Gone with the Wind (Film) Soundtrack Suite

Movie Sountrack

The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1939). Composed and Conducted by Max Steiner, performed by the MGM Studio Orchestra.

Playlist: Main Title, The O'Hara Family, Scarlett Prepares For The Barbecue, War Is Declared / The Death Of Charles, Escape From Atlanta, I'll Never Be Hungry Again!, The Death Of Melanie, Scarlett In The Mist / Rhett Leaves, and Flashback / Finale.




Video Credit:

Gone with the Wind, Soundtrack Suite (Max Steiner). YouTube, uploaded by Soundtrack Fred. Accessed June 30, 2017. 


(c) July 2010. Updated June 30, 2017. Tel Asiado. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosophy / Philosophers Datebook: June 28

 

Brief biography of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a leading philosopher and writer of the 18^th century Age of Enlightenment and period of Romanticism, known for The Social Contract and Emile, or Treatise on Education.

 

 

 

Jean Jacques Rousseau, Swiss leading philosopher of the Enlightenment and a writer, pioneer of the Romantic Movement in continental philosophy.  He is famous for his books The Social Contract and Emile, (or Treatise on Education, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, and Confessions).  

Early years

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born on June 28, 1712, in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of a watchmaker. When his mother died at his birth, his father hardly showed any interest in him. Aged 16, he ran away from Geneva and wandered around Europe until his late 20s. He was taken in the private care of a Madame de Warens where he took to reading, study and eventually after few years got a job as secretary to the French Ambassador in Venice.

Rousseau became acquainted with the leading writers and celebrities of the time including Voltaire and Denis Diderot, who was chief editor of the Encyclopedia that time. Through Diderot, Rousseau received work writing for the encyclopedia that began to appear in 1751.

Despite his success as a writer, he only started his first book when he was nearly 40 years old. He fell out with almost everyone upon his publication of The Social Contract, including the Government of France, the Protestants and Catholics, and with Madame Françoise-Louise de Warens, who had become his mistress by this time. He even quarreled with his one-time friend, David Hume in England. 

 

 Rousseau Philosophy: The Social Contract and the General Will

The Social Contract starts with the famous opening line: “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.” In this work, he provides a blueprint for the ideal society, in contrast to his earlier books, Emile and The Origin of Inequality. Rousseau envisions a liberated society. He argues that when people live in social groups, their freedom to follow their own interests must be limited to the general will of the group to which they belong. He further claims that injustice is a result of institutions or the so-called “civilized” group of people (society) which suppress or corrupt the natural will and ability of men.    

Rousseau also introduces the “general will” which he defines as the will of all those directed to their own common interests and distinct from “the will of all” which is merely the consolidation of individual selfish wills.

The general will, however, appears to generate a force that is greater than the sum of its parts. What is often missing in the interpretation is the way he sees it: there can be no disharmony between the interests of the sovereign and that of the people, since by definition, the sovereign is constituted from the people.  This is most unlikely.

Insight to Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau is one of the outstanding figures of French literature and philosophy. A contemporary of Voltaire, he lived during the Age of Enlightenment, with its social upheavals and romanticism. In his philosophy and writings, he discusses political philosophy and believes the environment has a great part in shaping people and society. The Social Contract of Jean-Jacques Rousseau inspired the French Revolution with its famous catchphrase "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité." 

He died at the age of 66, July 2, 1778. 

 

Photo Credit:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain. (Painted portrait). Unknown source.  

 

Resources:

Clark, John, Ed. Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. London: Chancellor Press, 1994

McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers, Harrap Publishers, 2002

Stokes, Philip. Philosophy: The Great Thinkers. London: Arcturus Publishing, 2007

 

(c) June 2020. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Elgar's Enigma Variations

Classical Music / Orchestral

Sir Edward Elgar's orchestral Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, popularly known as the Enigma Variations is composed between October 1898 and February 1899. The work comprises fourteen variations on an original theme. 'Nimrod' is the name given to the ninth and best-known variation in Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations. The composer dedicated the work "to my friends pictured within", each variation being a musical sketch of one of 14 members of Elgar's family and his circle of close acquaintances. The ones portrayed include Elgar's wife Alice, his friend and publisher Augustus J. Jaeger.

In naming his theme "Enigma" Edward Elgar posed a challenge which has generated much speculation but has never been conclusively answered. The Enigma is widely believed to involve a hidden melody.  After its 1899 London premiere the Variations achieved immediate popularity and established his international reputation. The work has been recorded over numerous times.



