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Wednesday, September 22, 2021

How does music affect the culture of the Filipinos?


Music as a whole can be used as an encouraging or depressing way to look at life. In this sense, it plays a big role in shaping the culture and values of people and the rest of the world. We see this through kundiman - it carries sentiments and emotions that evoke memories and images for Filipinos. These may clash with the outside world, but this clash gives us identity: these cultural imprints are then integrated back into society to create our metamorphosis into another era. So it's not just about tradition; it's also about forging new ground for generations to come.

This ever-evolving system creates such wonderful flavours that we're able to adapt ourselves better than ever before--we learn new things and explore different ways to make the best out of them. Music is one way we express ourselves, and through this method, we show our appreciation for humility and hard work, two values that shape our bustling nation into a happy place worth living in.

So what does music really mean to Filipinos? It simply tells us where we've been and where we could go. It tells a story that everyone can appreciate and relate to, which is why it's a big part of every Filipino culture.

Francisco Buencamino - his music and his life





Francisco Buencamino belonged to a family of musicians. He was born in San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan, on November 5, 1883.  In 1930, he founded the Academy of Music of Buencamino. His musical styles are Kundimans and Sarzuela.

In the 1940s, he started working as a musical director. He also composed music for films produced by Sampaguita Pictures, LVN and Excelsior. For a time, Francisco Buencamino frequently acted on stage. He also collaborated on the plays written and produced by Aurelio Tolentino.



Francisco first learnt music from his father. At age 12, he could play the organ. At 14, he was sent to study at the Liceo de Manila. There, he took up courses in composition and harmony under Marcelo Adonay. He also took up pianoforte courses under a Spanish music teacher. He did not finish his education as he became interested in the sarswela.  

In the early 1900s, Francisco Buencamino taught music at the Ateneo de Manila and at the Centro Escolar de Senoritas. At the latter, he founded the Conservatory of Music and was its head until 1938. At the same time, he also handled music lessons at the Liceo de Manila. He founded the Buencamino Music Academy in 1930. It was authorized by the Department of Public Instruction to grant music degrees. Some of his pupils were Nicanor Abelardo, Ernestina Crisologo, Estela Velasco, Beatrice Alba, and Amelia Hidalgo. In the 1940s, he started working as a musical director. He also composed music for films produced by Sampaguita Pictures, LVN and Excelsior. For a time, Francisco Buencamino frequently acted on stage. He also collaborated on the plays written and produced by Aurelio Tolentino. The Philippine Music Publishers, which Buencamino established, undertook the printing of his more important compositions, but it was not a successful venture.  

Some of the sarswelas he wrote are: "Marcela" (1904), "Si Tio Celo" (1904) and "Yayang " (1905). In 1908, the popularity of the sarswela started to wane because of American repression and the entry of silent movies. Francisco Buencamino then turned to composing kundimans.  

One of his earliest compositions is "En el bello Oriente" (1909), which uses Jose Rizal's lyrics. "Ang Una Kong Pag-ibig", a popular kundiman, was inspired by his wife.  In 1938, he composed an epic poem which won a prize from the Far Eastern University during one of the annual carnivals. His "Mayon Concerto" is considered his magnum opus. Begun in 1943 and finished in 1948, "Mayon Concerto" had its full rendition in February 1950 at the graduation recital of Rosario Buencamino at the Holy Ghost College. "Ang Larawan" (1943), also one of his most acclaimed works, is a composition based on a Balitaw tune. The orchestral piece, "Pizzicato Caprice" (1948) is a version of this composition. Many of his other compositions were lost during the Japanese Occupation, when he had to evacuate his family to Novaliches, Rizal.  

As a musical director, he was involved in anumber of movies such as "Mabangong Bulaklak", "Ang Ibong Adarna", "Mutya ng Pasig", and "Alitaptap".  

Francisco Buencamino died on the 16th of October, 1952. in the same year, he was given a posthumous Outstanding Composer Award by the Manila Music Lovers Society.  

Monday, September 20, 2021

Music of the Philippines (Filipino: Himig ng Pilipinas)

 

Music of the Philippines (Filipino: Himig ng Pilipinas) include musical performance arts in the Philippines or by Filipinos composed in various genres and styles. The compositions are often a mixture of different Asian, Spanish, Latin American, American, and indigenous influences.

Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who composed the famous "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan" that recalls the loving touch of a mother to her child. Another composer, the National Artist for Music Antonino Buenaventura, is notable for notating folk songs and dances. Buenaventura composed the music for "Pandanggo sa Ilaw".


