Tuesday 10 December 2024
Traditional Christmas hymn
It is believed that this traditional tune stems from a 15th century French processional for Franciscan nuns, but it may also have 8th century Gregorian origins. It is one of the most solemn Advent hymns.
The words were combined from various antiphons by an unknown author, possibly in the 12th century; they were subsequently translated from Latin to English by John M. Neale in the mid-19th century. Neale's original translation actually began, “Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel”.
The lyrics echo a number of prophetic themes. The title comes from Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel is Hebrew for “God with us.”
Monday 9 December 2024
from Flute Sonata in G major
This Largo is the opening movement of the last of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.
Sunday 8 December 2024
Traditional Irish jig
The earliest known appearance of this jig is found in the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper Canon James Goodman. Various different settings of the tune have since been published, at first mostly in Mixolydian mode (with C-naturals), but with later ones tending more and more to a plain major mode.
Saturday 7 December 2024
from “20 Petites Etudes”
Here is étude No. 14 from Italian flutist and composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's Twenty Studies, Op. 132. It is marked “scherzando”, an Italian term that literally means “joking”; therefore, this study should be played in a very brilliant style, and at a fast tempo.
Friday 6 December 2024
from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera “The Magic Flute”
In the Act I finale of “The Magic Flute”, three boys lead the hero Tamino into a grove wherein three temples stand: in the center, the Temple of Wisdom; on the right, the Temple of Reason; on the left, the Temple of Nature. Singing a calm, stately trio they tell him some wise advice for his quest:
To your goal leads this path;
Therefore, listen to our lesson:
Be steadfast, patient, and remain silent.
This piece was arranged as a flute duet by the great German composer Bernhard Romberg.
Thursday 5 December 2024
from Erik Satie's “Trois Gymnopédies”
The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888, are three piano compositions written by French composer and pianist Erik Satie. These short, atmospheric pieces are written in 3/4 time, with each sharing a common theme and structure. Collectively, the Gymnopédies are regarded as the precursors to modern ambient music. Though gentle, they are somewhat eccentric, and when composed they defied the classical tradition. For instance, the first few bars feature an alternating progression of two major seventh chords, the first on the subdominant, G, and the second on the tonic, D. This kind of harmony was almost entirely unknown at the time.
Wednesday 4 December 2024
Traditional Irish jig
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's The Dance Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1907. O'Neill states that the tune was “in some form known all throughout Munster. A strain remembered by from my mother's singing of it was added to Delaney's version, making a total of six in our printed setting.”
Frieze is a coarse woolen fabric with a rough surface. The title refers to clothing made from the material, once common in Ireland. However, the title is often rendered as “The Friar's Britches” due to the similarity of “frieze” and “friars” when spoken.