Claudio Monteverdi and “Deus in Adjutorium” from his Vespers

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (May 15, 1567–November 29, 1643) was an Italian composer, string player and choirmaster, who was a composer of both secular and sacred music,  a pioneer in the development of opera, and a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods of music history. Monteverdi was baptized in the church of SS Nazaro e Celso, Cremona, Italy, on May 15, 1567. The register records his name as “Claudio Zuan Antonio” the son of “Messer Baldasar Mondeverdo.”   He was the first child of the apothecary Baldassare Monteverdi and his first wife Maddalena (née Zignani); they had married early the previous year.  Monteverdi is usually described as an “Italian” composer, even though in his lifetime the concept of “Italy” existed only as a geographical entity. Cremona lay under the jurisdiction of Milan, a Spanish possession, so that Monteverdi was technically born a Spanish subject.

There is no clear record of Monteverdi’s early musical training, or evidence that (as is sometimes claimed) he was a member of the Cathedral choir or studied at Cremona University. Monteverdi’s first published work, a set of motets, Sacrae cantiunculae (Sacred Songs) for three voices, was issued in Venice in 1582, when he was only fifteen years old. In this, and his other initial publications, he describes himself as the pupil of Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, who was from 1581 (and possibly from 1576) to 1592 the maestro di cappella at Cremona Cathedral. Monteverdi’s first publications give evidence of his connections beyond Cremona, even in his early years. His second published work, Madrigali spirituali (Spiritual Madrigals, 1583), was printed at Brescia. His next works (his first published secular compositions) were sets of five-part madrigals.  The first book of madrigals (Venice, 1587) was dedicated to Count Marco Verità of Verona; the second book of madrigals (Venice, 1590) was dedicated to the President of the Senate of Milan, Giacomo Ricardi, for whom he had played the viola da braccio in 1587.

In the dedication of his second book of madrigals, Monteverdi had described himself as a player of the vivuola (which could mean either viola da gamba or viola da braccio).   In 1590 or 1591 he entered the service of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga of Mantua.    Duke Vincenzo was keen to establish his court as a musical centre, and sought to recruit leading musicians. When Monteverdi arrived in Mantua, the maestro di capella at the court was the Flemish musician Giaches de Wert.  Monteverdi married the court singer Claudia de Cattaneis in 1599; they were to have three children, two sons (Francesco, b. 1601 and Massimiliano, b. 1604), and a daughter who died soon after birth in 1603.   Monteverdi’s brother Giulio Cesare joined the court musicians in 1602.   When Wert died in 1596, his post was given to Benedetto Pallavicino, but Monteverdi was clearly highly regarded by Vincenzo and accompanied him on his military campaigns in Hungary (1595) and also on a visit to Flanders in 1599. On the death of Pallavicino in 1601 Monteverdi was confirmed as the new maestro di capella.

In 1606 Vincenzo’s heir Francesco commissioned from Monteverdi the opera L’Orfeo, to a libretto by Alessandro Striggio, for the Carnival season of 1607. It was given two performances in February and March 1607; the singers included, in the title role, Rasi, who had sung in the first performance of Euridice witnessed by Vincenzo in 1600. This was followed in 1608 by the opera L’Arianna (libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini), intended for the celebration of the marriage of Francesco to Margherita of Savoy. All the music for this opera is lost apart from Ariadne’s Lament, which became extremely popular.  To this period also belongs the ballet entertainment Il ballo delle ingrate.  The strain of the hard work Monteverdi had been putting into these and other compositions was exacerbated by personal tragedies. His wife died in September 1607. He retired to Cremona in 1608 to convalesce. After publishing his Vespers in 1610, which were dedicated to Pope Paul V, he visited Rome, ostensibly hoping to place his son Francesco at a seminary, but apparently also seeking alternative employment.

In 1613, following the death of Giulio Cesare Martinengo, Monteverdi auditioned for his post as maestro at the basilica of San Marco in Venice, for which he submitted music for a Mass. He was appointed in August 1613.   Martinengo had been ill for some time before his death and had left the music of San Marco in a fragile state. The choir had been neglected and the administration overlooked. When Monteverdi arrived to take up his post, his principal responsibility was to recruit, train, discipline and manage the musicians of San Marco (the capella), who amounted to about 30 singers and six instrumentalists.  Monteverdi also sought to expand the repertory, including not only the traditional a cappella repertoire of Roman and Flemish composers, but also examples of the modern style which he favored, including the use of continuo and other instruments.  Apart from this he was of course expected to compose music for all the major feasts of the church. Nonetheless, remaining a Mantuan citizen, he accepted commissions from the new Duke Ferdinando, who had formally renounced his position as Cardinal in 1616 to take on the duties of state. These included the balli Tirsi e Clori (1616) and Apollo (1620), an opera Andromeda (1620) and an intermedio, Le nozze di Tetide, for the marriage of Ferdinando with Caterina de’ Medici (1617). A subsequent major commission, the opera La finta pazza Licori, to a libretto by Giulio Strozzi, was completed for Fernando’s successor Vincenzo II, who succeeded to the dukedom in 1626.

