Daily Archives: March 17, 2015

The “terse,” “tragic”^[2] String Quartet No. 1 in C minor is remarkable for its organic unity and for the harmonically sophisticated, “orchestrally inclined” outer movements that bracket its more intimate inner movements.^[1] Structurally and thematically, the first movement shows the influence of Schubert’s Quartettsatz, D. 703, also in C minor.^[2] The quartet consists of four movements:

Allegro (C minor)
Romanze: Poco adagio (A-flat major)
Allegretto molto moderato e comodo (F minor)
Allegro (C minor
************************************************************

String Quartet: Amadeus Quartet

Norbert Brainin (1st violin)
Siegmund Nissel (2nd violin)
Peter Schidlof (viola)
Martin Lovett (cello)

The Amadeus Quartet was a world famous string quartet founded in 1947.
Because of their Jewish origin, violinists Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel and Peter Schidlof (later violist) were driven out of Vienna after Hitler’s Anschluss of 1938.
Brainin and Schidlof met in a British internment camp on the Isle of Man; many Jewish refugees had the misfortune of being confined by the British as “enemy aliens” upon seeking refuge in the UK.
Brainin was released after a few months, but Schidlof remained in the camp, where he met Nissel.
Finally Schidlof and Nissel were released, and the three of them were able to study with violin teacher Max Rostal, who taught them free of charge.
It was through Rostal that they met cellist Martin Lovett, and in 1947 they formed the Brainin Quartet, which was renamed the Amadeus Quartet in 1948. [Wikipedia]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johannes Brahms‘s String Quartets Nos. 1 in C minor and 2 in A minor were completed in Tutzing, Bavaria, during the summer of 1873, and published together that autumn as Opus 51. They are dedicated to his friend Theodor Billroth.

Composition

Brahms was slow in writing his first two string quartets. We know from a letter from Joseph Joachim that a C-minor quartet was in progress in 1865, but it may not have been the same work that would become Opus 51 No. 1 in 1873. Four years before publication, however, in 1869, we know for certain that the two quartets were complete enough to be played through. But the composer remained unsatisfied. Years passed. New practice runs then occurred in Munich, probably in June 1873, and Brahms ventured south of the city to the small lakeside town of Tutzing for a summer respite. There, with the Würmsee (as Lake Starnberg was then called) and the Bavarian Prealps as backdrop, he put the finishing touches on the two quartets.

He was 40 years old at the time of publication. Brahms regarded the string quartet as a particularly important genre. He reportedly destroyed some twenty string quartets before allowing the two Op. 51 quartets to be published.^[1] At least one of the quartets (No. 1 in C minor) had been complete as early as 1865 but Brahms continued to revise it for nearly a decade.^[1]

Explaining his slow progress to a publisher in 1869, Brahms wrote that as Mozart had taken “particular trouble” over the six “beautiful” Haydn Quartets, he intended to do his “very best to turn out one or two passably decent ones.”^[1] According to his friend Max Kalbeck, Brahms insisted on hearing a secret performance of the Op. 51 quartets before they were published, after which he substantially revised them.

During Brahms’s lifetime, the string quartet, like the symphony, was a genre dominated by the contributions of Ludwig van Beethoven. In choosing the key of C minor for the first of his quartets, Brahms may have been seeking to acknowledge as well as break free from Beethoven’s paralyzing influence, since Beethoven composed some of his greatest and most characteristic works in that key.^[1] (Brahms likewise chose the key of C minor for his First Symphony.)

Structure

Allegro (C minor)
Romanze: Poco adagio (A-flat major)
Allegretto molto moderato e comodo (F minor)
Allegro (C minor)

The String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, also highly unified thematically, is comparatively lyrical, although culminating in a dramatic and propulsive finale whose tension “derives…from a metrical conflict between theme and accompaniment.”^[3] Like Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 and Violin Concerto, the A minor quartet has a final movement modeled on a Hungarian folk dance, in this case a czárdás.^[4] The quartet consists of four movements:

Allegro non troppo (A minor)
Andante moderato (A major)
Quasi Minuetto, moderato (A minor)
Finale. Allegro non assai (A minor)

With all the movements in A minor or A major, the String Quartet No. 2 is therefore homotonal. Each quartet lasts about half an hour in performance.

