Also, a new blog post, which will be the first in a series, is coming tomorrow! Stay tuned!

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@distractedcellist
Also, a new blog post, which will be the first in a series, is coming tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Hello, I’m back from the dead! And I’ve started to upload my final recital from last year to YouTube! You’ll find the full sonata on my channel. Enjoy <3
Portrait of Franz Schubert
Joseph Abel, 1814
#these pierre bezukhov vibes @reeve-of-caerwyn
Perfect.
#Looks a little like Steve honestly this is one of the highest compliments you could give me
#who knew schubert was so cute?
apparently Classical Music Tumblr needs to revisit baby-faced queer icon Franz Schubert’s dime romance novel portrait:
6 great classical music TED Talks:
Evelyn Glennie: “How to truly listen”
Benjamin Zander: “The transformative power of classical music”
Michael Tilson Thomas: “Music and emotion through time”
Robert Gupta: “Music is medicine, music is sanity”
Itay Talgam: “Lead like the great conductors”
Charles Hazlewood: “Trusting the ensemble”
#TimesUp for classical music, too.
Boston Globe: BSO’s Andris Nelsons says sexual harassment isn’t a problem in classical music
The Telegraph: Mariss Jansons: ‘Women on the podium are not my cup of tea’
New York Times: Met Opera Suspends James Levine After New Sexual Abuse Accusations
NPR: Another Famous Conductor, Charles Dutoit, Accused of Sexual Assault
playlist: women who score
Only 2% of the 250 top-grossing films from 2013-2016 were scored by women. Since the Academy Awards began in 1929, only 2 women have won for Best Score.
This list is only a small sampling, and includes women of color and Indigenous women, as well as women identifying as LGBTQ+.
((click each name to listen))
Rachel Portman: Emma | Kathryn Bostic: Dear White People | Mica Levi: Jackie | Laura Ortman: Gringo Trails | Anne Dudley: The Full Monty | Usha Khanna: Dil Deke Dekho | Wendy Carlos: A Clockwork Orange | Germaine Franco: Coco | Lesley Barber: Mansfield Park
WRECK THEM, DIANA!!!!
this is actually one of the reasons why I dislike the whole “just listen to the ~music~” mindset
the title of the song is literally “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” aka “Hell’s Vengeance is Boiling in My Heart” and the words go pretty much that hard the entire time. She’s literally brandishing the knife meant for Sarastro, whom her daughter must kill or be disowned (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, disowned evermore!)
this is why I do TLG, though, because usually when people learn stuff like this, they’re like “oh, opera is actually pretty badass!”
just listening to the ~music~ is one of the reasons why people find classical music so boring!
No offense intended but I think about Alma Mahler a lot. I know this isn’t a question but dang I love her. Let’s give her more credit for everything.
why would this be offensive? more 👏 credit 👏 to 👏 women’s 👏 musical 👏 labor 👏
I’m not here to start drama, so I’ve blocked out the names. I just want to talk about the content of this exchange.
To fill in the gaps for those of you who may not know, Mahler is a famous turn-of-the-20th-century symphonist and orchestral lied composer.* He’s known for being… a lot. His symphonies require some of the biggest orchestras that have ever been requested and they are among the longest you’ll hear in normal concert repertoire.** For people who are into it, they give you the same kind of rush as a heavy metal band going balls-to-the-wall all night.***
Because of this awesome concert experience, many such people think Mahler is among the cream of the symphonist crop. Admittedly, if you like late 19th century German aesthetic theory, he checks all the boxes. He’s an organicist, he’s got lots of extramusical references you can mine, he’s got a lot of personal angst that he directly expresses in his music. He’s certainly an archetypical artist-hero.
But the problem that I have with this exchange is that it implies a lack of Mahler is directly linked to a lack of quality or taste, and it just dismisses people who, for one reason or another, do something different. Surely I don’t have to explain why it’s inherently limiting to set one man, from one country, from just over a hundred years ago as a litmus test for modern-day, worldwide orchestral quality. Certainly there are plenty of reasons not to perform Mahler. To give a few: not having the personnel; not having a conductor lined up (it’s a massive undertaking for one person to put together!); not having mature musicians who can actually play it (e.g. high school orchestras). Even if these people liked Mahler—not everyone does—they may just not have the means to execute those particular works, and that doesn’t mean they’re bad. Even if they don’t like Mahler—not everyone does—that doesn’t mean they’re bad!