Monteverdi also received commissions from other Italian states and from their communities in Venice. These included, for the Milanese community in 1620, music for the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo, and for the Florentine community a Requiem Mass for Cosimo II de’ Medici (1621).  Monteverdi acted on behalf of Paolo Giordano II, Duke of Bracciano, to arrange publication of works by the Cremona musician Francesco Petratti.  Among Monteverdi’s private Venetian patrons was the nobleman Girolamo Mocenigo, at whose home was premiered in 1624 the dramatic entertainment Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda based on an episode from Torquato Tasso’s La Gerusalemme liberata. In 1627 Monteverdi received a major commission from Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, for a series of works, and gained leave from the Procurators to spend time there during 1627 and 1628.

A series of disturbing events troubled Monteverdi’s world in the period around 1630. Mantua was invaded by Habsburg armies in 1630, who besieged the plague-stricken town, and after its fall in July looted its treasures, and dispersed the artistic community.  Monteverdi’s younger brother Giulio Cesare died at this time, probably from the plague.  By this time Monteverdi was in his sixties, and his rate of composition seems to have slowed down. He had written a setting of Strozzi’s Proserpina rapita (The Abduction of Proserpina), now lost except for one vocal trio, for a Mocenigo wedding in 1630, and produced a Mass for deliverance from the plague for San Marco which was performed in November 1631. His set of Scherzi musicali was published in Venice in 1632.  In 1631, Monteverdi was admitted to the tonsure, and was ordained deacon, and later priest, in 1632. Although these ceremonies took place in Venice, he was nominated as a member of the clergy of Cremona; this may imply that he intended to retire there.

The opening of the opera house of San Cassiano in 1637, the first public opera house in Europe, stimulated the city’s musical life and coincided with a new burst of the composer’s activity. 1638 saw the publication of Monteverdi’s eighth book of madrigals and a revision of the Ballo delle ingrate. The eighth book contains a ballo, “Volgendi il ciel”, which may have been composed for the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand III, to whom the book is dedicated. The years 1640–1641 saw the publication of the extensive collection of church music, Selva morale e spirituale. Among other commissions, Monteverdi wrote music in 1637 and 1638 for Strozzi’s “Accademia degli Unisoni” in Venice, and in 1641 a ballet, La vittoria d’Amore, for the court of Piacenza.  Monteverdi was still not entirely free from his responsibilities for the musicians at San Marco, but his contribution to opera at this period is notable. He revised his earlier opera L’Arianna in 1640 and wrote three new works for the commercial stage, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland, 1640, first performed in Bologna with Venetian singers), Le nozze d’Enea e Lavinia (The Marriage of Aeneas and Lavinia, 1641, music now lost), and L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea, 1643). He died in Venice on November 29, 1643, after paying a brief visit to Cremona, and is buried in the Church of the Frari. He was survived by his sons; Masimilliano died in 1661, Francesco after 1677.

The following work by Claudio Monteverdi is contained in my collection:

Vespers: Deus in Adjutorium.

Bernard de La Monnoye and “Pat a Pan”

Bernard de La Monnoye (June 15, 1641–October 15, 1728) was a French lawyer, poet, philologue, and critic, known chiefly for his Christmas carols known as Noei borguignon.  Born on June 15, 1641, in Dijon, France, La Monnoye began his studies in Jesuit schools, and attracted attention for his epigrams in Latin and essays in French. By his father’s wish, he went to study law at Orléans. There, during the harsh study of jurisprudence, he gave way to his literary tastes by gathering curiosities about the authors and books that he read. He began legal practice at the Parlement de Dijon in 1662; but had little inclination for that profession, and, using his health as an excuse, left the bar and devoted himself entirely to the literary arts.

In the following years La Monnoye divided his time between reading books and frequenting the intellectual circles of Dijon, where he made his debut in poetry. In 1671 he won a contest of the Académie française with a poetic essay on “the abolition of the duel,” which was ardently praised by Charles Perrault, and years later by Voltaire. He went on to win the Academy’s contest four more times. Rumors circulated that the organizers had asked him to refrain from entering the contest again, to give a chance to other authors.

