September 18 - Lord Berners; Francesca Caccini (The Musical Birthday Series)

Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners (18 September 1883 – 19 April 1950), also known as Gerald Tyrwhitt, was a British composer, novelist, painter and aesthete.

Francesca Caccini  (18 September 1587 – after 1641) was an Italian composer, singer, lutenist, poet, and music teacher.

Feeling the Bern

Lord Berners, or Gerald Tyrwhitt,

A blue-blooded barmy old Brit,

Enjoyed domesticity 

Of queer eccentricity,

And composed on the side just a bit.

Father-Daughter Act

Francesca Caccini who chose

To write for theatrical shows,

Most probably had

More success than her dad,

Making Giulio proud, I suppose.



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September 17 - Hank Williams (The Musical Birthday Series)

Hank Williams (17 September 1923 – 1 January 1953) was one of the most influential singer-songwriters in country music of the last century.

Country Song 

Hank Williams died

At twenty-nine,

A shorter life 

Than yours and mine.

The ill effects 

Of drugs and drink;

It gives you pause,

And makes you think.

So great a career

While so impaired,

Imagined how

He would have fared

If instead of 

Dereliction,

He had conquered

His addiction.

What he achieved,

Half in the game,

Puts us, with no

Excuse, to shame.

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September 16 - Hildegard von Bingen (The Musical Birthday Series)

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.

Holy Roller

St. Hildegard's holiest miracle?
To make herself totally spherical
And bounce like a ball
Down the long abbey hall
Singing chants that were blesséd and lyrical.

Variatio I

Von Bingen went into a trance

On the chance she'd be given new chants.

But there in the nunnery

They frowned on such punnery,

Which she should have been told in advance.

Variatio II

Von Bingen fell into a trance

As she led a liturgical dance.

When she caused a kerfuffle

By doing a shuffle,

She averred she had learned it in France.

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September 15 - Bobby Short (The Musical Birthday Series)

Bobby Short (15 September 1924 – 21 March 2005) was a much-recorded and beloved cabaret singer.

Setting Standards

When Bobby Short played the Carlisle

He charmed with his grace and his smile.

There wasn’t a flaw

In his je ne sais quois 

Or a blot in his exquisite style.

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September 14 - Michael Haydn (The Musical Birthday Series)

Michael Haydn (14 September 1737 – 10 August 1806) was a distinguished and successful composer, primarily in Salzburg. He is relatively seldom performed today.

The Other Brother

No ifs, ands, or buts, and no quibbling,

It was hard being Franz Joseph’s sibling.

He shared the same name,

But not the same fame,

As if things that he wrote were just scribbling.

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September 13 - Arnold Schoenberg (The Musical Birthday Series)

Arnold Schoenberg (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was a towering figure in the musical life of the twentieth century. (NB: The facetious nonsense about Mrs. Coolidge and Mrs. Schoenberg has no basis in fact.)

That Eureka Moment: A Suite

The rules of the old status quo 

Were stretched to the limits, and so

The tonal foundations

Of such modulations

Were harder and harder to know.

Like waves on an unsteady sea,

He constantly strayed from the key;

And if he got queasy 

In conditions like these he

Set the tonality free.

At last with no further to go

He stood up and shouted, “I know!

To ensure I won’t enter

A new tonal center

I’m hereby inventing the row!”

Works

Pierrot Lunaire

When performing the sprechstimme role

She felt she was losing control.

“I feel like I’m broken,

Half sung and half spoken --

I’m torn between body and soul.”

Op. 37

As he started his Fourth String Quartet,

Which he thought his most beautiful yet,

He worked with material

Both thorny and serial, 
Leaving poor Mrs. Coolidge upset.

Moses und Aron

A printed libretto in prose is

What’s left of the third act of Moses.

So even if you 

Can get through act two,

You’ll never find out out it closes.

Life

(i)

When invited for drinks in LA,

I suppose that they asked him to play,

But then got a start

When his Rodgers and Hart

Was arranged in an atonal way.

(ii)

Said Schoenberg, at home with his Gertie,

“I think I’ll compose something purtie.”

And Gertrude replied 

As she went to his side,

“You naughty boy, don’t talk so dirty.”

Afterlife

(i)

When Boulez said,"Schoenberg is dead,"

He couldn't quite mean what he said:

Though sisters and brothers

Spurn fathers and mothers,

They can’t keep them out of their head.

(ii)

When Boulez wrote, "Schoenberg is dead

Go listen to Webern instead."

It came as a shock

To the serial flock

Who could hardly believe what they read.

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