Gong music

Philippine gong music can be divided into two types: the flat gong commonly known as gangsà and played by the groups in the Cordillera region and the bossed gongs played among the Islam and animist groups in the southern Philippines.


Kulintang refers to a racked gong chime instrument played in the southern islands of the Philippines, along with its varied accompanying ensembles. Different groups have different ways of playing the kulintang. Two major groups seem to stand out in kulintang music. These are the Maguindanaon and the Maranaw. The kulintang instrument itself could be traced to either the introduction of gongs to Southeast Asia from China before the 10th century CE or more likely, to the introduction of bossed gong chimes from Java in the 15th century. Nevertheless, the kulintang ensemble is the most advanced form of ensemble music with origins in the pre-colonial epoch of Philippine history and is a living tradition in southern parts of the country.

The tradition of kulintang ensemble music itself is regional, predating the establishment of the present-day Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It transcends religion, with Buddhist, Hindu Animist, and Christian ethnic groups in Borneo, Flores, and Sulawesi playing kulintangan; and Muslim groups playing the same genre of music in Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu archipelago. It is distantly related to thegamelan ensembles of Java and Bali, as well as the musical forms in Mainland Southeast Asia, mainly because of the usage for the same bossed racked gong chimes that play both melodic and percussive.

Hispanic-influenced music

Spain ruled the Philippines for 333 years, and Hispanic influence in Filipino culture is ubiquitous. This influence can be easily seen in folk and traditional music, especially in the Tagalog and Visayan regions, where Spanish influence was the greatest.

Rondalla music

The Rondalla is a traditional string orchestra comprising two-string, mandolin-type instruments such as the banduria and laud; a guitar; a double bass; and often a drum for percussion. The rondalla has its origins in the Iberian rondalla tradition and is used to accompany several Hispanic-influenced song forms and dances.

Harana and Kundiman

The Harana and Kundiman are popular lyrical songs dating back to the Spanish period and are customarily used in courtship rituals. The Harana is rooted in the Mexican-Spanish from Spain, traditional and based on the rhythmic patterns of the habanera. The Kundiman, meanwhile, has pre-colonial origins from the Tagalophone parts of the country, uses a triple meter rhythm, and is characterized by beginning in a minor key and shifting to a major one in the second half. But make no mistake, harana and kundiman are stylistically different. Whereas harana is in 2/4/ time, kundiman is in 3/4. The formula is verse 1 on minor key (e.g. C Minor) followed by verse 2 on parallel major key (C Major) midway through.

In the 1920s, Harana and Kundiman became more mainstream after performers such as Atang de la Rama, Jovita Fuentes, Conching Rosal, Sylvia La Torre, and Ruben Tagalog introduced them to a wider audience.

Tinikling

The Tinikling is a dance from Leyte which involves two individual performers hitting bamboo poles, using them to beat, tap, and slide on the ground, in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between poles. It is one of the more iconic Philippine dances and is similar to other Southeast Asian bamboo dances.

Cariñosa

The Cariñosa (meaning "loving" or "affectionate one") is the national dance and is part of the María Clara suite of Philippine folk dances. It is notable for the use of a fan and handkerchief in amplifying romantic gestures expressed by the couple performing the traditional courtship dance. The dance is similar to the Mexican Jarabe Tapatío, and is related to the Kuracha, Amenudo, and Kuradang dances in the Visayas and Mindanao Area.

Franz Liszt in Istanbul

, Interlude

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Towards the end of his long performance career, Franz Liszt finally managed to visit the Ottoman Empire in 1847. Liszt had wanted to visit Istanbul as early as 1838, and wrote to a friend, “… [I have a] desire and strong decision to go to Istanbul, although I would need signed letters of introductions for cities like Izmir, Istanbul and Athens from Prince Metternich.” In the end, the 1838 trip did not materialize because his mistress Marie d’Agoult was pregnant, however, Liszt continued to show great interest in all aspects of Turkish culture that had already attracted a number of his close friends.

 Istanbul

Istanbul

Comtess Marie d’Agoult reports “Liszt speaks and dreams only of the Sultan, and wishes to bring his music to the Ottoman people.” And in 1846, Gaetano Donizetti wrote to his brother Giuseppe, who was director of the Imperial Orchestra at the Ottoman palace, that “my dear friend Franz Liszt is greatly desirous to visit Istanbul.”

