Freely sharing passions for classical music, literature, and art (intuitive art, including watercolour painting, neurographic art & neurographica), science, biographies, films & soundtracks, icons & legends. (down memory lane, in remembrance...)
Saturday 26 September 2015, 1:30pm
Sunday 27 September 2015, 1:30pm
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
A rare concert performance of 'Of Thee I Sing' by George Gershwin (music) and brother Ira Gershwin (lyrics). Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. Presented by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (Festival Chorus) in collaboration with Squabbalogic.
The complete 1931 Pulitzer Prize winning musical will be recreated live
on stage in a special concert performance featuring four talented
singer-actors, a choir of 400 and an orchestra playing the original
orchestrations from 1931. Produced in collaboration with Sydney's most
prolific music theatre company, Squabbalogic (The Drowsy Chaperone),
this is a first for Sydney and not to be missed as words and music come
together in the political satire 'Of Thee I Sing'.
Here's a sneak peek of our rehearsals for George and Ira Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing, timely for the composer's (George Gershwin) birthday. In 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
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.
Literature / Love poems for Valentine's Day: February 14
Valentine's Day originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine
and through later folk traditions, it has also become a significant cultural and commercial celebration of romance and love in around the world. Valentine's Day is celebrated to honour love. Gifts, flowers, chocolates, and other special gestures that show affection are common ways for people to demonstrate love and devotion.
Below are some of the best known and often quoted love poems. Here's an affectionate thank-you to these brilliant poets!
1. A Red, Red Rose is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns based on traditional sources. The song is also referred to by the title "(Oh) My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose"
and is often published as a poem. Many composers have set Burns' lyric to music, but it gained worldwide popularity set to the traditional tune "Low Down in the Broom".
My love is like a red, red rose
My love is like a red red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Love's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune;
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry;
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt with' the sun;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
And fare thee well, my only Love
And fare the well, a while!
And I will come again, my Love,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile.
2. How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways is taken from Sonnets from the Portuguese, written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, c. 1845–1846 and published first in 1850, is a collection of 44 love sonnets. The collection was acclaimed and popular during the poet's lifetime and it remains so. Despite what the title implies, the sonnets are entirely Browning's own, and not translated from Portuguese. The first line of Sonnet 43 has become one of the most famous in English poetry: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." (Listening pleasure: Dame Judi Dench exquisitely recites the poem, "How do I love thee? (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (read by Dame Judi Dench). YouTube, uploaded by Zsuzsanna Uhlik. Accessed February 14, 2024)
Sonnet 43
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and Ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise;
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith;
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (read by Dame Judi Dench). YouTube, uploaded by Zsuzsanna Uhlik. Accessed February 14, 2023.
3. Love's Philosophy is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley published in 1819. The poem was published by Leigh Hunt in the December 22, 1819 issue of The Indicator and reprinted in Posthumous Poems in 1824 edited by Mary Shelley. It was included in the Harvard manuscript book where it is headed "An Anacreontic", dated "January, 1820". Anacreontics are poems written in the style of the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, known for his celebrations of love. Shelley wrote it in a copy of Leigh Hunt's Literary Pocket-Book, 1819, which was presented to Sophia Stacey, December 29, 1820.
Love's Philosophy
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—
See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?
4. Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?"Sonnet 18" is one of the best-known of the 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. In the sonnet, the speaker asks whether he should compare the Fair Youth to a summer's day, but notes that he has qualities that surpass a summer's day, which is one of the themes of the poem.
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
5. She Walks in Beauty is a short lyrical poem in iambic tetrameter written in 1814 by Lord Byron, and is one of his most famous works. It is said to have been inspired by an event in Byron's life. On 11 June 1814, Byron attended a party in London. It is said to have been inspired by an event in Byron's life. On
11 June 1814, Byron attended a party in London. Among the guests was
Mrs. Anne Beatrix Wilmot, wife of Byron's first cousin, Sir Robert Wilmot. He was struck by her unusual beauty, and the next morning the poem was written.
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
6. The
Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe, is a pastoral
poem from the English Renaissance. Marlowe composed the poem in iambic
tetrameter in six stanzas, and each stanza is composed of two rhyming
couplets; thus the first line of the poem reads: "Come live with me and
be my love".
