A to Z Challenge 2016 Reflections

 

 

            It is time to reflect upon the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. This year my theme was Classical Music. I was looking through my notes of reflections and I decided to pull up my reflections post from last year. This is my second year to participate in the challenge and the things I wrote about connecting with the blogging community still apply this year. The main difference is that this time I knew what I was getting into and had somewhat of a plan of setting time aside each night for comments. What I did not anticipate was my incomplete posts. I am a procrastinator the majority of the time, and only a few of my letters were finished more than one day before they were due. I will say that it was not a total procrastination, because I had all of my composers picked out by the beginning of March with a few facts I already knew. And I had all of my featured videos picked out and saved in a playlist. I still had to arrange my posts and do a little research for extra facts on the composers for most of the letters. Early on in April, I mentioned something about an elaborate idea for next year’s challenge. I must declare now that I will not carry out that idea unless I have all the posts ready by sign up time! Otherwise, I think I might go simple next year if I participate.

            Beyond the post writing, I enjoyed making visits and comments a lot more this year. I understood more about engaging with the community and I connected with some new blogging friends, which makes the experience worth the effort. I did notice something that I have seen before but never fully understood its purpose until now. Many blogs include a blogroll of some of their favorite bloggers, and I noticed some people utilized the blogroll specifically for A to Z themes they liked. That is an excellent idea! I think I will get that set up so I can try it out on my blog.

            I want to say a big thank you for all of my friends and fellow bloggers who followed my theme this year. I learned a lot about the composers just like many of you did. Many of them lived interesting lives, and I am most surprised by the number of composers who did not reach the age of 40. Before my research, I only knew of Franz Schubert because I had heard about his “Unfinished” symphony. It turns out that many composers left works unfinished or lost, and it does make me wonder what more they could have come up with if they had lived full lives. I also want to thank those who left words of encouragement and my two best friends who provided their support via texts. It was a fun month, but I am glad that we have reached the month of May! I will be taking a short blogging break for a couple weeks. I do plan to visit some of your posts and I’m hoping to concentrate on some writing during my “time off.” If you missed my theme during the challenge, I have all of my posts and my video playlist set up on the A to Z Challenge 2016 page. I hope everyone has a great month and congratulations to those who completed the A to Z Challenge!

 

Z is for Zimmer

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! Z is for Zimmer. Hans Zimmer is a German composer who was born in 1957. Today’s featured video is pretty awesome! I figured a great way to end the A to Z Challenge would be with a bit of fun! This is a piece called “Discombobulate” from the Sherlock Holmes (2009) soundtrack, which Zimmer composed. This video starts out with Hans Zimmer himself playing the cimbalom (at least I think that’s what that is), and there are also violins, a cello, a banjo, a ukulele, an accordion, a “broken pub piano”…oh, and Robert Downey Jr. is there as well :)

Video link: https://youtu.be/R89UGKuyodk  



 

   ·   Hans Zimmer was born in Germany and moved to London as a teenager. He started his music career playing keyboards and synthesizers and was involved with a few bands, including, The Buggles and the Italian group, Krisma.
 

   ·   While living in London, he became interested in working with film music and collaborated with his friend and mentor, Stanley Myers, on some film scores. He has become known as a lead innovator in integrating electronic music with traditional orchestral arrangements.
 

   ·   After moving to the United States, he reached a milestone in his career with Rain Man (1988), which earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.
 

The Lion King soundtrack
from Amazon

   ·   Zimmer wrote the score for The Lion King (1994), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Score, a Golden Globe, and two Grammys.
 

   ·   He has written the scores for many blockbuster movies, including Driving Miss Daisy, Gladiator, Inception, Sherlock Holmes, and Interstellar, he also collaborated with other composers on The Pirates of the Caribbean series and The Dark Knight Trilogy.
 

   ·   Hans Zimmer is currently on tour in Europe, and he is performing in Poland this very weekend.

