by Stephanie Manning
INTERESTING READS:
Jane Austen Loved Music. What Was on Her Playlist?
“The novelist’s sheet music collection reveals new perspectives on her life and work.” Read Eleanor Stanford’s New York Times preview about this year’s Jane Austen Festival here.
He Left the Prejudice of America. But His Music Came Home.
“The centennial of Robert Owens, a composer who worked abroad and assimilated into German culture, is being celebrated with a festival in Nebraska.” Read Hannah Edgar’s New York Times article here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Daniel Hathaway
On this date in 1818 (or perhaps on September 17), French composer Charles Gounod was born in Paris. Known today principally because of two of his twelve operas (Faust and Romeo et Juliette remain solidly in the repertory), he also wrote much religious music (he thought about becoming a priest). One of his most charming works is the Petite Symphonie for winds, viewable here in a 2017 performance by Camerata Pacifica at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.
And on September 18, 1943, Austrian cellist and composer David Popper was born in Prague. Watch a slightly fuzzy video of his Requiem for three cellos and piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2010 featuring Kathryn Brown, piano, with Matt Allen, Melissa Kraut and Alex Cox, celli. And for cellists, CIM graduate Joshua Roman took on the regimen of recording one of his Etudes every week for 40 weeks, “wherever Joshua and his laptop happen to be.” Here, he takes on Etude No. 4.