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the Rocks,
Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow Rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of Roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and Ivy buds,
With Coral clasps and Amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.
7. When you are old by W.B. Yeats is a bittersweet poem that reveals the complexities of love. The poem is generally taken to be addressed to Maud Gonne, an Irish
actress with whom Yeats was infatuated throughout his life.
When You are Old
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Suggested links for Valentine's Day:
Love Poems. Poetry Foundation. Accessed February 14, 2023
The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (SPC), Australia's oldest and most prestigious iconic choir, continue to share the joy of choral music to both audience and singers. At the helm is its charismatic and dynamic Music Director Brett Weymark.
As the largest choral group of Australia, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs mainly comprises the following: Chamber Singers, Symphony Chorus, Festival Chorus, and VOX youth group led by Liz Scott, Music Director.
The Chamber Singers. The dynamic Chamber Singers are renowned for their exceptional performances and professionalism. It comprises of 32-voice choir, auditioned annually to ensure the highest standard is maintained. As a flexible ensemble, they
are also be engaged for commercial performances and corporate functions, Royalty and foreign dignitaries. It also performs annually in events such as the City of Sydney.
The Symphony Chorus. The Symphony Chorus, with up to 150 members, performs in concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra headed by David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director. It performs alongside the world's best conductors and soloists at the highest standard of excellence.
VOX. SPC's young adult ensemble led by Music Director, Liz Scott. It comprises of singers aged 18-30 (orig. 16-26) performing programs of classical, popular and contemporary works. Recent highlights have included a
recording with Aria award-winning composer and pianist, Sally Whitwell, appearances at the World Netball Championships, and in the Video Games concerts at the Enmore Theatre. In 2015 they performed in A Concert for Peace with the Festival Chorus. They also performed in Holst:The Planets for Earth Hour and Danny Elfman Music from the Films of Tim Burton with Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Festival Chorus. The Festival Chorus is the largest of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, with 350 to 400 members who come together twice a year to perform works from a diverse musical range. Singers are selected during Festival Chorus Open Days, which are held twice each year. To join Festival Chorus all
singers must attend a voice placement workshop in early February. Each
session will take around an hour and a half. At the workshop, the Music Director, possibly with other vocal associates, will conduct voice placements in order for him to assess singing ability and to determine vocal range. It also comprise warm-up exercises, simple melodies, scales and easy harmony pieces to give one the feel of being part of a wonderful sea of sound. Its performances are often in collaboration with other organizations such as musical theatre company.
Recent previous Festival Chorus programs include Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Leonard Bernstein’s hit musical Wonderful Town, Rossini Stabat Mater and Elgar Dream of Gerontius.
The choir has premiered compositions by Matthew Hindson and Carl Vine, and collaborates with organisations such as the Sydney Youth Orchestra.
In 2018 Festival Chorus will present Haydn's The Creation and Bernstein's Candide.
Joining will give you the opportunity to perform not only with hundreds of other passionate singers but also with professional
orchestral players and some of Australia’s best soloists. In 2018 you will perform in the iconic Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House and the stunning Centennial Hall at Sydney Town Hall.
Here's a sneak peek of our rehearsals for George and Ira Gershwin's Of Thee I Singperformed Sept 26 and 27, 2015, timely too, for the composer's (George Gershwin) birthday. In 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Three other major events include: ChorusOz, Carols at the House & Handel's Messiah.
More recently, other initiatives have transpired, including: Singing at the House collaborated with the Sydney Opera House, commissioning and presenting Australian composers' works, and the Discover Series workshop.
How to Audition at Sydney Philharmonia
Sydney Philharmonia Festival Chorus Open Day Audition. In keeping with the times, there have been new developments in the FC audition process.
Here's Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Ode to Joy" Excerpt 2, performed during SSO's Season Opening Gala 2012. Sydney Symphony Orchestra with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Symphony Chorus, Chamber Singers and VOX. Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor, Lorina Gore soprano, Sally-Anne Russell mezzo-soprano, James Egglestone tenor, Michael Nagy baritone.
