Saint-Saëns defending virtuosityIt is virtuosity itself that I want to defend. It is the source of the picturesque in music, it gives the artist wings with whose help he escapes platitudes and the everyday. The conquered difficulty is in itself a beautiful thing. Theódphile Gautier, in Émaux et camées, considered this issue in immortal verses. . . […]
Articles, papers, program notesARTICLES & PAPERS: PROGRAM NOTES:
Lord, Send Our Your Spirit – Psalm 103 (104)Title: Lord, send out your spirit Text: Psalm 103 (104):1. 24. 29-31. 34. R.v.30 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SA and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Don’t wish me luck“From here on out, I declare that no one ever wish me again to ‘break a leg’”. Joyce DiDonato, American mezzo soprano, shortly after having broken a leg on stage in a production of The Barber of Serville at the Royal Opera House. DiDonato insisted on continuing the performance in a wheel chair. Source: Kirkup, […]
Remembering J. S. BachCarl Philip Emanuel Bach recalled his father’s (Johann Sebastian) talents as a musician: The exact tuning of his own instruments, and of the whole orchestra, had his greatest attention. No one could tune and quill his instruments to his satisfaction; he did it all himself. The positioning of an orchestra he understood perfectly. He made good use of […]
Steering the audience’s tasteThe following advice appeared in the British Journal the Musical Times in January 1879: A young student wishes us to tell him what to do under the following circumstances: He has been carefully educated in music, for which he has considerable aptitude and an intense love; he is an efficient pianist, and knows most of […]
The King’s EntranceTitle: The King’s Entrance Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano duet Level: Piano I – 1 (five finger position) Product medium: PDF score and MP3 accompaniment track (Audio sample of accompaniment track only)
Man’s capacity“There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” Henry Ford, American industralist Cited at: Quotations Book
Bacharach’s teachersBurt 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.
Waste not, want notWhile attending school in Lüneberg, J. S. Bach used to travel to Hamburg (50km away) to hear the organist of the Catharinekirche: J. A. Reincken. Marpurg describes how Bach, returning almost penniless to Lüneberg, once rested outside an inn; how someone threw two herring heads out on the rubbish heap; how Bach – a Thuringian, to […]
