June 28

Debussy and Saint-Saëns as Seen by Viafora 
in Musical America

Today from Viafora’s “Gallery of Celebrities in Musical America we present the artist’s caricatures of the distinguished French composers Claude Debussy and Camille Saint-Saëns. We also include several interesting and amusing texts about them from Musical America. Why was Debussy “the most misunderstood man in the artistic world”? Why did Saint-Saëns insist on bringing his toothbrush to an evening soirée? Read on to find out!


Claude Debussy
Vol. 24 No. 26 ( 28 October 1916): 7; Vol. 18 No. 23 (11 October 1913): 2.

“Keeping in Touch with World’s Music Growth Through the Piano,”
Vol. 13 No. 13 (4 February 1911): 13.

Vol. 13 No. 22 (8 April 1911): 7. 

The following article was written by the soprano Maggie Teyte, whom Debussy personally chose to replace Mary Garden in the role of Mélisande for his opera, Pelléas et Mélisande.


Vol. 18 No. 23 (11 October 1913): 2. 

Read more from this article by clicking here: Maggie Teyte Corrects Some False Ideas About Debussy

Below, Mary Garden, who originated the role of Mélisande, speaks about her relationship with Debussy.

Debussy playing Debussy…

 

*         *         *


A 1900 photograph of Saint-Saëns alongside Viafora’s caricature of  the composer as “Samson” 
(left) Camille Saint-Saëns. photographed by Pierre Petit (1900); (right) Vol. 25 No. 2 (11 November 1916): 7.


“Echoes of Music Abroad,” Vol. 16 No. 11 (20 July 1912): 11. 

 

 


Vol. 35 No. 9 (24 December 1921): 1. 

Read more from this article by clicking here: “Musical World Loses Grand Old Man”

 

 

With the conclusion of this post, RIPM’s Curios, News and Chronicles signs off for a brief summer hiatus.  We will be back in September with more compelling and entertaining material from the musical press. In the meantime, the staff at the RIPM Center wishes you a wonderful summer!

 

RIPM search tip: In the event that you wish to pursue research on these two composers, note that the name Debussy appears in the RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals in 2,020 citations, and that of Saint-Saëns in 2,787 citations.  In RIPM’s European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), Debussy’s name appears on 17,767 pages, and Saint-Saëns on 31,692 pages! 

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

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***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein.  Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, RIPM European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

WWW.RIPM.ORG

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in Musical America
June 13

Leoncavallo and Montemezzi as Seen by Viafora 
in Musical America

Last week, we featured Gianni Viafora’s caricatures of Puccini and of Mascagni from the artist’s “Gallery of Celebrities” in Musical America. Today we showcase his drawings of two more Italian composers, Ruggiero Leoncavallo and Italo Montemezzi. We also include several texts about the composers from Musical America, a remarkable, though little-explored documentary resource, and include links to articles sampled below! Read a section of a remarkable review of Montemezzi’s now-rarely performed opera, L’amore Dei Tre Re, “one of the most deeply affecting and full-blooded scores since Wagner,” and an absolutely scathing obituary of Leoncavallo, a man whose passing was, for one writer, “of no significance to music.”

 


Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Vol. 24 No. 11 (15 July 1916): 7; Vol. 4 No. 9 (14 July 1906): 5.

Vol. 18 No. 25 (25 October 1913): 3.

 

 

Vol. 4 No.9 (14 July 1906): 10. 

Vol. 30 No. 16 (16 August 1919): 2.

“…the demise of Leoncavallo is of no significance to music. So far as he mattered artistically the man might have died a quarter of a century ago.”

Read the entire blistering obituary here: Leoncavallo Passes

 

Another Viafora caricature of Leoncavallo
Vol. 18 No. 25 (25 October 1913): 4.

 

 

*           *           *

 

Vol. 19 No. 10 (10 January 1914): 3. 

