Greetings!
Well, I thought 2026 was off to a good start, but then Mom fell this past Wednesday night and broke her hip. So, she’s in the hospital now after having hip surgery Thursday afternoon. She’ll need to be in rehab for a “few weeks” once she’s released from the hospital, but her spirits are good and she isn’t in too much pain right now. I should be able to keep up with my work load with reviews and proof-reading, but please bear with me! Gentle reminders are always welcome, though, if I start running late.
John Philip Sousa's march "The Stars and Stripes Forever," is the traditional song played by circus bands as a distress signal to warn the performers that there is an emergency.
During WWII, Liverpool was the most-targeted city (after London) in Britain. Beatle John Lennon was born during an air raid.
Domineco Scarlatti is credited with inventing the technique of playing the piano cross-handed. He eventually got so fat that he was unable to play with his hands crossed.
New Reviews: We have quite a varied lot of new reviews for you this month, and the music comes from all over the world. I also reviewed three music videos and some sheet music. You can find them all
here.
Composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) is said to have given as many as sixteen piano lessons a day. (My record is eleven, and that’s brutal!)
Mozart and his wife, Constanze, moved eleven times in the nine years they lived in Vienna.
Composer Robert Schumann started out as a very promising concert pianist. His dreams came to an end when he invented a harness contraption that was supposed to strengthen his fingers. Instead, he permanently crippled two of the fingers on his right hand. One of the remedies prescribed by the best doctors of the time was for Schumann to soak his hand in the guts of a freshly slaughtered animal. Yuk!
New Interviews: Yea!!! I have two new interviews for you this month! The first is with Ralph Zurmühle and is mostly about his incredible new album,
Prayer in the Night. The second is with Josh Zimmerman, a relatively new artist to the site. I think you’ll enjoy them both! Here’s the
link.
About 20,000 people attended Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral. (This doesn't seem possible, but I verified it with several sources.)
French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully's career came to an abrupt end in 1687 when he died of a stubbed toe. Lully always beat out the timing to his music on the floor with a heavy staff. One day, in the middle of conducting a piece for the king, he bashed his toe so severely that he developed gangrene and died at the age of 54.
JS Bach’s contract with the Duke of Saxony included a provision for tax-free beer from the castle brewery.
February Birthdays:
2/1: Frank Zappa & Rick James
2/2: Marlowe Watson Carruth
2/3: Felix Mendelssohn & Ana Lourdes Rodriguez
2/4: Alice Cooper
2/6: Bob Marley, Natalie Cole, & Axl Rose
2/7: Garth Brooks, James Michael Stevens, Bryan Carrigan & David Hicken
2/8: John Williams
2/10: Roberta Flack, Robert Thies & Kenneth Hooper
2/11: Sheryl Crow
2/13: Peter Gabriel
2/14: Ben Dowling
2/15: Christian Lindquist & Craig Burdette
2/17: Sally Kidwell
2/18: Yoko Ono & John Travolta
2/19: Smokey Robinson, Seal, Anne Trenning & Kevin Wood
2/20: Nancy Wilson, Kurt Covain, Rihanna & Rachel LaFond
2/21: Carl Czerny & Nina Simone
2/22: Frederic Chopin & Oliver Bohovic
2/23: George Frideric Handel
2/24: George Thorogood & Jeff Fair
2/25: George Harrison, Starr Parodi & Penka Kouneva
2/26: Fats Domino, Johnny Cash, Michael Bolton & Greg Maroney
2/28: Brian Jones & Bernadette Peters
2/29: Gioachino Rossini, Jimmy Dorsey & Dinah Shore
Happy Birthday, y’all!
Around 1940, John Cage developed what he called the "prepared piano." He put all sorts of different objects on the strings of the piano to change its sound. Some of the things he tried were pie plates, nails, bolts and screws, rubber weatherstripping, and pieces of paper.
In 1991, all of Mozart's 835 compositions were performed at Lincoln Center in New York to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the composer's death. Zubin Mehta conducted members of the New York Philharmonic and the Juilliard Orchestra.
The statue in Vienna that was built to honor Franz Schubert cost more than Schubert earned for his music during his lifetime.
Music Holidays and Observances: The music holidays are kind of slim pickens this month, but this is what I could find.
2/1: Grammy Awards
2/2: Play Your Ukulele Day
2/3: The Day the Music Died
2/4: Liberace Day
2/5: International Clash Day
2/8: Opera Day
2/11 Get Out Your Guitar Day & National Guitar Day
2/13: Welsh Language Music Day & World Radio Day
One of Beethoven's teachers was Antonio Salieri, Mozart's rival.
Queen Elizabeth I’s (1533-1603) favorite musical instrument was the virginal, a relative of the harpsichord. It was given its name because it was played by innocent young women.
In operatic terms, a "prima dona" is the leading lady of an opera company. A "diva" (goddess) is a legendary or highly celebrated leading lady.
Well, I didn’t take any photos this month, but I do have some Valentine’s Day roses for you! These are from my yard in Hercules, CA (before we moved to Oregon). Roses don’t do well up here, but they did great in the Bay Area! Have a great month and I’ll meet you back here soon!
Kathy
Women in Mozart's time were often prone to fainting and swooning spells. This was usually because they were cinched up so tight in corsets and had on so many layers of clothing that when they became excited, they couldn't breathe and fainted.
In her later years, Mozart's first love, Aloysia Weber, regretfully admitted that she had never realized that Mozart was a genius, and had seen him only as a "little man."
When Clara Schumann played her scales, she often read letters at the same time.
To the best of my knowledge, the "trivia" items are true, but I can't guarantee it.
