Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Brothers Grimm Movie Nostalgia with Roy’s Tie-Dye

For those of us of a certain age, family movies were an essential part of the holidays, as the networks kept kids entertained so that adults could catch-up after the meal. In past years, we’ve reflected on “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”

On the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, we’ll take a nostalgic look back at George Pal’s “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” (1962). The narrative, as you would imagine, incorporates a number of familiar Grimm’s fairy tales, while also dealing with the brothers’ real-life struggles. The all-star cast includes Laurence Harvey, Russ Tamblyn, Claire Bloom, Barbara Eden, Jim Backus, Beulah Bondi, Walter Slezak, Yvette Mimieux, Buddy Hackett, and Terry-Thomas, among others.

Pal is certainly no stranger to the show, as we’ve discussed a number of his features in the past, including “The War of the Worlds,” “The Time Machine,” “Destination Moon,” “7 Faces of Dr. Lao,” and “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.”

There’s a certain amount of regret in having to view “Grimm,” originally shown in Cinerama, on a home screen, but it’s still an at times vertiginous experience. It’s easy to imagine what it must have been like to see it in the theater, with Tamblyn dodging branches on a wild ride atop a speeding coach, or gazing between his legs into a ravine as boards crack and tumble from a dilapidated bridge. The film also incorporates the producer-director’s trademark stop motion effects. Pal first achieved fame through his Academy Award nominated Puppetoons, which introduced subjects like “Tubby the Tuba.”

The music is by Leigh Harline. Harline was an integral part of the Disney team that scored an earlier fairy tale adaptation, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” He won two Academy Awards for his work on “Pinocchio,” including one for Best Original Song, for “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

Our conversation was originally scheduled to take place on Thanksgiving weekend, but had to be postponed, as Roy and I continued to metabolize our Thanksgiving tryptophan. However, since one of the film’s chapters, the Puppetoon-laden “The Cobbler and the Elves,” is a Christmas segment, the delay will do nothing to diminish the timely nature of the discussion.

We hope you’ll join us for a Grimm chat, as we remember George Pal’s “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.” Pal around grimly in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

December 14, 2023
Mykola Leontovych Carol of the Bells Composer

Today is the birthday of Mykola Leontovych (1877-1921). You may not know his name, but you most certainly know “Carol of the Bells.”

Leontovych conceived “Carol of the Bells” as “Shchedryck” in 1919. It is actually a New Year’s carol, traditionally sung in Ukraine on the eve of the Julian New Year (January 13). The title is derived from the Ukrainian word for “bountiful.” The original text is about a swallow that foretells great fortune with the arrival of spring:

A little swallow flew
and started to twitter,
to summon the master:
“Come out, come out, O master,
look at the sheep pen,
there the ewes have yeaned
and the lambkins have been born
Your goods are great,
you will have a lot of money.
If not money, then chaff:
you have a dark-eyebrowed wife.”
Shchedryk, shchedryk, a shchedrivka,
A little swallow flew.

The song was popularized in the West, following an appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1921 by the Ukrainian Republic Cappella, a group that Leontovych co-founded. American choral master Peter Wilhousky, himself of Ukrainian stock, was in the audience. He outfitted the melody with new lyrics to create “Carol of the Bells.”

I’m always sorry to have to define a composer, in part, through the manner of his death, since that is what we always seem to remember. Unfortunately, the circumstances of Leontovych’s demise were extraordinary enough to invite comment. He happened to be visiting his parents’ house for Christmas in 1921, when a traveler came to the door and requested lodging for the night. The stranger was put up in a room with Leontovych. At sunrise, Leontovych was shot and the family robbed.

The murder may have been politically motivated. The Ukrainian Republic Cappella was active in promoting Ukrainian independence, and Leontovych had earned his share of enemies. His eldest daughter recalled him saying that he had documents that would allow him to leave the country for Romania. He claimed those papers had been rifled through. Also, the stranger turned out to be an agent of the secret police.

