Edward Elgar, Pomp & Circumstance Op.39: No.4 in G Major: Allegro Marziale”

Photos of the Malvern Hills and around the area.

Yehudi Menuhin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Arturo Toscanini “Marosszék Dances” Kodály

Marosszék Dances by Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
NBC Symphony Orchestra
Arturo Toscanini, conductor
08.II.1941

Mozart – Symphony No. 36 in C, K V 425 (Linz)

Linz by night (Photo credit: uitdragerij)

The Symphony No. 36 in C major, KV 425, (known as the Linz Symphony) was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during a stopover in the Austrian town of Linz on his and his wife’s way back home to Vienna from Salzburg in late 1783. The entire symphony was written in four days to accommodate the local count’s announcement, upon hearing of the Mozarts’ arrival in Linz, of a concert. The première in Linz took place on 4 November, 1783. The composition was also premièred in Vienna on 1 April, 1784. The autograph score of the “Linz Symphony” was not preserved. The symphony is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. There are four movements:
1. Adagio, 3/4 — Allegro spiritoso, 4/4
2. Poco adagio, 6/8
3. Menuetto, 3/4
4. Finale (Presto), 2/4.
Every movement except the minuet is in sonata form. The slow movement has a siciliano character and meter which was rare in Mozart’s earlier symphonies (only used in one of the slow movements of the “Paris“) but would appear frequently in later works such as #38 and #40. The next symphony by Mozart is Symphony No. 38. The work known as “Symphony No. 37” is mostly by Michael Haydn.  

New plugin lets users fix Google’s text translations (From CNET)

New plugin lets users fix Google’s text translations (From CNET) (click to access article)

Great News for those who translate their attepts to wrining: Google’s Translation tool is getting an update that lets users “contribute a better translation” to make it easier for readers to understand what’s written.

Ecco l’iceberg che si ribalta

Ecco l’iceberg che si ribalta

Immagini rare, catturate per la prima volta su pellicola da un turista: un piccolo iceberg del ghiacciaio di Upsala in Argentina si ribalta.

This day in History: Copyright Act of 1790 Signed into US Law (1790)

Copyright Act of 1790 Signed into US Law (1790)

After the US Constitution was ratified in 1788, one of the first issues that the fledgling government faced was the lack of a copyright law. Without it, Congress would be swamped with individual petitions for protection from piracy. Modeled on Britain’s Statute of Anne, the Copyright Act of 1790 was soon signed into law by President Washington. Instituted to encourage learning by securing US authors the sole rights to their work for 14-year periods, it drew what complaint from Charles Dickens? More… Discuss

English: The US Copyright Act of 1790 reprinted in the Colombian Centinel, published 17 July 1790. Full title: “An act for the encouragement of learning by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned.” Out of copyright. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Today’s Birthday: Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443)

Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443)

Beaufort was an English noblewoman, wife of Edmund Tudor, and the mother of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor Dynasty. She gave birth to Henry at 13, shortly after being widowed, and developed a close bond with her only child. Renowned for her philanthropy, she endowed professorships of divinity at Oxford and Cambridge and with the help of her confessor, John Fisher, founded Christ’s College and St. John’s College, Cambridge. She later acted as regent for Henry VIII. How many times did she marry? More… Discuss

Quotation of the Day: Fracis Bacon -on Fame

Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Discuss

My take on this: “Fame can float you, fame can sink you:  That which you’re famous for is of your choosing!”

Paranoid Fiction

Franz Kafka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Paranoid fiction is a literary genre in which reality is portrayed as subject to manipulation by external forces, such as totalitarian governments, or internal forces, such as insanity. The genre frequently overlaps with dystopian fiction and science fiction and is inspired by the works of authors like Franz Kafka and Philip K. Dick, who penned the novel that was made into the film Blade Runner. What paranoid-fiction writer may have taken some of his inspiration from his own nightmares? More… Discuss

 

 

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