Pianophilia

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:36 pm**

John Williams, The Grey and The Blue from Lincoln.

exception (note I am not providing a copyrighted score by a living composer, only letting folks know about a new release set of solos due for sale in April 2013 [US])-but keep reading, it is worth it

Happy coincidence from the publisher.

Many of them sometimes give a page or two from a publication as a 'preview', usually the first page of a few selections, sometimes random ones, and / or the covers and contents pages. Every so often, one of the of selections happens to be only a single page long and it also happens to be the one they preview. Below is a link to Hal Leonards website with the above mentioned scenario. The lovely short work "The Grey and Blue" from the film "Lincoln" is given to us in its entirety.
http://www.halleonard.com/viewcloserloo ... bsiteid=1&

if above does not work:
http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewp ... ubsiteid=1
click into "Look Closer" under the image of cover to be directed to their preview section.

i was able to print it to preview and play it myself quite easily. if good print settings are used, the score is quite legible.

lovely audio from the OST
http://youtu.be/TvjUDS7SHA8
one may pre order the book now on amazon. i.e US
http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Music-Mot ... 1480312906

Lincoln
Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
Series: Piano Solo Songbook
Format: Softcover
Composer: John Williams
This folio features the main themes from this powerful and moving film, arranged for piano solo by John Williams himself. Titles: The American Process Version • Blue and Grey • Elegy • Getting Out the Vote • The Meeting with Grant • The Peace Delegation • The People's House • With Malice Toward None. Includes introductory text from John Williams and Steven Spielberg, plus a special section of full-color photos from the film!
ISBN: 9781480312906
UPC: 884088878306

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:24 pm**

This was a 'big cinema success' in 1928.

Fredericks Tranquil Hours.pdf

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:56 pm**

Frank Churchill
1901-1942

Frank Churchill at the piano.jpg

Composer Frank Churchill is best known for his work on many of Walt Disney's early animated classics, contributing some of the best-loved songs in the company's catalog. Churchill was born in Rumford, ME, on October 20, 1901, and attended college in California. A pianist as well as a composer, he initially made his living by performing in movie theaters and on radio, also spending some time in Mexico. He was hired by Walt Disney in the early '30s following the departure of house composer Carl Stalling, and began composing music for the company's Silly Symphonies animated shorts. In 1933, Churchill composed "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" for the Three Little Pigs short (with additional lyrics by Ann Ronell). The song struck a chord in the midst of the Great Depression, and became the Disney company's first hit, selling loads of sheet music and inspiring numerous recordings. Churchill's success helped change the company's thinking about the way music was used in its cartoons, setting them on a road where popular songs became an important part of the overall business plan. Over the next few years, Churchill continued to compose songs and instrumental music for the Silly Symphonies cartoons, and although he didn't yet duplicate the success of "Who's Afraid," several tunes were at least recorded by outside orchestras. Churchill was next paired with lyricist Larry Morey to work on music for Disney's first full-length feature, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Disney's stipulation was that, much like the Silly Symphonies, the songs were not simply to be showcased -- they had to stem naturally from the characters, or be integrated into the story. Churchill and Morey's groundbreaking work included the classics "Heigh Ho," "Whistle While You Work," "Someday My Prince Will Come," and "I'm Wishing," four of the eight songs used in the movie and the 25 written for it overall. Additionally, Churchill co-composed the instrumental score with Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith, and it earned an Oscar nomination. Churchill subsequently worked on the much-delayed Peter Pan before switching over to Dumbo, which was released in 1941. Churchill co-wrote most of the songs with lyricist Ned Washington, including the Oscar-nominated "Baby Mine" and the bizarre "Pink Elephants on Parade," and his instrumental score, co-written with Oliver Wallace, won the Oscar for Best Score. Churchill reteamed with Larry Morey for 1942's acclaimed Bambi, which featured "Little April Shower" and the Oscar-nominated "Love Is a Song," among others; plus, his score with Edward Plumb earned yet another Oscar nomination. Sadly, after completing work on Bambi, Churchill committed suicide in Castaic, CA, on May 14, 1942; he was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, near Hollywood.

Disney - Churchill, Frank - Blanche Neige Fantasie , Snow White Fantasy.pdf

Disney Snow White Movie Poster 1937.jpg

The first, and by far most memorable full-length animated feature from the Disney Studios, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" may have been superseded technically by many of the films that followed it. But its simple story of a charming little princess saved from the evil deeds of her wicked step-mother, the queen, by a group of seven adorable dwarfs made history when it was first released in December, 1937 and has since become an incomparable screen classic.

