Monday, July 23, 2007

Sunday afternoon

Last sunday, yesterday, was the dedication ceremony for the opening of the Good Shepard center.
The program invites us to "come back to 1907".
1907 was when Good Shepard opened as a home for "wayward" girls, and I think that, in spite of the horror stories they write in novels about that sort of thing, that is was a good thing and helped many unfortunates to a better life.
It's not that today, today it's for artistic purposes.
Which, I guess, is sort of similar.
I was there because my composition teacher, David Mesler, was playing a piano recital of music from the period.
Such as;
"The Village Bells" by Stephen Foster
"The Dying Poet" by Louis Gottschalk
"The Wild Rose' and "From the Depths" by Edward MacDowell
"The Caissons go Rolling Along" by Edmund Gruber
"The Whistler and his dog" by Arthur Pryor
"The Teddy Bear's Picnic" by John W Bratton
"Elite Syncopations" by Scott Joplin
And the piece de resistance;
"The Alcotts" third movement of Charles Ives' piano sonata #2

The Ives I had heard two weeks ago at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, played by Jeremy Denk. Mr Denk played it like was a rocket ship, with lots of passion, and even a touch of sturm. (maybe some drang, but I don't know what that is).
Mr Mesler played it in a style more appropriate to the era being celebrated. You could hear the rythem of the times in it. Laced up ladies, Model T Fords and the like

The laced up ladies were delightful. Wearing vintage clothing from Good will.
I wouldn't want to make a law about it, but I wouldn't mind if women dressed like that today. I don't mind girls walking around half naked, but some of them shouldn't
However, that kind of clothing is uncomfortable and even a bit unhealthy. (see the opening minutes of the hilarious British film "Stiff Upper Lips")
So, liberation is a good thing in many ways.

Also on the program was the "Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band", a marching band that plays sitting down.
They even have a majorette who performs her batonnerie in a chair.
They played Marches by J.P.S. and others
They are from Ballard.
I am sort of from Ballard.
There ya go.

To any of those to whom I've compared Charles Ives to P.D.Q.Bach;
It's not that I think that Ives is silly or incompetant, it's just that there is a certain naivete that colors that entire period of history.
We had cars and airplanes, but we didn't have World War One yet.
Just as now, we have this wonderful computer internet thing but have absolutely no inkling of the incredible disasters about to befall us.

George Antheil was seven years old in 1907.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Glenn Buttkus said...

Sounds like a halcyon Sunday, sir;

Good Shepherd Center operates within the framework and heritage of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. The Sisters opened the first House of the Good Shepherd in Maryland in 1864. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd were founded by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (1796-1868) who founded 110 houses in her lifetime to help girls and women in crisis.

Today, there are over 6,000 Sisters of the Good Shepherd on six continents. There are a total of 450 centers around the world, including 35 cities in the United States and 72 countries throughout the world.

The Good Shepherd Center provides a continuum of services that combines treatment, residential and educational services for adolescent girls and their families who are experiencing personal, family and societal conflicts. With over 140 years of experience, the Good Shepherd Center has served over 30,000 girls and their families in Maryland.
The Good Shepherd mission is “Love-In-Action” and rests on the belief that “One person is more precious than the world.”

The Center and our outpatient mental health services are accredited by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Health Care Organizations and licensed by the Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Medicaid, Blue Cross, and other commercial insurance companies recognize our programs as a service provider.

Northwest Symphony—Anthony Spain keeps up his tradition of including a local composer on every program, selecting Gregory Short's Phato and David Mesler's Dance Macabre, along with Bach and Mussorgsky, for their 10/27 season opener. 242-6321.

Stephen C. Foster, 1855

The village bells are ringing,
And merrily they chime;
The village choir is singing,
For ’tis a happy time;
The chapel walls are laden
With garlands rich and gay,
To greet the village maiden
Upon her wedding day. 2. But summer joys have faded
And summer hopes have flown;
Her brow with grief is shaded,
Her happy smiles are gone;
Yet why her heart is laden,
Not one, alas! can say,
Who saw the village maiden
Upon her wedding day.
3. The village bells are ringing,
But hark, how sad and slow;
The village choir is singing
A requiem soft and low;
And all with sorrow laden
Their tearful tribute pay
Who saw the village maiden
Upon her wedding day.

Louis Moreau Gottschalk
The Dying Poet (Meditation)
Arranged by Trevor Wye
A great favorite in the late 19th century, so much so that for a period of about five years, this was the most performed piece of classical music in the USA.

