by Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Charnofsky’s Ned Rorem tribute
. Jean-Baptiste Lully makes his debut
HAPPENING TODAY:
Today’s program from Not Your Grandmother’s Classical Music, hosted by Eric Charnofsky, commemorates the life of Ned Rorem (1923-2022) with selections of his music for voice and piano, choir, orchestral, and chamber ensemble, along with the reading of inspiring and incisive Rorem quotes. Click here to listen to the internet feed: or tune in to 91.1 FM in the greater Cleveland area.
LOOKING AHEAD TO MIDWEEK:
On Wednesday at 7:30 pm – pianist Vìkingur Ólafsson (pictured above) will play a wide-ranging program of music by Mozart and his contemporaries in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Music Center. The playlist includes Galuppi’s Piano Sonata No. 9 in f, I. Andante spiritoso, Mozart’s Rondo in F, K. 494, C.P.E. Bach’s Rondo in d, Wq. 61/4, Cimarosa’s Keyboard Sonata No. 42 in d (arr. Ólafsson), Mozart’s Fantasie No. 3 in d, K. 397, Rondo in D, K. 485, Cimarosa’s Keyboard Sonata No. 55 in a (arr. Ólafsson), Haydn’s Piano Sonata No. 47 in b, Hob. XVI:3, Mozart’s Kleine Gigue in G, K. 574, Piano Sonata No. 16 in C, K. 545, String Quintet No. 3 in g, K. 516, III. Adagio, Galuppi’s Piano Sonata No. 34 in c, I. Larghetto, Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in c, K. 457, Adagio in b, K. 540, & Ave verum corpus, K. 618 (arr. Liszt). Take a deep breath and order your tickets online.
INTERESTING READ:
What, Exactly, Were Music Critics?
The rapport between artist and critic has historically ranged from affable to antagonistic to utterly bizarre. Read an article in The New Republic for November 25, 2022.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On November 28, 1632, Italian-born French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully was born in Firenze (Florence), beginning a distinguished career that ended in tragedy when he wounded himself in the foot with the 6-foot staff he pounded on the floor to keep time for the orchestra while rehearsing his Te Deum. A dancer who refused to amputate his foot to save his life, he developed gangrene, and died on March 22, 1687. More subtle means of keeping performances together — already used in Lully’s time — have made conducting slightly less hazardous, as Jordi Savall demonstrates with Le Concert des Nations in Utrecht in 2010.
François Couperin paid homage to Lully in his witty instrumental suite, L’Apotheose du Lully.