MAYHEM BEHIND THE MUSIC VIII: TRIVIA & HUMOR - A DOSE OF AMERICANA & A BRITISH BOWWOW

It’s time for another installment of MAYHEM BEHIND THE MUSIC: Trivia & Humor.

This edition examines some rather curious American inventions and humorous innovations, a famous father-son rivalry – and an even more famous little mutt by the name of Nipper.

Featuring a rowdy premiere that could stand toe-to-toe with Stravinsky’s infamous riot in Paris.

WHAT A BUNCH OF DANDIES...

A "Yankee Doodle" - riding on a pony.

We begin in the good ole U.S. of A - in a little town named Lexington, in the “Bay State” of Massachusetts. It is the 19th day of April in the year 1775. As a band of British troops presently serving on North American soil march northwestward from Boston to Lexington and Concord, the high-pitched ring of a fife and the rat-a-tat-tat of drums can be heard playing most jovially through the temperate spring air. Rising over both flute and drum are the rousing voices of the Brits, singing a mocking air about the plight of the dandy – the Yankee Doodle Dandy to be precise. The crude lyric “stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni” a direct assault on the American colonials obsessed with dressing the part of a finely manicured - and most effeminate - Italian gentleman and foolishly attempting to adopt his perfecting aires. The Brits, it seemed, had a running joke - so uncouth was the American – so much of a refined wannabe was their innermost desire (running around spouting off catch Italian phrases in an effort to appear more cultured in addition to adopting their dress) – that the Brits began to refer to them as “Macaronis.”

When the Americans heard the offending satirical song rising up over the plains, they reacted not with a sense of vitriol, but rather turned the Brits - and their mocking joke - on its head, by repeating the song – mocking lyrics and all - back to the enemy amidst rebel fire. Proudly adopting the crude humor of the Brits in a charmingly self-deprecating manner, the Americans would again serenade the Europeans – when the Brits were forced to surrender at Saratoga and Yorktown.

Kind of makes the Yankee’s adoption of the crass "To Anacreon in Heav’n" seem all the less ironic in retrospect.

^{[Fun Fact]} Now considered a patriotic air, "Yankee Doodle" can be heard most often in the northeastern state of Connecticut - where it serves as state anthem! Listen to a recording of the famous tune below:

THE TRIUMPHANT BIRTH OF A FOUNDING FATHER'S MOST MUSICAL CHILD:

Benjamin Franklin seated at his glass armonica

13 years earlier to the Southwest, American Founding Father and future President of Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin was busy making music history with the creation of a new instrument similar in sound to the celesta which he would dub "the glass armonica" – a curious looking contraption consisting of thirty seven glass bowls attached to a spindle which could be spun via a foot pedal to produce an eerily crystalline resonance reminiscent of wet fingers circling the rims of various sized wineglasses (which is exactly how Franklin came up with the idea after first hearing a demonstration of this technique at a concert in 1761).

The glass armonica would win the praise of some notable physicians in the both the American medical sector and overseas who lauded it’s (alleged) soothing abilities for those stricken with melancholia (a supposition later proven to be false when the safety of the instrument was roundly bashed in it's own revised operating manual in 1788 - which would lead to the glass armonica becoming temporarily banned in Germany as a preventative precaution against potential madness - or even succumbing to an untimely death).   

Talk about a turnaround...

Whether friend or foe to the new instrument, one thing remained certain: the glass armonica created quite the stir in the musical sphere. Even major composers would express interest in Franklin's invention - a few even wrote music for it – the most famous of which can be heard below: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Adagio & Rondo for glass harmonica in C minor:

TAKE THAT BARK ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK...

The Brits would once more leave an indelible mark on Western Americana – and indeed on the rest of the world – via a curious little mutt named Nipper – a Jack Russell mix who hailed from Bristol, England. When Nipper (named after his naughty penchant for ‘nipping’ at the heels of visitors to his masters home) unexpectedly died in 1895, just seven years after his owner Mark Henry Barraud passed, Baurrad's surviving brother Francis decided he would pay tribute to both master and mutt by painting a portrait of Nipper, his head curiously cocked to one side – sitting most intently before a wind-up Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph – a music player inherited from his late sibling.

The painting, completed in 1898, might also serve as a means to make a quick profit for the brother Barraud. Francis would present the portrait to James E. Hough, manager at the Edison-Bell Company in New Jersey USA, who promptly rejected it on the basis that “Dogs don't listen to phonographs.”

Undeterred, Francis took the portrait back to London, to the Maiden Lane offices of The Gramophone Company where he would be met with an unexpected surprise - Manager William Barry Owen would buy the painting – provided Barraud replace the portrait’s old-fashioned Edison cylinder phonograph with their brand new Berliner Disc Gramophone – the latest in musical technology. An astonished Francis readily obliged, painting a revised edition he dubbed “His Master’s Voice” in 1890 which he sold to Owen for 100 pounds sterling (50 pounds for the copyright and to grant Berliner leave to register the trademark phrase for use in the United States; and 50 pounds for the painting). The Victor Talking Machine Company would promptly adopt the now infamous logo that year, followed by HMV,  the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and RCA Victor in 1929.