Edward Alexander MacDowell was an American composer and pianist, born in New York City. After studying in the United States, France, and Germany, he lived in Germany, becoming principal teacher of piano (1881-82) at the conservatory in Darmstadt. He returned to the U.S. in 1888 and was head of the music department of Columbia University from 1896 to 1904. MacDowell was one of the founding members of the American Academy in Rome, which to this day hosts American artists working in various fields.

In his compositions, MacDowell drew on 19th-century European musical styles, publishing first under the pseudonym of "Edgar Thorne" and later on using his given name. In 1896, MacDowell bought a farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire, to rest and work in tranquility. There he said, he was "able to triple his creative activity." He hoped that by expanding the facilities, his farm might become a workplace for other artists. Although he died in 1908, in 1906 a fund had already been started in his honor by many prominent people of this time, among them Grover Cleveland, Andrew Carnegie, Victor Herbert, Henry Van Dyke, and J. Pierpont Morgan. In 1907, the MacDowell Colony was founded in Peterborough, thanks in great part to the tireless efforts of MacDowell's wife, Marian. It was designed as a retreat for artists of all kinds to work and thrive. The colony, still active today, has hosted such illustrious artists as Aaron Copland, Thornton Wilder and Leonard Bernstein.

MacDowell's death was a mysterious one. There are a variety of contradictory stories surrounding his last years. His contemporaries seem to suggest that he suffered a complete mental breakdown, eventually lapsing into catatonia. Insomnia is mentioned in most accounts, and his disputes with Columbia University are cited as a precipitating factor. His death is most often attributed to a vague and ill-defined "brain malady."

Edmund Louis "Snitz" Gruber (November 11, 1879-May 30, 1941) Cincinnati, Ohio and attended the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, from June 19, 1900 to June 15, 1904. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Artillery Corps.

General Gruber died from natural causes on May 30, 1941.

Edmund L. Gruber was one of the most popular artillerymen of his time and was a noted Army polo team champion. But he would make his enduring mark with music. He was the author of the 5th Artillery Regimental song. Titled "The Caissons Go Rolling Along," it was adopted by all regiments of the Artillery and became the Field Artillery Song. It later became the Army’s Official Song. His song was even used to sell vacuum cleaners. General Gruber's family did have a musical background. His ancestor, Franz Xaver Gruber, composed the music to the classic Christmas song "Silent Night."

In February 1942, as part of the War Department's build-up for World War II, an infantry training camp was constructed, near Braggs, Oklahoma. The camp was named "Camp Gruber," after General Gruber, who had served as an artillery officer at Fort Sill, Oklahoma for many years.

Fort Bragg also named one of its major roads after General Gruber.

Arthur Willard Pryor (September 22, 1870 – June 18, 1942) was a trombonist, bandleader, and soloist with the Sousa Band.

Pryor was born on the second floor of the Lyceum Theater in Saint Joseph, Missouri. He first took up music at a very young age and was playing the valve trombone by age 11. By age 15 he had mastered the slide trombone and was awarded a spot in his father's band. He was hailed as a prodigy after this. Shifted to another band, Pryor went on to direct the Stanley Opera Company in Denver, Colorado until joining the John Philip Sousa Band in 1892. He played his first solo with the Sousa Band at age 22 during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. During his 12 years with the Sousa Band, Pryor estimated that he played 10,000 solos. From 1895 to 1903 Pryor was assistant conductor of the Sousa Band. After leaving the Sousa Band, he formed his own band, which made its debut at the Majestic Theatre in New York City on November 15, 1903. The Pryor Band toured until 1909, when he decided to settle down and make Asbury Park, New Jersey the home of the band. Also at this time he became a staff conductor and arranger for the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey.

He set to work on an opera titled Peter and Paul, with a libretto by L. Frank Baum, though the whereabouts of libretto or score are unknown. It was intended to star Fred Stone and David Montogmery in several roles in several time periods.

He retired from full-time conducting in 1933.

During his career, Pryor wrote some of the most famous trombone literature around today, including the heralded "Bluebells of Scotland", as well as band novelty works such as "The Whistler and His Dog". Much of this literature has been recorded by Ian Bousfield

If you go out in the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go out in the woods today
You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for teddy bears,
The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares,
And see them picnic on their holiday.
See them gaily dance about.
They love to play and shout.
And never have any cares.
At six o'clock their mommies and daddies
Will take them home to bed
Because they're tired little teddy bears.

If you go out in the woods today,
You'd better not go alone.
It's lovely out in the woods today,
But safer to stay at home.

For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic

CHORUS

Every teddy bear, that's been good
Is sure of a treat today
There's lots of wonderful things to eat
And wonderful games to play

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees
They'll hide and seek as long as they please
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic

John Walter Bratton (January 21, 1867 - February 7, 1947) was an American composer and theatrical producer.

