Music Selections from Roger
| General Music |
Music has always been a very important part of Mom’s life.
Her children all learned to appreciate music and the emotive force it brings
to life. Communication through music seems both comfortable and
natural. Mom wanted to share with you the joy that music has given her
and so she has selected five pieces that were special to her at different
times of her life.
As a teenager, the music of George Gershwin was a bit hit in both Mom’s life as well as the general population. Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz orchestra was written in 1924. The composition is a significant step not only in American popular song and jazz but also in the move toward modernism. Mom asked that we play an extract from the beginning of the concerto. Rhapsody in Blue (2:30) I think Mom’s choice in this next work is influenced as much by the playwright as it is by the composer. Romeo and Juliet was set to music in a Fantasy Overture by Tchaikovsky in 1870. This romantic story captured Mom’s heart as a young adult and so she has selected the very familiar love theme. Romeo & Juliet (2:15) Many opera music lovers will, I believe, admit that they learned to appreciate the form by listening to Puccini. A biographer of Puccini once remarked: “The ability to write a good tune may be no guarantee of greatness. But the ability to write a good tune and then to place it seemingly effortlessly in the context of a work that is beautifully crafted, unerringly paced and precisely coloured is a token of genius that should never be underestimated.” Mom and Dad both became enchanted with opera when they first heard Puccini’s La Bohème. It is a good representation of Mom’s musical preference during her middle age years. From the opera, she has chosen a duet where the principal characters declare their love for each other while the young woman’s beauty is magnified by the moonlight. La Bohème (3:45) Over the years, Mom’s tastes in opera and theatre in general continued to grow and refine. She has been an avid supporter of the Calgary Opera Association, Theatre Calgary, and Alberta Theatre Projects. In this next selection, representing one of her favourites during her later years in life, she has chosen a part near the end of the Gounod’s opera Faust. Here, the heroine is forgiven and later taken to heaven amidst an angelic choir on Easter morning. Faust (1:30) To complete the musical selections, we take you back to the 1930s. When Mom was a child, she would play this piece over and over on a scratchy old vinyl record on a wind-up record player. The piece is a very popular show tune for violinists. I remember playing this as a young boy myself. It’s from an opera called Thais written by Massenet. Meditation from Thais (5:00) - video tribute unavailable
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