To make a living, La Monnoye took in 1672 a job at the Court of Finances, which he kept for eight years. Not long afterwards he got married to Claude Henriot. During this time he produced copious verse, which made him moderately famous. He also composed many hymns in Latin, and translated into French, with a glossary, the Spanish poem Thérèse d’Avila.  By 1687 he was admitted as a corresponding member of Padua’s Accademia dei Ricovrati.

Among La Monnoye’s best compositions of the time are a dozen riddles in sonnet format, some of which are considered to be better than anything of the sort that existed at the time; and three translations of texts about Burgundy wine, Champagne wine, and cider. He also wrote, under the pseudonym Gui Barozai, Noei borguignon (Thirteen Christmas Carols, 1700), a collection of carols in the patois of Bourgogne.  These were followed later that year by Noei tô nôvea (Sixteen More Christmas Carols). These songs in simple language became immensely popular. The best known, which is still orchestrated and played today, is probably “Guillô, pran ton tamborin”, better known as “Patapan,” which begins, “William, take your drum.”

La Monnoye eventually turned his attention to the more scholarly study of writers from classical antiquity. His correspondence with other scholars throughout Europe spread his reputation as a philologist. He made many contributions to Pierre Bayle’s Dictionnaire.  La Monnoye moved to Paris in 1707. For several years he declined invitations to join the Académie française, but he was eventually admitted, by unanimous vote, in 1713.  In 1715 he got into trouble for having inserted some texts of his own in the Menagiana, an annotated edition of the works of Gilles Ménage which he was helping to edit. He got off on legal technicalities and thanks to the support of the Cardinal de Rohan.  Having lapsed on his contractual obligations, he had to file for bankruptcy and lost all his modest fortune, being forced to sell even the medals he had won from the Academy. At the same time he had to suffer the loss of his beloved wife. He survived thereon on modest but sufficient pensions granted by the Duke of Villeroy and by his publishers, and on the proceeds of the sale of his books. At his death on October 15, 1728, in Paris, France, he left four children, three of whom embraced the religious life.

My collection includes the following work by Bernard de La Monnoye:

Pat A Pan.

 

José Pablo Moncayo and Huapango

José Pablo Moncayo-García (June 29, 1912 – June 16, 1958) was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor, who produced some of the masterworks that best symbolize the essence of the national aspirations and contradictions of Mexico in the 20th century.  Born on June 29, 1912, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Moncayo was introduced to music by his elder brother Francisco.  Eduardo Hernández Moncada is reported as the first teacher of José in 1926, when the teenager was fourteen years old.  Hernández Moncada suggested his pupil Moncayo study at the National Conservatory.  Moncayo was admitted to the conservatory in 1929; meanwhile, in order to finance his studies, he worked as a jazz pianist.  Moncayo took composition lessons with Candelario Huízar, and it is known that he continued his piano instruction with Hernández Moncada.  It is not certain in which courses Moncayo registered at the conservatory and who his other teachers were.  It is known that Huízar taught courses such as harmony, counterpoint, and analysis (also called musical forms). Solfège or sight reading was taught by the eminent professors Vicente T. Mendoza and Gerónimo Baqueiro Foster. Music history was taught by Ernesto Enríquez. Luis Sandi was the conductor of the conservatory chorale.

Carlos Chávez created a composition course at the National Conservatory.  This new composition class was originally called Class of Musical Creation and later, Composition Workshop; Chávez had some colleagues as pupils, such as Vicente T. Mendoza, Candelario Huízar and Revueltas, and there were four students under twenty years of age: Daniel Ayala and Blas Galindo (both pure blooded Indians), Salvador Contreras and José Pablo Moncayo.   Chávez conducted a selection process among young students of the conservatory before admitting anyone and relates that Daniel Ayala was chosen thanks to his “incipient renown as composer, Salvador Contreras, for his violin skills, and José Pablo Moncayo, on account of his ability to do sight reading at the piano.”   It seems that the new composition course attracted many students, their number increasing year after year, but only four of them attended the final examination. These four diligent students were Moncayo, Contreras, Galindo, and Ayala.

At the first performance of the Renovation Musical Society (Sociedad Musical “Renovación”)on August 22, 1931, Moncayo presents a couple of his own compositions, Impressions in a Forest, and Impression, both for solo piano.  An opportunity of professional advancement for Moncayo in 1932 was his admission to the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico (OSM). The first program of the season of the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico dated October 28, 1932, lists the name of José Pablo Moncayo for the first time as a member of the orchestra in the percussion section.  During the fall of 1932, Chávez organized a festival of chamber music at the National Conservatory and invited his friend Aaron Copland to participate in it.  Moncayo and Galindo, both incipient proteges of Chávez, also started a long and fruitful relationship with Copland. Next year, Moncayo gets a part-time job as music teacher in a school (May 16, 1933).