Today, you can find Nipper adorning the labels of the following brands: Victor Talking Machine Company, Gramophone Company, Berliner Gramophone, His Master's Voice, HMV, EMI, RCA, RCA Victor, Victrola, Electrola, Bluebird, Zonophone, JVC and Deutsche Grammophon.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN EUROPE...

STRAVINSKY WHO?

On a hot summer’s eve in 1830’s Belgium, a riot was about to erupt at the Théâtre de la Monnaie that would rival Igor Stravinsky’s spectacularly rowdy première in early twentieth century Paris.

The opera produced for the evening was Daniel Auber’s La Muette de Portici – a patriotic tale of revolutionary spirit that depicted a poor man’s uprising against the powerful Spanish rulers occupying Naples. It was a curious choice of libretto for the French composer, who chose to stage it as an homage to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands' (to which Belgium then belonged) reigning King, William I during the King William I Festival launched in celebration of the 15th year of His Majesty's reign. Apparently Auber hadn’t received the memo that a pre-ordained revolt had been scheduled to take place on the eve of La Muette’s performance at the Theatre – nor did it appear that the Frenchman possessed any idea whatsoever that William was, to many of the citizens of Belgium, a tyrannical oppressor.

As La Muette sauntered into its second act – and right before the duet "Amour sacré de la patrie" could get it’s first notes off the ground, the theater abruptly erupted into chaos. One contemporary eyewitness account details the horror that unfolded that fateful evening:
 

"When Lafeuillade and Casscl began singing the celebrated duet. "Amour sacre de la patrie" enthusiasm exploded irresistibly and [the singers] found it necessary to start afresh in the midst of the cheering. Finally, when Masaniello (Lafeuillade) launched into his entreaty, the invocation "Aux Armes!," the public could no longer be restrained. They acclaimed aria and actor, they booed the fifth act in order to stop the performance, and the delirious crowd [hurled itself] out of the hall... welcomed by the other crowd which waited outside, it joined in the demonstrations which loosed the revolution of 1830."

As raised voices became lost in the calamitous fray and fists began to fly freely from man to man, newly formed mobs who were freshly energized by the riot in the theater took to the streets of Brussels, looting local businesses and laying waste to factories, destroying the machineries found inside. The uprising would quickly spread throughout the country.

If Stravinsky sought any form of comfort after the infamous riot at the rite in 1913, he needn’t have looked any further than Auber.. his predecessor in social outrage.

Speaking of outrage, Did You Know?


Composer-King Frederick the Great wasn’t the only musician to have been corporally punished by his father for daring to dream of a life spent making music.

The newly-crowned "King of the Waltz"
Johann Strauss.. Junior, thankyouverymuch.

Viennese "Waltz King" Johann Strauss the elder famously sparred with his son – also named Johann (the second) – when the boy had the audacity to take up the violin. No son of Strauss’ was going to dare try to take his father’s place – no, not for young Johann. The father Strauss demanded his son take up a “more respectable” vocation: in matters of law or in finance. Much like the King of Prussia, who was soundly cane-whipped across the arse by an enraged father when he was discovered practicing on his trusty flute in secret, a young Johann would receive regular beatings at the end of a three-tailed whip from Johann Sr. for his transgression of stealing away for private lessons on his violin. This cruel form of corporal punishment was immediately preceded by the elder Strauss warning his son that he would "beat the music" out of him.

Johann Jr., however, was undeterred by his fathers malevolence – by age 19, he bravely informed his father of his intent to not only compose, but also to publicly stage a waltz – to which his father unceremoniously scoffed “you have no idea how to write a waltz!”

The senior Strauss took matters even further, hiring a rowdy band of claquers to rise from the audience and hiss. He even rounded up a bunch of brutes to surround the casino where his sons concert was being held in order to incite a riot. Much like in the case of Stravinsky, police had to be called to disperse the crowds.

So much for blood being thicker than water.

Listen below to what is perhaps the most famous waltz of all time, Johann Strauss Junior's "Blue Danube":


Did you know?

...that the United States National Anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” has some salaciously scandalous, rather comical - and very British - roots?

Anacreontick's in full Song by caricaturist James Gillray.

Upon revisiting the powerful, testosterone fueled lyrics and melody that makes this Anthem truly one of the worlds most impacting and instantly memorable tunes, the average Partiot would feel quite the sense of irony upon discovering that the melody of the “Star-Spangled Banner” is not only English (and not American as most previously believed), and as for it’s lyrics...well..let's just say, they were less than patriotic. 

Originally titled “To Anacreon in Heav’n,” the true progenitor of what we now know as The Star Spangled Banner was in fact nothing more than a lewd drunkard's tune,  one that was so frequently sung by the often raucous and inebriated members of a special "Gentleman's Club," that it became the club's official drinking song! The name of the 15th century men's only pub? "The Anacreon" making the current anthem an Ode to Freedom and Democracy, and it's grandfather's an Ode to "Free Lovin' " and Drink! ^{[Fun Fact]}

The Anacreontic Song (Listen to the song below):

"To Anacreon in Heaven, where he sat in full glee,
A few sons of harmony sent a petition,
That he their inspirer and patron would be;
When this answer arrived from the jolly old Grecian:
Voice, fiddle, and flute, no longer be mute,
I'll lend you my name and inspire you to boot
And besides I'll instruct you like me to intwine
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine."

