Tallis Scholars: Mother & Child

Tallis Scholars

Mother & Child

Meridian Arts Centre, Toronto

14th December 2025 

 

Programme: 

Tallis: Missa Puer natus - Gloria

Byrd: Votive Mass of the Virgin

Matthew Martin: Salve Regina

*Interval*

Tallis : Missa Puer natus - Sanctus and Agnus

Britten: A Hymn to the Virgin

Taverner: Mater Christi

Nesbett: Magnificat

I missed Chanticleer a few years ago so I couldn't miss the Tallis Scholars this time (though Chanticleer is back in 2026...)

The opening prayer (land acknowledgement) was longer & different from usual - it mentioned that the Mississaugas of the Credit came later than other indigenous groups, and talked about protecting the environment and working together in harmony and peace in a productive spirit.

Overall I enjoyed it a lot more than A Medieval Christmas by the Toronto Consort, which I attended 2 years back. Whether due to the time period of songs (Renaissance > Medieval & Early Renaissance), performers, acoustics (old churches < modern concert halls), seating (was on ground floor and it's a small venue so I was quite close to the stage) and/or my mood. Certainly the Tallis Scholars have an incredibly tight sound. 

The Tallis mass was split up, maybe so both halves of the performance could have Tallis works. The Agnus was draggy & repetitive.

There was a modern composition (Martin) which started off promisingly with an alto soloing the whole text in a Renaissance style but that was followed by the ensemble doing the rest of the piece in a modern style. The music might be technically consonant but in the same way Neoclassical Stravinsky is - it still doesn't sound good.

The Byrd mass was interesting in that the singers for the first part were a subset of the ensemble.

It seemed to be a more casual crowd, with many clapping between movements. Maybe they were subscribers to the variety of programmes presented by TO Live.

The Britten piece was interesting, with a call from the main choir (6 members singing in English) followed by a response from 4 members in the corner of the stage in Latin. It sounded better than most Britten works too.

The encore was French, which in this period has lower voices than English works and are darker & more somber (vs the bright and high English). Jean Mouton: Salva Nos, Domine.

The director Peter Phillips has been doing this for 52 years! That's some longevity. It's their 18th concert (in Toronto?) since the 80s. Not all were in the Meridian Arts Centre; the early ones, yes, when it was under a different name.

Links - 18th May 2024 (1 - Israel at Eurovision)

Israeli Eurovision singer Eden Golan is ordered to stay in her hotel room by her security team as thousands of pro-Palestine protesters including keffiyeh-wearing Greta Thunberg gather in Malmo, calling for her to be excluded - "Golan, who was born in Israel but grew up in Russia, has faced death threats ahead of her performances at the Malmo Arena... Protester Kasia Wiatrowska, from Malmo, wore a green T-shirt with the words 'Libre Palestine' on the back.  'I do like Eurovision,' Wiatrowska told Reuters. 'We all love music. But this year music is dividing people, and I don't like that,' she added. Another protester, Palestinian Amar, who only gave one name, said: 'I'm here today because I see the hypocrisy and double standards around the world.'"
More "mostly peaceful protests"
I like how you can make a political statement then complain that music is dividing people, and complain about double standards while vigorously upholding one yourself

Royal Vauxhall Tavern on X - "Royal Vauxhall Tavern will not be open for any event on Saturday night 11th May 2024."
Hen Mazzig on X - "Following a massive campaign, yet another LGBTQ venue in London will be shut down for a day to avoid airing Israeli singer at the Eurovision Song Contest.  LGBTQ spaces are supposed to be a safe space.  Queer spaces are not safe for me as a gay Jewish Israeli.  No other people are abused this way. Not Russian gays, not Chinese gays, not Syrian, Iranian, or Qatari gays, not even Palestinian gays from Gaza. Everyone is welcome to celebrate their identity at these spaces.  It is only us Israeli gays who are being targeted.  London is turning into a dark place."

BBC Newsnight on X - ""I've decided to join the boycott because of Israel's inclusion." Drag performer Crystal says she has cancelled her 800-person Eurovision viewing event because of the conflict in Gaza and Israel’s participation in the contest. #Newsnight"
Tamara 🎗 on X - "Peak Our BBC. Their two obsessions conjoined - drag queens and Israel."

Visegrád 24 on X - "BREAKING: 100+ Swedish policemen are transporting the Israeli singer Eden Golan to Malmo Arena in a very long convoy of police cars A police helicopter is flying above the convoy Eden is competing in the Eurovision Song Contest tonight in a city infamous for its antisemitism"
Gad Saad on X - "Who are they protecting her from?"

Hamas Atrocities on X - "Wanna lose any last residue of faith in the human race? Hear this! Greta Thunberg is in Malmö for the Eurovision song contest Today, to save the planet, she chanted with the crowds "Sinwar, we will not let you die" And "Jews, go back to Poland!""
It'd only "bullying" young people if the left don't hate them
Even if you pretend that the Jews really were from Poland, the left normally says it's racist and xenophobic to tell immigrants to go home. But as usual it's their double standards and racism at work

Julie Lenarz on X - "Greta Thunberg, who’s spoken many times about the systemic hatred and bullying she endured, was front and centre at the pro-Hamas protests in Malmö, Sweden today — trying to harass and bully Israeli singer Eden Golan."

Politics1.com on X - "Leftist activist Greta Thunberg joining protest in Sweden calling for Jewish Israeli singer Eden Golan to be barred from participating in the popular television Eurovision singing contest..."
AG on X - "How foolish do regular liberals have to feel for having promoted this ignorant clown as she joins a mob that was practically ready to lynch a 20 year old girl participating in a singing competition simply for her nationality?  Thing is that the cause was never about the environment, carbon emissions, or climate change. It was always about control. The environmentalism was just a vehicle through which to launder a Marxist restructuring of society. Hopefully more people see that now."

Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇦🇹🇼 on X - "Can somebody explain to me why Greta and all these protesters didn’t rally against the inclusion of Azerbaijan in Eurovision considering Azerbaijan just carried out ethnic cleansing in Armenia. There must be some kind of explanation."

Wokal Distance on X - "Why is climate change activist Gretta Thunberg at a Palestine protest you ask? Because the issue is never the issue, the issue is always the revolution - and both climate change and Palestine are issues the left uses to build support for their revolution."

Meme - Visegrád 24 @visegrad24: "Some people are asking why Greta is attending the huge anti-Israel protest ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden today  The answer is that she was raised that way  This picture shows her & her parents wearing t-shirts of the militant far-left Antifa group  🇸🇪🇮🇱"

Meme - Visegrád 24 @visegrad24: "1500 Jews living in Malmö, Sweden are forced to leave town or shelter at home during the Eurovision Song Contest this week due to the rampant antisemitism in the city.  Meanwhile, the city’s mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh is posting pictures on supporting anti-Israel protesters"

Meme - Abasine @Abasine_bosnae: "I'd rather see #Palestine on #Eurovision2024 than disgusting and illegal state #israel"
Adam Sellers: "We've seen what Palestinians do to music festivals, Abasine."

Meme - Israel at music festival: *Eden Golan*
Palestine at music festival: *Hamas attack*

Hen Mazzig on X - "20 years-old Israeli singer, Eden Golan, was dancing with Finish singer Käärijä today, the video got thousands of hateful comments to the point that the Finish singer had to apologize for being seen with this Israeli girl.  Can you think of any other country which an artist will have to apologize for being seen with another artist from that nation?  “Dancing with this British singer isn’t an endorsement of Rishi Sunak”  “Dancing with this Chinese singer isn’t a political statement”  “Dancing with this Russian singer isn’t a political statement”  “Dancing with this Palestinian singer isn’t a support for Hamas or the PA”   “Dancing with this American singer isn’t a political endorsement of Trump”  No, you can’t, because no other country and no other people have been dehumanized this way.  This isn’t about peace, it’s not even about love for Palestinians. It’s just about your hate to the only Jewish state."

Jerry Coyne on X - "Käärijä had to apologize and delete the video simply because she was Israeli. Hundreds of protestors--in SWEDEN!--boo her simply because of where she came from. (She's in the Eurovision song contest.) This is not a protest against the Israeli government; it's antisemitism."

Meme - Sophie Corcoran: "Look at the state of the Irish lot on Eurovision. Jesus"

Meme - Joel Berry @JoelWBerry: "Not even professional wrestling could come up with a more on-the-nose good vs. evil showdown" *Irish devil vs Israeli angel*
Of course the left were cheering the devil, e.g. on George Takei's page

Hen Mazzig on X - "In a classic act as if taken from Hamas’ textbook, Ireland’s Eurovision contest entrance, Bambie Thug, who launched non-stop attacks on Israelis, is now claiming to be the victim. Bambie says that an Israeli broadcaster insulted them and they now demand that Israel be removed from the Eurovision.
Recap: Ireland Eurovision representative, 31-year-old Bambie Thug who identifies as a “Goth-Gremlin-Goblin-Witch” and practices "neo-pagan blood magic" during their menstruation—said she cried Israel’s Eden Golan, 20, made it to the finals. She continually called to ban Israel and when the Dutch contestant Joost Klein was banned for beating up a Swedish photographer, Bambie said “I feel sad because Joost is pro-Palestine.”
Bambie Thug says a commentary made by Israeli broadcaster breached the rules of the Eurovision, and that Israel should no longer be allowed to participate in the competition.  "There’s a lot more anger and a lot more drive in me now," Bambie Thug said in an interview today.  On Tuesday, a commentator on Kan, the Israeli public service broadcaster, warned TV viewers with children that Bambie Thug’s performance of their song, *Doomsday Blue* would be "the most scary" of the night.  "There will be a lot of spells and black magic and dark clothing, Satanic symbols, and voodoo dolls, like we are at Cats Square in Jerusalem in the mid-90s," the commentator said, referring to a well-known public square in Jerusalem that was central to the city’s nightlife in the 1990s and synonymous with goth culture.  The commentator said there was "some controversy" in Ireland about the song, referencing a petition calling on RTÉ to disqualify Doomsday Blue as Ireland’s entry.  He also noted that Bambie Thug liked to "speak negatively about Israel". "But we can talk about that later. Prepare your curses," he said.  Now Bambie, who is usually proud to tell everyone about thisr  "neo-pagan menstruation blood magic” is upset that Israeli broadcaster told audience to “prepare their curses”  Give me a break."

Henry McKean on X - "“I cried with my team.” Ireland 🇮🇪 Eurovision finalist Bambie Thug is asked how they felt when Israel qualified for the #EUROVISION final."
Gareth Roberts on X - "It is striking that so much of the angsty cultural decay around formerly mass-popular, frothy confections - Eurovision, sci-fi, sports - comes from these things being colonised and soured by geeky mediocrities; people who need a grievance label to succeed, because in a system that rewarded merit and competence they’d get nowhere.   Of course, even worse are the silly old fools who enabled them to do it, in the hilarious belief that this was hip and groovy and would therefore make them look super cool.   Clearing this crap out of political public life and the law, etc is a tough task, but as some modest recent advances have shown, it is at least *possible*. Ridding the cultural and creative sector of it will be much"

Open Source Intel on X - "WATCH Irish Eurovision contestant Bambie Thug breaks down in tears after losing to Israel, expressing frustration in a shocking, profanity-laden rant. "It's been so horrible for us... Forget the EBU. I don't even care anymore. Forget them."
What a sore loser

Meme - Richard Hanania @RichardHanania: "I don't follow Eurovision closely enough to know if this generalizes, but from the clips I see all the attractive ones support Israel and the weirdos don't. Sort of like the rest of the world."
Oli London @OliLondonTV: "Georgian Eurovision contestant Nutsa Buzaladze sends love to her Israeli fans. love you guys so much. Thank you for the votes and thank you for your support. All my love.""

Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 on X - "Palestinian protesters in Sweden demanded that a reporter prove he’s not Jewish or Israeli. The reporter bravely announced that’s he’s both. So they hit him over the head with a blunt object."
Ynet reporter beaten by protesters in Malmo: 'A blunt object hit my head hard'

Mahler on Schoenberg

"The early works of Schoenberg always come as a pleasant shock to listeners expecting a grueling atonal exercise. The music exudes a heady, luxurious tone, redolent of Klimt’s gilt portraits and other Jugendstil artifacts. Brash Straussian gestures mix with diaphanous textures that bear a possibly not coincidental resemblance to Debussy. There are spells of suspended animation, when the music becomes fixated on a single chord. The chamber tone poem Transfigured Night, written in 1899, ends with twelve bars of glistening D major, the fundamental note never budging in the bass. Gurre-Lieder, a huge Wagnerian cantata for vocal soloists, multiple choruses, and supersized orchestra, begins with a great steam bath of E-flat major, probably in imitation of the opening to Wagner’s Ring. Yet all is not well in Romantic paradise. Unexplained dissonances rise to the surface; chromatic lines intersect in a contrapuntal tangle; chords of longing fail to resolve...

Mahler found Schoenberg’s music mesmerizing and maddening in equal measure. “Why am I still writing symphonies,” he once exclaimed, “if that is supposed to be the music of the future!” After a rehearsal of Schoenberg’s First Chamber Symphony, Mahler asked the musicians to play a C-major triad. “Thank you,” he said, and walked out. Yet he made a show of applauding Schoenberg’s most controversial works, knowing how destructive the critics and claques of Vienna could be."

--- THE REST IS NOISE: LISTENING TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY / ALEX ROSS

LOST SOULS - Childhood Died (Kylo Ren's a b!*%h)

My childhood became a lie the day the Luke Skywalker died from being tired
How the fuck do Jedi die from being tired?
My childhood became a lie the day that Han Solo just died and I didn’t cry
I should have cried, I should have cried when Han died

You took a shiit on everything  sacred when you
Killed these men, and with them any dream I ever had
And now Im stuck with nothing in my heart but pain,
Regrets it should have never been this way.
Kylo Ren’s a bitch
And why the fuck did Leia run past Chewie straight to fucking Rey?
I waited 30 fucking years
To watch a Jedi master slay not just drink blue fucking milk

Fuck you for killing everything I love
How the fuck do you even have a job?
You pissed all over something sacred now its time to pay
Your worse than Jar Jar worse than Hayden worse than anything

RIP Patricia Janečková

Dictionary of Musical Terms

Dictionary of Musical Terms

JAZZ: Five men on the same stage all playing different tunes.

BLUES: Played exclusively by people who woke up this morning.

WORLD MUSIC: A dozen different types of percussion all going at once.

OPERA: People singing when they should be talking.

RAP: People talking when they should be singing.

CLASSICAL: Discover the other 45 minutes they left out of the TV ad.

FOLK: Endless songs about shipwrecks in the 19th century.

BIG BAND: 20 men who take it in turns to stand up plus a drummer.

HEAVY METAL: Codpiece and chaps.

HOUSE MUSIC: OK as long as it's not the house next door.

Rebecca Black's Friday as Doomsday Prophecy

"To start, analyze the name of the singer, "Rebecca Black".

 

"Rebecca" comes from the Hebrew "Ribkah", meaning to bind something, or trap something.

 

"Black" comes from the old Norse "Blakr", meaning "Darkness."

 

So, her name roughly means "bound darkness" or "entrapped darkness".

 

This is a reference to Fenrir, the the world ending wolf that was bound by the gods in Norse mythology, but will break free in the time of the world's end.

 

Also, her middle name is "Renee", which literally means "Rebirth"

 

Moving onto the song, and the music video as well, it starts by her chanting "Yeah-yeah-yeah" while an image of a clock progressing comes into view.

 

While you could be forgiven for thinking this was just random shit posting by the lyric writer, it was not. The sound is meant to replicate the word "Yera", which means "Year", and the rune for which represents cycles and the passing of time. This is a reference to the Norse concept of cyclical destruction and rebirth. One world ends, and in its end, the next is birthed into a new life.

 

The song continues;

 

"Seven AM, waking up in the morning

Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs

Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal

Seeing everything, the time is going

Ticking on and on, everybody's rushing

Gotta get down to the bus stop

Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends"

 

This portion represents the continual struggle of man against the futility of its existence, engaging in the same thing day after day, repeating the same actions to no change and to no remaining effect. The "week" here represents the process through one of these cycles, between the birth and destruction, where in people simply go through motions waiting for their destruction.

 

"Kicking in the front seat

Sitting in the back seat

Gotta make my mind up

Which seat can I take?"

 

This portion demonstrates the futility of our decisions, mocking our indecisiveness for placing determinant value on life decisions that will ultimately have all impact wiped away when this world is destroyed and reborn.

 

"It's Friday, Friday

Gotta get down on Friday

Everybody's looking forward to the weekend, weekend

Friday, Friday

Getting down on Friday

Everybody's looking forward to the weekend."

 

Here, "Friday" represents the final hours before the world's end, the only time where the people of that cycle can truly understand the nature of their reality, and the only time where they can truly appreciate their destruction. It's an acceptance of the end, and a celebration of what's to come. (I.E. the next "week")

 

"Partying, partying, Yeah!

