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The violins make a tiny note on the 6th scale degree, the flutes make the same note very quietly an octave higher, then the bassoons expel some Bill Gates gas on the 4th scale degree, 3 octaves lower. https://youtu.be/rGIiuTWSxac?feature=shared&t=820

Burning crosses on the front lawn and liking Bach are one in the same to this scholar A music theory professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York said his own father, who is black, was a white supremacist because he liked “Bach.” Professor Philip Ewell made the claims in a profile piece in the Yale Daily News. The university recently gave him its Wilbur Cross Award for “making the whiteness of music theory a topic of conversation,” the student paper reported. Ewell is so good at identifying “whiteness” and “white supremacy” that he even saw it...

Discover the unsolved mystery behind Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’ which established his international reputation.It was Elgar’s Enigma Variations (or Variations On An Original Theme to use its original title) that catapulted Elgar to international renown. And it came relatively late in life, when the composer was in his early forties. Elgar composed his Enigma Variations between October 1898 and February 1899 and the work premiered in London on 19 June 1899. Why ‘Enigma’? Because Elgar was secretive about the work’s theme. And the theme was not a straightforward theme in itself. Listening to it you hear syncopations which almost seem to...

I am sure that many FReepers know this video; Classical music 1 hit wonder, Pachelbel's CanonI prefer it played by flutes and/or trumpets... or quintet strings...(or totally by piano)I enjoy how Rob puts it into perspective (about how current day music uses the past music, and how nothing is original anymore).

Astronomers have observed record-breaking photons that strain classical theories of accelerationA little before sunrise on July 4, A.D. 1054, imperial astronomers of the Song Dynasty in China spotted an unknown star lighting up the eastern sky. “It’s as bright as Venus, with pointed rays in all four directions and a reddish-white color,” they wrote in notes delivered to the emperor. The glow, which remained visible to the naked eye during the day for almost a month, was from an explosion caused by the spectacular death of a star located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus. Its relics are...

BBC broadcast of the 2021 New Years' Concert from Vienna. The highlights are the Kaiser Walzer at one hour and 48 minutes, Blue Danube at two hours and 13 minutes and of course the Radetzky March ending the performance. There is a nice vignette set to the Margherita-Polka at one hour and twenty four with the ballet dancers wearing 1920s outfits.

George Frideric Handel was mainly a composer of operas. In fact, he composed dozens of them. Though his productions were popular in 18th century London, Handel had his enemies -- he was a foreigner, born in Germany, by many accounts not a very likeable fellow, and his rivals detested his style of opera. He was also kind of a large, awkward man, rough and hot-tempered enough to earn the nickname "The Great Bear." When his operas and his health began to fail, Handel sank into bankruptcy and despair, believing his career was over. In 1741, he was invited to Ireland...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Purpose. Societies have long recognized the importance of beautiful public architecture. Ancient Greek and Roman public buildings were designed to be sturdy and useful, and also to beautify public spaces and inspire civic pride. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, public architecture continued to serve these purposes. The 1309 constitution of the City of Siena required that “[w]hoever rules the City must have the beauty of the City as his foremost...

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony starts with an anguished opening theme — dun dun dun DUNNNN — and ends with a glorious, major-key melody. Since its 1808 premiere, audiences have interpreted that progression from struggle to victory as a metaphor for Beethoven’s personal resilience in the face of his oncoming deafness. Or rather, that’s long been the popular read among wealthy white men who embraced Beethoven and turned his symphony into a symbol of their superiority and importance. For others — women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color — Beethoven’s symphony is predominantly a reminder of classical music’s history of exclusion and elitism....

American Public Media Group has fired Minnesota Public Radio’s only Black classical music host Garrett McQueen. McQueen announced his firing on his social media accounts Thursday morning. McQueen said he was taken off the air after his shift on Aug. 25. He was then given two warnings — one of which was about his need to improve communication and the other warning was for switching out scheduled music to play pieces he felt were more appropriate to the moment and more diverse, McQueen told MPR News. “When things happened in the news or when there were hours of programming that...