One among my personal favourites of Elgar's Enigma Variations is this performance. It forms a historic account of the first concert Sir Georg Solti conducted as Chief conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) in 1975. It is also the first DVD release with Solti performing Elgar's Symphony No.2. Solti, who prepared new works by listening to Elgar's own recordings, identified closely with his music. The virtuoso playing of the orchestra combined with his fresh, energetic approach make for an exciting, uplifting experience.  

 

Suggested Reading: 

 

Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ voted greatest piece of British classical music in Classic FM’s Great British Classics. ClassicFM.com. Article written by Maddy Shaw Roberts. Accessed May 13, 2023.

 

The Story Behind Elgar's Enigma Variations. Classic FM.  Accessed June 19, 2017.

 

Suggested Listening:

 

Vocal: This vocal arrangement of Elgar’s Nimrod is an utterly sublime moment of music. Listen to the British ensemble VOCES8, perform ‘Lux Aeterna’, arranged by John Cameron for Elgar's Nimrod. www.classicfm.com. Article written by Maddy Shaw Roberts.  Here's another vocal arrangement of Elgar's Nimrod performed by the Australian Chamber Choir. Arranged by Elizabeth Anderson, directed by Douglas Lawrence. (June 2018).  YouTube, accessed June 19, 2023.

 
Orchestral: Elgar's "Nimrod" from Enigma. Uploaded by medpiano.  Accessed July 28, 2017. Daniel Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, opening the 1997 season at Carnegie Hall in this gorgeously performed dedication to the recently deceased Sir Georg Solti, the previous music director of the CSO for many years.

 

Dedicated to the memory of beloved Queen Elizabeth II, revered sovereign and epitome of duty, who reigned with such grace (“Nimrod” by Sir Edward Elgar).  (YouTube, uploaded by The English Symphony Orchestra. Accessed September 9, 2022.)

 

Trivia:

When Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's death was announced, the Proms – then in its final week – was cancelled immediately, despite much of the audience for the evening concert already in attendance. In lieu of the planned programme, the Philadelphia Orchestra played the national anthem and Elgar's Nimrod. Oct 3,  2022.

 

 

Video Credit: 

 

Sir Georg Solti - Elgar: Enigma Variation IX 'Nimrod'.  YouTube, uploaded by ICAClassics. Accessed June 19, 2016.   


Resource: 

Enigma Variations. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed June 19, 2016.


(c) June 2010.  Updated June 19, 2023.  Tel.  Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Giovanni Boccaccio

Literature / Writers Datebook: June 16

 

Brief biography 14^th Century Italian Renaissance writer Giovanni Boccaccio. Famous for The Decameron.

Giovanni Boccaccio was an important Renaissance writer. He is remembered in particular for his greatest work The Decameron. His prose and poetry inspired many English writers, including Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare.

The Decameron is one of the most popular books ever written and led to a revolution in Italian literature. It's been said that the book's framework for the stories most likely influenced Geoffrey Chaucer's schemes for The Canterbury Tales. 

 

Early Life of Giovanni Boccaccio

Boccaccio (1313-1375), was the son of a wealthy merchant in Florence, Italy. He studied law at Naples, but his real interest was in writing. As a young man he entered the court of King Robert of Anjou in western France. There he fell in love with a beautiful noblewoman. From then on this lady inspired his writings. She constantly appeared as the character Fiammetta.

At the age of 27, his father's business failed. Bocccaccio was recalled to Florence. At the time a bubonic plague, known as the "Black Death," spread over Europe and approached Italy. This inspired him to write the prose work for which he has been famous for, The Decameron,  which means "ten days's work."

 

Boccaccio's Masterpiece The Decameron

The Decameron is regarded as one of the earliest works of fiction. Its setting is a villa outside Florence, where a group of young people have gathered to escape the plague-stricken place for the countryside. The book consists of 100 stories told by members of the group, ten young people, over a period of ten days. The principal character is Fiammetta. These stories deal mainly with every aspect of love, from the most pure of sexuality to the most down-to-earth of bodily functions. 

 

Boccaccio the Poet

Boccaccio also wrote fine poetry. Encouraged by his friend Petrarch, Boccaccio developed his scholarly interest in the work of ancient Greek and Roman writers, and in particular, of the great Italian poet, Dante Alighieri.

 

Boccaccio the Scholar

Giovanni Boccaccio, besides being an accomplished author, was a scholar who led the Renaissance revival of classical learning. He wrote Latin treatises including On Famous Women and On the Genealogies of the Gentile Gods. He died at the age of c.62.