Sharing a Favourite Quote:
"Sing, then. Sing, indeed, with shoulders back, and head up so that song
might go to the roof and beyond to the sky. Mass on mass of tone, with a
hard edge, and rich with quality, every single note a carpet of colour
woven from basso profundo, and basso, and baritone, and alto, and tenor,
and soprano, and also mezzo, and contralto, singing and singing, until
life and all things living are become a song..." ~ Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley
Resources:
Beethoven Symphony No. 9: Ode to Joy Excerpt. Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs / Ashkenazy. YouTube, uploaded by Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Accessed November 12, 2016.
Facebook.com/SydneyPhilharmoniaChoirs. Accessed December 6, 2014.
1888 - T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) OM, American-born British writer and Nobel Laureate, one of the twentieth century's major
poets", was also a highly distinguished essayist, publisher, playwright, editor and literary and
social critic. He was a leader of the Modernist movement in poetry in such works as "The Waste Land" and "Four Quartets". T.S. Eliot is considered one of the 20th century's major poets, who attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including "The Waste Land", "The Hollow Men", "Ash Wednesday", and Four Quartets. He was also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry". (T.S. Eliot reads: The Waste Land. Uploaded by tim24frames. Accessed September 26, 2018.)
1898 - George Gershwin, (born Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz), American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned both popular and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, the songs Swanee and Fascinating Rhythm, the jazz standard I Got Rhythm, and the opera Porgy and Bess which spawned the hit Summertime. Gershwin began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. The original Broadway
production of the musical Of Thee I Sing (music by George Gershwin and lyrics by brother Ira Gershwin), directed by Kaufman, opened in 1931 and ran for 441
performances, gaining critical and box office success. It has been
revived twice on Broadway and in concert stagings in the U.S. and in
London. In 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In Paris, he composed An American in Paris, returned to New York City and wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, it came to be considered one of the
most important American operas of the twentieth century and an American cultural classic. Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores. His compositions have been adapted for use in film and television, with several becoming jazz standards recorded.
1930 - Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich, German Lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and various lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35. (Fritz Wunderlich Sings "Un' aura amorosa," ("Der Odem der Liebe") From Wolfgang A. Mozart's Così Fan Tutte. Uploaded by Edmund StAustell. Accessed September 26, 2018.)
1948 - Dame Olivia Newton-John, British-Australian singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, entrepreneur and activist. She is a four-time Grammy Award winner who has amassed five number-one and ten other top-ten Billboard Hot 100 singles, and two number-one Billboard 200 albums. She has sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. She starred in the 1978 musical film Grease, whose soundtrack remains one of the most successful in history and features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want" – which ranks as one of the best-selling singles of all time – and "Summer Nights". Her signature solo recordings include "I Honestly Love You" and "Physical", plus "Let Me Be There", "Have You Never Been Mellow", "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (also from Grease), "A Little More Love" and, from the 1980 film Xanadu, "Magic" and "Xanadu" (with Electric Light Orchestra).
1968 - James Patrick Caviezel, American actor. He portrayed Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) and starred as John Reese on the CBS science-fiction crime drama series Person of Interest (2011-2016). Caviezel's other notable roles include Private Witt in The Thin Red Line, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, and Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo.
1981 - Serena Jameka Williams, Tennis champion. American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women's single tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time behind Margaret Court. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions
between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events, September 26 - On This Day
Historical Events
1580 - Sir Frances Drake circumnavigates the globe in the Golden Hind, commissioned by Queen Elizabeth. He is the first captain to do so, given that Magellan didn't complete his voyage 60 years earlier.
1847 - Shakespeare's birthplace on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon is purchased by a body of trustees to be preserved for UK.
Choral Singing / Sydney Philharmonia - Festival Chorus & VOX
"If war is defined as an active conflict that has claimed more than one thousand lives, of the past three thousand four hundred years, humans have been entirely at peace for only two hundred and sixty-eight of them, or just eight percent of recorded history." - Quoted from SPC program's Conductor's Note page.
Karl Jenkins' A Concert for Peace: The Armed Man
Dates:
Saturday 16 May 2015, 1:00pm
Sunday 17 May 2015, 7:30pm
Venue:
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
The Armed Man is a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled "A Mass for Peace". The piece was dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. It was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations, to mark the museum's move from London to Leeds. It is essentially an anti-war piece based on the
Catholic Mass, but which Jenkins combines with other sources, principally the 15th-century folk song "L'homme armé" in the first and last movements. Other religious and historical sources include the Islamic call to prayer, the Bible (e.g. the Psalms and Revelation), and the Mahabharata. Writers whose words appear in the work include Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Sankichi Toge, who survived the Hiroshima bombing but died some years later of leukaemia. It was written for SATB chorus with soloists (soprano and muezzin) and a symphonic orchestra.
