Monday, October 26, 2020

October 26 - Hans Leo Hassler (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Hans Leo Hassler (bapt.26 October 1564 – 8 June 1612) was an important German composer and organist.

[For last year's items on Domenico Scarlatti, Henry Smart, and Mahalia Jackson click here. For closely related sentiment regarding Heinrich Schütz go here.]



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both Sides Now

Due to the demands of the Catholic patrons, and his own Protestant beliefs, Hassler's compositions represented a skillful blend of both religions’ music styles that allowed his compositions to function in both contexts. Thus, many of Hassler's works could be used both in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran. -- adapted from Wikipedia

 

Hans Leo Hassler, (you’ve sung him in choir),

Went to the South, where he hoped to acquire

The latest and flashiest genres to write in,

For bishops and kings and the rest to delight in.


He made his return to the North a success

With finely tuned instincts for subtle finesse. 

By careful adjustment he had it both ways,

And threaded a path through the doctrinal maze

That Europe endured in those volatile days —

Each side of the German sectarian quarrel

Embraced what he wrote in the style polychoral.



Sunday, October 25, 2020

October 25 - Johann Strauss, Jr. (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Johann Strauss Jr. (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899) was a composer of dance music and operettas.

[Four last year's limericks on Georges Bizet click here. For birthday verses for others of the Strauss family click here for his father and here for his brother.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father Complex


Johann Strauss, Senior, his father,

    Was very well known,

So his son had a bit of a bother

    To stand on his own.

 

Johann Strauss, known as the Younger

    (Or Junior, the Second),

Felt natural self-centered hunger,

    With which he reckoned.

 

The son, as he tried to advance his

    Separate career,

Compose and conducted his dances

    Premiere by premiere.


And soon he was always successful

    Each time that he’d go on,

And found that it wasn’t so stressful

    To be younger Johann

   

In fact, if you happen to mention

    A waltz by one of them

It’s likely to be the invention

    Of the son of them.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 





Saturday, October 24, 2020

October 24 - George Crumb; Anna Amalia von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

George Crumb (24 October 1929) is one of the most distinguished living American composers.

[For last year's verses on George Crumb and Luciano Berio click here.]



Ins and Outs

 

A piano has eighty-eight keys,

But Crumb was not happy with these.

He twiddled inside it

And then amplified it,

And delighted his rapt devotees.

 

 

 

 


♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  


Anna Amalia von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (24 October 1739 – 10 April 1807), was a German princess, later duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and composer. 

 


Attainments

In Anna Amalia’s court

They followed the Arts and not Sport,

And a duchess composer,

(As history knows her),

Is a very rare thing to report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 






Friday, October 23, 2020

October 23 - "Weird Al" Yankovic; Albert Lortzing (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

"Weird Al" Yankovic (b. October 23, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, and parodist.

[For last year's limericks on Ned Rorem click here.]



Almost about Al

  

As a writer of popular parody

Weird Al is a singular rarity.

(Although it’s a vice

That my rhyme’s imprecise,

I hope you’ll accept it with charity.)

 

 

 

 


♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪ 

 

Albert Lortzing (23 October 1801 – 21 January 1851) was a German composer, actor and singer.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Chacun à son goût

 

For 150 years, Lortzing was, after Mozart and Verdi, the most performed opera composer in Germany. In 1928/29 there were 843 performances of his works in German theatres, compared with 821 of Mozart’s. -- Peter Bassett, at suomenwagnerseura.org


Albert Lortzing ruled the stage

Among composers of his age,

A reputation that still stands,

At least in German-speaking lands,


And yet it is inferred of him

The States have barely heard of him,

A circumstance that can be traced

To differences in local taste.


Why don’t singers of our sort sing

Operas by Albert Lortzing?

Something unexplained determines

Why we’re so unlike the Germans.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Thursday, October 22, 2020

October 22 - Franz Liszt (The Musical Birthday Series, 2nd Annual Cycle)

Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a great piano virtuoso and an estimable composer.

[For last year's limericks on Liszt click here.] 

 

 

Thriller

 

If we believe what the newspapers said,

Young women would fight for a shred

Of his hankies or gloves,

Though such pushings and shoves

Would not be considered well bred.

 

 

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

 

Facing the Challenge  

 

A pianist who's got any skill

Will practice and practice until

They can thunder with ease

Through the Liszt Rhapsodíes

For a potent vertiginous thrill.

 


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  


Either

With Liszt we get highs, we get lows;

We can choose from his these and his those;

He can be meretricious

Or sublimely ambitious, --

And I wonder which stance was the pose.

 


 

 

 

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