Sultan Abdul-Medgid

Sultan Abdul-Medgid

Eventually, with the help of his famous poet friend Alphonse de Lamartine, Liszt’s visit was scheduled for 1847, with a local newspaper excitedly reporting, “According to some accounts, Monsieur Liszt, who is famous among the piano masters and all the governmental centers in Europe, will come to Istanbul.” In the meantime, Donizetti had received confirmation from the instrument maker Erard in Paris, that as soon as Liszt arrives there, “Erard will sent a beautiful piano with seven octaves, so that the genius and piano-virtuoso will find a fine and worthy instrument at his disposal.”

Bosphorus

Bosphorus

Liszt, after playing concerts in Odessa and Elizabethgrad, arrived in Istanbul on 8th June 1847 by steamboat from Galatz and was welcomed by the pianist Baran Resta, the Sultan’s chief translator. Writing to Marie d’Agoult he subsequently reports, “His Majesty the Sultan was extremely gracious to me, and that after having compensated me both in money… and with a gift (a charming enamel box with brilliants), he conferred on me the Order of Nisan-Iftihar in diamonds. I admit that I was greatly surprised to find His Highness so well informed about my bit of celebrity that long before my arrival he had told both the Austrian Ambassador and Donizetti, that as soon as I had disembarked they were to take me to his Palace of Tcheragan.”


Çırağan Palace in 1840s

Çırağan Palace in 1840s © Wikiwand

Liszt performed twice for Sultan Abdul-Medgid, the potentate who had ruled since he was sixteen, and who was highly interested in Western music and had a passion for the opera. A musical journalist provided the following humorous description: “Liszt was welcomed with enormous honor and compliment. A big celebration was made. The Sultan wanted to show his musical taste, and had invited an orchestra and singers to the palace. After the symphony and the chorus finished, Liszt was asked to perform. He played three pieces, the Andante from the Fantasy on Lucia die Lammermoor, his overture of William Tell and Norma. After the first pieces the Sultan called for water pipes, and he smoked with lust, making a noise like the Etna volcano. Liszt performed the final piece under a great cloud of smoke, and the Sultan winked one eye meaningfully and continued to smoke more excitedly. Liszt was very impressed with the Sultan’s modesty and knowledge, and he was invited to come to the palace again.”

kaptantomtom_liszt02Liszt also gave a number of public concerts, including a musical matinee on 18 June at the Franchini Mansion at Buyukdere. Further private and public concerts were held at the Fethi Pasha Mansion and the Russian Embassy at Pera on 28 June. During this concert, “Liszt saw the panorama of Istanbul from the window and got really excited of seeing the east and the west at the same time. He even thought that he could seen Mount Olympus in the distance.” During his five-week stay, Giuseppe Donizetti hosted Liszt and he arranged accommodations for him at the home of the piano manufacturer Alexander Kommendinger. Donizetti had previously composed two marches for the Sultan, and at Liszt’s request, Donizetti gave him his compositions. “Liszt was in my house,” he writes. “He has just left. He wanted the notes of the two marches I composed for the Sultan. He said he was going to work them into variations sets.” Liszt first played the variations during concerts at Buyukdere on 14 and 15 June. Liszt eventually wrote out the manuscript and gave it to the Austrian ambassador, who passed it to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who in turn presented it to the Sultan. In return, Liszt received the already mentioned enamel box studded with diamonds. Additionally, the Sultan handed Liszt a special seal, with the name of the composer written in Arabic alphabet with Turkish letters, and we do know that Liszt used it to seal a number of his letters. As it turns out, Istanbul delivered the perfect setting for Liszt to say goodbye to his life as a traveling virtuoso.

(C) 2021 by Interlude

Friday, September 17, 2021

Ten Movies About Musicians

by: Fanny Po Sim Head, Interlude

1. Topsy-Turvy (1999)

This 1999 film features the lives and partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan. W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) was the dramatist, and Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) was the composer. They collaborated on fourteen comic operattas between 1871 and 1896, including legendary The Mikado (1885). Topsy-Turvy, directed by Mike Leigh, is about the drama between Gilbert and Sullivan during the production of The Mikado. It won several awards, including the Best Costume and Makeup at the 72nd Academy Award and Best Picture and Best Director at the 1999 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

Songcatcher movie

Songcatcher

2. Songcatcher (2000)

This movie is about a musicologist, Lily Penleric (Janet McTeer), who discovers beautiful Scottish music in the mountains of Appalachia. Penleric then decides to stay in the hills and traces the history of the Scottish immigrant and the songs. The movie reminds me of Béla Bartók and Percy Grainger, who collected many folk music from different regions.

