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The American pianist and composer Edward MacDowell was born on this date in 1860. Why not cozy in for his “Fireside Tales?”
Of course, MacDowell’s best-known music would be the old chestnut “To a Wild Rose,” from his “Woodland Sketches.”
Earl Wild performs MacDowell’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The composer’s admiration for Grieg (as well as Saint-Saëns and Liszt) is evident:
Happy birthday, Eddie.
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There’s no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going…
Get ready for a wild ride with Gene Wilder, as Roy and I explore “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971). The beloved family musical, very much a product of its time, offers a perverse world of umbrella mushrooms, tea cup daffodils, and psychedelic steamboat rides, reflective of its merry prankster ethos.
Leave your comments next to the snozzberries, then climb aboard the Wonka Mobile for a quick cleanse. The Candy Man promises a groovy lemon pie – ‘cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.
Oompah-Loompahs are the new orange, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Don’t sell-out to Slugworth, as we live-streamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!
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Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of soprano Rita Streich. I’ve been listening to her recording of Josef Rheinberger’s “The Star of Bethlehem” a lot this year.
Sadly, it’s the kind of music you don’t hear much on the radio anymore. Most of the grand and contemplative Christmas works (Franz Liszt’s “Christus,” Vaughan Williams’ “Hodie,” Saint-Saëns’ “Christmas Oratorio,” Casals’ “El Pessebre,” Charpentier’s “Messe de Minuit,” Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity,” Schütz’s “Christmas Story”) – basically, those that aren’t “Messiah” – are slipping away, as playlists pander to an increasingly A.D.D. society. When the listenership is trained to expect little more than consumer-friendly arrangements of the less-demanding carols, and even Beethoven symphonies are broadcast less and less frequently in their entirety (except perhaps the shorter ones), what are you going to do?
It all seems to have gone away so quickly.
But of course, Streich sang the carols beautifully, too.
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Gene Wilder had Covid hair before it was a thing, in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971). Join us this weekend, as Roy and I take wicked delight in Roald Dahl’s cautionary tale of greed, gluttony, and consumerism run amok. Just in time for Christmas!
I know, it’s hard to conceive of a week without alien invasions, dystopias, or post-apocalyptic nightmares – but, hey! There’s television teleportation, a glass elevator rocket-launch, and Everlasting Gobstoppers. To borrow from the poster to “Robinson Crusoe on Mars,” “This film is scientifically authentic… It is only one step ahead of present reality!”
It’s the perfect holiday movie to share with your kids. Watch it, and then take a psychedelic chocolate riverboat ride, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. The Oompa-Loompas will be manning the taffy-pulling machines, live-streamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST.
https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/
“Willy Wonka” not your cup of cocoa? Then tune in on Sunday, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel, when we’ll jawbone about Pia Zadora and “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” (1964).
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On the eve of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth (observed), celebrate Ludwig Van with Peanuts:
Schroeder plays the “Pathétique” Sonata:
Schroeder plays the “Moonlight” Sonata:
Lucy resents Schroeder’s white privilege:
Direct all mail to 1770 James Street (Schroeder’s address – 1770 is the year of Beethoven’s birth). Charles Schulz made Schroeder a musician when he decided to work his daughter’s toy piano into the strip. The first piece he ever had Schroeder play was not by Beethoven, but rather Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G minor. Schulz himself preferred Brahms, but he said he thought “Beethoven” sounded funnier.
BONUS! “Schroeder’s Beethoven Fantasy,” the first movement of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s “Peanuts Gallery”:
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