A party piece

Irish pianist and composer George Alexander Osburn (1806-93) was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and a director of the Philharmonic Society. One of his most popular compositions was La Pluie de Perles (The Shower of Pearls).

At a fashionable party, at which he arrived very late, he was invited to play, and he accordingly sat down at the pianoforte and began to play “La Pluie de Perles”. To his great surprise and indignation, the assembled guests burst out laughing; but we was easily appeased when he learned that no fewer than four other pianists had already performed the same composition!

Scholes, Percy (1947) The Mirror of Music. London: Novello and Company, vol. 1, p.306.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

Featured Content

The logic of opera in English
“Opera in English, is about as sensible as baseball in Italian.” – H. L. Mencken, twentieth century American journalist, critic, and satirist. Peter, Lawrence J. (ed) (1977) Quotations for Our Time
The role of the arts in society
The Eighteenth Weimar Classicists’ (e.g., Goethe, Shiller) conception of art expanded past the arts themselves, but also embraced all elements of society.  John Armstrong states: The aim of art is to ennoble us, to make us whole and balanced; then we can engage maturely and sensibly  in political processes.  The aim of their “classical art” […]
On Artur Schnable’s playing
Artur Schnabel is a pianist unlike any other. One is conscious in listening to him of a powerful and original mind revealing unsuspected meanings and complications in music as familiar as Brahms’s Intermezzi and Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’ Sonata. His tone is a rule dry in anything above a piano, but a sudden touch of the pedal […]
Fantasia on “I Saw Three Ships”
Title: Fantasia on “I Saw Three Ships” Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Trombone and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Figaro and an egg
“I always have a hard-boiled egg. A three-minute egg. Do you know how I time it? I bring it to the boil and then conduct the overture to The Marriage of Figaro. Three minutes exactly.” Sir John Barrirolli Cited in: The Music Lover’s Quotation Book. Ed. Kathleen Kimball, Robin Peterson & Kathleen Johnston. Toronto (Canada): […]
Beyond the comfort zone
I believe one shouldn’t be too comfortable when listening to really great music.  To appreciate good music, one must be mentally alert, and emotionally receptive.  You can’t be that when you are sitting at home with your feet on a chair. No, listening to  music is more strenuous than that.  Music is like the poetry;  […]
Love Letter (The Boys in the Boat)
Composer: Alexandre Michel Gerard DesplatArranger: Greg SmithTitle: “Love Letter” from The Boys in the BoatInstrumentation: Piano solo Available from Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus
Leif Ove Andsnes on Beethoven
“I feel a real need for Beethoven now.  It’s such important and spiritual music: it gives you strength, it gives you comfort. It’s just great!” – Leif Ove Andsnes, pianist. Source: Jessica (2011) “Top of the World”, Pianist, Issue 60. p.13.
Sacred
Numbering of psalms. Different translations of the psalms have been used. For consistency, the psalms are labelled by the Hebrew numbering first, followed by the Greek number in parenthesis.
Music is for me to play
“You claim that I write monstrosities which only the composer can play. What if they were meant only for the composer?” Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji to his friend Peter Warlock. Cited at: Wikipedia