- Douglas Adams
- Anonymous 4
- Apuleius
- Aristophanes
- Augustine of Hippo
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- The Beatles
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Belle & Sebastian
- Bonaventure
- The Chieftains
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
- Cincinnati Art Museum
- Cincinnati Arts Association
- City Journal
- The Clarion Review
- The Cloisters
- Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
- Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
- Dostoevsky (P.S.U.)
- Dumbarton Oaks
- Antonín Dvořák
- The Eagles
- George Eliot
- Thomas Stearns Eliot
- Euripides
- First Things
- The Guess Who
- Georg Friederich Händel
- Frank Herbert
- Hillwood Museum & Gardens
- Homer
- Victor Hugo
- Intercollegiate Studies Institute
- Journey
- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- Russell Kirk Center
- Led Zeppelin
- Clive Staples Lewis
- Lewis: Into the Wardrobe
- Library of Congress
- Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
- Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus)
- Luminarium
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Metropolitan Opera
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Music Hall
- Modest Mussorsky
- National Gallery of Art
- National Review Online
- The New Criterion
- New Pantagruel
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Perseus Project
- Pink Floyd
- Plato and His Dialogues
- Playhouse in the Park
- Sergei Vassilievich Rachmaninov
- R.E.M.
- Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov
- William Shakespeare
- Shakespeare Online
- Simon and Garfunkel
- Bedřich Smetana
- Sophocles
- The Supremes
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Terence
- They Might Be Giants
- John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: The Encyclopedia of Arda
- John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: The Tolkien Society
- Touchstone Magazine
- U2
- Vergil (Publius Vergilius Maro)
- Richard Wagner
- The Who
- William Wordsworth
Music
In Greek mythology, the muses were the daughters of Zeus the king of the gods and Mnemosyne the goddess of memory. The muses inspired men to create what we commonly call the fine arts. In this digital realm, you will find music of both high and low culture, from literature to the visual arts to what we narrowly call music in English. Enjoy and be grateful for being human; for the muses have richly blessed our race.Thursday, January 7, A.D. 2010
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Christ is born!
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates the Nativity on the old calendar. Many blessings to you on the feast.
Enjoy this lovely hymn by Charles Wesley, sung in Saint Paul’s Cathedral.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Friday, December 25, A.D. 2009
In Dulci Jubilo
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates the Nativity on the new calendar!
Here is In Dulci Jubilo sung at King’s College, Cambridge, in a different Latin and English version than the one shown below, though they are close.
In dulci jubilo
Let us our homage show
Our heart’s joy reclineth
In praesepio
And like a bright star shineth
Matris in gremio,
Alpha es et O!
O Jesu parvule,
My heart is sore for Thee
Hear me, I beseech Thee
O puer optime
My praying let it reach Thee!
O princeps gloriae.
Trahe me post te.
O patris caritas!
O nati lenitas!
Deeply were we stained
Per nostra crimina
But Thou for us hast gained
Coelorum gaudia,
Qualis gloria!
Ubi sunt gaudia,
If that they be not there?
There are angels singing
Nova cantica;
And there the bells are ringing
In regis curia.
O that we were there!
Enjoy the carols of the holiday. In the spirit of such, here are the Yuletide songs from my December, 2008 music posts.
Saturday, December 19, A.D. 2009
Borodino
Happy feast of Saint Nicholas (on the old calendar, today is the sixth of December)!
The Saint Nicholas Center mentions that, among many other things, Nicholas is one of the patron saints of soldiers. He is also one of the patrons of Moscow. So, allow me quite tangentially to celebrate his feast day by presenting you Lermontov’s “Бородино,” sung at Duke University by the alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus.
I do not know where Russian soldiers found the tune to which they sang Lermontov’s poem, but it works well. The Russians can sing. I wonder if such was true before they converted. Were they musical pagans, as I imagine the Irish to have been?
Indulging in my Russophilia, I also present the blessing of the soldiers from Bondarchuk’s War and Peace (Война и мир). My brother Adam should appreciate the small indirect homage to his favorite writer.
Bondarchuk’s film is evidently the most expensive film ever to be made, at seven hundred million of today’s dollars. That makes Avatar look reasonably priced.
Enjoy Saint Nicholas’ Day!
on Saturday, December 19, A.D. 2009
Folk Music • High Culture Music • Liturgical Music • (0) Comments • Permalink
Saturday, October 10, A.D. 2009
Darth Bowlly
My friend Andrew told me that he found the opening sequence from “Your Woman” by White Town quite similar to John Williams’ “Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back. Andrew thought that White Town took the tune from Williams’ theme music for Darth Vader. However, after researching it, he discovered that the sequence actually comes from “My Woman” by Al Bowlly. Thus, it seems as if Williams ripped the notes from Bowlly, too.
Here is Al Bowlly’s “My Woman” (A.D. 1932):
Here is White Town’s “Your Woman” (A.D. 1997):
Here is John Williams’ “Imperial March” (A.D.1980):
T.S. Eliot stated it well: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” I suppose that the same holds true of composers and musicians.
I am a quite biased in favor of Williams’ version. The Empire Strikes Back is one of my favorite movies, and when I hear the march, I feel a thrill.
Friday, September 4, A.D. 2009
Rondo alla Turca
Here is a popular treat from Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11, the Alla Turca: Allegretto, played by Italian pianist Massimiliano Ferrati.
I have loved this piece since I first encountered it in cartoons and video games as a child. It is very catchy. Was mehter music really that good?
Monday, August 31, A.D. 2009
I Can’t Stand Losing You
Here is the last song from The Police that I’ll post, at least for a while. It is “I Can’t Stand Losing You” from Outlandos d’Amour.
Nothing captures the essence of popular music more than adolescent whining about suicide—though later incarnations of the theme are more disturbing, like Metallica’s “Fade to Black” and, more recently, Blink 182’s “Adam’s Song.” Though, is anything as creepy as “The End” by The Doors?
Sunday, August 30, A.D. 2009
Every Breath You Take
Here is the biggest hit from The Police, “Every Breath You Take,” from Synchronicity.
On Wikipedia, the song’s article states that Sting was disturbed that many people found the song to be a simple love song. Such is surprising, but it reconfirms my experience in talking to people about song lyrics. Most people, it appears, do not really reflect upon song lyrics, even if they can sing such songs by heart. It is astounding.
Anyway, the song is a melancholy rock classic.
Saturday, August 29, A.D. 2009
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Here is another popular song from The Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” from Ghost in the Machine.
I am not sure whether the video comes across as exploitative, S.W.P.L. multiculti avant la lettre, or perhaps both simultaneously.
Friday, August 28, A.D. 2009
Message in a Bottle
White guys, reggae, and New Wave—The Police was an interesting band. Here is one of their hits, “Message in a Bottle,” from Reggatta de Blanc.
A goofy video, but Stewart Copeland is fun to watch. Chair drumming? You know that you’ve done it in private!
Sunday, August 23, A.D. 2009
How Great Thou Art
My favorite Protestant hymn is probably “How Great Thou Art.” According to the Wikipedia article, the song is pretty recent (even for Protestant tunes), having been written by a Swede, Carl Gustav Boberg, in A.D. 1885. Wiki states that Billy Graham’s crusades popularized the song, though I wonder how well it was known in American Protestant circles before the late 1940’s.
Here is an online video of the hymn being sung.
I particularly like the doxastic and cosmological elements in the song.
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