Partying, partying, Yeah!

Fun, fun, fun, fun

Looking forward to the weekend."

 

These lines represent an acknowledgement and celebtration of the Yera, the cycle.

 

They celebrate the passing of one week onto another, and accept the "weekend" as a necessary completion of their futility, not to be feared, but to be appreciated as the final chapter of this story, giving the only true meaning to it that it ever had.

 

"Seven fourty-five, we're driving on the highway

Cruising so fast, I want time to fly

Fun, fun, think about fun

You know what it is
I got this,you got this.

My friend is by my right, ay
I got this,you got this.
Now you know it"

 

Here, the lyrics represent a rush towards the end, to confront it head on.

 

In the video, the singer has two friends, one to each side. However, the lyrics only note the one to her right.

 

This is a reference to the story of Odin's charge against death in the end times. Odin famously sacrificed his right eye, and is therefore blind on his right, which is why the lyrics, which are depicting a readiness in an onward charge, only require an ally to guard the right flank. The "right hand man" archetype is a guard against the blindspot.

Congratulations!

Congratulations that was one of the stupidest things that I've ever seen anybody post on the internet before.

"Congratulations
That was one of the stupidest things
That I’ve ever seen
Anybody post on the internet before
Congratulations
The bar is high
Cuz people post lots of stupid things
But your stupid thing
Was somehow the leader of the pack"

Sadly, the full song is actually pro-trans shit - the original seems to be Austin Archer's Congratulations!, from Now That's What I Call a Bunch of Austin Archer's TikTok Songs Compiled Into an Album Vol. 2: 

Congratulations
That was one of the stupidest things
That I’ve ever seen
Anybody post on the internet before
Congratulations
The bar is high
Cuz people post lots of stupid things
But your stupid thing
Was somehow the leader of the pack
You just said
I don’t know what pronouns are
And I won’t learn cuz learning’s hard
Instead I’ll regurgitate a half-baked stolen
Opinion
People like you make me sad

Aerosmith's Reunion

"Aerosmith's first post-reunion rehearsals. staged at the Glen Ellen Country Club an hour south of Boston, were rough going. “I had to come back to the house and wash down about six Valiums the size of manhole covers with a six-pack of beer just to calm down,” Perry told Pond. Still firmly ensconced in a drug-and—booze haze, the members had trouble recalling how to play their own songs, no one more so than Tyler. According to Collins, at a get together at WBCN Boston radio disc jockey Mark Parenteau's apartment one evening revealed just how dire the situation was. Parenteau began spinning old Aerosmith records, and, hearing the Toys in the Attic cut “You See Me Crying," Tyler commented. “‘ Hey! That’s great! We should cover this. Who is it?’ Joe [said] , 'It's us, fuckhead.'" The manager was shocked. “Steven hadn’t recognized it," Collins continued. “He’d never sung it in concert, so he’d forgotten it"...

Financially at least. the jaunt was an undeniable success. Ticket and T-shirt prices had increased exponentially since Aerosmith's ’70s heyday, and even with playing considerably smaller halls, the band grossed $5 million in receipts, which, through a bit of fancy accounting work, they were able to shield from Leber-Krebs. “We set up a different legal entity each night for each concert so we could stay one step ahead of the sheriff." Kramer explained in Hit Hard. “Some nights we were performing under the auspices of Large Penis. Inc. Other nights it was Big Belly Productions. After a while Krebs gave up and left us alone.""

--- Aerosmith / Richard Bienstock

Shall I wed an aged man

Fol. 228. The evils incident to marriage between January and May form one of the commonest themes of the ballad-writers : cf. no. XXVI, stanza 4 ; no. LXIV, stanza 23.

The complaint of a widdow against an old man.

To the tune OF Trentam's Toy.

SHALL I wed an aged man,
that groaneth of the Gout,
And lead my lyfe in miserye,
within doores and without?
No ! I will haue a Batcheler,
of lyvely bloud and bone,
To cheare me in my latter dayes,
or els I will haue non.

For yf I take a Batcheler
that can both skyp and springe,
Then he will be my comforter,
to giue me every thinge.
If I be sad, or sorowfull,
at boord or els at bed,
A youngman will be pittyfull,
and help to hould my head.

An aged man is testye,
and set to hoorde and hyde;
With lame legges and restye,
bewayling back and syde.
A young man he is beautyfull,
couragious, trick, and trim ;
And looketh with a merry cheere,
when aged men looke grim.

Better is a Batcheler,
of bone and body sound,
Then is an olde leacherer
with twentye thousand pound.
Who is so bad a market-man,
that buyeth flesh or fishe,
But lightly choseth for to haue
the yongest in his dishe?

Young bloud renueth olde,
as Phisicke doth expresse ;
And age is ill to be contrould,
but cursse where they should blesse :
But yf I haue a young man,
and chaunce to catch the quacke,
He will provide me delicats,
and cheare me vp with sacke.

An aged man is quaffinge
in every cup or can,
with ioynts and synnewes shakinge,
much like a deadly man.
But looke vpon a young man,
in him yow shall espye
A good face, and a iollye cheere,
a pleasant rowlinge eye.

His countenaunce is chearfull,
at bed and eke at boorde;
His talke is never sorrowfull,
but Heigh ! at every word.
An old man's coate it is beraide,
all overthwart the brest.
A young man is well-favored,
well-browed, and finelye drest.

An aged man comes drooping home,
as on that wanteth lyfe. A young man sayes, when he comes in,
' Come, kysse me, gentle wife !'
And yf I take a young man,
although his wealth be small,
If that he vse me honestlye
he shall be lord of all.

Behould the little Spanniell,
and every beast in briefe,
Will likke, and leape vpon, their feete
by whom they find releife.
Much more then will a witty man,
whom natur's worke hath wrought,
Must loue the woman faythfullye,
that maried him of nought.

