In Scotland, and many countries with Scottish connections, St Andrew’s Day is marked with a celebration of Scottish culture with traditional Scottish food, music and dance. Schools across Scotland hold special St Andrew’s Day events and activities including art shows, Scottish country dancing, lunchtime Ceilidhs, dance festivals, storytelling, reciting and writing poems, writing tall tales, cooking traditional Scottish meals, and bagpipe-playing.
The day is also seen as the start of a season of Scottish winter festivals encompassing St Andrew’s Day, Hogmanay and Burns Night.
In Edinburgh, there is a week of celebrations, concentrating on musical entertainment and traditional ceilidh dancing. A ceilidh is a social event with couples dancing in circles or sets (groups of eight people).
In Glasgow city centre, a large shindig, or party, with traditional music and a ceilidh are held. In Dumfries, songs are performed in the Burn’s night tradition.
In Barbados Saint Andrew’s Day is celebrated as the national day of Independence in Barbados. As the patron saint of Barbados, Saint Andrew is celebrated in a number of Barbadian symbols including the cross formation of the Barbadian Coat of Arms, and the country’s national honours system which styles persons as Knights or Dames of St. Andrew.
. 1789 ~ Thanksgiving was celebrated nationally for the first time in the United States.
. 1915 ~ Earl Wild, American composer and pianist (Caesar’s Hour, NBC Symphony 1942)
. 1925 ~ Eugene Istomin, American pianist
. 1932 ~ Alan Stout, American composer
. 1933 ~ Robert Goulet (Stanley Applebaum), Singer, actor
. 1935 ~ Marian Mercer, Singer, actress
. 1938 ~ Ray Brown, Singer with The Four Freshmen
. 1938 ~ Tina Turner (Annie Bullock), American soul-rock singer, Grammy Award-winning Pop Singer of the Year, 1985; Ike Turner’s ex-wife
. 1940 ~ Xavier Cugat and his orchestra recorded Orchids in the Moonlight on the Columbia label.
. 1944 ~ Alan Henderson, Bass with Them
. 1946 ~ John McVie, Guitarist with Fleetwood Mac
. 1956 ~ Tommy Dorsey passed away at the age of 51. His records sold more than 110,000,000 copies.
. 1959 ~ Albert Ketèlbey, British composer (In a Monastery Garden), died at the age of 84
. 1963 ~ Amelita Galli-Curci passed away
. 1968 ~ Cream gave a farewell performance filmed by the BBC in London. The rock group played before a capacity crowd at Royal Albert Hall.
. 1969 ~ The Band received a gold record for the album, The Band.
. 1978 ~ Frank Rosolino passed away
. 1980 ~ “Wings Over America” premiered in New York City. The movie is about the first American tour of Paul McCartney and Wings.
. 2001 ~ Paul Hume, a music critic who once drew the ire of President Harry Truman after he panned his daughter’s recital, died of pneumonia at his home in Baltimore. Hume was 85. Hume worked for The Washington Post and built a reputation as one of the most learned critics in the nation. Classical music legends Vladimir Horowitz, Eugene Ormandy and Leonard Bernstein all held Hume in high esteem. Hume will always be remembered for his review of a recital by Truman’s daughter, Margaret, in 1950, in which he criticized her singing as flat. After reading the review, Truman wrote an angry, threatening letter to Hume. Truman’s remarks got him in hot water with the public, which felt he shouldn’t take time to joust with critics as the nation fought the Korean War. A Chicago native, Hume taught music history at Georgetown University from 1950 to 1977 and was a visiting professor at Yale University from 1975 to 1983. He wrote several books, including a study of Catholic church music and a biography of Giuseppe Verdi.
. 2003 ~ Meyer Kupferman, a prolific composer whose work ranged from contemporary classical music to opera, ballet and jazz, died. He was 77. Kupferman, a virtuoso clarinetist, taught composition and music theory at Sarah Lawrence College, where he was a staff member from 1951 to 1993. During his tenure there, he also served as chair of the music department and conducted the orchestra, chorus and chamber improvisation ensemble. In 1948 Kupferman wrote both his first piano concerto and opera. In all, he produced seven operas, 12 symphonies, nine ballets, seven string quartets, 10 concertos and hundreds of chamber works. His compositions have been performed and recorded worldwide. Kupferman also was commissioned by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic to write ‘FDR’ for the centennial of Franklin Roosevelt’s birth. The manuscript of the piece is now held by the Roosevelt Library. William Anderson, a family friend and a guitarist who performed Kupferman’s music, told the New York Times that Kupferman died of heart failure.
