A Composer for Every Country: Liechtenstein

Whelp. I have to offer an apology. To Luxembourg. When I wrote about Luxembourg (a post still in backlog on my Facebook profile), I made reference to "The Mouse Who Roared." In retrospect, this was unfair to Luxembourg, and a totally unwarranted comparison. For that, I'm truly sorry.

And now... I have to apologize to Liechtenstein. The only reason I used "The Mouse Who Roared" on Luxembourg and not Liechtenstein is because I kind of forgot Liechtenstein existed. This in spite of me looking at a map of Europe every day for a month to make sure I didn't miss any countries in this project. I could blame my awful geography education in the American school system. I could blame the fact that Liechtenstein is literally an order of magnitude smaller than my home town of Houston, Texas, every time I saw it on the map I thought it was just, like, a Costco parking lot.

Of course, size isn't everything. When it comes to countries, culture is the thing. And Liechtenstein's culture is.... German. It's basically Germany. But! There are some cool facts about Liechtenstein. Like, the entire reason the country exists is because the Liechtenstein family bought the area from the Holy Roman Empire to obtain a seat on the Vienna Diet in 1719... and then promptly ignored the area for 100 years, not visiting again until 1806. Also, the last time Liechtenstein was part of a military conflict was the Austro-Prussian war, when they sent 80 troops out and 81 troops came home. The 81st dude was an Italian who I guess was really good at making friends? In any case, the country currently doesn't have a military. Pretty gutsy.

I'm not sure how I would feel if my country was always represented by the same two easily Googleable factoids, but the country hasn't given me a whole lot to work with. Even looking for composers, I came back with, uh. One. Just Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901). He was a famous organist of his day, being a child prodigy who served as church organist in Valduz at the age of 7. In addition to being an excellent organist, he also became a prominent teacher, numbering composer Engelbert Humperdink and and Richard Strauss, as well as conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, as his students. Honestly, a darn good track record.

The movements linked below are from one of twenty organ sonatas. His goal was to write a sonata in every major and minor key, but alas, he did not finish the project before his death. If you like it, you might also try one of his two organ concerti, a rather uncommon genre, to be sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqQkw7cjEI

Perchance to dream?

Right now is basically Willy Wonka's crazy LSD trip of a boat ride in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. There's no way of knowing which way we are going, but hopefully, some bright day, we pop out of the hell tunnel and see a world more wondrous than could have been dreamed. Hopefully, too, the Oompa Loompas aren't laboring away behind closed doors to make your wonder world so wonderful. Ay, there's the rub.

But that word: hope. To hope for a better future. Without it, there is no movement forward, no impetus, no drive. Yet how quickly that hope can turn to crushing despair. To fight and flail forward only to find another dead end, or to finally stand close to the dreamed for and see through the cracks of closed doors the Dorian Gray reality. Who wouldn't burn out? Who wouldn't sit, exhausted, head held low, and shuffle forward another day?

And yet, perchance to dream... 

To hope without striving is futile optimism. I hope all students who come to me feel safe to learn their art, and part of that is opening windows on other artists like them. I hope those who want to learn music face no obstacle to their access, so I work with MusicLink to ensure finances, at least, are not a problem. I hope that all who want it have the opportunity to perform, so I strive to find a stage for them. I hope that all who want to write, to compose, will find their voice validated, so I strive to program as diverse a repertoire as is possible.

I hope that any Black student who wants to learn can travel from home to lesson without fear for their life, and so I stand with them until their struggles are (one day!) merely the banal vicissitudes of existing.

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My composer for today is Florence Price (1887-1953). Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, she received her first music lessons from her mother, also named Florence. Ms. Price must've been the type to know what she wanted to do right from go, because she got her first composition published when she was 11 years old. At 14, she graduated high school, and applied and was accepted into the New England Conservatory of Music. Tellingly, she identified as a Mexican to avoid prejudice. There, she wrote her first String Trio and her first Symphony, graduating with honors in 1906.