 

Books by Giovanni Boccaccio

Filostrato, c.1338

Fiammetta, 1343

The Nymph of Fiesole, 1345

The Decameron, 1348-1353

The Genealogy of the Gentile Gods, c.1350-1360

Concerning Mountains, c.1355-1374

Concerning Famous Women, c.1360-1374

Life of Dante, 1362

 

Image Credit:

Giovanni Boccaccio. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain

 

Resources:

Clark, John, Ed. Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. London: Chancellor Press, 1978

Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994

Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997

 

(c) June 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Saul Bellow

Literature / Writers Datebook: June 10

 

Brief biography of American novelist and teacher Saul Bellow, Nobel Prize for literature in 1976. Considered one of America's finest writers. Famous for The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog and Humboldt's Gift. Considered

 

Early Life

Saul Bellow was born in Lachine, Quebec, Canada on June 10, 1915, the son of immigrant Russian Jews from St. Petersburg. Bellow's father was a businessman, who was not always successful. The young Bellow spent his childhood in Montreal, and in 1924, when he was nine, his father moved the family to the United States, in Chicago.  Bellow, who spoke English, French, Hebrew and Yiddish, grew up, went to school and attended university in Chicago, and later, in Evanston, Illinois.

 

The Writer, Teacher, and Merchant Marine

After graduating at the age of 21, he decided to become a writer, and abandoned his post-graduate studies at Wisconsin University. By this time Bellow had married and needed to earn money. He began working as a teacher and helped compile the literature section of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, as well as writing novels.

During World War II, Bellow joined the merchant marine. He used this experience as the basis for his first novel, Dangling Man, published when Bellow was 29. It is about the thoughts and feelings of a man waiting to be drafted into the army. After the war Bellow returned to his life of teaching and writing. He become an American citizen in 1941.

 

Writing Theme and Criticism

Bellow often writes about people who feel that they do not belong in the world they live in, who feel that they are outsiders and do not fit in to the present environment full of absurdity and chaos as opposed to the intellectually and emotionally nourishing past. For this he was criticized by his detractors as conventional still clinging to the European novels of the 19^th century. Many of his stories are both sad and funny at the same time. Typical of this is his novel Humboldt's Gift, a comic book about death that won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1976.

 

Awards and Distinctions

He has won many awards for his work, including the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976 and the National Medal of Arts in 1998. He became an associate professor at Minnesota University, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship 1948, after which he traveled to Europe, in Paris and Rome.

He died at the age of 89, in Massachusetts, USA, on April 5, 2005.

 

Works by Saul Bellow

Dangling Man, 1944

The Victim, 1947

Adventures of Augie March, 1953

Seize the Day, 1956

Henderson the Rain King, 1959

Herzog, 1964

Mr Sammler's Planet, 1970

Humboldt's Gift, 1975

The Dean's December, 1982

More Die of Heartbreak, 1987

The Actual, 1997

 

Photo Credit:

Saul Bellow.   Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain. Photo portrait of Bellow from the dust jacket of Herzog (1964).

 

Resources:

Chambers Biographical Dictionary, New Edition, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002

Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse plc, 1994

 

(c) June 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Tim Berners-Lee

Science / Scientists Datebook: June 8

 

Brief biography of Tim Berners-Lee, English Computer Scientist and Engineer, inventor of the World Wide Web.   

 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web (WWW) or the Internet, a computer tool that transformed modern life over the past two decades since his invention submission.   

 

 

Early Life of Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Timothy Berners-Lee  was born on June 8, 1955 in London. His parents, Conway Berners-Lee and Mary Lee Woods are both pioneering computer scientists. He studied at Queen’s College in Oxford, with a first-class degree in Physics.  

After graduating he worked in software design, including a 6-month contract in 1980s at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Switzerland. While at work, he wanted to facilitate the flow of information from one colleague’s computer to another, writing a computer program, Enquire, which later developed into the World Wide Web. 

Berners-Lee devised the coding system HTML which stands for “hypertext mark-up language” with its system of “jump” links, and HTTP to link computer to computer, and the web page or URL universal resource locator) system. Simply, it is a successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet. 

 

The World Wide Web Invention Impact

Interlinking or networking of computers has gone a long way. In the 1970s, a grid of interlinked computers were organised to form an Internet, Engineer Tim Berners-Lee, 19 years later, created the World Wide Web, making it extremely easy to use the Internet, that is, anyone with a personal computer and a telephone line could join in. 

