Today is my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, mom!) and tomorrow is usually recognized as the birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven.
See, he was baptized on the 17th of December (or so I am told. I wasn't there) and so it's been assumed that he was born on December 16th.
As I have already wished my mom a Happy Birthday, let me do the same for Ludwig van.
The piece is his Seventh Symphony (Opus 92) in A Major. It premiered (again so I am told. I wasn't there, either) on December 8th, 1813 at a charity concert for soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau.
If you have the time, give a listen - especially the second movement, it starts about 11 minutes 20 seconds in. And for those of you who want to follow along with the score - enjoy.
Happy Birthday, Dayvoe's Mom! Happy Birthday Loody! (He hates it when you tease him and call him Loody.)
ReplyDeleteVon Karajan was such a creep. There's a Youtube video somewhere of him conducting the overture to Die Meistersinger in occupied Paris.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate his ability as a conductor, though. It's wonderful that he discovered Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Von Karajan was such a creep.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Karajan story is about when he was conducting at Bayreuth with Hans Knappertsbusch. There were just two lavatories at the end of a long corridor backstage. Karajan's personal secretary, it is said, put a notice on one, "For the exclusive use of Herr Karajan". An hour later a notice appeared on the other one written by Knappertsbusch, "For all the other assholes".