The background to BoleroRavel’s infamous Boléro was somewhat created by chance: Shortly before Ravel left for America, the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein had asked him for a ballet to be based on orchestrations of parts of Albéniz’s Iberia. To this he agreed; with so much on his plate he was not anxious to undertake further commitments for wholly original composition. […]
Bach’s preferred instrumentJohann Sebastian Bach’s preferred to play the viola when conducting an orchestra. Source: Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 216.
The Lord Comes to Rule the Earth With Justice – Psalm 97 (98)Title: The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice Text: Psalm 97 (98): 5-9. R. v.9 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
A musical solution“Every disease is a music problem, its cure a musical solution.” Novalis, 18th century German author, mystic and philosopher. Cited in: Inge Kjemtrup, “The power of music therapy”, Pianist, Issue 59, April-May 2011. Warners Group Publications, p.66.
The limits of imaginationYou’re travelling to another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound… but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land, whose boundaries are only that of the imagination… you’re entering… the Twilight Zone… – Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone
RecordingsMusical taste in England in 1925A general perspective of musical taste in Britain in the 1920s can be seen in the letters to radio broadcasters. In 1926, the B.B.C. (at that time, the British Broadcasting Company) (1) compiled correspondence to the company. In the week ending December 4, of the 7600 letters received, 302 were critical: 125 condemned dance music […]
Music as a metaphor … or not“Most music is metaphor, but Wolff is not. I am not metaphor either. Parable, maybe. Cage is sermon.” – Morton Feldman, American composer Cited in Tom Johnson, Remembrance, September 1987. Accessed 11 May 2013.
The Lord Has Done Great Things For Us – Psalm 125 (126)Title: The Lord has done great things for us Text: Psalm 125 (Psalm 126). R. v.3 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and organ Related products: – SATB, woodwind, brass, and organ Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Musicians’ response to violenceThis will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. — Leonard Bernstein, 25 November 1963 Christopher Buchenholz, “An Artist’s Response to Violence”, Leonard Bernard Office, https://leonardbernstein.com/about/humanitarian/an-artists-response-to-violence. Accessed 18 March 2022.