Composer Karl Jenkins was born and grew up on the Gower Peninsula, the son of a local organist and choirmaster. He studied music at Cardiff University and then at the Royal Academy of Music. Originally an oboist, he took to the saxophone and established himself early on as a jazz musician. He then introduced the oboe as a jazz instrument. As a composer, Jenkins manages to combine very different styles of music from classical to pop and to draw on different cultures from around the globe. His Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary (1994) topped the classical album charts. His Requiem, which we sang in 2006, is enjoyed by choristers and audiences alike.
The Armed Man charts the growing menace of a descent into war, interspersed with moments of reflection; shows the horrors that war brings; and ends with the hope for peace in a new millennium, when "sorrow, pain and death can be overcome".
Below photo: Prior to our Saturday performance, a release of doves will take place on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House while our Sydney Philharmonia choirs perform Festival Alleluia, by Australian composer Lyn Williams.
The Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in association with the United Nations Association of Australia, present 'The Armed Man: A Mass
for Peace.' This very special concert reflects on the passing of 'the most war-torn and destructive century in human history' and looks forward in hope to a more peaceful future.
In Concert for Peace, Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man.
The distinctive texts are drawn from many parts of the world and from diverse religions and cultures. The captivating music takes the audience on a journey to the battlefields and beyond with stirring brass movements, haunting cello, and heavenly choral accompaniments.
1475 - Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simonior more commonly known as Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance period born in the Republic of Florence. He exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. (Michelangelo Matter & Spirit, uploaded by Alvin T. Abrea. Accessed March 6, 2015. Michelangelo Biography, uploaded by Biographics. Accessed March 6, 2019.)
1619 - Cyrano de Bergerac, (6th of March is actually the date of his baptism, but often cited as his date of birth. At the time, it was usual for a baptism to take place within 3 days of birth and in Paris, with easy access to a priest, it would have been possible that it happened on the same day. However, the actual date remains unknown.), French Writer and Playwright. An innovative writer, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th Today he is best known as the inspiration for Edmond Rostand's most noted drama Cyrano de Bergerac, which, although it includes elements of his life, also contains invention and myth. Since the 1970s, there has been a resurgence in the study of Cyrano, demonstrated in the abundance of theses, essays, articles and biographies published in France and elsewhere.
1754 - Josepha Duschek, Czech soprano. She was an outstanding soprano of the Classical era, a contemorary and friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote a few works for her to sing. Her name is most often given in its German version as above. In Czech her name was Josefína Dušková or Josepha Duschkova. She was a pupil of Frantisek Xavier Dusek, and married him on Oct 21, 1776. The Duseks occasionally visited Salzburg, the hometown of Josef's mother. In spring 1786 Mozart accompanied her at aprivate concert before the Viennese court, and the following year he wrote her the recitative and aria "Bella mia fiamma, addio" K528. In 1789 she sang at Mozart's concerts inDresden and Leipzig. She died January 8, 1824. (Biblio: M. Flothius:'Welche Arien sang Josepha Duschek am 26.Apr 1791?', MISM, xxxvii (1989), 81-2.)
1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett), English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Her work had a major influence on prominent writers of the day, including the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson. She is remembered for such poems as "How Do I Love Thee?" (Sonnet 43, 1845) and Aurora Leigh (1856).
1926 - H.C. Robbins Landon (Howard Chandler Robbins Landon), American musicologist, journalist, historian and broadcaster, best known for his work in rediscovering huge neglected music by Joseph Haydn and in correcting misunderstandings about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He co-founded the Haydn Society in 1949. He published his five-volume study, Haydn: Chronicle and Works. He and the society also recorded neglected works of Mozart, publishing five popular books about Mozart, and dispelling myths about the composer's life. He had written 28 books by 1996. Landon wrote regularly for music magazines and newspapers, especially the longest-established London paper, The Times. He was a popular broadcaster for the BBC on radio and television and was praised for his ability to enthuse general audiences with his chosen subject. From the 1970s, he was a sought-after lecturer and held appointments with colleges.
