Eric Satie

Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: May 17

Brief biography of Eric Satie, French composer, occult founder, and mentor of 'Les Six' group of French composers.  

 

French composer Eric Satie is mostly famous for his piano pieces such as Trois Gymnopedies (Three ‘Naked Feet’, 1888) for piano. He was mentor to the prominent group of young French composers called "Les Six." 

Living a highly unconventional life, eccentric and a recluse, his way of life is echoed in his sad and comic works. Yet his music is never dull. His aesthetic of ironic simplicity, as in the Messe des pauvres (Poor People’s Mass), acted as a nationalist antidote to the perceived excesses of German Romanticism. 

 

Early Life

Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (17 May 1866 – 1 July 1925) was born in Honfleur, Normandy,  a French composer of Scottish descent, with a French father and Scottish mother.

Aged 13, he moved to Paris and studied at the Conservatory and came into contact with intellectual circles through his friendship with the impressionist composer Claude Debussy. Previous to this he lived precariously by playing piano at cafes and cabarets. 'The Allegro' is a brief piano piece by Erik Satie. dated September 9, 1884, when Satie was 18. It is his earliest known composition. Starting with this first composition, he signed his name as Erik Satie.

 

The Religious Cult Founder

After composing Gymnopedies, he joined a religious-occult sect, later founding an order of his own, himself as high priest. His wry sense of humour were often revealed in bizarre titles of his works including Trois morceaux en forme de poire (Three Pieces in a shape of a Pear, 1903), The Dreamy Fish, and Trois embryons desseches (Three dried-up embryos). 

 

The Composer in Prominent French Circles

In 1915 he started composing music for ballet Parade, commissioned from Diaghilev, in collaboration with Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. At the same time he mentored the “Les Six” group of six young French composers, who, under his influence and Cocteau had achieved notoriety through their advanced ideas) and promoted the concept of musique d’ameublement (furniture music), anticipating the impact of radio. His Parade also radically included background sounds of typewriter and sirens, and invented a new style of film music, for Rene Clair’s Entr’acte (Interval, 1924). 

 

Later Compositions

His later works, between 1918 until 1924, included Socrate for voices and instruments, two operettas, and two ballets, Mercure and Relache. He died from cirrhosis of the liver, after years of heavy drinking. Despite his radical ideas in musical content and style, Satie’s creative innovations had a great influence in musical history.         

 

List of  Major Works by Satie

 

Trois gymnopedies for piano, 1888

Trois gnossiennes for piano, 1890

Danses gothiques for piano, 1893

Messe des pouvres, a Latin Mass with psalms for voices and organ/piano, 1895

Jack-in-the-box, ballet, 1899

Trois morceaux en forme de poire, 1903

The Dreamy Fish, 1905

Trois embryons desseches (Three Dried-up Embryos), 1913

Parade, ballet, 1917

Socrate for voices and instruments, 1918

Trois petites pieces montees, 1920

Musique d'amueblement (Furniture Music), 1920

Mercure, ballet, 1924

Relache, ballet, 1924

 

Video Credit:

Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.3. YouTube, uploaded by DistantMirrors. Accessed May 17, 2016.

 

Image Credit:          

Eric Satie.  commons wikipedia / Public Domain. 

 

 

Resources:

The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)

The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham (2002) 

Dictionary of the Arts, Gramercy Books (1999)

 

(c) May 2009. Updated May 17, 2016. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Mozart Opera Apollo et Hyacinthus

Classical Music / Operas 

 

Apollo et Hyacinthus, K. 38, is an opera written in 1767 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1767. He was 11 years old at the time. The opera is considered Mozart's first true opera, in three acts (when one considers that Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots is simply a sacred drama).  As is suggested by the name, the opera is based upon Greek mythology as told by Roman poet Ovid in his masterwork Metamorphoses. Interpreting this work, Rufinus Widl wrote the libretto in Latin. 

 

 

Opera Written: 1767

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

First performance: May 13, 1767. University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

Language: Latin

Adapted from: Ovid's Metamorphoses

In Greek mythology, Hyacinthus was a Spartan prince of remarkable beauty and a lover of the sun god Apollo. He was also admired by Zephyrus, the god of the West wind, Boreas, the god of the North wind and a mortal man named Thamyris. Hyacinthus chose Apollo over the others.The myth of Apollo and Hyacinth is a celebration of male love. The Metamorphoses' main theme addresses change and transformation in the classical world. Together Apollo and Hyacinth engaged in all kinds of sports and other pastimes, from hunting to music-making.