Critical reception

The Op. 51 string quartets were received “respectfully if without great enthusiasm” at their respective premieres in October and December 1873.^[5] While the quartets have enjoyed less popularity than some of Brahms’s other chamber music, they helped revitalize “the great but moribund tradition” of the string quartet that had stagnated after Beethoven and Schubert, and helped inspire the quartets of Arnold Schoenberg, Béla Bartók, and other twentieth century composers.^[5] In his famous essay “Brahms the Progressive”, Schoenberg praised the quartets for their advanced harmony and for the unprecedented completeness with which Brahms derives each movement from a tiny motif.^[6]

The Op. 51 quartets have been recorded by such ensembles as the Amadeus Quartet, Quartetto Italiano, Alban Berg Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, Tokyo Quartet, Emerson Quartet and Takács Quartet.

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MAURICE RAVEL: LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN – PIERRE BOULEZ & BERLIN PHILARMONIC — 2003

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MAURICE RAVEL: LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN – PIERRE BOULEZ & BERLIN PHILARMONIC — 2003

ARCHIVOS BOESMI – ARTE Y CULTURA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Ravel piano composition.

Cover of the first printed edition designed by Ravel himself

Le tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917, in six movements based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer (or in one case, two brothers) who had died fighting in World War I. Ravel also produced an orchestral version of the work in 1919, although this omitted two of the original movements.

Composition

The movements are as follows:

I	Prélude	Vif	12/16	= 92	E minor	in memory of First Lieutenant Jacques Charlot (transcriber of Ma mère l’oye for piano solo)
II	Fugue	Allegro moderato	4/4	= 84	E minor	in memory of Second Lieutenant Jean Cruppi (to whose mother Ravel had also dedicated L’heure espagnole)
III	Forlane	Allegretto	6/8	= 96	E minor	in memory of First Lieutenant Gabriel Deluc (a Basque painter from Saint-Jean-de-Luz)
IV	Rigaudon	Assez vif	2/4	n/a	C major	in memory of Pierre and Pascal Gaudin (two brothers and childhood friends of Ravel, killed by the same shell in November 1914)
V	Menuet	Allegro moderato	3/4	= 92	G major	in memory of Jean Dreyfus (at whose home Ravel recuperated after he was demobilized)
VI	Toccata	Vif	2/4	= 144	E major	in memory of Captain Joseph de Marliave (musicologist and husband of Marguerite Long)

The first performance of the original piano version was given on 11 April 1919 by Marguerite Long, Joseph de Marliave’s widow, in the Salle Gaveau in Paris.^[3]^[4]

Orchestrations and transcription

House where Ravel composed Le tombeau de Couperin

In 1919 Ravel orchestrated four movements of the work (Prélude, Forlane, Menuet and Rigaudon);^[5] this version was premiered in February 1920 by Rhené-Baton and the Pasdeloup Orchestra, and has remained one of his more popular works. Ravel transcribed many of his piano pieces for orchestra, but here he reaches the height of his orchestration skills, turning a very pianistic piece into a superb orchestral suite with very few hints of its origins. The orchestral version clarifies the harmonic language of the suite and brings sharpness to its classical dance rhythms; among the demands it places on the orchestra is the requirement for an oboe soloist of virtuosic skill, as the oboist takes the melody in the Prélude and the Menuet as well as for the pastoral C minor section of the Rigaudon, where it is accompanied by guitar-like pizzicati.^[6]

The orchestrated version is scored for two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes (one doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet, harp, and strings.

Only a few years after Ravel’s own orchestration, Lucien Garban (working under the pseudonym of Roger Branga) produced a version of the piece for ‘small orchestra’ with a piano-conductor, consisting of the Prélude, Menuet and Rigaudon. He had previously transcribed the full suite for piano four hands in 1919.