–Words by Ralph Tomlinson, music by John Stafford Smith, C.1775.

Read more history on the anthem here, including details on Stravinsky’s near arrest and Wagner’s Tannhäuser overture! (which I’ve always ‘heard’ –at least in similarity- to “...so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming…”)



Footnotes:

Flag of the United States of America

^{[Fun Fact]} Anacreon was an ancient Greek poet who was known to boast proudly as an advocate of drink and held a special penchant for sex in his -ahem - heart. In essence, "To Anacreon in Heaven" is actually a tribute, or an ode to a sex crazed, famous alcoholic! (Note the rather raunchy repetitive: "And besides I'll instruct you like me to intwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine," "Venus" being the goddess of love, and "Bacchus" the god of wine).

For the modern listener/reader, To Anacreon in Heaven's text may appear, at first listening, a rather chaste song paying homage to some ancient Greek gods. Digging a little deeper into the characters featured the music, and into the inspiration source of it's authors melody and lyrics and one will find a litany of lewd and lascivious innuendo that would make your mother blush. Read the full text of "To Anacreon in Heaven" here (external link).

For more stories like these, check out the Mayhem archives listed below.

• TRIVIA & HUMOR: Did you know? (Fun Opera Facts)
• TRIVIA & HUMOR: Did You Know? (Fun Opera Facts part II) 
• TRIVIA & HUMOR: Did You Know? RIOTOUS BEGINNINGS (Fun Opera Facts part III) 
• TRIVIA & HUMOR Feat. DID YOU KNOW? (Fun Opera Facts part IV)   
• TRIVIA & HUMOR: Feat. Did You Know? (Fun Opera Facts part V)
• TRIVIA& HUMOR: Feat. Did You Know? (Fun Opera Facts part VI) 
• MAYHEM BEHIND THE MUSIC Feat. Did You Know? (Mayhem part VII)

More Mayhem!

• CLASSICAL MUSIC & OPERA: THE MAYHEM BEHIND THE MUSIC 
• MAYHEM BEHIND THE MUSIC: THE HOAX ON YOU  (Feat. Did You Know?)

-Rose.

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THE CURIOUS CASE OF ADOLPHE “THE GHOST” SAX: ONE MAN'S RUMBA WITH THE REAPER

One couldn’t conjure up a more elaborate – even fantastical – life story than that of Belgian inventor and musician Adolphe Sax.

Born Antoine-Joseph in 1814 to instrument designer parents, young Adolphe (as he was referred to by his family) possessed an inherent knack for inventive ingenuity. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Adolphe – who had already mastered the art of playing both the flute and clarinet (he also sung at a professional level) – would enter into instrument-making competitions by the age of 15. His first entries? Why, the very instruments on which he currently played, of course – a flute and a clarinet, both made from scratch. By 24, Adolphe had patented his own improvement of the bass clarinet design - a lucrative personal hobby that would see him relocating to Paris and bearing witness to his inventions set up on display at exhibitions.

It seemed Sax had more than enough talent to grab the world by it’s tailfeathers – nothing, it seemed, could inhibit him from realizing his preordained destiny.

That would have been the case – had Adolphe’s life story concluded here. Unfortunately for the young musical tycoon, the harsh realities that often accompany notoriety and success were about to smack young Sax right across the face. Compounding Adolphe’s vitriolic reality check would be a string of luck so bad, it would appear to the casual observer that the innovative genius was in fact the victim of an evil curse.

Following Sax like a lecherous shadow during his otherwise overly productive youth were a series of near-fatal accidents – from drinking sulfuric water at the age of three to falling from a height of three stories and landing on his head; to nearly drowning after falling in a lake; burning himself in a gunpowder explosion, to falling into a red-hot cast iron brazier and on one frightful occasion nearly suffocating to death after being locked overnight in a room which was designated a storehouse for freshly varnished furniture. Young Adolphe seemed to teeter on the brink of oblivion: so convinced of his immortality were horrified spectators to Sax’s bizarre tango with the reaper that the locals dubbed him “the Little Ghost.”

A Saxophone produced by Adolphe Sax

It would be a name that would stick. Whilst simultaneously inventing and improving on instrument designs and dodging an early death, Adolphe was also busy creating his pièce de résistance: not an improvement on an already existing design – but instead creating, from scratch, an all-new, never-before-seen-or-heard instrument that could carry with it enough clout to solidify his legacy as an inventor and leave his indelible mark in the world’s history book. And leave his mark he certainly did: with the invention of a new woodwind-horn hybrid instrument he would name after himself – the saxophone.

Sax would introduce the saxophone to the world in Paris in 1845 before a massive crowd of some twenty-five thousand spectators – all of whom gathered to witness the exploits of the boastful Belgian, who had sent musical France into a tizzy when he openly mocked the instrumentation of the French military, enraging both French traditionalists, the military and the Government alike.