[L'Envoy]
Therefore I am determined
I cannot liue alone,
But I will haue a Batcheler,
or els I will haue none.

--- Shirburn Ballads, No. LXVI / Anon


In modern English spelling:

SHALL I wed an aged man,
that groaneth of the Gout,
And lead my life in misery,
within doors and without?
No ! I will have a bachelor,
of lively blood and bone,
To cheer me in my latter days,
or else I will have non.

For if I take a bachelor
that can both skip and spring,
Then he will be my comforter,
to give me every thing.
If I be sad, or sorrowful,
at board or else at bed,
A young man will be pitiful,
and help to hold my head.

An aged man is testy,
and set to horde and hide;
With lamey legs and resty,
bewailing back and side.
A young man he is beautiful,
courageous, trick, and trim ;
And looketh with a merry cheer,
when aged men look grim.

Better is a bachelor,
of bone and body sound,
Then is an old lecherer
with twenty thousand pound.
Who is so bad a market-man,
that buyeth flesh or fish,
But lightly choseth for to have
the youngest in his dish?

Young blood reneweth old,
as Physicke doth express ;
And age is ill to be controlled,
but cursed where they should bless :
But if I have a young man,
and chance to catch the quack,
He will provide me delicats,
and cheer me up with sack.

An aged man is quaffing
in every cup or can,
with joints and sinews shaking,
much like a deadly man.
But look upon a young man,
in him you shall espy
A good face, and a jolly cheer,
a pleasant rolling eye.

His countenance is cheerful,
at bed and eke at board;
His talk is never sorrowful,
but hey! at every word.
An old man's coat it is beride,
all overthwart the breast.
A young man is well-favored,
well-browed, and finely dressed.

An aged man comes drooping home,
as on that wanteth life.
A young man says, when he comes in,
' Come, kiss me, gentle wife !'
And if I take a young man,
although his wealth be small,
If that he use me honestly
he shall be lord of all.

Behold the little Spaniel,
and every beast in brief,
Will lick, and leap upon, their feet
by whom they find relief.
Much more then will a witty man,
whom nature's work hath wrought,
Must love the woman faithfully,
that married him of nought.

[L'Envoy]
Therefore I am determined
I cannot live alone,
But I will have a bachelor,
or else I will have none.

Unexpected Tonality / Geographic Music

Via Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum : Podcasts:

46. Not Exactly What I Expected

"Some of us start to get a little anxious when we hear those second Viennese school names—Schoenberg, Berg, Webern. These composers are known for their atonal works, which are wonderful, but can be thorny at first listen. So it's always interesting to see an audience's reaction to, for example, Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht - a luscious string sextet about a 180 degrees from what most of us think of as Schoenberg"

47. From Florence, With Love

"We often think of classical music as having a specific geographic origin, and indeed there are a lot of generalizations that can be made about the classical traditions of different countries. The French we often think of as expert colorists, the Germans as very structural in approach, and the Italians as melodic masters. But with a piece like Souvenir de Florence, a Russian composer’s memory of Florence, Italy, presented under a French title, those generalizations won’t help you much... In “Don Juan’s Serenade” we have a Spanish character, a Russian poem and an Italian vacation. You definitely can’t pin it down by geography, but when the music is this enjoyable, who cares?"

The Meaning of Don McLean's American Pie

Best of Today: The Meaning of Don McLean's American Pie (7/4/15)

Alexis Petridis (head rock and pop critic at the Guardian): I think the whole song, what it's saying, it's about a very, sort of specific moment in American popular culture.

The song comes out in 1971, at which point the sort of 60s dream, the late 60s kind of utopian flower power whatever you want to call it, dream, has curdled very dramatically, as a result of the Altamont festival, which is 1969 where people got murdered while the Rolling Stones were played by Hell's Angels.

And what it strikes me that American Pie is doing is looking back at the 60s and going, well all these things happened. It mentions John Lennon, it mentions Bob Dylan, it mentions The Birds, all these people.

But, for all these sort of advances that took place in music and popular culture, what happened to the original sort of innocence of rock and roll? Y'know? That seems to be the question that it's posing...

Host: We all think that music was at its greatest when we were, well when we're in our teens, I suppose.

AP: Absolutely, and that's why the song, I think, rings down through the ages.

Y'know, it's a long time since the sort of moment that I'm talking about, in the early 70s when this would've hit home... music is always most exciting when you're 15 years old. And everybody, everybody thinks that.

The Appeal of Hard Rock

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Friday's business with Simon Jack:

Peter Mensch: Hard Rock used to appeal essentially to your average 15 year old male.

He had bad skin, he didn't like his parents, he couldn't go out- girls didn't like him, and he was an angry kid... frustrated. Frustrated *something*

And lo and behold, there were 10,000 other frustrated people, like yourself.

The problem is, interestingly in hard rock, is we ask this all the time: where is the new Metallica?

Please, anybody out there who's in a Hard Rock Band under the age of 25, call me, we need you

Into The Words

Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits - Volume I



STEPHEN
Once upon a time!
(Lights up on a bearded man at the side of the stage. He is Stephen
Sondheim. The MUSIC begins.)

STEPHEN
There was a great songwriter called Stephen Sondheim. He had many, many hit shows, among which
were Sunday In The Park With George...
(A "Dot" character enters, holding an umbrella.)

DOT
I WISH...
(Turns right in profile and freezes)

STEPHEN
Sweeney Todd!
(SWEENEY ENTERS scaring DOT by raising his bloody razor so that
she counters to the right of him.)

SWEENEY
I WISH…

STEPHEN
And the fairy tale musical Into The Woods.
(A LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD ENTERS, carrying a basket.)