Her family left for Chicago in 1927, fleeing Jim Crow in the South, and there she met a number of artists who helped facilitate her career as a composer. Among them were Margaret Barnes, Langston Hughes, and Marian Anderson. Another important figure in her career was Frederick Stock, a German conductor who led the premier of Ms. Price's First Symphony with the Chicago Symphony in 1933. This marks the first time a composition written by an African-American woman was performed by a major symphony orchestra.

Musically, Florence Price's compositions are often cut from 19th century romantic cloth, which makes sense given her mother's love for classical music. She also made use of elements from African-American culture, weaving spirituals and dances like the juba into her symphonies. While Ms. Price's reputation lies largely on her orchestra works, she has a good body of songs, some of them arrangements of spirituals, some of them original melodies, which are all excellent. The song below is a setting of Langston Hughes' text "Hold Fast to Dreams," given a jaw dropping interpretation by soprano Louise Toppin. Sorry, accompanist! Your name was not listed for me to credit you!

 

Where the Lilacs Grow

When is a war over? When a government says it is so? When the generals agree with a gentleman's handshake and say with a photoshoot smile, "Good game, guys!" When the general populace loses interest and simply walks away, first pretending then forgetting of the landmines left beneath their feet?

Not so easy, of course. The Civil War never really stopped, it merely shifted. From explosions on a battlefield to covert slinking, Confederate flags hung not quite hidden in the hearts of Real Americans™, a pipeline lay enough out of sight that the well-meaning white can say, "No, but I didn't see!" Then finally, with a cry through choked throats, the African Americans rise again en masse and lays bare again the cankerous boil in the soul of America, then, through every media outlet available, the quailing powers that be point at the protesters and shout, "Sic sempre tyrannis!" and the police march like a military, shooting in the name of.

The protests continue. In the face of plague and poverty and police brutality, the protests continue.

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Today's composer is George Walker (1922-2018). It is always sad to learn of a composer only because they died, but that is how his name first came to me. While in high school, Mr. Walker attended Howard University, which hosted his first piano recital. He then attended Oberlin Conservatory, and completed his early musical education at the Curtis Institute of Music, becoming one of the first black graduates from the music program. He eventually went on to become the first black person to receive a Doctorate in Music from Eastman School of music.

Mr. Walker was beyond a formidable pianist. Not long after his New York debut recital, he performed Rachmaninov's 3rd Piano Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. In 1950, he became the first black musician signed on by major management with the National Concert Artists, and he embarked on numerous tours across Europe. His teaching career is no less impressive, having held professorships at Dalcroze School of music, the New School for Social Research, Smith College, University of Boulder, Rutgers University, Peabody Institute of John Hopkins, and the University of Delaware.

The piece I am sharing, Lilacs, is also the first composition awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music to an African American. The text is drawn from Walt Whitman's poem, "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd," written as an elegy to Abraham Lincoln.

Talk the Walk, Walk the Talk

Things are crazy Stateside right now. Protests, riots, police brutality, curfews, cities at war with their citizens, a house divided, this aggression will not stand, man. I only have two countries left before I've done a write up of every country in Europe (the others are on my Facebook and will travel over here in due time) but there's too much "here" here to ignore.

I'm not white, really, but I grew up so and the average Joe on the street would think so even though it ain't quite so. And what's a white dude to say when black people are being shot and strangled and tased on the daily? When brutality is brought to bear on centuries of wounds and the still scarred souls are rent bloody again, again, again? Not silence, surely, not silence, the joy of fascist desiring, but what words would do justice in a country so indifferently committed to injustice?

No words. I cannot speak for them, and will not. Rather let them speak through me. Become a cipher and let my silence be the space for them to speak. For we have spoken enough. It is past time to listen.