Several other composers have since created orchestrations of those two movements which Ravel omitted, the Fugue and the Toccata. David Diamond has orchestrated the second movement Fugue, while the Hungarian pianist and conductor Zoltán Kocsis has produced his own version of both the Fugue and the Toccata. However, here, the Toccata, scored for a very large orchestra, goes far beyond the limits of Ravel’s own, small orchestra, and the Fugue is set for winds only. Another instrumentation of Fugue and Toccata by pianist Michael Round was recorded by Vladimir Ashkenazy (Exton, 2003): the score is published (as two separate titles, ‘Fugue’ and ‘Toccata’) by Edwin F. Kalmus. Round’s version of the Toccata adds percussion, requiring up to five players. Kalmus omitted the percussion parts from the published score so as to exactly match the orchestration of the rest of the suite, but these parts are available separately, directly from the orchestrator. In 2013 the British composer Kenneth Hesketh orchestrated the Fugue and Toccata for the exact orchestration of the original four-movement orchestral suite. The first performance was given by the Goettingen Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Mathias Mueller. The scores are available from Schott Music, London.

Four movements (Prélude, Fugue, Menuet, and Rigaudon) have been arranged for wind quintet by American horn player Mason Jones (1919–2009).^[7] Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen has also transcribed four movements for wind quintet.,^[8] and further American composer Gunther Schuller has made a wind-quintet arrangement.^[9]

In 2013, Trevor P. Wagler re-arranged the orchestral version of four movements (Prélude, Forlane, Menuet, and Rigaudon) down to a quintet (ob/cl/vn/vcl/pft), played at Wilfrid Laurier University.^[10]

For oboe and piano, the four orchestral movements (Prélude, Fugue, Menuet and Rigaudon) have been arranged 2014 by Elena González Arias (Adliswil: Ed.Kunzelmann, 2014). ^[11] combines the essential features of both of the composer’s versions in one – the intimate character of the piano original and the tone-colour of the oboe in the orchestral transcription. A compromise was found between the two versions not only with respect to the compositional material, but also with regard to articulation and dynamics.

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I stand with @ewg in opposing the chemical industry’s bill that will harm families – RT if you stand with us!

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I stand with @ewg in opposing the chemical industry’s bill that will harm families – RT if you stand with us! #tsca pic.twitter.com/rrZ8P7zjeW

— erin brockovich (@ErinBrockovich) March 17, 2015

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Pray the Rosary – Tuesday and Friday – The Sorrowful Mysteries – Powerful Prayers for Miracles

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Pray the Rosary – Tuesday and Friday – The Sorrowful Mysteries – Powerful Prayers for Miracles

lovetrinity8

Published on Jun 11, 2012

Listen and pray along to The Sorrowful Mysteries and meditate on:

1. The Agony in the Garden: Contrition for our sins.
2. The Scourging at the Pillar: Mortification of our senses.
3. The Crowning with Thorns: Interior mortification.
4. The Carrying of the Cross: Patience under crosses.
5. The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord: That we may die to ourselves.

Enjoy peace and love.

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Tagged Powerful Prayers, Pray the Rosary - Tuesday and Friday - The Sorrowful Mysteries - Powerful Prayers for Miracles, Sorrowful Mysteries

St. Patrick Prayers: St Patrick’s Breastplate (and thirteen more)

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Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort me and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend or stranger.

(390-461 A.D.)

More St. Patrick Prayers

Prayer about St. Patrick A Chaplet of St Patrick Prayer for the Faithful by Saint Patrick Have Faith Love Will Find You An Irish prayer Lorica of Saint Patrick Lorica of Saint Patrick

Lorica of Saint Patrick Prayer to St. Patrick, Patron of Ireland St Patrick’s Breastplate St Patrick’s Breastplate (390-461 A.d.) St. Patrick’s Breastplate (ca. 389-461 AD.) Thanks for St. Patrick

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Tagged Saint Patrick, St. Patrick, St. Patrick Prayers:, St. Patrick's Breastplate

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The most kids know of St. Patrick ‘s Day is that you must wear green or you’ll get a pinch from your friends. Adults see the day as an occasion to celebrate, sometimes with green beer and other assorted alcoholic beverages. However, few really know what they are celebrating or why the holiday is so important, particularly in the Americas.

