This week, a post was going around Facebook about the Worst Composer Hair in History. I’m glad someone finally called out Berlioz on the hideous mop he wore on his head.
Also mentioned in the post was Rossini‘s epic comb-over. Naturally, I immediately started hearing the overture to The Italian in Algiers in my head as I inspected his unsuccessful attempt to cover his shiny bald head. Fortunately for him, he also had an epic knack for writing melodies that are exciting, lyric, and most importantly, memorable – an honor which arguably makes him the most-borrowed-from-composer of Looney Tunes.
We visited Healey Willan during Holy Week, so it’s only fair to give him a listen now that we’re on the other side of Easter. His short, straightforward setting of the biblical text from Song of Solomon is simply sublime. The poetry is a fairly sensual celebration of two lovers, and is used in the Easter season as an allegory to Christ and his bride, the church.
To round off two weeks of Spring-related music, we’re returning to Glazunov, whose ballet “The Seasons” we heard last Monday. Besides that ballet, he wrote another Spring-themed piece earlier in his career. It’s lush, it’s green, it’s sweet, it’s warm, and it’s imperial Russian!
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