1928 - Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century and one of the best in the Spanish language, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literataure. He is best known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). (Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Literary Giant. Uploaded by Al Jazeera English. Accessed March 6, 2016.)
1930 - Lorin Maazel, (born Lorin Varencove Maazel), American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight. He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. However, he would later be appointed music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among other posts. Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age.
1944 - Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa ( born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron), New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te Kanawa had three top 40 albums in Australia in the mid-1980s. She is most famous for "O mio babbino" from Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi. She has received accolades, singing a wide array of works in many languages dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries, and associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini. She rarely sang opera later in her career but frequently performed in concert and recital, gave masterclasses, and supported young opera singers in launching their careers. (Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award 13/9/2017, KiriOnline - K.T. Kanawa. Accessed March 6, 2018).
1947 - Dick Fosbury (born Richard DouglasFosbry),American retired High jumper, inventor of the "Fosbury flop." , 1947) considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. Besides winning a gold medal at the 1968 Olympics, he revolutionized the high jump event with a "back-first" technique, now known as the Fosbury Flop, adopted by almost all high jumpers today. His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backwards over the bar, which gave him a much lower center of mass in flight than traditional techniques.
1980 - Shaun Francis Evans, English actor, best known for playing as young Endeavour Morse in the ITV drama series Endeavour.
Leftie:
Artist Michelangelo
Deaths: 1836 - Davy Crockett, American Frontiersman 1888 - Louisa May Alcott, Writer 2016 - Nancy Reagan, former U.S. First Lady
More birthdays and historical events, March 6 - On This Day
FEATURES: ARTIST MICHELANGELO (March 6, 1475 to February 18, 1564)
Classical Music / Composers Datebook: December 16 (or 17)
Considered greatest of German classical composers, Beethoven was baptized in Bonn. His exact birth date is unknown. Biographers generally quote December 16.
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 16 (17), 1770 – March 26, 1827), was a German composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of music, a predominant figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music.
Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, to Johann van Beethoven and Magdalena Keverich van Beethoven. He was baptized on December 17, but his family and later teacher Johann Albrechtsberger celebrated his birthday on December 16. Beethoven's first music teacher was his father, a musician in the Electoral court at Bonn who was apparently a harsh and unpredictable instructor. Johann would often come home from a bar in the middle of the night and pull young Ludwig out of bed to play for him and his friend.
Beethoven's talent was recognised at a very early age. His first notable teacher was Christian Gottlob Neefe. In 1787 young Beethoven traveled to Vienna for the first time.
Mozart had a powerful influence on the early works of Beethoven. They are said to have met in Vienna this year, however, there is no evidence of this. Planned to study under Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, this did not materialise when he was summoned to his mother's deathbed who was dying of tubercolosis. She died when he was 16, shortly followed by his sister, and for several years he was responsible for raising his two younger brothers because of his father's worsening alcoholism.
Later, when he moved to Vienna in 1792, Mozart had died the previous year. He studied for a time with Joseph Haydn and quickly gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. From the beginning to the end of his creative life, Beethoven constantly expanded his style and ideals, and his work forms a bridge between the Classical and Romantic periods.
In his late twenties he began to lose his hearing and this came as a terrible blow, and yet he continued to produce notable masterpieces throughout his life in the face of this personal disaster. His reputation and genius have inspired generations of composers, musicians, and audiences after him.
Mozart's Influence on Beethoven
From Beethoven's childhood, it appeared that everybody wanted him to be a Mozart! How did this expectation influence his life? Here's an interesting article from 'Popular Beethoven'. Read on, here.
Composers who most influenced Beethoven
Here's another interesting post of composers likely to have influenced Beethoven. Thanks to Alex Rosas Navarro (from Beethoven's Facebook Community Group) who kindly shared this for public posting. 7 June 2025.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a revolutionary figure, but his innovations did not arise in isolation. He was deeply influenced by earlier composers, whose techniques, structures, and emotional range he studied and reworked into his own style. His journey from Classical clarity to Romantic depth was built on the legacy of these musical ancestors.
1. Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Role: Beethoven’s teacher in Vienna (1792–1794) Influence: Structural discipline, thematic economy, and development techniques
“I did not learn anything from Haydn,” Beethoven once said—yet this was more rebellion than truth.
