And This is My Beloved (Song)

Song / Down Memory Lane 

The song "And This is My Beloved" was in the 1953 musical Kismet. It is credited to Robert Wright, composer-lyricist, and George Forrest, writer of music and lyrics for musical theatre. Like all the music in that show, the melody was based on music composed by Russian composer Alexander Borodin, String Quartet in D. (Here, performed by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center)

Vic Damone and Ann Blyth beautifully sang "And This is my Beloved" in the 1955 Hollywood classic film two years after it was first staged as a musical of the same title, Kismet (Fate). The movie clip / music belongs to MGM.  Kismet (1955) is an American musical film released by Metro-Golwyn-Mayer.  It is the fourth movie version of Kismet—the first was released in 1920 and the second in 1930 by Warner Brothers - and the second released by MGM. This 1955 film is based on the successful 1953 musical Kismet, while the three earlier versions are based on the original 1911 play by Edward Knoblock.  This film stars Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, Vic Damone, and Dolores Gray, and directed by Vincente Minelli.  (Sorry, the video of Ann Blyth and Vic Damone became unavailable, 9 Dec 2020. Instead, here's another one: Mario Lanza sings "And This Is My Beloved", with Jess Alexander Choir - here.) 

Before and after 1953, the same melody had been used  for a song and recorded by other producers. In 1946, "And This is My Beloved" was used for a song credited to William Egvick, Bert Reisfelt and Alec Wilder entitled "Spring Magic."  This was recorded by Charlie Spvak and his Orchestra.  In 1956, a version by the great tenor Mario Lanza became popular.  In 1962, Sergio Franchi sang it when he discovered Norman Luboff singing on Sunday Night at the London Palladium.  A favorite guest of  Ed Sullivan, Franchi sang it on the February 4, 1968, which was broadcast by CBS, and recorded on his 1964 RCA Victor album as The Exciting Voice of Sergio Franchi.   


Resources:

And This is My Beloved (Song). en.wikipedia.org. Accessed Sept 26, 2014.

Kismet (1955 film). en.wikipedia.org.



(c) September 2014. Tel. Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.  

Ralph Vaughan-Williams A Sea Symphony

Classical Music / Symphony

Ralph Vaughan-Williams "A Sea Symphony" with text chosen from poems of Walt Whitman. 

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), composed "A Sea Symphony" for orchestra and chorus, which he wrote between the years 1903 and 1909. The work is also referred to as the Symphony No.1.  The first and longest symphony, this piece was premiered at the Leeds Festival in 1910, with the composer himself conducting.

The texts Vaughan Williams chose were sections of poems by American poet Walt Whitman, whose humanist philosophy equated beautifully with his own.

Movements:
1. A Song for all Seas, all Ships (Moderato maestoso)
2. On the beach at night, alone (Largo sostenuto)
3. The Waves (Allegro Brillante)
4. The Explorers (Grave e molto adagio - Andante con moto)

Here's a video of Ralph Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony. 1. "Song of the Exposition" and "Song for all Seas, all Ships" 2. "On the Beach at Night Alone" 3. "After the Sea-ship" 4. "Passage to India". Sally Matthews, soprano. Roderick Williams, baritone. BBC Proms Youth Choir. BBC Symphony Chorus. BBC Symphony Orchestra. Sakari Oramo, conductor. Live recording. London, Proms 2013.



Being one of the first symphonies in which a choir is an integral part of the musical texture, in fact, the main "instrument," A Sea Symphony helped set the stage for a new era of symphonic and choral music in Britain during the first half of the 20th century.

Trivia:  I've been so blest as chorister of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs to have sung this extremely stirring piece of music by Ralph Vaughan Williams (text by Walt Whitman equally mesmerising) two years after I wrote this post. We performed RVW's "A Sea Symphony" Sept 22 and 24, 2016. The score was a challenge especially during the earlier days of learning. And slowly, its effect grew deeper and more meaningful as rehearsals progressed that by the time we performed it, I was emotionally charged. It continues to haunt me, and it remains one of the most moving and significant performances I've experienced. (Sept 25, 2016)

Video Credit:

Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony  Oramo. YouTube, uploaded by Classical Vault 1. Accessed September 25, 2014.  


Resources:


Walt Whitman's text from Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony.  Snark Dreams. Accessed May 31, 2017.

Wikipedia Encyclopedia.  Accessed September 24, 2014.   



(c) 2014-2017. Tel Asiado.  Written for Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved 

Tchaikovsky - The Seasons: October "Autumn Song"

Classical Music / Music Piece

October 'Autumn Song' in D minor is the 10th excerpt (October being 10th month of the calendar year) of Piotr Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, Op. 37, a set of twelve short character pieces for solo piano. Each piece is the characteristic of a different month of the year in the northern hemisphere.

The  'Autumn Song' is less popular than the other pieces in The Seasons, nevertheless its melancholy and elegiac characteristic is beautiful and poignant, a favourite of Autumn (or Fall) lovers.

