Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Déodat de Séverac

Armchair Travel Musical Vacation on The Lost Chord

Armchair travelers, rejoice! This week on “The Lost Chord,” it’s an hour of musical impressions of composers on vacation.

Tune in for “Postcard Greetings” by Jenö Takács, “Four Breton Sketches” by Anthony Hedges, and “En Vacances” (“On Vacation”) by Deodat de Severac (who was born on this date in 1872).

No baggage! No fuss!

Kick back and enjoy the music, on “Leisure Treasures,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

July 20, 2024
Déodat de Séverac Summer Music

150 summers have passed since the birth of Déodat de Séverac. I suppose it’s only appropriate that the composer best known for “En vacances” be born in the season of vacations.

Musically speaking, there are two types of getaways: (1) actual travel music, inspired by a journey to a particular locale; and (2) the flight of fancy, a vacation of the creative mind. Either lends itself to compiling collections of miniatures, after the fashion, perhaps, of some of the great keyboard works of Robert Schumann.

Séverac studied in Paris with Vincent d’Indy and Albéric Magnard. He also acted as an assistant to Isaac Albéniz, whose character pieces certainly influenced some of his own evocative regionalisms for the keyboard.

Séverac himself composed two sets of piano pieces, which he collected under the title “En vacances” (“On Vacation”). The second of these, sadly, was left incomplete at the time of his death at the age of 48.

These sketches suggest the experiences of his children, Mimi and Toto, in particular, with individual movements titled “Invocation to Schumann,” “Grandmother’s caresses,” “Visit from the little girls next door,” “Toto pretends to be a verger,” “Mimi dresses up as a Marquise,” “In the park,” “On listening to a musical box,” and “Romantic Waltz.”

Enjoy both sets, performed here by Aldo Ciccolini:

Happy birthday, Déodat de Séverac, born 150 years ago!

PHOTO: For Déodat de Séverac, a good smoke is like a vacation

July 20, 2022
Vacation Music on the Radio This Sunday

Armchair travelers, rejoice! This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” it’s an hour of musical impressions of composers on vacation.

Tune in for “Postcard Greetings” by Jenö Takács, “Four Breton Sketches” by Anthony Hedges, and “En Vacances” (“On Vacation”) by Deodat de Severac.

No baggage! No fuss!

Relax and enjoy the music, on “Leisure Treasures,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

July 18, 2021
Séverac’s “En Vacances” A Musical Holiday

Summertime. A time for vacations – even if only of the imaginary variety.

Musically speaking, there are two types of getaways: (1) actual travel music, inspired by a journey to a particular locale; and (2) the flight of fancy, a vacation of the creative mind. Either lends itself to compiling collections of miniatures, after the fashion, perhaps, of some of the great keyboard works of Robert Schumann.

Déodot de Séverac studied in Paris with Vincent d’Indy and Albéric Magnard. He also acted as an assistant to Isaac Albéniz, whose character pieces certainly influenced some of his own evocative regionalisms for the keyboard.

Séverac composed two sets of piano pieces, under the title “En vacances” (“On Vacation,” or “Holiday Time”). The second of these, sadly, was left incomplete at the time of his death at the age of 48.

These sketches suggest the experiences of his children, in particular, Mimi and Toto, with individual movements titled “Invocation to Schumann,” “Grandmother’s caresses,” “Visit from the little girls next door,” “Toto pretends to be a verger,” “Mimi dresses up as a Marquise,” “In the park,” “On listening to a musical box,” and “Romantic Waltz.”

Enjoy both sets, performed here by Aldo Ciccolini:

Happy birthday, Déodot de Séverac (1872-1921)!

PHOTO: Séverac vacations in place

July 20, 2020
Summertime Music Imaginary Vacations

Summertime. A time for vacations, even if merely of the imaginary variety.

In music, there are two types of musical vacations: actual travel music, inspired by a trip taken to a specific locale (as per Sunday night’s edition of “The Lost Chord” – “Channel Hopping” – which will be rebroadcast Wednesday evening at 6 ET at wwfm.org); and the flight of fancy, or a vacation of the creative mind. The latter often manifests itself in a collection of miniatures given descriptive names, in the manner, perhaps, of some of the great keyboard works of Robert Schumann.

The French composer Déodot de Séverac studied in Paris with Vincent d’Indy and Albéric Magnard. He also acted as an assistant to Isaac Albeniz, whose own character pieces certainly influenced some of his evocative regional painting for the keyboard. In writing vocal music, he set texts not only in French, but also his native Provençal (the historic language of Languedoc) and Catalan (the historic language of Rousillon).

Séverac composed two sets of piano pieces under the title “En vacances” (“On Vacation,” or “Holiday Time”). The second was left incomplete at the time of his death at the age of 48.

These musical snapshots are clearly skewed toward the experiences of his children, Mimi and Toto, with movements named “Invocation to Schumann,” “Grandmother’s caresses,” “Visit from the little girls next door,” “Toto pretends to be a verger,” “Mimi dresses up as a Marquise,” “In the park,” “On listening to a musical box,” and “Romantic Waltz.”

Enjoy the first set here, performed by the late Aldo Ciccolini (complete with atmospheric LP crackle):

I-IV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyO2JnnG9E8
V-VIII: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugi_6-uJ4EE

Happy birthday, Déodot de Séverac (1872-1921)!

July 20, 2015

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