Behind the Music

Why Did Beethoven Put a Chorus In His Ninth Symphony?

December 11, 2020July 31, 2015 by debisimons

Short answer: We don’t know. Where does any creative artist get the idea for any of his creations?

So much for that. We’ll never know how the thought welled up in Beethoven’s mind that it would be a cool idea to have a choir march out at the end of the fourth movement. We do know, however, that he had been interested for some time in creating new forms of music. He had already created a hybrid piano concerto/choral work in his “Choral Fantasy,” a 20-minute piece whose words and music are very much a precursor to the Ninth; Beethoven himself said in a letter that the symphony was “a setting of the words of Schiller’s immortal ‘Lied an die Freude’ in the same way as my pianoforte fantasia with chorus, but on a far grander scale.”

The Inspiration for Sid Robinovitch’s “Canciones por las Americas”

December 11, 2020May 4, 2015 by debisimons

Rainy night — Image from Pixabay; reference is to “Noche de Lluvia,” the first of the three songs in the “Canciones.”

One of the great pleasures of writing the posts on this site is that I’m sometimes able to get in touch with living composers and badger them with nosy questions. I was extremely curious about this set of songs because they all have Spanish texts, and yet Sid Robinovitch is Canadian, has a Jewish background, and wrote the pieces as a commission for the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors. There didn’t seem to be much of a Latin tango connection in any of this. So originally I professed my mystification and moved on, but later it occurred to me that I could just ask. I e-mailed Robinovitch after looking up his contact info on his website, and here is part of his very gracious and prompt reply:

A Choral Commission

December 11, 2020April 30, 2015 by debisimons

Have you ever noticed the words “commissioned by” or “in honor of” at the top of a song or other musical composition? My own choir has actually commissioned several works over its history. I wrote this piece about a new one, and our relationship to both the commissioner and the commissionee was pretty special.

What three strands produced our selection “Friendship” by K. Lee Scott?

Is “What I Did for Love” a Love Song?–The Real Story Behind the Words

November 8, 2023April 26, 2015 by debisimons

“What I Did for Love” isn’t a love song, if by that you mean a song about romantic love. It is, however, a song about passion, in this case a passion for dancing. This selection is taken from the enormously popular musical A Chorus Line, which ran for over 6,000 performances in its initial run on Broadway starting in 1975

The Deeper Meaning behind Copland’s “Ching-A-Ring-Chaw”

December 11, 2020April 13, 2015 by debisimons

Sometimes I start researching these posts thinking that I know what’s what and I just need to fill in a few blanks, only find out that my ideas have been completely wrongheaded. Other times I think there’s not too much to say and end up with enough material for a doctoral dissertation. This post fulfills both conditions. Racism and the transformative power of art are all packed into this one short selection.

Who Says, “Play It Again, Sam” in the Movie “Casablanca”?

February 3, 2021March 9, 2015 by debisimons

Black-and-white film screenshot of a man and woman as seen from the shoulders up. The two are close to each other as if about to kiss. — image accessed via Wikipedia

And the answer is: nobody. That line isn’t in the movie. We get the full scoop from the website The Phrase Finder:

This is well-known as one of the most widely misquoted lines from films. The actual line in the film is ‘Play it, Sam’. Something approaching ‘Play it again, Sam’ is first said in the film by Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) in an exchange with the piano player ‘Sam’ (Dooley Wilson):

What are the “three links of chain” that Mary wears?

December 11, 2020March 8, 2015 by debisimons

Spoiler alert: You’re not going to get a definitive answer to this question. You may be more confused than ever! I know I am. There seem to be dozens of versions of this and similar spirituals. We are singing something close to the one that Carl Sandburg published in his 1927 American Songbag..

Here are just some of the variants of our first verse:

“Mary” is sometimes “Sister Mary” or “Sis Mary”

“Three links of chain” is sometimes “three silver chain[s]”

“Every link bearin’ Jesus’ name” is sometimes “bearin’ freedom’s name” or “each chain bore the Savior’s name”

“Matthew Mark and Luke and John” is sometimes “Gabriel stood and blowed his horn” or “You better let God’s chillun alone.”

Is there a coherent story in “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy”?

December 11, 2020March 2, 2015 by debisimons

Yes indeed. Surprising, no? You’d think it was just some kind of nonsense song.

But before we get to the story told by the lyrics, a word about the fabulous Andrews Sisters who performed the original song in the 1941 Abbott and Costello movie Buck Privates. They really were sisters, with the original last name of “Andreos.” Their career started in the 1920’s, with their first big hit in 1937 when Patty, the youngest and the lead, was 19, having been seven when the act started. Radio success and record sales led to their being offered a movie contract by Universal Pictures, and they ended up appearing in three movies with Abbott and Costello.

Was the gal from Kalamazoo really from Kalamazoo?

December 10, 2020February 21, 2015 by debisimons

Once again I’ve proven that there’s no limit to the time you can spend looking up arcane knowledge on the Internet, even for what I thought was a pretty simple question. But while I had the lyrics to the song itself and easily found the plot summary for the 1942 film in which it appeared, Orchestra Wives, I couldn’t seem to find out if the “small-town girl” who marries the trumpeter in Glenn Miller’s band really was from Kalamazoo. I watched most of the movie but could never find any mention of the town’s name where Connie, our heroine, lives. However, I did a little detective work via Googlemaps and put that knowledge together with the plot. Here’s how the story goes: Connie is first seen in the soda shop putting a nickel in the jukebox to listen to “Gene Morrison’s” band, professing especial admiration for the trumpeter, Bill Abbott. The soda jerk (played by a very young Harry Morgan of TV M*A*S*H fame) tells her that the band is playing in “Dixon” that very night and that he’ll be glad to take her. There’s a Dixon, Indiana, located a little over two hours from Kalamazoo, a doable trip. Connie and Bill fall for each other at that concert, so she decides to catch another performance the next night, this time in “Elgin.”

What does it mean that “If I don’t praise Him the rocks gonter cry out” in “Ain’t Got Time to Die”?

December 10, 2020February 16, 2015 by debisimons

Since when did rocks cry out? Where on earth did this idea even come from? Straight from the Bible, that’s where. This piece is in the tradition of a true spiritual but has a known author, Hall Johnson. I had a hard time nailing down whether or not Johnson actually wrote the song or simply arranged it, but I managed to come across this clear statement: “’Ain’t Got Time to Die’ is an original Spiritual with words and music by Hall Johnson.” (“The Hall Johnson Concert Spirituals“) Let me quote Mr. Johnson himself on the subject of this music:

True enough, this music was transmitted to us through humble channels, but its source is that of all great art everywhere—the unquenchable, divinely human longing for a perfect realization of life. It traverses every shade of emotion without spilling over in any direction. Its most tragic utterances are without pessimism, and its lightest, brightest moments have nothing to do with frivolity. In its darkest expressions there is always a hope, and in its gayest measures a constant reminder. Born out of the heart-cries of a captive people who still did not forget how to laugh, this music covers an amazing range of mood. Nevertheless, it is always serious music and should be performed seriously, in the spirit of its original conception. (Wikipedia)