The Lady in the Van movie

The Lady in the Van

3. The Lady in the Van (2015)

This comedy-drama, directed by Nicholas Hytner, is based on playwright Alan Bennett’s memoir. The Lady in the Van is about the interaction of Alan Bennett with Mary Shepherd (portrayed by Maggie Smith), who was an old woman living in a van on his driveway for 15 years. Bennett later discovered Shepherd was used to be a gifted pianist and a pupil of Alfred Cortot. However, her musical career only lasted for a short period. Paranoia and mental illness led to her being homeless. Early in her life, Shepherd performed at the Proms. Original footage of the performance is shown in the film.

Florence Foster Jenkins movies about musicians

Florence Foster Jenkins

4. Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

Based on a true story, Jenkins (starred by Meryl Streep) was a New York socialite. After an injury, which stopped her dream of becoming a concert pianist in Carnegie Hall, she decided to become an opera singer.

Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins

Despite her terrible singing voice, she eventually performed at Carnegie Hall in 1944. Foster Jenkins once said, “People may say I couldn’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.” This is an inspiring movie filled with humor. Even though Jenkins could never sing professionally, her story encourages us to keep trying.

Nodame Cantabile: The Movie I

Nodame Cantabile: The Movie I

5 and 6. Nodame Cantabile: The Movie I (2009) and Movie II (2010)

Nodame Cantabile comes from a series of Japanese manga. It became very popular in Asia when the TV series was released in 2006. Following the success of the tv series, three movies were made with the same crews, including Movie I and Movie II. It is about a handsome violinist, Chiaki Shinichi (Hiroshi Tamaki), his footsteps of becoming a famous conductor, and his love story with Nodame (Juri Ueno), who is a virtuosic pianist with quirky personality. Both Movies I and II take place in Europe, and Shinichi has already started his conducting career, and Nodame works her way towards a concert pianist.

The Conductor movie

The Conductor

7. De Dirigent (The Conductor, 2018)

De Dirigent is a Dutch movie based on the 1920s true story of Antonia Brico who wanted to be a conductor.

Antonia Brico

Antonia Brico

It was a real challenge for a woman to be accepted as a conductor back in the day due to gender bias. Brico eventually succeeded and entered Berlin State Academy of Music, studying with a famous conductor, Karl Muck. This movie is inspiring, especially to many female musicians even today.

Secret the music movie

Secret

8. Secret (2007)

This award-winning Taiwanese film was about a piano prodigy, Ye Xianglun (played by Jay Chou), who was enchanted as well as haunted by a beautiful pianist, Lu Xiaoyu. They later fell in love, but Xianglun later found out the secret of Xiaoyu. The piano theme music, Secret, became very popular, and many of my students wanted to play it when the movie came out. The film has referenced the competition that happen among music students in their daily lives. Let’s watch this piano battle scene, the music was based on Chopin’s Etude Op.10 No.5 (Black Key Etude) and Waltz in c-sharp minor.

Tous Les Matins du monde

Tous Les Matins du monde

9. Tous Les Matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World, 1991)

Tous Les Matins du monde is a French movie based on Pascal Quignard’s book of the same title. It is about a French Baroque composer, Marin Marais, and his relationship with his teacher, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe. Award-winning actor Gérard Depardieu and his son, Guillaume Depardieu, play the adult and younger version of Marais in the movie. The film features some elegant baroque music played with the viola da gamba.

Playing for Time movie

Playing for Time

10. Playing for Time (1980)

Playing for Time was a movie about musicians in Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Based on an autobiography, The Musicians of Auschwitz, by Fania Fénelon, the story begins with Fénelon, a well-known French-Jewish singer, who was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Playing for Time

Playing for Time

She later joined the women orchestra in the camp, whose conductor was Gustav Mahler’s niece, Alma Rosé. This film is a testament of a power of music to bring light and hope to the darkest and hopeless places.


(C) 2021 by Interlude


Emmanuel Chabrier Suite Pastorale

Emmanuel Chabrier - his music and his life

 

Emmanuel Chabrier, in full Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier, (born January 18, 1841, Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme, France—died September 13, 1894, Paris), French composer whose best works reflect the verve and wit of the Paris scene of the 1880s and who was a musical counterpart of the early Impressionist painters.

In his youth Chabrier was attracted to both music and painting. While studying law in Paris from 1858 to 1862, he also studied the piano, harmony, and counterpoint. His technical training, however, was limited, and in the art of composition he was self-taught. From 1862 to 1880, while he was employed as a lawyer at the Ministry of the Interior, he composed the operas L’Étoile (1877; “The Star”) and Une Éducation manquée (“A Deficient Education”), first performed with piano accompaniment in 1879 and with orchestra in 1913. Between 1863 and 1865, working with the poet Paul Verlaine, he sketched out but never finished two operettas. Chabrier was closely associated with the Impressionist painters, and he was the first owner of the celebrated A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882) by his friend Édouard Manet.