 

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_(soundtrack)

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/zimmer/

 

 

For this challenge, I have kept a playlist of the videos I used plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. Today, I’m adding the last two videos for letter Z. The second one I added is a piece called “Time” from Hans Zimmer’s score to Inception (2010). This beautiful music is put together with some lovely photos, and for me, it has an emotionally stirring quality that causes me to reflect on how all good things must come to an end.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my A to Z Challenge theme and congratulations to all who have completed the challenge this year! What is your favorite Hans Zimmer movie score?

Also, if you haven’t already, you should check out Sandra Cox’s blog with her A to Z theme of cats. Yesterday, she featured cats of fellow bloggers and my three cats made an appearance, click here for her post.

Y is for Ysaÿe

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! Y is for Ysaÿe. Eugène Ysaÿe was a Belgium composer who lived from 1858 to 1931. Today’s featured video is the first movement from Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin, played by Ilya Kaler.

Video link: https://youtu.be/Yrtjq1ASpk4

   ·   Eugène Ysaÿe began violin lessons at the age of 5, but he was not a child prodigy. In fact, he was kicked out of the Royal Conservatory of Liège due to poor performance. He continued to perform in two orchestras, one conducted by his father, and practiced violin techniques on his own.
 

   ·   When Ysaÿe was age 12, the composer-violinist, Henri Vieuxtemps took notice of him and helped Ysaÿe get re-admitted to the conservatory to study under his assistant, Henryk Wieniawski.
 

   ·   Ysaÿe went on to become a prominent and incomparable violinist admired by many composers. Claude Debussy dedicated his String Quartet to Ysaÿe and César Franck wrote the Violin Sonata in A as a wedding present for Ysaÿe and his wife in 1886.
 

   ·   Ysaÿe began to suffer from a condition in his right arm known to violinists as “bow tremor,” which may have been connected to his struggles with diabetes. Due to this, his performing declined and he began focusing more on teaching and composing.
 

   ·   He was close friends with Queen Elisabeth of Belgium and after his death, she began an international violin competition in Brussels named in his memory. This became known as the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1951.

Bust of Ysaÿe in Boulevard
Piercot gardens of Liège

 



   ·   Ysaÿe did many violin arrangements for works of other composers, including, Frédéric Chopin, Camille Saint-Saëns, and some Paganini variations. In today’s piece, the movement is titled “Obsession” and an obsession with J. S. Bach is shown with frequent quotes directly from the Prelude to Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E major.

 

 

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Ysa%C3%BFe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_No._2_(Ysa%C3%BFe)

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/eug%C3%A8ne-ysa%C3%BFe-mn0001409930/biography

 

For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. The video I added today is Eugène Ysaÿe’s Berceuse, in F minor, for violin and orchestra, Op.20.
 

We've nearly made it! Only one letter to go! Whether you are a reader or a fellow participant, have you enjoyed the A to Z Challenge this year?



X is for Xavier Montsalvatge

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! X is for Xavier Montsalvatge. He was a Spanish composer who lived from 1912 to 2002. Today’s featured video is “Cuba dentro de un piano” from Xavier Montsalvatge’s Cinco canciones negras. The lyrics were written by Rafael Alberti, the soloist is Ana Belén and the music is played by the group, Trío Malats.

Video link: https://youtu.be/puKqCWfu8VU

 



Xavier Montsalvatge is on the left

·   Xavier Montsalvatge had a significant amount of influence over Catalan music of the latter half of the 20^th century.
 

     ·   He composed several songs for voice and piano, operas, including El gato con botas (Puss in Boots), chamber music, and orchestral music.
 

    ·   In addition to composing music, he worked as a music critic and wrote for the newspapers, Destino and La Vanguardia.
 

  

·   He has one piece that gained him international fame, the Cinco canciones negras (Five Black Songs), which were five songs written for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. These songs used rhythms and themes from the Antillean Islands of the Caribbean.



·    Montsalvatge’s style changed throughout his career. His early works were influenced by Richard Wagner and twelve-tone technique. He was then influenced by Caribbean styles. His later works took on more abstract and eclectic styles, with influences from Impressionism and polytonality.