Click for lovely music! Happy Orthodox Easter! Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

Andrea Bocelli's mesmerising Music For Hope live concert from the deserted Duomo di Milano has broken world records. The opera singer's Easter Sunday's performance has become the biggest live-streamed classical music event of all time, with a combined 35 million people viewing the 30-minute concert. The historic event reached over 2.8 million peak concurrent viewers, making it one of the biggest musical live stream performances of all-time and the largest simultaneous audience for a classical live stream in YouTube history.

I hate long drives, but the one redeeming aspect of them is that I get to do something I never do otherwise: listen to audiobooks. Driving to and from Dallas is a 16-hours-plus trip from Baton Rouge. I made it with my wife and kids this past weekend, for a wedding. On my son Matt’s recommendation, I listened to historian Tom Holland’s book Dominion: How The Christian Revolution Remade The World. Before I say anything about the book, I want to recommend a cool piece of technology. It’s illegal to drive with standard earbuds in, so Matt let me borrow...

While the country was riveted by the President’s impeachment trial, a Washington rumor was quietly bubbling about a potential executive order that, if implemented, would profoundly affect the future of federal architecture. RECORD has obtained what appears to be a preliminary draft of the order, under which the White House would require rewriting the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, issued in 1962, to ensure that “the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style” for new and upgraded federal buildings. Entitled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” the draft order argues that the founding fathers embraced the classical models...

Cersei Lannister needs some anti-dragon air defenses, so the twisted mind of Qyburn has dreamed up a double-bowed monstrosity. In season 7, he tests it on an ancient dragon skull (which would be like firing an AR-15 through King Tut's sarcophagus), and in season 8—it appears he's made a few more. But Cersei's high powered anti-dragon weapon is much more than just fantasy. In human history, this old-school Godzilla-sized crossbow goes by a different name—a ballista. This kind of catapult uses a pair of bent bow springs to store and release energy. Sure, it works well enough to put a...

Beethovenhaus Baden has launched a campaign to restore a grand piano once played by Ludwig van Beethoven. The instrument in question was made by Conrad Graf between 1811 and 1818 and is an early example of his celebrated grand pianos. Unfortunately, the piano has suffered considerable damage over the years and is now unplayable. Beethovenhaus Baden has embarked on an ambitious project to restore the instrument to its original glory in time for 2020—the 250th Anniversary of the composer’s birth. The piano will then once more be available for concerts.

Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the world’s oldest intact shipwreck at the bottom of the Black Sea where it appears to have lain undisturbed for more than 2,400 years. The 23-metre (75ft) vessel, thought to be ancient Greek, was discovered with its mast, rudders and rowing benches all present and correct just over a mile below the surface. A lack of oxygen at that depth preserved it, the researchers said. “A ship surviving intact from the classical world, lying in over 2km of water, is something I would never have believed possible,” said Professor Jon Adams, the...

Rachmaninoff piano concerto 2 by Emily Bear (16) Include 'All By Myself' with Emily & John Miles ..Emily Bear & John Miles "All by Muyself is based on the music off Rachmaninoff piano concerto 2. Emily Bear made a special arrangement of this piano concerto and All By Myself by John Miles.

J. N. Hummel Trumpet Concerto in Eb Martin Berinbaum, trumpet

The key to a happy life, it’s been discovered, is living near to Georgian architecture and a Waitrose. Bath, York, Chichester, Stamford, Skipton, Harrogate, Oxford and Cambridge are among the towns listed in the Sunday Times 20 nicest places to live in Britain survey. Almost all these areas have one thing in common: they all feature a great deal of Georgian housing. And they’re all mostly unaffordable. There is a fair amount of research suggesting that traditional architecture, such as Georgian and Victorian terraces and mansion blocks, contributes to our wellbeing. Beauty makes people happy. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– This can...