After hearing Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at Munich in 1879, Chabrier left the Ministry of the Interior to devote himself exclusively to music. As chorus master at the Concerts Lamoureux he helped to produce a concert performance of Tristan and became associated with Vincent d’Indy, Henri Duparc, and Gabriel Fauré as one of the group known as Le Petit Bayreuth. Chabrier’s best music was written between 1881 and 1891 when, after visiting Spain (where he was inspired by the folk music), he settled in Touraine. His works during this period include the piano pieces Dix pièces pittoresques (1880), Trois valses romantiques for piano duet (1883), and Bourrée fantasque (1891); the orchestral works España (1883) and Joyeuse marche (1888); the opera Le Roi malgré lui (1887; “The King in Spite of Himself”); and six songs (1890). The last three years of his life were marked by both mental and physical collapse.

Chabrier’s music, frequently based on irregular rhythmic patterns or on rapidly repeated figures derived from the bourrée (a dance of his native Auvergne), was inspired by broad humour and a sense of caricature. His melodic gifts were honed by performances of popular songs in Paris cafés-concerts. In his piano and orchestral works he developed a sophisticated Parisian style that was a model for the 20th-century composers Francis Poulenc and Georges Auric. His orchestration was remarkable for novel instrumental combinations. In España, for example, his use of brass and percussion anticipated effects in Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1911).

What started as a tour of Spain for six months in 1882, turned into a research trip on the folk music and dances of Spain. Chabrier’s tour took in most of the principal cities of Spain, starting in San Sebastián, and then on to Burgos, Toledo, Sevilla, Granada, Málaga, Cádiz, Cordoba, Valencia, Zaragoza and ending in Barcelona. In writing to a friend, he detailed his discoveries of the various regional dance forms, providing musical examples along with his text.

Although España was originally conceived as a work for piano duet, he turned it into a work for orchestra quite quickly. The original title was ‘Jota,’ a genre of music and dance from Aragon and other regions, but he decided to encompass the whole of the country under its new title, España (Spain). Although Chabrier was known to call it ‘a piece in F and nothing more,’ composers such as de Falla praised it, with even Mahler calling it ‘the start of modern music.’

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Music in the Philippines since 1898


Discovering the 'Paris of Negro' through the Rondalla

Music of the Philippines (Filipino: Himig ng Pilipinas) include musical performance arts in the Philippines or by Filipinos composed in various genres and styles. The compositions are often a mixture of different Asian, Spanish, Latin American, American, and indigenous influences.

Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who composed the famous "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan" that recalls the loving touch of a mother to her child. Another composer, the National Artist for Music Antonino Buenaventura, is notable for notating folk songs and dances. Buenaventura composed the music for "Pandanggo sa Ilaw".


By: CORAZON CANAVE-DIOQUINO

       Philippine Music underwent another transformation with the coming of the Americans. The three mainstreams of music during this post-colonial period include classical music, semi-classical music and popular music.

Classical Music

       In the newly established public school system, music was included in the curriculum at the elementary and later at the high school levels. At the tertiary level, music conservatories and colleges were established. The earliest such schools were St. Scholastica’s College (1906) and the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music (1916). In the 1930’s, two private music schools were established in Manila: The Academy of Music (1930) under Alexander Lippay and the Manila Conservatory of Music (1934) under Rodolfo Cornejo. Both these schools however did not last beyond a few years. Subsequently, other schools with strong music departments emerged at the University of Sto. Tomas, Silliman University, Centro Escolar Univesity, Santa Isabel, St. Paul College and the Philippine Women’s University.

       The graduates from these institutions included present-day composers and performers. Composers produced works utilizing the western idiom and forms: symphonies, chamber works, concertos, solo instrumental works, choral works, solo vocal works. The leading figures of the first generation of composers were Nicanor Abelardo, Francisco Santiago, Antonio Molina, and Juan Hernandez. Classical works written from the 1940’s to the 1970’s were mostly contributed by the first members of the League of Filipino Composers founded in 1955. The majority of these compositions were written in the style of the late 19th century European classical music. These included works by Rosalina Abejo, Alfredo Buenaventura, Antonio Buenaventura, Rodolfo Cornejo, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Hilarion Rubio, Lucino Sacramento, Lucio San Pedro, Rosendo Santos, Amada Santos-Ocampo, and Ramon Tapales.