Below, I'm sharing two videos from Youtube, one arranged for orchestra (sorry, I don't have the information of the conductor and the orchestra) and the other, one played on the piano by Vladimir Tropp. Enjoy! 

Suggested listening:

 

Tchaikovsky - The Seasons (full) | Piano: Vadim Chaimovich. Youtube, uploaded by HalidonMusic. Accessed September 24, 2023. 

 

The months of the year in 12 music pieces, as covered by the seasons:  

 

01 The Seasons: January. At the Fireside 00:00 

02 The Seasons: February. The Carnival 05:21 

03 The Seasons: March. Song of the Lark 08:19 

04 The Seasons: April. Snowdrop 11:00 

05 The Seasons: May. White Nights 13:51 

06 The Seasons: June. Barcarolle 18:30 

07 The Seasons: July. Reaper’s Song 23:46 

08 The Seasons: August. The Harvest 25:38 

09 The Seasons: September. The Hunt 29:06 

10 The Seasons: October. Autumn Song 32:10 

11 The Seasons: November. On the Troika 38:36 

12 The Seasons: December. Christmas 41:49 

 

Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, Op. 37a (also seen as Op. 37b, published with the French title Les Saisons), is a set of twelve short character pieces for solo piano by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Each piece is the characteristic of a different month of the year in the northern hemisphere. Individual excerpts have always been popular – Troika (November) was a favourite encore of Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Barcarolle (June) was enormously popular and appeared in numerous arrangements.

 

Video Credit:
 

Tchaikovsky's "Autumn Song" arranged for Orchestra. Youtube, uploaded by Ensimon. Accessed September 24, 2014.

Tchaikovsky - The Seasons: 'Autumn Song' - Vladimir Tropp (pianist). YouTube, uploaded by pianushko. Accessed September 24, 2014.


(c) September 2014. September 24, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.  

John Graham Kerr

Scottish embryologist of lungfishes

Sir John Graham Kerr (18 September 1869 – 21 April 1957) was a Scottish embryologist best known for his studies of the embryology of lungfishes. He was also a Unionist Member of Parliament (MP).

Kerr was born in Hertfordshire of Scottish parents. He was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and at the University of Edinburgh, but interrupted his medical studies to join an expedition in Argentina to study the natural history of the Pilcomayo River. Upon his return, he studied natural sciences at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours in 1896.

Bernhard Henrik Crusell

Composer Datebook: October 15

Finnish Clarinetist, Composer and Translator

The most significant and internationally best-known Finnish Classical composer and indeed, – the outstanding Finnish composer before Sibelius – was Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775-1838), who rose to a prominent position in the Swedish music world.

Bernhard Henrik Crusell was born this day October 15, 1775, in Uusikaupunki, Nystad, Finland and died July 28, 1838, in Stockholm, Sweden. He was a Finnish composer, virtuoso clarinetist, composer, conductor and translator. He is a contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born three months before the latter. They probably never met.

Crusell lived in Stockholm from 1791 onwards and performed his life’s work in Sweden. He made his last visit to his home country in summer 1801, when he performed in Turku and Helsinki. In those days, Finland was undeniably a musical backwater. The centre of musical activities was Turku, where the Turku Society of Music (Turun Soitannollinen Seura), founded in 1790, had done invaluable work in promoting music and had set up an orchestra of its own. 

Beethoven's Mass in C major, Op. 86

Classical Music / Masses 


Ludwig van Beethoven composed the Mass in C major, Op. 86, to a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II in 1807. The mass, scored for four vocal soloists, choir and orchestra, was premiered that year by the Prince's musical forces in Eisenstadt. Beethoven performed parts of it in his 1808 concert featuring the premieres of four major works including his Fifth Symphony. The mass was published in 1812 by Breitkopf & Härtel. While the Prince who commissioned the mass was not pleased, the contemporary critic E. T. A. Hoffmann appreciated the "expression of a childlike serene mind", and Michael Moore notes the music's "directness and an emotional content".

Beethoven's Mass in C major, Op. 86, was premiered on 13 September 1807 by the Prince's own musical forces in Eisenstadt, the ancestral seat of the Esterházys not far from Vienna. It is not known what building housed the performance. Beethoven conducted parts of the mass, the Gloria and the Sanctus, in a concert on 22 December 1808, which featured the public premieres of his Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 6, Piano Concerto No. 4 and Choral Fantasy.

The composition is scored for four soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir (SATB), and a symphony orchestra of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani, strings and organ. The setting of the Latin Order of Mass is structured in five movements:

I. Kyrie
II. Gloria 
III. Credo
IV. Sanctus
V. Agnus Dei  

Such a beautiful and great Mass which I think often overlooked on favour of Missa Solemnis. Introspective.  

Apology. The video I've originally posted is no longer available to share here. I've provided other links to listen to. Thank you. 