I’m not one to just point out a problem without a solution, though, so here’s one way the exchange would be a healthier celebration of music as a whole:
anon: Why does Mahler not get the appreciation he deserves, no one in my orchestra knows who he is :’’(
respondent: I don’t know! I wish more people knew about him, though, because he’s pretty awesome. I could sing Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt all day!****
reblogger: if you’re in an orchestra and don’t know who Mahler is, I would totally recommend Symphony No. 1—it has a minor key “Frère Jacques”!
Obviously that is a really contrived exchange and I hope people would write in genuine ways that reflect their love and personality. That’s the point. I wish people could say “I want people to pay more attention to so-and-so!”***** without that including “those other people suck!”******
Can we just support each other in loving music and try to get other people excited too without turning our noses up at each other?
*orchestral lieder are German poems set to music for singer and orchestra
**Symphony No. 8 is rightly called the “Symphony of a Thousand”
***although the same folks who make these kinds of comments tend to be the same ones who will chide you for visibly enjoying the experience. See my video on the topic.
****and having written that, now I absolutely will
*****and I hope “so-and-so” will start to include other figures, too, like performers, impresarios, librettists, choreographers, etc.
******That said, I still reserve the right to roll my eyes and mutter sarcastic comments under my breath when your entire program or season is Soft Bourgeois White Supremacy™
Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George
Author: Lesa-Cline Ransome
Illustrator: James E. Ransome
The musical superstar of 18th-century France was Joseph Boulogne—a black man. This inspiring story tells how Joseph, the only child of a black slave and her white master, becomes “the most accomplished man in Europe.” After traveling from his native West Indies to study music in Paris, young Joseph is taunted about his skin color. Despite his classmates’ cruel words, he continues to devote himself to his violin, eventually becoming conductor of a whole orchestra. Joseph begins composing his own operas, which everyone acknowledges to be magnifique.
But will he ever reach his dream of performing for the king and queen of France? This lushly illustrated book by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome introduces us to a talented musician and an overlooked figure in black history.
Photo
Listen to the overture and suite from his ballet L’Amant Anonyme (1780), performed by Tafelmusik, here!
I love your arrangements for cello ensemble! Do you have any sheet music available?
Awww I’m so glad, thank you! Yes I do, feel free to shoot me an email to this address: distractedcellist(at)outlook(.)com, and I can send you what you need. :)
New York Times, December 31, 1926
Queen: Don't Stop Me Now Arranged for 5 cellos and piano by Daria Fussl (yours truly)
Players:
Elliott Bailey James Tradgett Joseph Dawson Steph Li Daria Fussl Dominic Ciccotti (piano)
Recorded live on 7th July 2017 on the Lower Concourse at RNCM, Manchester, as part of StudentFest 2017.
***
Do you know how good it feels to know that the last thing I ever did as a music student EVER was to play a concert consisting of arrangements that I wrote of my favourite music ever, together with friends who indulged me, worked really hard on making this dream of mine come true, and looked absolutely FABULOUS in their costumes? I hope you do, because it's a bloody amazing feeling. I really hope you enjoy these recordings as much as we enjoyed playing them. 💖
Every time I can't sleep I read this book that I have that is basically just letters that Mahler wrote to his wife Alma and I'll read them until I'm too exhausted by anger at the way her talks to her that I'm able to sleep but honestly what is with it with the patriarchy erasing women from music history I hate it so much??????
if you wanna get really angry about the patriarchy hating women, think about the fact that the only reason we even know about Alma is that she had the “good” fortune of being attached to an already respected male composer. There were bajillions of talented women we don’t even talk about who wrote pieces for themselves, because their job as an upper-class women was to stay occupied at the piano, and those pieces may or may not even have lasted to the present day, and if they did, only in manuscript.
notsothinlizzy replied to your post: man, I am so glad I waited to start grad school? …
this makes me feel a lot better about waiting. i’m 22 and barely got through college, mental health wise (gotta deal with that pesky depression i’ve been ignoring for years lol)
listen… when I finished undergrad? I was DONE. I didn’t want anything to do with anything I had studied. I had abuse-related anxiety problems (which I’m a little more free to talk about because I no longer attend the institution where that asshole teaches) and was just exhausted and had to work on me. so I totally get it. take all the time you need.