       After studies abroad, modern methods of composition were employed by Eliseo Pajaro and Lucresia Kasilag. Both were strongly influenced by American neoclassicism. Jose Maceda is considered the first legitimate Filipino avant-garde composer. He was the first Filipino composer to succeed in liberating Philippine musical expression from the colonial European mould of symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. Among the younger generation of composers, the first to respond to the challenges of new music were Francisco Feliciano and Ramon Santos. A still younger set of composers, all students of Ramon P. Santos includes Josefino Toledo, Ruben Federizon, Verne de la Pena, Arlene Chongson, and Jonas Baes. Since the 1950’s to the present, the trend of serious musical compositions in the Philippines has been towards a synthesis of traditional concepts of  structure, of time, of space, of melody, of performance medium with the new and experimental techniques.

       In the performance field , some notable Filipino artists include Jovita Fuentes, Isang Tapales, Ramon Tapales, Dalisay Aldaba, Conchita Gaston, Mercedes Matias, Federico Elizalde, Luis Valencia, Oscar Yatco, Benjamin Tupas, Nena del Rosario Villanueva, Jose Contreras, Fides Asencio Cuyugan, Reynaldo Reyes, Jose Maceda, Ernesto Vallejo, Sergio Esmilla, Carmencita Lozada, Basilio Manalo, Evelyn Mandac, Aurelio Estanislao and Cecile Licad.

       Outstanding groups include the Manila Symphony Orchestra, the Filipino Youth Symphony Orchestra, the U.P. Symphony Orchestra, the Manila Concert Orchestra, the  Quezon City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Artists’ Guild of the Philippines, the Philippine Choral Society, the U.P. Madrigal Singers, the U.P. Concert Chorus among others.

Semi-Classical Music

       The semi-classical repertoire includes stylized folk songs, music for theater, songs and ballads, and various types of instrumental music. An awakened interest in field work produced a body of folk songs from the different regions of the Philippines. These were written in Western notation, often utilizing western harmonies. Instrumental and vocal arrangements of the songs were published and used as educational materials in schools.

       The native sarswela in the vernacular, an outgrowth of the Spanish zarzuela introduced in1879, appeared by 1900. Composers who wrote music for these dramas included Bonifacio Abdon, Alejo Carluen, Gavino Carluen, Jose Estella, Fulgencio Tolentino, Juan Hernandez, Francisco Buencamino, Leon Ignacio, and Francisco Santiago. As a general rule sarswela composers functioned as conductors of the orchestra. Often they were instrumental performers of note in their own right. Many taught in schools or gave private lessons in homes. They also appeared in large public music concerts as well as in smaller gatherings where music programs formed the main attraction of informal and semi-formal occasions.

       The sarswela solo songs became models for the classical kundiman and the lighter type of love songs and ballads used in radio and in the cinema. These songs were further popularized in the 1950’s with the advent of the recording industry, particularly the Villar Recording Company. It gave rise to the unprecedented popularity , not only of the music, but also of the performers. Outstanding instrumental groups included the Juan Silos Rondalla, the Leopoldo Silos Orchestra, and the Mabuhay Recording band. Top artists were Sylvia La Torre, Ruben Tagalog, Cely Bautista, Raye Lucero, Diomedes Maturan, Pilita Corales, Cenon Lagman, Ric Manrique, and Nora Aunor. Initially the songs were written by Abelardo, Santiago, Buencamino, later joined by Mike Velarde, Constancio de Guzman, Josefino Cenizal, Juan Silos, Manuel Velez, Leopoldo Silos, Simplicio Suarez, Minggoy Lopez, Santiago Suarez, Restie Umali, Antonio Maiquez, and Ernani Cuenco. A favorite lyricist of these major songwriters was Levi Celerio.

      In the field of semi-classical instrumental music, the band stands out. The tradition of village and town bands that proliferated during the Spanish times continued. By the turn of the century, band performances in Manila which took place at the Luneta, the Plaza Mayor, and the Calzada were highly praised for their impeccable performances. Travelogues written at this time echo the same sentiment- that nowhere had they heard such fine performances. Until today, the band tradition goes on. Marches, concert overtures, concertant pieces, tone poems, and even symphonies have been written for band. Composers of band music include Alfredo Buenaventura, Antonio Buenaventura, Francisco Feliciano, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Eliseo Pajaro, Hilarion Rubio, Lucino Sacramento, Lucio San Pedro and Rosendo Santos.

       A popular medium for light classical muse is the rondalla. Its repertoire consists mainly of native folk tunes, ballroom music as well as arrangements of classical pieces such as opera overtures. Bayani de Leon and Jerry Dadap have written more serious music for the rondalla.

