Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Goethe’s Walpurgis Night Music on The Classical Network

Goethe is king on Walpurgis Night.

Walpurgis Night, the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, is a time when evil spirits are believed to roam the earth. Tradition tells of a witches’ sabbath and orgy of the damned held atop the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains in Central Germany. It’s the last blast of diablerie before May Day. In Goethe’s “Faust,” Mephistopheles guides his imperiled charge into a swirling cauldron of witches and demons so as to complete his moral degradation.

This Monday afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll have some musical depictions of Faust and Mefistopheles. Luciano Pavarotti will sing the role of Faust in the Classical Walpurgis Night scene (no witches, but a romantic interlude with the shade of Helen of Troy, sung by Montserrat Caballé) from Arrigo Boito’s “Mefistofele.” We’ll hear the irresistible ballet music from Charles Gounod’s “Faust.” Then, clearly relishing his demonic laughter, Bryn Terfel will sing “Mephistopheles’ Serenade.”

Felix Mendelssohn wrote a cantata, after Goethe’s “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”), in which prankish Druids get the best of their superstitious occupiers. It ain’t “Faust,” but it will do.

The afternoon will open with Wilhelm Stenhammar’s overture, “Excelsior!” The score is prefaced by a motto which begins, “Yet each in him may find a native longing/To rise and travel far and far away,” lifted from – you guessed it – “Faust.” As time allows, we’ll also hear Charles-Valentin Alkan’s “Quasi-Faust” from his “Grande Sonata,” Edward MacDowell’s “Hexentanz,” and Edmond Dédé’s “Mephisto Masqué” (complete with kazoo choir). To place a seal upon our musical pact, Carlos Paita will rock the Brocken with Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique.”

There’s plenty percolating for Walpurgis Night, this Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

More about Lewis Morrison, a remarkable figure who achieved world fame as Mephistopheles, here:

http://www.blackpast.org/aah/morris-morris-w-lewis-morrison-1845-1906

April 30, 2018
Alexandre Dumas Music on The Lost Chord

He is best known as the author of “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.” However, Alexandre Dumas churned out historically-inspired prose on all manner of subjects, and he did so by the yard.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we present an hour of music inspired by his works, including rarely-heard incidental music, written for a revival of the play, “Caligula,” by Gabriel Fauré; ballet music from an opera, “Ascanio,” taken from a novel featuring Benvenuto Cellini, by Camille Saint-Saëns; and a poetic monologue, “Joan of Arc at the Stake,” by Franz Liszt. We’ll also hear the suite for symphonic band, “The Three Musketeers,” by George Wiliam Hespe.

I hope you’ll join me for “The Lost Sword.” It’s all for one, and one for all, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 29, 2018
WPRB Walpurgis Night Radio Fundraiser

Grab a cup of Joe and join Toby and me for a morning full of devilishly good music, as we anticipate Walpurgis Night and May Day – on a full moon Sunday – while making arguments for supporting independent radio. Don’t be the one locked inside the Wicker Man. Make your commitment to WPRB now, with a sustaining membership or one-time contribution.

Everyone who donates this morning between 7 and 10 EDT will be eligible for one of three prize drawings (one per hour), which could make you the winner of a fistful of lovingly curated CDs. That’s above and beyond any of the other loot you’ll be entitled to – the magnet, the enamel pin (pictured), the t-shirt, the tote bag, etc. – for the amount of your pledge. Call 609-258-1033 or visit pledge.wprb.com.

The coffee is scalding hot and the caffeine demons communicate using musical notation, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Honey, that’s great coffee, on Classic Ross Amico.

Artwork by Kyra Gregory

April 29, 2018
WPRB’s Walpurgis Night Pledge Drive

You don’t have to sell your soul for great music, but we sure would appreciate your support.

This Sunday morning on WPRB, I’ll be tossing my pointy hat into the ring – or pentagram, as the case may be – in an attempt to elicit your contributions, on the eve of Walpurgis Night. Walpurgis Night, the night before the feast day St. Walpurga, is a time when evil spirits are believed to roam the earth. There’s a memorable scene in Goethe’s “Faust,” with witches gathered for an orgy of the damned on the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains. So don’t be surprised if there is a fair amount of witchery – and Goethe – reflected in my musical selections.