Today, Zé Taylor. Atlanta born rapper who decided to become a musician after auditioning for American Idol when he was 14. At 16, he took encouragement from friends who said his rapping was good, so he picked up that line and hasn't looked back. His albums dive head first into the intersection of race, religion, and sexuality. "The Gay Agenda" spotlights religious hypocrisy, while his more recent EP, "Fruit," takes a positive perspective. Referencing Galatians 5:22-23, the album draws inspiration from the naming of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. In an interview with Mefeater, Zé Taylor lists "Good Guy" as his favorite track in "Fruit," so here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PGTgqDi7Q4

Sorry for just a link, Blogger won't let me embed the video probably because of copyright issues. Here's his Soundcloud if you dig it.

https://soundcloud.com/zaytaylor01

A Composer for Every Country: Austria

In the world of music history, Austria needs no introduction. Vienna, alongside Paris and Rome, rose to great cultural influence during the 18th/19th centuries, due in no small part to the expansion of the Hapsburg Family. Not just music, either! Austria was the birthplace of a great many names that made history books: Christian Doppler, namesake of The Doppler Effect; Gustav Klimt, decadent artist extraordinaire; Fritz Lang, director of Metropolis and M; Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher of words and logic; uh... walking meme Arnold Schwarzenneger, body builder and erstwhile governor of California. It's a lot, is what I'm saying.

In the world of music, the list of famous composers is kind of exhausting. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Joseph Haydn. Franz Schubert. Anton Bruckner. Gustav Mahler. Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Christoph Willibald Gluck. The of course, the Vienna Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan stood as symphony and conductor par excellence. Not one but two Viennese schools of composers? It's kind of insane to think about, but I guess that's what happens when you have successive generations of musically trained emperors dump obscene amounts of wealth into the arts.

Local tradition and popular music of Austria is no less far reaching. Like... Have you heard a waltz, don't say anything the answer is "yes." Why? Because not one, but two Strausses decided to become the GOATs of the waltz, and one of those waltzes ended up being The Blue Danube and was put into countless cartoons and also 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also, Strauss II has a golden statue in his image. Not just the waltz, but also yodeling. Ok, so maybe not everybody's favorite, but to demonstrate the reach of Austrian culture, I want to point out Takeo Ishi, a Japanese guy who yodels with chickens. I hesitate to say he is "famous." I just bring him up to make a point.

Then, for some reason, lederhosen were a prominent detail in Ren and Stimpy because... just because, I guess.

My composer for the day is Marianna Martines (1744-1812). Ok, she's not strictly Austrian, because her father was Spanish, but she was born in Vienna and lived there her whole life. As a child prodigy, she frequently performed for Empress Maria Theresa. Her musical education was secured by the poet and librettist, Metastasio (Pietro Trapassi), who also saw to it she received an excellent general education, as well. Now, in a little game of "find the connection," let me tell you this: Marianna Martines lived with her family on the third floor of a building in Michaelerplatz, a plaza constructed in 1725. On the first floor lived the dowager princess of the Esterházy family. In the attic, Joseph Haydn. I'll leave it to your imagination how Haydn was introduced to his future employ (hint, it was Marianna). The cantata I've chosen as a likely demonstration of her ability as a singer, but she was also an excellent keyboardist.

Her harpsichord/keyboard concerti are quite wonderful, as well. 

A Composer for Every Country: Czechia

The current Czech Republic is the result of Czechoslovakia's dissolution in 1993. The Velvet Revolution which led to that dissolution is one of the few historical examples I have found of non-violent protest actually effecting national boundaries. I feel I have to call attention to that fact for some reason. Alas...

Czechia is further split into three smaller historical entities: Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. That no country is comprised of a single cultural entity is a recurring theme in my admittedly cursory readings of each country's history. Besides the Czech, there are two groups are of note. On the Western Bohemian side are the Chodové. These people were drawn from the Carpathian Mountains, near Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine to serves as guards against Germanic expansion during the late 1200's. The Bohemian Shepherd dog breed is descended from the guard dogs allowed to the Chodové as one of many privileges accorded to them in return for their guard duty. On the Eastern Silesian side are the Silesians. This group is the the cultural descendant of Celts, Germans, Slavs, and Polish peoples fluctuating through the area. If you want to start an argument, get a group of Polish and Czechs together, then tell the Polish that the Silesians are Czech and tell the Czech that the Silesians are Polish.

Artistically speaking, Czechia is another one of those European countries which isn't really touched on in art/music surveys. And yet, especially during the 19th century, the ideal of the Bohemian held a certain exotic appeal. One need only look at Puccini's la bohème for a famous late Romantic example. For some reason, Bohemians were always poor artists with a predilection to dying of pneumonia (la bohème) or getting stabbed by jealous lovers (Carmen). Why? Because the 19th century French got all floozy about the Romani, and somehow or another got it into their French heads that the Romani all came from Bohemia. News flash: they don't, but jump 100 years later and suddenly "bohemianism" is short hand for certain artsy-fartsy counter-culture. Like hippies. I'm sure the Bohemians are pleased by this turn of events.