On December 1, 1934, the new president of Mexico, General Lázaro Cárdenas, took the oath of office. There was a change in executive positions in the federal government, and Ignacio García Téllez, former dean of the National University, was now appointed Secretary of Education. García Téllez appointed José Muñoz Cota as chief of the Department of Fine Arts; as a result Chávez was removed from the head of the National Conservatory and was replaced by his enemy Estanislao Mejía.  With the arrival of this new administration the composition workshop was terminated.  Consequently, the composition training of Moncayo and his young friends was interrupted. They were branded as “Chavistas” and blacklisted by the new administration of the Conservatory, to the point of setting obstacles for their registration. They decided to give a first concert with their compositions demonstrating with it the truthfulness of the class of Music Creation that had been suppressed from the study plan of the Conservatory. On November 25, 1935, the first concert of these young composers took place at the Teatro de Orientación.  Moncayo premièred his Sonatina for solo piano, performed by himself, and premiered as well Amatzinac, for flute and string quartet.

In the collection of programs of the year 1936 at library of the National Arts Center, in Mexico City, José Pablo Moncayo is listed as a member of the percussion section of the controversial National Symphony Orchestra created in 1935 at the National Conservatory by Estanislao Mejía and conducted by Silvestre Revueltas from 1936 on.  The OSM programs preserved at the Library of the National Center of the Arts have the program of September  5, 1936, where Moncayo’s La Adelita was premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica de México, within the children’s concert series, under Carlos Chávez’s baton. One week later, on September 11, Moncayo made his debut as orchestra conductor with the OSM, at the age of 24. During the seventh program of the season, Chávez gave Moncayo the opportunity to conduct the opening work of the evening, the Prelude of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin.  The same month, in another program of the children’s concert series, the one of September 26, 1936, another arrangement by Moncayo, La Valentina, was premiered by the OSM, conducted by Carlos Chávez.  In 1941 Chávez organized a concert of Mexican music with the OSM that included some of the works presented previous year in New York and requested Moncayo and Contreras to write compositions for such program.   Moncayo prepared a new work called Huapango.

Moncayo’s Huapango was premièred on  August 15, 1941, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes by the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico under Chávez’s baton.   Programs of the 1942 season list Eduardo Hernández Moncada as assistant conductor and José Pablo Moncayo at the piano as well as in the percussion section. Moncayo began to work on an ambitious project, a symphony. That summer, Moncayo and Galindo were granted scholarships from the Rockefeller Foundation to study at the Berkshire Music Institute, known today as the Tanglewood Music Center.  Moncayo worked in Berkshire not only on his symphony but also completed another work, probably in Copland’s composition course, Llano Grande for chamber orchestra, which was premiered by the orchestra during the Berkshire Festival on August 21.   The programs of 1945 reveal that Moncayo was appointed assistant conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico in that year and that his activities as conductor increased.  The year 1946, the rising conducting career of Moncayo brought him to his next position. Chávez appointed the thirty-four-year-old conductor as artistic director of the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, while Chávez remained its musical director.

However, the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico season program of 1948 no longer listed Moncayo as a member of the orchestra. In 1948 Eduardo Hernández Moncada was the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico) (OSN)—created in 1947 under the aegis of the National Institute of Fine Arts—and within the programs Moncayo’s name appears on the list of musicians as the orchestra pianist.  Chávez, as general director of the Fine Arts Institute, appointed Moncayo as music director/conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico) on January 1, 1949.  The last program found with Moncayo’s name as conductor of the OSN dates from Wednesday February 17, 1954.  The program included Three Pieces for Orchestra by Moncayo. This was the last time in his life Moncayo conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. His name never again appeared on a program of the OSN.  On June 16, 1958, Moncayo died in his home in Mexico City, only a few days before his forty-sixth birthday.

José Pablo Moncayo is best known as the author of Huapango, a bright, short symphonic piece that is sometimes included in concerts by American orchestras. Moncayo’s death coincided with the decline of the Nationalist movement and marked the end of the Mexican nationalist composition school.   Moncayo’s best-known work continues to be his colorful orchestral fantasy Huapango (1941), but his production also includes many other pieces of a high quality, notwithstanding their lesser fame. Among these are works like Amatzinac for flute and string quartet (1935); his Symphony (1944); Sinfonietta (1945); Homenaje a Cervantes for two oboes and string orchestra (1947); his opera La Mulata de Córdoba (1948); Tierra de Temporal (1949); Muros Verdes for piano solo (1951); Bosques (1954); and the ballet Tierra (1958).

The following work by José Pablo Moncayo is contained in my collection:

Huapango (1941).

