Vivaldi, one of the greatest baroque composers, has a very interesting story. He ran an orphanage in the 18th century in Italy that became famous all over the western world for its musically talented children. A lot of his pieces were written for specific children in his school. Vivaldi learned the violin from his father, and was trained as a priest. He was nicknamed “the red priest” for his red hair and was apparently somewhat sure of himself, having claimed once he can compose a concerto faster than it can be copied.
Vivaldi wrote over 500 pieces, most of which are lost today. He is considered one of the greatest musical landmarks in history, having inspired many composers that followed him, including J.S.Bach and others.
Redditor NeokratosRed had an idea: depict the hands of great composers and pianists, according to the characteristics of their music. He shared it on the social media site, and also punted for suggestions of more. It has since received over 300,000 images views, and lots of further suggestions from fellow Redditors and piano geeks.
Whisks for Chopin’s elegant pianistic souffles, feather dusters for the gentle impressionism of Debussy, instruments of trade for the composer of the thunderous Hammerklavier sonata.
Piano, and the internet – top marks to the both of you.
The following ornament table is a transcription of the one appearing in the Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, written by Johann Sebastian Bach for the keyboard instruction of his eldest son.
A scan of the original manuscript appears at Dave’s J.S. Bach Page.
The German title translates as “Explanation of various signs, showing how to play certain ornaments correctly.”{1} Bach gives the sign for each ornament on the upper of the paired staves, while the lower shows its execution directly beneath.
(This blog has) simply modernized the clefs in my transcription, since Bach’s manuscript uses soprano clefs, as several composers continued to do throughout the 18th century in place of the treble clef now used in all keyboard music.
After the transcription graphic showing the table, there appear clickable buttons which are keyed to AU sound files; you can click on any of the ornaments and hear a sound file play its execution.
The Piano Puzzlers book is available in the O’Connor Music Studio library if you’d like to give any a try. Piano Puzzlers as heard on American Public Media’s “Performance Today.” Includes 32 tunes with songs by Gershwin, Berlin, Arlen, Porter, Rodgers, Fats Waller, Lennon & McCartney, and others disguised in the styles of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Janacek, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartok, and Copland.
Includes an introduction by Fred Child, host of “Performance Today” as well as background info by Bruce Adolphe. “Bruce Adolphe has taken a common musician’s party game and elevated it to high art and truly funny musical slapsticks. The Piano Puzzlers are a unique combination of extraordinary insight into the styles of many composers subtle, expert workmanship and great, great fun!”
If you’re a music geek (like me), I have a program for you. Now, let me be clear, to fully qualify as a music geek…you must have a fond appreciation for classical music (no, Poison, Quiet Riot, and Zepplin do not count as classical music). So, if you’re a “music geek” without an appreciation for classical music…well, I hate to burst your bubble…but, you’re not truly a music geek. Instead, you’re a music appreciator, but not a geek. So, if you just listen to indie music and scowl at anything on a label larger than Matador…don’t bother following the link I’ll provide…the fun will be lost on you…And, you probably won’t have a chance.
Every Wednesday night, on my way home from WNL, I turn on my local NPR station to listen to Piano Puzzlers on Performance Today. It’s absolutely incredible. A pianist/composer (Bruce Adolphe) takes a familiar folk or pop tune and sets it inside a classical masterpiece (or in the style of a particular composer). Sometimes it’s easy…sometimes it’s ridiculously difficult. There are days when I say, “got it” on the first pass. Then there are days when I say, “what the heck?” And, more often than not, I’m able to get either the popular/folk tune or the composer.
This is sad to admit, but there are nights when I’ll slow down on the drive home or sit in the car in the driveway to finish an episode. In fact, I get a little worked up if someone stops me after WNL…as I might miss the beginning of Piano Puzzlers (it usually hits around 8:20pm on our local station).
Take a listen to some of the archives and see if you can figure it out! It’s really cool…but probably only appreciated by music geeks (the kind of people that listen to NPR for their musical programs and not just the snipets of cool indie rock between segments on All Things Considered…which is a great show too).
1741 ~ Antonio Vivaldi died
More information about Vivaldi
• 1750 ~ Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer and organist, died. Composer of “St Matthew Passion” and “Brandenburg Concertos”, his output covered every musical genre with innovations in format, quality and technical demands.
• 1796 ~ Ignace Bösendorfer, Italian Pianomaker
More information about Bösendorfer
• 1811 ~ Guilia Grisi, Italian soprano
• 1901 ~ Rudy (Hubert Prior) Valee, Bandleader and singer. Valee was one of the first, before Bing Crosby, to popularize the singing style known as “crooning”.
• 1914 ~ Carmen Dragon, Classical music conductor, bandleader and father of singer, ‘Captain’ Daryl Dragon
• 1933 ~ The singing telegram was introduced on this day. The first person to receive a singing telegram was singer Rudy Vallee, in honor of his 32nd birthday.