RIDING HOOD
I WISH...
(She is left of DOT and smiles at audience, then freezes.)

STEPHEN
All the characters in all the shows were very happy to be in a prestigious Sondheim musical, except for a
few things…

RIDING HOOD
I WISH.
I WISH THIS SHOW WAS MORE MELODIC!
I WISH.
(Sticks her tongue out at SONDHEIM, and freezes again.)

SWEENEY
I WISH.
I WISH THIS SHOW WAS LESS PRETENTIOUS.
I WISH.
(SWEENEY raises his razor high, and freezes.)

DOT
(Faces forward)
I WISH.
I WISH THE LYRICS WEREN'T SO WORDY.
I WISH.

STEPHEN
(As he crosses to center in front of his characters:)
You see, with Sondheim shows people sometimes miss the point. They're supposed to listen and go...Into
the words.
(Each character joins SONDHEIM on his or her line.)

RIDING HOOD
INTO THE WORDS

SWEENEY
INTO THE WORDS

DOT
INTO THE WORDS

ALL
INTO THE WORDS

STEPHEN
THE METAPHORS, THE SYNONYMS, THE PERFECT SCAN

ALL
INTO THE WORDS

STEPHEN
THE DETAIL AND THE TRICKY LITTLE PHRASES

ALL
INTO THE WORDS

SWEENEY
THE WHAT, THE WHERE, THE WHEN, THE WHY
THE PLOT BEGAN

ALL
INTO THE WORDS

DOT
THE WORK, THE CRAFT

RIDING HOOD
THAT GARNERS ALL THE PRAISES
(They skip in a counter-clockwise circle.)

ALL
INTO THE WORDS!
INTO THE WORDS!

DOT
THE MUSIC WAITS

ALL
INTO THE WORDS!
INTO THE WORDS!

STEPHEN
THE LYRIC STATES THAT

ALL
INTO THE WORDS

STEPHEN
YOUR CONTENT ALWAYS COMES BEFORE YOUR FORM AND STYLE

ALL
INTO THE WORDS

STEPHEN
INTERNAL RHYMES THAT EVEN BAFFLED MERMAN

ALL
INTO THE WORDS
A QUICK EXCHANGE
SO VERY STRANGE, YOU'LL CRY AND SMILE

STEPHEN
AND NEVER REPEAT A VERSE OR BRIDGE
THIS ISN'T JERRY HERMAN
(They link arms and skip upstage, then downstage.)

ALL
INTO THE WORDS
INTO THE WORDS

STEPHEN
THEY ALWAYS TEACH
ALL
INTO THE WORDS
INTO THE WORDS

STEPHEN
TO HEAR ME PREACH
THE THOUGHTS ARE CLEAR
IF UNDERSTOOD
I HAVE NO PEER
'CAUSE I'M SO GOOD

THE SCORE IS THE STAR
THE STARS ARE JUST WOOD
I SORT OF HATE TO ASK IT
BUT WHAT'S A RHYME FOR BASKET?

ALL
INTO THE WORDS
THAT TRIP YOUR LIP, AND FRY YOUR BRAIN
AND SPRAIN YOUR TONGUE
INTO THE WORDS
A CAVE SO DARK
YOU'D BETTER BRING A TORCH IN

INTO THE WORDS
THAT FLY AND TRY TO MAKE YOU
CHOKE THE JOKE YOU'VE SUNG
INTO THE WORDS
MORE LETTERS THAN
THEY SELL ON WHEEL OF FORTUNE
(RIDING HOOD goes offstage right and brings on a large board with
the words to the song on it; she hands it to SONDHEIM.)

STEPHEN
(Spoken)
Now, some people say that my songs aren't catchy. But that's not true. And to prove it, I'll conduct a
Sondheim singalong. Now everybody sing and just follow the bouncing razor.
(SWEENEY suddenly raises his peculiar teaching instrument.)

STEPHEN (CONT'D)
Ready? 1-2-12-8.

ALL
(With the audience, they repeat the two verses, slowly and surely,
SWEENEY'S razor bouncing along the top of the board.)
INTO THE WORDS
THAT TRIP YOUR LIP, AND FRY YOUR BRAIN
AND SPRAIN YOUR TONGUE
INTO THE WORDS
A CAVE SO DARK
YOU'D BETTER BRING A TORCH IN

INTO THE WORDS
THAT FLY AND TRY TO MAKE YOU
CHOKE THE JOKE YOU'VE SUNG
INTO THE WORDS
MORE LETTERS THAN
THEY SELL ON WHEEL OF FORTUNE

STEPHEN
(Speaks:)
Very good. You all graduate! So now let's do it up to tempo.
(And then, done very quickly)
1-2-12-8!

ALL
(They sing double time, while the audience tries to keep up, repeating the
two verses.)
INTO THE WORDS
THAT TRIP YOUR LIP, AND FRY YOUR BRAIN
AND SPRAIN YOUR TONGUE
INTO THE WORDS
A CAVE SO DARK
YOU'D BETTER BRING A TORCH IN

INTO THE WORDS
THAT FLY AND TRY TO MAKE YOU
CHOKE THE JOKE YOU'VE SUNG
INTO THE WORDS
MORE LETTERS THAN
THEY SELL ON WHEEL OF FORTUNE

ALL (WITHOUT AUDIENCE)
WE'RE…
(They all take a deep breath)
INTO THE SYLLABLES
INTO THE ANTONYMS
INTO THE METAPHORS
INTO THE SYNONYMS

DOT AND RIDING HOOD
INTO THE SYLLABLES
INTO THE ANTONYMS
INTO THE METAPHORS
INTO THE SYNONYMS
INTO THE SYLLABLES
INTO THE ANTONYMS
INTO THE METAPHORS
AND

STEPHEN
CAREFUL!
YOUR DICTION
CAREFUL!
YOUR DICTION
CAREFUL!
YOU

SWEENEY
ARE YOU SURE
YOU UNDERSTAND?
ARE YOU THAT
YOU VERSTEH?
ARE YOU SURE
THAT YOU CAPEESH?
AWAY WE GO
INTO

ALL
THE WORDS!

