Famous Notes

August 19, 2009

Composers with September Birthdays

September
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09/01/1653 – 03/03/1706 PACHELBEL, Johann - German. Pachelbel’s Canon (in ‘D’) – popular for many types of occasions including weddings with arrangements for every instrumental or vocal combination you might need.


09/05/1735 – 01/01/1782 BACH, Johann Christian – German.  Beethoven reportedly referred to J.C. Bach as, “the father of us all.”

  • Bach, Johann Christian – piano music – piano sonatas, etudes and more

09/06/1781 – 04/07/1858 DIABELLI, Anton – Austrian. Diabelli wrote a number of approachable works that include a number of chamber settings – he also wrote some very nice works for classical guitar.

  • Diabelli – piano music – piano sonatas, etudes and more
  • Diabelli – easy piano music – arrangements of piano music for beginners as well as studies and etudes
  • Diabelli – music for strings – string quartets; classical guitar and strings
  • Diabelli – music for voice – vocal works – art songs, Leider, arias, opera


09/08/1841 – 05/01/1904 DVORÁK, Antonín - Bohemian (Czech).  DVORÁK is probably best know for his New World Symphony and his Slavoic Dances (both orchestral works.)


09/08/1934-           DAVIES, Peter Maxwell – British – one well known work is Farewell to Stromness.


09/14/1760 – 03/15/1842 CHERUBINI, Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore – Italian – probably best known for his opera and orchestral works.


09/21/1874 – 05/25/1934 HOLST, Gustav Theodore – English.  The Planets, an orchestral suite is probably his most famous work.


09/24/1945-           RUTTER, John -  English.   The choral works of John Rutter include some of the most wonderful music written in the last century – a few titles of either original works or arrangements include:  A Gaelic Blessing, For the Beauty of the Earth, Requiem.


09/25/1683 – 09/12/1764 RAMEAU, Jean-Philippe – French.


09/25/1906 – 08/09/1975 SHOSTAKOVICH, Dimitri – Russian.  Shostakovich is probably best known for his symphonies and string quartets.


09/26/1898 – 07/11/1937 GERSHWIN, George – American. Two well known works: Porgy and Bess and An American in Paris.

July 15, 2009

Composers with August Birthdays

08/01/1780-01/11/1843 Key, Francis Scott -  American – Composer of the US National Anthem:  The Star Spangled Banner.

  • Francis+Scott+Key – piano music – piano sonatas, etudes and more
  • Francis+Scott+Key – easy piano music – arrangements of piano music for beginners as well as studies and etudes
  • Francis+Scott+Key – music for voice – vocal works – art songs, Leider, arias, opera

08/05/1683-03/21/1739 BACH (OF ARNSTADT), Johann Ernst – German (nephew of J. S. Bach)

08/22/1827-07/21/1870 STRAUSS, Josef -  Austrian (brother of Johann Strauss)

  • Josef+Strauss – piano music – piano sonatas, etudes and more
  • Josef+Strauss – easy piano music – arrangements of piano music for beginners as well as studies and etudes
  • Josef+Strauss – music for voice – vocal works – art songs, Leider, arias, opera

08/22/1862-03/25/1918 DEBUSSY, Achille-Claude – French.  Some famous works include Nocturnes and Preludes for piano and Claire de lune from Suite Bergamasque.

08/25/1918-10/14/1990 BERNSTEIN, Leonard – American.  Famous conductor (many recordings of both major and small works for orchestra) and composer – two well known works:  West Side Story (musical) and I Hate Music: A cycle of Five Kids Songs for Soprano and Piano.

  • Leonard+Bernstein – piano music – piano sonatas, etudes and more
  • Leonard+Bernstein – easy piano music – arrangements of piano music for beginners as well as studies and etudes
  • Leonard+Bernstein – music for voice – vocal works – art songs, Leider, arias, opera

08/31/1775-06/03/1849 FOSSA, Francois de Paule Jacques Raymond de – French.  Many works for guitar duos, trios as well as guitar with strings.

July 9, 2009

E-Books with Kindle

Recently featured on Oprah (and a recent price drop to $299…)

Something New – Gizmos: Amazon’s Kindle

Amazon Kindle is a revolutionary portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, newspapers, magazines and blogs to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display that looks and reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight.

Kindle customers, no matter where they are in the U.S., can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store and download new content  all without a PC or a WiFi hot spot. Amazon pays for Kindle’s wireless connectivity so there are no monthly wireless bills and no service commitments for customers. The Kindle Store contains over 300,000 books and related media that can be purchased and delivered wirelessly to Kindle, each in less than a minute. Customers can choose from hundreds of top newspapers, magazines and blogs and have their subscriptions auto-delivered wirelessly. All New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99, unless marked otherwise.

At 10.3 ounces, Kindle is lighter and thinner than a paperback book, carries two hundred books, and includes built-in access to The New Oxford American  Dictionary and wireless access to the Earth’s biggest encyclopedia, Wikipedia.org.

  • Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
  • More than 300,000 books available, including 100 of 112 current New York Times‘ Best Sellers.
  • New York Times Best Sellers and all New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
  • Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
  • Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes’ all auto-delivered wirelessly.
  • Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times all auto-delivered wirelessly.
  • More than 250 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post all updated wirelessly throughout the day.
  • Holds over 200 titles.
  • Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours.
  • Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones’ so you never have to locate a hotspot.

BTW – I don’t see this an an option for performance use with classical musicians – simply not enough screen space for a multi-page score. :)   However, it might be a good way to review scores for purchase…

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