Examination findings

Some curious answers for the Society of Arts published in the Musical Times (English Journal), July 1888:

The Examiner’s report on the papers worked by the candidates in the recent Theoretical Examinations of the Society of Arts shows some very curious facts. … Mistakes in spelling have not been accredited with loss to to the writers if the information intended to be conveyed was in the main correct.  Thus, when it was stated that Brahms wrote a “”Villain Concerto””, the fact implied was recorded in the writer’s favour, and the orthography, as well as the criticism involved in the statement, were overlooked.  The name Gounod was written Guonod, Gunod, Gunoud; yet the name of Mendelssohn offered no difficulty to the spellers, though in more than one place it was stated that one of his works was the oratorio “”Elizah.””  The biographical particulars concerning the musicians whose names were placed upon the paper were again both curious and interesting.  It was stated the Meyerbeer lived between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; that Beethoven was born in 1770, and died in 1887; that Schumann was born in 1710 and died in 1856; that Dvořák was the name of a German opera of the seventeenth century; that Bishop was organist of Westminster Abbey and of the Chapel Royal, and that his most important work was the “”Misolto Bough.””  The composer of “”Mors et Vita”” was variously stated to be Mozart, Dr. Stainer, and Agust Manns; the composer of the “”Talisman”” was Tallis, and in correction of the paper, one kindly wrote relative to Brahms, “”You mean, Brahams, the well-known sea song writer,”” but offered no more information on the subject.

In another account (January 1931):

Haydn was one of Dr. maham Lee’s subjects during a lecture course at Harrogate, and as a light touch he quoted this from a schoolboy’s essay: “”Haydn’s father and mother were pheasants.  When he was eight years old he was turned out-of-doors, and he went into choir practice.  He remained in it until he was seventeen.  Before he died, he said: “”Carry me to the pianoforte.”” When he was at the pianoforte he played over the book of Genesis three times.””

Cited in: Scholes, Percy (1947) The Mirror of Music: 1844-1944.  London: Novello, p. 631-3.

 

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

Featured Content

Not up to form, because …
Harvey Sach’s comments on pianist Author Rubinstein at age 13: …it is clear that Arthur’s practising began to deteriorate when he was about fourteen years old.  He would mechanically play through one-handed exercises and use his free hand to feed himself chocolates or cherries, while he read a book that he had propped up on […]
Bacharach’s teachers
Burt Bacharach was a student of Darius Milhaud, Bohusalv Martinu, and Henry Cowell. Bacharach’s hits included Magic Moments, Walk on by, The Look of Love, and Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head.
Behind the Screen
Title: Behind the Screen (silent film soundtrack) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score (45 pages) Background: Written by: Vincent Bryan, Charlie Chaplin, Maverick Terrell Starring: Eric Campbell, Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance Film released: 1916 Sample:
Violoncello piccolo
A violoncello piccolo is a violin-sized instrument tuned like a cello.  It is held horizontally, slung from a from a strap over the shoulder lika guitar.  Some of Bach’s cantatas specifically written for this instrument.  It is possible that Bach wrote the cello suites for the instruments (no instrument was specified on the manuscripts). Source: […]
The cycle of masterpieces
“Only mediocrities progress. An artist revolves in a cycle of masterpieces, the first of which is no less perfect than the last.” – Oscar Wilde, in a letter to the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, 22 September 1894
Wisdom is perishable
"Wisdom is perishable. Unlike information or knowledge, it cannot be stored in a computer or recorded in a book. It expires with each passing generation." – Sid Taylor Cited at: Quotations book  
Mahler’s bowing instructions
Rachmaninoff played his Third Concerto in January 1909 in New York, conducted by Gustav Mahler. Rachmaninoff recalled the rehearsal: Suddenly, Mahler, who had conducted this passage a tempo, tapped his desk: “Stop!  Don’t pay any attention to the difficult bowing marked in your parts. … Play the passage like this,” and he indicated a different […]
Escaping the every day world
“Those around me refuse to accept that I could never live in the everyday world of things and people.  Hence the irrepressible need to have to escape from myself, and go off on adventures which seem inexplicable because no one knows who this man is – yet maybe he’s the best part of me!  Anyway, […]
Richter on Scriabin
“Scriabin isn’t the sort of composer whom you’d regard as your daily bread, but is a heady liqueur on which you can get drunk periodically, a poetical drug, a crystal that’s easily broken.” -Sviatoslav Richter, pianist Monsaingeon, Bruno (2001). Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations. Princeton University Press, p.267 Cited at: Wikipedia
A play for dogs
“Satie said, ‘I want to make a play for dogs, and I [already] have the staging planned. The curtain rises to reveal a bone.’ Poor dogs! After all, it’s their first play. Later one will present more difficult shows to them, but one will always return to the bone.” – Jean Cocteau, playwright Cited in: […]