Libérée, délivrée

(The formatting is really off, but oh well!)

Let It Go The snow glows white on the mountain tonight Not a footprint to be seen. A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the Queen The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside Couldn't keep it in; Heaven knows I've tried	Libérée, délivrée   L'hiver s'installe doucement dans la nuit La neige est reine à son tour Un royaume de solitude Ma place est là pour toujours	Liberated, Freed   Winter settles gently into the night The snow is Queen in its turn A kingdom of isolation My place is here forever
Don't let them in, don't let them see Be the good girl you always have to be Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know Well now they know	Le vent qui hurle en moi ne pense plus à demain Il est bien trop fort J'ai lutté, en vain Cache tes pouvoirs, n'en parle pas Fais attention, le secret survivra Pas d'états d'âme, pas de tourments De sentiments	The wind which rages within me no longer thinks of tomorrow It is too strong I’ve fought in vain Hide your powers, don’t talk about them Be careful, the secret will survive No states of mind, no torment Or feelings
Let it go, let it go Can't hold it back anymore Let it go, let it go Turn away and slam the door I don't care what they're going to say   Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway	Libérée, délivrée Je ne mentirai plus jamais Libérée, délivrée C'est décidé, je m'en vais J'ai laissé mon enfance en été Perdue dans l'hiver le froid est pour moi le prix de la liberté	Liberated, freed I will never lie again Liberated, freed It’s decided, I’m leaving I left my childhood in summer   Lost in winter The cold is, for me, the price of freedom
It's funny how some distance Makes everything seem small And the fears that once controlled me Can't get to me at all	Quand on prend de la hauteur Tout semble insignifiant La tristesse, l'angoisse et la peur M'ont quittée depuis longtemps	When one takes a step back Everything seems insignificant Sadness, agony and fear Left me long ago
It's time to see what I can do To test the limits and break through No right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free!	Je veux voir ce que je peux faire De cette magie pleine de mystères Le bien, le mal, je dis tant pis Tant pis	I want to see what I can do With this magic full of mysteries Good and evil – I say too bad Too bad
Let it go, let it go I am one with the wind and sky Let it go, let it go You'll never see me cry Here I stand And here I'll stay Let the storm rage on	Libérée, délivrée Les étoiles me tendent les bras Libérée, délivrée Non, je ne pleure pas Me voilà, oui Je suis là Perdue dans l'hiver	Liberated, freed The stars offer me their arms Liberated, freed No, I’m not crying Here I am, yes I am here Lost in winter
My power flurries through the air into the ground My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast I'm never going back, the past is in the past	Mon pouvoir vient du ciel et envahit l'espace Mon âme s'exprime en dessinant et sculptant dans la glace Et mes pensées sont des fleurs de cristal gelées Je ne reviendrai pas, le passé est passé	My power comes from the sky and invades space My soul expresses itself in designing and sculpting ice And my thoughts are flowers of frozen crystal I’m never going back, the past has passed
Let it go, let it go And I'll rise like the break of dawn Let it go, let it go That perfect girl is gone Here I stand In the light of day Let the storm rage on   The cold never bothered me anyway!	Libérée, délivrée, Désormais plus rien ne m’arrête Libérée, délivrée Plus de princesse parfaite Je suis là Comme je l'ai rêvé Perdue dans l'hiver Le froid est pour moi le prix de la liberté	Liberated, freed, From now on nothing will stop me anymore Liberated, freed No longer a perfect princess I am here As I dreamed Lost in winter   The cold is, for me, the price of freedom

(Also, off to Spain for 3 weeks!)

There lived a King

DON AL. There lived a King, as I've been told,
  In the wonder-working days of old,
  When hearts were twice as good as gold,
   And twenty times as mellow.
  Good-temper triumphed in his face,
  And in his heart he found a place
  For all the erring human race
   And every wretched fellow.
  When he had Rhenish wine to drink
  It made him very sad to think
  That some, at junket or at jink,
   Must be content with toddy.

MAR. and GIU. With toddy, must be content with toddy.

DON AL. He wished all men as rich as he
  (And he was rich as rich could be),
  So to the top of every tree
   Promoted everybody.

MAR. and GIU. Now, that's the kind of King for me.
  He wished all men as rich as he,
  So to the top of every tree
   Promoted everybody!

DON AL. Lord Chancellors were cheap as sprats,
  And Bishops in their shovel hats
  Were plentiful as tabby cats--
   In point of fact, too many.
  Ambassadors cropped up like hay,
  Prime Ministers and such as they
  Grew like asparagus in May,
   And Dukes were three a penny.
  On every side Field-Marshals gleamed,
  Small beer were Lords-Lieutenant deemed,
  With Admirals the ocean teemed
   All round his wide dominions.

MAR. and GIU. With Admirals all round his wide dominions.

DON AL. And Party Leaders you might meet
  In twos and threes in every street
  Maintaining, with no little heat,
   Their various opinions.

MAR. and GIU. Now that's a sight you couldn't beat--
  Two Party Leaders in each street
  Maintaining, with no little heat,
   Their various opinions.

DON AL. That King, although no one denies
  His heart was of abnormal size,
  Yet he'd have acted otherwise
   If he had been acuter.
  The end is easily foretold,
  When every blessed thing you hold
  Is made of silver, or of gold,
   You long for simple pewter.
  When you have nothing else to wear
  But cloth of gold and satins rare,
  For cloth of gold you cease to care--
   Up goes the price of shoddy.

