What's My (Melodic) Line?

Think of any game show currently on the air. Now picture the host and contestants for that show. Now picture the arrival of a prominent American composer -- say, John Adams -- onto the program. What do you think the reaction would be? Would the host even recognize Adams, much less have anything intelligent to say to him? What about the other contestants? How would they react?

It all sounds very surreal, doesn't it? But there was a time when this actually happened.

"What's My Line?" was a succesful, if somewhat sedate, game show that ran from 1950 to 1967. The show was basically a variant on 20 questions. A mystery guest would sign in, and a celebrity panel  would attempt to guess their occupation, or sometimes their identity. The panel consisted of some of the brightest and sophisticated wits of the New York scene, and it wasn't often they were stumped.

On September 30, 1962, composer William Schuman was the mystery guest -- a figure recognizable enough that the panel had to be blindfolded. Here's the clip from that show. What I find interesting is that it's clear the audience also knows who he is, and that the panel does, too. I wonder if John Adams would fair equally well on "Deal or No Deal."

Schumann Bicentennial

June 8 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Robert Schumann, one of the more colorful (and perhaps tortured) of the major composers. It's an excellent opportunity to reexamine his music, and perhaps rediscover some of it as well.

Schumann's life was not easy. Although something of a piano virtuoso, he ruined his concert career early on by trying to stretch his hands with a mechanical apparatus (it damaged them instead). Schumann was in love with Clara Wieck, the daughter of his piano teacher. Overcoming the father's objections (who thought Clara could do much better), they were married. Clara was an accomplished pianist (and composer) and championed her husband's music at every turn.

Schumann obtained a promising post in Dusseldorf leading their orchestra, but proved to be an ineffectual conductor. Shortly after that, his mental state (never very robust), began to deteriorate. He heard voices, he suffered from tinnitus, hallucinated, and became suicidal. He spent his last two years in an insane asylum, dying at the age of 46.

But he also wrote great music. His intimate understanding of the instrument make his piano works a mainstay of the solo repertoire. His poetic sensibilities and melodic gift make his lieder mainstays of the solo vocal repertoire. Although his chamber music and symphonic works weren't well-received at the time, they too have found a place in the repertoire.

Here's a suggestion: if you only know Schumann's piano works, listen to one of his symphonies. If you only know his symphonies, sample some lieder. If you're really into lieder, give his solo piano works a try. In other words, move beyond what you know. It will be worth the effort, and a great way to mark Schumann's bicentennial.

(And if you're a Twitter user, you can share your Schumann exploration by using the hashtag #SchumannADay in your tweets)

Croatian prime minister, Croatian composer

Croatia has elected a remarkable man for their prime minister. Ivo Josipovic is an accomplished lawyer (a favored occupation for politicians) who represented Croatia before the International Court of Justice. But he's something else. Ivo Josipovic is a respected musician and composer.

He's written over fifty works, including music for chamber groups and orchestras. His most famous work, "Samba di Camera" has won prizes in Croatia and Europe.




Of course, Josipovic isn't the first head of state to write or perform music. Famed pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski served as Poland's prime minister in 1919. And Frederic the Great was dabbled in the art as well, as did Queen Elizabeth I, and her father, Henry VIII, to name a few.

Still, there's something heartening about having a political leader who understands the value of classical music firsthand -- and to have one that's good at it is just an added bonus.

In an interview Josipovic said, “My musical philosophy is based on the idea that art is something nice, something the author, performer and listener should enjoy. I am happiest when I see that the musicians play with enthusiasm, with a smile on their face, and when someone in the audience taps their feet or sways to the rhythm of the music.”

So will any of these compositional tendencies spill over into Josipovic's administration? One can hope.

Plato said "“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”

And who wouldn't want a leader who had experienced that first-hand?

Silenced Voices

During December on the WTJU classical program Dawn's Early Light, we celebrated Hanukkah with Hebraic themes and music of Jewish composers. Among the pieces was the String Quartet #1 of Ervin Schulhoff.

If Schulhoff is not familiar, perhaps it is because he died young and tragically in a Nazi concentration camp in 1942. Schulhoff was interned for a time at the Terezin (Theresienstadt in German) concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Terezin was constructed to serve Nazi propaganda as a model of culture and ethical treatment of detainees. A large number of artists and musicians were sent to Terezin including Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans Krasa, and Victor Ullmann. Almost all perished in one of the Nazi camps.

Unbelievably and as a testament to the human spirit, these musicians composed a considerable number of pieces during their imprisonment (see, "Music of the Ghettos and Camps"). Many works survived such as those of Haas: Study for Strings, Four Songs on Chinese Poetry; Klein: Fugue for String Quartet, String Trio; Krasa: the opera Brundibar; and Ullmann: String Quartet #3, Piano Sonatas 5-7, and the protest opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis.

The Terezin Chamber Music Foundation is dedicated "to preserving and advancing the resilience of the human spirit as expressed and inspired by the music and art created in the Terezin concentration camp." In addition, the Czech musician Joza Karas devoted himself to researching and preserving the music of the camps. His book, Music in Terezin 1941-1945, was published shortly before his death in 2008.

The Smartest Classical Composer Ever

Being a classical music announcer on WTJU often means looking for stories as well as music of interest to listeners. I’ve recently finished a superb book, The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes, that describes the apogee of Romantic poetry coupled with the surge of scientific advancement in late 18^th century England. Unlike current culture, in the 18^th century science and the arts coexisted in the wonder of discovery.

A key figure was Sir William Herschel, often described as the Father of Modern Astronomy. Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, the first planetary discovery in over 1,000 years. He made seminal studies of nebulae and binary star systems. He also discovered infrared light, which exists outside the wavelength of visible light. His proof that that the solar system had movement and direction and that most stars existed at huge distances and time from Earth gave scientific credence to evolutionary hypotheses for creation of the universe and helped dismiss theologically based myths.

Overlooked by most music lovers and scientists is that Herschel began adult life as a successful professional musician. As was his more musically renowned predecessor G.F. Handel, William Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany. Following in his father’s footsteps, he joined that band of Hanover Guards and eventually moved to England with the Guards when George I, also a German, became king.

Herschel settled in the resort city of Bath, which due to its aristocratic patrons had a sophisticated musical tradition. Herschel became head of the military band, a leader of the Bath orchestra, an accomplished organist and oboist, and teacher. His compositions were heard frequently in Bath (and beyond), and Herschel regularly gave subscription concerts of his music. Herschel routinely attributed his astronomical instincts to lessons learned from musical study and composition.

We had a chance to sample the music of Sir William Herschel on WTJU on Monday, 23 November on the classical program Dawn’s Early Light. The Oboe Concerto in C major and Chamber Symphony in F major are delightful pieces and demonstrate Herschel’s competence and melodic sensitivity.

When one thinks of the smartest of all classical composers, perhaps one should look beyond the great prodigies such as Mozart and Mendelssohn or the great innovators such as Bach, Haydn, and Schoenberg. With the infallibility that comes from being a volunteer announcer on WTJU, I make the claim for the smartest composer to be Sir William Herschel, Father of Modern Astronomy.