Greetings and Welcome to the August issue of "Pianotes"!
I hope this finds you well and enjoying the summer! It’s been cool and windy here, but that’s pretty normal on the coast. We often have our best weather in the fall as the inland areas cool down. I’m hoping so, anyway! I have lots of new reviews and an in-depth interview with pianist/composer Richard Atkins for you this month, so put your feet up for a few minutes and enjoy!
The most expensive piano ever is the upright piano featured in the 1943 film, Casablanca. The $3.4 million price tag included a photograph signed by Humphrey Bogart and the chewing gum stuck under the keyboard (possibly from one of the actors in the film). This upright, wooden piano is decorated with intricate designs and has only 58 keys. The sound quality of this famous piano remains a mystery since nobody played it in the film. Instead, a pianist off-stage played the song while the characters acted out their parts.
Hallet, Davis and Co. is the oldest U.S. brand of pianos in continuous production with the first piano created in 1835. The Pearl River Piano Group in China has produced the HD&C line since 2014.
The oldest surviving opera, Euridice by Jacopo Peri, had its premiere in Florence, Italy on October 6, 1600.
New Reviews: We have another mixed bag of reviews for you this time. Some of the music is from longtime favorite artists and some were new to me from other countries - something for just about everyone, I think! I also reviewed the sheet music book for Doug Hammer’s new EP,
The Beauty of You. You can check them all out
here.
When Erik Satie died, it was discovered that he had several hundred umbrellas in his home.
In Frederic Chopin’s "Etude for Piano in G-flat Major," nicknamed the “Black Key Etude,” a white key is played only once, with the right hand.
Herds of elephants sing to each other. Although the tones are too low for humans to hear, other elephants can hear the songs from up to five miles away.
New Interviews and Articles: I did an in-depth interview with
Richard Atkins ahead of his Carnegie Hall debut this fall and really enjoyed getting to know him better. Steve Yip wrote a really interesting article about the band, Hiroshima, called “Jazz Flye Podcast Review: The Band That Bridged Two Cultures!" and I did an introduction to Byrne Elliott and his music. You can find all of those
here.
"Carnival of the Animals" by Saint-Saens is a humorous work that represents different animals. Along with selections named for kangaroos, swans, donkeys, etc. is a short piece called “Pianists.” It is a crazy sketch of out-of-control pianists racing up and down the keyboard practicing their scales and exercises.
Thousands of one-finger piano pieces were written during the nineteenth century and served as parlor entertainment. One of those was “Chopsticks,” which was published in Glasgow in 1877.
Roy Clark was the first US country artist to perform in Moscow.
August Birthdays: Here are some note-worthy birthdays in August!
1 - Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), Coolio, Dhani Harrison, Peter Calandra
3 - Tony Bennett
4 - Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
5 - Marshall Barnhouse
6 - Derek Mount
8 - Mel Tillis, Tom Carleno
9 - Whitney Houston (1963-2012)
10 - Leo Fender (1909-91), Jimmy Dean (1928-2010), Valerie Romanoff
11 - Lawrence Blatt
12 - Porter Wagoner (1927-2007), Buck Owens (1929-2006), Mark Knopfler, Pat Metheny, Ryan Marvel
13 - Don Ho (1930-2007), Kathleen Battle, Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), Edmond Paul Nicodemi
14 - David Crosby, Steve Martin, Tim Glemser
15 - Oscar Peterson (1925-2007), Jimmy Webb, Pam Asberry, George Skaroulis, Rupam Sarmah & Steve Benjamins
16 - Bill Evans (1929-80), Madonna
17 - Mae West (1893-1980), Belinda Carlisle, Kate Moody
18 - Antonio Salieri (1750-1825), Edwin Hawkins, Jim Wilson
19 - Ginger Baker,
20 - Isaac Hayes (1942-86), Robert Plant, Shoshana Michel & Beth Hilton
21 - Count Basie (1904-84), Kenny Rogers, Jackie DeShannon
22 - Claude Debussy (1862-1918), John Lee Hooker (1917-2001), Tori Amos, James Woolwine
23 - Gene Kelly (1912-96), Sherry Finzer
24 - Jean-Michel Jarre
25 -Leonard Bernstein (1918-90), Gene Simmons, Elvis Costello, Billy Ray Cyrus
26 - Leon Redbone, Branford Marsalis, and Marc Enfroy
27 - Alice Coltrane (1937-2007), Paul Adams, Suzanne Doucet & Richard Carr
28 - Donald O’Connor (1925-2003), Shania Twain, Jack Black, Michael Hoppé & Ken Elkinson
29 - Charlie Parker (1920-55), Dinah Washington (1924-63), Michael Jackson (1958-2009)
30 - Kitty Wells (1919-2012), Wendel Werner
31 - Van Morrison, Itzhak Perlman
At one of Andre Watts’ concert performances, the pedals came off the piano as he was playing. He tried to hold the pedals up with his feet as he continued to play, but he finally had to give up and go offstage to find the emergency piano technician.
