I hate election season. It’s just another version of professional wrestling, only with more name-calling and slightly less chair-throwing. (My apologies to pro. wrestlers for the comparison. I hope you aren’t insulted. Please don’t throw a chair at me.)
American composer Steven Mark Kohn has written a piece which pokes playfully at a politician’s speech. If only the real thing were this enjoyable.
Alas, poor Frederic’s father had intended his son to become a ship’s pilot, but his hard-of-hearing nanny misheard him, and instead indentured him to be a pirate. And to make matters worse, his contract said he was to be indentured until his 21st birthday, as opposed to his 21st year of life. Normally this would not be a problem, but, you see, Frederic was born on February 29th, and so in his 21st year, he was only a bit over 5 birthdays old …
Throw in a few pirate and policeman choruses, a patter song or two, and corny love story, and you’ve got yourself an opry! (As ridiculous as this plot sounds, it’s fairly normal as operas go.)
The Pirates of Penzance is a comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan. In this number, the Nanny and Pirate King explain to Frederic the bizarre circumstances that bind him to a life a piracy.
This 1983 movie version of the Pirates of Penzance is like a bang hangover from the 1970s. However, it captures the spirit perfectly, and I can’t deny that I kind of like the electronic orchestra.
Sometimes it’s the darkest, saddest moments of a person’s life that elicit the most beautiful artistic response.
Herbert Howells is a composer who is mostly unknown except to Anglican church musicians, who tend to adore his music. In 1935, his nine-year old son died, which profoundly affected him and his compositions. A few years later, World War II broke out, deepening his depression.
Out of this sadness came a much-beloved series of anthems, originally titled “In Time of War”. Legend has it that one of these, “Like As the Hart“, was composed as the Nazis were bombing London, where Howells lived. It paints haunting image, and the text used (from Psalm 42) is downright chilling: “Where is now thy God?”
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