The following 10 facts may help you to better enjoy this popular holiday.

Saint Patrick in blue vestments.

3/17/2014 (11 months ago)

10. March 17th is when Patrick died.

Saint Patrick is a saint of the Catholic Church, and his holy day is the day of his death, and subsequent entrance to heaven, rather than the day of his physical birth. After spending most of his adult life converting the pagans of Ireland to Christianity, St. Patrick went to his reward on March 17, 461 AD.

Keep the Saint in St. Patrick’s Day! Shop these remarkable Catholic products.

9. St. Patrick wasn’t Irish.

St. Patrick wasn’t Irish, and he wasn’t born in Ireland. Patrick’s parents were Roman citizens living in modern-day England, or more precisely in Scotland or Wales (scholars cannot agree on which). He was born in 385 AD. By that time, most Romans were Christians and the Christian religion was spreading rapidly across Europe.

8. St. Patrick was a slave.

At the age of 16, Patrick had the misfortune of being kidnapped by Irish raiders who took him away and sold him as a slave. He spent several years in Ireland herding sheep and learning about the people there. At the age of 22, he managed to escape. He made his way to a monastery in England where he spent 12 years growing closer to God.

7. St. Patrick used the shamrock to preach about the trinity.

Many claim the shamrock represents faith, hope, and love, or any number of other things but it was actually used by Patrick to teach the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and how three things, the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit could be separate entities, yet one in the same. Obviously, the pagan rulers of Ireland found Patrick to be convincing because they quickly converted to Christianity.

6. Legend says St. Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland.

According to legend, St. Patrick drove all the snakes, or in some translations, “toads,” out of Ireland. In reality, this probably did not occur, as there is no evidence that snakes have ever existed in Ireland, the climate being too cool for them to thrive. Despite that, scholars suggest that the term “snakes” may be figurative and refer to pagan religious beliefs and practices rather than reptiles or amphibians.

5. Patrick’s color is blue.

The original color associated with St. Patrick is blue, not green as commonly believed. In several artworks depicting the saint, he is shown wearing blue vestments. King Henry VIII used the Irish harp in gold on a blue flag to represent the country. Since that time, and possibly before, blue has been a popular color to represent the country on flags, coats-of-arms, and even sports jerseys.

Green was associated with the country later, presumably because of the greenness of the countryside, which is so because Ireland receives plentiful rainfall. Today, the country is also referred to as the “Emerald Isle.”

4. The Shamrock is not the symbol of Ireland.

The shamrock is a popular Irish symbol, but it is not the symbol of Ireland. As early as the medieval period, the harp has appeared on Irish gravestones and manuscripts. However, it is certain that the harp was popular in Irish legend and culture even well before that period.

Since the medieval period, the harp has represented the nation. King Henry VIII used the harp on coins as early as 1534. Later, the harp was used on Irish flags and Irish coats of arms. The harp was also used as a symbol of the Irish people during their long struggle for freedom. Starting in 1642 the harp appeared on flags during rebellions against English rule. When Ireland became an independent country in 1921, it adopted the harp as the national symbol.

3. There are more Irish in the USA than Ireland.

Well, sort of. An estimated 34 million Americans have Irish ancestry. Some are pure-blood Irish, meaning they or their parents came from Ireland, but many more have mixed ancestry today. By contrast, there are 4.2 million people living in Ireland. This peculiarity has a lot to do with the troubled history of Ireland. During the potato famine in Ireland, millions of Irish left the country for the US. This diaspora of Irish continued throughout much of the 19th century. Great numbers of Irish immigrants filled factories, served as railroad laborers –and even joined the military, sometimes immediately upon stepping foot on American soil! During the US Civil War, entire regiments of troops were comprised exclusively of Irish immigrants. It wasn’t until the economic boom of the 1990s that more Irish stayed in their native country than traveled abroad searching for better opportunities.

