Tag Archives: Music

Uncategorized

Five Book Friday!

1 Comment

And a very happy birthday to Russian composer Igor Stravinsky!

stravinsky_wide-a8e2a918b98a52c2692f61a7cd4d5f9277e44364-s6-c30

Stravinsky was born on this date in 1882 in a suburb of St. Petersburg, then the capital of Imperial Russia.  Though he showed musical promise from an early age, his parents sent him to law school…where he attended approximately fifty classes in four years.  Though he managed to get a “half degree” in law, he had already begun taking private lessons from his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov, and was very soon on his way to becoming famous.  He became an overnight sensation with the performance of The Firebird in 1910.

Nijinsky Photographs and PhotographersStravinsky, his wife and family were staying in Switzerland, as they did most summers, when the First World War began, forcing them to remain far, far from home. Though finances were tight during this period, Stravinsky eventually found work with Sergei Diaghilev Ballet Russe, one of the most famous, avant-garde ballet companies of the 20th century (see him pictured with star Nijinsky at left).  Stravinsky wrote the music for the ballet Rite of Spring, which, I kid you not, led to a riot in the Paris theater where it was first performed.  Though no details exist about the specific choreography, the Joffrey Ballet spent seven years recreating the performance, tracking down costumes around the globe, locating the last surviving witnesses of that performance, and compiling newspaper reports, diaries, notes, and sketches from an incredible array of archives in order to make the most accurate re-creation possible.  Here is a clip from that performance, which debuted in 1989:

So today, feel free to be a little revolutionary–a little ahead of your time–and check out some of our great recordings of Stravinsky’s immortal (and still rather shocking) works–along with some of these books that made their way onto the shelves this week!

Five Books

3726198Homegoing: Yaa Gyasi’s first novel has been getting quite a bit of attention, and has been making its presence known on a number of “Best Of” lists–and for good reason.  Her story is at once a sweeping epic that covers three hundred years of history, and also a deeply personal story of families and belonging, crossing genres and boundaries with effortless grace.  At the heart of this tale are two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, growing up in separate world at the close of the 18th century in the land that would come to be known as Ghana.  While Effia is married off to an Englishman, and enjoys the privileges and comforts that such a life includes, Esi is imprisoned in the dungeon beneath the caste, and shipped to America as part of the phenomenally lucrative trade in human beings.  The novel follows both women, and their descendants, across time, as they navigate life in the United States and in Ghana, creating a tale that The New York Times Book Review  called, “hypnotic…the great, aching gift of the novel is that it offers, in its own way, the very thing that enslavement denied its descendants: the possibility of imagining the connection between the broken threads of their origins.”

3760386Duke of Sin: Elizabeth Hoyt is a genius at historical romances, and any new book from her is always cause for celebration.  In this story, Valentine Napier, the Duke of Montgomery, is, quite literally, the stuff of society’s nightmares.  He lives above the rules, blackmailing and carousing without scruples.  But when Valentine encounters a women hiding out in his bedroom, he soon realizes that he’s met his match.  Bridget Crumb is determined to discover all of Valentine’s secrets in order to save her mother from extortion, even if it means hiding in Valentine’s house as a housekeeper.  But the longer she spends in his company, the harder it is to remember that Bridget has to keep her distance from the man who holds her fate in his conniving hands.  Hoyt outdoes herself in developing her characters in this book, and even though many of Valentine’s and Bridget’s choices are challenging, it only makes their relationship that much more gripping, producing a story that RT Book Reviews raves “delivers a unique read on many levels: a love story, a tale of redemption and a plot teeming with emotional depth that takes readers’ breaths away. Kudos to a master storyteller!”

3707667End of Watch: If you’re anything like me, and have been waiting for Stephen King’s blockbuster Bill Hodges trilogy to be released in its entirety before reading it–rejoice!  For our long wait is over!  This book closes out the story that began with Mr. Mercedes, and has followed Bill Hodges’ quest to destroy Brady Hartsfield, perpetrator of the Mercedes Massacre.  Hartsfield is trapped in a Brain Injury Clinic, but even as his body deteriorates, his mind has come alive, filled with a dark new power that will send Hodges and his partner, Holly Gibney, on their darkest, most dangerous case yet.  King has evolved this series from a police procedural into something supernatural, showing off the full range of his talents, and giving fans yet another reason to sleep with the lights on.  Library Journal concurs–they gave this book a starred review, and cheered “One would assume that a writer like King, who has been at the top of his game for decades, would eventually run out of ideas. Instead, he serves up one of the most original crime thrillers to come along in years…A spectacular, pulse-pounding, read-in-one-sitting wrap-up that will more than satisfy King’s Constant Readers.”