Read a section of this article by clicking here: Montemezzi “Success Unequivocal”

 


Italo Montemezzi
Vol. 24 No. 23 (7 October 1916): 7; Vol. 19 No. 10 (10 January 1914): 3.

 

“Let Simplicity Be the Composer’s Constant Objective, Adjures Italo Montemezzi,” Vol. 31 No. 4 (22 November 1919): 3. 

 

 

Vol. 19 No. 10 (10 January 1914): 4. 

A photograph of Montemezzi (left; in red) and Viafora (right; in red)
Vol. 31 No. 4 (22 November 1919): 3.

 

RIPM search tip: For more on Viafora and his drawings in Musical America, access the RIPM Preservation Series: European and North American Music Periodicals, as fill in the following fields: Periodical: Musical America (New York, 1898-1899, 1905-1922 [-1964]), Keyword(s): Viafora.

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

When is our next posting? To find out, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein.  Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, RIPM European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

WWW.RIPM.ORG

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in Musical America
June 6

Puccini and Mascagni as Seen by Viafora 
in Musical America

Last week, we introduced Gianni Viafora and his “Gallery of Celebrities” in Musical America.[1] Today we showcase his drawings of Puccini and Mascagni and compare them with contemporary photographs of the composers. We leave you to compare the skill and amusing refinement with which this all-but-forgotten artist depicts his subjects. We also include several texts from Musical America, a remarkable, though little-explored documentary resource, dealing with lesser-known elements of the composers’ lives. And, for the first time, we provide links to entire articles sampled below, no subscription required!

 


Giacomo Puccini
24 Vol. No. 1 (22 July 1916): 7; Vol. 29 No. 8 (21 December 1918): 1.

Note that Puccini is pictured lake-side, across from which is depicted his villa on Torre del Lago. Note also the tiny singing duck, perched on the end of the composer’s hunting rifle!

Puccini the Hunter
“…duck shooting, which he pursued with more energy than his composing…”

Watch this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYqIdOI_Rdw
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An anecdote:

“Personalities,” Vol. 13 No. 13 (4 February 1911): 20.


Vol. 13 No. 7 (24 December 1910): 8.

To read the entire article, click here: Puccini at Home”

 

*       *       * 

 


Pietro Mascagni 
Vol. 24 No. 14 (5 August 1916): 7;
 Vol. 24 No. 2 (13 May 1916): 29. 

Vol. 23 No. 25 (22 April 1916): 19. 

Two anecdotes:

     
“What the Gossips Say,” Vol. 6 No. 6 (22 June 1907): 14; “Echoes of Music Abroad,” Vol. 15 No. 24 (20 April 1912): 12. 

 
Vol. 16 No. 11 (20 July 1912): 27; Vol. 15 No. 24 (20 April 1912): 29. 

To read both articles, click here: Mascagni’s (in)fidelity

 

Mascagni at the piano…

More Viafora coming soon…

RIPM search tip: For more on Viafora and his drawings in Musical America, access the RIPM Preservation Series: European and North American Music Periodicals, as fill in the following fields: Periodical: Musical America (New York, 1898-1899, 1905-1922 [-1964]), Keyword(s): Viafora.

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

When is our next posting? To find out, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein.  Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, RIPM European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

WWW.RIPM.ORG

[1] See H. Robert Cohen, “Viafora’s ‘Gallery of Celebrities’ in Musical America (1915-1920),” Music Cultures in Sounds, Words and Images: Essays in Honor of Zdravko Blažeković, (Vienna: Hollitzer Verlag, 2018): 535-569.

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in Musical America
May 2

Celebrating the Birthday of Duke Ellington 
with a glimpse into a single journal issue 
in the forthcoming RIPM Jazz Periodicals

This week we celebrate the birthday of composer, pianist, and bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, born 29 April 1899.  Our forthcoming RIPM Jazz Periodicals collection contains a wealth of material related to Ellington, his music, his collaborators, and his band members that is otherwise unavailable or out of print.  Ellington related content also includes news and reports from national and international tours, illustrations, photographs, articles, reviews of concerts, recordings, and festival performances, discographies, interviews, and advertisements.