Weary of Sax winning over it’s more progressively cultured citizens, the French government, in a brazen attempt to humiliate the foreigner Adoplhe, made the curious decision of challenging the stalwart musician to a public display of his invention in which he would be required to perform before the already incensed French people. Adolphe, undeterred by the very real potential of falling flat on his face, abruptly called the government’s bluff.

On a balmy 22nd of April that year, Sax would take the hastily fashioned stage (on what the French undoubtedly hoped would serve as his gallows) solo – all seven of his hired musical accompanists having been threatened or paid off by the French to suddenly go AWOL in order to sabotage Adolphe’s performance.

He played anyway.

Much to the chagrin of the French elite, the saxophone – and its inventor – unexpectedly won over the crowd. Soon after Adolphe’s performance, all of Paris was abuzz with tales of this new, curious-sounding instrument.

Not everyone was a fan, however – the classical music sphere loathed the grating and squealing characteristics of the saxophone's sound, labeling it “indecent” and “immoral” - a consensus shared by the local authorities, and even the Catholic Church. 

*Click image to enlarge* Advertisement for the 1867 Paris International Exposition for which Sax won
1st Grand Prix de la Facture Instrumentale, displaying the saxophone and Sax's other inventions:
the 6-piston trombone and the Saxhorn.

So offended by it’s very presence were the saxophones critics, Adolphe himself became the target of hired assassins after he patented the instrument in 1846. His employees were bribed by competitors and made rogues, his manufacturing plant was set on fire – and for good measure, a bomb was placed under his bed. Just as he had survived catastrophe after catastrophe in his youth, Adolphe would successfully dodge all of the hits placed on his head.

The story - as one might deduce from reading an autobiography on Adolphe - or having known the man himself – does not end here for the hapless Mr. Sax. He would be forced into bankruptcy just ten short years after first débuting his instrument – the result of rivalrous instrument makers who drove the frazzled inventor into an extended period of litigation when they challenged the legitimacy of his patents in 1856. Soon after filing - and losing all of his earnings in the process – Sax would fall ill with cancer of the lip – twice: once in 1853 and again in 1858 – which, as you may have guessed, he survived (with a full recovery to boot).

Saxs’ all-clear in the physical health department wouldn’t come as much of a boon to the former musical trailblazer – Adolphe "the Ghost" Sax would perish in 1894 in abject poverty, having never recovered from his financial losses.

While the saxophone has never quite gained a prominent spot in the symphonic orchestra, its uniquely smoky registers have earned it praise from a small handful of prominent musicians. The French composer Hector Berlioz, for instance, wrote music for it, now lost ("The Hymne pour instruments de Sax"), calling it an instrument that “cries, sighs and dreams,” and Maurice Ravel – also a composer, and also French – famously employed the saxophone in his ever-popular one-movement orchestral piece Boléro. Listen to an absolutely thrilling performance of it below (Saxophone enters at 7:24 - but you are going to want to watch this video all the way through - from the beginning..prepare yourself for heart-racing, hair-raising ecstasy):



-Rose.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY - DECEMBER 9, 2016: ROSSINI'S COMMON LANGUAGE FOR ALL OF MANKIND feat. Did You Know?

Today’s Quote of the Day comes us from 19th century Italian composer Gioachino Rossini:

“The language of music is common to all generations and nations;
it is understood by everybody, since it is understood with the heart.”

Rossini’s sentiments ring ever so true in the delectable – and tragic – cabaletta “Assisa a' piè d'un salice” from the composer’s 1816 opera Otello, loosely based on William Shakespeare’s stage play of the same name (Othello in English). The anguished aria – destined to tug at the heart-strings of any musical soul fortunate enough to hear it - is sung by the unlawfully scorned character Desdemona as she sings a doleful verse about succumbing to overwhelming grief – a longing for death over sorrow. Listen below to a gorgeous rendition of this mournful lament below, sung by American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade:




Did You Know?

The role of Desdemona was originally written for Rossini’s mistress - and soon to be wife – at the time, the much-lauded Spanish mezzo-soprano Isabella Colbran, who appeared as the mournful character at the December 4 premiere in Naples in 1816. 

The power couple would wed in 1822 in Bologna. It was, however, a tumultuous and short-lived union: Ms. Colbran certainly had reason to grieve – Rossini would leave her just five years into their marriage (officially divorcing in 1836) for a woman 14 years her junior (for the beautiful model Olympe Pélissier) – and shortly after infecting her with Gonorrhea – a then incurable venereal disease that would directly contribute to her death in 1845.

 
-Rose.

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2016: A YEAR IN BOOKS, AND A TEASER FOR 2017

As of December 9th, 2016, I have officially completed (and then some) Goodreads' annual Reading Challenge.

What this years selection lacks in quantity (compared to my completed challenge in 2015) it more than makes up for in quality.

