Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Grandfather Clock Song NJ Exhibit & History

Did you know that the term “grandfather clock” entered the language as a result of a song by Henry Clay Work?

This is something I learned on a visit to the exhibition “Striking Beauty: New Jersey Tall Case Clocks, 1730-1830,” now on display at Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton. I visited the show over the summer, but the installation will be in place through February 18, 2024.

The reason I am thinking of it now is that today is Work’s birthday anniversary. Work lived from 1832 to 1884. Although he was born and died in Connecticut, in his 20s, he labored as a printer, setting type in Chicago. There he composed in his head, against a background of noisy machinery. He conceived his greatest songs during the American Civil War, achieving a popularity even greater than Stephen Foster’s. “My Grandfather’s Clock,” published in 1876, sold over a million copies of sheet music, and popularized the term “grandfather clock” to describe a longcase clock.

Although his heart was in the right place, as a dyed-in-wool abolitionist (the family home was a stop on the Underground Railroad and his father was imprisoned for assisting runaway slaves), in common with other songwriters of his day, Work composed a number of songs that were used in minstrel shows. He also appropriated what he perceived as Irish dialect. It was a thing. People, like history, are complex.

There’s certainly a lot of history on display in the Morven exhibit, billed as “the most comprehensive look ever given to the ingenious work of New Jersey clock makers.” No less than 50 tall case clocks are on view in five galleries.

The former New Jersey Governor’s Mansion was originally built by Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

If you’re looking for something to do on a lovely autumn weekend, definitely consider checking it out. When the clocks begin to chime, it is quite the time machine indeed!

https://www.morven.org/

Henry Clay Work, “Grandfather’s Clock”

October 1, 2023
October Nightstand Reads Spooky Season Books

Okay! It’s time! Belly up to bar for a glass of hot cider. And let’s hear it. What’s on your nightstand for the month of October?

Me, it’s somewhat of a cliché, I know, but I’ll be reacquainting myself with the tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe – hardly a curious volume of forgotten lore – as I’ll be in Richmond at a point, and I’ll want to visit The Poe Museum. (Seemingly, every town has one.) My copy is still a cherished one, put out by Philadelphia’s Running Press back in the 1980s. You may remember the cover. All the cool high school kids had one.

This I will supplement with “Poe Pictures,” a lavishly illustrated hardback from Tomahawk Press that pays tribute to Poe’s film legacy. Bruce G. Hallenbeck is the author, with a foreword provided by none other than Roger Corman (who was responsible for American International Pictures’ Edgar Allan Poe cycle starring Vincent Price). I figured this would be a good book to flip through over my afternoon coffee.

I’ve also been able to secure a copy of “A Night in the Lonesome October” by sci-fi/fantasy writer Roger Zelazny. This is one I have not read, but it appears Jack the Ripper meets Dr. Frankenstein, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and Rasputin, among others. And it’s narrated by Jack’s dog? There are 31 chapters to coincide with the 31 days of the month. This was recommended to me for the past two years by Bill Montgomery, who follows this page, so when I was able to locate an affordable copy, I figured I’d give it a shot. Mass market science fiction paperbacks of this era used to be much easier to find in used bookstores. Where did they all go? I came across a copy in a secondhand book shop in upstate New York, mylar-bagged, for $50! This is NOT the copy I purchased. Thank you, eBay.

I’m thinking this is also a good time for me to finally read Rosemary Brown’s non-fiction(?) account “Unfinished Symphonies.” I know I’ve written about Brown here a couple of times before. Brown was the English spiritualist who claimed that the great composers were still very much active and dictating posthumous works to her. If you missed my most recent post on the subject, from October 2022, with links to some fascinating related info, you’ll find it here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=963729637879433&set=a.883855802533484

For variety’s sake, I may also extract a story or two from a collection of Richard Matheson’s short stories a friend gifted me for my birthday. Many of Matheson’s tales have been adapted for film and television. I’m sure you’ve encountered his work, even if you don’t recognize his name. He was responsible for some of the most memorable “Twilight Zone” episodes (including the one with the gremlin that taunts an airborne William Shatner), as well as the stories for what became “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” “The Legend of Hell House,” and “Trilogy of Terror,” among many, many others.

I read his novel “I am Legend,” back in the 1990s – well before the Will Smith movie, but with two traumatizing adaptations starring Vincent Price (“The Last Man on Earth”) and Charlton Heston (“The Omega Man”) marring my childhood. Some of you may recall that my father took me to see “The Omega Man” at the drive-in when I was 5! Anyway, for me, the book was a pretty good ride for most of the way, until it crossed over from horror, with admittedly sci-fi underpinnings (plague-induced vampires), to a purely sci-fi ending, if memory serves, that didn’t quite satisfy. I’ll give a few of the shorter tales a whirl. Hopefully they’ll have enough meat on their bones so that I don’t feel like I’m floating away after all the heady atmosphere and rich vocabulary of Poe!

