Freer, Etude #1 for Timpani – Scherzo We turn to something a little different today. Last week we looked at the clavichord, an instrument probably unfamiliar to most readers. Today we look at an instrument that is probably very familiar. The timpani is a staple … Read more
Yesterday we awoke in the coastal town of Opatija, Croatia, covered by pillows of fog. We were unable to see the Adriatic Sea, even though the waves began a hundred feet from our balcony. Stumbling through the fog to the bus, we drove forty miles … Read more
C.P.E. Bach, Rondo in E-flat, Wq 61/1 (H. 288) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), the fifth child of J.S. Bach, was named after the composer George Philipp Telemann, the elder Bach’s friend and godfather to C.P.E. C.P.E. would become much more widely celebrated in his … Read more
One of our grandchildren is undergoing early-intervention sessions in speech therapy. Problematic are his initial “r’s” and “s’s” as well as final consonants like “d” and “t.” Based on what I understand, this is a common situation, especially with boys, and a therapist can help … Read more
Tchaikovsky, The Seasons (“May – Starlit Nights”) The changing seasons have inspired numerous compositions. Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons comes to mind immediately, and also Fanny Mendelssohn’s Das Jahr. Last week we featured Johann Strauss’s Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring). Spring seems a particularly popular theme: Copland’s Appalachian … Read more
Yesterday, driving back from Pennsylvania to North Carolina after three days of filming a course on music for Classical Academic Press, Hank and I found ourselves inordinately captivated by the landscape. As we sailed through the stately hills and valleys of the Appalachian region I … Read more
J. Strauss, Frühlingsstimmen After the Lenten season of sacred works and last week’s war remembrance, we might want to turn our ears to major keys, snappy rhythms, and the voices of Spring (Frühlingsstimmen). I have a tendency to think of Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899) as … Read more
May Day is laced with contradictory meanings. Its present association with world-wide political upheaval dates back to the 19th century when the date May 1 gained a new nomenclature as an International Workers’ Day. Recognition of the pitiful plight of workers had long been desperately … Read more
Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending In World War I, soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps were known as “Anzacs.” They first saw action in the Gallipoli landing on April 25, 1915, and their actions have been commemorated each year on what is … Read more
My dreams never let go of the woods that surrounded me long ago, back when I lived for four years during grad school outside of the University of North Carolina in a little trailer down a dirt road. One of my most cherished memories from … Read more