. 1787 ~ Franz Gruber, composer of Silent Night. The song was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in present-day Austria. A young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. He had written the lyrics of the song “Stille Nacht” in 1816.
The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. Before Christmas Eve, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the Christmas Eve mass. It is unknown what inspired Mohr to write the lyrics, or what prompted him to create a new carol.
. 1896 ~ Virgil Thomson, American composer, conductor and music critic
Read quotes by and about Thomson
More information about Thomson
. 1924 ~ Paul Desmond, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group’s greatest hit, “Take Five”.
. 1925 ~ Derroll Adams, Country singer, played with Jack Elliott
. 1931 ~ Nat Adderley, Musician, cornet, mellophone, French horn, trumpet, brother of Cannonball Adderley
. 1941 ~ Percy Sledge, Singer
. 1949 ~ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, by Johnnie Marks, appeared on the music charts and became THE musical hit of the Christmas season. Although Gene Autry’s rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.
. 1955 ~ Following a summer at the top of the American pop charts, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the #1 song in Great Britain.
. 1937 ~ Music from the Raymor Ballroom in Boston, Massachusetts was beamed coast to coast on NBC radio. The special guests during this broadcast were Glenn Miller and his orchestra.
. 1937 ~ Three lovely ladies, known as The Andrews Sisters, recorded Decca record number 1562 this day. It became one of their biggest hits: Bei Mir Bist Du Schön.
. 1950 ~ The musical comedy, Guys and Dolls, from the pen of Frank Loesser, opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. The show ran for 1,200 performances.
. 1958 ~ Jackie Wilson’s Lonely Teardrops was released, as was a disk by Ritchie Valens featuring Donna on one side and La Bamba on the other.
. 1958 ~ Harold Jenkins, who changed his name to Conway Twitty, got his first #1 hit on this day. It’s Only Make Believe was the most popular song in the U.S. for one week.
. 1972 ~ A Friday night show that would compete head-to-head with NBC’s Midnight Special premiered. In Concert featured Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Blood Sweat and Tears, Seals and Crofts and Poco. Robert W. Morgan of KHJ, Los Angeles was the offstage announcer for the ABC-TV show that was staged before a live audience. In Concert was the creation of the guy who dreamed up the fictitious group The Archies and brought fame to The Monkees: rock promoter, Don Kirshner.
. 1973 ~ Following over two years of retirement, Frank Sinatra went back to work again with a TV special on NBC titled, “Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back”. Despite the fact that the show finished third in the ratings (in a three-show race), at least one critic called the program, “The best popular music special of the year.”
. 1976 ~ The Band, appearing at the Winterland in San Francisco, announced that this was to be the group’s last public performance.
. 1985 ~ Big Joe Turner passed away
. 1991 ~ Freddie Mercury, British singer-songwriter (Queen – We are Champions), died at the age of 45
. 1993 ~ Albert Collins, passed away
. 2003 ~ Teddy Wilburn, half of the country music duo the Wilburn Brothers, died. He was 71. Wilburn and his brother, Doyle, had 30 songs on the country charts from 1955 to 1972, including the hits Hurt Her Once for Me, Trouble’s Back in Town and Roll, Muddy River. Doyle Wilburn died of cancer in 1982. Teddy Wilburn was born in the Ozark Mountain community of Hardy, Ark. He and Doyle first performed publicly at ages 6 and 5, with the Wilburn Family band. After recording on Decca records as the Wilburn Brothers, Teddy and Doyle joined the Grand Ole Opry cast. Between 1963 and 1974, the Wilburn Brothers were hosts of one of country music’s first syndicated color TV shows. In 1972 they were nominated for the Country Music Association’s Vocal Group of the Year award.
Pender’s Annual Trunk or Treat is returning bigger and better than ever!
Get ready for some fall fun! Join us for the Pender Fall Festival on October 19, from 2-4 pm in the church parking lot.
Here’s what’s in store:
Trunk or Treat – Wear your costumes and collect tons of candy! (Hint – adults can dress up, too) S’mores Station– Snack on ooey-gooey s’mores! Karaoke Station – Show off your singing skills with your favorite tunes! Estimation Station – Test your guessing skills and see how close you get!
Bring your family, friends, and all your fall vibes for an afternoon of fun! You won’t want to miss it!
Edgard Varèse was born in Paris, December 22, 1885 and died in New York, November 6, 1965. Although born in France, Varèse lived and worked most of his life in the United States. A pioneer of the avant-garde movement in music, Varèse experimented with electronic music, musique concréte;, and some highly original experimentation in the uses and organization of rhythm. The works for which he is best known are those in which he completely rejects traditional melody and harmony, instead building these compositions from blocks of sounds, relying on tone color, texture and rhythm. Varèse’s most original work exemplifying this technique is probably Ionisation, which is scored for a huge percussion ensemble, piano, and sirens.
Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams lived between 1872 and 1958. He is considered to be a romantic composer. His works include Fantasia on Greensleeves, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Fantasia on a Theme of Tallis and Mass in G Minor.
Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi lived between 1813 and 1901. He is considered to be a romantic composer. He was an Italian operatic composer who achieved his first major success with Nabucco (1842). He was the leading figure of Italian music in the nineteenth century and made important contributions to the development of opera.
The singing melodies of his popular operas, like Rigoletto, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Aida, have come to represent Italian opera to much of the world. The late operas Otello and Falstaff crowned his achievement.
de Victoria
One of the works of Tomás Luis de Victoria was chosen in Best 100 Classical Pieces of the Millenium.
Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi lived from 1678 until 1741 and was considered to be a baroque composer. He was an Italian composer of instrumental music and opera. He was important in the development of the concerto. Vivaldi was ordained as a priest in 1703, but gave up saying Mass due to a chest illness. From 1704 until 1740, he taught violin at an orphanage, gave recitals, played the violin in operatic performances and produced some operas of his own.
The concertos that Vivaldi wrote helped define the genre in the Baroque and into the Classical era. These normally comprised three movements (fast, slow, fast); the fast movement regularly employed a ritornello form. In this form, an orchestral melody alternates with the freer sections that feature the soloist or soloists. The repetition of the ritornello provides a point of reference for the listener, allowing the soloist to stand out. It also allows the composer a greater degree of freedom in how the soloist’s material is treated.
Vivaldi’s concertos also stand out for the degree of inventiveness that he brought to them. While challenging the player, they also engage the listener. One of his most famous groups of concertos, The Four Seasons, demonstrates this well, and shows the more dramatic and colorful potential of the genre. Each concerto represents a different season, and the music illustrates in sound a picture created by an accompanying poem. Vivaldi uses his ingenuity to take the mundane sounds of daily life (the barking of a dog, the buzzing of flies), along with more dramatic sounds (a violent spring storm), and portray them in purely musical language that stands on its own merit. These early examples of program music well deserve their place in the popular canon of classical music.
Works:
Orchestral music, including over 239 violin concertos, including Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op.8, Nos.1-4, c.1725), other solo concertos (bassoon, cello, oboe, flute, recorder), double concertos, ensemble concertos, sinfonias
Chamber music, including sonatas for violin, cello and flute, trio sonatas
Vocal music, including oratorios (Juditha triumphans, 1716), Mass movements (Gloria), Magnificat, psalms, hymns and motets
Secular vocal music, including solo cantatas and operas
His most famous work, The Four Seasons, was written in 1725.
Luigi Dallapiccola was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.
Debussy
Claude Debussy lived between 1862 and 1918. He is considered to be a impressionistic composer, because he tried to capture the mood of the action instead of the action itself, and was known as the Father of Impressionistic Music. Debussy’s work influenced another Impressionistic composer, Maurice Ravel.
The French Impressionistic painters like Auguste Renoir were painting at the same time that Debussy was composing and that influenced his music. “Clair de Lune” is a famous example of this as it creates the feeling of rippling water.
Debussy liked to create tonal “impressions” rather than conventional melodies. “Rêverie” was one of his first successes, although the critics of the 1890’s said things like “strangeness”, “dissonance”, “ugliness” and “difficulties” about it, missing the fragile loveliness and vague shimmer which were stylistic innovations.
Debussy was playing piano and composing by the time he was 12.
DeForest
Lee DeForest was born in 1873 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. We’re sure his parents had big plans for him; but they could never have realized how their son, Lee, would change the world.
DeForest seemed to be a born inventor. He held patents for hundreds of different items including the photoelectric cell and the surgical radio knife. But none had as much impact on the world as his invention of the electron tube, specifically the triode, a three element vacuum tube, which later became the audion tube ~~ possibly the most significant invention that made radio possible.
Wireless radio broadcasting was unthinkable in the early 1900s and DeForest was considered a fraud. He was arrested for selling stock to underwrite the development of his invention, which no one believed would work. He was forced into selling the rights to his patent to American Telephone and Telegraph for $500,000; considered by most to be foolish of AT&T. The rest is history.
Lee DeForest’s 1950 autobiography is called “Father of Radio”.
Delius
Frederick Delius was born in Bradford, England. His father owned a wool company and hoped that his son would follow a career in business. Delius, however, wanted to study music. In 1884, he left England for Florida, where he worked on a plantation as an orange grower. Delius proved to be a failure as an orange grower, and began supporting himself as a musician. During 1886 – 1887, he composed Florida Suite.