Topping the list is Hermann Abert's "W.A. Mozart" by Yale University Press - a delicious monstrosity of a read - at a whopping 1515 full sized pages of ridiculously small print this tome was a delightful challenge to read front to back but well worth the effort - it's editor, the modern era's pre-eminent Mozart scholar (and fellow Canuck) Prof. Cliff Eisen recently unveiled a newly updated addendum in the form of a revised biography with the release of Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Records' Mozart 225 that I am simply champing at the bit to read..

other fabulous highlights of my Goodreads 2016 Challenge included SiriusXM / WQXR classical radio personality and newly-minted author Lauren E. Rico's powerful "Reverie," by Harmony House Productions: a novel of sin, debauchery and ethereal beauty - words synonymous with the subject matter of Unraveling Musical Myths; and the recently released "Franz Liszt: Musician, Celebrity, Superstar" by Oliver Hilmes and Yale University Press: a salacious romp through the salons - and the boudoirs - of the world's first documented megastar to possess a groupie following.

From music forbidden by Nazis to Johann Sebastian Bach's fateful encounter with the composer-king Frederick the Great, my selections for the 2016 year cover all of the bases of ingenuity and idiocy, of struggles and triumph, and of both debauchery and astonishing beauty.

Click the graphic above to review my Year in Books at Goodreads, and keep posted to Unraveling Musical Myths - I will be revealing an exciting surprise in the New Year.

HINT: It may have something to do with the book "I am currently reading" pictured above.

In the interim, enjoy a little Mozart: Papagena/Papageno duet, Die Zauberflöte


To read my reviews on books related to Classical Music here on Unraveling Musical Myths, check out Reviews by Rose.

For book reviews related to other subject matter, visit my profile at Goodreads.

Reviews for 2016 titles (and more) to come soon.

-Rose.

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INSPIRATIONS: MARY STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTS - DECEMBER 8, 1542 - FEBRUARY 8, 1587 feat. Did You Know?

Marie (Mary) Stuart, Queen of Scots

As Scotland recognizes the birth of it’s 16th century monarch, Queen Mary Stuart - born this December day in 1542 at the Heathered Isles’ Linlithgow Palace, Unraveling Musical Myths takes a look back at the ill-fated rulers only true stronghold in the annals of British history: her impressive post-mortal foray into the world of symphonic muses.

Queen Mary’s tragic life and all-too-brief “reign” (if one could even call it that in the era of ruling noble factions in Scotland) has been covered extensively on this blog. You may find background on this notorious femme fatale by perusing the archives.

In brief: the young, hapless Queen, who attempted rule by matters of heart over matters of state was internationally reviled over the course of her blink-of-an-eye reign, save for the French King, Henri II and his sickly son, the dauphin François who Mary was all but forced into wedding after England’s tyrannical Henry VIII set siege on Scotland (a violent period of British history known as "The Rough Wooing") in an effort to kidnap the young royal and force a betrothal to his only legitimate son, the future king of England Edward VI - which forced Marie de Guise (mother to the queen) to make a marriage pact for her daughter with François – and in effect with France – in exchange for exile and for a French military presence in Scotland to help the nation defend themselves against the troublesome English. Detested by the French Queen Regent and conspirateur Catherine de Medici, Mary would be swiftly ousted from Court following the unexpected premature death of King François by inner ear infection in 1560.

No longer Queen Consort of France, Mary sought to regain control over her native Scotland and chose to retreat there. It would be a disaster right from the beginning. The Queen had just but set foot on terra firma after a stormy crossing at sea when the young Catholic ruler was met - rather rudely -  by the Protestant leader John Knox, who loudly chastised the Queen and cursed her very arrival on Scotland. This was not the Catholic Scotland of her youth – this was a country in the midst of a Religious Reformation.

^[1]Wedded bliss? A smug portrait of Lord Darnley, flanked by Mary.
Lord Darnley was born Henry Stuart - making the former Consort King
first cousin to Mary.

One disastrous marriage later to the consort king Lord Darnley^[1] – a highly vainglorious, narcissistic lout sent to the Island by Mary’s cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England - and the persistent ruler would find herself embroiled in a series of diabolical plots – both as victim and as alleged manipulatrice – that would prove to be her undoing.

First, her close confidant and alleged lover, the luteist David Rizzo is executed in front of the Queen by her jealous husband after Mary shocks the nation by appointing him – a commoner - Secretary For Relations With France. It seemed Lord Darnley had political aspirations of the highest degree and would stoop to any level in order to overthrow his wife, disinherit her child (the future "Union King," James VI and I), and secure for himself the Scottish throne (including accusing Mary of a treasonous affair and alleging the child she presently carried in utero to be the illegitimate spawn of a humble musician – hardly fit to be a future King).

Lord Darnley would pay dearly for his transgressions when Mary – and her very real lover – the Scottish Lord James Hepburn (the Earl of Bothwell), successfully launched an almost aborted coup d’état by first attempting to blow the king up as he slept, and, when that failed, by chasing him down and throttling him to death. As enraged nobles - all of whom carried their own political aspirations - sought to imprison and execute the Queen and Lord Bothwell for the heinous murder of Lord Darnley, Mary once more sought exile – this time sailing South, to England, where she rightfully possessed an heirship to the English Royal Throne via the female line of Tudors (Margaret, sister to Henry VIII was Mary’s grandmother through her marriage to the Scottish King James V – Mary’s grandfather). 

