November 12 - Alexander Borodin (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 12th are here: Richard Whiting; Alexander Borodin (2019), Gustav Nottebohm (2020), Jo Stafford; Neil Young (2021), Richard A. Whiting (2022), Richard A. Whiting (2023), and Alexander Borodin (2024)

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Alexander Borodin (12 November 1833 – 27 February 1887) was a Russian chemist who composed avocationally. He is, of course, now remembered for the latter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speculation

He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as "The Five" or "The Mighty Handful", a group dedicated to producing a "uniquely Russian" kind of classical music."  adapted from Wikipedia, s.v. "Alexander Bordon" and "The Five (composers)"

 

In 1954, Borodin was posthumously awarded a Tony Award for this Kismet. -- adapted from Wikipedia

If Alexander Borodin had known he

Would in the future win himself a Tony,

I wonder if the notion would have stunned him,

And if The Mighty Handful would have shunned him.

 

 

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November 11 - Samara Joy (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 11th are here: Ernestine Anderson (2019) , Ernest Ansermet (2020), Jon Batiste (2021), Marlene VerPlanck (2022), Karl Joseph Toeschi (2023), and Marlene VerPlanck (2024)

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Samara Joy   (b. 11 November 1999) is an American jazz singer. She released her self-titled debut album in 2021 and was subsequently named Best New Artist by JazzTimes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Praise of Joy

 

In an interview, film director Regina King called her "a young woman who seems like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald are both living in her body." -- Wikipedia 

Holy cow! The real McCoy!

I'm speaking of Samara Joy!

At twenty-six, this singer has

A place within the world of jazz

That has the critics pulling stops

To find new ways to praise her chops.

But when comparison is drawn

To Ella and to Sarah Vaughan,

You'd think it was hyperbole,

When praising one as young as she,

And then you listen, and it's true,

There's not a thing that she can't do.

 

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

 

 

November 10 - François Couperin (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 10th are here: Martin Luther; Carl Stalling (2019), Johann Christian Schieferdecker (2020), François Couperin; Friedrich Schiller (2021), Idabell Smith Firestone (2022), and Friedrich Schiller; John David Marks (2023), and Martin Luther; Carl Stalling; Billy May; Ennio Morricone (2024)

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François Couperin (10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist, and harpsichordist.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They Also Serve…

 

He was known as Couperin le Grand ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.  -- Wikipedia 

Just like the Bachs, the Couperins,

Among the art's prolific clans,

Produced so many with their name

Who had a decent claim to fame,

That members of the family chart,

(As sons and grandsons learned the art),

Were difficult to tell apart.

But then a bureaucrat said, "Let's

Refer to them with epithets!"

And thus came nicknames of the sort

That stopped confusion at the Court.

But, as we pause upon this date,

And raise a glass to celebrate

Francois Couperin ("the Great"),

We think of them who lived their years,

Upon the family's lesser tiers,

And spent their competent careers

Of keyboard playing and/or fiddling

As merely Couperins ("the Middling").

 

 

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November 9 - Anna Amalia of Prussia (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 9th are here:  Thomas Quasthoff; Bryn Terfel; Anna Amalia of Prussia (2019), Mary Travers (2020), Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin (2021), Bryn Terfel (2022), Bryn Terfel; Aureliano Pertile (2023), and Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin (2024)

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Anna Amalia (9 November 1723 – 30 March 1787) was Princess of Prussia and Abbess of 
Quedlinburg. She was a composer and collector of music. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noblesse oblige

 

Amalia also collected music, preserving over 600 volumes by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Georg Philipp Telemann, Carl Heinrich Graun, and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,  among others. Today her library is housed in the Berlin State Library.  --- adapted from Wikipedia 

Anna Amelia, a princess by birth,

Bought scores by the hundreds, a legacy worth

A place in this jumble of musical wit, —

(Be it ever so humble, I'm doing my bit).

If ever the Princess encountered my verses

Her breeding would stifle inelegant curses,

Which comforts a blogger who flirted with Fate

By joshing the sister of Frederick the Great.

 

 

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November 8 - Friedrich Witt (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 8th are here: Patti Page; Bonnie Raitt (2019), Arnold Bax (2020), Friedrich Witt (2021), Chris Connor (2022), Chris Connor (2023), and Arnold Bax (2024)

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Friedrich Witt (8 November 1770 – 3 January 1836) was a German composer and cellist,  perhaps best known as the likely author of a Symphony in C major known as the "Jena Symphony", once attributed to Beethoven.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Branding

Stein thought it was quite likely an early work by Beethoven and pointed out some stylistic similarities in the preface to the score. When H.C. Robbins Landon found another copy of the work  with Witt's name on it; he convinced most other scholars that the work was in fact by Witt. -- adapted from Wikipedia, s.v. "Jena Symphony"

A symphony was found (in C),

Which for a time was thought to be

A work by Beethoven (in youth),

Until a shrewd archival sleuth

Discovered and proclaimed the truth;

And now, alas, Witt's little score

Sits on the shelf, unheard once more,

For no one will agree to sit

Through symphonies by Friedrich Witt!

 

 

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