Casablanca (1942 Film)

Classic Film 

Casablanca's legacy is long-lasting. It is a top rated film on the American Film Institute's 100 best movies, and it is one of the most referenced films of all time. “Casablanca has characters that are both universal and particular to their time,” said Poltergeist screenwriter Michael Grais. “Many of the actors in the film were recent refugees from Nazi Germany. They brought to the movie a realism that was unique.

Film Brief Profile

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Filmed and set during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriate (Bogart) who must choose between his love for a woman (Bergman) or helping her husband (Henreid), a Czech resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Germans. The screenplay is based on Everybody Comes to Rick's, an unproduced stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. 

Dooley Wilson, who famously starred as Sam in Casablanca, sang the famous "As Time goes by".    

Casablanca was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier. It had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New York City and was released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943. 

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman

William Blake

 Poet's Datebook: William Blake

 

Brief Biography of William Blake. English poet, artist and printmaker of the Romantic Movement.   

 

William Blake was a poet, painter, engraver, mystic and visionary. He is best-known for Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), and recognized as one of the most original and important English poets. He used his famous process of illuminated printing to illustrate his poems. 

 

Early Life of William Blake

Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in London, England, the son of a simple tradesman. Aged four, he told his parents that he saw God put his head in the window. He never attended school but despite this he acquired a wide knowledge of languages, the Bible and English poetry. In his early teens he was apprenticed to an engraver, from whom he learned the skills that were to earn him his living.

 

Spiritual, Mystic and Visionary

Blake was an intensely spiritual man. Many people thought he was insane, having claimed to see objects ordinarily unseen or inanimate objects move. He had visions of angels and ancient figures from the Bible. He nurtured the belief that imagination should be encouraged as an important human experience. 

In his writing, as well as in his engravings, Blake broke all the conventions of his time as he searched for imaginative originality. This is not surprising as he lived in the Age of Enlightenment, born a year after the child prodigy Wolfgang A. Mozart.

 

Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience

His most famous collections of poems, Songs of Innocence, published when he was 32, and Songs of Experience, published five years later, are simple and honest expressions of spiritual and emotional feelings, yet tenderly beautiful. They include some of his best-loved poems, such as 'The Tyger' and 'The Rose.'

 

Later Years

Blake concentrated on a series of poetical works known as the Prophetic Books later in his life. He sketched out the whole history and future of humanity, using an invented mythology inspired by the Holy Bible. As with his earlier books, they were not popular and earned him virtually no money that time. Only his work as an illustrator was respected in his day.

 

Final Years

After 1818, Blake did not write anything but created some of his greatest illustrations for editions of Dante's Divine Comedy and the biblical Book of Job. He died at the age of 69, on August 12, 1827. 

 

A lovely, haunting well-known quote by William Blake:

"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

 

William Blake Work

Poetical Sketches, 1783

An Island in the Moon, 1784

Songs of Innocence, 1789

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, c. 1790-1793

Songs of Experience, 1794

The Book of Urizen 1794

The Four Zoas, 1797

Milton, c. 1804-1808

Jerusalem, c.1804-1820

 

Resources:

Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby (1993)

Chambers Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Edinburgh. Chambers Harrap, 2002

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

 

(Note: I originally wrote & published this piece for Suite101.com, December 7, 2008. / Tel) 

 

(c) 2010. Updated November 28, 2021. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.  

Scott Joplin, King of Ragtime

Classical Composer Datebook: November 24

 

 

Joplin paved the way for early jazz using syncopated, off-beat rhythm

Brief biography of Scott Joplin, known as 'King of Ragtime' in the later 19th-Century. Famous for 'The Entertainer' piano music - used in the blockbuster movie 'The Sting.'      


Scott Joplin, American black composer and pianist, nicknamed 'King of Ragtime,' made his name after the publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag, for piano", which sold over a million copies. He was among the first black composers to have his works published. His music “Piano Rags” particularly The Entertainer, with film arrangement of Marvin Hamlisch, has been made popular as the main theme to the 1973 blockbuster film “Sting” starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. 