Brief History of Apollo et Hyacinthus

After a considerable success in other areas of Europe, Mozart was commissioned to compose a piece for the Benedictine University in his hometown of Salzburg. Mozart's father, Leopold, was a notable name at the university, as many of his pupils were enrolled in the university high school, where theater played a large role in the curriculum. Mozart's first encounter with the university was at the age of five on September 1 and 3, 1761, when he appeared as an extra in Jakob Anton Wimmer and Johann Ernst Eberlin's Latin Drama Sigismundes Hungariae Rex. Though Mozart was often involved at the University, he was never enrolled as a student.

Apollo et Hyacinthus (Apollo and Hyacinth) was part of a much larger work, which has caused debate as to whether this work can be considered Mozart's first 'operatic work.' Many historians consider it to be operatic because it is a secular drama composed of five arias, two duets, a chorus and a trio, connected with recitative. However, it was part of the annual end-of-term 'final comoedia' and did not even receive a distinguishing name until Mozart's sister Nannerl entered it into Leopold's 'catalogue' of his son's early works with the name Apollo und Hyacinth after the composer's death.

It was customary at the university to perform short musical dramas or 'intermedia' interspersed between acts of the larger play. This particular performance was of the five-act tragedy Clementia Croesi, written by the university's philosophy professor Rufinius Widl. The main work and Mozart's intermedia were designed by Widl to share general motifs and themes. Widl's tragedy dealt with the accidental death of the son of the King of Lydia by a misplaced spear throw. Mozart's work paralleled this theme by mounting a story first told by Euripides. 

In the original story, Apollo accidentally kills his lover, a boy named Hyacinth, with one of his stray discus throws. The discus throw was encouraged by Apollo's rival, Zephyr, jealous of his affair with Hyacinth. A grief-stricken Apollo then causes a gorgeous flower to bloom from Hyacinth's grave. Father Rufinius retained the outlined of this plot but removed the obviously controversial themes of a homosexual love triangle by adding in two new characters: Hyacinth's father Oebalus and his sister Melia, the new source of Apollo's love and the jealousy of Zephyr. The performance was a great success but was only performed once during the Mozart's lifetime. 

 

Photo Credit: 

Death of Hyacinth. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain.  Death of Hyacinth, by Alexander Kiselyov

 

Resources:

Angermüller, Rudolph (1988). Mozart's Operas. New York: Rizzoli. pp. 15–17.

Apollo et Hyacinthus. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed May 13, 2009.

Eisen, Cliff; Keefe, Simon P. (2006). The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Osborne, Charles (1978). The Complete Operas of Mozart: A Critical Guide. New York: Atheneum.

(c) May 2009. Tel Asiado. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Robert Browning

Literature / Writers Datebook: May 7

 

Brief biography of Victorian poet Robert Browning, English poet and playwright, known for dramatic monologues. 

 

Robert Browning was a major poet of the Victorian period known for mastery of dramatic monologues. He is best known for "The Ring and the Book." The also wrote plays aside from poems.  He was married to Elizabeth Barrett, a famous poet in her own right. Their elopement and secret wedding in Italy, 1846, is by itself a famous love story.

Early Life

Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, London on May 7, 1812. His father, Robert, the Elder, was a clerk at the Bank of England. His mother's parents were German. At the family home he read many books in his father's huge library. Reading poems by writers such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats inspired him to become a poet himself. Fortunately his family was well of, with no need to earn money to fend for himself as a writer.  

The Poet and His Poetry

Browning's dramatic monologue, people from the past reveal their thoughts and lives as if thinking aloud. His poem usually tells of a key moment in the life of a person, in which the words not only convey setting and action but also reveal the speaker’s character.  

Browning's first poem, 'Pauline: a Fragment of a Confession' appeared when he was 21. Later, he wrote plays and long story-poems such as 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin.' But his best works are the long speech-like poems in Dramatic Lyrics, Men and Women, Dramatis Personae, and The Ring and the Book – the work that at last made him famous.

The Man and His Poems

Browning disliked anyone who let life slip away instead of striving to achieve something. He often wrote about obscure people and places, and sometimes, either crammed into few words that sometimes readers find it difficult to understand what he is trying to impart. Some critics say that it was because of this that he was over the age of 50 when he became more known than his famous poet-wife Elizabeth Barrett-Browning.

