Coming up in about one hour, music from the hearts of space, followed at 10 by Carl Haas and Adventures in Good Music. Up next is Peter Shickley and Shickley Mix.
Hello there, I'm Peter Shickley, and this is Shickley Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal. Or as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good.
And it's awfully good to know that our bills are paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Endowment for the Arts,
with additional support from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences,
and from this paragon of radio stations, where I am provided with more than enough rope to hang myself, intellectually speaking.
And yet, when all is said and done, the results are distributed far and wide by PRI, Public Radio International. And I'm Peter Shickley, and this is Shickley Mix.
I guess it's maybe because I'm a composer, but I have a hard time ignoring music, if it's present. Somebody did a study once about Muzak-type music in the workplace,
and found that something like 98% of the employees worked better with music, but the other 2% could hardly function at all. And that's me.
If I had to be a teller in a bank with Muzak, I'd probably cost the U.S. banking system more in a day than Bonnie and Clyde did in a year.
But there are situations in which even I like background music. Bars, for instance. I like a bar with a jukebox. Although, I must say, I do prefer, especially as I get older,
that the volume be kept somewhere below the threshold of pain. I was at a gala dinner recently. It was in a huge ballroom, and I would say that there were probably 500 or 600 people in there,
seated at tables. And there was live... music. And have you ever been in one of those situations in which you literally have to shout in order to carry on a conversation with the person sitting right next to you?
...this dessert. I wanted to talk to you about a personal matter.
You know, just maybe get your advice on something. And what it is, is that...
Well, myself recently, you know, I don't know what it is, but I just... Well... Linda and I are, you know, together.
I just can't seem to get interested, if you know what I mean.
I mean, I suppose it's got to have something to do with the fact that... And by the way, nobody knows this, so keep it to yourself. I said, keep it to yourself. This is a secret.
What I'm saying is that the fact that one of our kids is in jail, and both the other ones are about to go through really nasty divorces, has got to have an effect.
I mean, on both of us, right? And the fact that I have to wear a truss now probably doesn't help the situation any either. You know what I mean? I mean, from her standpoint. I don't know, Barry.
I'm putting up a good front. But just between you and me, I'm not really sure what's going to happen.
Fortunately, situations like that are few and far between in my life. But when the conditions are right, when the noise level isn't out of hand, some background music at dinner can be very pleasant.
I guess that food and drink are two things that can successfully compete with music for my attention. And good company is def... Oh, rats. Excuse me. Sorry about this.
Hello? Oh, hi, Mom. Oh, come on, Mom. I was making that up. Of course we're still together. I can't believe...
Yeah, but you know my wife's not named Linda, and you know we've got two kids. Not three. Come on. Well, just relax. Everything's fine. Okay, bye. Sorry about that interruption.
Of course, there's one situation in which almost everybody likes background music, and that's parties. Most people just throw some tapes or CDs on. But I have some friends who are really into dancing,
and they feel so strongly about what they dance to that they make long tapes of their favorite Terpsichorean tunes. But when it comes right down to it,
if you can afford it, you want to have live music. If you go to a party and there's live, professionally played music, even if it's not a big band or anything,
you know that you're a guest of people who know how and have the means to do it right.
It represents the American lust for the hideous.
The delight in ugliness. It's a combination of love and fear,
through mere ignorance.
Stella!
Of course, not everybody can afford to hire George Shearing to play for their cocktail parties, but here at Schickely Mix, the sky's the limit. And of course, not everybody gets H.L. Mencken to come to their parties either,
especially these days. Well, two centuries ago, it was the same thing, musically speaking. If you were a member of nobility and could afford it,
your retinue included musicians to play at social gatherings. And if it was the fourth quarter of the 18th century, the combo was almost sure to be a sextet or an octet of wind instruments in pairs.
So, if you were fortunate enough, for instance, to be invited to a palace function by Emperor Joseph II, this is what it might have sounded like.
Stella!
Some things never change. The instrumentation of these 18th-century society combos was usually chosen from among oboes, English horns, clarinets,
basset horns, French horns, and bassoons, with perhaps a string bass added, doubling the second bassoon. Such a group was called a harmonie,
which name has nothing directly to do with harmony in the sense of chords. If a new opera was produced, and turned out to be a hit, it wasn't long before arrangements of its most popular numbers started appearing.
Here's Mozart writing to his father in 1782. Remember, this was before the days of copyright. He says, Now I have no mean task.
My opera must be arranged for wind band by a week on Sunday, otherwise someone else will get in before me and have all the profit instead of me. And now I have to write a new symphony, too. How can I possibly?
You have no idea how hard it is to make this sort of arrangement for wind, to make it suitable for the wind instruments and yet lose nothing of the effect of the original.
Ah, well, I'll have to stay up all night, otherwise it will be impossible. We don't know if Mozart actually did make an arrangement of the abduction from the seraglio,
but we do know that other people made transcriptions for harmony ensembles of selections from Mozart's operas. One of the biggest hits in Don Giovanni is the Catalogue aria,
in which the Don's servant, Leporello, brags about how many women his employer has seduced in various countries.