 Joplin's Early Life

Joplin, was born in Texas on November 24, 1868. He was the son of a former slave, however, both parents were musically talented, and from them he got his first piano lessons. At 15, he left home to pay his way playing in bars and brothels.  In 1893, he was becoming known, enough to play at the Chicago World’s Fair. He set up his first band. Two years later, he studied music at George Smith College for Negroes in Missouri. 

Listening Pleasure

Scott Joplin: Complete Works (Rags, Marches, Waltzes& Songs). YouTube, uploaded by Majestic George. Accessed January 16, 2024.

Dario Ronchi plays the Maple Leaf Rag to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Scott Joplin's death. YouTube, accessed January 16, 2024.

Joplin's Career

In 1899, Scott Joplin's bestseller "Maple Leaf Rag" was published. He published many rags, including the acclaimed The Entertainer and the The Ragtime Dance and later produced more extended compositions. Some of those he published were collaborative.  "The Entertainer" ragtime piece became extremely famous in 1973, for its arrangement by composer Marvin Hamlisch in the blockbuster film "The Sting" starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The story is about two con men who avenge the death of their friend on a gangster.  The film won an Academy award-winning score in music.  

In 1903 he formed the Scott Joplin Ragtime Opera company, initially to stage his opera A Guest of Honor. He settled in New York City in 1907, where he also started work on his opera Treemonisha. This was not successful in his lifetime. 

Joplin's Death and Revival of Treemonisha

Joplin died severely depressed in 1972, aged 50, when another jazz great Duke Ellington was 18 years old. The same year after Joplin's death, Treemonisha was revived.
 

Joplin's Awards 

• Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970

• Pulitzer Prize award for music in 1976, Posthumous.

Joplin's Legacy

Scott Joplin goes down in musical history as a jazz composer with his reputation resting on classic rags, paving the way for early jazz.

List of Scott Joplin's Major Work
 

• Maple Leaf Rag, for piano  1899

• The Entertainer and Elite Syncopations, for piano  1902

• A guest of Honor, opera  1903

• The Ragtime Dance, for piano  1906

• Pine Apple Rag, for piano  1908

• Wall Street Rag, for piano 1909

• Treemonisha, opera  1916

 

Photo Credit:

Scott Joplin. Public Domain

Resources:  

• IMP BV (1996)

• The Grove Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Publishers (1994)

 

(Note: This piece was originally written and published for Suite101.com, 19 October 2007. I've amended it for Inspired Pen Web. / Tel.  24 November 2021.)  

 

(c) October 2010. Updated January 16, 2024. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved

William S. Gilbert

 Musicals / Librettist Datebook: November 18

 

English Librettist and Playwright, Best Known as Sullivan's Opera/Operetta  Partner

 

Brief  biography of the life and times of William S. Gilbert, of 'Gilbert and Sullivan' comic opera/operetta partnership. 

 

Sir William Gilbert, librettist, playwright, poet and illustrator, collaborated with Sir Arthur Sullivan on an immensely successful comic operas. His lyrics are often exuberant and full of humour with brilliant rhyme and rhythm. Some of their famous works include H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado.

 

Early Life of Gilbert

William Schwenck Gilbert was born on November 18, 1836, in Strand, London, a son of a retired naval surgeon who later became a novelist and a short story writer. He had an ordinary upbringing apart from an unusual episode when he was kidnapped in Italy, at the age of two, by a gang who demanded a random for his release.

He studied at King's College London. He took training as an artillery officer and was taught military science with hopes of participating in the Crimean War. He did not graduate until it was over, at which point he still joined the militia and stayed being a member for twenty years.      

Career in Law

After his military training, Gilbert worked in a government bureau. Thanks to his aunt who bequeathed an inheritance, Gilbert pursued an interest and became a barrister.  He did work as a barrister at the age of 28, but this was short-lived as he failed to attract significant briefs. Before leaving his law practice, he married an army officer's daughter. 

Below,  Favourite Gilbert & Sullivan Moments. YouTube, uploaded by Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. Accessed November 18, 2021. 

Alexander Borodin

Great Composers Datebook: November 12

 

Alexander Borodin: Beyond Love for Chemistry  

Brief biography of Russian composer Alexander Borodin, a successful chemical scientist by profession, with equal passion for classical music.One of 'The Five', a group of nationalist Russian composers.