3722316Joe Gould’s Teeth: Jill Lepore is not only a dedicated historian–she’s also a darned good story teller, and both of those gifts make this strange, odd sort of biography into a tragic, gripping, and utterly original study, not only of one man’s life, but of the journey it took to find him.  Joe Gould believed that he was the most brilliant historian of his generation, and was determined to write a history of real life by writing down every word that he overheard.  He was a friend to modernists like E.E. Cummings and Ezra Pound; he was associated with the Harlem Renaissance; he worked as a eugenicist on Native American reservations.  He was also, quite probably, insane.  For years, it has been assumed that his history was an invention of his troubled imagination, but Lepore was determined to look beyond those decades-old assumptions, and find the troubled man who created them.  As NPR noted in its glowing review, “Joe Gould’s Teeth is more than just a fascinating footnote to a beloved literary landmark. Using the tools of her trade, Lepore ended up broadening her search for his lost notebooks to encompass trenchant questions about journalism, race, and mental illness. The result has bite.”

3751385The Mistresses of Cliveden : Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home: Those of you mourning the end of Downton Abbey, this book, featuring a colossal English manor, and the secrets that hide behind its ivied walls, will go a long way to helping you through this difficult time.  The estate was originally built under the reign of Charles II for the Duke of Buckingham, who needed a place to carry on his affair with his mistress, Anna Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury.  That relationship led to a fatal duel, but also ensured Anna’s position at Clivenden would remain unchallenged, leading to a history that is replete with strong, fearless women who were willing to challenge society in order to carve a place for themselves in it.  Natalie Livingstone’s book places each of these women within the broader context of their time, but never loses sight of their remarkable strength and ingenuity, making for a story that the Evening Standard called, “Well-researched, well-written and narratively enthralling”.

 

And so, beloved patrons, until next week–happy reading!

Uncategorized

A Bit More On Love Letters…


This week, we are celebrating the literary love letter (or love letters from the literary) as our contribution to your Valentine’s Day celebrations.  Today, we focus on perhaps the most famous love letter of all times, not only because of the timeless composition it inspired, but because of the mystery in which it is shrouded…

1949145Ludwig von Beethoven was never known to be a very charming individual.  He suffered from chronic stomach pains from his early twenties and began going deaf at about age 26, and both conditions made him quite short-tempered (to learn more, I can’t recommend Beethoven’s Hair any more highly).  He was known to stop performances in the middle of a piece if he thought the audience was not giving him the attention and respect he deserved.  His patron in Vienna, Archduke Rudolf, was forced to decree that the composer was exempt from the standard etiquette rules of court, so that his grumpiness wouldn’t cause a scandal.

But despite the stomach pains and the chronic curmudgeonliness , Beethoven had the soul of a Romantic–wild, passionate…and secretive.  Historians are still working to uncover the truth about a number of his relationships, particularly those that inspired him to compose.  Für Elise, perhaps one of his best known pieces, is believed to be a audible love letter to one of his students–who turned him down, truth be told.  But that shouldn’t detract (too much) from the beauty of the piece, or the sentiment behind it.  Have a listen for yourself:

But the best, the most important love letter was yet to come.  The  missive that has become known as the “Immortal Beloved” letter was discovered among Beethoven’s papers after his death in 1827, by his secretary, who kept it hidden for the remainder of his own life.  Thus, it was in 1880 that the letter made its way to the Berlin State Library, setting off a firestorm of speculation as to the letter’s intended recipient, when it was drafted, and why it never reached her.

Tests were performed on the watermark of the paper sometime in the 1950’s, and showed that the paper on which the letter was written was made in 1812, which was the year that Beethoven spent in the Czech city of Teplice.  Though we will presumably never know the truth about Beethoven’s “Unsterbliche Geliebte”–or “Immortal Beloved”–but it is generally assumed now that she was Josephine Brunsvik, another of Beethoven’s piano students.

josephine-brunsvikJosephine was 20 years old when Beethoven (who was 29 at the time) was hired to give her and her sisters piano lessons at their Vienna home.  According to his letters to her, it was nearly love at first sight for young Ludwig, but that same year, Josephine’s mother forced her to marry the exceptionally wealthy Count von Dehm, who was not only twice her age, but hated music.