Do you know the legend of the Christmas Spider? The Eastern European folk tale tells of a poor but hard-working widow who can’t afford to decorate the family tree that happens to be growing in the middle of the house (a chance result of a fallen pine cone). The family is too poor to decorate, but the children awake on Christmas morning to find the branches bedecked with spider webs that turn to gold and silver, at one stroke saving the holiday and rescuing them all from poverty.

The story is not for the arachnophobic, as it is often told from the perspective of spiders. Anyway, if you ever wondered at the spider web ornaments that turn up on Christmas trees from time to time, you need wonder no more.

December 13, 2023
Iceland’s Yule Lads The Christmas Trolls

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but if you didn’t put a shoe in your window last night, you are in for a world of irritation through Christmas. Oh, wait a minute, that’s probably the case anyway.

The Yule Lads are Iceland’s greatest metaphor for holiday annoyance and frustration. In their most anodyne form, the Lads leave gifts for children (in the shoe). But in their purest, most primordial sense, they are major pains in the ass. And their mother will kill you.

Today, the Lads are most frequently portrayed as a bevy of affable Santa Clauses, rewarding the good with welcome gifts and penalizing the naughty with rotten potatoes. But in days of yore, they were amoral pranksters and homicidal trolls who devoured children.

According to Icelandic lore, the Lads are thirteen in number. Mostly they harass and steal from Icelandic farmers. They descend from the mountains, staggering their arrivals and departures, beginning thirteen nights before Christmas. For those who can’t be bothered to do the math, that would be December 12.

Each has his own exasperating speciality, whether it be harassing sheep, stealing milk, eating crust out of pans, licking spoons, stealing leftovers, licking bowls, slamming doors, eating skyr (a kind of Icelandic yogurt), stealing sausages, peeping through windows, sniffing for bread, stealing meat with a hook, or eating candles.

For Tolkien fans, surely the Lads are the basis for the thirteen Dwarves [sic] who visit Bilbo Baggins, eating him out of house and home and imperiling his dishes.

Their mother is the ogress Grýla, who seeks children to boil in her cauldron. If you happen to find yourself in her gnarled claws, remember, she has to release you if you repent!

The Yule Lads are frequently accompanied by Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat. The cat eats those who don’t receive new clothes before Christmas. This is tied in to the Icelandic work ethic. In the old days, if farm hands processed their autumn wool in a timely fashion, they were rewarded with new garments. If not, they received nothing, thereby leaving them vulnerable to the Yule Cat. Better sheer them sheep!

In 1746, the practice of parents tormenting their children with Christmas monster stories was officially banned.

Get festive in the way only Icelanders can, with these “Icelandic Folk Dances” by Jón Leifs.

Björk sings about the Yule Cat

Only 13 days of folklore and paganism until Christmas!

PHOTO: Jólakötturinn is watching

December 12, 2023
Berlioz’s “Te Deum” Napoleon’s Musical Echo

With Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” in theaters – and tanking with the critics – it might be a good time to revisit Hector Berlioz’s “Te Deum.” The “Te Deum,” literally “To God,” was originally conceived as the climax of a grand symphony in celebration of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first performance took place on April 30, 1855, at the Church of Saint-Eustache in Paris, with the composer conducting, in true Berlioz fashion, an ensemble of 900-950 performers.

As the real-life Napoleon had also tanked with critics, Berlioz dedicated his “Te Deum” to Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. What an ambitious concert it would make if revived on the same program with Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, undertaken in a wave of euphoria at a time when Bonaparte was perceived as a democratic reformer. In Beethoven’s case, his disillusionment is reflected in the violence with which he scratched out the original dedication on his score, offering it instead “to celebrate the memory of a great man.”

Some of the material employed in the creation of Berlioz’s “Te Deum” was originally conceived for his “Messe solennelle” of 1824. The Mass was commissioned by Paris’ Church of Saint-Roch to mark the Feast of the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents by King Herod in his attempt to the snare the baby Jesus.

