Tuesday 1 October 2024
Traditional Irish jig
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in Chicago in 1903. It had previously appeared under the title “Old Walls of Liscarroll” in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (Boston, 1883), although with the first strain in minor mode and a few minor differences in the second strain.
Kilmallock, a town of less than 2000 residents in south County Limerick, was during the middle ages the third largest city in Ireland. The ruins of a Dominican friary, built in the 13th century but sacked by Cromwell's forces in 1648, are still visible today, as well as the remains of the medieval walls which encircled the settlement.
Wednesday 2 October 2024
from Flute Sonata in G major
This gavotte is the third movement of the fourth of the six Op. 7 flute sonatas with bass accompaniment by French flutist and composer Jean-Daniel Braun, published in Paris in 1736.
Thursday 3 October 2024
Baroque fanfare by Jean-Joseph Mouret
Tremendously popular for his extended stage works during the reign of Louis XIV, Jean-Joseph Mouret today is remembered only for this fanfare, lasting less than two minutes. Oddly, it became associated with the pomp and glory of England, not of France, when in 1971 WGBH radio announcer Robert J. Lurtsema proposed it as the theme for Masterpiece Theatre, WGBH-TV's repackagings of BBC historical dramas for broadcast on American public television.
The piece, taken from Mouret's first Suite de Symphonies (Fanfares for Trumpets, Kettledrums, Violins and Oboes), is a popular musical choice in many modern weddings.