Von Dehm died of pneumonia five years later, but being a widow didn’t allow Beethoven to press his suit.  Beethoven was a commoner, you see, and marriage to him would have forced Josephine to relinquish custody of her children.  Nevertheless, it is evident through their letters that the two remained close, visiting several times.  Beethoven wrote around April of 1805, in his characteristically dash-ridden way: “beloved J., it is not the drive to the opposite sex that attracts me to you, no, only you, the whole of your Being with all its singularities – has my respect – all my feelings – all of my sensibility is chained to you…Long – long – time – may our love last – it is so noble – so founded on mutual respect and friendship.”

beethovens-piano-1344527332-article-1The correspondence between Beethoven and Josephine ended with Josephine’s marriage to Baron Christoph von Stackelberg, her children’s tutor.  It was a disastrous marriage, and the baron left her in 1812.  Desperate for money, Josephine set off to see a family friend in Prague, stopping along the way in Teplice, where Beethoven was also visiting.  His sister took care of Josephine’s children during her visit, and there is no reason not to assume that the two caught up–and strengthened the bonds that had grown between them so many years earlier.  If indeed Josephine was the “Immortal Beloved” of Beethoven’s letter, it was this meeting that inspired him to write.  A few highlight of that letter are below…The full text of the letter is here, courtesy of the glorious Letters of Note:

Good morning, on 7 July

Even in bed my ideas yearn towards you, my Immortal Beloved, here and there joyfully, then again sadly, awaiting from Fate, whether it will listen to us. I can only live, either altogether with you or not at all. Yes, I have determined to wander about for so long far away, until I can fly into your arms and call myself quite at home with you, can send my soul enveloped by yours into the realm of spirits — yes, I regret, it must be. You will get over it all the more as you know my faithfulness to you; never another one can own my heart, never — never! O God, why must one go away from what one loves so, and yet my life in W. as it is now is a miserable life. Your love made me the happiest and unhappiest at the same time. At my actual age I should need some continuity, sameness of life — can that exist under our circumstances? Angel, I just hear that the post goes out every day — and must close therefore, so that you get the L. at once. Be calm — love me — today — yesterday.

What longing in tears for you — You — my Life — my All — farewell. Oh, go on loving me — never doubt the faithfullest heart

Of your beloved

L

Ever thine.
Ever mine.
Ever ours.

We can only speculate whether Josephine was the intended recipient of this letter, but we do know that Beethoven composed several pieces of music for her, among them “An die Hoffnung [To Hope]“, which bore a dedication to her on the original manuscript.  For fans of Pride and Prejudice, this is the song that Lizzie sings while Darcy gives her The Look.  His final two piano sonatas (Opus 110 and Opus 111), which were written just after her death, recall the melody of that song, perhaps offering a final farewell to the woman who would live forever in his heart, and in his music….

Uncategorized

It’s Mozart Day!


Sometimes, we hear things so often that they fade into our aural background, and we simply assume they have been there forever. But once upon a time, before 1756, there was no Mozart.  No Magic Flute, no Marriage of Figaro, no “Prague” Symphony.  None of it.

1000509261001_1707071048001_BIO-Biography-20-Composers-Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart-SF

And maybe because there was a Mozart, we don’t necessarily appreciate how much changed because he was on this planet for 35 years.  Because Mozart didn’t stride into the world and bend it to his will.  He took the existing forms of music–the sonata, the symphony, the concerto–and saw far more deeply into them than any composer before him ever had.  And he taught us that music could be fun, beautiful, and joyful.  Up until Mozart, operas were based on Greek myths and tragedies.  Mozart set his operas in magical forests, in brothels (gasp!), and in opera houses.  He mixed up the order of the movements in a traditional symphony in order to make them more accessible, and more emotionally resonant.  He wrote a piece based on the song of is pet starling, so that he and his bird could perform a duet together.

Perhaps one way to understand Mozart’s influence, we can compare him to another genius…he was the Albert Einstein of music.  Einstein believed that physics, its principles and its laws, simply existed, and it merely required a human to condense them into words–and he believed that Mozart’s music “was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master.”

Mozart_(unfinished)_by_Lange_1782The piece below is Mozart’s Requiem, a piece he left partially unfinished on his death (he left detailed notes for his apprentice, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who physically completed the score 100 days after Mozart’s death).  He wrote it while he was suffering from a debilitating, if unnamed condition (to date, some 118 conditions have been suggested, but the official description was “severe military rash”).  He was poor, cold, and dying, yet this piece is one of the most hopeful pieces he ever composed….But look at the score.  There are no cross-outs.  There are no edits.  Because Mozart heard the entire piece in his head before writing it down.

So rather than listening to me anymore, I’ll let Mozart speak for himself.  Here is the Boston Baroque’s performance of his Requiem, to make your day a little more hopeful.