Popular Music

       The third mainstream of music during the 20th century is popular music. This genre includes Pinoy Ballads, Pinoy Rock, Manila Sound, Pinoy Disco, Pinoy Folk, Mainstream Jazz, Pinoy Jazz Fusion, Pinoy Rap, Ethnic Pop, and novelty songs.


About the Author:

Corazon Canave-Dioquino musicologist, is a professor at the University of the Philippines, College of Music where she has taught for the past 42 years.She is actively involved in the collection and archiving of musical Filipiniana at the UP Center for Ethnomusicology at Diliman, Quezon City.

Who Else Needs Glasses?

By Interlude

when you wear glasses and see the score
Credit: Mike Magatagan

(C) 2021 by Interlude

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Tomaso Albinoni - his music and his life

by Georg Predota

“The Professional Dilettante”

Tomaso Albinoni

Tomaso Albinoni

There is hardly a collection of recorded Baroque favorites that does not include the “Adagio in G minor” by Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751). Although that world-famous composition is attributed to Albinoni, it was actually the creation of the mid-20th century Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto. While completing his biography on the composer, Giazotto claimed to have found a fragment of an Albinoni composition in an archive of a Germany library. That fragment supposedly contained snippets of a melody and a supporting continuo part. Relying on the stylistic features of the Italian Baroque, Giazotto “completed” the fragment, and the Italian publisher Ricordi published the “Albinoni Adagio” in 1958. So far so good, but there is one more twist to that story, as nobody has been able to locate or examine that mysterious Albinoni fragment. The attribution to Albinoni might be a clever work of fiction, but Tomaso Albinoni did exist, as he was born 350 years ago in the city of Venice.

Remo Giazotto

Remo Giazotto

Albinoni’s father was a manufacturer of playing card who owned several shops and some property in Venice. Tomaso was slated to take over his father’s business, but in his spare time he took violin and singing lessons. He obviously was highly talented, but since he was independently wealthy, he never looked for employment in music. Instead, “he preferred to remain a man of independent means who delighted himself and others through music.” Initially, Albinoni dabbled in church music but failed to make a mark. However, he did step into public view at the beginning of 1694, as his first opera Zenobia, regina de Palmireni was staged at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. Dedicated to his fellow Venetian, the Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the work was popular and performances continued for several weeks. Concordantly, Albinoni published his 12 Sonatas Op. 1, and it became obvious that “instrumental ensemble music (sonatas and concertos) and secular vocal music (operas and solo cantatas) were to be his two areas of activity in a musical career that lasted the better part of 47 years.”

Frontispiece of Albinoni’s ‘Zenobia’

Frontispiece of Albinoni’s ‘Zenobia’

Albinoni might briefly have served Ferdinando Carlo di Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, and his hugely popular suites Opus 3 are dedicated to Ferdinando de’Medici, Grand prince of Tuscany. His theatrical works soon began to be staged in other Italian cities. Rodrigo in Algeri was staged in Naples in 1702, and Griselda and Aminta in Florence in 1703. A set of comic intermezzos Vespette e Pimpinone of 1708 proofed especially popular. Albinoni reached the height of his popularity in 1722. He dedicated a set of 12 concertos to Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. In turn, he was commissioned to compose music for the wedding of Karl Albrecht to Maria Amalia, the younger daughter of the late emperor Joseph I. Albinoni wrote at least fifty operas, of which twenty-eight were produced in Venice between 1723 and 1740. The composer claimed to have created a grand total of 81 operas, but the vast majority of these stage works have been lost because they were not published during his lifetime.

Italian composers Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750), Domenico Gizzi (Egizio or Egiziello) (1680- c. 1745) and Giuseppe Colla (1731-1806) by Pietro Bettelini (1763–1829)

Italian composers Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750), Domenico Gizzi (Egizio or Egiziello) (1680- c. 1745) and Giuseppe Colla (1731-1806) by Pietro Bettelini (1763–1829)

Although a good many attributions to Albinoni are doubtful, he apparently did compose nearly 50 solo cantatas. However, he is primarily known as a composer of instrumental music, with almost 100 sonatas for between one and six instruments, 59 concertos and 8 sinfonias to his name. His instrumental compositions were published in Italy, Amsterdam and London, and subsequently reissued and reprinted. They were favorably compared to those of Corelli and Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach wrote at least four keyboard fugues on Albinoni themes. We also know that Bach frequently used Albinoni bass lines as foundation for harmonic exercises for his students. Sadly, substantial parts of Albinoni’s works were lost with the destruction of the Dresden State Library in World War II. Albinoni’s music has been criticized “for an over dependence on certain formal stereotypes, and a dryness and lack of harmonic finesse.” It must be said, however, that Albinoni possessed a remarkable melodic gift, and that his mature works “display an almost perfectly realized equilibrium between form and content.” From about 1730, Albinoni gradually withdrew from public life and from composition. He spent the last decade of his life in the care of his three children, and he died on 17 January 1751 from diabetic complications in Venice.

