12-07: The Germs : GI 1979 - Kirsten Flagstad : Mahler 1957 | Wagner 1956 - Willaert Missa Mente Tota / Cinquecento 2009 - Clara Haskil : Mozart Piano Concertos 20 & 23 1956

Shown above: Adrian Willaert, Nicolas-Prosper Levasseur, Antoni Kątski, Ludwig Minkus, Adele Aus der Ohe, a book by Cecil Forsyth, Clara Haskil (many years before she achieved recognition), Kirsten Flagstad, Darby Crash, Victor de Narke, Dee Clark, John Addison, Frederick Fennell, Jerry Scoggins & Jay McShann.

1562 – Adrian Willaert (Flemish composer, founder of Venetian School, teacher of Zarlino)
1811 – Ignaz Spangler (German composer)
1823 – Johann Gottlieb Schwencke (German composer, organist & cantor)
1829 – Johann Christoph Kienlen (German composer)
1834 – Ludwig Schuncke (German pianist & composer, friend of Schumann)
1839 – Jan August Vitásek (Czech composer)
1841 – Johann Daniel Ferstenberg (composer)
1867 – Rudolf Viole (pianist & composer)
1871 – Nicolas-Prosper Levasseur (French operatic bass)
1899 – Antoni Kątski [Anton de Kontski] (Polish pianist & composer)
1917 – Ludwig Minkus [Léon Minkus, Людвиг Минкус] (Austrian ballet composer & violinist of Czech & Hungarian ancestry, active in Russia)
1937 – Adele Aus der Ohe (German pianist & composer, pupil of Liszt)
1941 – Cecil Forsyth (English composer, musicologist, violist & author)
1944 – Julius Von Raatz-Brockmann (German baritone)
1948 – Godfrey Turner (American composer)
1960 – Clara Haskil (Romanian-born Swiss pianist)
1960 – Lila Robeson (American mezzo-soprano)
1962 – Kirsten Flagstad (Norwegian dramatic soprano)
1980 – Darby Crash (American punk rock singer & songwriter, The Germs)
1986 – Victor de Narke (Argentine operatic bass)
1990 – Dee Clark (American soul singer, "Raindrops")
1998 – John Addison (English film composer, Tom Jones, A Bridge Too Far, Murder, She Wrote)
2004 – Frederick Fennell (American band conductor, percussionist & teacher, Eastman Wind Ensemble)
2004 – Jerry Scoggins (American country singer & guitarist, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett")
2006 – Jay McShann (American blues & jazz bandleader, singer, pianist & composer)

Really been slacking off. I slacked off so much on the collage, I'm now telling you who IS in it, instead of who isn't. Slacked off so much on Johann Daniel Ferstenberg and Rudolf Viole I didn't even dig deep enough to determine their nationalities. I should have put down Ferstenberg as Swedish and Viole as Belgian just so you wouldn't lie awake tonight wondering about it.

Anyway, looks like I'll be slacking off on this part too. But is me telling you that Willaert was one of the most important composers of the 16th century, or that Haskil was one of the supreme interpreters of Mozart and Beethoven, or that Flagstad was probably the Wagnerian soprano par excellence, or that Frederick Fennell did more than anyone else to elevate the artistic level of wind-band music really going to change anything?

You know... this blog is really for me, if you hadn't figured that out by now. It's for my own personal edification, and it gives me a sort-of fun hobby to work on. I only offer you these "goodies" to get butts in the seats, as it were. But once again, what other blog in the world will give you serene sacred works from the Renaissance and brutal late-70s punk rock in the same post? I mean, fer realz.

11-04: MC5 Saginaw 1970 - Fauré Requiem / Equilbey 2008 - Mendelssohn Scottish & Italian Symphonies / Boult 195? - Canteloube Songs of the Auvergne / Grey 1930

1847 – Felix Mendelssohn (German composer)
1924 – Gabriel Fauré (French composer)
1930 – Buddy Bolden (American jazz cornetist)
1935 – Miklós Radnai (Hungarian composer, music critic & author)
1937 – Rogelio del Villar (Spanish composer)
1953 – Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (American pianist & patron of classical music)
1957 – Joseph Canteloube (French composer, musicologist & author)
1965 – Krsto Odak (Croatian composer)
1994 – Fred "Sonic" Smith (American rock guitar player, MC5 & spouse of Patti Smith)
1995 – Marti Caine (English actress, dancer, presenter, singer, writer & comedienne)
2005 – Sheree North (American actress & singer)
2010 – Michelle Nicastro (American actress & singer)

10-03: Skip James 1930 Complete - 2Pac All Eyez On Me 2004 Remaster - Nielsen 4 + 5 : Ole Schmidt 1974 - Woody Guthrie Asch Recordings 4 CDs - Seán Ó Riada : Pléaráca an Riadaigh - Beethoven Concerto 2 + 3 : Schnabel / Sargent - Bax Tintagel etc / Boult

Oh, no... don't think you're getting off that easy. There's also:

1646 – Virgilio Mazzocchi (Italian composer of sacred works for papal chapels)
1685 – Fidel Molitor (German church composer & music director)
1750 – Georg Matthias Monn (Austrian composer, organist & teacher)
1820 – Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith (Bohemian hornist, composer & infamous adaptor of Mozart operas, active in France)
1828 – Josephus Andreas Fodor (Dutch violinist & composer)
1853 – Georges Onslow (Anglo-French composer & pianist)
1889 – Karel Miry (Belgian composer of operas & the national anthem of Flanders, "De Vlaamse Leeuw")
1903 – Benedetto Junck (Alsatian-Italian composer)
1907 – Alfred Reisenauer (German pianist, composer & teacher)
1912 – Guido Papini (Italian violinist, teacher & composer)
1919 – Daniel Brink Towner (American hymn composer)
1931 – Carl Nielsen (Danish composer, conductor & violinist)
1941 – Wilhelm Kienzl (Austria composer, conductor, pianist & violinist)
1953 – Sir Arnold Bax (English composer, pianist & poet ["Dermot O’Byrne"])
1967 – Walter Müller von Kulm (Swiss composer, conductor & teacher)
1967 – Sir Malcolm Sargent (English conductor, organist & composer)
1967 – Woody Guthrie (American folk singer, songwriter, guitarist, mandolinist, harmonic player, fiddler & writer)
1969 – Skip James (American blues singer, guitarist, pianist, songwriter & preacher)
1971 – Seán Ó Riada (Irish composer & folk musician, Ceoltóirí Chualann)
1990 – Eleanor Steber (American operatic soprano)
2000 – Benjamin Orr (American rock bass guitarist & singer, The Cars)
2008 – Johnny "J" (Mexican-born American hip hop & R&B record producer & songwriter)

Well, I lied. I'm feeling a little too overwhelmed to say anything of substance about Carl Nielsen, Arnold Bax, Malcolm Sargent, Woody Guthrie, Skip James, Seán Ó Riada, Eleanor Steber, Ben Orr, or Johnny "J". Maybe you're better off wondering what I would have said about them. Like: "Would he have drawn attention to both Woody Guthrie and Skip James as major icons of American 'roots' music?" Or: "Would he have used Arnold Bax's affinity for both Celtic and Nordic themes to segue into Seán Ó Riada's pivotal role in the revival of ancient Irish performance practice, and Carl Nielsen's status as the greatest composer the nation of Denmark has yet produced?" Or yet again: "Who's gonna drive you home tonight?" Good questions, all. I guess you'll never know for sure what the answers would have been...