CLASSIC MOVIE / Datebook: September 27
The film popularised the uplifting song "Over the Rainbow" beautifully sung by Judy Garland
The 1939 American musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. The songs were written by Edgar "Yip" Harburg (lyrics) and Harold Arlen (music). The musical score and the incidental music were composed by Stothart. Widely considered to be one of the greatest films in American history, it is the best-known and most successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, alongside other stars, and with Terry (as Toto).
Youtube, uploaded by Movieclips. Accessed August 25, 2019.
The Wizard of Oz is an icon of American popular culture, nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to Gone with the Wind. It won in two other categories, including Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart.
The 1956 broadcast television premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced The Wizard of Oz (film) to the wider public and eventually made
the presentation an annual tradition, making it one of the best known
films in movie history. The film was named the most-viewed motion picture on television syndication by the Library of Congress, which also included it in its National Film Registry in 1989. Designation on the registry calls for
efforts to preserve it for being "culturally, historically, and
aesthetically significant."
Resource:
The Wizard of Oz (1939 Film). en.wikipedia.org. Accessed September 27, 2010.
(c) September 2010. Updated August 25, 2019. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
George Gershwin
Classical Music / Great Composers
American composer and songwriter, as well as pianist and conductor, George Gershwin was a sensitive and passionate musician, who synthesized his musical creations between jazz and classical traditions. He
is famous for the sophistication, swing and rhythm in his music.
American composer and songwriter.
Gershwin's works include theatre musicals and jazz classical music. He is famous for
Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy & Bess.
American composer and songwriter, as well as pianist and conductor, George Gershwin was a sensitive and passionate musician, who synthesized his musical creations between jazz and classical traditions. He
is famous for the sophistication, swing and rhythm in his music.
George Gershwin in a Nutshell
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 26, 1898. As one of America’s greatest composers/songwriters, George Gershwin was part of the golden age of the New York musical theatre in the 1920s and 30s. Essentially self-taught, he started as a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley and an accompanist. Perhaps not known to many, Gershwin also painted as a hobby. Gershwin was among Broadway's most successful composers, including Strike up the Band, Funny Face, and Girl Crazy. His opera Porgy and Bess uniquely incorporated jazz rhythms and popular song styles in an operatic format. Although his musicals scores were famous, his concert works also, particularly Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto in F earned him critical acclaim. George Gershwin was mostly in partnership with his lyricist brother, Ira Gershwin.
Jazz as a Springboard
With his love for jazz, his songwriting talent, and knowledge of established forms in concerto and opera, he began to compose songs and produced succession of musicals from 1919 to 1933, with his first show La Lucille, the song “Swanee” was made a hit by Al Jolson, on of the top singer during that time.
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue - Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic (1976). YouTube, uploaded by Qiyu Liu, accessed February 12, 2024.
Mahler Symphony No. 8
Classical Music / Symphony
Composer: Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911)
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major is frequently called "Symphony of a Thousand" because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces, although it is normally presented with fewer than a thousand performers. It is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. The work was composed in a
single inspired burst, in the summer of 1906, at Maiernigg, Southern Austria. The last of Mahler's works premiered in his lifetime, it was a popular success when he conducted the Munich Philharmonic in its first performance, in Munich, on 12 September 1910.
The fusion of song and symphony had been a characteristic of Mahler's early works. In his "middle" compositional period after 1901, a change of direction led him to produce three purely instrumental symphonies. The Symphony No. 8, marking the end of the middle period, returns to a combination of orchestra and voice in a symphonic context. The structure of the work is unconventional; instead of the normal framework of several movements, the piece is in two parts. Part I is based on the Latin text of a 9th-century Christian hymn for Pentecost, Veni creator spiritus ("Come, Creator Spirit"), and Part II is a setting of the words from the closing scene of Goethe's Faust. The two parts are unified by a common idea: redemption through the power of love, a unity conveyed through shared musical themes.
Mahler offered the Eighth as an expression of confidence in the eternal human spirit. In the period following the composer's death, performances were comparatively rare. However, from the mid-20th century onwards the symphony has been heard regularly in concert halls all over the world, and has been recorded many times.
Video Credit:
Mahler Symphony No. 8 / Bernstein (1975) - Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Youtube, uploaded by Lennyforever. Accessed September 12, 2017.
Resources & Suggested Reading:
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler). en.wikipedia.org. Accessed September 12, 2013.
Symphony No. 8 in E-Flat Major, Symphony by Gustav Mahler. Britannica (Online). Accessed September 12, 2013.
(c) September 2013. Updated September 12, 2017. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Bernstein Young People Concert: A Melody Defined
Classical Music / A Melody Defined
Bernstein Young People Concert - What is a Melody?
Leonard Bernstein with New York Philharmonic. He explains the different types of melodies, what makes us think of some music being melodic, and some not. The works of Wagner, Mozart, Hindemith and Brahms are performed.
The American Leonard Bernstein (25 Aug 1918 - 14 Oct 1990), was an eclectic composer, taking his ideas from the music of Mahler, Stravinsky, from religious ritual, and most of all, from fellow American composers George Gershwin and Aaron Copland, and the exciting idea of concert jazz. His own works are splendid kaleidoscope of all these influences ... making Leonard Bernstein one of the most entertaining of 20th-century composers. (Right now, my mind is preoccupied with musical 'West Side Story' and 'Candide'.
