I’m up against deadline, so today I merely recognize the birthday of Ambroise Thomas (1811-1897), director of the Paris Conservatory from 1871 until his death, with the aria “Je suis Titania la blonde” from “Mignon.”
“There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas.” – Emmanuel Chabrier
I learned something very interesting this morning. Today is the birthday of Louis Armstrong, with whom I always assumed I shared a birthday of July 4. It turns out Armstrong had no idea when he was born, and it wasn’t until the 1980s that a researcher discovered his baptismal records, confirming that he was born on August 4, 1901. Armstrong, of course, rose from impoverished origins in New Orleans to become not only one of the most important figures in American jazz, but also one of the most recognizable and beloved musicians of the 20th century.
Two other notable American musicians were born on this date. William Schuman, the winner of the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1943 (for his Cantata No. 2 “A Free Song”), was born in 1910. He was president of the Juilliard School from 1945, resigning the position in 1961 to become president of Lincoln Center. He received a special Pulitzer in 1985 for his “contribution to American music as composer and educational leader.” His most famous works are his “New England Triptych,” after Revolutionary Era anthems of William Billings, and his Symphony No. 3, one of the great American contributions to the form, though I encourage you to check out his baseball opera, “The Mighty Casey,” for a lighter side of this often austere composer.
Finally, film composer David Raksin was born on this date in Philadelphia in 1912. Best-known for the standard “Laura” (from the motion picture of the same name), Raksin got his start working for Charlie Chaplin on “Modern Times,” whipping the self-styled auteur’s musical ideas into their final form. Their relationship could be contentious (Chaplin fired him at least once), but they remained lifelong friends. Because of his longevity – Raksin lived to be 92 – he assumed the unofficial position of senior statesman for film composers of Hollywood’s Golden Age. He was brimming with anecdotes about his colleagues, both in the music department and beyond.
Happy birthday, gentlemen, and thanks for the music!
Armstrong sings and plays “All That Meat and No Potatoes”:
William Schuman on “What’s My Line?”
Raksin plays “Laura”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTVVqUT_pDw
Raksin talks about working with Chaplin on “Modern Times”:
PHOTO: Louis Armstrong and Grace Kelly on the set of “High Society”
The discussion of the pronunciation of Rued Langgaard’s name (July 28 entry) reminds me of a blog entry I had written for the station a few years ago and never submitted. It’s always a quandary for the radio announcer: do you strive be scrupulously correct, or to be understood?
In the case of Langgaard, I feel I always have to spell his name after I say it. If I’m feeling particularly self-conscious that day and don’t want to try everyone’s patience (since I would need to elucidate both before and after the piece), I just say “LAHN-gourd.” It’s not strictly Danish, perhaps, but at least listeners have a chance of remembering the name and maybe hunting down some of the recordings.
That’s not to say I’m not in favor of authenticity! But I don’t know that I would use “Langoh” in regular conversation, just as I would tend not to clear my throat on the “ch” when I say “Bach.”
On a related matter, you have a composer like Jean Françaix. You would think the “x” would be silent, since he’s French, but allegedly he preferred the “x” to be sounded. Yet English speakers almost always say “Fron-SAY,” and that extends to classical music radio announcers.
I have over the years used the “x” on most occasions, but again since it requires an explanation so that listeners don’t think I’m a complete idiot, sometimes I just say screw it and go with the flow.
And what’s the consensus on Edward German: soft or hard “G?” He’s English, so I generally use the former, but then I got an email once that it’s supposed to be the other way.
Let’s call the whole thing off!
This week on “The Lost Chord,” I indulge my inner English major with a program inspired by two plays that explore the relationship of power and corruption – Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones.”
The impulse grew out of my recollection of the rarely-heard ballet by Heitor Villa-Lobos, which originally aired on television in 1957. However, since the score was never published, it was believed lost for decades until rediscovered by the conductor Jan Wagner (who is Venezuelan, despite his Teutonic name). Wagner will conduct the Odense Symphony Orchestra, a Nordic band, in a surprisingly idiomatic performance.
Also on the program will be a half-remembered relic of American musical history, an aria from Louis Gruenberg’s opera, “The Emperor Jones,” sung by baritone Lawrence Tibbett, recorded in 1933. (By the purest coincidence, tomorrow also happens to be Gruenberg’s birthday.)