• 1934 ~ Jacques d’Amboise, Ballet dancer with the New York City Ballet
• 1937 ~ Peter Duchin, American bandleader, pianist, son of musician, Eddy Duchin
• 1938 ~ George Cummings, Guitarist with Dr. Hook
• 1939 ~ Judy Garland sang one of the most famous songs of the century with the Victor Young Orchestra. The tune became her signature song and will forever be associated with the singer-actress. Garland recorded Over the Rainbow for Decca Records. It was the musical highlight of the film, The Wizard of Oz.
• 1941 ~ Riccardo Muti, Italian conductor
• 1943 ~ Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger was born
• 1945 ~ Rick Wright, Keyboards with Pink Floyd
• 1949 ~ Peter Doyle, Singer with The New Seekers
• 1949 ~ Simon Kirke, Drummer with Free
• 1958 ~ Three years after his Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White reached number one, Cuban-born bandleader Perez Prado captured the top spot again, with Patricia. Prado was known as the Mambo King for his popular, Latin-flavored instrumentals.
• 1969 ~ Frank Loesser passed away
• 1972 ~ Helen Traubel passed away
• 1975 ~ Van McCoy’s “The Hustle” was the #1 song in America
• 2001 ~ Bass guitarist Leon Wilkeson, one of the founding members of legendary rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died at the age of 49. The band, best known for songs What’s your Name?, Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird, debuted in 1973 and was named after the members’ high school gym teacher, Leonard Skinner. Wilkeson was involved in a 1977 plane crash in Mississippi that killed band members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines. The group disbanded after the crash but re-formed with others in 1987 for a reunion tour. The band toured for most of the 1990s and had a concert scheduled for Aug. 23 in Jacksonville.
• 2002~ Thomas Calvin “Tommy” Floyd, whose twangy voice sold Luck’s beans in the 1950s, died. He was 89 and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Floyd was one of Asheboro’s best-known voices, between his music career and his jobs announcing at radio stations. Floyd organized the Blue Grass Buddys in 1942. The group played for radio shows and performed around the Southeast, appearing in concert with bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. In 1950, Luck’s sponsored the band, provided that Floyd plug the product at shows. His jingle went: “Luck’s pinto beans, Luck’s pinto beans. Eat ’em and you’ll never go wrong. Luck’s pinto beans.” Luck’s sponsored him as a host for 15-minute country music spots on television stations in the Southeast. Luck’s discontinued the sponsorship in 1953.
• 2002 ~ Eddy Marouani, who managed the careers of some of the most famous figures in French music, including Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel, died. He was 81. He also steered the careers of singers Michel Sardou, Serge Lama and comedian Michel Boujenah. Marouani headed the agency “Office Parisien du Spectacle” and presided over one the biggest families of French impresarios. Marouani published his memoirs in 1989, entitled “Fishing for Stars, Impresario Profession.”
Today we will listen to Minuet in G. Several people composed a Minuet (a slow, stately ballroom dance for two in 3/4 time, popular especially in the 18th century) in the key of G including Beethoven, Mozart and Bach.
How are the same? How are they different?
JS Bach’s version
The Bach version also was “acquired” for a popular song in the 1960s
Beethoven
Rowlf from the Muppets plays the Beethoven Minuet
Mozart
So – never say to your teacher that “I already played that” – you never know which version s/he has in mind!
Today’s piece is a mashup of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera and Bach’s d minor concerto. I think it’s a great sound and I eagerly awaited the sheet music which I finally located.
Solfeggietto is a short solo keyboard piece in c minor composed in 1766 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German composer and the son of J.S. Bach.
“Solfeggietto” is an Italian word meaning “little study” or exercise.
The work is unusual for a keyboard piece in that the main theme is only one note being played at a time. The piece is commonly assigned to piano students and appears in many anthologies.
This piece is easily Bach’s best-known and is often performed by left-hand alone.
See if you can follow along. The notes with the stems down (even in the treble clef) are normally played with the left hand.
With just the left hand:
Electric Guitar
Bass Clarinet
Clarinet sextet
Harp
Are you any of these? This is the first annoying pianist. Too Humble – Solfeggietto in C minor by C.P.E. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach’s towering monument of organ music, with its deep sense of foreboding, will forever be associated with Halloween.