Des Prez
Josquin Des Prez was born around 1440 and he died: August 27, 1521 in Cond?-sur-l-Escaut, France.
He was a French/Franco-Flemish composer and generally acknowledged as the greatest composer of the High Renaissance.
Martin Luther, who had a good knowledge of music, said of Josquin Desprez, “he alone is the master of the notes, they have to do as he bids them.” Indeed, Josquin was acknowledged by nearly all his contemporaries as the greatest composer of his time. If so, he stands as the first among many great musicians, for the composers of what we often term the Netherlands School created one of the richest periods in Western musical history. His contemporaries — including Antoine Brumel (c.1460-c.1515), Pierre de la Rue (c.1460-1518) and Loyset Comp?re (c.1445-1518) — and the previous generation — led by Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410-1497) — created a style of music that can rightly be compared to the art of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
As for Josquin himself, we know surprisingly little of his early life. We know that in the 1470s he began service in the court of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and that by 1489 he was a member of the papal choir in Rome. But we know nothing of his early training, or even when he came to Italy (it was believed that he came in 1459 as a choirboy in the Milan cathedral, but it seems that this was a case of mistaken identity). Later in his life he served Duke Ercole d’Este in Ferrara, and possibly King Louis XII of France. The final years of his life were spent in the town of Cond?-sur-l’Escaut in northern France (possibly his birthplace). The rest of his biography is still subject to scholarly speculation.
What we do know is just what Josquin’s contemporaries knew: that he created wonderful music. What stands out most in this music is his care for the words. This is seen in part by the way he uses imitation to allow each voice to present the text before the texture becomes too dense to be clear. He also made use of homophonic textures to give the text an added clarity. Some of his works, especially his Masses, use the older cantus firmus technique. Here he uses the borrowed melody to create a huge scaffolding upon which he constructs the other melodies. Some of these pieces display a high level of technical complexity. At the same time, he could create pieces of marvelous simplicity and elegance, as he did so often in his motets and chansons.
Musical Examples:
Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria
Miserere mei, Deus
Missa “La sol fa re mi” (Agnus Dei II)
Tu solus, qui facis mirabilia
Works:
Sacred works, including 18 masses (Missa “La sol fa re mi”, 2 L’homme arm?
Masses, Missa “Pange lingua”), more than 100 motets
Secular works, including nearly 70 French chansons and settings of German,
Spanish and Italian texts
Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev lived from 1872 until 1929. He was a ballet impresario, born in Novgorod, Russia. Diaghilev obtained a law degree, but was preoccupied with the arts. In 1898 he became editor of Mir Iskousstva (World of Art), and during the next few years arranged exhibitions and concerts of Russian art and music. His permanent company was founded in 1911, and remained perilously in existence for 20 years, triumphantly touring Europe. Many of the great dancers, composers, and painters of his period contributed to the success of his Ballets Russes. He also encouraged several major choreographers (eg Fokine, Nijinsky, Balanchine), and gave them opportunities for artistic collaboration.
Dispeker
Thea Dispeker molded operatic talent from Lauritz Melchior to Richard Leech and lived to be 97 years old.
Dispeker owned a classical music artists agency for more than 50 years. In her career, she influenced musicians such as Richard Tucker, Judith Blegen, Roberta Peters and Pablo Casals, among others.
In 1947, she helped found the Little Orchestra Society for children’s concerts and went into business for herself.
Even in her 80s and 90s, Dispeker continued to seek out young singers and musicians to promote. Her portfolio also included the Swedish baritone Hakan Hagegard.
Her agency, Thea Dispeker Inc., received an International Society for the Performing Arts Foundation award of merit in 1997, its 50th anniversary year.
Dittersdorf
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf lived from 1739 until 1799. He was a composer and violinist. He had composition lessons from Giuseppe Bonno in his native Vienna and served as a violinist in the orchestra of the Prince of Sachsen-Hildburghausen, followed by a position in the imperial theatre. There followed a period as Kapellmeister to the Bishop of Grosswardein, where, in 1762, he succeeded Michael Haydn. In 1769 he became Kapellmeister to the Prince-Bishop of Breslau, at this period acquiring the patent of nobility that added to the name of Ditters the honorific von Dittersdorf. Conditions in Johannisberg, the seat of the Prince-Bishop, deteriorated in the political circumstances of the time, and on the death of his employer in 1795, he moved with his family to join the household of a nobleman in Bohemia.
