Happy Birthday!

Topics centered more on music performance

Moderator: Hostrauser

Post Reply
User avatar
Hostrauser
Support Staff
Support Staff
Posts: 7984
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 6:46 am
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Contact:

Happy Birthday!

Post by Hostrauser » Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:31 pm

Today is the 127th anniversary of the birth of Igor Stravinsky. Go listen to one of his ballets in celebration. 8-)

User avatar
PGOK
Section Leader
Section Leader
Posts: 1356
Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2002 10:57 pm

Re: Happy Birthday!

Post by PGOK » Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:35 am

Hostrauser wrote:Today is the 127th anniversary of the birth of Igor Stravinsky. Go listen to one of his ballets in celebration. 8-)
I was looking for information about Stravinsky's few band piece, "Circus Polka" and found the following:

Circus Polka was originally choreographed by Balanchine for circus elephants, a commission from the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. The story is told that after receiving the commission, Balanchine immediately called his friend Stravinsky, to ask him to compose the music. "What kind of music?" asked Stravinsky. "A polka." was Balanchine's reply. "For whom?" "Elephants." "How old?" "Young." "If they are very young, I'll do it." The score's dedication reads: "For a young elephant." After its premiere as a dance for pachyderms, Circus Polka was rechoreographed by Balanchine for a one-time program (danced by School of American Ballet students) entitled "Adventures in Ballet," at Carnegie Hall on November 5, 1945.
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”

— Groucho Marx

User avatar
Hostrauser
Support Staff
Support Staff
Posts: 7984
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 6:46 am
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Contact:

Re: Happy Birthday!

Post by Hostrauser » Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:36 am

I did know it was for elephants. I did not know the rest. :lol:

Stravinsky's also the source of possibly the single-most useful quote regarding musical composition ever:
"I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge."

vore
Support Staff
Support Staff
Posts: 4510
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2002 10:54 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Happy Birthday!

Post by vore » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:04 pm

And... the piece was only played for the circus once. The elephants did not like the music and started to react in a very unsafe manner for the handlers and the audience.

We performed it in the CSU Fullerton Wind Ensemble under Benton Minor. It was a hoot! The facial expressions of the audience were priceless...

vore 8-)
"Educators are teachers who have taken an easy subject and made it difficult."

Post Reply