Act II - “Vissi d’arte”

Poor Tosca, who lived for her Art,

Had seen her whole world fall apart,

But for Mario’s sake

Pulls a knife from a steak,

And lunges for Scarpio’s heart.

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(3) Act III

La Tosca was cool and aloof;

She knew the whole thing was a spoof.

But when Mario fell,

She exclaimed, “What the hell!”

And promptly jumped off of the roof.

 

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Maurice Gibb (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) and Robin Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) were members of the hugely successful pop trio, The Bee Gees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stayin’ Alive

Strike the harp and join the chorus

For Robin and his brother Maurice!

Fraternal twins, the brothers Gibb

Who teamed up with their other sib,

And to this family venture we owe

The famous Bee Gees as a trio.

 

 

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