whskyjack

Miserere mei, Deus, composed by Gregorio Allegri

From Wikipedia:

 It was composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s, for the exclusive use of the Sistine Chapel during the Tenebrae services of Holy Week, and its mystique was increased by unwritten performance traditions and ornamentation. It is written for three choirs, two of five and four voices respectively, with a third choir singing plainsong responses, each singing alternately and joining to sing the ending in one of the most recognized and enduring examples of polyphony, in this case in a 9-part rendition.

A beautiful choral performance, perfect for the season.

Enjoy, Jack

Whskyjack — Appalachian Spring is one of my favorites and this performance is very good. But a bit of history this music was originally commissioned in 1944 by Martha Graham for a ballet she was choreographing. It was first performed in 1944. Later in 1959 Graham and her dance troop performed the ballet for TV. So, in addition to the excellent symphonic performance, Youtube’s algorithm , also, gave us a rare treat, the 1959 TV recording of the ballet

Enjoy, Jack

Dancers in this film: The Bride: Martha Graham The Husbandman: Stuart Hodes The Revivalist: Bertram Ross The Pioneer Woman: Matt Turney The Revivalists’ Flock: Yuriko, Helen McGehee, Ethel Winter, Miriam Cole

In 1959 Martha Graham would have been in her 60’s

Film Directed and Photographed by Peter Glushanok, Produced by Nathan Kroll, Presented by WQED Pittsburgh. Filmed in 1959

Whskyjack — In remembrance of women’s history month on the Sunday before St Patrick’s day, I found a composition by twentieth century Irish composer, Joan Trimble.

From Wikipedia:

Joan composed a total of twenty-four works in a creative career of twenty years, including Buttermilk Point (1938), settings of Irish folksong (1939-40), the Sonatina for Two Pianos (1940), The Heather Glen (1949), and a Suite for Strings (1951). Her Phantasy for Piano trio (1940), which she wrote at the suggestion of Vaughan Williams, won the Cobbett Prize for chamber music and the Sullivan Prize for composition. The County Mayo (1949) was an unusual combination of two pianos and baritone voice, a suggestion from the singer Robert Irwin. Commissions for the BBC included Ulster Airs (1939–40) for the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra, and Erin Go Bragh, a march-rhapsody for brass band (1943). Her setting for voice and orchestra, How Dear to Me the Hour, won the Radio Éireann Centenary Prize in 1953.

In 1957, the BBC commissioned an opera from her, and she chose the 1924 Blind Raftery by Donn Byrne, the story of a wandering Irish bard set in the west of Ireland in the 17th century. She asked Cedric Cliffe, who had worked with Arthur Benjamin, to write the libretto It was the second opera commissioned by the BBC for television, and it was the first television opera written by a female composer

Some spring days are warm and sunny, with gentle breezes. Others are stormy and dangerous.

It was 1913 and in a year Europe would be engaged in a series of wars that would reshape the world and bring down empires in unexpected ways.

It must have been something in the Paris water or air, looking back, this composition seems like a prediction of the times to come.

It, also seems appropriate for today and this week.

Jack

Here is the Joffery Ballet interpretation of the choreography of the original ballet.

During the original 1913 performance a riot broke out in the audience between the old guard and the new.

The weather is getting colder today, but this flute concerto seems to promise spring.

By Mozart, flute concerto #1.

Enjoy Jack

Today’s post is starting out a bit different. It is a playlist that begins with a reading by Laurence Fishburne entitled “To My Old Master”. Then appropriately followed by Big Mama Thorton and a list of other mid twentieth century jazz greats.

Enjoy, Jack