Because of the alerts I receive, I was sent a link to something that included this:
Opus 36 is a suite for full orchestra. It has been played by the Boston Symphony, and consists of a brilliant Allegro; an Adagio of deep sincerity and beautifully varied color, a period wherein the brass choir, heavily scored, chants alone, and the division of the theme among the wood-wind over the rushing strings is especially effective; a very whimsical Andante with frequent changes of tempo, and 234 soli for the English horn in antiphony with the first oboe; and a madcap Presto that whisks itself out in the first violins.
So … anyone heard of Arthur Foote? This was a first for me. But then I’m not exactly full of knowledge.
Anyway … I couldn’t figure out what the “234 soli” meant. Then I realized … it’s the page number! Someone has copied text from here, but hadn’t taken out the page numbers. I’m not sure what the blogspot blogger is doing … maybe just copying chapter by chapter? Odd.
But anyway, now I want to find a recording of the suite, but iTunes and emusic.com don’t have it.
Anyone?
And Then …
Of course I had to read more of the book, because I should be practicing.
This caught my attention:
This is not the place to take up cudgels for a contest on the problem of woman’s right to respect in the creative arts. There are some, it is true, who deny fervently that the feminine half of mankind ever has or can or ever will do original and important work there. if you press them too hard they will take refuge up this tree, that all women who ever had had success have been actually mannish of mind, —a dodge in question-begging that is one of the most ingenious ever devised; a piece of masculine logic that puts to shame all historic examples of womanly fallacy and sophistry. It seems to me that the question is easily settled on this wise: it is impossible for a rational mind to deny that the best work done in the arts by women is of better quality then the average work done by men. This lets the cat’s head out of the bag, and her whole body follows pell-mell.
-Rupert Hughes American Composers – A Study of the Music of This Country and of Its Future with Biographies of the Leading Composers of the Present Time
Get anyone’s attention? 😉
Heh … so our best work is better than a man’s average work. Whew!
Anyway, it appears that the book is still under copyright or something, as what is at google books isn’t complete.