Posted: **Wed Feb 27, 2013 3:17 pm**

My wife is a HUGE Disney fan & being able to add this to my playing will make for a most enjoyable birthday present for her. Many, many thanks to Scriabinoff.

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:19 pm**

jellyroll wrote:My wife is a HUGE Disney fan & being able to add this to my playing will make for a most enjoyable birthday present for her. Many, many thanks to Scriabinoff.

You're quite welcome! I too am a big fan of much of the 'old Disney' stories and music (I do not care much for the modern trend of CGI only films and less 'musical' aspects of the new flavor of features, I much prefer hand drawn cell animation and the whole 'break into song' aspect of the classics).

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:31 pm**

This entry could have gone in a different category (indeed the original iteration is a stage/musical work/play, but it seems to be most remembered for it's film versions in 1931, and 1990, and for the jazz singers and 'crooners' renditions that crossed over into classic 'pop' music).

It seems only fitting that we introduce and credit all involved with the work, original music, original words/lyrics, and translated (popular) versions).

Music composed by Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill.jpg

Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900[1] – April 3, 1950[1]), was a German, and in his later years American, composer active from the 1920s until his death. He was a leading composer for the stage. He also wrote a number of works for the concert hall.
Weill was born the third of four children to Albert Weill (1867- 1950) and Emma Weill née Ackermann (1872 - 1955). He grew up in a religious Jewish family in the “Sandvorstadt”, the Jewish quarter in Dessau, where his father was a cantor.[1]. At the age of twelve, Kurt Weill started taking piano lessons and made first attempts at writing music; his earliest preserved composition was written in 1913 and is titled Mi Addir. Jewish Wedding Song.[2]

In 1915, his parents sent Weill to private lessons with Albert Bing, Kapellmeister at the “Herzogliche Hoftheater zu Dessau”, who taught him piano, composition, music theory, and conducting. Weill performed publicly on piano for the first time in 1915, both as an accompanist and soloist. The following years he composed numerous Lieder to the lyrics of poets such as Eichendorff, Arno Holz, and Anna Ritter, as well as a cycle of five songs titled Ofrahs Lieder to a German translation of a text by Yehuda Halevi.[3]

Weill graduated with an Abitur from the Oberrealschule of Dessau in 1918, and enrolled at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik at the age of 18, where he studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck[1], conducting with Rudolf Krasselt, and counterpoint with Friedrich E. Koch, and also attended philosophy lectures by Max Dessoir and Ernst Cassirer. The same year, he wrote his first string quartet (in B minor).[4]

Original German Words by "Bert" Brecht (for the stage)

Bert Bercht short bio.jpg

English Words by Marc Blitzstein

Marc Blitzstein.jpg

Marc Blitzstein (March 2, 1905 – January 22, 1964) was an American composer.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Jewish parents, among his works were The Cradle Will Rock, whose premiere was directed by Orson Welles, the opera Regina, an adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, the Broadway musical Juno based on Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, No For An Answer, and his off-Broadway translation/adaptation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. He also completed translation/adaptations of Brecht’s and Weill’s Mahagonny and Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, with music by Paul Dessau. Blitzstein also composed music for films such as Surf and Seaweed (1931) by Ralph Steiner and the documentary The Spanish Earth (1937).

The dramatic premiere of the pro-union The Cradle Will Rock was at the Venice Theater on June 16, 1937. The cast had been locked out of the Maxine Elliott Theatre by the WPA, the government agency which had originally funded the production, and so a performance without sets or costumes took place, with actors and musicians performing from the audience (to evade union restrictions on their performance) and Blitzstein narrating at the piano. In 1939, Blitzstein’s close friend Leonard Bernstein led a revival of the play at Harvard, narrating from the piano just as Blitzstein had done. The 1999 Tim Robbins film Cradle Will Rock was built around this somewhat-fictionalized historical event.

Additional major compositions include the autobiographical radio song play “I’ve Got the Tune,” The Airborne Symphony, and Reuben Reuben.

Mack The Kinfe from "The Threepenny Opera"

Three Penny Opera Film Poster (German).jpg

Mack The Knife.pdf

extensive website dedicated to the work with detailed history and related information
http://www.threepennyopera.org/

One of the more widley known renditions by Bobby Darin (though Frank Sinatra also did much to bring this to a wide audience, and I love a great deal of Frank's work, but I think Bobby just nailed this a bit more)
http://youtu.be/2g1hkeZm5a8

**TMK=to my knowledge