Mary's only surviving son, James Stuart may have come
out the winner in an ages old battle for the British
Throne, yet his coronation would prove him to
be undoubtedly the son of the hapless Queen Mary
when it was announced that the newly-minted King
would receive his Coronation in the midst of a plague
that was busy decimating Europe. The "Union King"
as a result would receive none of the royal 
festivities traditionally granted to Kings to mark the
historical occasion. It seemed the so called
"Stuart curse" (coined during his 
mothers reign) preceded him to the throne.

England itself was embroiled in a religious revolution, and those remaining Catholics who felt themselves thwarted by the Queen and punished for their worship were engaged in countless plots to overthrow the Protestant Elizabeth – a "usurper" of the English throne once declared by King Henry VIII himself (Elizabeth’s father and England’s former king) to have been a bastard child - and place who they felt was the “rightful” Queen on the English throne: Mary Stuart. Mary herself famously became involved in several of these plots – how deeply involved remains hotly contested depending on which side of the United Kingdom one hails. In any event, the former Queen would be subjected to a show trial, promptly found guilty, and, after much hesitation, beheaded by an executioner in Elizabeth’s employ.

In a cruel twist of irony (or as a matter of just desserts – which ever be your pleasure) Mary’s son, James, who had been raised English – and Protestant – would effortlessly accomplish what Henry VIII had sought to accomplish during his so-called "Rough Wooing" some sixty years earlier, and what Lord Henry Darnley sought to steal from Mary, and what Mary herself ultimately sacrificed her life for whilst trying to become: the heir presumptive of a United England. After Elizabeth died bearing no offspring in March of 1603, a middle-aged James automatically secured for himself the throne of both England and Scotland, simultaneously establishing the Stuart dynasty - and bringing together the two millenia-old enemy nations under one Monarch, efectively setting the stage for what would eventually bceome The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, realized in 1801.**

Mary's only surviving child (she tragically miscarried twins whilst in prison) would reign gloriously over the British Empire as James I of England and James VI of Scotland.

Mary’s fascinating life and tragic death have spawned countless biographies, plays, biopics – even a television series. Her many failed exploits are the stuff of legend. The classical music sphere knows her best as a scorned coquette in maestro Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda (click here to listen to “Mary’s” famous aria “Quando de Luce Rosea”)

...but  Did You Know?

Queen Mary Stuart was also honored in the form of Lieder?

Both megalithic composers Richard Wagner and Robert Schumann (who used the Queen’s own writings as his libretti) were just a few of the many famous and revered musicians to have set the fateful Queen’s life to music.

Listen below to Herr Wagner’s “Les Adieux de Marie Staurt: Adieu, charmant pays de France" (The Farewell of Mary Stuart: Goodbye, my beloved country of France”) [left] followed by Schumann’s five-song collection “Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart” (Poems of Queen Mary Stuart, or Mary Stuart Songs (colloquially)), for voice & piano (Op. 135) [right]:

 
 
Learn more about these lieder (external links):

“Les Adieux de Marie Staurt: Adieu, charmant pays de France" 

• Background at All Music
• Lyrics and Translation - at Lieder.net

“Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart”

• Background at All Music
• Lyrics and Translation at Lieder.net

Footnotes:

**Whilst this Union, known as The Union of the Crowns, would unify the England and Scotland under one Monarch through James's ascension to the throne, both countries remained separate nations with separate parliaments. This crucial inheritance, however, must not be downplayed, as it set the stage for a Single Sovereign State under Queen Anne in 1707, herself ironically the last Monarch of the House of Stuart. 

 

Thus, James' ascension was a pivotal step in the future creation of the United Kingdom, as the future Queen Anne's Acts of Union in 1707 effectively abolished the parliament of England and Scotland, uniting the nations to create a new, single parliament, henceforth known as Great Britain, which would be established in Westminster. 

 

Throughout Anne's reign, she was also Monarch of the Kingdom of Ireland, however it continued to maintain its own parliament, whilst remaining subordinate to the parliament of Great Britain in London. As all of the Queens 11 heirs pre-deceased her, and with the clear directive established in the a document dubbed the Acts of Settlement created in 1701, which stipulated a ban on all remaining Catholic Stuarts for eligibility to the throne during the still contentious Reformation era, the third, final stage of the creation the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established in 1801 under George III from the House of Hanover, which unified the Kingdom of Ireland into Great Britain, abolishing the former's parliament, thus joining England and Scotland under one Monarch.

 

The ties to the House of Stuart remained, not only through predecessors who set the stage for this monumental event, but also through bloodline, as George III was a direct descendant of the House of Stuart through his ancestor George I, the first son of Sofia of Hanover (George was therefore grandfather to James VI/I). Simply put, due to Queen Anne's lack of heirs, not to mention the caveat in the 1701 Act of Succession, which would have bypassed all remaining Catholic Suarts for eligibility to the throne during the contentious Reformation era, the house of Hanover never would have acceded to the throne were it not for the Stuart family lineage, and the implantation of James VI/I, son of Mary Queen of Scots, to the throne of England.