“The Emperor Jones,” written in 1920, could be a potentially sensitive subject in a more politically correct era. No doubt about it, O’Neill’s tragedy is a product of its time, with plenty of minstrel show dialect, and the uncomfortable use of the N-word.
Already in 1924, Sidney Gilpin, the actor who created Brutus Jones, hedged at playing the character in its first revival, unless O’Neill first changed what he perceived as some of the more offensive passages. O’Neill stood his ground, and Gilpin’s replacement, Paul Robeson, went on to international stardom.
It’s easy to write-off “The Emperor Jones” as an embarrassing relic. Yet there have been some high-profile stagings over the past few years which demonstrate that the play still has much to tell us.
Jones is a former railroad porter and convict, who kills a guard in his escape from prison, and through bluff and bravado establishes himself as emperor of a Caribbean island. He maintains his power through cruelty and exploitation. However, he overplays his hand, and the situation quickly erodes. As his subjects rise up against him, Jones retreats into the jungle and descends into primal fear, haunted by images of his victims.
The play not only parallels some of the themes of “Macbeth,” it also demonstrates the fragility of human reason; how easily under the influence of adrenaline, brought on by raw terror, man is undone by the animal impulses of fight or flight; the psychological impact of guilt; and an insight into tyranny which was remarkably prescient given that fascism would soon overtake Europe.
I don’t know why it never occurred to me before to juxtapose the two plays, but a quick Google search reveals that I am not the first, so there goes my dream of an honorary doctorate.
Also on the show will be selections from rarely-heard incidental music written for two productions of “Macbeth,” by William Walton (for John Gielgud) and Sir Arthur Sullivan (for Henry Irving), respectively.
Power corrupts, on “Power Plays,” this Sunday night at 10 ET, with a repeat Friday morning at 3. Remember, you can also catch it later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.
PHOTOS: Gielgud as Macbeth (left) and Tibbett as Brutus Jones
Tomorrow is the birthday of Jerome Moross, whose music for “The Big Country” secures his place in the pantheon of the great film composers. It was my intention to at least acknowledge him on this week’s “Picture Perfect.” However, since I just did a program devoted to Moross’ western scores only a few months ago, it was necessary to come up with something else. The more I thought about it, the more I saw red – cardinal red.
Otto Preminger’s “The Cardinal” was released in 1963. Based on the novel by Henry Morton Robinson, the story follows a fictional Boston Irish Catholic priest from his ordination in 1917 to his appointment as cardinal on the eve of World War II. Tom Tryon played the lead. Tryon would later become a best-selling author himself (as Thomas Tryon), with books like “The Other” and “Harvest Home.”
An interesting factoid: The Vatican’s liaison officer for the production was Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI.
As always, Moross’ score is irrepressibly lyrical, even buoyant. The man never seemed to run out of good tunes.
We’ll also have music from “The Shoes of the Fisherman,” from 1968, another film based on a best-selling novel, this time by Morris L. West.
Anthony Quinn played Kiril Pavlovich Lakota, an archbishop who serves 20 years in a Siberian labor camp. He is released and sent to Rome where is promoted to the cardinalate. When the Pope dies, suddenly, Lakota, a dark horse candidate, is elected as a replacement. The story balances Lakota’s internal struggles and personal torments with mounting global turmoil.
The music was by Alex North, who sets the melancholy lyricism of Russian folksong against the steely grandeur of his music for the Vatican.
The remainder of the program will be devoted to movies about missionaries. Georges Delerue provided a noble, austere score for the 1991 Bruce Beresford film “Black Robe,” based on a novel by the Irish Canadian writer Brian Moore, in which a Jesuit priest treks through 1500 miles of Canadian wilderness on a mission to convert the native tribes of the Huron and the Algonquin.
Ennio Morricone’s moving music for Roland Joffé’s 1986 film “The Mission,” which featured Jeremy Irons as a Jesuit priest and Robert DeNiro as a reformed slave hunter in the South American jungle, has received a great deal of exposure over the years, both through its use in television commercials and by figure skaters, who made “Gabriel’s Oboe” a recognizable hit. It has become one of Morricone’s best-loved scores.
Join me for “Holy Men and Missions” this week, on “Picture Perfect” – music for the movies – this Friday evening at 6 ET, or listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.
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