William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

Hob. VIIe/1 ; Year: 1796; Genre: Classical Had this fantastic piece of music on my mind after researching some on the great trumpet virtuoso Rafael Mendez . I absolutely love his rendition, so today I am picking the piece originally written by Maestro Joseph Haydn. This is another instance where you will instantly recognize the melody, which has been used just about everywhere for the last couple of centuries. Today, this is one of Haydn's more famous works, although "the father of the symphony" has an immense catalogue of work with many other famous compositions.   Watch a spectacular performance of the piece by the late virtuoso Rafael Mendez on YouTube.  (piece itself begins at about the 3:20 mark.)       My song pick 1 year ago today: Gloryhammer - Legendary Enchanted Jetpack     My song pick 2 years ago today: Pearl Jam - Animal   My song pick 3 years ago today: Parliament - [You're a Fish & I'm a] Water Sign   My song pick 4 years ...

Symphony No. 45; Year: 1772; Genre: Classical Period/classical When I saw today's pick number, (1809), I happened to remember that 1809 was the year that master composer of the Classical Period, Joseph Haydn died. While I've never been a big fan of his music, I still recognize his mastery of his art; there is no doubt that he was one of the greats. It's not really that I dislike his music or anything like that, but with, of course, some exceptions I've never been a big fan of music from the Classical Period; the music is just too formulaic and sterile for my tastes. Whatever the case I figured I should pick one of his pieces today, and I thought it would be absolutely perfect to pick his Farewell Symphony for the occasion. Here is the entire piece performed by Capella Istropolitana, conducted by Barry Woodsworth: Hear the first movement on YouTube. Hear the second movement on YouTube. Hear the third movement on YouTube. Hear the fourth movement on YouTube....