 

Simone Molinaro and the Saltarello from Ballo detto Il Conte Orlando

Simone Molinaro (c. 1565 – 1615) was a composer of the late Renaissance in Italy, who was especially renowned for his lute music.  Molinaro was born around 1565 in Genoa, Italy. He studied music with his uncle, Giovanni Battista dalla Gostena, who was maestro di capella at Genoa Cathedral. In 1593, Gostena was murdered, and Molinaro succeeded him in his post at the Cathedral in 1599.  The same year he published Intavolatura di liuto, containing lute works both by himself and by Gostena. In addition to his lute works, Molinaro composed a large amount of sacred choral music, most of which does not survive completely because of missing partbooks. However, some five-voice motets have been preserved in the collections of Hasler and Schadaeus.

Molinaro also served as editor of the works of Carlo Gesualdo, publishing editions of that composer’s madrigals in 1585 and 1613.  In his dances for lute, Molinaro dispensed with counterpoint, and showed himself as a pure melodist and harmonist.  Molinaro wrote at the time when lute music was reaching its apogee. Along with Giovanni Terzi, Molinaro’s lute music introduces a finished, graceful, instrumental style, with all shades of expression and a technique usually associated only with the vocal music of the period.  The 1613 publication of the Gesualdo madrigals was ground-breaking because it presented Gesualdo’s music in full score as opposed to partbook format. Molinaro died two years later in 1615.

My collection includes the following work by Simon Molinaro:

Ballo detto Il Conte Orlando: Saltarello.

Finding My Way Through Homeschooling

Finding My Way Through Homeschooling
by Anne Muchnij (in The Link)

[This article was written in the early 2000s, but provides useful insight for parents today.]

Every year our homeschooling group has a Kids Festival where the children can display what they have worked on during the year. My oldest son, Collins, had been studying American Indians for about four months prior to last year’s Festival. As we were setting up the table to display all his Indian crafts, books and drawings, I was amazed that we had too many things for the table. I love Collins’s enthusiasm for what he is studying and could not believe we had read twenty books on the subject already. We had people coming up to us left and right to ask Collins questions and if he would be willing to sell any of his American Indian crafts. My son said “No” because he loves everything he has made and each piece has meaning and significance to him. This day was a perfect example that I have really found what works for me and for the family. Just seeing Collins’s shining face all day, as he shared his love of the American Indians, was proof to me we are on the right track.

I believe every family is unique and that there is not one way to homeschool. Homeschooling is an individual choice and should be decided by the parents. I do believe it is important to be clear on your personal educational philosophy. Mary Hood describes this in her book The Relaxed Home School as a purpose statement that includes your basic beliefs about education, a list of goals for your family and the types of methods and materials you plan to use. I wish I had read Mary Hood’s book when I first started homeschooling. It would have saved me a lot of time discovering my philosophy–but maybe I would have missed the fun of the journey.

Read more:

http://www.homeschoolnewslink.com/homeschool/articles/vol8iss2/v8i2_finding_my_way .shtml

Issachar Miron and “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena”

Issachar Miron (July 5, 1920- January 29, 2015) was an Israeli composer of Tzena Tzena.  Miron was born Stefan Michrovsky on July 5, 1920, in Kutno, Poland.  After graduating from the Warsaw Conservatory in 1938, he emigrated to Palestine in 1939. His family perished in the Holocaust. The cherished memory of his family and the six million fueled a lifelong dedication to them through his music, writings, poetry and photography. While serving in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army in Palestine, Mr. Miron composed Tzena, Tzena, which became a worldwide hit and an anthem of optimism in the years that followed the Israeli War of Independence. It was sung in some 39 languages and was performed and recorded by numerous leading artists in the United States, including Pete Seeger, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Dusty Springfield, Connie Francis, Vic Damone, Chubby Checker, the Smothers Brothers and Arlo Guthrie. The version recorded by Pete Seeger and the Weavers climbed to the top of the Hit Parade in the 1950s.

Miron served as Officer-in-Chief of Cultural Programs of the Israeli Defense Forces and later as the first National Deputy Director of Music for Israel’s Ministry of Education and Culture, where he embarked on a mission to unite through music the diverse new nation. In the May 1961 issue of “Reader’s Digest,” Oscar Schisgall wrote about Issachar Miron and this phenomenon, stating that the people of Israel were using music “to shape a more harmonious nation.” After moving to New York City in the early 1960’s, he served as the musical director of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation in Israel and the USA. He was also Dean of the Music Department Faculty at the Jewish Teachers Seminary Training Center in New York, today’s Touro University, and was National Director of Special Educational and Inspirational Programs for the United Jewish Appeal. In the 70’s, he collaborated with Theodore Bikel to arrange and record the album “Silent No More,” which raised awareness of the struggle of Soviet Jewry. His song “Ufi Ruach” became the first Hebrew song to be broadcast on Egyptian radio in the aftermath of the 1977 Egyptian-Israeli peace talks. Another of his songs, “Ma Yafeh Hayom,” has become a staple of the Reform Movement’s Sabbath liturgy.

