2020

Snapshots Sunday: Rogue Artistes 6.0

Posted on Updated on

It’s been over two years since I posted some local art work. Previous post, here. ~Vic

Ceramic Collage Image One
Ceramic Tile Collage
Town Parking Garage
10-07-2020
Click for a larger view.
Daisies & Butterfly Image Two
Underpass Column
Lovely Drawing
04-26-2020
Click for a larger view.
Groovy Dude Image Three
Underpass Wall
I see Morgan Freeman.
Who do you see?
03-13-2020
Click for a larger view.
Day of the Dead Masks Image Four
Underpass Wall
Day of the Dead Masks?
03-07-2020
Click for a larger view.
Billy Strayhorn Mural Image Five
Billy Strayhorn Mural
09-13-2019
Click for a larger view.
Historical Marker Image Six
Historical Marker
More Information On Strayhorn
09-13-2019
Click for a larger view.

Music Monday: St. Matthew Passion 1727

Posted on Updated on

Bach BWV 244 Image One
Author: Johann Sebastian Bach
1736
Title page of St. Matthew Passion
Image Credit: Wikipedia/Wikimedia

The St. Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion in German ~ BWV 244) is a Passion, a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, in the Luther Bible, to music, with interspersed chorales and arias. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of Baroque sacred music.

The St. Matthew Passion is the second of two Passion settings by Bach that have survived in their entirety, the first being the St. John Passion, first performed in 1724. Little is known with certainty about the creation process of the St. Matthew Passion. The available information derives from extant early manuscripts, contemporary publications of the libretto, and circumstantial data, for instance in documents archived by the Town Council of Leipzig.

The St. Matthew Passion was probably first performed on April 11, 1727 (Good Friday), two hundred, ninety-five years, ago, today, in the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.

Wikipedia Summaries

In the early 1820s, the director of the Berlin Singakademie, Carl Zelter, got hold of a copy of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and rehearsed some of the choral movements in private. By great good fortune, two of his singers were Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. In April 1829, despite strong opposition from some quarters, the twenty-year-old Mendelssohn, with the help of Zelter and his friend the actor Eduard Devrient, mounted the work’s first modern performance, albeit in an abbreviated form, given to mark what was then thought to be the centenary of its first performance. This Easter-time Berlin presentation was a stunning success and was followed by others. These led directly to a complete reassessment and revival of interest in all of Bach’s music for, baffling as it seems nowadays, Johann Sebastian Bach had fallen into near obscurity since his death nearly 80 years earlier.

Bach’s St. Matthew Passion: A Guide To The Sacred Masterpiece
UDiscoverMusic
Jeremy Nicholas
April 8, 2020

Beautiful music with beautiful voices. One tenor sounds just like a woman. ~Vic

Additional:
A Guide To Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
(Classical Music/BBC Music Magazine/05-26-2021)
Music History Monday: St. Matthew Passion (Robert Greenberg Music/04-11-2022)
Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 (Bach Cantatas Website/2000-2022)

Netherlands Bach Society
04-02-2019
Two Hours, 44 Minutes & 31 Seconds

POTD: Star Of Bethlehem

Posted on

Pl@ntNet had a little trouble with this one. It didn’t show up in World Flora or USA Flora but, finally showed up in Western Europe Flora. In the Asparagaceae family (which includes asparagus…yum), its genus & species is Ornithogalum Nutans. In this case, it is a Drooping Star of Bethlehem. ~Vic

Star of Bethlehem Image
03-13-2020

Picture of the Day

Hans 2021 Song Draft: Round Ten-Pick Seven-Bad Weather-Emily Hackett (2014/2015)

Posted on Updated on

Tennessee Star Image One
Photo Credit: Tennessee Star

Hanspostcard has a song draft challenge. This is my Round Ten and final pick.

Back in 2014, I happened to catch a wonderful song that played during a commercial on HDNET (movies). HDNET didn’t have normal commercials, they just had clips from movies that it was showcasing, changing each month. I loved the song but, had no idea what the name of it was, other than what I could glean from the lyrics. I desperately wanted to know who the singer was because she had a beautiful voice. I could find nothing, so, I contacted HDNET for help. Her name? Emily Hackett. The song? A Heart Worth Saving (and I wasn’t the only one asking). It is the third track from a short compilation album called Girl Electro Pop, released July 11, 2014 (as best as I can tell). There is no chart information on the album or the song and what lyrics that are on the Internet do not match all of the words she sings. That being said, I was overjoyed to find it and download it.

That brings me to Bad Weather (no chart information on it, either). In digging around for data on Emily, I found a demo video of her singing the song with a guitarist. Then, I found the album it was on…The Raw EP, released July 24, 2015. It’s a beautiful, sad song that reminds me of a stripped down Carrie Underwood piece.

The Virginia Star Emily Hackett Image Two
Photo Credit: The Virginia Star

“I started this song in California when I was making lunch one day at my parent’s house. My boyfriend, Mikey, was goofing around on the guitar and I stopped him like, “What is that? We are writing that. It’s awesome.” It wasn’t until we got back to Nashville, a couple months later that we sat down with our friend Adam James and poured out this song in a couple of hours. It felt so right, we just went with it. It’s one of my favorites I’ve ever written.”

Daily Discovery: Emily Hackett
Songspace
American Songwriter
2014

She was born in Cleveland, Ohio and was in high school in Georgia when she took off with a friend to visit Belmont University. Headed for the University of Georgia, she fell in love with Nashville and interned in the music industry:

“Here I was in Nashville at school. I had no idea that there was this whole world of music where you could have careers. I didn’t realize there was so much to it. It was cool to be studying the music business at college. I thought I could always be a writer and in Nashville, writers actually get to perform.”

Music Spotlight: Emily Hackett
Bethany Bowman
The Tennessee Star
October 17, 2018

Some months ago, I commented on one of Music City Mike‘s blog posts, regarding interviews of local musicians in Nashville. I told him about Emily but, I don’t know if he ever got the chance to chat with her. Give her a listen. She is a different genre from Lissie but, just as talented.

Thanks, Hans, for the invite to participate. Much like the movie draft, picking favorites is a tough go. There is SO much good music out there. I look forward to sharing more in the upcoming 2022 Draft. ~Vic

Official Website
Bandcamp
Reverbnation
Soundcloud

Additional:
Emily Hackett Looks To The Past & Future On “Nostalgia”
(Taste of Country/Sterling Whitaker/08-10-2017)
CMT’s Next Women Of Country (People Magazine/Katie Kauss/11-16-2018)
Cleveland Native Emily Hackett Comes To Beachland (Cleveland Scene/Jeff Niesel/12-04-2019)
Emily Hackett Releases Heartfelt “Handle” (The Virginia Star/Bethany Bowman/05-29-2020)
Emily Hackett Is Creating Magic (The Aquarian/Debra Kate Schafer/05-31-2020)

Demo In The Attic

HDNET Commercial

Royals Cover With Megan Davies

Happy Christmas Cover