Get a free copy of the sheet music at IMSLP or borrow a copy from the O’Connor Music Studio. I have this arranged for organ, piano, duet, 2-piano, simplified…
It’s also available in Piano Maestro, Piano Pronto Encore and Coda
• 1732 ~ Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, composer and 5th son of Johann Sebastian Bach
• 1790 ~ Wilhelm Speyer, Composer
• 1805 ~ Karl Friedrich Curschmann, Composer
• 1846 ~ Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone he invented in 1840
• 1862 ~ Henry Holden Huss, Composer
• 1865 ~ Albert Herbert Brewer, Composer
• 1868 ~ Wagner’s opera “Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg” premiered in Munich
• 1887 ~ Adolf Schimon, Composer, died at the age of 67
• 1892 ~ Hilding Rosenberg, Swedish composer
• 1893 ~ Alois Hába, Czech opera composer and writer
• 1900 ~ Gunnar Ek, Composer (he died on 81st birthday)
• 1900 ~ Polibo Fumagalli, Composer, died at the age of 69
• 1903 ~ Louis Krasner, violinist
• 1906 ~ Luis Maria Millet, Composer
• 1908 ~ Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Composer, died at the age of 64. He was best known for his orchestral piece “Sheherezade” and the opera “The Golden Cockerel” as well as his re-orchestration of Moussorgsky’s opera “Boris Godunov.”
More information about Rimsky-Korsakov
• 1941 ~ Wayne King and his orchestra recorded Time Was, with Buddy Clark providing the vocal accompaniment, for Victor Records.
• 1944 ~ Ray Davies, Musician, guitar, singer, songwriter with The Kinks
• 1945 ~ Chris Britton, Guitarist with The Troggs
• 1946 ~ Brenda Holloway, American singer and songwriter
• 1946 ~ Heinrich Kaminski, Composer, died at the age of 59
• 1948 ~ Columbia Records announced that it was offering a new Vinylite long-playing record that could hold 23 minutes of music on each side. One of the first LPs produced was of the original cast of the Broadway show, South Pacific. Critics quickly scoffed at the notion of LPs, since those heavy, breakable, 78 RPM, 10- inch disks with one song on each side, were selling at an all-time high. It didn’t take very long though, for the 33-1/3 RPM album — and its 7-inch, 45 RPM cousin to revolutionize the music industry and the record-buying habits of millions.
• 1951 ~ Nils Lofgren, Musician, guitar, keyboards, singer, songwriter
• 1958 ~ Splish Splash was recorded by Bobby Darin. It was his first hit and it took Darin only ten minutes to write the song.
• 1972 ~ Billy Preston received a gold record for the instrumental hit, Outa-Space. Preston, who played for gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, back in 1956, was also in the film St. Louis Blues as a piano player. He was a regular on the Shindig TV show in the 1960s; and recorded with The Beatles on the hits Get Back and Let It Be. Preston also performed at The Concert for Bangladesh in 1969. Many well-known artists have utilized his keyboard talents, including Sly & The Family Stone and the Rolling Stones.
• 1972 ~ Seth Bingham, Composer, died at the age of 90
• 1975 ~ Heinz Lau, Composer, died at the age of 49
• 1985 ~ Ron Howard directed his first music video. The TV star of The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days also directed the film Cocoon, which included Gravity, the song used in the video. Michael Sembello, a guitarist who played on Stevie Wonder’s hits between 1974 and 1979 was responsible for Gravity.
• 1990 ~ June Christy passed away
• 1990 ~ Little Richard received a star on Hollywood’s walk of fame
• 1992 ~ Thomas Whitfield, Gospel vocalist, died of heart attack at 38
• 1993 ~ “Camelot” opened at the Gershwin Theater New York City for 56 performances
• 1997 ~ Art Prysock, Jazz musician, died at the age of 68
• 2000 ~ Alan Hovhaness, a prolific composer who melded Western and Asian musical styles, died at the age of 89.
• 2001 ~ Bluesman John Lee Hooker, whose foot-stompin’ and gravelly voice on songs like Boom Boom and Boogie Chillen electrified audiences and inspired generations of musicians, died of natural causes at the age of 83. He recorded more than 100 albums over nearly seven decades. He won a Grammy Award for a version of In The Mood, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s Grammys. His distinctive sound influenced rhythm and blues musicians, as well as rock ‘n’ rollers including Van Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt and ZZ Top. Hooker’s 1990 album “The Healer“, featured duets with Carlos Santana, Raitt and Robert Cray. It sold 1.5 million copies and won him his first Grammy Award, for a duet with Raitt on I’m in the Mood. Born in Clarksdale, Miss., August 22, 1917, Hooker was one of 11 children born to a Baptist minister and sharecropper who discouraged his son’s musical bent. In Detroit, he was discovered and recorded his first hit, Boogie Chillen, in 1948.
• 2003 ~ William Leslie died at the age of 78. He was a jazz saxophonist who toured the world with the Louis Jordan Band in the 1950s in Sellersville, Pa. He played with the Jordan Band in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Europe and on the television show “Your Hit Parade.” Mr. Leslie had played the saxophone since he was 12. After serving in World War II, he attended the Landis School of Music in West Philadelphia, Pa., on the GI Bill.
• 2015 ~ Gunther Schuller, American hornist and jazz composer (1994 Pulitzer Prize), died at the age of 89
Be sure your student reads and listens to 
MaryO'Studio 