Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Louis Coerne

Arthurian Music Lost Chord from the West Coast

King Lot, Lancelot, Camelot – that’s a lot of “lots.”

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we put the “art” in “Arthur” with musical treatments of the Arthurian legends by two peripatetic American Romantics. We’re a little peripatetic ourselves as, for reasons beyond our control, the show is now being broadcast from KWAX on the West Coast!

But one cannot expect to attain the Grail without a quest. You’ll find the time and streaming information at the end of this post.

As for what we’ll hear, we’ll begin with “Excalibur,” a symphonic poem after Arthur’s enchanted sword, by Louis Coerne (pronounced “Kern”). Coerne was born in Newark, NJ, in 1870. As was the custom at the time, he studied abroad, in France and Germany, then closer to home with John Knowles Paine. In Munich, he pursued organ and composition studies with Josef Rheinberger.

After that, it was back and forth to Germany, between church and conducting appointments in the United States, and then the assumption of a series of academic posts throughout the American Northeast and Midwest. Despite all the worn shoe leather, in his 52 years he managed to produce 500 works.

The remainder of the hour will be devoted to the Straussian tone poem “Le Roi Arthur,” a work in three movements, by George Templeton Strong, son of the famous Civil War diarist, born in 1856. Strong Jr. studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, where Joachim Raff was among his teachers. For a time, he played viola in the Gewandhaus Orchestra. He rubbed shoulders with Liszt and Wagner, then was lured back to the United States by the offer of a teaching position (by former European transplant Edward MacDowell) at the New England Conservatory.

However, in part because the work didn’t agree with him, and in part because of health issues, Strong soon took off for Switzerland, where he settled on the banks of Lake Geneva. There, he dedicated the remainder of his life to painting watercolors and composing. Even after musical fashion had changed, he continued to play an active role in Geneva’s musical life.

I hope you’ll join me for “Kinetic Yankees in King Arthur’s Court.” Break a lance for Arthur, on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Keep in mind, 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/

July 22, 2023
Arthurian Art The Lost Chord’s Musical Knights

King Lot, Lancelot, Camelot – that’s a lot of “lots.”

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we put the “art” in “Arthur” with musical treatments of the Arthurian legends by two peripatetic American Romantics,

We’ll hear “Excalibur,” a symphonic poem after Arthur’s enchanted sword, by Louis Coerne (pronounced “Kern”). Coerne was born in Newark, NJ, in 1870. As was the custom at the time, he studied abroad, in France and Germany, then closer to home with John Knowles Paine. In Munich, he pursued organ and composition studies with Josef Rheinberger.

After that, it was back and forth to Germany, between church and conducting appointments in the United States, and then the assumption of a series of academic posts throughout the American Northeast and Midwest. Despite all the worn shoe leather, in his 52 years he managed to produce 500 works.

The remainder of the hour will be devoted to the Straussian tone poem “Le Roi Arthur,” a work in three movements, by George Templeton Strong, son of the famous Civil War diarist, born in 1856. Strong Jr. studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, where Joachim Raff was among his teachers. For a time, he played viola in the Gewandhaus Orchestra. He rubbed shoulders with Liszt and Wagner, then was lured back to the United States by the offer of a teaching position (by former European transplant Edward MacDowell) at the New England Conservatory.

However, in part because the work didn’t agree with him, and in part because of health issues, Strong soon took off for Switzerland, where he settled on the banks of Lake Geneva. There, he dedicated the remainder of his life to painting watercolors and composing. Even after musical fashion had changed, he continued to play an active role in Geneva’s musical life.