Brought up by his Grandmother in New Castle, Delaware, near Wilmington, Bratton studied at the Philadelphia College before embarking on a career as a baritone singer. Bratton progressed into acting in and producing musical comedies, ultimately composing for the stage.

He wrote over 250 songs, teaming up, for many, with lyricists Walter H Ford and Paul West. He is best remembered for his 1907 composition "Teddy Bears' Picnic" the only one of his songs to be a lasting hit. Although most of his compositions had lyrics, he left Teddy Bears'Picnic as an instrumental. Perhaps because it sold so well as sheet music he never felt the need to do anything else with it, except feature it in some of silent movie hits of the twenties.

Some 25 years later, lyricist Jimmy Kennedy (then relatively unknown) was working in London's Tin Pan Alley employed by Music Publisher Bert Feldman and was asked by his boss to write words to the instrumental for a pantomime. Henry Hall of the BBC Dance Orchestra became aware that the instrumental now had lyrics and he broadcast the song in the kiddies' section of his popular radio show the very next day before it had been officially published.

The publisher's office was deluged with requests for sheet music which did not exist. Kennedy was almost sacked and was punished by Bert Feldman by having his royalties withheld for the rest of Feldman's life...some 15 years or so. It was obvious from the listeners' reaction that this would be a hit and Henry Hall recorded it. The rest, they say, is history. This explains why this American composition has British lyrics..note "Mummies and Daddies" not as is often misquoted "Mommies and Daddies"

Bratton died in Brooklyn, New York, aged 80.

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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
elite syncopations : the title says !, September 16, 2001
By JEAN-MARIE JUIF (BESANCON France) - See all my reviews


Biograph issued three great CDs of Scott Joplin's works.In this one,we are sure that Scott Joplin (1868-1917) plays on three rolls: "maple leaf rag","ole Miss rag" (written by W.C.Handy),and "magnetic rag".The other rolls were produced in the sixties by Hal Boulware, a collector.All the tunes were digitally recorded from a 1910 Stenway.All the past-time charm and melancholy of this music is here.And listening to these tunes,I can't help thinking that Joplin knew perfectly Frederic Chopin's works.The beautiful "Elite syncopations" was marvelously played by MaryLou Williams in 1971 on his great "Nite life" album on CHiaroscuro.And there are rare tunes like "paragon rag","Eugenia","Cleopha",or "Heliotrope bouquet",all beeing marvelous compositions.Don't forget that this music was one of the roots of jazz : after Joplin came Eubie Blake (1883-1983),Luckey Roberts (1887 ?-1968) and James P.Johnson (1891-1955),and that was the birth of stride.Scott Joplin's music is part of the basement of jazz.And the beauty of his tunes has something timeless.

Scott Joplin (born between June 1867 – January 1868[1]; died April 1, 1917) was an American musician and composer of ragtime music. He remains the best-known ragtime figure and is regarded as one of the three most important composers of classic ragtime[2], along with James Scott and Joseph Lamb.

By 1898 Joplin had sold six pieces for the piano. Of the six, only "Original Rags", a compilation of existing melodies that he wrote collaboratively, is a ragtime piece. The other five were "Please Say You Will", "A Picture of Her Face", two marches, and a waltz.

In 1899, Joplin sold what would become one of his most famous pieces, "Maple Leaf Rag" to John Stark & Son, a Sedalia music publisher. Joplin received a one-cent royalty for each copy and ten free copies for his own use, as well as an advance. It has been estimated that Joplin made $360 per year on this piece in his lifetime.

"Maple Leaf Rag" boosted Joplin to the top of the list of ragtime performers and moved ragtime into prominence as a musical form.

With a growing national reputation based on the success of "Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in early 1900 with his new wife, Belle. While living there, in 1900–1903, he produced some of his best-known works, "The Entertainer", "Elite Syncopations", "March Majestic", and "Ragtime Dance".

Joplin married several times. Perhaps his dearest love, Freddie Alexander died at age twenty, of complications resulting from a cold, two months after their wedding. Joplin's first work copyrighted after Freddie's death, "Bethena" (1905), is a very sad, musically complex ragtime waltz.

After months of faltering, Joplin continued writing and publishing. He was a best-selling composer of sheet music. With much hard work, he produced the award-winning opera Treemonisha. The score to an earlier ragtime opera by Joplin, A Guest of Honor, is lost.

The Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60 by Charles Ives, commonly known as the Concord Sonata, is one of the composer's best-known and most highly regarded pieces.

