Classic Ross Amico

Tag: French Revolution

  • Bastille Day on WPRB Radio!

    Bastille Day on WPRB Radio!

    Vive la France! Tomorrow morning on WPRB, we celebrate Bastille Day.

    Among other musical confections, we’ll enjoy the collaborative ballet, “Les mariés de la tour Eiffel” (“The Wedding Party on the Eiffel Tower”), by members of Les Six, a surreal romp set on the Parisian landmark on July 14.

    We’ll also hear selections from the album “Tower Music,” a recent release on the Innova Recordings label, in which mad visionary Joseph Bertolozzi plays the actual Tour Eiffel like a giant percussion instrument.

    There will also be music by French Revolution Era composer Étienne Nicolas Méhul, Napoleon’s cellist, Jean-Louis Duport, and Hector Berlioz’s setting of “La Marseillaise.”

    I’ll be chain-smoking baguettes, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” is our motto, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Bastille Day Méhul French Revolution Composer

    Bastille Day Méhul French Revolution Composer

    July 14. Bastille Day.

    Étienne-Nicolas Méhul was perhaps the most important opera composer of the French Revolutionary Era. When one of his works was banned for political reasons, Méhul quickly figured out on which side his baguette was buttered and began writing propaganda pieces and patriotic songs. Vive la France!

    He was rewarded by being the first composer named to the newly-established Institute de France in 1795. He was also installed as an inspector at the Paris Conservatory. Allegedly, he was one of the favorite composers of Napoleon, with whom he was on friendly terms.

    According to musicologist and Berlioz biographer David Cairns, Méhul was also the first composer to be classified as “Romantic.” Judge for yourself, when I play his Symphony No. 4, around 1:30 p.m. ET, on WRTI 90.1 FM (in the Philadelphia area) or online at wrti.org.

Tag Cloud

Aaron Copland (92) Beethoven (95) Composer (114) Film Music (120) Film Score (143) Film Scores (255) Halloween (94) John Williams (185) KWAX (229) Leonard Bernstein (100) Marlboro Music Festival (125) Movie Music (135) Opera (198) Philadelphia Orchestra (88) Picture Perfect (174) Princeton Symphony Orchestra (106) Radio (87) Ralph Vaughan Williams (85) Ross Amico (244) Roy's Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner (290) The Classical Network (101) The Lost Chord (268) Vaughan Williams (103) WPRB (396) WWFM (881)

DON’T MISS A BEAT

Receive a weekly digest every Sunday at noon by signing up here

RECENT POSTS