10-18: Anna Russell : Ring of the Nibelungs Analysis 1953 - Marion Brown : Sweet Earth Flying 1974 - John TaveRner / BBC Singers 2010 - Gounod Sept Paroles | Symphony 2 / Petit 1993

1545 – John Taverner (English composer & organist)
1634 – Pierre De La Barre (French court organist & composer)
1771 – Robert Praelisauer (German priest, composer, organist & choir director)
1788 – Jean-Guillain Cardon (French court violinist & composer)
1817 – Étienne Nicolas Méhul (French composer & keyboardist)
1832 – Othon-Joseph Vandenbroek (Belgian hornist & composer)
1864 – Jacques-François Gallay (French hornist, tuba player, teacher & composer)
1893 – Charles Gounod (French composer & pianist)
1953 – Federico Gerdes (Peruvian pianist, conductor & composer)
1963 – Cláudio Carneyro (Portuguese composer & violinist)
1965 – Frank Hutchens (New Zealand-born pianist, teacher & composer, active in Australia)
1994 – Lee Allen (American R&B & rock saxophonist)
2000 – Julie London (American pop & jazz singer & actress)
2001 – Micheline Ostermeyer (French champion Olympic athlete & concert pianist)
2002 – Lo Man,羅文  [Tam Pak-Sin, 譚百先] (Hong Kong Cantopop singer & actor)
2006 – Anna Russell (English-born Canadian music satirist, contralto & pianist)
2007 – Lucky Dube (South African reggae & mbaqanga singer & keyboardist)
2008 – Dee Dee Warwick (American soul singer, sister of Dionne, niece of Cissy Houston & cousin of Whitney Houston)
2010 – Marion Brown (American jazz alto saxophonist, composer & ethnomusicologist)

Another day of international poopery here at YiDM. We've got one of the greatest English composers of the first half of the 16th century, John Taverner. (Be sure not to confuse him with the still-living composer who doesn't have the 'r' in the middle of his surname.) We also have some important French opera composers, one of whom, Charles Gounod, also wrote much sacred music. Micheline Ostermeyer, a champ both on the concert stage and in the discus circle. Some notables from South Africa, Portugal, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Peru! It almost makes you wish they all weren't dead, doesn't it?

And then there's free-jazz alto sax player Marion Brown, who's probably most famous for having appeared, early in his career, on John Coltrane's Ascension (1965), an album which restaurant workers often keep on hand to get rid of thoughtless patrons who linger at their tables too long after closing time.

But to start off, there's something special. Are you a music-lover who's been putting off getting to know the gargantuan music dramas of Richard Wagner? Are you baffled and intimidated by The Ring, and wonder what it all could possibly mean? Afraid you'll embarrass yourself and doze off during Der Walküre because you just can't relate to what's going on? Well, Anna Russell is here to save the day! In just 21 short minutes, she'll explain (and play, and sing!) everything you need to know about Der Ring des Nibelungen, and she may even have you rolling on the floor with laughter in the process (notwithstanding that her cultural references are half a century out of date). "I'm not making this up, you know!" And the funniest part is that she isn't.

UPDATE: See, I didn't realize I'd forgotten to put up the link for this post. I only figured it out by stumbling across it. Maybe if some of you would leave a COMMENT about links that aren't working or aren't there, I could fix things...

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