Some material in the piece dates back as far as 1904, but Ives began substantial work on the piece around 1911 and had largely completed it by 1915. It was first published in 1920 with a second, revised, edition appearing in 1947. It is this version which is usually performed today.

The sonata's four movements represent figures associated with transcendentalism. In the introduction to his Essays Before a Sonata (published immediately before the Concord Sonata) Ives said the work was his "impression of the spirit of transcendentalism that is associated in the minds of many with Concord, Mass., of over a half century ago. This is undertaken in impressionistic pictures of Emerson and Thoreau, a sketch of the Alcotts, and a Scherzo supposed to reflect a lighter quality which is often found in the fantastic side of Hawthorne."

Stiff Upper Lips (1997)

Starring: Peter Ustinov, Prunella Scales Director: Gary Sinyor Rating

This irresistibly sexy comedy tells the outrageous story of a beautiful girl and her unlikely romantic awakening! Pretty young Emily has just reached the ripe old marrying age of 22, and her obnoxious family has already matched her with un upper-crust stiff. Emily, of course, feels nothing ... until she happens upon a strapping young peasant who unleashes all kinds of strange new feelings within her! As this funny, clever, and endlessly entertaining motion picture unfolds, a string of comic events is set into motion that force everyone to deal with some decidedly lusty new emotions!

Ballard: An Important Part of Washington’s History

Though incorporated into the City of Seattle in 1907, Ballard continues to maintain its small town qualities and sense of independence. Located in an area bordered by both Puget Sound and Salmon Bay, water was and continues to be an important part of the community.

Tucked back from the sound, Salmon Bay provided a safe haven during winter months for Ballard’s first inhabitants, the Shilshole tribe. Numbering over 1,000 at their peak, our local waters provided an abundance of salmon and clams for drying.

Ballard’s first English settler, Ira Utter, arrived in 1853 to homestead his 820 acres. Soon, others followed to farm and log the heavily forested hills. Like other pioneer towns, without roadways and rail lines, travel by water was the easiest and quickest mode, especially when transporting timber.

In 1890, with Ballard’s incorporation as a city, it became the third largest city in the newly formed state of Washington, with 1,636 residents.

Ballard’s lucrative lumber industry began, with the building of the Sinclair mill on Salmon Bay in 1880. Water access was essential to timber companies and others followed. By 1895, Ballard was given the title “Shingle Capital of the World,” producing more shingles than any other town in Washington. Millwork from Ballard helped rebuild Seattle after the Great Fire of 1889. Machine shops, metal foundries and many other small manufacturers also established themselves along the shoreline.

By that time, Ballard’s population had grown to 10,000 and fishing also became a major industry. As the demand for salmon grew, fisherman, especially those from Scandinavia, were attracted to the area. Arriving as part of the great wave of immigration from 1880 to 1920, Ballard’s scenic surroundings reminded them of their homeland.

Boat building was also an important industry, the success of which began with the wooden vessels crafted largely by Scandinavians. In addition to fishing vessels, small yards built cannery boats and tugs for use in the milling industry.

By 1905, pressure to consolidate with the City of Seattle had grown strong. Ballard needed to secure an adequate water supply for its growing population. Seattle was eager to acquire the prosperous mill town that blocked expansion to the north. City officials used their water source as a bargaining chip and on November 6, 1906, Ballard could hold out no longer. Annexation was approved by a close vote of 996 in favor to 874 opposed.

In 1916, after years of planning and construction, the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks were completed. The new waterway linked Puget Sound with a vast inland harbor composed of Salmon Bay, Lake Union and Lake Washington. In the years following WWI, Ballard’s shoreline reached its high point of development with a strategic position on the Salmon Bay waterway.

After annexation, there was talk of changing the name Ballard to Northwest Seattle. With the completion of the ship canal, some wanted to call the area Canal Station. Neither happened and happily, Ballard continues to hold on to its name and its identity.

No longer is the population heavily Scandinavian, but our hardworking ancestors built much of the cohesiveness Ballard enjoys today. The water levels have changed and the lumber mills are gone. Old factories have gotten face-lifts and new purpose. The fishing industry struggles with new regulations and constraints, yet evolves.

Today in the metropolitan area of Seattle, Ballard continues to be the center of a unique combination of manufacturing and commercial fishing industries and recreational boating. We also boast a vibrant commercial district with unique shops, restaurants and music venues. But the water is always there. Whether its waiting while the bridge opens to let a ship through, watching a sailboat race off Shilshole, or enjoying a delicious salmon dinner, water is always a part of life in Ballard. And Ballard continues to celebrate its maritime connections

Here is a list of all Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band albums, compilations and their versions that real people posted to various public data sources.