In music, the big thing everybody and their mother knows from Czechia (Bohemia, specifically) is the polka. The polka is everywhere. It has a particularly strong presence in Texas and Mexico, because a lot of Czech immigrants ended up in the Gulf coast area. One big example is The Beer Barrel Polka, written by Jaromír Vejvoda . If you've seen Liberace, you've heard this song, but it was a smash hit during World War II years.

My composer for today is a good trek off the beaten path and into the weeds: Alois Hába (1893-1973). His early education showed a natural interest in Smetana, whose influence is probably hard to escape in Czechia, as well as late Romantics like Debussy, Scriabin, and R. Strauss. He also developed a fondness for Schoenberg's music, but had decided that, really, twelve notes wasn't enough to work with, so he started writing for 24, an octave divided into quarter-tones. And then he went full plaid, producing a full microtonal opera, Matka. His music necessitated the invention of a number of instruments: quarter-tone clarinets, quarter-tone trumpets, harmoniums tuned in 1/6-tones. He even established a "Department of Quarter-Tone and Sixth-Tone Music" at Prague Conservatory. So what does this all sound like? I'm glad you asked! It sounds like this.



There's also a crazy jazz cover of one of his Suites for piano, performed by jazz group Planet MicroJam. Czech it out!

A Composer for Every Country: Slovakia

I forgot this blog existed, but now it's back for now? For a while at least. The "Composer for Every Country" idea started on Facebook as a gesture of solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic. I'd already made a number of posts on my profile, so there's quite a back log (North Africa and most of Europe), but I might as well keep going where I left off, which is Slovakia.

Only recently separated from Czechia by the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, even the idea of "Slovakia" as its own nation is really new. Over the course of history, the Slovakian region has been controlled by the Great Moravian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. Also the Avars and... some guy named Samo? He united the Slavic tribes in the area, and seceded from the Avar for a time. That said, ethnic Slavs arrived in the area around the 5th century.

Like so many other nations, a lot of our contemporary understanding of local culture started up in the 19th century. Their traditional clothing is quite colorful, and while I'm no expert on the history of textiles and fashion, it looks kind of like a collision between Eastern European/Ukraine and German styles. No lederhosen, though. One of the distinguishing features of the region is their wooden architecture. The buildings have a deceptive simplicity about them. They're not super decorated, but their construction, particularly of the roofs, creates a certain texture that is quite nice to the eye.

Finding details about traditional Slovak music, however, has been frustrating, but I can tell you that the folk songs I've listened to sound like a dialect of Austrian songs. A well preserved dance is the odzemok, which involves a good deal of jumping, fancy footwork, and axes. The axes don't do anything in particular, but it does look impressive. And then, there's the fujara.

The fujara is an instrument that is really only found in the Slovak culture. Putting it into words is tricky... imagine a wooden flute. Now make it five feet long. Now attach another, smaller flute to the flute and put a mouthpiece on it, like a recorder. That's a fujara. It sounds like a flutey digiridoo, and you play it standing up because there's no other reasonable way to do it.

So our composer today is Ján Levoslav Bella (1843-1936). His career started in Levoča, where he composed a number of small form church tunes and folk arrangements. Then, in 1873, he visited Vienna and was exposed to the music of Schumann, Wagner, and Smetana, and he was never the same again. Upon his return, he wrote a large form symphonic poem called Osud a ideál (Fate and the Ideal) and began a general project of fusing traditional Slovak music with classical forms. The string quartet I'm posting is a result of that fusion.



To hear something more directly inspired by Slovak music, he has two sets of piano variations on different folk songs: “In Pressburg by the Danube” and "A Swarm, a Swarm is Flying."

Coming up is Czechia! If you have any suggestions for Czech composers (other than Antonín Leopold Dvořák, because everybody already knows about him) comment below!