2. St. Patrick’s Day in the US has a strong political history.

In the mid 19th century, the Irish faced discrimination much like that faced by African Americans. In a few rare instances, prejudice against the Irish was even more fierce! The Irish were culturally unique, Catholic, and because of deplorable conditions in Ireland, flooded into the US in large numbers. They were perceived as a potentially disloyal and were treated harshly. To combat this, the American Irish began to organize themselves politically. By the end of the 19th century, St. Patrick’s Day was a large holiday for the Irish and an occasion for them to demonstrate their collective political and social might. While the political emphasis has faded along with the discrimination, the holiday remains ever popular as an opportunity for festivity regardless of one’s cultural background.

1. St. Patrick’s was a dry holiday in Ireland until 1970.

Aside from the color green, the activity most associated with St. Patrick’s Day is drinking. However, Irish law, from 1903 to 1970, declared St. Patrick’s Day a religious observance for the entire country meaning that all pubs were shut down for the day. That meant no beer, not even the green kind, for public celebrants. The law was overturned in 1970, when St. Patrick’s was reclassified as a national holiday – allowing the taps to flow freely once again.

Bonus Fact: Your odds of finding a four-leaf clover are:

About 1 in 10,000.

—

Pope Francis: end world hunger through ‘Prayer and Action’

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Saint of the Day for Tuesday, March 17th, 2015: St. Patrick

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St. Patrick

St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Patrick St. Ambrose of Alexandria St. Gertrude of Nivelles St. Jan Sarkander

St. Joseph of Arimathea St. Paul of Cyprus Bl. Peter Lieou

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Tagged 2015: St. Patrick, Ireland, March 17th, Saint of the Day, Saint of the Day for Tuesday, St. Patrick

Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

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Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.

Today in History
March 17

*1766*		*Britain repeals the Stamp Act.*
*1776*		*British forces evacuate from Boston to Nova Scotia.*
*1799*		*Napoleon Bonaparte and his army reach Mediterranean seaport of St. Jean d’Acra, only to find British warships ready to break his siege of the town.*
*1868*		*The first postage stamp canceling machine patent is issued.*
*1884*		*John Joseph Montgomery makes the first glider flight in Otay, Calif.*
*1886*		*Twenty African Americans are killed in the Carrollton Massacre in Mississippi.*
*1891*		*The British steamer Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar.*
*1905*		*Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, marries Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York.*
*1910*		*The Camp Fire Girls are founded in Lake Sebago, Maine.*
*1914*		*Russia increases the number of active duty military from 460,000 to 1,700,000.*
*1924*		*Four Douglas army aircraft leave Los Angeles for an around the world flight.*
*1930*		*Mob boss Al Capone is released from jail.*
*1942*		*The Nazis begin deporting Jews to the Belsen camp.*
*1944*		*The U.S. Eighth Air Force bombs Vienna.*
*1959*		*The Dalai Lama flees Tibet and goes to India.*
*1961*		*The United States increases military aid and technicians to Laos.*
*1962*		*The Soviet Union asks the United States to pull out of South Vietnam.*
*1966*		*A U.S. submarine locates a missing H-bomb in the Mediterranean.*
*1970*		*The Army charges 14 officers with suppression of facts in the My Lai massacre case.*
*1972*		*Nixon asks Congress to halt busing in order to achieve desegregation.*
*1973*		*Twenty are killed in Cambodia when a bomb goes off that was meant for the Cambodian President Lon Nol.*
*1973*		*First POWs are released from the “Hanoi Hilton” in Hanoi, North Vietnam.*
*1985*		*President Ronald Reagan agrees to a joint study with Canada on acid rain.*
*1992*		*White South Africans approve constitutional reforms giving legal equality to blacks.*
*Born on March 17*
*1828*		*Patrick R. Cleburne, Confederate general.*
*1832*		*Daniel Conway Moncure, U.S. clergyman, author, abolitionist*
*1846*		*Kate Greenway, painter and illustrator (Mother Goose).*
*1902*		*Bobby Jones, American golfer.*
*1919*		*Nat “King” Cole, American jazz pianist and singer.*

