Cellist Walter Joachim spend some time in Calcutta, India. He recalled: “I bought a monkey with which to amuse myself. We played. He was sitting on my shoulders for hours when I was practising.” Joachim practised at least one or two movements of a Bach suite. “I started my day usually with Bach or a scale, played a Bit of Bach, then worked on the technical things that I had to play. You had to be on your toes.” Source: Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 123.
A monkey on his shoulder
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Vassily Primakov on the role of the arts
“[Art] certainly takes us some place unobtainable. We can go on to say that it enriches our lives – as it has my own. There are many classical musicians I’ve met who are, in my opinion, snobs. They are only involved in certain types of music, seeing nothing beyond ‘classical music’. I think this is […]
I do not choose my listeners“I do not choose my listeners. What I mean is, I never write for my listeners. I think about my audience, but I am not writing for them. I have something to tell them, but the audience must also put a certain effort into it. But I never wrote for an audience and never will […]
The effect of Tchaikovsky’s music on his patronessNadyezhda Filaretovna von Meck was Tchaikovsky’s patroness. In March 1877 she wrote of the effect of Tchaikovsky’s music on her. The work being described is a Marche Funèbre on a theme from Oprichnik (this work is now lost). It is so superb that, as I had hoped, it elevates and transports me into a […]
Practising an artPractising an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You […]
Brian Wilson to complete Gershwin songsIn a surprise union of two quintessentially American composers from different eras, one the 1960s mastermind of “Good Vibrations,” the other the Jazz Age creator of “Rhapsody in Blue,” former Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been authorized by the estate of George Gershwin to complete unfinished songs Gershwin left behind when he died in 1937. […]
The significance of the individual “You are an extremely valuable, worthwhile, significant person even though your present circumstances may have you feeling otherwise.” – James Newmann, American mathematician
What is imagination?What is Imagination? We talk much of Imagination. We talk of Imagination of Poets, the Imagination of Artists &c; I am inclined to think that in general we don’t know very exactly what we are talking about. Imagination I think especially two fold. First: it is the Combining Faculty. It brings together things, facts, ideas, […]
I write for all earsWhen Mozart was writing his opera Idomeno, his father warned him to make sure it was accessible to all the audience. Mozart replied: As far as the so-called Popular style is concerned, don’t worry about it; in my Opera you’ll find Musick for every kind of listener = except for those with the long ears […]
The career of a musician compared to other artsThe career of a musician out to be — it is, actually, and in many ways — different from the careers of artists in other fields of art. All comparisons of the other arts with music are necessarily somewhat superficial. The art of music needs, essentially, not much contact with social groups, or concern with […]
The Ruffled KnightsTitle: The Ruffled Knights Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score