Quotation: Ralph Waldo Emerson on gifts

Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Today’s Birthday: MARIA MITCHELL (1818)

Maria Mitchell (1818)

The daughter of an amateur astronomer, Mitchell spent her formative years learning to observe the heavens. When she was 29, she discovered a comet. For her achievement, she was awarded a gold medal by the king of Denmark. Her reputation as an astronomer thus secured, she soon became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and, thereafter, to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. To which of America’s Founding Fathers was Mitchell distantly related? More…

This Day in the Yesteryear: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MASSACRE (1966)

University of Texas Massacre (1966)

On August 1, 1966, University of Texas student and former Marine Charles Whitman stabbed his mother and wife to death. He then took an array of firearms to his university’s 307-foot (94-m) clock tower. There, he shot and killed more than a dozen people and wounded at least 30 others before police killed him. In his writings, Whitman expressed regret and confusion over his actions and asked that an autopsy be performed to determine what had caused his behavior. What did the autopsy find? More…

 

In the News: RECESSION’S TOLL ON THE MENTALLY ILL

Recession’s Toll on the Mentally Ill

Data from across the European Union reveal that in the recent recession, the unemployment rate for people withmental health problems rose twice as much as for those without. Between 2006 and 2010, the unemployment rate climbed from 7.1% to 9.8% among those who were mentally sound. Meanwhile, unemployment among those with mental health problems went from 12.7% to 18.2%. For those with mental health problems, losing a job or being unemployed can be something of a double whammy, as in addition to creating economic hardship, it can also intensify underlying mental health issues. More…

Related articles

• Mentally ill ‘hit hard by recession’ (bbc.co.uk)
• The Mental Health Consequences of the Recession: Economic Hardship and Employment of People with Mental Health Problems in 27 European Countries (plosone.org)
• Vulnerable count cost as their jobless rate rockets (scotsman.com)
• People with mental health problems hit harder by recession (psypost.org)
• The recession hits those with mental health problems harder (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Troop Morale Down, Mental Health Problems Up in Afghanistan (theblaze.com)
• Report: Long Deployments Put Military Children at Increased Risk for Mental Health Problems (theblaze.com)
• Mentally ill hit ‘twice as hard’ by unemployment (thetimes.co.uk)
• Just a Chemical Reaction! (spottysunflowers.wordpress.com)
• Mentally ill people ‘hit hard by recession’ (thedailystar.net)

RUSH HOUR

Rush hour—a misnomer, as it often lasts longer than a single hour—is a period of the day when traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transportation is at its peak. These periods usually correspond to the start and end of the typical workday, when most people are commuting. Thus, there tends to be both a morning and an evening rush hour. Some areas even have a lunchtime rush hour. What system have some cities, such as São Paulo, Brazil, instituted to help curb rush hour traffic? More…

 

Brahms violin sonata op. 78 no. 1 in G major

piano: Daniel Barenboim
violin:Pinchas Zukerman 
The Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78,  for violin and piano was composed by Johannes Brahms during the summers of 1878 and 1879 in Pörtschach am Wörthersee. It was first performed on 8 November 1879 in Bonn. Each of three movements of this sonata shares common motivic ideas or thematic materials from the head-motif of Brahms’s two songs “Regenlied” and “Nachklang”, Op. 59, and this is why this sonata is also called Rain Sonata (Regen-Sonate).
This sonata consists of three movements. The first movement, Vivace ma non troppo is written in sonata form in G major; the second movement, Adagio — Più andante — Adagio, is an expanded ternary form in E major, and the third movement, Allegro molto moderato is a rondo in G minor with coda in G major. The dotted rhythm motif from the two songs is not only directly quoted as a leading theme in the third movement of this sonata but also constantly appearing as fragmented rhythmic motif throughout the all three movements of the sonata so that the entire sonata has a certain coherency. The rhythm of the rain motif appearing in the middle section of the second movement is adapted to a funeral march. The two disruptive appearances of the main theme of the Adagio in the third movement also represent cyclic form used in this sonata.
(from Wikipedia)