At the same time we are also demonstrating the massive content of RIPM Jazz Periodicals, by focusing on a single journal issue from among the thousands in this collection: Jazz [First Series], Vol. 1 Nos. 5-6 (January 1943). The issue deals exclusively with Ellington and represents but a tiny fraction of references to him in RIPM Jazz Periodicals. In fact, with ninety-seven of the one hundred journals now uploaded to our database, Ellington’s name appears on an astounding 16,681 pages!

  
The front and back cover of the Ellington issue of Jazz
Jazz [First Series], Vol. 1 Nos. 5-6 (January 1943).

 

Here are the titles of the principal articles in the issue.

***

***

***

***

***

 

Following is a selection of images from this issue…

Ibid., 7.

Ibid., 8. 

 

Ibid., 14. Ibid., 24. Ibid., 5. Ibid., 11,19.Ibid., 28. 

And finally, some snippets from the articles…

Ellington and the history of music…

Ibid., 9. 

Ibid., 18. 

A young Ellington “attached” to a piano stool…

Ibid., 11.  

Ellington and Strayhorn…

Ibid., 13.

The Duke and the Deb…

“A true master of jazz…”

 

RIPM search tip: Be on the lookout for more updates and posts on the RIPM Jazz Periodicals collection, coming soon!

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

When is our next posting? To find out, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein. Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

WWW.RIPM.ORG

Category: Curios and Chronicles, Illustration(s) of the Week | Comments Off on Celebrating the Birthday of Duke Ellington 
with a glimpse into a single journal issue 
in the forthcoming RIPM Jazz Periodicals
April 25

Handel: Anecdotes and Illustrations

Proposed by Marten Noorduin

Here are a few amusing reflections from the contemporary musical press about George Frideric Handel.

The American Musical Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1 (1 October 1834): [1]/1.

A corpulent man, Handel’s love of food and drink was a common subject of anecdotes. Some journals published accounts portraying the composer’s victual indulgences as acts of gluttony and greed.

The Euterpeiad, or Musical Intelligencer, Vol. 1 No. 39, (23 December 1820): 156.

Interestingly, this particular anecdote from The Euterpeiad is quite similar to one published two years later in a book entitled Anecdotes, Biographical Sketches and Memoirs by English novelist Laetitia-Matilda Hawkins. In this version, the “friend of Handel” is painter and engraver Joseph Goupy. “Enraged” that Handel stowed away a table of delicacies for himself, Goupy soon after created a piece of art “in which Handel figures as a hog in the midst of dainties.”[1] Known as “The charming Brute,” this depiction of Handel sitting at the organ surrounded by items of personal decadence has several iterations. The London journal Concordia (1875-1876) produced a facsimile of one of the engravings.

Joseph Goupy, “The charming Brute,” ca. 1750.
Concordia, Vol. 2 No. 38 (15 January 1876): 37

Two other versions of Goupy’s scathing illustration of Handel contain many similarities: the wine cask organ bench, the lavish meats hanging from the organ, and the composer’s hoggish features.

Joseph Goupy, “The charming Brute,” ca. 1750.  Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge.

 

Joseph Goupy, “The charming Brute,” ca. 1750.  Bridgeman Art Library.

Anecdotes about Handel also memorialized the composer’s sharp wit, sharper tongue, and, at times, bouts of irritability. The tale below tells of what might have happened if Handel reviewed someone else’s composition.

The Musical Journal, Vol. 2 No. 36 (8 September 1840): 150.

The Musical Herald, Vol. 6 No. 3 (March 1885): 56.

Those questioning the composer’s own musical decisions were subjected to perhaps worse vitriol.

The Euterpeiad, or Musical Intelligencer, Vol. 1, No. 32 (4 November 1820): 128.

The Harmonicon, Vol. 1 No. 9 (September 1823): [1p] 116/117.

