The Musical Birthday Series - March 3 - Alfred Bruneau

There are days when no household names were born, still, Alfred Bruneau (3 March 1857 – 15 June 1934) opera composer and collaborator with Zola, deserves a mention.

Run of the Mill

The oeuvre of Alfred Bruneau

Is largely forgotten, although

I’m told by a fan

That L’attaque du moulin

Is a work we should all get to know.

The Musical Birthday Series - March 2 - Kurt Weill, and Marc Blitzstein, and Weill and Blitzstein

Today's post celebrated the remarkable fact that Kurt Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950) and Marc Blitzstein (March 2, 1905 – January 22, 1964) share a birthday.

One Fish, Two Fish, Haifisch, Blue Fish

Sinatra and Armstrong brought life

To Weill’s little tune “Mack the Knife,”

But to hear “Mackie Messer”

You couldn’t do besser

Than to listen to Lenya (his wife).

♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬

Rock It Man

When the cast of The Cradle Will Rock

Found the stage for their play under lock,

They took the whole troupe

Across town to regroup,

And gave the performance ad hoc.

♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬♫╬

Lost in the Stars?

Against those sincerely suspect

That an astral shared-birthday effect

Led Blitzstein and Weill

To much the same style,

I argue the reason was Brecht.

The Musical Birthday Series - March 1 - Dimitri Mitropoulos

With this post I am beginning a new series of verse (mostly limericks) celebrated musicians on the day of their birth. Today it's Dimitri Mitropoulos (1 March [O. S. 18 February] 1896 – 2 November 1960).

 

Wary of Greeks…

When conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos

Was at work this very metropolis

The patrons had fears

That his twelve tone premieres

Were signs of the coming apocalypse.

(Program from my collection)

Another Series of Alphabetical Limericks, #11, K is for Kangaroo

To-do at the Zoo

The debut of their new kangaroo

Caused chaos in Kalamazoo;

But with their new kudu

The Kalamazoo zoo

Had a helluva hullabaloo.

Another Series of Alphabetical Limericks, #10, J is for Jehovah

“Well, dammit!” spake Lord God Jehovah,

“I’m commanding a new supernova!

The sun’s larger girth

Will make charcoal of earth,

And I’ll start the while blasted thing ovah.”

Another Series of Alphabetical Limericks, #9, I is for Iguana

Aunt Isabel happened upon a

Iguana while taking her sauna.

Though dampened by steam

Her terrified scream

Will echo from then til mañana.

Another Series of Alphabetical Limericks, #8, H is for Harrumph

When I left off this blog a year and a half ago I was partway through a series of limericks highlighting the letters of the alphabet.  Today's offering is the long-delayed continuation of this project, picking up at the letter H.

Home, Sweet, Home: a Unhappy Victorian Household Scene

“Harrumph!" said the headmaster's wife,
"Enough of this Latin school life!
Your afternoon tea
Will be without me” -
And she threw down her toast and her knife.

"Heu heu!” her husband replied
As he heard these harsh words from his bride.

And at tea time, alone,
He munched on a scone -
Then opened his Horace and sighed.