It has been said that when the above Scheidt was unveiled, the composer was advised to put it 'where the sun don't Schein':
Nonetheless, the above piece was pronounced 'crumm(horn)y'...
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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query scheidt. Sort by date Show all posts
Thursday 12 December 2019
More Scheidt for Christmas
Following the great success of 'I'm dreaming of a Scheidt Christmas' four years ago here's a little ditty from everone's favourite musical homophone:
It has been said that when the above Scheidt was unveiled, the composer was advised to put it 'where the sun don't Schein':
Nonetheless, the above piece was pronounced 'crumm(horn)y'...
It has been said that when the above Scheidt was unveiled, the composer was advised to put it 'where the sun don't Schein':
Nonetheless, the above piece was pronounced 'crumm(horn)y'...
Friday 4 December 2015
I'm dreaming of a Scheidt Christmas
I think you may agree that this music is a load of (Samuel) Scheidt (1587-1654)... but none the worse for that.
Tuesday 7 January 2020
17th century harmony - Thomas Ravenscroft's Three Country dances in One
First of all listen to the piece sung by a favourite group - The City Waites (I've posted this before)
This is a kind of 'round' (like Three Blind Mice, a version of which was also published by Ravenscroft ). This one is much longer and more sophisticated than our usual children's ones - having four separate 32 bar melodies that can be sung separately or together.
What I like very much about this piece is the harmony of the second half of the verses - bars 17-32 - perhaps especially 22-24, which is gorgeous and very 17th century; the kind of harmony that you don't get before or after this time, which which is just delightful.
(BTW I don't understand why this is three, rather than four, country dances in one...)
If anyone can explain - musically - how this kind of effect is obtained, I'd be pleased to hear; because I can't work it out. (There is loads of it here by Thomas Tomkins; one of the greatest pieces ever written IMO.)
I've always assumed it was an harmonic 'movement', produced by contrapuntal voices, that was later ruled-out as insufficiently smooth and homogeneous (it jumps-out of the texture) - rather like the ban on parallel-moving, open-fifths, despite that these were the first foundation of Western harmony.
If you want to see what is going on, here is a version that shows a musical score of the separate vocal lines.
Note: The synchronicity fairies have been at work, since Frank Berger has also today published some 17th century music - although his example is pretty Scheidt.
This is a kind of 'round' (like Three Blind Mice, a version of which was also published by Ravenscroft ). This one is much longer and more sophisticated than our usual children's ones - having four separate 32 bar melodies that can be sung separately or together.
What I like very much about this piece is the harmony of the second half of the verses - bars 17-32 - perhaps especially 22-24, which is gorgeous and very 17th century; the kind of harmony that you don't get before or after this time, which which is just delightful.
(BTW I don't understand why this is three, rather than four, country dances in one...)
If anyone can explain - musically - how this kind of effect is obtained, I'd be pleased to hear; because I can't work it out. (There is loads of it here by Thomas Tomkins; one of the greatest pieces ever written IMO.)
I've always assumed it was an harmonic 'movement', produced by contrapuntal voices, that was later ruled-out as insufficiently smooth and homogeneous (it jumps-out of the texture) - rather like the ban on parallel-moving, open-fifths, despite that these were the first foundation of Western harmony.
If you want to see what is going on, here is a version that shows a musical score of the separate vocal lines.
Note: The synchronicity fairies have been at work, since Frank Berger has also today published some 17th century music - although his example is pretty Scheidt.
Wednesday 24 March 2021
"Clear the decks of seamen!" - more smut in the tradition of a Scheidt Christmas*
The opera Billy Budd, in a not-at-all camp production, apparently starring Brian Blessed centre right...
John Amis reports:
When Benjamin Britten announced that he was going to write an all-male opera [set on board ship] we thought he was barking mad... Britten sent Michael Tippett a copy of the libretto, asking for comments.
Tippett replied saying what a good libretto Eric Crozier and E.M.Forster had written.
But he suggested that a line in act one might be misconstrued: Claggart at one point sings "Clear the decks of seamen".
Britten wrote back saying what a filthy mind Michael had.
But he cut the line.
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