-Rose.

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TODAY IN CLASSICAL MUSIC HISTORY – DECEMBER 8, 1915: FINLAND DECLARES HOMEGROWN COMPOSER’S BIRTHDAY A NATIONAL HOLIDAY: “SIBELIUS DAY” | QUOTE OF THE DAY

Jean Sibelius in 1918.

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from the personal diary of early twentieth century Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, concerning the creation of the national treasure’s much ballyhooed 5th Symphony. With a healthy modicum of unabashed self-praise, he writes:

"It is as if God Almighty had thrown down pieces of a mosaic for heaven’s floor and asked me to find out what was the original pattern."

Sibelius, a beloved Finnish icon, had been commissioned by his own Government to compose music for his 50th birthday, which fell on December 8, 1915 - both as a means to mark the joyous occasion and to serve as the official theme for the newly created national holiday named in his honor: “Sibelius Day.”

The Fifth, which premiered on the eve of Sibelius Day, and was conducted by the composer himself, (leading the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra), would mark a pivotal change in orchestral style for the birthday boy as more and more radical and dissonant music began to take center stage under prolific composers like Stravinsky and Schoenberg - so much so that Sibelius wrote three different versions of the work (only the first and last, and a small portion of the second survive).

The final, and most frequently performed version of the 5th Symphony premiered November 24, 1919, again with the HPO and with Sibelius at the helm.

Listen to the Official Music for Sibelius Day below. Conducted by Finnish maestro Jukka-Pekka Saraste.


Learn more about the 5th Symphony and it’s composer:

• at NPR.org
   

-Rose.

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HATE CHRISTMAS CAROLS? YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY: OLIVER CROMWELL'S BAN ON CHRISTMAS feat. Did You Know?

It’s that time of year again: when even going about one's daily routine – shopping for groceries and sundries, driving to work, returning from work, unwinding in front of a radio or TV – one's ears are assaulted by the seemingly never ending incessant drone of the "popular" Christmas carol: classic Christmas carols, pop Christmas carols, jazz Christmas carols, country Christmas carols, rock n’ roll Christmas carols…it’s enough to drive a person stark raving mad!

If, like me, you find the overabundant display of musical good cheer especially grating on the psyche, you may take some guilty pleasure in knowing that you are far from alone in your Grinch-like behavior:

Did You Know?

…that the performing of Christmas carols was outright banned in England during the mid-17th century?

In fact, the entire Christmas season, complete with all of its festive trappings – singing included - would be strictly prohibited under threat of a hefty fine under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan leadership. To carol door to door or in the street meant to don the dress of an outlaw.

For millennia, the carol had been an omnipresent force in Europe at feastings and to mark momentous occasions – such as the Winter Solstice – however it wouldn’t be until the year 129 (Anno Domini) that the secular themed carol adopted religious overtones when the so-called pagan tune “Angel’s hymn” was decreed a sacred trapping for use at Christmas after a Bishop living in Rome at the time used it for his Church Services. It would be here that the carol’s association with the Birth of Christ would find its genesis, and from here that the carol would soon be profligated across Europe -  in the form of musical accompaniment for so called Nativity plays, first introduced to Christian Europe by the Saint Francis of Assisi.

By the middle ages, the ‘wassailer’ was born: groups of singers who would bring to homes the word of the Lord, via door-to-door a capella performance of the Christmas Carol. It seemed this rather festive, community-inclusive pastime was becoming all the rage across the continent.

One of many "Publick Notices" prominently displayed on theater and tavern
doors in Cromwell's England. This one states: "The observation of Christmas
having been deemed a Sacrilege, the exchanging of gifts and greetings, dressing
in fine clothing, feasting and similar Satanical practices are hereby FORBIDDEN
with the offender liable to a fine of FIVE SHILLINGS."

Not every Christian could count themselves fans of this seemingly unyielding musical trend, however. In 1644 England, the Puritan leader and Statesman Oliver Cromwell would issue a parliamentary ban on the Christmas festival – caroling included – under the threat of a having to pay a sizable (at the time) sum to the government in the form of a fine. The ban included not only the act of caroling, but also of feasting, adorning one’s home or proprietorship with the sinful trappings of holly or ivy – even the hanging of mistletoe was strictly verboten. Theaters hosting Christmas themed pantomimes and taverns serving Christmas ale were shuttered for the season, and “Publick Notice” placards took the place of the “Open for Business” signage formerly proudly displayed on the doors of local neighborhood haunts.

The Grinch who (literally) stole Christmas: Statesman Oliver Cromwell

To sing, or perform any of the strictly forbidden tidings, meant one was not only breaking the law, but, according to Cromwell’s Puritan beliefs, meant unlawfully practicing “popish” ritual through displaying an overzealous dictation of “Christ’s Mass.” Such sinful eccentricity had to be silenced in order to preserve the core Christian beliefs of Puritan England. By 1647, Long Parliament had all but abolished Christmas itself.

