Josquin's Classical Log - Graeca non leguntur

[Josquin]

FRIDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2018

I haven't made a lot of progress since I last posted an update here. I've mainly been busy working for my part-time job and my thesis and also I'm waiting for some important news, which could come any day now, so my mind is on other things right now.

In my free time, I've mainly been singing and listening to good singers on YouTube. Here is the German prodigy baritone Samuel Hasselhorn with a splendid rendition of Schumann's Die beiden Grenadiere:



But now for languages:

Ἑλληνική

I'm on lesson 34 now. The last few lessons dealt with the third declension, which I mostly already know. However, Kairós is more thorough in explaining exceptions and sound changes, so I'm still learning new stuff here.

עברית

I'm still on lesson 38 trying to memorize the nif'al paradigms. There are some strange things happening, such as I-yod verbs changing their first radical to a waw because of etymological reasons. Hebrew verbs really aren't for the faint of heart!

What's more, I'm thinking about learning some Modern Hebrew after completing the Lambdin textbook again. I'd love to be able to rreally communicate in this language instead of only reading the scriptures in it. I was really disappointed I wasn't able to write more in Hebrew in my multilingual post!

संस्कृतम्

Uh, I'm very sorry, but I've virtually done nothing for Sanskrit during last week. I'm already behind on the online course and I should really do the exercises of unit 8 in order to move on to the grammar part of unit 9, which covers feminine ā-stem nouns. I hope I can catch up with the online course this weekend!

[Chung]

Your post made me think of something.

Do you have any recommendations for orchestral songs or orchestral works accompanied by a chorus? I'm thinking of works such as Beethoven's Chorfantasie, Janáček's Glagolská mše and Sibelius' Tulen synty.

I have a playlist of these works, but am always looking for more. I haven't found anything yet that's as moving in the Lieder by Schumann or Strauss, but maybe you could give some pointers.

[Josquin]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a lot of works, but you might like these:

Sergei Rachmaninov: Всенощное Бдение (All-Night Vigil)



It's written for choir only, so there's no orchestra, but it's a very moving work and might interest you, because it's in Church Slavonic.

Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder



Very famous orchestral songs. Very sad though...

Gustav Mahler: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (from Rückert-Lieder)



Mahler's most beautiful song IMHO, very well sung by Dame Janet Baker.

Richard Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder



Wagner's somewhat cheesy song cycle for soprano and orchestra. Very good rendition by Jessye Norman.

Georg Friedrich Händel: Dixit Dominus



I already posted this some time ago and I don't know if it's what you're looking for, but I like it very much!

Edward Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius



Maybe, this is more what you're looking for. I haven't listened to it myself yet, but I've heard so many good things about it.

Johannes Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem



I suppose you know this, but I simply had to mention it...

I hope this helps! I'll let you know if and when I can think of more.

[Chung]

Thanks! I'll dig into these on the weekend.

[Deinonysus]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a lot of works, but you might like these:

Sergei Rachmaninov: Всенощное Бдение (All-Night Vigil)

...

It's written for choir only, so there's no orchestra, but it's a very moving work and might interest you, because it's in Church Slavonic.

Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder

...

Very famous orchestral songs. Very sad though...

Gustav Mahler: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (from Rückert-Lieder)

...

Mahler's most beautiful song IMHO, very well sung by Dame Janet Baker.

Richard Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder

...

Wagner's somewhat cheesy song cycle for soprano and orchestra. Very good rendition by Jessye Norman.

Georg Friedrich Händel: Dixit Dominus

...

I already posted this some time ago and I don't know if it's what you're looking for, but I like it very much!

Edward Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

...

Maybe, this is more what you're looking for. I haven't listened to it myself yet, but I've heard so many good things about it.

Johannes Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem

...

I suppose you know this, but I simply had to mention it...

I hope this helps! I'll let you know if and when I can think of more.

Awesome list of choral classics! IMO, the All-Night Vigil is the single greatest choral work ever written. TIL that it's in Church Slavonic. I always assumed it was Russian, but in hindsight, of course it's Church Slavonic since it's a Russian Orthodox mass.

Fischer-Dieskau is hard/nearly impossible to beat, but I think my favorite version is by Kirsten Flagstad:


Jessye Norman's one of the best! I just picked up a DVD copy of Berlioz's Les Troyens with her and Placido Domingo, really looking forward to watching it!

Even though the Wesendonck Lieder were written for a soprano, I really like Lauritz Melchior's rendition of Schmerzen


I've been meaning to give Dream of Gerontius a listen for a while but never got around to it. I picked up a cheap used copy years ago with Britten conducting. I'll have to listen to it in the car once I'm done with Pimsleur French!

