Well howdy pardner! What’s saying you and me git us a couple bottles of sarsaparilly and head on down to yonder ballet and watch them bally dancers dance all purdy like?
Iconic American composer Aaron Copland wrote a number of ballets based on iconic American themes – Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, and Rodeo. Today’s piece is the opening movement of Rodeo, titled “Buckaroo Holiday.” May it bring out the inner cowboy in you.
Bring out your inner green with this lovely pastorale for string orchestra by Irish composer Arthur Duff.
Yup. I’m a Beliber.
The violin family of instruments reached a point of perfection around the year 1600; modern violins are virtually the same as the instruments made 400 years ago. Whenever humanity produces a new musical instrument (or any worthy invention, for that matter), humans go and push that instrument to the extreme. Enter Franz Biber.
Biber’s contribution to music includes a variety of choral and instrument music, sacred and secular. But mainly, he is remembered for his wicked violin skills, employing double stops and alternate string tunings (scordatura).
Just like Bieber, Biber had some legal issues, but no model-worthy mugshots. The Bib just skipped out on his employer, prince Karl II, for a better gig elsewhere (musicians were servants, and could not leave their royal employers without permission).
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