Song / Down Memory Lane
"The Sound of Silence", originally "The Sounds of Silence," is a song by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel (Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel). The song was written by singer-songwriter Paul Simon over a period of several months in 1963 and 1964. The duo signed a record deat with Columbia Records after a studio audition. The song was recorded in March 1964 at Columbia Studios, New York City, for inclusion on their debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M..
Video Credit:
Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence (from The Concert in Central Park). Simon & Gaafunkel. Youtube. Accessed November 5, 2022.
Lyrics:
The Sound of Silence from Google search.
Resource:
The Sound of Silence. en.wikipedia.org.
(c) 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Literature / Poet-Writer's Datebook
Brief biography and key works of English poet John Milton, English poet and essayist famous for the poem "Paradise Lot".
John Milton was one of the greatest English poets with huge influence on English poetry. He is best known for Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and Lycidas.
John Milton's Life in a Nutshell
John Milton was born on December 9, 1698 in London. His father was a successful lawyer ad composer who was wealthy enough to afford a second house in the country. Milton spent six years in private study after finishing university in Cambridge, 1632. He was a Puritan, who gave up his original ambition to become a priest, instead, decided to devote his life to God as a poet. He traveled in Europe and served as Latin secretary to the Commonwealth government. In 1652 he became blind.
Milton was educated in Cambridge University and began to write poetry while he was at college. At the age of 29, he completed one of his first major works, Lycidas, regarded as perhaps the finest short poem in English. Five years later, in 1642, the English Civil War broke, as Oliver Cromwell fought to overthrow the king. Milton stopped composing poetry and wrote political essays supprting Cromwell. In the same period Milton was slowly losing his sight.
Paradise Lost and Blind Milton
The monarchy was restored in 1660. Milton retired to devote himself to poetry once again. His ambition had always been to compose an epic poem in comparison to the works of ancient writers such as Homer and Virgil. By then completely blind, he began dictating his great poem, Paradise Lost, to his wife and daughters. The work, published when he was 55, was immediately recognized as an outstanding achiement. IT tells the soty of how Satan was thrown out of Heaven and how he came to Earth to corrupt Adam and Eve. The themes of war and areligious conflict it explores constantly remind the reader of the troubled tiems Milton lived throguht.
He died at the age of 65, November 8, 1674.
"And all amid them stood the tree of life, High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit Of vegetable gold; and next to life Our death the tree of knowledge grew fast by, Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill." ~ John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV
Works by John Milton
"On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", 1629
"L'Allegro", c. 1631
"Il Penseroso", c. 1631
Comus, 1634
Lycidas, 1637
Areopagitica, 1644
Poems, 1645
Paradise Lost, 1667
Paradise Regained, 1671
Samson Agonistes, 1671
Photo Credit:
John Milton. en.wikipedia.org / public domain.
Resources:
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994
McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers / Harrap Publishers, 2002
Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997
(c) December 9, 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: December 7
Pietro Mascagni is known for the lyrical “Easter Hymn” and the passionate but tragic interlude of "Intermezzo” from his opera Cavallaria Rusticana (Rustic chivalry.) The “Intermezzo” was used in the film “Raging Bull”.
Mascagni's Early Training
A baker’s son, Mascagni was born on December 7, 1863, in Livorno, Italy. His father wanted him to take up law so he studied music secretly. When his father found out, an uncle rescued and took him in his care. His musical ability was great that at 18 years old, the teenage Mascagni already wrote a symphony, a cantata and a mass.
Mascagni's Formal Music Education
He formally studied at the Milan Conservatory where he shared lodging with Giacomo Puccini, both of them taught by composer Amilcare Ponchielli, famous for the opera La Gioconda.
Mascagni's Early Career
In 1884, he travelled by working as a conductor with a touring opera company, married, managed a small town school and give piano lessons.
Mascagni's and his Signature Opera Cavalleria Rusticana
In Rome on February 21, 1890, Mascagni was summoned to present his opera Cavalleria Rusticana. It had outstanding success winning the Sonzogno contest. Mascagni won first prize in a competition for one-act operas. The première of Cavalleria rusticana was held May 17 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
With this opera, he rose to immediate international acclaim. This one-act opera is based on a short story and a play. It is a tale of adultery, revenge and death, revolving around an Italian peasant. With Cavalleria Rusticana, the vogue for verismo (realism) was effectively established at that time.
Below video: Pietro Mascagni's 'Cavalleria rusticana - Intermezzo'. Lim Kek-tjiang conducts Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. Accessed December 12, 2010.
Mascagni's Later Works
Although some numbers from L’amico Fritz and the oriental Iris have survived in the repertory, none of his succeeding operas was anything as successful as Cavalleria Rusticana. He once said: "It is a pity I wrote Cavalleria Rusticana first; I was crowned before I was king!" (Dictionary of Composers and Their Music by Eric Gilder, Sphere Reference, 1987.) Mascagni's later works include the comedy Le maschere, the unexpectedly powerful Il piccolo Marat and Nerone, this last testifying to his identification with fascism.
Mascagni's musical legacy
Mascagni belonged to Puccini’s generation of Italian opera composers. During the last years of the 19th-century, they contributed to the movement called verismo (meaning realism), featuring stories of ordinary people rather than the traditional grand and noble themes. In a manner of a true Italian son, simple yet intense drama appealed to him. He died in Rome, 2nd of August, 1945.
Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana ensures him a place in the history of opera.
Operas by Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria rusticana ('Rustic Chivalry') 1888
L'amico Fritz ('Friend Friz') 1891
Iris 1898
La maschere 1901
Il Piccolo Marat 1921
Nerone ('Nero') 1934
Image Credit:
Pietro Mascagni. Karadar / Public Domain
Resources:
Dictionary of Composers and Their Music by Eric Gilder, Sphere Reference (1987)
The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Publishers (1994)
(c) December 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