In 1996, Miron published a book of his poems called “Eighteen Gates of Jewish Holidays and Festivals.” In addition to classical compositional styles, he is particularly interested in the musical development of Israeli folk music.  A true Renaissance man, his artistic range was immense -from vast contributions to Jewish liturgical and Klezmer music, to serious classical works, to hundreds of popular songs and numerous poems, writings, documentaries and commentaries. Over the years, Mr. Miron received many awards for his work, including ASCAP’s Deems Taylor Award for creative writing and the Israel Engel Prize for Music. The late Tsipora Miron, his esteemed collaborator and beloved wife of nearly 71 years, was an accomplished pianist and organist. Mr. Miron,  who died at age 95 on January 29, 2015, in New York City, NY, was survived by their three daughters, Ruth Schleider, Shlomit Aviram and Miriam Lipton, plus six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The following work by Issachar Miron is contained in my collection:

Tzena, Tzena, Tzena (1941).

 

 

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W. Water Street & Paint Street

Chillicothe, OH 45601

A unique railroad museum housed in two B&O Cabooses, one of which has been restored to 1927 vintage condition. You can tour each of the B&O cabooses, one a C-2115 and the other a C-3893, which contain various pictures, lanterns and items related to railroad history. Displays also include a model train with a village set up, a 1900 B&O railroad map, a B&O engine bell and morse code equipment.

Love Trains? Enjoy train museums? How about a train museum in a caboose? Come visit the Chillicothe Railroad Museum, housed inside two retired cabooses! You can explore train travel from the past and learn about the purpose of cabooses in early days of train travel. Don’t miss this unique museum that, of course, includes a model train.

Kirtland Village School, Kirtland, OH

Historic Kirtland Village School

7800 Kirtland Chardon Rd.

Kirtland, OH 44094

Kirtland is a small settlement in northern Ohio where members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered shortly after the Church was founded. Between 1831 and 1838, Joseph Smith and early members of the Church established Church headquarters in Kirtland, built a temple, and laid a foundation of strength for the future. Historic Kirtland Village, located in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio, is the name given to a historic site (itself made up of historic buildings and sites important to the early Latter Day Saint movement). The village is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The church purchased the first property in the village, the Newel K. Whitney Store, in the late 1970s, and restored it in 1984. In the years since the church acquired more historic buildings and property in the area. In April 2000, plans were announced to restore the remaining buildings, while reconstructing others, and building a new visitors’ center. Following the completion of the project, LDS Church President, Gordon B. Hinckley, dedicated the site on May 18, 2003. Other structures include the Historic Kirtland Visitors’ Center and the Kirtland Schoolhouse, a replica of the original built on this spot in 1819, where visitors can learn about the simple nature of education in the early 1800s, as well as the early worship meetings of the Latter-day Saints held here.

https://www.lds.org/locations/kirtland-schoolhouse?lang=eng&_r=1

Francesco da Milano and “La Spagna”

Francesco Canova da Milano (August 18, 1497 –January 2, 1543) was an Italian lutenist and composer, who worked for the papal court for almost all of his career and was heralded throughout Europe as the foremost lute composer of his time.   Francesco was born on August 18, 1497, most almost certainly in Monza, a small city north-northeast of Milan. His father Benedetto was a musician, as was his elder brother Bernardino. According to Luca Gaurico’s Tractatus astrologicus (1552), Francesco studied under Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa, but some consider this unlikely.   By 1514 Francesco was a member of the papal household in Rome. From that time for most of his career he was closely associated with the papal court. He and his father became private musicians to Pope Leo X in October 1516; Francesco’s father kept this position until December 1518, but Francesco stayed until Leo’s death in 1521. Little is known about his subsequent career in Rome, but he was still living in the city in early 1526: on  January 16, 1526, he and one other lutenist performed for Pope Clement VII and Isabella d’Este.

