Saturday, August 27, 2022
MUSIC SPOT:MOONLIGHT SONATA
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Hear and see it played (3 movements) by Valentina Lisitsa by clicking on:
Version by Lola and Hauser, piano and cello:
Lionel Yu, remix:
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Beethoven (1770-1827) completed the Moonlight Sonata in 1801 when he was in his early thirties. It was then called Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, subtitled by Beethoven Sonata quasi una fantasia, translated as "sonata in the manner of a fantasy".
The reference to fantasy reminds listeners that the piece, although technically a sonata, is suggestive of a free-flowing, improvised fantasia, a musical composition with roots in improvisation. The fantasia, like the impromptu, seldom follows the textbook rules of any strict musical form.
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Beethoven did not call his composition the Moonlight Sonata, that did not happen until after his death. The name Moonlight Sonata (“Mondscheinsonate” in German) was given by the poet Ludwig Rellstab in the 1832 when he likened the first movement to "a boat passing the wild scenery of Lake Lucerne in the moonlight."
Ludwig Rellstab
It became known by that name long after and later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name.
Lake Lucerne
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According to Edwin Fischer, in a library in Vienna he found notes written by Beethoven, supporting the theory that the first movement was inspired by Mozart’s Don Giovanni‘s murder scene. If so, the first movement is a death scene.
Some critics have objected to the subjective, romantic nature of the title "Moonlight", which has at times been called "a misleading approach to a movement with almost the character of a funeral march" and "absurd".
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Beethoven dedicated this work to his 16 years old student, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
Beethoven was in love with her, but their romance eventually did not come to fruition.
The dedication was not Beethoven's original intention, and he did not have Guicciardi in mind when writing the Moonlight Sonata. Thayer, in his Life of Beethoven, states that the work Beethoven originally intended to dedicate to Guicciardi was the Rondo in G, Op. 51 No. 2, but this had to be dedicated to Countess Lichnowsky. So he cast around at the last moment for a piece to dedicate to Guicciardi.
It is believed that the countess was also in love with Beethoven and that he asked her to marry him but that her father said no.
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This piano sonata has a unique atmosphere, something never heard before. It has a mesmerizing and heartbroken mood, at the same time. Another interesting fact is that Beethoven prescribed to play the whole first movement with the sustain pedal down, so harmonies can overlap, fading into each other. This is something a modern piano cannot do; today it is up to the interpretation of the player.
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The Moonlight Sonata has three movements.
Contrary to customs at the time, the first movement is a slow movement.
Franz Liszt said about the second movement of the Moonlight Sonata thar the second movement is a little flower between two abysses, referring to the first and last movement as two towering pieces of music.
According to Charles Rosen, the first movement is too delicate for modern instruments and the last is too massive for the contemporary. The first movement has an unspeakable mystery and tragedy, which finally results in rage and fury in the last movement.
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Although this was still the classical period, this sonata is a romantic composition. So much emotional rhetoric, so contrasting movements were not typical in classical music.
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Beethoven was not deaf when he composed this sonata in 1801.
He had, however, had symptoms in his ears since 1798, meaning that his hearing at this stage was not perfect either.
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Beethoven considered the sonata to be inferior to many of his other works for piano, its popularity exasperated the composer, who remarked to Carl Czerny, "Surely I've written better things."
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John Lennon got the idea for the Beatles track "Because," when he heard Yoko Ono playing "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano, he asked her to play it backwards and came up with "Because" based on what he heard.
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A reader comment at Songfacts:
Everybody knows the famous first movement, but for me the crowning glory of the work is the “last” movement. It is this absolutely amazing, fiery, passionate storm, which practically strains the piano to the breaking point (how much more so on the early pianos that Beethoven had!). A must-hear, it is absolutely kick-ass!
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Other reader comments:
I think this is the most beautiful piece of music Beethoven has ever written. This is beautiful. So much emotion and thought while listening to this. Amazing:)
Incredibly moving, notwithstanding Beethoven's own opinion of this piece.
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WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE, continued
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Continuing a look at the events and people in Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire.
Each two lines represent a year.
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide
Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo
1958:
Lebanon:
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The 1958 Lebanon Crisis was a political crisis which was brought about by political and religious unrest in the country, leading to a US military intervention. The intervention lasted three months up until the end of the term of then-president, Camille Chamoun.
Camille Chanoun
The president requested the intervention, with the American and Lebanese forces successfully occupying the port and the international airport of Beirut at the end of the intervention.
There were explosive claims that the president wanted to stay in office longer than expected by changing the constitution.
Background Of The Crisis
Lebanon was threatened by civil unrest between Moranite Christians and Muslims in 1958.
Tension had been building between Lebanon and Egypt, and escalated further when President Camille, who was a pro-western Christian, failed to break diplomatic relations with the Western countries, namely including France and Great Britain who had attacked Egypt during the Suez Crisis.
