Happy Hanukkah!
While over the years I have discovered some interesting Hanukkah-related music on the Naxos label, courtesy of the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, it looks as if the pieces which leap immediately to mind have not been posted on YouTube.
However, I did come across this “Hanukkah Overture,” by Adam Shugar.
And what says Hanukkah like two squirrels and a dreidl?
PHOTO: One more thing you have to worry about them planting in your garden
Happy birthday, Ludwig van!
There’s not much I need to say about Beethoven. Not satisfied merely to be the summation of his era, he pushed so hard that he’s influenced the development of music history ever since.
Today, The Classical Network will honor The Master with a full day of his symphonies, beginning at 10 a.m. ET. It will also honor the listener by broadcasting them complete and uninterrupted. Along the way there will be some colorful commentary and some fun additions.
This is also a 10k “challenge day,” as Princeton’s Municipal Capital Management LLC has challenged the station and its listeners to bring in $10,000. If that goal is achieved before the final notes of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony have sounded, Municipal Capital Management will match every dollar up to $10,000, resulting in (doing the simple math) $20,000 for WWFM. At which point, an Ode to Joy would certainly be in order.
If you enjoy programs like “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord,” or any of the other music that comes your way courtesy of The Classical Network, please consider lending your support.
Remember, your pledge today will be doubled. You can donate online at http://www.wwfm.org, or by calling 1-800-232-1212.
On behalf of The Classical Network, thank you!
Hanukkah begins at sunset.
The confluence of Beethoven’s birthday and the Festival of Lights: Twelve Variations for Cello & Piano on “See, the Conqu’ring Hero Comes,” from Handel’s oratorio “Judas Maccabaeus.”
ADVENT CALENDAR – DAY 17
Poor Zoltán Kodály.
Born the same date as Beethoven. Doomed to suffer the same fate as Édouard Lalo (who was born the same date as Mozart) and Modest Mussorgsky (born the same date as Bach). Everyone goes to the other guy’s party.
Kodály may have been no Beethoven. Nonetheless he was a very important musical figure, both in his native Hungary and abroad.
Here’s some of his music for the season. This is called “The Shepherds and the Angels.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7yMvYqcRrQ&spfreload=1
You’ll note the children’s choir. Kodály, of course, was as interested in music education as he was composition. To this end, he introduced a new curriculum for use in public schools and devised new teaching methods for the musical development of the young.
Here’s an old short demonstrating the Kodály Method in action:
And here it is in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBrYXG_TVlA
More about the Kodály Method here:
And an interview with Kodály, in English!
Happy Birthday, Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967).
ADVENT CALENDAR – DAY 16
No time to type today, so how about some musical sleigh-rides?
Here’s “Jingle Bells,” in its original version, as it was published in 1857 (as “The One Horse Open Sleigh”), by James Lord Pierpont:
And a rowdy sleigh-ride, courtesy of Leopold Mozart (father of Wolfgang), complete with horses, dogs, whip-cracks and sleigh-bells. The whole thing is worth hearing, but the fun really begins at 3:38.
It’s times like this that I really miss my morning air-shifts!
“The horse was lean and lank;
Misfortune seemed his lot,
He got into a drifted bank,
And we, we got upsot.”
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