The term “Lisztomania” was used to describe the mass hysteria surrounding Franz Liszt in the 1840’s. Women sought cuttings of his hair, German girls wore bracelets made of the piano strings that he broke; some females carried glass containers that contained his coffee dregs while others collected his cigar butts and hid them in their cleavages.
In early opera, the singers were the true stars and were the ones who could demand the most money. Soprano Giulia Massotti incited bidding wars, and in 1666 she could demand more than four times as much money as the composers whose works she performed; before the end of the decade, she was getting paid six times as much.
August Music Holidays and Celebrations: Here are a few more note-worthy (or not!) things to celebrate this month!
August 8-16: Elvis Week
August 2: National Rap Music Day
August 9: National Polka Day & The Voice of Love Day
August 11: Hip Hop Day; World Steelpan Day
August 12: National Vinyl Record Day
August 20: Radio Day
August 24: International Strange Music Day
August 26: Musical Yoga Day
August 28: Radio Commercials Day
August 29: Record Store Day
Bells were a very big part of European daily life for a thousand years. The desire to have bigger bells than neighboring communities prompted tremendous investments of time and energy in metal-casting technology at a time when innovation was rarely a high priority.
In the mid-fourteenth century, musicians started appearing on the payrolls of European cities more often. These performers might have played in both secular and sacred contexts, but urbanization had shifted the balance of power away from church authorities and created new opportunities for musicians.
The story of The Pied Piper, which dates back to 1300, captures both the fear and the awe minstrels inspired in the villages they visited. According to the tale, a piper was hired by the town of Hamelin to use his magical music to lure the rats infesting the city into the Weser River, where they would drown. When the mayor refused to pay the piper for his work, he did the same thing with the children of the town.
As usual, I have some new photos from around our yards. There have been some really nice surprises this year and I hope you’ll enjoy them! Have a great August, and I’ll meet you back here next time!
Kathy
Even in the 20th century, wandering blues musicians in the US were accused of making deals with the devil.
Medieval musicians were often accused of sorcery. Some people even believed that the devil took on the form of a minstrel and in that guise enticed Christians to perdition with beguiling songs and dances.
Hucbald, the leading Benedictine music theorist of the late ninth and early tenth centuries, was forced out of the order for his musical activities and had to seek the protection of the bishop. Guido of Arezzo, who joined the Benedictines a few decades later, is recognized as the inventor of musical notation. He was evicted from the monastery because of his "disruptive musical practices."
Law enforcement agencies, transit authorities, and business owners sometimes use loud classical music to repel unwanted parties, from criminal gangs to the homeless, from public spaces.
In 1985, when a 7-Eleven manager discovered that blasting classical music would disperse vagrants and panhandlers from the parking lot, around 150 other franchisees started doing the same thing. The practice is now widespread!
To the best of my knowledge, the "trivia" items are true, but I can't guarantee it.