It’s amazing to me that I used to have to pound the pavement in every town I ever visited in the hopes of discovering a used bookstore with even a single copy of anything by any of these cult horror writers I craved (Sheridan Le Fanu, M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, H.P. Lovecraft) from having encountered a few stories in cheap anthologies, usually offered on remainder tables of the big chains, and now many of them are available as Penguin paperbacks. Of course, the paper is nowhere of the quality of most of the books I purchased 40 years ago. But at least they’re available.

How about you? Any grimoires you’ll be poring over by flickering taper? If so, sound off below. It’s our month to howl!

October 1, 2023
Burnt Offerings Movie Review Haunted House Horrors

Well, it ain’t exactly “The Haunting” (1963), but the house in “Burnt Offerings” (1976) is also up to no good. Unfortunately, that also happens to describe just about every aspect of the production.

Opinions may vary. We’ll find out tomorrow night, when Roy and I commence our annual celebration of Halloween with an eerie discussion on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.

Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith, and Bette Davis put their faith in Dan Curtis, whose “Dark Shadows” was notorious for getting things done efficiently – which is to say, fast and cheap. The screenplay was adapted by prolific sci-fi scribe William F. Nolan, who gave us “Logan’s Run.”

“Burnt Offerings” was shot at the Dunsmuir House in Oakland, California, soon to be used in “Phantasm” (1979), a much less formulaic film – which I hope we’ll cover soon – that at least had some creativity and the courage to swing for the fences.

The offerings won’t be the only things that are burned, when Roy and I convene for a lively discussion about a house that wants you dead. Bring your realtor to the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Sunday evening at 7:30 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

PHOTOS: The house (top), and Roy making me rewatch the film

September 30, 2023
Rediscovering Weingartner Composer and Conductor

Felix Weingartner (1863-1942) is best-recognized as a conductor. However, he considered himself equally, if not more so, a composer. He was one of a number of prominent conductors of the day who fit the Mahler paradigm. However, the works of Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer, and most others of his profession are very seldom heard.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” as we’ll have a chance to enjoy Weingartner’s Symphony No. 2, from 1901, a fascinating mix of old and new, evidently romantic in disposition, yet very much of its time. The recording will feature the Basel Symphony Orchestra, which he himself directed from 1927 to 1934.

Weingartner held many conducting posts over the years. He succeeded Mahler as principal conductor of the Vienna Hofoper, from 1908 to 1911. He led the Vienna Philharmonic in an official capacity until 1927. He was later chief conductor of the Vienna Volksoper.

He thought very deeply about the problem of the symphony. I remember reading a book he wrote in which he examined the strengths and weaknesses of all the major symphonies written in the shadow of Beethoven, down to the dawn of the 20th century.

He himself composed seven symphonies, with other orchestral works, and thanks to the enterprising cpo.de – classic production osnabrück label (CPO for short), all of them have been recorded.

As a conductor, Weingartner was particularly well-regarded as a Beethoven interpreter. He’d been conducting the Beethoven symphonies as a cycle since at least 1902, and he was the first to complete an integral set of recordings. To round out the hour, we’ll have time to sample the scherzo from the Symphony No. 9, from his superlative recording of 1935.

I hope you’ll join me in raising a glass to Felix Weingartner. That’s “Wine from Weingartner,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: Weingartner gets busted in Basel in 1927

September 30, 2023
Jacques Hotteterre The “Roman” Flute Master

They called him “le Romain,” but not because he resembled a lettuce.

Jacques Hotteterre, most celebrated of a dynasty of woodwind makers and players, received his nickname for his early period in Rome. There he studied and soon found employment with Prince Francesco Ruspoli. In 1708, he entered the court of Louis XIV, King of France, whom he served as Jouëur de Fluste de la musique de chambre. In addition to being a master of the transverse flute, Hotteterre also played bassoon, oboe, and musette (a kind of French bagpipe). He’s said to have made certain innovations to the design of the transverse flute and wrote several methods. His “L’Art de préluder sur la flûte traversière,” published in 1719, was Europe’s first flute manual and enjoyed great success.

Today marks the 350th anniversary of his birth. Hotteterre died in Paris in 1763, a few months shy of his 90th birthday. Joyeux anniversaire!

September 29, 2023

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