You know the rest, right? Good night, sleep tight….
Now The Sun Turns Out Its Light
Month: September 2021
And Then There’s Claude
What is it about Claude DeBussy’s music? It sounds like something you would hear in a dream. Number 61 on our countdown of classics is Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, written by Claude DeBussy (1862-1918).
The opening note is the same as in The Girl With the Flaxen Hair https://johnsthewritestuff.com/2021/05/30/the-girl-with-the-flaxen-hair/
Claude Debussy was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he objected to that term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Born to a family of modest means and little cultural involvement, Debussy showed enough musical talent to be admitted at the age of ten to France’s leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris. He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire’s conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 when he achieved international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, Pelléas et Mélisande.
For more on the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy
Number Sixty
Number Sixty in the countdown of 100 Classical Songs is Waltz in A-Flat Major by Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849). It is 130 measures long, in 3/4 time. It plays at exactly 120 beats per minute, or 2 beats per second, in case you were wondering. It is exactly 242 seconds long.
For more on the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin#/media/File:Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin.jpg
So That’s What Adagio Means
Every day I learn something new. (Did you notice how I made this all about me in the very first sentence?) According to Webster’s Dictionary, Adagio means “at a slow tempo —used chiefly as a direction in music.”
Today’s song is number 59 on the big countdown of 100 Classical Masterpieces, and is entitled Adagio in G Minor. It is credited to Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751), but it is thought to have been written by Remo Giazotto, a 20th century musicologist and composer, who was a cataloger of the works of Albinoni. My version is a bit faster than the original, so not very adagio at all, really.
For more on the composer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomaso_Albinoni
And here is Number 60 – Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major by Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827).
It’s Beethoven’s Fifth Concerto.
Pleasant Thoughts
It is amazing how much I am learning while going through these 100 Classical Songs. I hope I have broadened your horizons also. The word Reverie means “a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts; a daydream.” What a perfect title for today’s song.
Number 58 on the big countdown is Reverie by Claude Debussy (1862-1918).
For more on the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy
Number 57
Hello All, I hope you’re well. Really.
Here are some thoughts and observations I would like to share with you:
- Food that is gelatinous tends to fatten us.
- Official name of frontline medical workers: “Flu Fighters.”
- Just because something is out of focus doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
- Never wear earbuds to a Headbanger’s Ball.
Which brings me to today’s song. Number 57 on the countdown of 100 Classical songs, is Minuet in G Major, by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827):
One More Time…..
It’s me. Is there anybody in there? Just smile if you can hear me.
Today’s song is by The Beatles and is called Piggies:
Here Comes the Sun
Actually, there goes the sun. But it will be back in the morning.
Today’s song isn’t classical but it is still a classic. It’s not completely done, but I need to take a break. And this song needs to be out in the world now, not later.
Here are my versions of The Beatles “Here Comes The Sun“:
More Brahms
Johannes Brahms has five songs in the Big Book of Classical Music. I have posted four already, here is number five – Waltz in A Flat Major.
It is number 56 in the countdown of 100 Classical Songs. And don’t forget to share this with your friends!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Waltzes,Op._39(Brahms)
And here is a song called The Moldau, by Bedric Smetana (1824-1884):
Songs 53 – 55
Here are some more classical songs
They’re not too short and not too long
It’s another gift to the world from me
The first one is Number 53
It was written by Johannes Brahms
Who always carried a Book of Psalms
He was born way back in 1830
He was very clean and rarely dirty
So now, without further delay
I give you the songs I made today
You could play them at your next rager
The first one’s a Symphony, and it’s in F Major
Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms:
I can’t help but notice the similarities to this song from West Side Story: https://youtu.be/GrFkgyOOY30
Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, by Johannes Brahms (1830-1897):
Brahms Lullaby, otherwise known as the “Go to Sleep Baby” song:
My songbook says that Brahms was born in 1830, Wikipedia says 1833. You decide who is right! And does it really matter?
Song #52
We are on the downhill side of our countdown. Song number 52 in the countdown is an excerpt from the Fourth Movement of Symphony No. I in C Minor, written by Johannes Brahms (1830-1897).
For more on the composer:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Brahms
My music program has a new feature: It can change the rhythm of the music. Some examples follow:
Half Way There
Today’s song is number 50 in the countdown of 100 Classical Masterpieces. I might just have this project done in time for, well, you-know-what.
It was written by Francois-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) and is called Gavotte.
For more on the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Joseph_Gossec
And here is song number 51, Prelude in C Major by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):
I Am The Greatest….
The Write Stuff 