Finally, as the anecdote below details, Handel’s propensity for criticism was apparently not only limited to others, but also to himself.

The Musical World, Vol. 38 No. 27 (7 July 1860): 435.

 

RIPM search tip: Searching “Handel” as a keyword in RIPM’s new Combined Interface reveals that his name appears at least once in an astounding 42,191 records! The RIPMPlus Platform’s Combined Interface search feature offers users fully integrated and simultaneous access to both the Preservation Series and to RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text with a single unified search results page.

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

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[1] Laetitia-Matilda Hawkins, Anecdotes, Biographical Sketches and Memoirs (London: F. C. and J. Rivington, 1822), 195ff, as quoted in Ellen T. Harris, “Joseph Goupy and George Frideric Handel: From Professional Triumphs to Personal Estrangement,” Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 71 No. 3 (September 2008): 432.

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April 11

Remembering Stravinsky
Forty-Seven Years After His Death

April 6th was the 47th anniversary of the death of the composer Igor Stravinsky, who first achieved international recognition for his three ballets commissioned by impresario Serge Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913).

The illustration below appeared in the Harvard Musical Review less than one year after the first performance of The Rite of Spring.

Harvard Musical Review, Vol. 2 No. 7 (April 1914): 2.

The French journal Musica published these comments after the premiere of The Firebird.

The new work was, ultimately, the Firebird; which was the most important artistic event of this Ballet Russe season. It is an admirable spectacle … this tale danced in one act has  exceptional musical value. For that very reason, and especially for that reason, it deserves special mention.

A true dance music that remains nevertheless real music! … that is well worth being especially praised.

It reveals a young Russian composer of the greatest talent: Mr. Igor Stravinsky.

Musica, Vol. 9 No. 95 (1 August 1910): 119.

 

Nearly three years later, news of the raucous premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was reported widely in the musical press. Many reports remarked on the composer’s dissonant score, including the following comments, published in Musical America.

Musical America, Vol. 18 No. 12 (26 July 1913): 10.

 

 This photo of an intense young Stravinsky in his studio in Petrograd, appeared three years later.

Musical America, Vol. 23 No. 9 (1 January 1916): 17.

In the same year, 1916, the following two short reviews of Stravinsky’s Petrushka demonstrate the reception of this work in the United States.

Musical America, Vol. 23 No. 13 (29 January 1916): 4.

 

By 1918, Stravinsky had already composed a seminal work in what is referred to as his “Neoclassical Period,” utilizing a small chamber ensemble.  Entitled The Soldier’s Tale (1918), it was described in the following report as being unlike anything Stravinsky had previously composed.

Musical America, Vol. 29 No. 5 (30 November 1918): 27.

 

One of the artists with whom Stravinsky maintained a long term relationship was Pablo Picasso, who on several occasions, produced sketches of the composer.

Stravinsky, sketched by Pablo Picasso
Pro-Musica Quarterly, Vol.3 No. 1 (March 1924): 4.

Russian avant-garde painter Michel Larionov also sketched Stravinsky along with a few of his Ballets Russes colleagues, including the impresario Serge Diaghilev, French writer, playwright, artist and film maker Jean Cocteau, and French composer Erik Satie.

Modern Music, Vol. 3 No. 1 (November-December 1925): [2].

Nine years after Larionov’s sketch was published in Modern Music, the journal published yet another sketch of the composer by Picasso, in 1934.

Modern Music, Vol. 12 No. 1 (November-December 1934): [2].

 

RIPM search tip: For more on Stravinsky, use RIPM’s Combined Interface and search “Stravinsky” as a keyword.

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When is our next posting? To find out, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein. Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

WWW.RIPM.ORG

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Forty-Seven Years After His Death
March 21

Experiencing Music Beyond One’s Fingertips: 
The Musical Touch of Helen Keller

In the journal Musical America during the 1910s there are reports on the musical listening experiences of American Helen Keller, a leading 20th-century author, political activist, lecturer, and champion of people with disabilities. Both deaf and blind as a result of a childhood illness, Keller became the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree and subsequently traveled to more than twenty countries advocating for the rights and equal treatment of those with disabilities. In the spring of 1916, tenor Enrico Caruso gave a private performance for Keller.