Key Influences:
Haydn’s use of motivic development strongly shaped Beethoven’s symphonic writing.
The “surprise” techniques, rhythmic wit, and economy of materials in Haydn's works informed Beethoven's own innovative musical architecture.
Beethoven's early symphonies and piano sonatas clearly reflect Haydn’s clarity and formal elegance.
Example:
Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 — echoes Haydn’s late symphonies in structure and tone.
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Influence: Melodic elegance, dramatic flair, operatic phrasing, and harmonic color
Though Beethoven never studied with Mozart formally (a brief meeting may have occurred in 1787), Mozart’s music was a central pillar in Beethoven’s early development.
Key Influences:
The Classical concerto model in Beethoven’s early piano concertos was based on Mozart’s concertos.
Mozart’s sense of proportion, contrast, and melodic grace helped Beethoven refine lyrical expression in his chamber and vocal works.
Examples:
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 — reminiscent of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor, K. 491 in its key and emotional weight.
Influence: Emotional expression, sudden contrasts, and improvisatory style
C.P.E. Bach, son of J.S. Bach, was a pioneer of the Empfindsamer Stil (sensitive style), emphasizing sudden dynamic changes and emotional turbulence—elements that Beethoven would develop into Romantic expressivity.
Key Influences:
C.P.E.’s keyboard sonatas, with their dramatic irregularities and expressive intensity, foreshadow Beethoven’s bold piano writing.
His ornamentation and flexible phrasing influenced Beethoven’s solo improvisations and fantasia-like slow movements.
Example:
Beethoven’s Fantasia in G minor, Op. 77 carries clear traces of C.P.E. Bach’s free-form, expressive spirit.
Beethoven’s reverence for J.S. Bach grew especially in his late period, as he began integrating complex polyphony and fugal techniques into his compositions.
“Not Bach, but the sea should be his name!” — Beethoven (a pun: “Bach” means “brook” in German)
Key Influences:
Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier was essential study for Beethoven’s keyboard technique and contrapuntal thinking.
Beethoven’s
Grosse Fuge, Op. 133
Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106 — the final fugue is one of the most complex ever written for piano.
Beethoven admired Handel's oratorios and dramatic architecture, and saw him as the greatest master of musical massiveness and clarity.
Key Influences:
Handel’s ability to build large-scale musical drama from simple themes inspired Beethoven’s treatment of symphonic finales and choral works.
“He is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb.” — Beethoven on Handel
Examples:
The finale of Symphony No. 5 shows Handelian power in its driving simplicity.
The “Ode to Joy” from Symphony No. 9 is structurally influenced by Handel’s choral oratorios, especially Messiah.
Key works
Beethoven's key works include piano concertos, Piano Sonatas, Mass in D (Missa Solemnis), the nine symphonies, and some strings, and Fidelio, his only opera. One famous piece of music is his "Fur Elise". one of his last String Quartets, Op. 131 in C sharp minor has the largest number of movements, which is 7.
Below video: Featuring Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" live at the Sydney Opera House. Performed by our Sydney Philharmonia Choir's ChorusOz, hosted by the ABC Classic with presenters Vanessa Hughes and Damien Beaumont. The concert is part of ChorusOz, run annually by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Performed by Sharon Zhai (soprano), Bronwyn Douglass (mezzo-soprano), Brad Cooper (tenor), Simon Meadows (bass-baritone), ChorusOz 2019, Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra, Brett Weymark (conductor). ChorusOz 2019. (The performance was a part of ChorusOz, run annually by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs to let people who can't commit to a regular choir have the opportunity to sing at the Sydney Opera House. Other singers across Australia and visiting singers are also invited to join.)
Most famous work: Symphony 9 "Choral"
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, "Choral", is a choral symphony considered Beethoven's most famous work, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and musicologists as a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the history of music. One of the best-known works in common practice music, it stands as one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world. This is the crowning glory of his "Immortal Nine" symphonies. The fourth movement (Finale), its concluding magnificent chorus, Ode an die Freude (Ode to Joy), is the official anthem of the European Union. about peace and triumph of universal brotherhood against war and desperation, and the prelude to the fourth – and final – movement of Ludwig van
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