 

Alexander Borodin is famous for his opera Prince Igor which he left unfinished and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Aleksander Glazunov, first performed in St. Petersburg in 1890.  He is a member of 'The Five' or 'The Mighty Handful'  group of nationalist Russian composers including  Mily Balakirev (leader), Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. 

Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin, Russian composer and chemistry scientist by profession, was born in St. Petersburg on November 12, 1833, the illegitimate son of a prince.  Having been illegitimate, his father, Prince Gedeanov, registered Alexander (or Aleksandr) as the son of one his serfs.  His mother later married a retired army doctor.  

As a youth, Borodin developed parallel interests in music and chemistry, teaching himself cello at the same time qualifying in medical chemistry. His music life was apparently subordinated to his research and his activities as a lecturer at the Medico-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg.  At age 23, he received his doctorate in chemistry.

In 1862, while professor of chemistry at the Academy of Medicine, he began to take lessons from Mily Balakirev, his music mentor.  The following year he  married Ekaterina Protopopova, a pianist.  He began working on his only opera Prince Igor in 1869.  Prince Igor includes ‘Polovstian Dances’ and ‘Maidens’ Dance.’ He worked on it at irregular intervals. The familiar melody of 'Stranger in Paradise' was originally from a segment of the Prince Igor opera called "Polovtsian (or Polovetsian) Dances, Gliding Dance of the Maidens".

From 1872, he lectured on chemistry at the School of Medicine for Women until his death and wrote important treatises on his subject. He worked for nearly 20 years on the opera until his death in 1887.  

To this day, the theatre audience and Borodin admirers recognize a theme from his ‘Polovtsian Dances’ as “Stranger in Paradise” from a popular Broadway musical hit  Kismet during the early 1950s for which Robert Wright and George Forrest converted some of his melodies.  Kismet also contains the popular love song love song “This is My Beloved” which was based on Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D major. The song earned him a Tony Award in 1954, posthumously, 67 years after his death. "And This Is My Beloved" is a the nocturne from the third movement of Borodin's String Quartet in D. The same melody had earlier (1946) been used for a song credited to William Engvick, Bert Reisfeld and Alec Wilder entitled "Spring Magic," which was recorded by Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra.

Listening Pleasure: 

Alexander Borodin Quartet play Borodin String Quartet no. 2 - video 1973. YouTube, uploaded by ADGO. Accessed November 12, 2021. 

Alexander Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia. YouTube, uploaded by Main Line Symphony Orchestra. Accessed November 12, 2021. 

Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances, conducted by Andrzej Kucybała. YouTube, uploaded by Akademia Filmu i Telewizji. Accessed November 12, 2021.

Aleksander Borodin - Symphony No. 2 in B minor. YouTube, uploaded by Philharmonic of Republic of North Macedonia. Conducted by Viktor Mitrevski. Accessed November 12, 2022.  

Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D major. YouTube, uploaded by HarpsichordM. Accessed November 12, 2022. 

Kirov Opera: Alexander Borodin - Prince Igor / Князь Игорь (Part 1). YouTube, uploaded by EuroArtsChannel. Accessed November 12, 2021.

Video Credit: 

Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D major. YouTube, uploaded by Brooklyn Classical. Accessed November 12, 2022.

 

Borodin work includes: 

Symphony No. 1 (1867)

Symphony No. 2 (1876)

String Quartet No. 1 (1879) 

In the Steppes of Central Asia for orchestra (1880)

String Quartet No. 2 (1881)

Symphony No. 3 (1886)  Completed by Glazunov

Opera, Prince Igor, including 'Polovtsian Dances' and 'Maidens' Dance' (Completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov)

Little Suitefor piano

Songs

Chamber music, all using traditional Russian themes.

Such a remarkable man to become a famous composer, at the same time a chemistry scientist by profession. Overworked, Borodin died from a heart attack  at St Petersburg  27 February, 1887.  One wonders what he might have achieved had he devoted all his time to composition or to science.

 

(Note: I wrote this article for Suite101.com, June 10, 2007. / Tel) 

 

Image credit: 

Alexander Borodin.  Public Domain. 

 

Resources:

1. Classical Music, The Great Composers and their Masterworks by John Stanley (1994)

2. The Grove concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie (1994)

 

(c) November 11, 2009. Updated November 11, 2021. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.