Musical America, Vol. XXIV No. 4 (27 May 1916): 28

The placement of Keller’s fingers on Caruso’s lips resulted in a mode of musical listening predominantly based on touch.  But rather than acknowledge Keller’s use of touch as a means of listening to music, an unsigned brief report in Musical America conveyed skepticism if not bias. By referring to Keller’s tactile encounter with Caruso’s voice as having “heard” and “listened” (with quotations), the report promoted the misconception that conventional hearing is the only authentic musical experience; consequently, casting doubt on whether Keller was engaged in a veritable musical encounter at all.  Unfortunately, this idea was popularly held in early 20th-century America.  But for Keller, touch was a powerful faculty that extended far beyond its perceived limits:

I think people do not usually realize what an extensive apparatus the sense of touch is. It is apt to be confined in our thoughts to the finger-tips.  In reality, the tactual sense reigns throughout the body, and the skin of every part, under the urge of necessity, becomes extraordinarily discriminating.  It is approximately true to say that every particle of the skin is a feeler which touches and is touched, and the contact enables the mind to draw conclusions regarding the qualities revealed by tactual sensation, such as heat cold, pain, friction, smoothness, and roughness, and the vibrations which play upon the surface of the body.

Helen Keller, Midstream: My Later Life (New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1929), 256. 

Below are more accounts, by Keller and by others that appeared in the same journal, reporting on her other tactile encounters with music.  A testament to Helen Keller’s remarkable life and work, these texts serve as an historical reminder of the progress made in understanding the diverse manner in which music can be experienced.


Musical America, Vol. XVIII No. 16 (23 August 1913): 10. 


Musical America, Vol. XIX No. 19 (14 March 1914): 41.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Musical America
, Vol. 21 No. 21 (27 March 1915): 35.

Jascha Heifetz playing for Helen Keller
The Musical Observer, vol. 28 no. 10 (December 1929): 13.

Musical America, vol. 25 no. 9 (30 December 1916): 6.

Fortunately, there is also video documentation of Helen Keller’s musical touch, this time listening to the opera singer Gladys Swarthout.

RIPM search tip: To view more on Helen Keller in Musical America, access RIPM’s Preservation Series: European and North American Music, and in “Advanced Search”, fill in the following fields: Periodical = Musical America (New York, 1898-1899, 1905-1922 [-1964]); Keyword =Helen Keller.

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

When is our next posting? To find out, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein. Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

WWW.RIPM.ORG

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The Musical Touch of Helen Keller
March 14

Announcing the forthcoming publication of  
RIPM Jazz Periodicals
 a collection of 100 searchable, full-text journals 

Charlie Parker Remembered


Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook,
s. v. No. 1 (1955): 37. 

This year RIPM will be releasing the second title in its Preservation Series, Jazz Periodicals, in collaboration with the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University and RIPM’s Partner and Participating Libraries.  The first phase of this collection will consist of approximately 100 American (U.S.) full-text jazz journals published in the main from the 1920s to roughly the year 2000.  Jazz Periodicals will be available exclusively on RIPM’s own specially-designed interface, the RIPMPlus Platform. In anticipation of this exciting new project, we will occasionally be selecting content from our jazz archive to be featured in RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles.  


 Bird’s Best Recordings

This week marks the 63rd anniversary of the untimely passing of the iconic jazz alto saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker (1920-1955). Perhaps the leading figure in the development of bebop, Parker’s approaches to melody, improvisation, harmonization, and rhythm continue to leave a lasting impression on contemporary jazz culture, raising the profile of jazz artists to creative intellectuals.  So significant were Parker’s contributions that when supposedly asked to comment on the history of jazz, trumpeter Miles Davis replied with just four words: Louis Armstrong; Charlie Parker. Also affectionately known as “Yardbird,” or “Bird,” Parker lives on today in his many classic live and studio recordings.