I've been lucky enough to sing some great contemporary choral pieces with orchestra. Here are some recordings (none with me in them unfortunately):

Ola Gjeilo - "Dark Night of the Soul" in English, based on a Spanish text


Eric Whitacre - Five Hebrew Love Songs Modern Hebrew poems written by the composer's wife


Richard Einhorn - Voices of light Contemporary soundtrack to the 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. I think the text is Latin and old French.


Dominick Argento - Jonah and the Whale
This isn't on YouTube, but it's my all-time favorite oratorio. The Providence Singers have a recording Amazon that isn't too expensive, and as a bonus, I'm in the bass section!

And another bonus track, not contemporary and I'm definitely not in it, but this is the most ridiculously OP possible recording of Verdi's Requiem, with Karajan conducting and with Luciano Pavarotti, Leontyne Price, Nikolai Ghiaurov, and Fiorenza Cossotto as soloists.

[Josquin]

Wow, thank you! There's a lot I've never heard of, so I'll have something to listen to now myself.

Special thanks for the Verdi Requiem! I meant to post it, but forgot about it. Your version seems to be excellent! I can't wait listening to it.

[Josquin]

It's Saturday evening and I'm sitting at home listening to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 D minor, thinking about life and what to do with it. Gloomy? Not really. Just thinking.

Languagewise, I've got an afternoon of Sanskrit under my belt. Now, I'm tired of it. What am I ever gonna do with it? But we just keep on doing what we do, don't we?

Shouldn't I face the challenges of life instead of sitting here, staring at books and listening to sinistre music? There's such a lot of living to do, as the song goes, isn't it?

But where do I start? Making the phone calls I've been delaying for weeks? Seeing people I haven't seen in years? Talking to friends I thought were lost?

Or should I forget about the past and only care about tomorrow? But what will tomorrow be like if it has no resemblance to the past? Where is all of this leading to?

Sometimes, I just think my life is going nowhere and I spend the ride making music and studying languages instead of really doing any living. Am I overthinking or don't I try hard enough? But where am I going with all of this?

And I'm sitting here, thinking of yesterday and how it turned into ashes. Silly thoughts, spooky, gloomy. Nightmares. Ghosts howling in the wind.

[Systematiker]

Sometimes, I just think my life is going nowhere and I spend the ride making music and studying languages instead of really doing any living. Am I overthinking or don't I try hard enough? But where am I going with all of this?
.

In nuce: if making music and studying languages isn’t living, but it’s soemthing on the way, yeah, you need to ask this question. But maybe, it is living?

What’s doing life well? What of that are you doing? And what are you wishing you were doing (and why, because it belongs to happiness or because someone else has you convinced that it’s somehow better than what you’re doing)? Are you doing well that which humans do well, and do you “human” well purposefully?

Not that I think you need to answer these to me, mind you - just that these might be useful questions for you.

[galaxyrocker]

Exactly as Systematiker said, Josquin. If you're enjoy learning languages and listening to music who's to say that isn't living? If that's what makes you happy and gives you purpose, do it. The others and their ideas of 'success' and 'living' be damned.

But, on the topic of music, do you know any good resources to learn music theory and such? I've really taken an interest in classical music recently (my car radio stays tuned to our classic channel), but I have absolutely no knowledge about it, and have found talking about it insanely difficult. Either way, I hope all is well with you.

[Josquin]

Well, yeah, I'm doing fine. Please don't worry about me. I guess I'm just feeling a bit lonely and hankering for the "golden days" of my twenties, when everything seemed to be so much brighter and livelier. Also, there's a particular relationship with someone I have never really been able to forget but haven't seen in years. I'm missing him, too. I don't know if all of this is making sense.

Studying and making music is fine, but it's not everything. I'm just longing for good friends, nice people, a good time. I'm just too much alone, which is not doing me any good. I don't need any conventional ideas of success, just the feeling my life is going somewhere, in the right direction. At the moment, I'm not moving at all.

Well, I don't really know if this belongs here, but it felt good to talk about it.

@galaxyrocker: I don't really know any English sources for music theory. All I have is in German. I do know there are guides to classical music out there. There must be something like Music Theory for Dummies.

Anyway, I know exactly how you feel. When I started listening to classical music when I was 15 or 16, I soon came to the spot where I wanted to talk about it, know more, know how it worked. I also got me some easy introductions to music theory, but as I said, all in German. Anyway, it helped me immensely to understand what I was hearing and it also kindled the wish to make music myself. 15 years later, I'm doing a PhD in music history, am a singer, and play two instruments more or less well.