Project 366 - Dates on the Musical Calendar for May 2020

Project 366 continues in 2019 with "Dates on the Musical Calendar". Read more here.

Highlights

• 1-May   May Day [Guide #337]
• 2-May   Judicial hanging of Florence Lassandro in Fort Saskatchewan, AB (OTD 1923) [Guides # 338 & 339]
• 4-May   Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be With You”) [Guide # 60]
• 7-May   FP of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (OTD, 1824) [Guide# 260]
• 10-May Mother's Day (North America) [Guide #340]
• 12-May Prague Spring Music Festival Opening Concert (OTD, 1990) [Guide # 341]
• 22-May HB Richard Wagner (* 1813) [Guide # 34]
• 24-May Eid-al-Fitr [Guide # 214]
• 29-May FP of The Rite of Spring (OTD, 1913) [Guide # 58]

As you can see, the musical calendar for May is quite full! We are filling the calendar with listener guides from the late Romantic and early modern, including a pair of symphonies by Rachmaninov, Carl Nielsen Sibelius and Prokofiev (Guide # 342).

Your Listener Guides

Listener Guide #337 – Sousa & Suppé

When I think of a parade, I tghink Marching Band. When I think of Marching Bands, I think Sousa. I programmed for this listener guide are bonbons, sweet, tasty works for orchestra (or band) by probably two of the great masters of the genre: John Philip Sousa and Franz von Suppé. (ITYWLTMT Podcast # 121 - 06 Sep, 2013)

Listener Guides #338 & 339 – Filumena (Estacio)

In 1920’s Alberta,  many entrepreneurial individuals had a hand in smuggling liquor across provincial lines. Chief among them was “Emperor Pic”, Emilio Picariello, who had befriended an innkeeper and his wife, Florence Lassandro. Bootlegging was a “family business” for the Picariellos, and Emilio’s son Steven would make runs through the Crowsnest Pass between BC and Alberta. During one of these runs, he was intercepted by the Provincial Police, and Picariello believed he had been killed in the process. The story is sketchy, but it is undeniable that Florence and Emilio were at the APP barracks in Coleman, Alberta when APP Corporal Stephen Lawson was shot and killed in front of this building on September 21, 1922. Both Lassandro and Picariello were tried and convicted of capital murder, and subsequently hanged at the penitentiary at Fort Saskatchewan om May 2nd, 1923. (Once Upon a Fortnight - 2 May 2012)

[L/G 338 - Act 1, L/G 339 - Act 2]

Listener Guide #340 – A Gift of Flowers for Mother’s Day

I have put together music from several composers revolving around “flowers”: Chrysanthemums, lilacs, sunflowers, and just plain flowers. You will recognize a couple of nice ones in there, including Delibes’ Flower Duet from Lakme among them. As a feature work, I chose “Nights in the Gardens of Spain”. Three symphonic "impressions" about gardens and the mood of the composer as he walks through them. (ITYWLTMT Podcast #5 - May 6, 2011)

Listener Guide #341 – Opening Concert Of 1990 Prague Spring Festival

Rafael Kubelik suffered from near-debilitating arthritis, and he was forced into retirement in the mid-1980's. Then, there were radical political changes in Eastern Europe, and Czechoslovakia was transformed. In 1990 (as Prague was undergoing these changes) Kuubelik was invited by his old orchestra to come and conduct the opening concert of that year's Spring Festival - this memorable performance was recorded for posterity, and we should be glad that it was! (Tuesday Blog - 26 Dec 2011)

Listener Guide #342 – Prokofiev & Sibelius Symphonies no. 5

The year 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, the 75th anniversary of the start of World War II and the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, so it is appropriate to consider two symphonies composed during the First and Second World Wars. (ITYWLTMT Podcast # 157 - 23 May 2014)