Category: Uncategorized

Stamp of the Month: November 2020

Bugs Bunny

To mark the 80th anniversary of the first screening of the Bugs Bunny short films, a series of 10 stamps with scenes from these comics was released in the USA. One of the stamps shows Bugs Bunny as a pianist in “Rhapsody Rabbit”. This animated short film was part of the “Merrie Melodies Series” and was produced under the direction of Friz Freleng. It was released in cinemas on November 9, 1946 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Like all short films in the “Merrie Melodies Series”, “Rhapsody Rabbit” was accompanied by a piece of music: Bugs Bunny plays Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2”. The pianist was the American composer and arranger Carl W. Stalling (1891-1972).

USA 27.7.2020

 
By the way, there are 10 other Bugs Bunny short films with 14 other pieces of classical music: “Tales from the Vienna Woods” and “Blue Danube” (Johann Strauss II, in “A Corny Concerto”, 1943), “Hungarian Dances” (Johannes Brahms, in “Pigs in a Polka”, 1943), “Dreaming” (Robert Schumann, in: “Hare Ribbin”, 1944), “William Tell Overture” (Gioachino Rossini, “Bugs Bunny Rides Again”, 1948), Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7th (in “A Ham in a Role”, 1949), “Largo al Factotum” from “The Barber of Seville” (Rossini, in “The Long-Haired Hare”, 1949), “The Barber of Seville Overture” (in “The Rabbit of Seville”, 1950), “Minute Waltz” (Frédéric Chopin, in “Hyde and Hare”, 1955), “Dance of the Comedians” from “The Bartered Bride” (Bedrich Smetana, in “Zoom and Bored”, 1957), the Overture from “The Flying Dutchman”, “Pilgrim’s Chorus” from “Tannhäuser” and “Ride of the Valkyries” from “Die Walküre” by Richard Wagner (in “What’s Opera, Doc?”, 1957), and finally “Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna” by Franz von Suppé (in “Baton Bunny”, 1959).
 


Stamp of the Month: October 2020

Melina Mercouri

The Greek actress, singer and politician Melina Mercouri was born on October 18, 1920 in Athens. She died in New York on March 6, 1994. October 2020 will mark the 100th anniversary of her birthday.
 
Melina (actually Maria Amalia) Mercouri came from an upper class family. From 1939 she went to drama school and made her debut at the Greek National Theater in Athens in 1944 in an avant-garde play by Alexis Solomos. The reviews were that the actress was “too young, too tall, too blonde, clumsy, talentless”. After appearing in the provinces, she played briefly in Paris before getting her first film role in 1955. She became known to international audiences in 1960 through the film comedy “Never on

Greece 7.3.1995
Sunday”. For this role she received an Acting Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a nomination for an Oscar for best actress. The film song, composed by Manos Hadjidakis, received the Oscar for best film music. There are cover versions of this evergreen by Caterina Valente, Dalida, Lys Assia, Lale Andersen, Nana Mouskouri, Daliah Lavi and Andrea Berg, among others.
After the success of “Never on Sunday” Melina Mercouri starred in other films such as “Phaedra” and “Topkapi” and the lead role in the Broadway musical “Illya Darling”.
During the seven-year military dictatorship in Greece, Melina Mercouri lived in exile in France from 1967 to 1974 and made her criticism of the regime clear on the tours that took her as a singer around the world. After the overthrow of the military junta, she was elected as a member of the Greek parliament in 1977, from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1994, Melina Mercouri was Greek Minister of Culture. The establishment of the annual European Capital of Culture goes back to her initiative.
 
The video shows Melina Mercouri performing on television in 1972 with her hit “Ta Paidia Tou Piraia” (The Children of Piraeus) from the film “Never on Sunday”.
 


 

New in our Library

The library of our study group contains an extensive collection of philatelic magazine articles from all areas of music philately. These articles can be read online by our members.
Also this month the archive has been enhanced by new articles.
 




1.10.: Clara Schumann / Organ / Wagner Set 1933 / Bernard Haitink
28.10.: 28.10.: Elton John / Thin Lizzy / Radio Luxembourg / Lied & Chor (Germany) / Israel Choirs
11.1.: Table of contents for the Italian magazine “Il Podio” (1985 – 2016)
18.1.: Vienna State Opera, Ludwig van Beethoven, Walther von der Vogelweide, Leonard Cohen
 
Go to the archive (members only)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2020
to all members and friends of Motivgruppe Musik



Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes Neues Jahr

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année

Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

Meri Kurisumasu soshite Akemashite Omedeto

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

Feliz Natal e um Prospero Ano Novo

S nastupaiushchim Novym godom i s Rozhdestvom Khristovym

God Jul Och Ett Gott Nytt Ar

Wesolych Swiat i Szczesliwego Nowego Roku


Noeliniz ve yeni yiliniz kutlu olsun

Z novym rokom i s rizdvom Hrystovym

Craciun fericit si un an nou fericit

Nixtieklek Milied tajjeb u is-sena t-tabja

Linksmu Kaledu

Kellemes karacsonyi uennepeket es boldog ujevet

Hronia polla ke eftihismenos o kenourios hronos

Glaedelig Jul og godt nytaar

Stastne a vesele vanoce a stastny novy rok

Shen tan jie kuai le. Hsin Nien Kuaile

Shnorhavor Nor Dari yev Surp Dznunt

Filatelistisch Personenregister van Musici


Filatelistisch Personenregister van Musici
(Philatelic Register of Musicians)
 
Authors: Arie Haasnoot / Wolter van der Zwaan
(Members of Motivgruppe Musik e.V.)
 
Issued 2019 / 243 pages / Dutch / 250 coloured images
Price: 19.50 €
The book can be ordered from the authors

 
The lexicon contains about 4500 names of musicians. There is also a chapter “National Anthems” and an overview of music groups of popular music.

New Books: Music Lexikon – Persons on Stamps



Das große Musik-Lexikon
Personen auf Briefmarken von 1840 – 2015
(Musik Lexikon – Persons on Stamps)
 
Author: Manfred Gorol
(Member of Motivgruppe Musik e.V.)
 
1,600 pages / German / Price: 150.- € + postage
The lexicon can be ordered from the author


It would certainly require a lot of work: the author was well aware of that when in the 1990s he began his endeavor to compile a lexicon of all persons with any known musical activity who also appeared on a postage stamp. But that it would take more than 25 years of intensive research to complete the project was then beyond his wildest dreams.
At PHILA MUSICA 2019 Manfred Gorol could finally show his work. “Das große Musiklexikon – Personen auf Briefmarken von 1840-2015” numbers 4 volumes and presents in around 1,600 pages more than 12,000 concise portraits from “Aabel, Per” (Norway, Michel 1372) to “Zylberstein, Elsa” (Guinea, Michel 6562 and Comores, Block 499). The concise portraits never exceed four lines and are always supplemented with references to the relevant stamps (country, date of issue, Michel number). Thus this lexicon contains some 12,000 comprehensive checklists, including issues up to 2015.

In memoriam: Mariss Jansons


On 30 November 2019, the Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons died at the age of 76 years. Jansons was born on January 14, 1943 in Riga. He studied violin, piano and conducting at the Leningrad Conservatory and in 1969 went to Austria, where he continued his education with Hans Swarowsky and Herbert von Karajan. In 1973 he became deputy conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, from 1979 to 2000 he conducted the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1992 he became Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1997, and since 2003 Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he was chief conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra from 2004 to 2015. In 2006, 2012 and 2016, Mariss Jansons conducted the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic. After many important honors and awards, he received the “Opus Klassik 2019” on October 13, 2019 for his life’s work.


Austria 1.1.2006