Birthdays of the Great

[amateur51]

Should that not be dansette, in the spirit of this thread?

Excellent!

[Ariosto]

that looks like it ought to be an anagram of flat-tyre, or something
(what is the French for flat-tyre?)

Sarcozi? (Hope I've spelt that correctly, it does not look at all Wright).

[Chris Newman]

that looks like it ought to be an anagram of flat-tyre, or something
(what is the French for flat-tyre?)

Or as the English French policeman in Allo Allo would have said "Avez-vous une Pimp, Monsieur?"

[Sydney Grew]

wikipedia seems to call him Jacques Blumenthal (and says he died in Chelsea)

Yes you are right - even upon that photo-graph he has signed his name "Jacques" I see. But he was wise not to change "Blumenthal." What a beautiful concept - "Valley of Flowers"! Perhaps in several centuries' time after the robots have inherited the earth everything will be covered with flowers. I do hope so.

[Sydney Grew]

[ Sorry - I attempted to edit this post and it made a copy (reply 96) instead - so please ignore or preferably delete this one (reply 95).]

[Sydney Grew]

To-day there is a tremendous choice of anniversaries. There is for example that of the eminent Königsberg piano-forte player Ernst Haberbier, from 1813, who became Court-pianist at St. Petersburg, perfected a method of his own, and played in London with success. And there is that of a second eminent piano-forte player, the critic and author Alfred Ehrlich, born in 1822, who also became Court-pianist, in his case to King George V.

But let us in the end plump for a Briton: James Davison, critic and minor composer, who came into this world at Bloomsbury one hundred and ninety-eight years ago to-day:

Already as a youth he composed a great deal for orchestra, piano-forte, and the voice, and will be remembered by some elegant and thoughtful settings of poetry by Keats, Shelley, and others.

But he gradually forsook composition for criticism. In 1842 he started the Musical Examiner, a weekly magazine which lasted two years; and in 1844 became editor of the Musical World. He contributed also to the Saturday Review for ten years, and for long to the Pall Mall Gazette, and Graphic.

But it was as musical critic of the Times that his influence was most widely exercised. He joined the "staff" of that paper in 1846, and his first articles were those on the production of "Elijah" at the Birmingham Festival of that year.

And his activity in the cause of good music was not confined to newspaper columns. He induced Jullien in 1844 to give classical pieces in his Promenade Concerts. The Monday Popular Concerts, with their admirable chamber-music focus, were his suggestion; and the important analyses contained in the programme-books were written by him down to his death. So were those for Hallé's recitals, and it is unnecessary to call attention to the vast range of works which these covered.

All these efforts were in support of the best and most classical taste; as was his connection with one Arabella Goddard, whose studies he directed from 1850, and who under his advice first made the English public acquainted with Beethoven's Sonatas, opp. 101 to 111, and many another masterpiece. It is entirely unsurprising then is it not that he married the aforesaid Miss Goddard in the spring of 1859, and that out of that state of wedlock came in due course two sons, Henry and Charles.

While adhering, as we have described, to the classical school up to Mendelssohn and Bennett, Davison's attitude to those who came later was full of suspicion and resistance. Of Schumann, Gounod, Liszt, Wagner, and Brahms, he was at first an uncompromising opponent. In regard to some of them his hostility greatly changed over time, but he was never cordial to any. This arose chiefly from dislike of their principles of composition. Certainly his opposition did not proceed from ignorance, for his knowledge of the new music was large and intimate.

His polemical tone, use of overstatement and love of verbal jousting – all part of an instinctive journalistic style – only added to his later reputation as a reactionary, out of step and overly partial to a few favourites. But on the Wagner question, Davison vacillated between hostility and praise. In 1855 he was highly critical of the composer, but after attending Bayreuth in 1876 became a convert to the Ring; and he was rhapsodic over Tristan.

His knowledge and his extraordinary memory were as much at the service of his friends as the keen wit and grotesque humour — often Rabelaisian enough — with which he poured them forth. He was very much of a Bohemian!

[aeolium]

And today is the centenary of the birth of Brian O'Nolan (see Radio 3 Arts thread) - a disappointment that commemorations are left to R4 rather than R3.

[Alf-Prufrock]

Mr. Grew wrote :
"the critic and author Alfred Ehrlich, born in 1822, who also became Court-pianist, in his case to King George V"

What, at the age of 88? I knew that George V liked music that had philistine qualities, but this is ridiculous.

[Sydney Grew]

George V of Hanover. The joint rule ended in 1837 with the ascent of Victoria. Jolly old George ruled from 1851 until deposed by Prussia in 1866. We must all do our bit to avoid Anglocentricity must we not.

[Ventilhorn]

George V of Hanover. The joint rule ended in 1837 with the ascent of Victoria. Jolly old George ruled from 1851 until deposed by Prussia in 1866. We must all do our bit to avoid Anglocentricity must we not.

... not to mention unnecessary pontification.

[MrGongGong]

... not to mention unnecessary pontification.

shouldn't that be
pont-ifi-cationne ?

[Tony Halstead]

[Sydney Grew]

One of the differences between the German race and the British is that while the latter prefers on the whole mixed choruses the former tends to favour a purely male grouping. Albert Methfessel, born two hundred and twenty-six years ago to-day at Stadt Ilm, was one of those. (Poor Richard Trunk was another who loved that sound I believe.)

Methfessel became Kammermusikus at Kudolstadt in 1810, and was Hofcapellmeister in Brunswick between 1832 and 1842. He published a large number of songs of a popular type, and, as indicated above, a good many part-songs for male voices. Some of his productions, as for instance, "Warrior's Farewell," "Rhein Wine-Song," and "German Honour" are still popular.

He wrote also an opera, "The Prince of Basra," and an oratorio "Jerusalem Liberated"; so he evidently harboured a lively interest in the Orient and its government. He expired in 1869 after a long and productive life.

Among other candidates born on this day are William Russell the London piano-forte player and organist (1777), and Johann Anton André the composer, lithographer, and publisher of Mozart's own catalogue of works (1775).

[Ariosto]

Shouldn't that be ORGAN-IST, Syd?

[mercia]

Poor Richard Trunk

why poor?