Barcelona, where Xavier Montsalvatge
lived most of his life
(Picture from pixabay.com) 

Sources: http://www.montsalvatge.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Montsalvatge

Yesterday’s Trivia: Besides Star Wars, what franchise film came out last year which had an original theme composed by John Williams? Answer: Jurassic World. John Williams composed the main theme for Jurassic Park, which was used in all the films in the series.

For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. In the video I added today, you can get a taste of Xavier Montsalvatge’s abstract techniques with harp and guitar, Fantasia para Arpa y Guitarra: III. Brasilado: Allegro Moderato.

 

 

I must admit, I had to dig a little to find this composer. I pulled up a Wikipedia list of 20^th century composers and used my browser’s find function (CTRL + F) to find the X’s on the page. I then looked for first or last names that started with X, and Voila! Xavier appeared :) Did you have to go to strange lengths to get any of your letters for the A to Z?

W is for Williams

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! W is for Williams. John Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist who was born in 1932. Today’s featured video is the theme from Schindler’s List which was composed and conducted by John Williams with Itzhak Perlman playing the violin solo.

Video link: https://youtu.be/bNrVFkBDte8

   ·   John Williams wrote the scores for many well-known films, including Star Wars, Superman, Saving Private Ryan, the first three Harry Potter films, Indiana Jones, and many more. In fact, he composed the scores for eight of the Top 20 highest grossing films at the U.S. box office!
 

   ·   He has been nominated for 50 Academy Awards and currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person. He won five of those nominations for Best Scoring Adaptation and Original Song in Fiddler on the Roof, and Best Original Score for Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, and Schindler’s List.
 

   ·   In addition to his movie scores, Williams has composed many concert pieces, including a symphony and several concertos.
 

   ·   He was drafted to the U.S. Air Force in 1952 and conducted the U.S. Air Force Band. After his service ended in 1955, he attended Julliard and studied piano.
 

Scan of vinyl cover
released by RSO Records

   ·   Williams was the Principal Conductor for the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993.
 

   ·   John Williams has worked with director Steven Spielberg on over 20 films since 1974. Williams was present when Spielberg received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and gave him a thumbs-up.
 

   ·   After watching Schindler’s List, Williams told Spielberg, “You need a better composer than I am for this film.” Spielberg replied, “I know. But they're all dead!”

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams
http://www.classicfm.com/composers/williams/

For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. In the extra video I added today, John Williams, himself, is conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra in the main theme from Star Wars.

 

Did you know John Williams composed the scores for so many movies? Which is your favorite John Williams theme? Trivia: Besides Star Wars, what franchise film came out last year which had an original theme composed by John Williams?

V is for Vivaldi

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! V is for Vivaldi. Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer who lived from 1678 to 1741. Today’s featured video is the first movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn of the Four Seasons). It is performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell on the violin.

Video link: https://youtu.be/WgNngloVB2s

 

   ·   Antonio Vivaldi was taught to play the violin by his father. They toured Venice, performing together.
 

   ·   Vivaldi was ordained as a priest in 1703 and was given the nickname, “il Prete Rosso” (the red priest), due to his curly, red hair (he was wearing a customary wig in the painting).
 

   ·   He wrote over 500 concerti, and 230 of those pieces are for violin. He also wrote pieces for bassoon, mandolin, oboe, recorder, cello, flute, viola d’amore, and lute.
 

   ·   His most popular work is the Four Seasons, which includes four violin concerti, one representing each season. The concertos were innovative because they depicted scenes including flowing creeks, singing birds, barking dogs, storms, frozen landscapes, and winter fires. Vivaldi published the Four Seasons with accompanying sonnets that he may have written himself. Those poems were meant to point out the scenes the listener was to imagine.



View of Venice in 1697

   ·   After his death, many of Vivaldi’s works were locked away or lost until the 20^th century. Alfredo Casella helped in the rediscovery efforts when he organized Vivaldi Week in 1939.