Dohnányi
Ernő Dohnányi lived from 1877 until 1960. He was born in Poszony (now Bratislava) in 1877 and opted for further musical study in Budapest rather than, more conventionally, in Vienna, setting an example that was followed by his younger contemporary Bartok. He played a leading part in forming the musical culture of Hungary, although there were difficulties with the regime that replaced the first republican government of the country. Due to his overt opposition to the association of Hungary with National Socialist Germany, he found it necessary to spend his final years in America, dying in New York in 1960.
As a composer Dohnányi was versatile, continuing existing traditions of music, while as a pianist he enjoyed international fame.
Domingo
Opera king Plácido Domingo
joins the Global Music Network and serves up an aria for online listeners. Live events and interviews, along with jazz and classical clips.
Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti was born in in Bergamo, November 29, 1797 and died in Bergamo, April 8, 1848.
Inheriting the bel canto tradition from Rossini, Donizetti’s operas are today mostly admired for their many attractive melodies and fine ensembles. Although he composed over seventy operas, only a handful have remained in the general repertory, but those are generally regarded as outstanding examples of the Italian Bel Canto period. Donizetti’s most famous opera is surely Lucia di Lammermoor, based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott. The plot concerns a young girl who is tricked by her brother into thinking her lover has been unfaithful to her and forces her into a marriage of political convenience. During the wedding scene, Lucia’s lover makes an unexpected entrance, and all the protagonists give vent to their varied emotions in the celebrated Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor. As was popular in Italian opera of the time, Lucia then goes mad, giving the prima donna an opportunity to display great acting and vocal skill in an extended scena.
The Italian operatic tradition was continued and taken to sublime heights later in the nineteenth century in the works of Giuseppe Verdi.
Dowland
John Dowland lived from 1562 until 1626. He was an English composer, singer and lutenist who wrote about 90 works for the Renaissance lute, several psalm harmonizations and many sacred songs.
Driggo
Riccardo Drigo was born and educated in Padua but he spent most of his life – from 1878 until 1915 – among Russian royalty as conductor ot the Marinsky Theater. He lived from 1846 until 1930.
Du Fay
Guillaume Du Fay was born on August 5, 1397(?) in Cambrai, France and died on November 27, 1474 in Cambrai, France. He was a French composer and was considered the leading composer of the early Renaissance.
The fifteenth century saw the rise of a new musical style, one in which harmonies began to center on full triads and the setting of the text became an important concern to composers. Guillaume Du Fay is one of the most important figures in the transition from the medieval to Renaissance style, which took place mainly among composers associated with the rich court of Burgundy. For this reason, Du Fay and his contemporaries are usually referred to as the “Burgundian School.”
Guillaume Du Fay probably received his early musical training in the cathedral choir at Cambrai, in northern France. But his career took a decidedly international turn early on. By the age of twenty-five he had gone to Italy. During his years there, he worked for courts in Pesaro, Ferrara and sang in the Papal choir in Rome. During that time he also earned a degree in canon law, probably at the University of Bologna. He spent the latter part of his life back at the cathedral in Cambrai. Du Fay wrote both sacred and secular music; he is perhaps best known for his cantus firmus Masses. Before he died, he composed a Requiem Mass (now lost) to be sung at his funeral, and asked that four of the best singers from the cathedral sing his motet Ave regina caelorum (Hail, Queen of Heaven) to him on his deathbed.
Du Fay’s music set the tone for the Renaissance (one scholar credits him with defining the “central style” of the period). His triad-based harmonies and arching melodies create a pleasant balance of melody and harmony. In his sacred music, he changed the overall sound by a more regular use of four-voice textures. At the same time, we can still find the medieval concern with structure and isorhythm in his sacred music, especially his cantus firmus Masses.
Sacred works including at least 7 complete Mass settings, numerous Mass movements and pairs, 30 motets and 60 other sacred works (hymns, etc.)
Secular works including more than 50 rondeaux, 10 ballades, 4 virelais, 15 other works.
Dukas
Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was featured in the Walt Disney movie Fantasia and Fantasia 2000.
Dvorák
Antonín Dvorák’s piece, “Humoresque” became one of the most famous pieces ever written nearly overnight. It was later discovered that this could be played simultaneously with Steven Foster’s “Way Down Upon the Swanee River”.
Dvorák, a native of Bohemia, traveled in the United States in 1892 and found American music to be “magical” and “spacious”. When Dvorák visited the United States, he encouraged American composers to use their native music. He himself incorporated folk melodies into 19th century Romantic music. His compositions include Slavonic Dances, Fifth Symphony, The Water Nymph, Carnival, Gypsy Melodies.
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