Verses for the Democratic Primary Candidates 2020

Biden

Although there’s a long way to go,

The chances are fading for Joe.

The gap seems to widen

For candidate Biden

As he slides from plateau to plateau.

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Bloomberg

He’s got half of the money on earth,

And he spends it for all that he’s worth ---

If you have a baby

A Bloomberg ad may be

The first thing it sees at its birth.

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Buttigieg

And then there is young Mayor Pete,

Who wouldn’t bamboozle or cheat.

He’s too clean and wholesome

For leather at Folsom,

And his selfies are always discreet.

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Klobuchar

The “hot dish”, as you might have guessed,

Is a thing in the Upper Midwest,

Where families dream of

A meal made with “Cream of” ---

And Amy thinks hers is the best.

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Sanders

There was an old man from Vermont

Who never appears nonchalant.

If anyone queries

His Socialist theories,

He replies in ALL CAPS and bold font.

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Warren

Alas for Elizabeth Warren,

Who claimed to be native, not foreign,

The selfies she’s taken

Don’t bring home the bacon,

Or cause contributions to pour in.

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The Musical Birthday Series - March 19 - Max Reger

Max Reger (19 March 1873 – 11 May 1916) had an unrivaled command of counterpoint and late Romantic chromaticism.  Critical opinion varies as to whether this was for better or for worse.

Maxed Out

Max Reger wrote in counterpoint

As if by instinct taught,

Combining it with harmonies,

Abstruse and overwrought.

Max Reger wrote in harmonies

Of prodigal excess,

Combining it with counterpoint

Configured to impress.

His dense and crabbéd textures were

His way of feeling free,

And likewise straying far and wide

From any chosen key.

The Germans like his sort of thing,

Flamboyant, yet severe --

It’s heavy, solid, and well made,

Like sausages and beer.

To Germans he’s canonical,

A master with the best,

For others, Reger’s menu

Is less easy to digest.

The Musical Birthday Series - March 18 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1844 – 21 June [O.S. 8 June] 1908) wrote a huge catalogue of distinguished colorful music which remains quite rarely played outside of Russia. Today, in honor of his New Style birthday, we muse on this fact.

One Hit Blunder

Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov

(Perhaps this will seem odd)

Would surely have been better off

Without Scheherazade,

For if you have a single work,

Well-known and overplayed,

Your others are condemned to lurk

Forgotten in its shade.

The Musical Birthday Series - March 17 - Josef Rheinberger

Josef Rheinberger (17 March 1839- 25 November 1901) wrote works that are still part of the academic and concert organist's repertoire.  Critical opinion varies.

Josef Rheinberger: Hear Today, Agon Tomorrow

Minor composers

Are often forgotten

Unless they have written

Repetoire which

Fills up a void by

Plugging a slot in

An otherwise vacant

Programming niche.

Chances are Rheinberger

Thought he had got in

By writing for organ

At fever pitch,

And so it’s a pity

His Orgel-Sonaten

Are often remembered

As noisy kitsch.

The Musical Birthday Series - March 16 - David del Tredici

Today we celebrate David Del Tredici (born March 16, 1937) with a double dactyl.

A double dactyl is a biographically inspired humorous poem with very strict structural rules.  Here are links to two definitions for those who are curious.  The first from the Poetry Foundation is clearer but less accurate than the second, from Wikipedia.  Take your pick.  The classic statement is the book Jiggery-Pokery:  A Compendium of Double Dactyls by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander (New York, 1967).

Dactyls in Wonderland

Snicker-snack, snicker-snack

David Del Tredici,

Losing his taste for the

Serial style,

Started composing more

Neo-Romantically,

As he obsessed about

Alice awhile.

 

The Musical Birthday Series - March 15 - Colin McPhee

Colin McPhee (March 15, 1900  – January 7, 1964) did important pioneering ethnomusicological work on Balinese music.  His best-known compositions are strongly influenced by these studies.

Cultural Exchange

Consider the case of Colin McPhee

Whose ethnomusicology

Led to composing with colors and forms

Based on Asian island norms.

This kind of thing is no longer PC

(To borrow a gamelan’s timbre, e.g.),

But back in the day the appeal of exotic

Colors, and rhythms, and forms was hypnotic.

McPhee showed the music of Bali to Britten,

Who liked what he heard, in a word, he was smitten,

And thus Curlew River came to be written

The Musical Birthday Series - March 14 - Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann (March 14, 1681-June 25, 1767) was one of the most prolific composers of all time, so it is appropriate to celebrate with not one, but two, offerings.

The first poem is a double dactyl, a genre of biographically inspired humorous poem with very strict structural rules.  Here are links to two definitions for those who are curious.  The first from the Poetry Foundation is clearer but less accurate than the second, from Wikipedia.  Take your pick.  The classic statement is the book Jiggery-Pokery:  A Compendium of Double Dactyls by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander (New York, 1967)

(Image: Grove Music Online)

To Thine Own Self Be True: A Double Dactyl for GPT

Higgledy piggledy,

Georg Philipp Telemann

Cranked out cantatas, a

Thousand or more.

Sometimes composing so

Self-referentially,

Things that he wrote he had

Written before.

 ♪♫♫♫ ♪♫♫♫ ♪♫♫♫ ♪♫♫♫ ♪♫♫♫ 

Radio Head

Georg Philipp Telemann, let it be said,

Wrote rather much that he shouldn’t have written.

When a new motive popped into his head

He wrote a whole opus that he could fit it in.

Call him prolific, or call him a hack,

Travel to any of many locations,

It’s likely you’ll hear his polite bric a brac

On nonprofit classical radio stations.