Details of Francesco’s later life are sketchy. He may have served at the Parisian court for a short time, since some sources refer to him as Francesco da Parigi. In 1528 he obtained a canonry in S Nazaro Maggiore in Milan, which he would cede to his brother in 1536. He may have travelled to Murano in 1530.  Already by 1530 Francesco’s music was widely known and studied. A few of his works were published in France by Pierre Attaingnant in 1529.   Between 1531 and 1535 he served Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici, who died in 1535. In the same year Francesco worked as lute teacher to Ottavio Farnese, grandson of Pope Paul III.   Five volumes of lute music comprising mostly Francesco’s works were published in Milan in 1536. In a document dated January 1, 1538 Francesco is listed as a member of the household of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, a famous patron of the arts. In July Francesco married one Clara Tizzoni, a Milanese noblewoman, and moved to Milan, where the couple lived at least until September. By early 1539 Francesco and his father were once again employed by the papal court.

Nothing is known about Francesco’s last years and his death, except that he probably did not die in Milan. The exact date of death, January 2, 1543, was recorded by Luca Gaurico. Francesco’s brother outlived him by at least 19 years, and died sometime after 1562. Francesco’s father probably outlived his son as well; he died at some point before 1555. More of Francesco’s music is preserved than of any other lutenist of the period, and his work continued to influence composers for more than a century after his death. There are many 16th- and 17th-century manuscript sources for his works, as well. Today, more than a hundred ricercars and fantasias, some 30 intabulations, and a few other pieces by Francesco are known.

Francesco’s music represents the transition from the loose improvisational style of his predecessors to the more refined polyphonic textures of later lute music. One of the defining characteristic features of Francesco’s style is the manipulation and development of short melodic motifs within a “narrative” formal outline. Francesco was drawing on techniques found in contemporary vocal music, e.g. works by Josquin des Prez and composers of his generation. Aside from his influence on the development of lute music, he is also important for being among the first composers to create monothematic ricercars. Francesco’s reputation today rests on his ricercars and fantasias, but contemporaries apparently held his intabulations of vocal works by other composers to be the best part of his work.

My collection includes the following work by Francesco da Milano:

La Spagna.

Bob Merrill and “Carnival”

Bob Merrill (May 17, 1921 – February 17, 1998) was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter, who was the second most successful songwriter of the 1950s on the UK Singles Chart.  Merrill was born Henry Robert Merrill Levan in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on May 17, 1921,  in a Jewish family and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following a stint with the Army during World War II, he moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a dialogue director for Columbia Pictures. He began his songwriting career writing tunes for Dorothy Shay. One of his first major hits was a country song co-written by Moon Mullican in 1950 entitled “You Don’t Have to Be a Baby to Cry”, and the 1950 novelty song “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake”, co-written with Al Hoffman and Clem Watts, and initially recorded by Eileen Barton.

Merrill made his Broadway debut in 1957 with New Girl in Town, a musical adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie. His greatest theatrical success was the Barbra Streisand vehicle Funny Girl, which introduced the standard “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”  When the stage show was adapted for the screen, he and songwriting partner Jule Styne were asked to write a title tune, which eventually garnered them both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Song. Producer David Merrick employed Merrill to write additional songs for the musical Hello, Dolly. Merrill contributed two songs, “Motherhood March” and “Elegance,” and some additional lyrics to Jerry Herman’s “It Takes a Woman”. Merrill did not accept billing or credit for his additions to the score. He is also the lyricist of the theme song “Loss Of Love” excerpt from the 1970 Italian drama film Sunflower and composed by Henry Mancini.

Merrill’s other Broadway credits include Take Me Along (1959), Carnival! (1961), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1966), Henry, Sweet Henry (1967), Sugar (1972) (reworked as Some Like It Hot for a 1992 production in London’s West End starring Tommy Steele and a 2002-03 United States national tour starring Tony Curtis as Osgood Fielding, Jr.), and The Red Shoes (1993). He also wrote the book and lyrics for the Angela Lansbury vehicle Prettybelle (1971) and the music and lyrics for the Robert Preston musical The Prince of Grand Street (1978), both of which closed during their Boston tryouts. He was nominated for the Tony Award eight times, but never won. However, in 1964 he did win the New York Drama Critics Award for his work on Carnival! and New Girl in Town. Merrill’s screenwriting credits include Mahogany (1975), W.C. Fields and Me (1976), and the television movies Portrait of a Showgirl (1982) and The Animated Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1998). Among Merrill’s television credits were two holiday specials, Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol and The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood, written specifically for Liza Minnelli. Guy Mitchell recorded many of Merrill’s songs including “Sparrow in the Tree Top,” “She Wears Red Feathers,” and “My Truly, Truly Fair.” Merrill became progressively ill in the mid-1990s. On February 17, 1998 he was found dead in his car in Culver City, California, after suffering prolonged depression linked to various ailments.

The following work by Bob Merrill is contained in my collection:

Carnival (1961): Original Broadway Cast Recording.