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history#sthash.0opsdn9Y.dpuf

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Tagged Eleanor Roosevelt, John Joseph Montgomery, napoleon bonaparte, theodore roosevelt, Today In History, Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

today’s picture: Union General William T. Sherman

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Union General William T. Sherman
George N. Barnard, official photographer of the Chief Engineer’s Office, photographed Union General William T. Sherman on horseback at Federal Fort No. 7 in Atlanta, Georgia sometime between September and November 1864. After forcing General John B. Hood to abandon the munitions center of the Confederacy, Sherman remained in Atlanta, resting his war-worn men and accumulating supplies, for nearly two and a half months.

Photo: Library of Congress

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/picture-of-the-day?podMonth=3&podDay=17&pod=GO#sthash.bgTRhxY6.dpuf

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Tagged Federal Fort, John B. Hood, Sherman, Union General William T. Sherman George N. Barnard, William T. Sherman

today’s holiday: Camp Fire Founders’ Day (2015)

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Camp Fire Founders’ Day (2015)

The organization originally known as the Camp Fire Girls was founded on March 17, 1910, around the same time that the Boy Scout movement was getting its start in Great Britain. Now it is coeducational and is known as Camp Fire. The organization stresses self-reliance, and membership is divided into five age levels, from Sparks (pre-school) to Horizon (grades 9-12). Interaction with adults is also emphasized as a way of learning about career choices, hobbies, and other interests. Camp Fire’s founding is observed by members as part of Camp Fire Boys and Girls Birthday Week. More… Discuss

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quotation: A picture is an intermediate something between a thought and a thing. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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A picture is an intermediate something between a thought and a thing.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Discuss

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today’s birthday: Nat King Cole (1919?)

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Nat King Cole (1919?)

Originally a jazz pianist, Nat King Cole performed in Los Angeles nightclubs with his trio in the 1930s but did not achieve commercial success until he began singing. His warm, velvety voice brought a personal touch to his ballads, and he became internationally popular for his broodingly romantic hits, such as “Unforgettable.” He went on to become one of the first African-American artists to star in a radio show and to host a network television show. How did he get the nickname “King”? More… Discuss

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this day in the yesteryear: Rubber Band Patented (1845)

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Rubber Band Patented (1845)

In 1845, Stephen Perry, a British inventor and businessman, patented what is now a staple office supply—the rubber band. While their intended function is to hold items together, rubber bands have been used in a number of other capacities; they can be wrapped around one another to form a bouncy ball or used as “ammunition” in rubber band guns. Though many modern rubber products are commonly made with synthetic rubber, rubber bands are still primarily manufactured using natural rubber. Why? More… Discuss

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Tagged British inventor, rubber band, rubber bands, rubber products, Stephen Perry, synthetic rubber, this day in the yesteryear: Rubber Band Patented (1845)

article: Pompeii

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Pompeii

Pompeii was a Roman city near modern Naples, Italy, that was destroyed during the catastrophic 79 ACE volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. As a result of the eruption, the city was buried under many feet of ash for 1,600 years before it was accidentally rediscovered. Its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. During the first excavation in 1860, voids discovered in the ash-layer were found to be spaces left by what? More… Discuss

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Tagged Italy, Naples, Pompeii, Pompeii Pompeii, Roman city, volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius

word: ether

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ether

Definition:	(noun) The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets.
Synonyms:	quintessence
Usage:	The stars, the ancients believed, both inhabited and were composed of the ether. Discuss.