Daily Archives: December 4, 2013

Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat, K. 271(Jeunehomme)

The Piano Concerto No. 9 “Jeunehomme” in E flat major, K. 271, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in Salzburg in 1777, when Mozart was 21 years old.
The work has long been known as the “Jeunehomme” Concerto. It was said that Mozart wrote the piece for a French pianist “Jeunehomme” when she visited Salzburg. But scholars couldn’t identify the woman for whom he actually wrote it. Recently, the musicologist Michael Lorenz has argued that the woman was actually Victoire Jenamy (1749-1812), a daughter of Jean-Georges Noverre, a famous dancer who was one of Mozart’s best friends. The work is scored for solo piano, two oboes, two horns, and strings.
It consists of three movements:
3. Rondo (Presto), in E flat major and cut time 10:00
The first movement opens, unusually for the time, with interventions by the soloist, anticipating Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Concertos. As Girdlestone (1964) notes, its departures from convention do not end with this early solo entrance, but continue in the style of dialogue between piano and orchestra in the rest of the movement. Mozart wrote two cadenzas for this movement.
The second movement is written in the relative minor key. In only five of Mozart’s piano concertos is the second movement in a minor key (K. 41, K. 271, K. 456, K. 482, and K. 488. K. 41 is an arrangement). Mozart wrote two cadenzas for this movement.
The third movement which opens with the solo piano is in a rondo form on a large scale. It is interrupted, surprisingly, by a slow minuet section (a procedure Mozart would repeat with his 22nd concerto, 1785, also in the key of E-flat). The work ends in the original tempo. The work is highly regarded by critics. Charles Rosen has called it “perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece [of the] classical style.” Alfred Brendel has called it “one of the greatest wonders of the world.” Alfred Einstein dubbed it “Mozart’s Eroica.” 
and http://imslp.org/wiki/

Fabulous Composers/ compositionsMaurice Ravel / Pavane for a Dead Princess

Inspired by the tragic shooting of nine year old Christina-Taylor Green on January 8, 2011, who was killed among six others during the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. This Spadecaller video presents observations on the subject of grief featuring the art and photography of Matthew Schwartz with composer – Maurice Ravel‘s musical composition, Pavane for a Dead Princess.


Quotatin: Herman Melville (1819-1891) Discuss

All visible objects … are but as pasteboard masks.

All visible objects … are but as pasteboard masks.

Herman Melville (1819-1891) Discuss

 (1819-1891) Discuss

Today’s Birthday: FRANCISCO FRANCO (1892)

Francisco Franco (1892)

A career army officer and skillful leader, Franco was appointed the Spanish army‘s chief of staff in 1935. The next year, he joined the military uprising that precipitated the Spanish Civil War and became the leader of the Nationalist forces bent on overthrowing the republican government. Over the next few years, a bloody war was waged. The Nationalists emerged victorious, and from 1939 until his death in 1975, Franco served as virtual dictator of Spain. Whose aid helped secure Franco’s victory? More…Discuss



Lebanon Hostage Crisis: Last US Captive Released after 7 Years (1991)

After reporting from Vietnam as a war correspondent, American journalist Terry A. Anderson became chief correspondent for the Associated Press in Lebanon. In March 1985, he was abducted from a Beirut street by Shiite Hezbollah militants retaliating against the US for supplying Israel with weapons. Held with other American hostages taken at around the same time, Anderson remained in captivity for nearly seven years and was the last to be released. What has he done since regaining his freedom? More… Discuss


Study: Oxytocin Alters Social Brain Activity in Autistic Children

Studies on the safety and effectiveness of oxytocin—informally referred to as the “love hormone” due to its role in emotional bonding—in treating autism have had mixed results, but a recent study of autistic children found that it alters activity in parts of the brain involved in social interactions and could enhance social function. Still, the findings are very preliminary, and experts caution parents of autistic children not to attempt to administer oxytocin to their children until more is known about its benefits and potential side effects.More… Discuss



Shiraz is a southern Iranian city near the extensive ruins of ancient Persepolis—the capital of Persia established by Darius I and plundered by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. In the 18th century, Karim Khan briefly made Shiraz the capital of Persia, adorning it with fine buildings. Shiraz has long been regarded as an economic and cultural center of Iran, famous for its eponymous wine, gardens, carpets, shrines, and mosques, as well as its poets and philosophers. Which poets are buried here? More… Discuss