It would not be until the restoration of the English Monarchy in 1660 – which effectively overturned legislation from Cromwell’s reign – that the Christmas festival – complete with holly, mistletoe – and yes, caroling – would be made legal for public consumption. Although caroling did indeed continue (in occulto, by outlaws of the chorus) in Puritan England, it could not compare to the right to perform freely – in public, and in the private homes of many who shared the Christmas Spirit.

Did You Know?

Schirra's harmonica by Hohner, now on display at the
National Air and Space Museum, "Apollo to the Moon" Exhibition.

The popular carol “Jingle Bells” was never intended to represent Christmas? The famous tune was first published in the USA in 1857 under the title “A One Horse Open Sleigh.” The sleigh mentioned, however, was not Santa’s. It belonged to a boy who enjoyed the pastime of sled racing – and impressing young girls along the way!

Jingle Bells would become synonymous with Christmas, and the “sleigh” with Santa thanks in part to two astronauts of the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), who famously horrified mission control at Houston one week before Christmas in 1965 (December 16) when Gemini 6 astronaut Tom Stafford radioed the following message about an Unidentified Flying Object:

“Roger, Houston, Gemini VII, this is Gemini VI. We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, up in a polar orbit. He's in a very low trajectory traveling from north to south and has a very high climbing ratio. It looks like it might even be a ... Very low. Looks like he might be going to reenter soon. Stand by one ... You might just let me try to pick up that thing."

He then played for mission control a recording of Jingle Bells, courtesy of fellow astronaut on board Wally Schirra, who performed the popular tune on harmonica..making the famous carol the first ever song to be played live from space.

Now that's what I call a festive carol.

Audio from Gemini VI can be heard below.



-Rose.

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MOZART 225: COMPOSERS REMEMBER ICONIC MAESTRO - JANUARY 27, 1756 - DECEMBER 5, 1791

Collage by Rose.

As the classical music sphere collectively observes the 225th passing of one of it’s foremost geniuses, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Unraveling Musical Myths pays tribute to the iconic composer through the quotes of other masters of the art form from across the European continent - all of whom revered the young Austrian legend:

Joseph Haydn

Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn to Leopold Mozart (Mozart’s father): "Before God and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer I know, either personally or by name."

German composer Richard Wagner: "The most tremendous genius raised Mozart above all masters, in all centuries and in all the arts."

Czech composer Antonín Dvořák: "Mozart is sweet sunshine."

Antonín Dvořák

German composer Johannes Brahms: "If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity.”

Polish composer Frédéric Chopin: "Mozart encompasses the entire domain of musical creation."

• (Chopin, when speaking of his own death): "Play Mozart in memory of me."

Austrian composer Franz Schubert: "What a picture of a better world you have given us, Mozart!"

Franz Schubert

French composer Camille Saint-Saëns: “Give Mozart a fairy tale and he will create without effort an immortal masterpiece.”


Italian composer Gioachino Rossini: “Beethoven I take twice a week, Haydn four times, Mozart everyday!”

German composer Richard Strauss: “The most perfect melodic shapes are found in Mozart; he has the lightness of touch which is the true objective ...”

Russian composer Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky: “Mozart is the highest, the culminating point that beauty has obtained in the sphere of music.”

Adoration for Mozart wasn’t limited only to iconic composers – or to Europe - high ranking (and arguably as equally famous) members of other artistic intelligentsia – from literary geniuses to famous scientific minds, musicians and conductors, all shared a love for the maestro’s illustrious music:

German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Mozart is a human incarnation of the divine force of creation…a phenomenon like Mozart remains an inexplicable thing.”

Hungarian conductor Georg Solti: “Mozart makes you believe in God because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and leaves such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces.”

German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein: “Mozart’s music was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master.”

Physicist Albert Einstein considered Mozart "the greatest composer who ever lived"

American violinist and conductor Isaac Stern: “Mozart's music is like an X-ray of your soul - it shows what is there, and what isn't.”

American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein: "Mozart’s music is constantly escaping 
from its frame, because it cannot be contained in it." 


I will close this post with a modern missive: many composers have waxed poetic on the topic of Mozart - Aaron Copland, in his essay "At The Thought of Mozart" muses upon those who idolized the maestro. Read Copland's thought provoking thinkpiece here.

Enjoy below one of my favorite arias by Herr Mozart, “Porgi Amor” from the late maestro’s epic masterpiece “Le Nozze di Figaro,” as sung by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in her much lauded role as Countess Rosina Almaviva, performed here at Glyndebourne Festival, 1973. The role of the Countess helped launch the kiwi soprano’s megalithic career after she first appeared as Almaviva at the SantaFe Opera and at Covent Garden in 1971, in which she is said to have “knocked the place flat” after delivering to delighted audiences this beautifully sensitive aria:


Herr Mozart is an Unraveling Musical Myths composer favorite, and as such, is heavily featured on this blog.

Peruse the Mozart Archives link below to learn more about this highly influential composer:

• Life, Times, Struggles and Triumphs of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (archives)
  

-Rose.

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