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then the monkeys come in
Dec. 27th, 2004 07:43 am.
I'm improving my mind this morning with some program music. Igor Kipnis recorded an LP of 18th century harpsichord pieces that describe stuff, in detail that varies from the three-movement "Hezekiah Mortally Ill and Then Restored [Biblical Sonata #4]" to the ten that delineate "The Sufferings of the Queen of France" by Dussek.
At the moment, I'm hearing Couperin's burlesque, "The Magnificent Pomp of the Worthy and Ancient Guild of Fiddlers" (which he spells with a bunch of exes for some deeply humorous reason) in 5 acts. Act I is the notable and Sworm Members of the Fiddlers Guild, Act II is The Old Men and Beggars [right hand] and hurdy gurdy in the left. Act III is the Jugglers, Acrobats, and Tight-rope Walkers, with Bears and Monkeys. Act IV is The Invalids and Cripples, and in Act V we witness Disorder and rout of the entire troupe, caused by the drunkards, the monkeys, and the bears; later those on crutches [left hand].
It's kind of fun to hear something that was really written with a program in mind, and which didn't merely have something stuck to it later on by Rellstab or von Buelow -- for a real hoot, find von B's minute, bar-by-bar retellings of what Chopin is really trying to say in his preludes. Stick with it until you get to the one about the writer being so vexed by musical constipation that he hits himself in the head with a hammer. Over and over -- it's the sixteenth notes, if memory serves. If not, I plead disability because of hitting myself in the head with a hammer.
Naturally, I whiled away some of my morning solitary time by pondering whether any of our great composers ever left any pornographic music behind. Absolute music, with lascivious title headings for the movements. "V. He reacheth third base! She sheweth her appreciation in an spicy accelerando." On second thoughts, let's just say we thought of it. Oh! Here are the monkeys and bears.
.
I'm improving my mind this morning with some program music. Igor Kipnis recorded an LP of 18th century harpsichord pieces that describe stuff, in detail that varies from the three-movement "Hezekiah Mortally Ill and Then Restored [Biblical Sonata #4]" to the ten that delineate "The Sufferings of the Queen of France" by Dussek.
At the moment, I'm hearing Couperin's burlesque, "The Magnificent Pomp of the Worthy and Ancient Guild of Fiddlers" (which he spells with a bunch of exes for some deeply humorous reason) in 5 acts. Act I is the notable and Sworm Members of the Fiddlers Guild, Act II is The Old Men and Beggars [right hand] and hurdy gurdy in the left. Act III is the Jugglers, Acrobats, and Tight-rope Walkers, with Bears and Monkeys. Act IV is The Invalids and Cripples, and in Act V we witness Disorder and rout of the entire troupe, caused by the drunkards, the monkeys, and the bears; later those on crutches [left hand].
It's kind of fun to hear something that was really written with a program in mind, and which didn't merely have something stuck to it later on by Rellstab or von Buelow -- for a real hoot, find von B's minute, bar-by-bar retellings of what Chopin is really trying to say in his preludes. Stick with it until you get to the one about the writer being so vexed by musical constipation that he hits himself in the head with a hammer. Over and over -- it's the sixteenth notes, if memory serves. If not, I plead disability because of hitting myself in the head with a hammer.
Naturally, I whiled away some of my morning solitary time by pondering whether any of our great composers ever left any pornographic music behind. Absolute music, with lascivious title headings for the movements. "V. He reacheth third base! She sheweth her appreciation in an spicy accelerando." On second thoughts, let's just say we thought of it. Oh! Here are the monkeys and bears.
.