MAR. and GIU. Of shoddy, up goes the price of shoddy.

DON AL. In short, whoever you may be,
  To this conclusion you'll agree,
  When every one is somebodee,
   Then no one's anybody!

MAR. and GIU. Now that's as plain as plain can be,
  To this conclusion we agree--

ALL.  When every one is somebodee,
   Then no one's anybody!

From: The Gondoliers / Gilbert and Sullivan


This is usually quoted as:

"When every one is somebody, Then no one's anybody!"

See also:

Balderdash: Against Equality Again

What I always think of when Winter Wonderland comes on

How to sound profound with deepities

Seen:

"David Cerone's masterclass.

DC: Now, can anyone tell me, what industry are we musicians in? Can anyone tell me?

*several answers were hazarded, ranging from 'entertainment' to 'culture' to 'arts'*

DC: Well we're all in the industry of -communication-. If you can't communicate what you want to express to your audience, you're not making any music."


Following this logic, all industries are about communication.

In manufacturing, if you cannot communicate that your product is good/cheap you have failed as a manufacturer.

If Starbucks cannot communicate the Starbucks experience, it has failed.

And if the road sweeper cannot communicate a clean street, he has also failed.


This is a classic bait and switch of the sort beloved by motivation and business gurus (i.e. a deepity).

First you mislead your audience by using a word which has a known/commonly understood meaning. In this case, industry refers to “Commercial production and sale of goods” (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Then you invite them to give answers based on their commonly agreed-upon understandings to prime them into continuing to think conventionally.

Lastly you give them a “revelation” which relies upon a tortured definition of the original term but which is instinctively appealing as a feel-good platitude, and which implicitly denies alternate narratives by presenting itself as a transcendental spiritual truth.

In this case, he is eliding the term “industry” (which people understand as an economic term describing a sector) with a Platonic ideal of music as communication.

And all that is without even going into his ideal of music, which excludes music that is intended to be open (and so has no fixed expression that has to be communicated to the audience), non-intended interpretations of music – the musician is dead (cf. Barthes’s Death of the Author), industrial music like muzak which is more ubiquitous than the ‘art music’ that Cerone is presumably referring to and more.

O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics (Animated)

"Saucy Hot Peas
Get me cod please
Rock talk to boy who believes
Suck juice from moose
Fun, handsome goose"

Why I dislike 20th Century Music

"In music, again, we find a tendency towards the same aberrations. The simple, though it produces its effect, soon appears too easy; difficulties are courted, merely for the sake of being overcome, and of thus displaying the technical skill of the performer. Sometimes the search after novelty leads the composer to venture into the field where music is weakest—that of direct imitation of natural sounds by musical notes,—a species of rivalry, the hopelessness of which makes us feel the good sense of Agesilaus' answer, when requested to hear a man sing who could imitate the nightingale,—' I have heard the nightingale herself.' Nay, musicians have attempted not merely to imitate sounds by notes, but even to represent motion—to describe the seasons— to picture sunrise or sunset—to convey the impressions of colour —or even to narrate the incidents of a battle or a campaign ; for the ingenious organist of Ferdinand III., Froberger, is said to have presented a very striking musical representation of Count Thurn's passage over the Rhine, and the dangers of the transit, 'in twenty-six cataracts, or. falls of notes.'* Indeed, when a taste for this sort of mimetic music is once introduced (the proper sphere of which would be the comic opera), it is wonderful how even the greatest genius gives way to the contagion, and follows the herd,—for a greater than Froberger, Handel, has now and then ventured upon similar tricks of sound. In the ' Messiah,' at the passage, ' I will shake the heavens and the earth,' he has introduced a sort of musical pun, by repeating the word several times on a chain of musical shakes, ' as if,' says a critic,' the 'quavering of the voice could represent the commotions of the 'world.' And, in his 'Israel in Egypt,' he has undertaken to represent, by musical notes, two of the plagues of Egypt, viz. the buzzing of flies and the hopping of frogs.

But even where these elaborate quackeries have been avoided, there is still a tendency, as music becomes more scientific, to diverge more and more from the simplicity of original melody; to give an undue predominance to harmony; to render instrumental music a series of tours de force, calculated rather to excite astonishment than to give pleasure: and then to make vocal music itself ape the capricious movements of the instrumental—

'With giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,'

till the proper object of music, the suggestion of pleasing, or tender, or elevating associations, is, in a great measure, forgotten.

It is therefore of the utmost importance, that there should exist a mass of popular song, of which the people are at once the poets and the musicians; from which an infusion of fresh vigour and original melody should from time to time be conveyed into the frame of music, to counteract those tendencies which it acquires in the hands of strictly scientific artists; and to bring it back to its proper vocation, as an art of universal application. From such sources—

'Whose birth tradition notes not, nor who framed
Their nameless strain'—

the greatest of our modern composers have drawn liberally, and with the happiest effect even on music of a scientific character. Mr Dauney accordingly notices, that to the judicious employment of these popular resources 'we are chiefly to refer what has been called the ideal system of modern music,—a system at once scientific and pleasing, and which we find carried to its highest pitch in some of the symphonial compositions of Haydn, Mozart,and Beethoven, which not only delight us by the richness and brilliancy of their harmony and instrumentation, but transport us into regions of enchantment, by the variety of characteristic associations to which they give rise; and by awakening our imaginative faculties, conjoin with what may be termed the organic pleasures of the art, all the higher enjoyment of which the poetical part of our nature is susceptible.'"

--- Ancient Scotish Melodies, from a Manuscript of the Reign of King James VI. With an Introductory Enquiry, illustrative of the History of the Music of Scotland. By William Dauney, Esq. F.S.A. Scot. Edinburgh; 4to. 1838 in The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal, Volume 69