There is a story that Igor Stravinsky went to the New York jazz club Birdland one evening in 1951. Whispers went round that the great composer was in the house. When Charlie Parker came on with his quintet, he didn’t acknowledge Stravinsky in person, but seamlessly quoted The Firebird in his first number, the furiously fast Ko-Ko. Stravinsky was so delighted that he banged his glass on the table, spilling its contents on the people at the table behind. Parker’s musical quote could just as easily have been The Rite of Spring; two years earlier, in Paris, he’d quoted the opening bassoon melody in his solo on Salt Peanuts, acknowledging that he was in the city that gave birth to The Rite at its scandalous premiere in 1913.
Gillian Moore, “Do the Rite thing: how Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring changed music for ever”, The Guardian, 27 February 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/feb/27/the-rite-of-spring-stravinsky-gillian-moore-disney-jazz-john-williams.
Stravinsky and Charlie Parker
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Music acting as a spirit resonance
My purpose is to create music not for snobs, but for all people, music which is beautiful and healing. To attempt what old Chinese painters called "spirit resonance" in melody and sound. – Alan Hovhaness. Cited at The Alan Hovhaness Website: http://www.hovhaness.com/Hovhaness.html
The artist should not be shabbily treated“I like honesty and sincerity; and I maintain that an artist should not be shabbily treated.” – Beethoven, in a letter to C. F. Peters, 5 June 1822 E. Anderson, Letters of Beethoven (1961), cited in Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. United Kingdom, Oxford, OUP Oxford, 2014.
Brahms’ pranksHannes was not always solemn – far from it! He could be as full of fun and wild pranks as any boy. With Christian he worked out a scheme which they both found hugely entertaining. They would knock at the door of a house where, perhaps a century before, some illustrious citizen of Hamburg had […]
Super-Hooper-Dyne LizziesTitle: Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies (silent film score) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score Related products: – Super-Hooper-Dyne Lizzies (mp3 recording) Details: Film released in 1925 Directed by: Del Lord Written by: Felix Alder, Frank Capra, Al Geibler & Jefferson Moffitt. Starring: Billy Bevan, Andy Clyde, Lillian Knight, John J. Richardson. Synopsis: […]
Elgar’s football teamElgar loved his football, particularly the Wolverhampton team. His friend Dorebella recalled the first match he attended at Wolverhampton: It all delighted him. The dense crowd flowing down the road like a river; the roar of welcome as the rival teams came on to the ground; the shouts of men calling to their player friends […]
How not to get an audienceSatie’s ballet Relâche (1924) had trouble pulling a crowd: the title translates as “this performances is cancelled”. Source: Lawrence, Christopher (2001) Swooning. Sydney: Random House, p.70.
The mannerisms of PachmannThe Russian pianist, Vladimir von Pachmann was known for his funny mannerisms: Everyone knows that the Russian pianist has funny ways of his own, which the public tolerate for the pleasure he affords them as an artist. On this occasion, we read, he remarked, first of all, “Too few people; I cannot play. This is […]
Prayer of Thanksgiving to the TrinityTitle: Prayer of Thanksgiving to the Trinity Text: St. Catherine’s Dialogue on Divine Providence Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Concert band (Flt. 1 & 2, Cl. 1 & 2, Alt. Sax., Ten. Sax., Bar. Sax., Trpt 1 & 2, trb, tub., perc.) Product medium: PDF score and parts Related products: – Prayer of Thanksgiving to the […]
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 […]
The reach of art“Art — reaches out to one specific person (even and especially if that person is imaginary.” Todd Brison, “A Warning Letter to All Writers”, Medium, 25 August 2020, https://medium.com/better-marketing/a-warning-letter-to-all-writers-df00d53f8795, accessed 4 September 2020.