celebration
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Pajama Party: Cultural Bites for the Clinomaniac and Dysaniac
Welcome to an intimate marathon, with all kinds of pleasures for the mind, the spirit, and the body. Whether you are a clinomaniac, and passionately desire to stay in bed, or a dysaniac with overwhelming difficulties leaving it, if you stay in bed with us for the next hours, all you will get is the…
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Conlon Nancarrow *X 27 1912 — The Life You Give
Conlon Nancarrow was an iconoclastic American composer who wrote in an utterly new way using new instrumental resources. While isolated from the main currents of music, he was virtually ignored by the public and his colleagues until the 1970s. In the 1980s composer György Ligeti said Nancarrow was writing “the best music by any living…
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Domenico Scarlatti *X 26 1685 — The Life You Give
Domenico Scarlatti, born Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, October 26, 1685, in Naples [Italy], is the composer noted particularly for his 555 keyboard sonatas, which substantially expanded the technical and musical possibilities of the harpsichord. Early life and vocal works: Italy Domenico, the son of the famous composer of vocal music Alessandro Scarlatti, was born in the…
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Mahalia Jackson *X 26 1911 — The Life You Give
Mahalia Jackson, born October 26, 1911, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., is the gospel music singer, known as the “Queen of Gospel Song.” Jackson was brought up in a strict religious atmosphere. Her father’s family included several entertainers, but she was forced to confine her own musical activities to singing in the church choir and…
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Pablo Picasso *X 25 1881 — La Vida Que Das / The Life You Give
Pablo Picasso, nacido Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, en Málaga, el 25 de Octubre del 1881. Pintor español. La trascendencia de Picasso no se agota en la fundación del cubismo, revolucionaria tendencia que rompió definitivamente con la representación tradicional al…
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Days with Guiseppe Verdi: La Traviata
La Traviata is one of the cornerstones of the operatic repertory. The score is littered with fantastic tunes that are now wildly famous (even those who aren’t at all operatically versed will know many of the arias from countless TV ads), but beyond that, the coherence of the whole piece makes it a masterpiece. The…
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Days with Giuseppe Verdi: Ernani / featuring Luciano Pavarotti *X 12 1935
Music: Giuseppe VerdiLibretto: Francesco Maria Piave`ACT I: THE BANDIT Spain, 1519. Don Juan of Aragon has lost his title and wealth during a civil war. Taking the name Ernani, he leads a band of outlaws in the mountains. He tells his men of his love for Elvira and his daring plan to rescue her from…
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Days with Giuseppe Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Music: Giuseppe Verdi Libretto: Francesco Maria Piave World premiere: Teatro la Fenice, Venice, 1857 (original version); Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1881 (revised version). PROLOGUE Genoa, 14th century. Paolo and Pietro, leaders of the plebeians, are conspiring to overthrow the aristocracy. They name the popular former pirate Simon Boccanegra as their candidate for the office of…
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Edwin Fischer *X 6 1886 — The Life You Give
Edwin Fischer was a Swiss pianist, conductor, and educator during the first half of the 20th century. He was known for his expressive interpretations of the piano music of J.S. Bach and Mozart. Fischer was born in 1886 in Basle, Switzerland, and started playing the piano when he was four years old. Both of his…
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Pajama Party Preliminaries
This post pertains to the planning which is underway for a marathon — in pajamas, in bed — for the cultured clinomaniac and dysaniac. Wether you desire to stay in bed, or have difficulties getting out of bed, the stay will be filled with an array of joys. These days in pajamas put us as…
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musicus organicus — Days with Giuseppe Verdi *X 9 1813
It is a wonderful world, nevertheless. This sentiment could be seen as the central motivation which led to an on-going compilation of birthdates for hundreds of individuals who, beyond their to us recognizable presence on earth, have contributed music, words, pictures, thinking, and views on life which have been engraved in our planet’s DNA, some…
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Steve Reich *X 3 1936 — The Life You Give
Steve Reich, born Stephen Michael Reich, October 3, 1936, in New York, New York, U.S.A., is the composer who was one of the leading exponents of Minimalism, a style based on repetitions and combinations of simple motifs and harmonies. Reich was the son of an attorney and a singer-lyricist. He majored in philosophy at Cornell…
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Sting *X 2 1951 / The Life You Give
Sting, born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, October 2, 1951, in Wallsend, Northumberland, England), is the singer and songwriter known both for being the front man of the band the Police and for his successful solo career that followed. His musical style was distinguished by its intermingling of pop, jazz, world music, and other genres. Early…
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Pedro Almodóvar *IX 25 1949 — The Life You Give / La Vida Que Das
Pedro Almodóvar, born Pedro Mercedes Almodóvar Caballero, September 25, 1949, in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain, is the filmmaker known for colourful melodramatic films that often feature sexual themes. As a young man, Almodóvar moved to Madrid with the hopes of attending the Spanish national film school, but it had recently been closed under dictator Francisco…
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Anton Bruckner *IX 4 1824 / The Life You Give
Anton Bruckner, born Josef Anton Bruckner, Sept. 4, 1824, in Ansfelden, Austria, is the composer of a number of highly original and monumental symphonies. He was also an organist and teacher who composed much sacred and secular choral music. Bruckner was the son of a village schoolmaster and organist in Upper Austria. He showed talent…
Sila Blume 