August 6 - Mortimer Wilson (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 6th are here: Barbara Strozzi (2019), Ernesto Lecuona (2020), Leland Smith (2021). and Jean-Baptiste Lully fils (2022)

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Mortimer Wilson (August 6, 1876 – January 27, 1932) was an American composer, theorist, and teacher. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping Score

For the 1924 film The Thief of Bagdad Douglas Fairbanks encouraged Wilson to provide a fully-fledged classical score, unusual at the time. Wilson also wrote the music for Fairbanks’s next two films, Don Q. Son of Zorro (1925) and The Black Prince (1926). – Wikipedia

Before the movie screen had sound

Douglas Fairbanks Sr found

That Mortimer Wilson could compose

Music for these silent shows,

And thus it was that Fairbanks chose

To match his own swashbuckling thrills

With Mortimer Wilson’s musical skills.

Wilson, as a Reger student,

Might have thought such work imprudent,

But then remembered that his teacher

Was not alive to see the feature.

 

 

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August 5 - Antonio Cesti (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 5th are here: Guillaume DuFay (2019), (2020), Guillaume Du Fay; Ambroise Thomas (2021), and Jeri Southern; Antonio Cesti (2022)

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Antonio Cesti (baptism 5 August 1623 – 14 October 1669) was an important Italian composer of opera and cantata.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overboard

Il pomo d'oro was first performed in 1668, in a famously lavish production, including a large orchestra, numerous choruses, and various mechanical devices used to stage things like gods descending from heaven, naval battles, and storms. – adapted from Wikipedia

Consider Antonio Cesti.

When at his considerable best, he

Defined with a stroke

The flamboyant Baroque, —

Spectacular, lavish, and zesty.

 

 

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August 4 - David Raksin (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 4th are here: Harry Lauder (2019), Louis Armstrong (2020), William Schuman (2021), and Louis Lully (2022)

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David Raksin (4 August 1912 – 9 August 2004) was an American composer who was noted for his work in film and television

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lied ohne Worte

Raksin insisted that the theme song for The Bad and the Beautiful (“Love is For the Very Young") be released as an instrumental, because he had resented having to split the proceeds from "Laura" with a lyricist. – Wikipedia

David Raksin always bore a

Grudge because the fees for “Laura”

Were divided with a lyricist.

Lesson learned! this shrewd empiricist

Worked to see that words weren’t sung

With “Love is for the very young,”

Releasing it as instrumental,

Rejecting words as incidental.

And that explains the Cadillács in

The private garage of David Raksin.

 

 

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August 3 - Tony Bennett (The Musical Birthday Seris, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 3rd are here: Tony Bennett (2019),  (2020), Richard Adler (2021), and Tony Bennett (2022)

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Tony Bennett (3 August 1926 - 21 July 2023) is one of the great stylists of American popular song.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Golden Sun Will Shine on Me

When the ghost of Tony Bennett

Comes to visit now and then, it

Is certain that his spirit

(If his weightless ears can hear it),

Still encounters, as he hovers,

Pairs of sentimental lovers

Who enjoy a tender ballad;

And the specter, wan and pallid,

Wipes a fleeting teardrop when it

Hears they’re streaming Tony Bennett.

 

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August 2 - Oscar Rasbach (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts of August 2nd are here: Helen Morgan (2019), Arthur Bliss (2020), Jacob Collier (2021), and Helen Morgan (2022)

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Oscar Rasbach (2 August 1888 – 23 March 1975) was an American pianist and composer, remembered for his once-inescapable song "Trees".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missing the Forest for the….

When Oscar Rasbach made the choice

Of setting “Trees” by Kilmer, (Joyce).

He took that sentimental verse,

And some would say he made it worse.

Songs are made by such as he,

But Schirmer thought that it should be 

Available in their editions

In endless forms and transpositions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 1 - Lionel Bart (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 1st are here: Lionel Bart (2019) and (2020), Jerry Garcia; Benedetto Marcello (2021), and Francis Scott Key (2022)

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Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) had many song hits, but his career was overwhelmingly dominated by the success of the musical Oliver!.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Will Buy?

The music for Oliver! was transcribed by Eric Rogers. Bart hummed the melodies and Rogers wrote the notes on his behalf as Bart could not read or write music. – Wikipedia

It is estimated that around 1968 Bart was earning sixteen pounds a minute from Oliver! – Wikipedia

Composer and lyricist Lionel Bart

Couldn’t read music, and so at the start

Of writing a song or a musical show,

He’d hum for dictation the way it should go.

Scoff if you dare at the lack credentials,

This seeming avoidance of music’s essentials,

If the game’s about money, he was in it to win it,

As the pounds in his bank account grew by the minute.

 

 

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