Uncategorized

Happy Birthday, Ennio Morricone!

gbu02

A young boy leads a mule to a water pump in the middle of a sun-parched desert.  He gazes out over the utter wilderness, and sees a single man riding towards him, a dusty hat casting a long shadow over his face.  The man appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in a world where no visitor is ever greeted without suspicion.  As the boy looks, a Spanish guitar begins to play a simple tune, accompanied by the gentle sighing of some violins.  Without a word being said, the viewer knows that, while this place is a dangerous one, it is also redeemable.  As the violins ascend to a major chord, we also realize that this man is not the villain of the piece–but he is in danger.  The moaning of some pipes picks up a familiar warbling tune….

It’s incredibly how much the score of a film can tell us, without a single word being said, or a single look exchanged.  But it takes a pretty remarkable composer to make the world of a film so tangible, and so unforgettable.

Today, though, is a day to celebrate one of those rare and wonderful composers, as the magnificent Ennio Morricone, celebrates his 87th birthday.

Ennio-MorriconeMorricone’s career is, in many ways, a history of modern film-making itself.  He began, though, as a musical prodigy in trumpet, completing a four-year course of study in six months (at the age of 12).  After nearly a decade as a classical composer, he began scoring radio plays, and eventually television dramas and comedies.  Apparently, it all came easily to him–in a later interview with The New York Times, director Barry Levinson, who worked with Morricone on Bugsy and Disclosure, said “He doesn’t have a piano in his studio, I always thought that with composers, you sit at the piano, and you try to find the melody. There’s no such thing with Morricone. He hears a melody, and he writes it down. He hears the orchestration completely done.”

It was the advent of the ‘Spaghetti Western’, however, that raised Morricone to international fame.  These films were relatively cheap to make, but scored enormous box-office success, because they played on myths of the American West, and the glory of the indomitable everyman hero.  By far and away, the best known of these films is A Fistful of Dollars, staring Clint Eastwood, and directed by Serio Leone.

Because Leone and Morricone were school friends, Morricone was invited to score A Fistful of Dollars…and the rest was history.  He went on to score the rest of the Dollars trilogy, as well as numerous other films, including The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, producing arguably the most familiar musical theme in cinema:

The soundtrack itself is kind of bizarre when heard out of context…the blend of mouth organ, Fender guitars, and chanting were as jarring for audiences in 1966 as they are today.  But it works for the film, cluing the audience in to the tough, blackly comic nature of the protagonists, and offering a strident, relentless beat to set the film’s tone.

From Westerns, Morricone moved into other genres, from political dramas to horror flicks, before being asked to score John Huston’s epic film The Bible, which brought him to Hollywood.

01884895We’d be here all day if I tried to list all the films for which Morricone has provided the score, but I can guarantee you that you have heard his music (outside of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of course) in films as diverse as Lolita and The Legend of 1900 to Mission to Mars and Bulworth.  So, in honor of Ennio Morricone’s 87th birthday, why not come into the library and check out the music that has made films great.  With nearly 500 scores from which to chose, I can guarantee you that you’ll find something to your liking.  In order to save time, though, here are a few favorites for your consideration:

2273319The Mission: Morricone’s second Oscar nomination came for his score for this utterly profound, stunning beautiful film about the Spanish colonization of South America in the 18th century.  Check out a scene (featuring the most lovely oboe solo ever) here, which also features members of the Waunana tribe, who used the film as a way to protect and promote their indigenous language.    The blending of European hymns with their tribal chants can be heard here.  Though the subject matter may seem remote, this a wonderfully human film that features what is generally recognized as one of the most impactful scores in film history–AFI even listed it as one of the greatest scores of all time.  But my Grandfather said it should be first.  So we’re listing it first.

2712672The Untouchables: Brian De Palma’s depiction of the larger-than-life Al Capone (also played by DeNiro) and his persecution by Elliot Ness and his titular Untouchables has all the hallmarks of a classic gangster film–with the addition of a sensation score (check out the main theme for the film here).  This score, which includes period-specific pieces by Duke Ellington, earned Morricone another Oscar nomination in 1987.

3368502Cinema Paradiso: If we really want to talk about unforgettable film scores, let’s talk about Cinema Paradiso, a film in which a successful film director, Salvatore, recalls the relationships that shaped his life–with a film projectionist in his home town named Alfredo, and with the films that they watched together.  The final scene of this movie, when Salvatore realizes that Alfredo spent his whole life collecting the magical, human moments of films that the local priest demanded cut out, is backed up by the simplest, and loveliest of themes, composed by Morricone and his son Andrea…just watch it.  Seriously, I’m not crying.  You’re crying.

Finally, for those looking to revel in Morricone’s orchestrations by themselves, you simply can’t do better than this recording by Yo-Yo Ma, featuring some of Morricone’s most well known and beautiful pieces.