Suggested Links:

Beethoven Mass in C major, performed by Karl Richter, Munchener Bach Orchester Gundula Janowitz, Julia Hamari, Horst R. Laubenthal, Ernst Gerold Schramm. YouTube, uploaded by camusik96. Accessed June 27, 2020. (Kyrie 0.00 Gloria 4.15 Credo 14.45 Sanctus 25.48 Agnus Dei 38.05).

Beethoven - Mass in C - Amsterdam / Davis. YouTube, uploadead by incontrario motu. Accessed June 27, 2020. Kyrie 0:00 Gloria 6:09 Credo 16:32 Sanctus 28:31 Agnus Dei 39:56 Alison Hargan. Carolyn Watkinson. Keith Lewis. Wout Oosterkamp. Concertgebouworkests Koor Koninklijk. Concertgebouworkest Sir Colin Davis Live recording, Amsterdam, 12.I.1986

Beethoven: Mass in C major / Harnoncourt · (Trailer) Berliner Philharmoniker.  Ludwig van Beethoven: Mass in C major / Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor · Julia Kleiter, soprano · Elisabeth von Magnus, mezzo-soprano · Werner Güra, tenor · Florian Boesch, bass · Simon Halsey, chorus master · Rundfunkchor Berlin · Berliner Philharmoniker / Recorded at the Berlin Philharmonie, 29 October 2011. YouTube, uploaded by Berliner Philharmoniker. Accessed June 27, 2013.

Beethoven Mass in C major op.86. John Eliot Gardiner, conductor The Monteverdi Choir Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Charlotte Margiono, soprano. Catherine Robbin, mezzo-soprano. William Kendall, tenor. Alastair Miles, bass. 00:00 1. Kyrie 05:35 2. Gloria 14:25 3. Credo 24:54 4. Sanctus 35:40 5. Agnus Dei. YouTube. Accessed June 27, 2020.


Resource:

Mass in C major (Beethoven). en.wikipedia.org



(c) September 13, 2014. Updated March 29, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Mendelssohn's On Wings of Song (Song)

Classical Music / Song

"On Wings of Song" (German: "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges"), is a song by German composer Felix Mendelssohn, the second of his "six songs for voice and piano" (Opus 34-2, 1834). He dedicated it to his beloved older sister, Fanny Mendelssohn, also a composer. The music is a setting of the poem "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges" by the German Romantic poet Heinrich Heine published in his Buch der Lieder in 1827. Franz Liszt arranged On Wings of Song for solo piano (S. 547). This song has been translated into other languages and has been adopted in school music textbooks for China, Japan and Korea.

Thanks to Youtube uploader Papermoon2011, together with the lyrics in English translation, here's a beautiful rendition of an all-time favourite short composition from Felix Mendelssohn,  "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges" (English: "On Wings of Song"), sung by tenor Peter Schreier, accompanied on the piano by pianist Walter Olbertz.




Lyrics (English translation) 

On wings of song,  my love,
I'll carry you away to the fields of the Ganges.
Where I know the most beautiful place.
There lies a red-flowering garden, in the serene moonlight,
the lotus-flowers await. Their beloved sister.

The violets giggle and cherish, and look up at the stars,
The roses tell each other secretly their fragrant fairy-tales.
The gentle, bright gazelles, pass and listen;
and in the distance murmurs the waves of the holy stream.

There we will lay down, under the palm-tree,
and drink of love and peacefulness.
And dream our blessed dream.

Links to Mendelssohn's all-time favourite  "Auf Flugeln des Gesanges": 

6 Gesänge, Op. 34: No. 2, Auf Flügeln des Gesanges. Sung by Peter Schreier. YouTube. Accessed June 26, 2023.

Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (Song). Oxford International Festival.  [Lyrics in English & German]

Felix Mendelssohn: Auf Fluegeln des Gesanges - Julian Pregardien & Els Biesemans. YouTube, uploaded by Els Biesemans. Accessed June 26, 2023.  

Felix Mendelssohn - On Wings of Song. YouTube, uploaded by NancyFloresSantos. Accessed Sept 11, 2016. 

Jascha Heifetz Felix Mendelssohn On Wings of Song Op 34 No 2. YouTube, uploaded by JessieMelody1. Accessed June 26, 2023.

Mendelssohn: Auf Flügeln des Gesanges, Op. 34, No. 2. YouTube, sung by Kiri Te Kanawa. Accessed June 26, 2023.

Mendelssohn: Auf Flügeln des Gesanges, Op. 34, No. 2. Song of the cello, performed by Mischa Maisky. Accessed June 26, 2023.

"On Wings of Song" performed by KNUA Pre-College students ( Korea National University of Arts).

Resources:

On Wings of Song (Mendelssohn). Wikipedia.  

On Wings of Song (Poem). Wikipedia. 

Naturally, Google Search for links...

(c) September 11, 2014. Updated June 26, 2023. Tel Asiado. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.