as a footnote, I don’t know if you do music stuff, but I’ve been recommending a musicological text to a bunch of my friends who are into academia? it’s called “just vibrations” by William Cheng. it’s like 100 pages and is available for free from the U of M Press website if you don’t mind reading on a screen. but Cheng is a fantastic musicologist in his mid-thirties who got his start as a ludomusicologist (aka studying video game music academically) but has recently moved on to academic activism. As a gay man of color with chronic health problems, he has a LOT to say about self-care and “slow time,” the idea that you don’t have to sacrifice your livelihood to be good at stuff if you’re willing to let it take a little longer.
needless to say, a lot of old white scholars in the field did not take to his text very well, which is all the more evidence to people like me that it was super important and worthwhile.
Hey Steve! Did you hear of the staging of Aida in Salzburg last month? With Anna Netrebko as Aida? Where they went and painted her skin dark? Because, you know, """historic accuracy""" or some such shit? 8))) (also can you tell I'm still bitter about this and the fact my dad didn't understand why I was upset?)
I can’t believe that in the year of our Lord two thousand and seventeen it is still necessary to tell people that blackface is Not A Good Thing
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: there are almost no other canonically black women roles in opera, and certainly not any others with the recognition of Aida. If you can’t find a black soprano, don’t do Aida. Verdi has 35 operas where blackness is not inherent to the plot (36 other operas total, but Otello is plagued with the same issue as Aida). If you’re not hiring a black woman, do one of the others where blackness isn’t inherent to the plot.
But also just hire more black sopranos in general, even if their blackness isn’t inherent to the plot, because there are so many talented ones who are getting overlooked because some old white impresario wants to see Anna Netrebko AGAIN doing Verdi something something AGAIN like don’t get me wrong I like her but does she have to be everywhere so badly that you have to paint her skin brown for it to make sense for her to exist there in the first place
100% agreed - for this I think it really was a case of it being the Salzburger Festspiele, which as you probably know is like 90% for people who want to Be Seen To Be Cultured. And a festival like that apparently needs someone like Anna Netrebko somewhere there by necessity. On the plus side, they did a staging of La Clemenza di Tito where half the main cast was black, and the chorus was very diverse too - I definitely was more than pleasantly surprised. You can read more about it here, if you want: https://www.ft.com/content/2c9998da-7b53-11e7-ab01-a13271d1ee9c https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/the-salzburg-festival-reawakens
Just found out the whole thing is on medici.tv! For anyone interested:
http://www.medici.tv/en/operas/mozart-la-clemenza-di-tito-salzburg-festival/
Hey Steve! Did you hear of the staging of Aida in Salzburg last month? With Anna Netrebko as Aida? Where they went and painted her skin dark? Because, you know, """historic accuracy""" or some such shit? 8))) (also can you tell I'm still bitter about this and the fact my dad didn't understand why I was upset?)
I can’t believe that in the year of our Lord two thousand and seventeen it is still necessary to tell people that blackface is Not A Good Thing
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: there are almost no other canonically black women roles in opera, and certainly not any others with the recognition of Aida. If you can’t find a black soprano, don’t do Aida. Verdi has 35 operas where blackness is not inherent to the plot (36 other operas total, but Otello is plagued with the same issue as Aida). If you’re not hiring a black woman, do one of the others where blackness isn’t inherent to the plot.
But also just hire more black sopranos in general, even if their blackness isn’t inherent to the plot, because there are so many talented ones who are getting overlooked because some old white impresario wants to see Anna Netrebko AGAIN doing Verdi something something AGAIN like don’t get me wrong I like her but does she have to be everywhere so badly that you have to paint her skin brown for it to make sense for her to exist there in the first place
100% agreed - for this I think it really was a case of it being the Salzburger Festspiele, which as you probably know is like 90% for people who want to Be Seen To Be Cultured. And a festival like that apparently needs someone like Anna Netrebko somewhere there by necessity. On the plus side, they did a staging of La Clemenza di Tito where half the main cast was black, and the chorus was very diverse too - I definitely was more than pleasantly surprised. You can read more about it here, if you want: https://www.ft.com/content/2c9998da-7b53-11e7-ab01-a13271d1ee9c https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/the-salzburg-festival-reawakens