(C) 2021 by Interlude

The Pianist’s Solitude

By Francis Wilson, Interlude

Credit: https://static1.squarespace.com/

Credit: https://static1.squarespace.com/

“The loneliness doesn’t worry me……I spend most of my life alone, even backstage…….I’m there completely alone. I like the time alone….”

British pianist Stephen Hough, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs programme

The pianist’s life is, by necessity, lonely. One of the main reasons pianists spend so much time alone is that we must practise more than other musicians because we have many more notes and symbols to decode, learn and upkeep. This prolonged solitary process may eventually result in a public performance, at which we exchange the loneliness of the practise room for the solitude of the concert platform.

Most of us do not choose the piano because we are loners – such decisions are usually based on our emotions, motor skills or the aural appeal of the instrument. For me, as a child – and an only child – the piano was a companion and a portal to a world of exploration, fantasy and storytelling. It remains a place to retreat to and time spent with the instrument and its literature can be therapeutic, rebalancing and uplifting. For many of us, being alone is the time when the sense of being at one with the instrument is strongest.

In addition, there is time alone spent listening to recordings – one’s own (for self-evaluation) and by others (for inspiration and ideas on interpretative possibilities, or purely for relaxation) – and time simply recovering from practising and refocusing in readiness for the next session. Many pianists tend to be loners – the career almost demands it and self-reliance is something one learns early on, as a musician – but that does not necessarily make pianists lonely or unsociable.

To me it’s always about connection – connecting with parts of myself, with the thoughts and feelings of the composer, and ultimately sharing with an audience. It’s travelling through time and space to experience other eras and cultures…..I can’t think of anything that makes me feel less lonely!

Stephen Marquiss, pianist & composer

The life of the concert soloist is a strange calling, yet many concert pianists accept the loneliness as part of the package, together with the other accessories of the trade. The concert pianist experiences a particular kind of solitude (as noted by Stephen Hough in the quote at the beginning of this article). The solitude of travelling alone – the monotony of airport lounges, the Sisyphean accumulation of air miles, nights spent alone in faceless hotels. Dining alone, sleeping alone, breakfast alone, rising early to practise alone. And there is the concert itself: waiting backstage, alone, in the green room, and then the moment when you cross the stage, entirely alone….. The pianist Martha Argerich has described the “immense” space around the piano that has always made her feel alone on stage. But it is this aloneness, this separation, which the solo pianist exploits for the purpose of captivating and seducing the audience, drawing them into his or her own private world for the duration of the performance.

I suppose being an introvert in a ‘public performance’ profession has been my greatest challenge. It isn’t straightforward, of course – I seem to have a deep need to communicate music to an audience and get their reaction, and I love to be appreciated, but there are many other aspects of being ‘on show’ that don’t come naturally. I’m very interested in people, but I’m quite a private person and need lots of time to myself.

Susan Tomes, pianist and writer

The traditional positioning of the piano on stage, so that the pianist sits side on to the audience, heightens this sense of separation and aloneness. In a concert, the pianist must navigate a path between private, subjective feelings and public expression in a curious display of both isolation and exhibitionism. The power of performer, and performance, is this separateness from the mass of audience. Some performers may exploit this to create a sense of “us and them”, while others are adept at creating an intensity or intimacy of sound and gesture during which the audience may feel as if they have a private window onto the pianist’s unique world, in that moment.

Up there on the stage, one can feel more alone than anyone would ever care to be, yet it can make one better than one thinks possible because one’s ego is constantly being tested when one plays. To meet a Beethoven sonata head on, for example, it stops being about you – how fast you can play, how technically accomplished you are. Instead it is about getting beyond oneself, becoming ego-less, humble in the face of this great music, developing a sense of oneness with the composer…..

After the performance, when the greeting of the audience and CD signing is over, the pianist may happily retreat to his or her solitary practise room or studio. Many of us long for this special solitude and actively relish the time spent practising alone.

The internet and social media have, for many of us, been a huge support in relieving feelings of loneliness and separation. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms enable us to connect with pianists and other musicians around the world, allowing us to preserve our solitude, while also engaging meaningfully with others when required.

(C) 2017-2021 by Interlude.