May 26 - Peggy Lee (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 26th are available here: William Bolcom (2019), Teresa Stratas (2020), Isadora Duncan (2021),  Miles Davis (2022), and William Bolcom (2023)

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Peggy Lee (26 May 1920 – 21 January 2002) was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Say Can You Lee

Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in  Jamestown, North Dakota. -- Wikipedia

Join with us today as we

Sing the praise of Peggy Lee.

Composer, lyricist, and singer

She has earned the cheers we bring her!

At the start when she’d perform a

Gig her name was Egstrom (Norma).

The Egstrom name was old and proud,

But sounded funny said out loud,

And thus it is today that we

Toast the name of Peggy Lee.

 

 

 

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May 25 - Beverly Sills (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 25th may be found here: Beverly Sills (2019), Hal David (2020), Moritz of Hesse-Kassel (2021). Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; Johann Baptist Singenberger (2022), and Beverly Sills (2023)

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Beverly Sills (25 May 1929 – 2 July 2007) was one of the dominant American sopranos of her time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Feud Between to Houses

At New York City Opera Beverly Sills

Helped Julius Rudel to pay his bills.

Across the square where Bing was at the Met,

She wasn’t there to help him pay the debt.

 

 

 

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May 24 - Wilhelm Friedrich Ernest Bach (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 24th may be found here: Bob Dylan (2019),  Patti LaBelle (2020), Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (2021), Bob Dylan (2022), and Bob Dylan (2023)

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Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (24 May 1759 – 25 December 1845) was the only grandson of J. S. Bach to gain fame as a composer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything is Relatives

He said, "Heredity can tend to run out of ideas."  - Wikipedia

Of all the many Bach that we

  Have hailed with verses here,

I think it’s safe to say that he

  Ranks somewhere near the rear.

It isn’t that he lacked success

  He had a few positions,

But not the sort that would impress

  His family of musicians.

 

 

 

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

 

 

May 23 - Helen O'Connell; Rosemary Clooney; Johann Caspar Vogler (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for May 23rd may be found here: Robert Moog (2019), Artie Shaw (2020), Alicia de Larrocha; Johann Bernhard Bach (2022), Rosemary Clooney (2022), and Jean Françaix (2023)

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Helen O'Connell (23 May 1920 – 9 September 1993) was an American Big Band singer and actress. 

Rosemary Clooney (23 May 1928 – 29 June 2002) was an American singer and actress. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Stage

Helen O’Connell and Rosemary Clooney

  Were singers of note in the Big Band Age.

Long before singing had got auto-tuney,

  When voices were honest there up on the stage.

What a coincidence! isn’t it looney? —

  Sharing their birthday verse here on this page.

 

 

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

 

Johann Caspar Vogler (23 May 1696 – 3 June 1763) was a German organist and composer, and student of J. S. Bach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also Ran

He failed in two applications in 1729 for organ posts in Leipzig and Görlitz. The Leipzig judges remarked that he 'played too fast and confused the congregation'; this did not deter him from boasting of his 'swiftness of hand and feet' in the second application. – abridged from Wikipedia

Johann Casper Vogler touted

  The swiftness of his hands and feet,

But church committee elders doubted

  Whether they could hear his beat.

On rejection, J.C. pouted,

  “But my training was elite!”

Though he may have fumed and shouted,

  He never got that organ seat.

 

 

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

 

May 22 - Richard Wagner (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Limericks re-telling the plots of the Ring operas may be found here: Ring (2019).  Limericks re-telling the plots of the canonical non-Ring opera may be found here: non-Ring (2020). Additional limericks on Wagner are here: Wagner (2021). A post on Morrissey is here. 2023 Wagner limericks are here.

 

Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) revolutionized opera in the last half of the nineteenth century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Wagnerian Tetralogy

Ludwig was likely the savior of Wagner's career; without Ludwig, Wagner's later operas are unlikely to have been composed. – Wikipedia, s.v. “Ludwig II of Bavaria”

(1)

King Ludwig the Second (Bavaria)

Came down with Wagnerian hysteria,

And as a True Believer

He developed a fever

Which the doctors mistook for malaria.

(2)

King Ludwig, on hearing his pitch,

Was mighty impressed, and said,”Rich,

Your musical plays

That continue for days

Are the scratch for my musical itch!”.

(3)

King Ludwig the Second was smitten

With everything Wagner had written.

I read in a book

He preferred him to Gluck,

And was still unacquainted with Britten.

(4)

Between 1872 and 1885, the King had 209 Separatvorstellungen (private performances) given for himself alone or with a guest of 28 performances of Wagner's operas.  - Wikipedia, s.v. “Ludwig II of Bavaria”

As he fueled the Wagnerian fad,

The King overspent just a tad.

He would sit on his throne

Watching Wagner alone.

Did I mention that Ludwig was mad?

 

 

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