This Day in Music - my/maSCENA

This Day in Music: July 4 Independence Day

By Weiyu Dang on 4 July 2016 Popular Music, Romantic, This Day in Music

For American Independence Day, it seems apt to feature an American themed post. In 1831, the 55th Independence Day, Samuel Francis Smith’s “My Country (‘Tis of Thee),” the defacto anthem for the 19th century, was first sung in Boston by a children’s choir. Earlier that year, a friend had asked Smith to translate German songs that were the basis for “God Save the Queen.” Instead, Smith would pen what he called “America,” later known as “My Country (‘Tis of Thee).” Smith’s original lyrics invoke the muse of America as a “Sweet land of liberty” protected and entreated by God to…

Wilfrid Pelletier and the OSM (1963), City of Montreal Archives

This Day in Music – Happy Birthday Wilfrid Pelletier

By Michele Duguay on 20 June 2016 Orchestral, This Day in Music

The first artistic director of the OSM, conductor and pianist Wilfrid Pelletier, was born in Montréal on this day in 1896. In 1966, the largest room in the Place des Arts was named after him. Pelletier is also known for beginning the OSM in the Parks tradition, which is still alive today. You can see the OSM in Chartier-De Lotbinière park in Rigaud on July 26 and Poly-Aréna park in Brossard on the 27. Assistant conductor Dina Gilbert will return to lead a program of Russian symphonic works by Glinka, Borodin, Glazunov, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and Mussorgsky, featuring 2010 OSM Competition winner…

This Day in Music – Pleyel

By Michele Duguay on 18 June 2016 Baroque and Early, Classical, This Day in Music, Video of the day

Austrian-born composer Ignaz Joseph Pleyel was born on June 18 1757. Living in Strasbourg during the Reign of Terror, he avoided the consequences that could have been brought on by his “foreign status” by composing highly patriotic French music. Upon moving to Paris in 1795, he founded a music publishing business and eventually started manufacturing pianos. His son Camille eventually took the reins of Pleyel and Cie, who provided pianos to Frédéric Chopin. Watch a performance of a Chopin waltz on a restored 1848 Pleyel grand piano.

This Day in Music – Happy Birthday Gounod & Stravinsky

By Michele Duguay on 17 June 2016 Contemporary, Dance, Romantic, This Day in Music, Video of the day

Today marks the anniversary of Gounod’s (1818) and Stravinsky’s (1882) births. Winner of the 1839 Prix de Rome, Gounod studied at the Paris Conservatory. His musical legacy comprises a dozen of operas, oratorios, and several motets and songs. His 1872 piano piece The Funeral March of a Marionette, orchestrated in 1879, achieved fame in the 20th-century as the theme music for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. One of the defining figures of 20th-century music, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky defied convention and achieved worldwide fame with his compositions for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris. The uproar caused by the premiere of The Rite…

This Day in Music – Maurice Duruflé

By Michele Duguay on 16 June 2016 Contemporary, This Day in Music, Video of the day

On June 16 1986, organist and composer Maurice Duruflé passed away at the age of 84 years old. He stopped his musical activities in 1975, after a car accident that left him severely injured. Organist at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont church in Paris, he premiered Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto in 1939. His most renowned work, the Requiem Op. 9, draws inspiration from Duruflé’s predecessor Fauré, Renaissance music, and gregorian chant.

This Day in Music – Edvard Grieg & Ella Fitzgerald

By Michele Duguay on 15 June 2016 Romantic, Scena Jazz, This Day in Music, Video of the day, Vocal Jazz

June 15, 1843 is the birthday of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Born in Bergen, he is widely considered as one of the leading romantic composers. His music celebrates both the Norwegian Folk heritage and the width of European culture. Listen to a 1906 recording of Grieg playing Butterfly, one of his 66 Lyric Pieces for piano. Today also marks the death anniversary of the First Lady of Song Ella Fitzgerald, who passed away on June 15 1996. She led a brilliant solo career—as her 14 Grammy awards indicate—and also recorded and performed with other great jazz musicians such as Duke…

This Day in Music – 1881 Bela Bartok was born

By Camilo Lanfranco on 25 March 2016 Folk, This Day in Music, World Music

135 Years ago this day, March 25th 1881, Bela Bartok was born. Regarded as one of Hungary’s greatest composers, Bela had a musical curiosity that would change the way the West sees and understands music. He was in his early 30s when he decided to pack the most modern recording instrument of the time, the Edison Phonograph, and head to Algeria to research Arab Folk Music. Originally Bela was set to go alone, but it the last minute he suggested Marta (wife) to join him. And off they went. They traveled from Marseille to the port of Sakîkdah in Algeria…