 

pachelbel’s Canon in D – _ – Soothing music

Music Title: Canon in D
Composer: J. Pachelbel
relax, feel the music and feel free to comment on the video and the music. I hope everyone will enjoy to hear the music and leave an impression, a comment, a rating, a like! 🙂

 

John Ireland – A Downland Suite (1932), for brass band

A Downland Suite (1932):
I. Prelude
II. Elegy
III. Minuet
IV. Rondo
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A work for brass band by English composer John Ireland (1879-1962).
Conductor: David Honeyball
London Brass Virtuosi

Sirenes. Claude Debussy

Jean-Baptiste Lully : Les Folies d’Espagne

Texte du Lutin d’Ecouves : La Folia est, à l’origine, une danse dont il est fait pour la première fois mention dans un texte portugais du XVe siècle. Il s’agissait d’un rite chorégraphique lié à la fertilité lors duquel les danseurs portaient des hommes habillés en femmes sur leurs épaules. Le rythme rapide de la danse ainsi que son aspect insensé furent certainement à l’origine de son nom. Parmi un certain nombre de thèmes, émergea une mélodie de base.
Jusqu’au milieu du XVIIe, elle se répandit en Italie (Follia) et en France (Folie d’Espagne) puis le thème évolua rapidement pour prendre sa forme définitive dans cette suite d’accords :
réM/La7/réM/do/fa/do/réM/la7
réM/La7/réM/do/fa/do/rém-la7/réM
Apparue aux alentours de 1650 puis publiée en 1672 par Lully, cette mélodie se stabilisera en se ralentissant et devint le thème d’innombrables variations dont les plus célèbres furent celles de Corelli parues en 1700.

Dvorak – Romance for piano and violin, Op.11 (RATE UPON VISITING, THANK YOU!)

Upon visiting you are invited to rate this magnificent music: You can so that while you listen, without interrupting the course of music (actually you can do it without even having to read this prompt: JUST FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF THOSE WHO ALREADY DO IT, OR BE THE FIRST!

 

YOU CAN EVEN COMMENT, YOU KNOW, MANY DO!

THANK YOU!

🙂

Dvorak – Zypressen (“Cypresses”) for String Quartet No.13, in G major, Op.106

Dvorak: Cypresses
Antonín Dvořák: Cypresses | String Quartet No.13 in G Major, Op.106

The acclaimed Cypress String Quartet plays the cycle of miniatures, inspired by unrequited love, from which the ensemble takes its name. More than three decades after writing Cypresses, Dvořák had turned from lovesick to homesick; a masterful demonstration of the intimate conversation of chamber music, the G major Quartet is also a song of thanksgiving for the composer’s return from the US to his native land. Previous discs from the CSQ have been praised by Gramophone for the ensemble’s “intoxicating and lyrical” playing and “sheer instrumental mastery.”

– See more at: http://cypressquartet.com/2013/01/dvorak-cypresses-op-106/#sthash.gyy7drT9.dpuf

Stamitz Quartet 

Bohuslav Matousek, violin I 
Josef Kekula, violin II 
Jan Peruska, viola 
Vladimir Peixner, cello

Charles John Stanley – Trumpet Voluntary

Isaac Stern – Beethoven, Triple Concerto For Piano, Violin, Cello & Orchestra Op.56

Ludwig Van Beethoven [ 1770 – 1827 ],
Concerto For Piano, Violin, Cello & Orchestra
In C Major Op.56 ‘Thriple Concerto’

I. Allegro
II. Largo – attacca
III. Rondo Alla Polacca Allegro tempo I.

Violin ; Isaac Stern [ 1920 – 2001 ]
Piano ; Emanuel Ax [ 1949 – ]
Cello ; Yo-Yo Ma [ 1955 – ]

Conducted By ; Michael Stern
London Symphony Orchestra
Narrated By ; Gregory Peck

From Album [ 1992, Sony Classical LD ]
Isaac Stern A Biography In Music
Live At Royal Festival Hall