The Egyptian president, Gamel Nasser, was angered by President Camille’s action to the point that he was willing to do whatever it would take to sever his relationship with Lebanon.
Gamel Nasser
The tensions were further fuelled with President Camille's support for the Baghdad Pact which was also pro-western and seen by President Nasser as a hindrance to the Arab Nationalism.
In response to this threat, Syria and Egypt united to form the United Arab Republic with Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami supporting the Egyptian president. The Muslims in Lebanon demanded that the country join the UAR while the Christian preferred the country align itself with Western powers.
Rashid Karami
President Camille’s reluctance to give in to the Muslim’s demand led to a rebellion by many Muslims with an allegation that the UAR, through Syria, was supplying weapons. President Camille reported Syria’s action to the UN Security Council who sent a team to investigate the claims. However, the team did not find any substantial evidence to the claims made by President Camille. The final blow to the embattled president was a bloody military coup in Iraq on July 14, 1958, in which Iraq’s pro-western king and prime minister were killed. President Camille was forced to call for American intervention.
Rebellion by Muslim Lebanese escalated into civil war in 1958.
Lebanese Muslims wanted to make Lebanon a member of the new United Arab Republic, Christians wanted to align with the West. The US intervened on request.
Operation Blue Bat
President Eisenhower of the United States answered Camille’s request by forming Operation Blue Bat to intervene in the crisis. The aim of the operation was to protect the regime against the Muslim rebellion and any intended threats from Lebanese rivals.
Dwight D Eisenhower
The strategy was to take charge of the Beirut International Airport, the port of Beirut and the areas surrounding the city. Operation Blue Bat included about 14,000 men made up of 8,500 US Army forces and 5,670 US Marine Corps.
Robert D Murphy was sent to Lebanon by President Eisenhower to convince both sides to reach a compromise. Both sides were urged to consider electing a moderate Christian General Fuad Chehab to replace President Camille. However, the incumbent president served until the end of her term on September 22, 1958, which also marked the end to the crisis.
Robert Daniel Murphy
Fuad Chehab
The US forces departed Lebanon at the end of October with one casualty.
The installation of the new president ended the crisis with a death toll of about 4,000 people.
Gallery:
US Marine on guard with a machine gun, Beirut in the distance.
Lebanese Army Jeeps equipped with M40 recoilless gun, Beirut, Summer 1958.
Lebanese Army Land Rover securing the visit of UN representatives.
A Lebanese Army Land Rover securing the presidential palace in Kantari, Beirut.
UN patrol jeep being repaired after hitting a mine
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Friday, August 26, 2022
Thursday, August 25, 2022
FUNNY FRIDAY
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Enjoy some jokes, japes and jests, Byters, the weekend is nearly here.
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SOME HUMOUR:
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Some time ago, a man had two sons. As they got older, everyone quickly realized that Jackson was very sharp, while Blake was about as sharp as a spoon. They were both loved very much and cared for. As time went by, the father got sick and eventually passed away.
Jackson called his brother on the phone and told him: "Listen, I have an enormously important business meeting I must attend, but I will get on the first flight home. Here are my credit card details, please make sure dad looks his best and gets everything money can buy for his funeral, spare no expense!" He wasn't sure this was a great idea, given that Blake was... well, Blake, but he had no one else to call.
Surprisingly, Blake took care of everything, and did it with a rather decent budget. Jackson was pleasantly surprised and the funeral went well, if a sad and emotional affair for all.
A few months later Jackson calls Blake again. "Listen," he says. "I don't want to make accusations or nothin', but could it be that you are still using my card for about $300 dollars every month? I can see it here on my credit report."
"Of course not!" said Blake, insulted. "I would never steal from you, you know that!"
"Yea, I do," said Jackson, "But how do you explain these?"
"Oh," said Blake, "I bet those are for dad's tux. You said you wanted him to look his best so I rented the most expensive suit in town!"
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A guy runs into a bar.
He goes up to the bartender and asks him "Hey how tall is a penguin?"
The bartender looks at him and goes "I don't know, probably around three feet."
The guy looks distraught and while leaving goes "Oh shit, I think I hit a nun."
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A shaggy looking old lady goes into her bank and asks the teller...
"Can I please withdraw $10 from my account?" while handing over her debit card.
The teller, annoyed at such a transaction request, rudely tells the old lady "Go to the ATM, stop holding up the line for $10."
The old lady then says "Okay, then I want to withdraw $10,000 from my account."
The teller, now a little bit incredulous, takes the old lady's debit card, checks her account, and sees that she has over $500,000 on deposit. She apologises, informs the manager, and begins counting the money.
After a few minutes, the teller hands over the $10,000 in $100 bills to the old lady and asks "Is there anything else I can help you with?”
The old lady replies "Yes, I want to deposit $9,990." while handing the $10,000 back to the teller.
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The Bible says being gay is fine, as long as you're high.
