Friday, January 29, 2010

one million giraffes - Will your giraffe be one in a million?

"My friend, Jørgen, doesn't believe I can collect one million giraffes by 2011. I'm gonna prove him wrong, but I need your help. You can create your giraffe(s) in any way you like, but not on a computer and no store bought objects. You must create your giraffe(s) yourself!

So far I've got 538 229 giraffes, so I need 461 771 more and I have 336 days left.
Let's show Jørgen how amazing the internet is. Please send in your own giraffe!"


Maybe some of my followers can help Ola Helland?

Friday, January 15, 2010

RBB Kulturradio: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

1. Vorurteile: Warum Mendelssohn trotzdem ein guter Komponist ist
2. Auf preußische Art: Die Mendelssohns und die Berliner Singakademie
3. Eine Frage der Öffentlichkeit: Die Tradition der Sonntagsmusiken
4. "Göthe, sein Vorbild": Mendelssohn in Weimar
5. High Society: Kleine Revue der Mendelssohn-Zeitgenossen
6. Glaube und Gesellschaft: Abraham Mendelssohn und sein Judentum
7. Raphaelslocken: Felix, zweifellos ein Wunder(kind)
8. Vom Leben im Hinterhaus: Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Schwester und Frau
9. Vom Dasein als Weltbürger: Felix, Bruder und Künstler
10. Zwischen Geist und Geld: die Familie Mendelssohn
11. Enger als gedacht: Düsseldorf und die rheinischen Musikfeste
12. Ein Glücksfall: Leipzig und sein Gewandhaus
13. Lob des Taktstocks: Felix Mendelssohn als Kapellmeister
14. Von Schumann bis Mahler: Wenn Dirigenten komponieren
15. Der Schwierige: Mendelssohns Beethoven-Bild
16. "Dass ich ein Deutscher sei": Felix Mendelssohn auf Reisen
17. Bach und Händel: Mendelssohn als Bearbeiter
18. Bretter, die kein Glück bedeuten: Arbeiten fürs Theater
19. Der Mozart des 19. Jahrhunderts? Zur Mendelssohn-Rezeption I
20. "Rothe Korallen" und "grüne Seetiere": das Poetische bei Mendelssohn
21. Wagner und die Folgen: zur Mendelssohn-Rezeption II
22. "Die blauen Blümlein all’": Mendelssohn, ein Romantiker
23. Queen Victoria lässt bitten: zur Mendelssohn-Rezeption III
24. Magie des frühen Todes: das Jahr 1847
25. Konflikte: der deutsch-deutsche Mendelssohn
26. Feuerköpfe, Angsthasen, Museumswärter: Wie geht Mendelssohn?

200 Jahre Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Eine Sendereihe des RBB Kulturradio von Jänner bis Juni 2009. Von Christine Lemke-Matwey.
[Zum Originalpost]

Monday, January 11, 2010

What's a Lied? (from the FAQ of The Lied and Art Song Texts Page)

Q. What's a Lied?
A. The word Lied is German for song (pronounced /leet/). The plural is Lieder (pronounced /leeder/). Kunstlied is the proper term for "art song" in German, but music-lovers speaking English or French commonly refer to German art songs as just plain Lieder. Note that this site includes art songs in many languages (e.g., in French, the terms chanson and mélodie are used as well as lieder). There are also many madrigals, partsongs and choral works.

Q. OK, then what's an "art song"?
A. Like most categorizations in classical music (even the term "classical music" is problematic), this is a very difficult definition to make due not only to the blurring of lines that many contemporary compositions create, but also due to the overlap of popular music, pop classics, broadway musicals, and folk music. This definition is intended only as a rough guide to the genre.

An art song is a relatively short piece of music written by a person commonly referred to as a "composer", and set to a text intended to be poetic, for a classically-trained vocalist with some form of accompaniment (usually but not restricted to the pianoforte). During a performance, which is usually in a recital hall these days, even if the piece was originally intended for the salon, the audience sits quietly without smoking, eating or drinking (unless very stealthily). The singer is rarely also the composer of the song. The lighting rarely changes during a performance, and no special set, scenery, or costume (besides typical recitalwear) is required.

I could not say it better...

This is an excerpt from Emily Ezust's Lied and Art Song Texts Page. The Classical Iconoclast calls it "far and away the best source of Lieder and Song Texts", which I only can aggree.