Albums 1 - 1 of about 1

Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band - Sousa Bash 2000
Tracks: 16, Disk length: 48m 30s

The Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band













Why does the Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band have an ever-expanding cult following? They draw the biggest crowds at the summer Ballard Locks concert series. They've been forced to add additional shows to their sold-out Sousa's birthday celebrations. Hundreds of rabid fans seek them out at the Northwest Folklife Festival. What is the mysterious allure of this band?

The answer is a unique concert experience that no other musical group can provide. In their own wacky way, the band will take you on a swirling carnival ride through the greatest hits of the golden age of band music. Come to a show and you'll notice:

The performers are wearing a collection of mismatched band jackets from various high school and college bands across Washington State and the U.S. It is a multi-colored patchwork community band that invites players of all ages and all levels of experience.

The band features the world’s only sedentary majorette . Edith Farrar takes her place in a folding chair at the front of the band, and absolutely stuns the audience with amazing feats of baton-twirling. Occasionally she may literally stun one of the band members if the baton flies out of control and bounces off the head of an unfortunate performer. The possibility of such mayhem only increases the rapt attention of the audience.

This band will not march under any circumstances: a rare and daring distinction among bands that play marching music.

No one will remain unmoved by the music, the spectacle, and the sheer fun and exuberance emanating from the Ballard Sedentary Sousa Band.

In 1907:
May 7 - Seattle film maker William Harbeck sets up a camera at the front of a B.C. Electric streetcar and films the downtown streets of Vancouver, British Columbia. Chunks of the little movie have disappeared over the 100 years since, but about 7 minutes remain.

April - The April 1907 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine displays the cover price "One Dollar a Year" (under title).

August 17 - Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington officially opens for business.
August 28 - UPS is founded by James E. (Jim) Casey in Seattle, Washington

A number of interesting people were born in 1907, folks like Cesar Romero, Buster Crabbe, Sheldon Leonard, Robert Young, Pinky Lee, Katherine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, John Wayne, Rachel Carson, Robert A. Heinlein, Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Autry, and Burgess Meredith.

And that's the end of our Sunday adventure.

Glenn

12:03 PM  
Blogger Lane Savant said...

Wow, Butch, with all the work you do here at FFTL, I'm afraid to tell you about the movie we found in our collection of tapes.
It's an old hollywood version of "Midsummernight's dream"
Tsped off the TV, credits cut off.
James Cagney as Bottom.
Mickey Rooney going crazy as Dennis the Menace/Puck
Was that Ed Wynn giggling?
Joe E Brown.
and many other familiar lookers.

10:58 PM  
Blogger Glenn Buttkus said...

Well sir, that version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM was released in 1935. It was directed for the first week by William Dieterle, and finished up by Max Reinhardt, who finally won a law suit filed on him by a French film company, releasing him to work. The film was banned in Germany because the director, Reinhardt, was a Jew --and this was in 1935.
It starred:
James Cagney as Bottom.
Mickey Rooney as Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, a Fairy.
Joe E. Brown as Flute.
Dick Powell as Lysander.
Victor Jory as Oberon.
Olivia de Havilland as Hermia.
Mickey Rooney was only 14 when they filmed it. He broke his leg during the filming and had to be wheeled around behind the bushes for much of his scenes.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM has been filmed internationally 23 times, including 3 silent versions.

In 1968 there was a version directed by Peter Hall. It starred
David Warner as Lysander.
Diana Rigg as Helena.
Michael Jayston as Demetrius.
Helen Mirren as Hermia.
Ian Richardson as Oberon.
Judi Dench as Titania.
Ian Holm as Puck.
This version went straight to Brit and American TV, and it never had a theatrical release.

A version in 1982 was directed by Emile Ardolino, and it starred William Hurt as Oberon and Christina Baranski as Helena.

The newest theatrical version was in 1999, directed by Michael Hoffman. It starred:
Kevin Kline as Nick.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania.
Stanley Tucci as Puck.
Rupert Everett as Oberon.
Calista Flockhart as Helena.
Christian Bale as Demetrius.
David Strathairn as Theseus.
Roger Rees as Quince.
Sam Rockwell as Flute.

Probably about 7-8 or the filmed versions are available on DVD and VHS. I really like the energy in the 1935 version. Ed Wynn was not in it however. The closest he came to being in something like it was the voice of Disney's Mad Hatter in 1951's ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

Glenn

6:13 AM  
Blogger Lane Savant said...

The guy I saw giggled a lot like Ed Wynn

7:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Drang (deutsch) = pressure (English).
-- Anonomann

4:31 PM  

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