In celebration of the genius of Charlie Parker, we present the words of his fellow jazz artists commenting on their favorite Bird recording in Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook (1950-51, 1953-59).

 

Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook, s. v. No. 1 (1956): 81; Down Beat Music Yearbook, vol. 4 (1959): 11. 

Ko-Ko is widely considered one of the first compositions to usher in the bebop era.  The piece starts with Parker playing in unison with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (who also played piano for this recording), followed by the pair trading eight-measure melodic lines, then another brief unison passage, before Bird begins his solo.  Read more about the unusual history of this piece here.

 

 
The Record Changer, vol. 7 no. 9 (September 1948): 8; Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook, (1956): 80. 

Bird composed Relaxin’ at the Camarillo after a six-month stay at the Camarillo State Hospital in Ventura County, California, where he had been recuperating from alcohol and drug addiction.  In his book, West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz In California, 1945-1960, jazz historian Ted Gioia called the original recording of Relaxin’ “one of the most memorable from Bird’s California stay.”[1]

 

 
Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook, (1956): 82; Ibid., (1954): 19. 

Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) is a 1941 popular song originally written for jazz singer Billie Holiday by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and James Sherman.  Of the five versions of this standard recorded by Parker, the most famous Lover Man rendition is the 1946 recording for the Dial label in which Bird, strung out on drugs and booze, was apparently physically supported at the microphone by producer Ross Russell.

 

 
Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook, (1956): 82; Cadence, vol. 16 no. 5 (May 1990): 7.

Parker’s Mood was recorded on 18 September 1948 in New York City for Savoy Records.  Along with Bird on his alto saxophone, this recording features some of the great musicians of the early bebop era: Curley Russell on bass, John Lewis on piano, and Max Roach on drums.

 


Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook, s. v. No. 1 (1959): 14; Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook, (1956): 80.

We end today’s post at Bird’s musical beginnings.  Raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Parker joined the band of jazz pianist and fellow Kansas City native Jay McShann, in 1938.  Along with extensive touring experience, playing with McShann’s band gave Bird the opportunity to be featured on recordings for the first time.  Parker’s solo in the 1941 recording of Hootie Blues begins thirty-seven seconds into the clip below.

 

Three of the fathers of modern jazz: drummer Kenny Clarke, pianist Thelonious Monk, and Bird
Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook, s. v. No. 1 (1959): 56.

RIPM search tip: Be on the lookout for more updates and posts on the RIPM Preservation Series: Jazz Periodicals, coming soon!

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

When is our next posting? To find out, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein. Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

WWW.RIPM.ORG

[1] Ted Gioia, West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz In California, 1945-1960. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 26.

Category: Curios and Chronicles | Comments Off on Announcing the forthcoming publication of  
RIPM Jazz Periodicals
 a collection of 100 searchable, full-text journals 

Charlie Parker Remembered
March 7

Happy Birthday, Maurice Ravel! 
RIPM’s “Illustrations of the Week”


Musikalischer Kurier, vol. 2 no. 44 (29 October 1920): [405].

French composer, pianist, and conductor Maurice Ravel was born 143 years ago today, on 7 March 1875. The musical press published a number of interesting reviews throughout the early 20th century of his then recently premiered works. Today, we pay tribute to Ravel by sharing from our archives a few of these reviews.

The Baton, vol. 7 no. 6 (April 1928): 3.

Ravel completed his famous String Quartet in F Major at the age of 28. The New York premiere of this work was reviewed in the journal, The New Music Review and Church Music Review.

The New Music Review and Church Music Review, vol. 6 no. 63 (February 1907): 173.

 


A 1909 painting of Ravel by Achille Ouvré
Bulletin français de la Société Internationale de Musique (S.I.M), vol. 6 no. 8 (Aug.-Sept. 1910): xxvi.