Suggested Links:
Bernstein's Candide
West Side Story (Musical)
Leonard Bernstein - Young People Concert. YouTube, uploaded by CMAjorEntertainment. Accessed September 11, 2019.
Bernstein Young People Concert - What is a Melody?
Leonard Bernstein with New York Philharmonic. He explains the different types of melodies, what makes us think of some music being melodic, and some not. The works of Wagner, Mozart, Hindemith and Brahms are performed.
The American Leonard Bernstein (25 Aug 1918 - 14 Oct 1990), was an eclectic composer, taking his ideas from the music of Mahler, Stravinsky, from religious ritual, and most of all, from fellow American composers George Gershwin and Aaron Copland, and the exciting idea of concert jazz. His own works are splendid kaleidoscope of all these influences ... making Leonard Bernstein one of the most entertaining of 20th-century composers. (Right now, my mind is preoccupied with musical 'West Side Story' and 'Candide'.
Suggested Links:
Bernstein's Candide
West Side Story (Musical)
Leonard Bernstein - Young People Concert. YouTube, uploaded by CMAjorEntertainment. Accessed September 11, 2019.
Video Credit:
Leonard Bernstein - Young People's Concerts - What is a Melody? (1962). Youtube, uploaded by Andy Anker. Accessed February 12, 2023.
(c) September 2017. Updated February 12, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Choral Singing / Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Op.38
Based on the Victorian poem by Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman, Sir Edward Elgar's oratorio Dream of Gerontius
(1900), has a dramatic
framework within which the music expanded orderly, a massive piece for chorus and orchestra. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory.
Dates:
Thursday 19 October, 8pm
Saturday 21 October, 2pm
Venue:
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Image credit: Eric Hansen
Artists:
Brett Weymark conductor
Jose Carbo baritone
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
The Sydney Youth Orchestra
Brett Weymark conductor
Jacqueline "Jacqui" Dark mezzo soprano
Andrew Goodwin tenorJose Carbo baritone
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
The Sydney Youth Orchestra
At the end of the music score of Sir Edward's The Dream of Gerontius, the composer wrote: “This is
the best of me.” This monumental work embodies Elgar’s spiritual and
artistic ideals – it is as stirringly Romantic and grand as you’d
expect, but it is also Elgar’s most personal utterance. Elgar poured his
“heart’s blood” into Gerontius, responding to the words with evocative,
sincere and imaginative music – imposing marches full of pomp and
circumstance, choirs of demons and angels, and celestial harmonies –
that takes us from earth to heaven. Elgar’s masterful choral writing
celebrates the beauty and power of the voice in partnership with the
orchestra.
Top 50 Greatest Biographical Movies (Biopics)
Films / Biographical Movies
A biopic, or a biographical movie, is a film that deals with the story of a well known person or group of people in history. Here's website containing a list of 50 films considered the greatest biopics of all time as this time of posting.
1. Amadeus (1984)
The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by
Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was insanely jealous
of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him. The story is set in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century, and is a fictionalized story of Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart from the time he left Salzburg, described by its writer as
"fantasia on the theme of Mozart and Salieri". Mozart's music is heard
extensively in the soundtrack of the film. Winner of 8 Academy Awaards (1984).
2. Gandhi (1982)
Gandhi's character is fully explained as a man of nonviolence. Through
his patience, he is able to drive the British out of the subcontinent.
And the stubborn nature of Jinnah and his commitment towards Pakistan is
portrayed.
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The story of T.E. Lawrence,
the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often
warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
4. Malcolm X (1992)
Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black
Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time
gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam.
5. Schindler's List (1993)
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Mozart Opera La Clemenza di Tito
Classical Music / Operas
La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzola, after Metastasio, an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti. Mozart's La clemenza was started after the bulk of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), the last opera that Mozart worked on, was already written. The work premiered on 6 September 1791, at the Estates Theatre in Prague.
For more info about the opera, go to Wiki resource below.
Listening Pleasures:
Mozart's Opera La Clemenza di Tito. Uploaded by EGMusic Opera Production. Accessed September 6, 2018. Live performance at the Covent Garden, 1976. With Janet Baker, Yvette Minton, Werner Hollweg. Covent Garden Orchestra, conducted by J. Pritchard.
Aria "Ah, perdona al primo affetto", beautifully sung by Lucia Popp and Frederica von Stade.
Resource:
La clemenza di Tito. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed September 6, 2017.
(c) September 2017. Updated September 6, 2019. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzola, after Metastasio, an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti. Mozart's La clemenza was started after the bulk of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), the last opera that Mozart worked on, was already written. The work premiered on 6 September 1791, at the Estates Theatre in Prague.
For more info about the opera, go to Wiki resource below.
Listening Pleasures:
Mozart's Opera La Clemenza di Tito. Uploaded by EGMusic Opera Production. Accessed September 6, 2018. Live performance at the Covent Garden, 1976. With Janet Baker, Yvette Minton, Werner Hollweg. Covent Garden Orchestra, conducted by J. Pritchard.
Aria "Ah, perdona al primo affetto", beautifully sung by Lucia Popp and Frederica von Stade.
Resource:
La clemenza di Tito. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed September 6, 2017.
(c) September 2017. Updated September 6, 2019. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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