Day 03. A song that makes you happy

[mlr]

For high spirits try Musica Antiqua Köln's recording of Brandenburg Concerto No. 3         Where did he get the joy? Well - with that mind, who can say. But in part it was from Vivaldi. In his 3rd position as the organist of the ducal chapel at Weimar Bach had an enthusiastic employer. One of the dukes had a large music library and was always acquiring the latest things. Music by the fiery Venetian was all the rage. Bach probably performed many Vivaldi concertos with the duke's orchestra. He also arranged several for solo instruments. Bach's own compositions were gradually infused with the Vivaldi style and spirit.         An update on yesterday's post about Carmina Burana. Israel read it later in the day. He said it was thought-provoking, but a little too much. He was quite surprised I really didn't like it. He had conducted it once with a High School band, and said there was nothing more fun to perform. He said "Besides, what would the dance floor of the 90s have been without the disco version of 'O Fortuna'".

Comments

[mlr.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the notice - I get too busy to follow my Google reader. I made the post public again.

Israel & I had a short but meaningful discussion about the post. I told him a little more about Orff's life. We both agreed that in the worst of times we all want to think we would be Dietrich Bonhoeffers, but many of us would be like Carl Orff - who in reality only said 'yes' at times when it was much, much harder to say 'no' - both during and after the war. None of us can really know how we would act.

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

Similarly, I'd forgotten about Emil Janning's WWII behavior until he was name-checked in Inglourious Basterds.