In 1991, Berners-Lee launched a browser leading to the creation of the World Wide Web, now simply called the Internet, initially largely confined to educational and specialist institutional users.

The Web’s impact was immediate, with users into millions. Since its launch, the Web or the Internet has become an indispensable part of modern life in the developed world, and even in the developing world, with its immediate access to a huge quantity of information, to business, and most especially, email. 

 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Honours and Awards

Tim Berners-Lee’s invention submission led to one of the most remarkable communication revolutions that altered people’s interactions. His modest dream for a common space that encourages people to share information, became a remarkable communication revolution. 

He has received numerous awards and honours, including the Sir Frank Wittle Medal, the Albert Medal. In 2004, he received his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. However, unlike others involved in colossal technology developments reaping vast profits, Sir Timothy Berners-Lee chooses to continue living a more modest life.  

His acquaintances and influences include Doug Engelbart, Ted Nelson, Robert Khan and Vinton Cerf.

 

Photo Credit:

Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Wikipedia Commons. Photo owned by Paul Clarke: Sir Tim arriving at the Guildhall to receive the Honorary Freedom of the City of London.

 

Resources:

Clark, John, Ed. Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. London: Chancellor Press, 1978

Ellyard David. Great Inventions. Sydney: New Holland, 2007

McGovern, Una, Editor. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers, 2002

Moore, Pete. E=MC²: The Great Ideas That Shaped Our World. London: Quintet Publishing, 2002

 

(c) June 2010. Updated June 8, 2024. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Handel's Zadok the Priest

Coronation Anthem / British Anthem

Zadok the Priest has been sung prior to the anointing of the sovereign at the coronation of every British monarch since its composition and has become recognised as a British patriotic anthem.

Zadok the Priest: The Coronation Anthem (HWV 258), is one of George Frideric Handel's best-known works, and the most popular of Handel's four coronation anthems of George II in 1727. The other three coronation anthems include: The King Shall Rejoice, My Heart is Inditing, and Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened.  All the anthems, including “Zadok the Priest,” premiered on October 11, 1727, when George II was crowned in London’s Westminster Abbey.

Video: Zadok the Priest sung at the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. 

The Text

As part of the traditional content of British coronations, the texts for all of Handel's four anthems were picked by the composer himself - a personal selection from the most accessible account of an earlier coronation, that of James II in 1685. The text is a translation of the traditional antiphon, Unxerunt Salomonem, itself derived from the biblical account of the anointing of King Solomon by the priest Zadok (1 Kings 1:38-40). These words have been used in every English, and later British, coronation since that of King Edgar at Bath Abbey in 973. An earlier setting is thought to have been written by Thomas Tomkins for the coronation of King Charles I in 1626, the text of which has survived but not the music. 

Each of Handel’s coronation anthems is a setting of a biblical text appropriate to the stages of the ceremony. The text of “Zadok the Priest,” is drawn from the first chapter of 1 Kings in the Chrsitian Old Testament Holy Bible, or in the Hebrew Bible, that served for the anointing of the new king. The music masterfully captures the ceremony’s progression of moods: from an opening instrumental that builds a strong sense of anticipation, through the opening commanding choral declaration “Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet,” and culminates in shouts of rejoicing, the chorus ending with a moving largo "amen" cadence on "Alleluia".

Video: Zadok the Priest - G.F Handel | King Charles III Coronation 2023. YouTube, uploaded by Gentle Steps Media. Accessed May 18, 2023.

G.F. Handel, the Composer

Though George F. Handel was born in Germany, he spent most of his career in England, becoming a British subject in 1727. He had first arrived in England in 1710 with the expressed wish of learning London’s musical developments for the benefit of his employer, the elector of Hanover. When England’s Queen Anne died without immediate heirs, the throne passed to her German cousin, the elector himself, who was crowned George I and was pleased to again claim the attention of the long-absent Handel. George I’s son, George II, also preferred the work of his father’s longtime favourite, and he requested that Handel write music for his coronation.

Lyrics

The lyrics of the piece are biblical, being a distillation of 1 Kings 1:34-45:

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon king.
And all the people rejoiced, and said:
God save the King! Long live the King! God save the King!
May the King live for ever. Amen. Hallelujah.

 

Resources:

Zadok the Priest.  Wikipedia.  Accessed June 2, 2010.

Zadok the Priest: work by Handel. Britannica (online) Accessed May 8, 2023 

(c) June 2, 2010. Updated May 18, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.