Walpurgis Night also happens to be the eve of May Day. We’ll temper the horror with equally pagan cavortings around the May Pole, replete with mummers, hobby horses, and musical depictions of Robin and Marian. And, as if that weren’t enough, Sunday is also a full moon, so get ready for a cosmic convergence of lunatic proportions. Tobias Robison of “Masterclassics” (heard Tuesday mornings on WPRB) will be my sorcerer’s apprentice, as we venture to conjure your pledges.

Remember that WPRB is independently owned and operated. The station relies on listener support for the bulk of its operating budget. When you make a financial commitment to WPRB, you not only support off-the-beaten-path classical music, you provide a variegated platform for stimulating programming in all genres, with on-air hosts fully engaged in putting together their own playlists and sharing the music they love. This makes for a uniquely rewarding radio experience.

For the convenience of true believers everywhere (to say nothing of its staff), WPRB is adding a sustaining member option. For as low as $10 a month, you can make an ongoing commitment to the station by way of an automatic charge to your credit card. The commitment can be for whatever amount you decide, but $10 a month is the minimum. The donation will continue, in perpetuity, until you tell us to stop, which you may do at any time by emailing cancel@wprb.com. It’s that easy.

A sustaining membership means you’ll never have to renew, and that WPRB can save time, paper, and postage on not having to remind you. Think about all that lost revenue at the end of a year, as memberships lapse. It could be weeks before the station secures a renewal. I mean, you’re going to renew anyway, right? The hassle is eliminated with a sustaining membership.

WPRB has until May 4 to acquire 1000 unique pledges. Anyone who donates tomorrow morning between 7 and 10 EDT will be eligible for one of three prize drawings (one per hour), which could make you the winner of a fistful of lovingly curated CDs. That’s above and beyond any of the other loot to which you’re entitled for the amount of your pledge. Call 609-258-1033 or visit pledge.wprb.com.

Toby and I will be raising hell and dancing around the maypole, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Thank you for your ongoing support of Classic Ross Amico.

Luis Ricardo Falero, “Departure of the Witches” (a.k.a. “Witches Going to their Sabbath,”1878)

April 28, 2018
Britten’s War Requiem Love & War on WWFM

“War is sweet to those who have no experience of it, but the experienced man trembles exceedingly at heart on its approach.” Unfortunately, little has changed since the Greek poet Pindar wrote those words 2600 years ago.

Benjamin Britten’s powerful and moving “War Requiem” was written in 1961-62 for the consecration of a rebuilt Coventry Cathedral, after the original 14th century structure was destroyed by bombs during World War II. The work interweaves poetry of Wilfred Owen with traditional texts from the Mass for the Dead. Owen was killed in action in 1918, one week before the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. The “War Requiem” became an instant classic, embraced by audiences and critics around the world and documented on a recording that became an unlikely bestseller.

Britten’s masterpiece will be performed at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, in Alexander Hall, tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. Vocal soloists Sarah Pelletier, William Burden, and Andrew Garland will join the combined forces of the Princeton University Glee Club, Princeton Pro Musica, the Princeton High School Women’s Choir, and the Princeton University Orchestra, conducted by Michael Pratt. The performances take place in a year that marks the centenary of the end of World War I, which went into effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

Because of the work’s massive demands, seating will be even more limited than usual, with the performers spilling off the stage and into the audience. Can’t get in? Join us tonight on The Classical Network to hear a live broadcast, beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

Filmmakers, and writers before them, have long realized that nothing heightens the affect of romantic passion in narrative form quite like the turbulent backdrop of war. War supplies impediments, spectacle, often tragedy – and possibly even a few Oscars.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” there will be plenty of valor, nobility, and sacrifice to tug at the heart strings, as we examine love in time of war, with music from “Casablanca” (Max Steiner), “Doctor Zhivago” (Maurice Jarre), “The English Patient” (Gabriel Yared), and “Cyrano de Bergerac” (Dimitri Tiomkin). Join me for an hour of impossible love, missed opportunities, and doomed romance, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT.

Then stay tuned for Britten’s “War Requiem,” beginning at 7:30, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 27, 2018

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