Category: Music

December 5


Dejlig er den himmel bla
(How glorious is the sky blue)
Norwegian Christmas Carol
Text: N.F.S. Grundvig (1783-1872)
Melody: J.G. Meidell ca. 1846

December 3


Little Donkey
English children’s Christmas Song
Written by Eric Boswell (1921-2009)

December 2


 
Colinda
Traditional Advent Caroling from Romania

December 1


Te Harinui
(Not on a snowy night)
A Christmas Carol from New Zealand
Text & Music: Willow Mackey (*1921)

Stamp of the Month: December 2017



Monaco 12.11.1975

Maurice Ravel

The French composer Joseph-Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure on March 7, 1875. He died in Paris on December 28, 1937. In December 2017 his death marks the 80th time.
Ravel began playing the piano at the age of seven years and has already received lessons in harmony when he was 13. In 1889 he began his musical studies at the Paris Conservatory with the target to become a pianist. However, since he several times failed in the midterm exams, he had to leave the master class in 1895. He joined the composition class of Gabriel Fauré in 1897. Although he also did not finish this studies with a degree, Ravel very soon made himself a name as a composer.

Ravel composed mainly chamber music and piano works. The contemporary audience responded very differently to Ravel’s works. Most concertgoers preferred conservative, harmonious pleasing works and often were overwhelmed with Ravel’s unfamiliar harmonies and rhythmic changes. However, many critics expressed sympathy for his new ideas.
 



The “Boléro” is Ravel’s best-known and most frequently performed work. It was written as a ballet music for the dancer Ida Rubinstein and was considered in the first performance on 22.11.1928 with thunderous applause. Ravel himself was suspect about the success of the work, which he described as “a simple orchestration exercise”. Almost dismissively, he once said: “My masterpiece? The Boléro, of course. Too bad that it contains no music”.

Stamp of the Month: November 2017


Joint issue: Russia – India
„Beryozka khorovod“

“Beryozka” is a professional dance company that performs only Russian girl dances. The ensemble was founded in 1948 by Nadezhda Sergeyevna Nadjeschdina (1908-1979), who was a ballerina at the Bolshoi Ballet 1925-1934 and worked from 1934 to 1948 with amateur dance groups in different cities of Russia. For the Amateur Art Festival 1948 in Moscow, she created the choreography “Beryozka khorovod” (Birch round dance) for the dance group from Kalinin.


Russia 26.10.2017


India 26.10.2017


She was inspired to do so by a ritual spring round dance for unmarried girls, which was known as the ‘birch worship’. As background music Nadjeschdina chose the folk song “There was a birch tree on the field”, which has been arranged for four Bajan players (Russian button accordion) by the composer Yevgeny Kusnjetsov (1922-1993).
The choreography “Beryozka khorovod” and the ensemble “Beryozka” have become world famous.

In Memoriam: Fats Domino



Togo 28.12.2011




The American pianist, singer and songwriter Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr., born on February 26, 1928 in New Orleans, died on October 24,2017 in his hometown. The breakthrough of the rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues, piano blues and boogie-woogie musician came in 1955 with “Ain’t that a shame” and 1956 with “Blueberry Hill”, which he first performed in the legendary Ed Sullivan Show. It became the biggest hit of his career. As a live performer Fats Domino was active until the 1990s. The song “I’m Walkin'”, first recorded in 1957 was used in a 1991 Aral-advertising and thus returned into the German charts. Fats Domino was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2003.

50 Years ago …

Number 1 Hit of the British Charts (Oct. 5 – Nov. 1, 1967)
The Bee Gees “Massachusetts”


Isle of Man, Oct. 12, 1999



The song Massachusetts was written, composed and sung by brothers Robin, Maurice and Barry Gibb. Musical accompaniment was by Maurice Gibb (bass), Vince Melouney (guitar) and Colin Petersen (drums). The single reached number 1 of the charts in Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Norway, Austria and Australia. In Japan “Massachusetts” was the first ever non-Japanese song that ranked first.

Stamp of the Month: October 2017


Sir Malcolm Sargent

The English conductor Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was born in Ashford on 29 April 1895. He died on October 3, 1967 in London. October 2017 marks his 50th memorial anniversary.
Malcolm Sargent studied piano, organ and musicology. His conducting career began in 1921 when Sir Henry Wood invited him to conduct the Promenade Concerts of Queen’s Hall in London. Throughout his career, Sargent led the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra of Manchester, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Since 1948 he was principal conductor of the legendary Proms. Sargent always was particularly interested in contemporary English music. So he conducted, among other premieres by Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams.


Great Britain 10.9.1980
Beside of his work as a conductor Sargent taught at the Royal College of Music, worked for several years with the Ballets Russes and was conductor of the Royal Choral Society from 1928 until his death.
 



 
 
The 1945 film “Battle for Music” told the story of the London Philharmonic’s trials and tribulations during World War II. Several classical artists took part, including Sir Malcolm Sargent. This clip from the film is of Sargent conducting Delius’s “La Calinda” for an audience of school children.