George Melachrino and Les Jeux

George (Miltiades) Melachrino (May 1, 1909 –June 18, 1965) was an English musician, movie composer, orchestra leader, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and musical director who was English born of Greek and Italian descent and was an accomplished player of the violin, viola, oboe, clarinet and saxophone.  Melachrino was born George Miltiades the son of Greek parents in London, England, on May 1, 1909. As a young boy, he had a love of music and learned to play a miniature violin. At the age of five, he began composing and by the age of fourteen he enrolled in the Trinity College of Music, where he specialized in chamber music and the use of strings. At the age of 16, he wrote a string sextet that was performed in London. He resolved to learn to play every instrument in the orchestra, and succeeded, with the exception of the harp and piano.

In 1927, Melachrino began his broadcasting career by singing and playing at the BBC Savoy Hill Studios in London. For the next twelve years, he played in many different bands and orchestras. Straying further and further away from his initial ambition to be a classical musician, he began playing jazz instead.    In the 1930s, he started working for bands led by Ambrose, Harry Hudson, Bert Firman, and Carroll Gibbons at the Savoy Hotel London, singing and playing saxophone.  Also, he started playing on radio for the BBC. By 1939, he started his own dance band and secured a contract at the prestigious London Café de Paris until 1940. He joined the British Army as a military policeman a year later during the period of the Battle of Britain, eventually becoming a Regimental Sergeant-Major.  Also he received training at the Corps of Military Police where he became a P.T. Instructor.

In addition, Melachrino gained experience as a military musician at the Army Broadcasting Department as Musical Director of the Army Radio Unit for the recording of entertainment for overseas forces, leading the British Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces and the 50-piece Orchestra in Khaki, recruited from professional musicians serving in the ranks, who were much amused when he was introduced on broadcasts as ‘the Sentimental Sergeant-Major.’  The unit held its own against the American band led by Glenn Miller and the Canadian combination led by Robert Farnon, with both of whom Melachrino guested as vocalist on occasions during the war years.  He later toured in the Stars Of Battledress.  His lead arranger during the British Band of the AEF and later with the Melachrino Strings was Bert Thompson, who also arranged “Little White Bull” and “The Young Ones.”

While in the forces, he experimented with large string sounds, and after the war he ran two outfits, the Melachrino Strings and the George Melachrino Orchestra, an orchestra that became synonymous with sweet and melodious music.  Both purveyed the sentimental mood music so popular in the 50s, especially in the USA. The full orchestra comprised 30 strings, 10 reeds, seven brass, two percussion, a harp and a piano. He formed the Melachrino Music Organization, creating work in concerts, broadcasting, recordings, and film music. From 1945 to 1947 he conducted for Richard Tauber in most of his Parlophone recordings and BBC broadcasts.  His film scores included Woman To Woman (1946), Code Of Scotland Yard (1948), No Orchids For Miss Blandish (1948), Story Of Shirley Yorke (1948), Dark Secret (1949), The Gamma People (1956) and Odongo (1956). Melachrino frequently performed on BBC and American Armed Forces Radio. He vied with Mantovani in trying to dominate the post World War II easy listening audiences.

In 1947, Melachrino contributed the music, with book and lyrics by Eric Maschwitz and Matt Brooks, to the revue Starlight Roof, which starred Fred Emney, Pat Kirkwood, and Vic Oliver, and introduced Julie Andrews to London audiences. He also wrote the music for the show Lucky Boy, with lyrics by Ian Douglas. His other compositions included ‘First Rhapsody’ (his theme tune), ‘Winter Sunshine,’ ‘Vision D’Amour,’ ‘Woodland Revel,’ and ‘Portrait Of A Lady.’     He had a UK chart entry in 1956 with the Italian melody ‘Autumn Concerto,’ which reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart, and remained in the chart for nine weeks.  However, like Mantovani, who also specialized in lush string arrangements, his albums sold more in the USA than in the UK.  The Starlight Roof Waltz, as performed by the George Melachrino Strings, was the signature tune of the radio program Moeders wil is wet (1949–1974), the Dutch equivalent of Housewives’ Choice.

Melachrino’s US hits included Christmas In High Fidelity, Under Western Skies, and Immortal Ladies, a set of standards with girls’ names as their titles, such as ‘Laura,’ ‘Dolores,’ ‘Chloe,’ and ‘Dinah’. Also popular was his series of mood records designed for various times of the day, such as Music For Daydreaming, Music For Relaxation, Music For Two People Alone, Music For Dining, Music for Reading, Music To Help You Sleep, and others. He died on June 18, 1965, following an accident at his home in Kensington, London, England. The Melachrino Strings and Orchestra continued to record into the 80s, conducted by Robert Mandell.

My collection includes the following work by George Melachrino:

Les Jeux (The Games).