I hope you’ll join me for “Kinetic Yankees in King Arthur’s Court.” Break a lance for Arthur, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

BONUS! Wholly by coincidence, this year’s opera at Bard Summerscape is Ernest Chausson’s rarely-staged “Le Roi Arthus.” I can’t speak for the production, not having seen it, but Bard generally does a fine job with anything they put their musical minds to. You can make it a full Arthurian evening by enjoying the livestream tonight at 6:30 pm. The running time of the opera is 3 ½ hours, so it should end just in time for the start of “The Lost Chord.”

https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/king-arthur/

July 25, 2021
Classical Music Anniversaries Today on WWFM

Today is the 120th anniversary of the birth of contralto Marian Anderson. Violinist Gidon Kremer turns 70. We’ll have music inspired by Arthur’s legendary sword, Excalibur, by Louis Coerne, and Morten Lauridsen’s “Lux Aeterna.” You can also look forward to “An English Suite,” courtesy of Hubert Parry, and a work by the Swedish composer Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. All in all, it’s a great afternoon for programming by birthday anniversaries today, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

February 27, 2017
King Arthur American Composers

“Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of all England.” So wrote Sir Thomas Malory in his account of the Arthurian legends, “Le Morte d’Arthur.”

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” the focus will be on treatments of the Arthurian legends by a couple of American Romantics.

We’ll hear “Excalibur,” a symphonic poem after Arthur’s enchanted sword, by Louis Coerne (pronounced “Kern”). Coerne was born in Newark, NJ, in 1870. As was the custom at the time, he studied abroad, in France and Germany, then closer to home with John Knowles Paine. In Munich, he pursued organ and composition studies with Josef Rheinberger.

After that, it was back and forth to Germany, between church and conducting appointments in the United States, and then the assumption of a series of academic posts throughout the American Northeast and Midwest. Despite all the worn shoe leather, in his 52 years he managed to produce 500 works.

The remainder of the hour will be taken up by the Straussian tone poem “Le Roi Arthur,” a work in three movements by George Templeton Strong, son of the famous Civil War diarist, born in 1856. Strong, Jr., studied at the Leipzig conservatory, where Joachim Raff was among his teachers. For a time, he played viola in the Gewandhaus Orchestra. He rubbed shoulders with Liszt and Wagner, then was lured back to the United States by the offer of a teaching position (by former European transplant Edward MacDowell) at the New England Conservatory.

However, in part because the work didn’t agree with him, and in part because of health issues, Strong soon took off for Switzerland, where he settled on the banks of Lake Geneva. There, he dedicated the remainder of his life to painting watercolors and composing. Even after musical fashion had changed, he continued to play an active role in Geneva’s musical life.

I hope you’ll join me for “Kinetic Yankees in King Arthur’s Court” – treatments of the Arthurian legends by peripatetic American composers – this Sunday night at 10 EDT on WWFM – The Classical Network; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast, at wwfm.org.

July 24, 2016
American Composers & Arthurian Legend

In the wake of Hurricane Arthur, while continuing to honor our native musical heritage on this Independence Day weekend, this Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” the focus will be on treatments of the Arthurian legends by a couple of American Romantics.

We’ll hear “Excalibur,” a symphonic poem after Arthur’s magic sword, by Louis Coerne (pronounced “Kern”). Coerne was born in Newark, NJ, in 1870. As was the custom at the time, he studied abroad, in France and Germany, then closer to home with John Knowles Paine. In Munich, he pursued organ and composition studies with Josef Rheinberger.

After that, it was back and forth to Germany, between church and conducting appointments in the United States, and then the assumption of a series of academic posts throughout the American Northeast and Midwest. In his 52 years, despite all the worn shoe leather, he managed to produce 500 works.

The remainder of the hour will be taken up by the Straussian tone poem “Le Roi Arthur,” a work in three movements, by George Templeton Strong, son of the famous Civil War diarist, born in 1856. Strong, Jr., studied at the Leipzig conservatory, where Joachim Raff was among his teachers. For a time, he played viola in the Gewandhaus Orchestra. He rubbed shoulders with Liszt and Wagner, then was lured back to the United States by the offer of a teaching position at the New England Conservatory (by former European transplant Edward MacDowell).

However, in part because the work didn’t agree with him, and in part because of health issues, Strong soon took off for Switzerland, where he settled on the banks of Lake Geneva. There, he dedicated the remainder of his life to painting watercolors and composing, even after musical fashion had changed, playing an active role in Geneva’s musical life.

That’s “Kinetic Yankees in King Arthur’s Court” – treatments of the Arthurian legends by peripatetic American composers. “The Lost Chord” can be heard tonight at 10 ET, with the repeat in its new slot, Friday at 3 a.m. If you’re not a vampire bat, you can listen to it later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

July 6, 2014

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