 

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Seasons_(Vivaldi)

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/vivaldi/

 

For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. I couldn’t let the letter V pass by without another Victor Borge video :) In this hilarious sketch I added, he is playing Caro nome from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto with opera singer, Marilyn Mulvey. This one is priceless!
 

 

What is your favorite season of the year? Do you have a favorite season or movement in Vivaldi's Four Seasons (Spring is most often used in movies and media)?

U is for Unfinished Symphony

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! U is for Unfinished Symphony. Today’s featured video is part of the first movement of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, the “Unfinished Symphony”. It is performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Carlos Kleiber.

Video link: https://youtu.be/40ibhUABCPU

 

Oil painting by
Wilhelm August Rieder

   ·   Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer who lived from 1797 to 1828.

 

   ·   As the name suggests, Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” was never completed. He wrote the first two movements and part of the third 6 years before his death, but he became distracted from continuing the symphony and never returned to finish it. Although, some believe that his fourth movement was the Entr’acte from the incidental music to the play, Rosamunde.

 

   ·   Schubert adored the music of Mozart, he once wrote, “O Mozart! Immortal Mozart! What countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls!”

 

   ·   He was very productive in his short life. In 1815, he wrote nine church works, a symphony, and 150 songs. Over the course of his life he wrote over 1,500 works, including 600 songs for solo voice and piano, seven complete symphonies, eight orchestral overtures, and seven masses.

 

   ·   Schubert was known to host musical parties called “Schubertiads” where he would sing and play his latest songs for his friends. Schubertiads would also include poetry readings, dancing, and even an occasional picnic or river trip.

Schubertiad drawing by
Moritz von Schwind

   ·   Schubert was one of the torchbearers for Beethoven’s funeral in March 1827. By his own request, Schubert was buried next to Beethoven when he died in November 1828.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schubert

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schubertiade

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/schubert/

 

            For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. Today’s extra video involves another great “U” in music, the ukulele! In this video, Valéry Sauvage is playing the ukulele for Franz Schubert’s “Die Forelle” (The Trout). The lyrics were written by Francis Blanche and these are not the original lyrics, which Schubert used from a poem about fishing. In Blanche’s version, the narrator comes across a girl who is obsessed with this song. If you are interested, you can click here to read the lyrics in French and English.
 

 

Who, besides me, would love to attend a Schubertiad? Have you ever had a period of extreme productivity?

T is for Tchaikovsky

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! T is for Tchaikovsky. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer who lived from 1840 to 1893. Today’s featured video is the waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet.

Video link: https://youtu.be/2Sb8WCPjPDs

 

   ·   Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was initially taught piano by his governess starting at the age of 4. He also became fluent in French and German by the age of 6.

 

   ·   Tchaikovsky was sent to boarding school at the age of 10 to further his musical studies. When his mother dropped him off, it was so traumatic for him that he clung to the wheels of her carriage trying to stop her from leaving him there.

 

   ·   It is said that this experience stuck with him his entire life and contributed to the emotion in his musical works.

 

   ·   Like Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky wrote music inspired by Romeo and Juliet. Some of his other popular works include the 1812 Overture and his three ballets- Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.

 

Original cast of The Sleeping Beauty
Saint Petersburg, 1890

   ·   You have most likely heard something from The Nutcracker, especially around Christmastime. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty uses many adaptations from Tchaikovsky’s ballet of the same name.

 

   ·   A great motivational quote from Tchaikovsky: "Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy."

Sources: http://www.classicfm.com/composers/tchaikovsky/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky

 

Yesterday’s trivia: Which of Saint-Saëns’ pieces is meant to envision Death playing a fiddle? Answer: Danse Macabre

For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. Today’s extra video, like yesterday’s addition, is swan-related. It is the “Swan Theme” from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yuri Simonov.

 

Are you a fan of music from The Nutcracker? Do you know any of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, concertos, or other works?

I also want to apologize for not getting to anybody's "S" post yesterday, it has been an exceptionally busy week, and visiting blogs just was not happening for me Friday. I plan to catch up on "S" and "T" posts today, since I finally have a day off!