Overheard in a New York street car:— Average Young Man (to neighbour): “Everything they say about Paderewski is true. He’s a perfect genius. Why, he played fourteen pieces and did not once look at the programme. Yet he played straight ahead and never once forgot what piece was to come next. I tell you the man who can do that is a dandy.”
Musical Times, January 1896. Cited in: Scholes, Percy (1947) The Mirror of Music. London: Novello and Company, vol. 1, p. 322.
Paderewski, the dandy
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Against Gregorian
In Anglican England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was considerable opposition to the Roman Catholic Gregorian chant. The Parish Choir or Church Music Book, published by the Society for the Promoting of Church Music (October 1847), applauds those who “deal heavy blows at Romanism and every other form of dissent.” (1) Part […]
The Lord is Kind and Merciful – Psalm 102 (103)Title: The Lord is kind and merciful Text: Psalm 102 (103): 1-4, 9-12. R. v.8 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
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Liszt meets BeethovenI was about eleven years old when my respected teacher Czerny took me to see Beethoven. Already a long time before, he had told Beethoven about me and asked him to give me a hearing some day. However, Beethoven had such an aversion to infant prodigies that he persistently refused to see me. At last […]
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Beethoven’s contestIn 1800, an improvisation contest occured between Beethoven and the pianist Daniel Steibelt. It was agreed that Prince Lobkowitz would sponsor Steibelt and Prince Lichnowsky sponsor Beethoven, the improvisation contest to take place in Lobkowitz’s palace. As the challenger, Steibelt was to play first. He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own […]
CompositionGREG SMITH Composer, arranger, and pianist Greg Smith is an Australian composer and pianist based in New South Wales. Greg majored in piano and composition at The University of Newcastle, completing a Bachelor of Music with first-class honours with a university medal in 2001. He completed a Master of Creative Arts in piano performance, studying […]
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Fightened of ideas“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” – John Cage Cited in: Richard Kostelantez. Conversing with Cage (New York : Limelight Editions, 1988).