"A man who lays with another man should be stoned. "
Leviticus 20:13 ESV
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A priest, a minister, and a rabbit walk in to deliver blood.
The priest says “I’m a type A.”
The minister says “I’m a type B.”
The rabbit says “I think I’m a typo.”
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An irate woman bursts through the doors of a bar, angrily screaming, "All lawyers are arseholes!"
This enrages a patron at the end of the bar, who stands up and shouts, "Hey! I take offense to that!"
"Why?" she asks, sneering at him, "You a lawyer or something?"
"No," he retorts, "I'm an arsehole!"
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LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:
Back in the days of old Adam
The grass served as mattress for madam,
And they spent the whole day
On the sex that today
They would bounce on box springs, if they had 'em.
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GALLERY:
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CORN CORNER:
I just opened up a gym where my entire staff asks you a series of annoying questions every so often for the length of your stay.
Welcome to Jehovah's Fitness.
Why didn't 4 ask out 5?
Because he was 2²
What did Godzilla call his son?
Jesuszilla
I got rid of my carbon monoxide detector.
It kept giving off a high pitched whine that made me feel nauseous and dizzy.
I’m starting a group for people who have OCD.
We meet 10 times a day.
Sometimes I tuck my knees to my chest and lean forward.
Hey, that's just how I roll.
I told my doctor I broke my knee in 3 places.
He said not to go to those places again.
Three golf clubs walk into a bar.
The putter ordered a beer, the pitching wedge ordered a gin & tonic.
The barman asked the third one if he wanted anything,
He replied “No thanks, I’m the driver”.
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Wednesday, August 24, 2022
FROM THE VAULT
The following item, from the Bytes vault, is from 30 April 2017. It came to mind when I arrived home last night and called to my wife “Heil Honey, I’m Home.”
Heil Honey, I'm Home !
What do you get when you cross the racist 1970’s Brit sitcom Love Thy Neighbour . . .
. . . with the 1960’s American sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, set in a Nazi POW camp?
One possible offspring is . . .
Heil Honey I'm Home! is a British sitcom that was produced in 1990 and was cancelled after one episode. Dubbed "perhaps the world's most tasteless situation comedy", it depicts a fictionalised version of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun living next door to a Jewish couple, Arny and Rosa Goldenstein in 1937.
The show was intended to be a spoof of the sitcoms produced in the United States between the 1950's and 1970's. It adopted the characterisations and techniques of those sitcoms, even to the extent of the characters having New York accents as in I Love Lucy and having the characters applauded as they came on set.
Defended by some as being in the same vein as ‘Allo ‘Allo!, The Producers and Hogan’s Heroes, it nonetheless received considerable criticism as trivialising the Nazis and the Holocaust.
Although 8 episodes were filmed, only one was shown before being cancelled.
To see the first episode uncut, click on the following link:
Some reader comments posted below the above episode/link:
Hitler wasn't so bad. After all, he did kill Hitler.
I give it a nein out of ten.
You got to think about how many people this idea had to go through. And then how many people it took to film eight episodes of this. There were writers, producers, directors, actors, stage hands, some dude holding the boom mic, a craft services table, and none of those people ever thought this was a bad idea
You never know, Netflix might make a reboot of this now too.
Gallery:
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Tuesday, August 23, 2022
QUOTE FOR THE DAY
“The number of victims of robbers, highwaymen, rapers, gangsters and other criminals at any period of history is negligible compared to the massive numbers of those cheerfully slain in the name of the true religion, just policy, or correct ideology."
― Arthur Koestler, The Ghost in the Machine
AESOP'S FABLES: THE DOG AND ITS REFLECTION
The fable:
One day a stray dog had been lingering outside a butcher’s shop, who gave him a bone as way of getting him to go away. Happy with his gain, the dog trotted off home so that he could eat his meal.
On his way back, he was crossing a bridge over a stream, when he looked over the edge at his reflection. In the water he saw a dog, holding a bone, staring back at him. Of course, that was his own reflection, but he did not think it through. He thought it was another dog, and growing greedy, he dropped his bone and jumped into the water. But soon he began to struggle to stay afloat, and almost drowned trying to reach the bridge.
Getting out of the water, the dog realised how foolish and greedy he had been.
In trying to get two bones, he had lost the one that he had.
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The moral:
Various morals have been attributed to the fable:
- It is foolish to be greedy.
- Be content with what you have.
- "Who all coveteth, oft he loseth all."
- Do not be taken in by appearances.
- Do not sacrifice the substance for the shadow.
- It has also been suggested that the proverb “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" could be equally applied to the dog's poor judgment.
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Some comments:
The story became widely disseminated after Aesop.
A variation exists where the word “shadow” is used instead of “reflection”.
I have personally used the story to illustrate to clients that sometimes seeking more in litigation could result in an adverse court judgment with an order for costs against the client. Consider whether it is worth the risk in batting on.
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