Browning Societies

Browning Societies were founded in his time, and sometimes he made appearances at the meetings. Today, Browning Societies still exist in some major cities to widen appreciation and understanding of the poetry of the Brownings.   

Last Years

After his wife died, he returned to live in England and published books at a fast pace. In 1878, he returned to Italy for the first time, seventeen years since Elizabeth's death, and returned there on several occasions. He also returned to shorter poems. He died in his only son's home in Venice, December 12, 1889, aged 77, and was buried in  Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. 

 

Works by Robert Browning

Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession, 1833
Paracelsus, 1835

Strafford, play, 1837

Sordello, 1840

Bells and Pomegranates, poetry, drama in verse, 1841-1846
Pippa Passes, play, 1841

Dramatic Lyrics, including 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin', 1842

Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, 1845

Luria, play, 1846

Christmas Eve and Easter Day, 1850
Men and women, 1855

Dramatis Personae, 1864

The Ring and the Book, 1868-1869

Dramatic Idyls, 1879-1880

Asolando, 1889

 

Resources:

Robert Browning. en.wikipedia.org, 

Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers (2002)

Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse (1994)  

 

(c)  May 7, 2009.  Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

May Sarton

Literature / Writers Datebook: May 3

 

Brief biography: Life and Works of writer May Sarton, one of 20^th century's best journal-keepers. Memoirist, novelist and poet, famous for Journal of a Solitude and Plant Dreaming Deep. 

Belgian-American author May Sarton is one of the best-known memoirists of the 20^th century. She is famous for Journal of Solitude and I Knew a Phoenix, among others. Her other best-known work is Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing.

Sarton was a prolific writer, a novelist, poet and memoirist, whose numerous books and collection of poetry were critically acclaimed and widely read. Her work explores the complicated emotions of life, most especially friendship and solitude. Although her best work is strongly personalised with erotic female imagery, she resisted the label of ‘lesbian writer’, preferring to convey the universality of human love. Her family being well-connected, Sarton was a regular visitor to Europe, where she met Virginia Woolf and the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen..

 

Early Years

Eleanore Marie Sarton (pen name: May Sarton) was born on May 3, 1912, in Wondelgem, Belgium, daughter of George Sarton, a historian of science and a painter, and mother, Eleanor Mabel Elwes. Her family fled to the United States during World War I when May was only four years old. She was an only child. 

Gifted Poet

Gifted with poetry, Sarton published several poems by the time she was 17. Most interested in the theatre, she studied drama, and later, founded the Apprentice Theatre. When it closed in 1936, she focused on writing. By this time, she was in her mid-20s. Sarton's first collection of poems, Encounter in April, was published when she was 25, and followed by few more collections.

Educator

Over the course of her career, Sarton taught at several colleges and universities, including Harvard University, Bread Loaf, and Wellesley College.

Memoirist and Novelist

Her memoirs and journals, including Plant Dreaming Deep and Journal of Solitude, combine details of everyday domestic life with reflections that convey Sarton's wisdom and talent in writing. She focused on the lives of women, in particular, her friends, fictional characters, and herself – exploring women's friendships, lesbianism and women's creativity. In later years, she also explored illness and aging, both in her memoirs and novels.

Final Years

Sarton died on July 16,1995. She spent her later years in York, Maine, living and writing by the sea. She valued her time alone, but also treasured her friendships and enjoyed receiving visitors. She survived surgery to remove her breast cancer (although eventually died of it), and a stroke. She wrote poignantly about her recovery.  

    

Selected Works by May Sarton

Encounter in April, poetry, 1937

Inner Landscape, poetry, 1939

The Land of Silence, poetry, 1953

In Time Like Air, poetry, 1957

I Knew a Phoenix, 1959

Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing, novel, 1965

Plant Dreaming Deep, journal, 1968

Journal of a Solitude, 1973

Halfway to Silence, poetry, 1980

The Single Hound, novels, 1938

The Bridge of Years, novels, 1946

Shadow of a Man, novel, 1950

The House by the Sea: a Journal, 1977

Recovering: A Journal, 1980

The Magnificent Spinster, novel, 1985

After the Stroke, journal, 1988

Coming into Eighty, poetry, 1993

 

Image Credit:

May Sarton. Public Domain

 

Resources:

Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English by Lorna Sage, CUP (1986)

Illustrated Biographical Dictionary, edited by John Clark, Chancellor Press (1994) 

Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)

May Sarton. en.wikipedia.org

 

 

(c) May 3, 2009.  Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.