Berlioz was only 22 years-old at the time, but already driven by his creative demons. If you are a fan of the composer, you must hear this piece, which teems with presentiments of many of his major works, including the “Symphonie fantastique,” “The Damnation of Faust,” “Benvenuto Cellini” (with its “Roman Carnival Overture”), and of course the Requiem.

Berlioz himself played the tam-tam at the Mass’ premiere, and in his excitement gave it such a blow that it blew everyone back in their pews. The “Messe” was favorably received (unusual for this composer), but Berlioz decided he hated the piece and wound up burning the score.

The work was believed lost for nearly 170 years, until it was rediscovered by a Belgian schoolteacher in an organ gallery in Antwerp in 1991. Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducted the first modern performance two years later.

Gardiner is on self-imposed sabbatical after punching a bass (singer) after a performance of Berlioz’s “The Trojans” in August. He’s expected to return to the podium next year.

Berlioz too was recognized for his unbridled passion. At one time, he planned to murder his inconstant fiancée, her mother, and the fiancée’s new beau (in drag, no less), then take his own life. Thankfully, he cooled his jets when he realized he forgot his disguise. At any rate, Berlioz and Gardiner seem to be made for each other.

Berlioz’s oratorio “L’enfance du Christ,” mostly composed in 1853-54, returns to the topic of the Slaughter of the Innocents. The work is much better known, as it is frequently encountered during the Christmas season.

Berlioz knew a thing or two about tanking with the critics. But unlike Ridley Scott, most of his works get better with age.

Happy birthday, Hector Berlioz!

“Te Deum”

Gardiner conducts the “Messe solennelle”

“L’enfance du Christ”

Berlioz in 1832. Believe or not, I once had hair like that.

December 11, 2023
Franck, Saint-Saëns, & Unrequited Love

Camille Saint-Saëns was not only the dedicatee of the Piano Quintet in F minor by his friend, César Franck; he also played in work’s premiere in 1879. But as he sight-read through the piano part, he became more and more agitated – angry, even. At the conclusion of the piece, he rejected Franck’s attempt to shake his hand, and stormed off without acknowledging the applause.

He wasn’t the only one. Franck’s wife also made no secret of hating it.

Here was music of sublimated desire, and everyone knew the cause. Saint-Saëns knew, because he felt the same way about Franck’s pupil, Augusta Holmès. Franck tutored Holmès in organ and composition. No doubt he admired her musical talent, but equally there was no doubt his interest went beyond that of master-disciple. Don’t let those mutton chops fool you. A man is only flesh and blood. And in Franck’s case, also mutton chops.

There must have been something about Holmès, the French composer of Irish descent, because she had the same effect on just about every man she crossed paths with. Saint-Saëns had proposed marriage to her multiple times, always without success. He would refer to her as a “beautiful pythoness.” Methinks his vines had tender sour grapes.

I know I’ve made no secret of my struggles with the popularity of Franck’s highly-regarded Symphony in D minor. I’ve been very slow to warm to it. It’s taken decades, in fact. I never much liked the insipid theme of the last movement. But I’ve gotten to the point now where at last I’m willing to concede its overall greatest.

Much more congenial to me are his symphonic poems and his lovely chamber music.

No comment on the organ works – although I once attended a “Franckathon” at St. Clement’s Church in Philadelphia, back in the 1990s, at which his complete output for the instrument was presented, with two intermissions. Just to say I did. Well, that and for the free doughnuts and coffee.

Nothing makes Franck more palatable than caffeine and fried dough.

Happy birthday, mon vieux!

Incendiary Piano Quintet in F minor

Symphony in D minor

“Le Chasseur maudit” (“The Accursed Huntsman”)

Violin Sonata in A major

“Grande pièce symphonique,” played by Marcel Dupré

Prelude, Chorale and Fugue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHftZ2-w4XE

And, for the season, “Panis Angelicus”

December 10, 2023

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS