Greetings!
As I write this, I’m watching the clock in anticipation of Trick or Treaters this evening while listening to a new Christmas album to review. Gee, no wonder I have trouble remembering what day - or month! - it is! ’Tis the season! I have lots of new “stuff” for you this month, so let’s get right to it!
Families began trading pianos for phonographs in the 1920s, and then came radio and television. Evening entertainment became passive only a century ago.
One of Cristofori’s original pianofortes, dating from 1720, still exists and is on display at the Metropolitan Music of Art’s Rare Instrument Collection in New York City.
The first magazine devoted to jazz was called "Le Jazz Hot," and was published on February 2, 1935, in Paris.
New Reviews: Once again, I have a very eclectic list of new reviews for you this month! There are albums and singles from Slovakia, Sweden, Germany, Wales, Canada, Denmark, and the USA! I also reviewed a Christmas songbook of arrangements from Lester Le Roux and Steve Yip reviewed
The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music by Colin Asher. You can find them all
here.
In Germany, nineteenth century conservatories did not provide practice facilities - students were responsible for their own pianos. Finding appropriate lodgings and a good piano proved to be the principal headaches of being a music student.
Having a piano in the home started becoming fashionable in the 1790's.
The flashy Hungarian pianist Balazs Havasi, is known for pushing limits. He has produced crossover albums with pop stars, spoken at TED conferences, and on November 29, 2009 attempted to set the world record for the fastest fingers on a keyboard. The nimble pianist was able to play a single note 498 times in one minute (that’s faster than eight times per second) to capture the record for most key hits in 60 seconds.
New Interview: I really enjoyed doing a new interview with Swedish pianist/composer Carl Liungman this month. I have been reviewing his music since his 2020 debut and he has a new album releasing in mid-December. I think you’ll enjoy getting to know him, too! Here’s the
link.
In 1798, Muzio Clementi invested enough of his earnings from performing on the piano, composing for the piano, and teaching the piano to become a partner with John Longman in a company that made pianos and published music, largely for the piano. He is said to have helped to design the pianos that bore his name.
In 1802, Muzio Clementi started traveling to the US, not as a performer anymore but as a sales agent for his own pianos and as a scout for music that his company might publish.
The first jazz club was founded in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1935, during the Nazi regime.
Holiday Wishes List: Once again, I’m planning to do a list of everyone’s Holiday Wishes for the December issue of Pianotes. The list started out as a fun thing to put together for my piano students every year, and as I got to know more and more artists, I started adding their wishes, too. Since retiring from teaching in 2020, the list has become the wishes of many of the artists I know as well as fans of Pianotes. I ask for wishes because they do not have to be anything that can be wrapped or placed under a tree, and I ask for wishes so that those who do not celebrate Christmas can join in if they’d like to. I’ll send out an email around Thanksgiving as a reminder, but feel free to send your wishes to me anytime in November. The list itself will be a page on the website, so I can add wishes after the first of December, too.
By Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency (1933-45), the piano in the East Room was in need of repair, so Steinway offered to build a new White House piano as the firm’s 300,000th piano. President Roosevelt helped to design the piano, which has eagle-shaped legs and paintings on the case depicting American musical scenes.
Pianist/comedian Victor Borge originally started using comedy in his concerts to cover up stage-fright.
A major star throughout Denmark and much of Europe when WWII broke out, pianist/comedian Victor Borge often poked fun at Hitler and other top Nazis in his performances. When the Germans invaded Denmark in April 1940, Borge left everything behind and fled Europe. When his mother spent time in the hospital, Borge put on a false beard and crossed back into Copenhagen to visit her.
November Birthdays: Here is a partial list of musical November birthdays:
1: Lyle Lovett, David Foster, Joseph Akins (or is it October 31st?), Renee Michele, Dyan Garris,
2: KD Lang, Keith Emerson (1944-2016), Gina Lineé
3: Darla Bower
4: Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs
5: Bryan Adams, Peter Noone, Art Garfunkel, Ike Turner (1931-2007), Roy Rogers (1911-98)
6: John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), Dimitri Kovachev (Dimitri K), Glenn Frey (1948-2016)
7: Lorde, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Rivers, Al Hirt (1922-1999)
8: Tiana Andreas, Rickie Lee Jones, Bonnie Raitt, Patti Page (1927-2013)
9: Tom Fogerty (1941-90)
10: François Couperin (1668-1733), Johnny Marks (1909-85), Ennio Morricone (1928-2020), Tim Rice
11: Mose Allison (1927-2016), Jon Batiste
12: Alexander Borodin (1833-87), Neil Young, Booker T. Jones
13: Whoopi Goldberg
14: Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837), Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-47), Aaron Copland (1900-90), Yanni, Stephen Bishop, Wendy Carlos
15: Jorge Bolet (1914-90)David Nevue, Petula Clark
16: W.C.Handy (1873-1958), Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), Diana Krall, Will Ackerman
17: Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023), Jeff Bjorck & Ovidio De Ferrari
18: Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985), Johnny Mercer (1909-76)
19: Tommy Dorsey (1905-56)
20: Robin Spielberg, Joe Walsh, Duane Allman (1946-1971), Dr. John (1941-2019), Dick Smothers
21: Bjork, Paul Avgerinos & Al Jewer
22: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-84), Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981), Steve Van Zandt, Jesse Colin Young (1941-2025), Cory Levine
23: Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), Johnny Mandel (1925-2020), Ludovico Einaudi, Miley Cyrus, Bruce Hornsby, Omar Akram
24: Scott Joplin (1868-1917), Lee Michaels
25: David Glass, Amy Grant, Percy Sledge (1940-2015)
26: John McVie, Tina Turner (1939-2023), Gary Girouard & Robin Goldsby
27: Lyle Mays (1953-2020), Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), Vicente Avella & Thad Fiscella
28: Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-87), Anton Rubinstein (1829-94), Ryan Stewart, Paul Shaffer, Randy Newman, Berry Gordy
29: Chuck Mangione (1940-2025), John Mayall (1933-2024), Billy Strayhorn (1915-67)
30: Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-88), Radu Lupu (1945-2022),Billy Idol
Francis Hopkinson of Philadelphia published his Six Songs for the Harpsichord or Pianoforte in 1787, and claimed to be the first native-born American to produce a musical composition. He dedicated the pieces to George Washington. Hopkinson also designed the original American flag, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Scott Joplin’s opera, “Treemonisha” is the only existing ragtime opera, and was given its first full production in the 1970’s - long after Joplin’s death in 1917.
Scott Joplin was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his contributions to American music.
November Music Holidays and Celebrations: In addition to Veterans’ Day and Thanksgiving, here are a few more dates to celebrate in November:
All month: Hip-Hop History Month & International Drum (Percussion) month
6th: National Saxophone Day
8th: World Pianist Day
11th: National Metal Day
13th: National Hug a Musician Day & Symphonic Metal Day
15th: National Drummer Day
16th: National Clarinet Day
19th: National Blow Bagpipes Day
26th: National Jukebox Day
30th: Perpetual Youth Day
The first Steinway piano was made in the kitchen of founder Henry Steinweg in Seesen, Germany, in 1836. (He changed the family name to Steinway when he emigrated to the US in 1850.)
The fear of performing is called "topophobia."
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was the first pianist to arrange what has become known as a "monster concert" with large numbers of pianos and pianists playing together. He wrote "The Siege of Saragossa" for ten pianos, and it was first performed in June 1852.
Wishing everyone who celebrates it a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m closing with a couple of very peaceful photos I took out my office window earlier today. Have a great month and we’ll meet here again in early December!
Kathy
MainlyPiano.com
To the best of my knowledge, the "trivia" items are true, but I can't guarantee it.