 

In 1912, less than one year after the piece’s premiere, Ravel’s acerbic Huit valses nobles et sentimentales was reviewed evocatively in the Bulletin français de la Société Internationale de Musique.

Monsieur Ravel will forgive us if we confess to him that his Eight valses nobles et sentimentales make us irresistibly think of some exotic fruits: we grit our teeth when we bite into it for the first time: we return by curiosity, then by pleasure, and finally we end up loving them more than all the others: we are still in the period of mistrust.

Bulletin français de la Société Internationale de Musique (S.I.M), vol. 8 no. 2 (15 February 1912): 76.

Unsurprisingly, as with this 1910 review of his Rhapsodie Espagnole below, Ravel’s harmonic language and orchestration likened comparisons to the compositions of fellow Frenchman, Claude Debussy.

The New Music Review and Church Music Review, vol. 9 no. 98 (January 1910): 86-87.

 

Pro-Musica Quarterly, vol. 2 no. 1 (December 1923): 4. 

 

While some works by Ravel were received with mixed responses, others were hailed as immediate masterpieces. One such case was Boléro. Soon after its 1928 premiere, the piece was reviewed in the American journal Modern Music by Henry Prunières, a musicologist and founder of the French music journal, La Revue musicale. 

Modern Music, vol. 6 no. 2 (January-February 1929): 37. 

 


The Baton, vol. 7 no. 6 (April 1928): 1.  

Again, happy birthday, Maurice!

 

RIPM search tip: To access the over 8,000 records related to Maurice Ravel and his works, search “Ravel” as a keyword in both the RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text and Preservation Series: European and North American Music Periodicals!

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RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein. Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).

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Category: Curios and Chronicles, Illustration(s) of the Week | Comments Off on Happy Birthday, Maurice Ravel! 
RIPM’s “Illustrations of the Week”
February 21

Forty-Five Women Composers
in Early 20th-Century America

From June 1909 to April 1910, the journal Musical America published a series of forty-five illustrated articles entitled, “Women Composers of America”. This series, well in advance of its time, serves as an excellent resource for research on the presence, impact, and advocacy of American women in music during the early 20th century. Today, we spotlight five composers of particular interest, whose works range from parlor songs to large-form European concert music.

Vol. 10 No. 17 (4 September 1909): 15.

Listen to Helen Hopekirk’s Konzertstück in D minor by clicking here!

 

Vol. 10 No. 8 (3 July 1909): 15.

 

Vol. 10 No. 7 (26 June 1909): 15.

Interestingly, one of Anita Owen’s most popular songs, “Sweet Bunch of Daisies”, has over time become a standard of the bluegrass genre, so much so, that many enthusiasts are unaware of its parlor song origins.

 

Vol. 10 No. 21 (2 October 1909): 17.

 

Vol. 11 No. 6 (18 December 1909): 21.

Remember, these are just five of the forty-five women featured in this remarkable series!

RIPM search tip: To read all forty-five articles in the series, “Women Composers of America”, access RIPM’s Preservation Series: European and North American Music Periodicals, and in “Advanced Search”, fill in the following fields: Periodical = Musical America (New York, 1898-1899, 1905-1922 [-1964]); Keyword = women composers of america; Year = 1909 to 1910.

Click here to subscribe to RIPM’s Curios, News, and Chronicles! 

When is our next posting? To find out, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

***

RIPM is an international non-profit organization preserving and providing access to music periodicals published in more than twenty countries between approximately 1760 and 1966, from Bach to Bernstein. Functioning under the auspices of the International Musicological Society, and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres, RIPM produces four electronic publications: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals, Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text, European and North American Music Periodicals (Preservation Series), and RIPM Jazz Periodicals (Preservation Series, forthcoming).
Category: Curios and Chronicles | Comments Off on Forty-Five Women Composers
in Early 20th-Century America