October 25 - Georges Bizet (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 25th are here: Georges Bizet (2019), Johann Strauss, Jr (2020), Barbara Cook (2021), and Thomas Weelkes; Georges Bizet (2022)

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Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a composer whose Carmen is one of the mainstays of the standard repertoire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Therein Lies the Plot

When Carmen was sent to the slammer

For raising a riotous clamour,

She shortened her stay

By seducing José

With beguiling Iberian glamor.

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Everyone’s a Critic

The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its breaking of conventions shocked and scandalised its first audiences. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality, and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial. – adapted from Wikipedia, s.v. “Carmen”

The folks at the Opéra-Comique

Gave Carmen a dismal critique;

Opinion was solid

In finding it squalid,

Too sexy, too coarse, and too bleak.

 

 

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October 24 - George Crumb (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 24th are here: George Crumb; Luciano Berio (2019), George Crumb; Anna Amalia von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (2020), George Crumb; Emmerich Kálmán (2021), and George Crumb (2022)

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George Crumb (24 October 1929 - 6 February 2022) was a distinguished and influential American composer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Makro

The music of Crumb is renowned

For extravagant sources of sound.

Continued enticements

Of surface excitements

Are around and are bound to astound.

 

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Mikro

In the decorative music of Crumb

Are the parts rather more than the sum?

I’d be curious to know,

If you think this is so,

How come?

 

 

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October 23 - Denise Duval (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 23rd are here: Ned Rorem (2019), "Weird Al" Yankovic; Albert Lortzing (2020), Ned Rorem (2021), and "Weird Al" Yankovic (2022)

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Denise Duval (23 October 1921 – 25 January 2016) was a French soprano, best known for her performances in the works of Francis Poulenc on stage and in recital. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Need to Choose

 

She was discovered by Poulenc, rehearsing Cio-Cio-san the composer immediately recognizing her as the artist he was seeking for his first opera Les Mamelles de Tirésias that June; she worked closely with Poulenc for the rest of his life. -- Wikipedia

Denis Duval sang Poulenc melodies,

And there was no one happier than he.

He turned and said, “Ma chere mademoiselle,

No other woman sings my songs so well.

The sides they made have chic Paisian poise,

And rank among a record collector’s joys;

But this is not to say there’s any lack

In those he made with Monsieur Pierre Bernac.

 

 

 

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October 22 - Franz Liszt (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 22 are here: Franz Liszt (2019) and (2020), William IX of Aquitaine (2022), and Franz Liszt (2022)

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Either/Or

Opinions concerning Franz Liszt

Will vary, but here is the gist:

Is he flashy and cheap,

Or audacious and deep?

Meretricious or nor to be missed?

 

 

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October 21 - Egon Wellesz (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 21st are here: Malcolm Arnold; Dizzy Gillespie (2019), Joseph Canteloube (2020), Malcolm Arnold (2021), and Giuseppe Giacosa (2022)

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Egon Wellesz  (21 October 1885 – 9 November 1974) was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bifurcation

Egon Wellesz’s bio veers

Between the vectors of his careers.

He wrote about the ways and means

Of chants among the Byzantines,

But also had another mission

Devoted to his composition,

And few there are with means to relish

The dual sides of Egon Wellesz.

 

 

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October 20 - Charles Ives (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for October 20th are here: Charles Ives; Robert Craft (2019), Jelly Roll Morton (2020), Karol Mikuli (2021), and Charles Ives (2022)

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Charles Ives (20 October 1874 – 19 May 1954) is arguably the greatest composer the United States has yet produced

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ad astra per aspera

Ives envisioned the Universe Symphony being performed by multiple orchestras located in valleys, on hillsides and mountains, with the music mimicking "the eternal pulse ... the planetary motion of the earth ... the soaring lines of mountains and cliffs ... deep ravines, sharp jagged edges of rock". —- Wikipedia, s.v. “Universe Symphony (Ives)“

When Ives, with his old Yankee vigor,

Abandoned traditional rigor,

His wife lived in fear,

As she saw year by year

That his projects got bigger and bigger.

 

 

 

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