Ma in Spagna son già mille tre means, but in Spain there are already one thousand and three.
Here's the aria as Mozart wrote it, followed by a harmony arrangement by an oboist named Leporello. And Johann Trebensee.
Madameina, il catalogo è questo
Leggete a 640
In Olma, 100 In Francia, in Turchia, 90
1,000 lettre
Cameriere cittadine
In Italia, 640
In Spagna, a queste contadine
Di luogo
Madameina, il catalogo è questo. The Catalogue aria from Don Giovanni. The last words of that aria are He does not care whether they are rich
Whether they are ugly or pretty Provided they wear a skirt Well, you know what he does. And Mozart, you know, repeats that last line several times
La di da di da di da da da And then the last time this singer goes
I'd be willing to bet Or at least I can't help wondering If the original productions of that didn't feature Some pretty vaudevillian-type humor there You know, some hip-wiggling like Brad Pitt did
When he drove Geena Davis's husband wild In Thelma and Louise Anyway, we heard that song by Laszlo Polgar With Nicholas Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw
And then we heard it in an arrangement for harmonie By Triebensee, who wrote for pairs of oboes Clarinets, horns and bassoons In this performance, by members of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble
A string bass was added As was often done back there in the authentic days of yore Before radio was even a gleam in Mr. Marconi's eye And long before Peter Schickely was the host of Schickely Mix
From PRI, Public Radio International Today's program is a dissertation entitled The Harmonie Ensemble
Life of the Party or Music Molester There's no doubt about the first description Even Don Giovanni hired a harmony band After inviting the statue of the Commendatore to dine with him
In a proper production of the opera The finale features a wind group on the stage As part of the scene Which is a hall with a table laid for dinner Before we hear the beginning of the opera
Let me read from the libretto Don Giovanni says The table is set Strike up, my friends If I am spending my money
I wish to be entertained Leporello Quickly, serve up Leporello says I am quite ready to serve While Don Giovanni eats The musicians strike up
That means the small kind of wind group That we're talking about here And you'll hear that You can hear that there are no strings It's a small group With a different presence And then Leporello says Well done, coserara
And he's referring to Una Coserara An opera, a very popular opera then By Vincenzo Martini Then Don Giovanni says What do you think of this fine concert? Leporello, it befits your position
Don Giovanni, oh what a delicious dish Then Leporello aside Oh what a monstrous appetite What colossal mouthfuls I am feeling quite faint Don Giovanni aside
As he watches my every mouthful He is feeling quite faint The next course He's a sadist, that Don Giovanni Leporello says At your service And then you'll hear
That the Harmony Ensemble changes tunes Starts another number And Leporello says Long live the litiganti And he's referring there To I Dui Litiganti The Two Litigants
A popular opera by Giuseppe Sarti And then Don Giovanni says Pour me some wine What excellent marzamino And then Leporello changes plates With Don Giovanni And takes a few bites
And I'm just going to read the rest of this little part we're going to hear Because it's such vaudeville-type humor Leporello says Very quietly I'll swallow this mouthful of pheasant And Don Giovanni says
The ruffian is eating I'll pretend I did not see it And then the wind band changes tunes again And Leporello says I know this tune almost too well And that is a delightful in-joke
Because the wind band changes tunes again Because what the band is playing Is Non Più in Drae From Marriage of Figaro And Marriage of Figaro was a huge hit in Prague Apparently you couldn't go into a beer garden
Without hearing the little band playing tunes from Marriage of Figaro And as a matter of fact That led Prague to commission Don Giovanni So when Mozart comes back a year or two later Whatever it was With his new opera
And you have the onstage band playing something from Figaro And Leporello says I know this tune almost too well We're talking about a real in-joke here I'm just going to finish up here
As I said Don Giovanni calls without looking at him Leporello Leporello with his mouth full Master Don Giovanni Speak up rascal An inflammation prevents me from speaking clearly
Don Giovanni Whistle a bit while I eat I cannot What is the matter? Forgive me Your cook is so delicious That I wanted to try some too
My cook is so delicious That he wanted to try some too Makes me hungry just to hear this scene
Leporello, sit down at the table I'm ready to serve As I'm spending my money
I want to have fun Then you can play with your friends As I'm spending my money I want to have fun
What's so rare?
That it seems to you that the concerto is your merit.
Ah, what a delicious dish!
Ah, what a barbarous appetite!
What giant mouths makes me faint!
And long live the litigants! Pour the wine!
Excellent marzipan wine!
Piece of bean, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, I want to gnaw.
He's eating that marran, I'll pretend not to understand.
I know this one, unfortunately.
Leporello!
Parlaschetto, parlaschetto, mascalzone!
I don't know, I'm just a little shy.
While I'm eating, whistle a little.
I'm not going to do it. What is it? Excuse me, excuse me. Yes, excellent, your fire.
Yes, excellent, excellent.
Your fire, I want to taste it too. I want to taste it too. Yes, excellent, your fire, my friend. Yes, excellent, I want to taste it too.
The beginning of the finale of Don Giovanni with Thomas Hampton and Laszlo Polgar and the Concertgebouw under Harnoncourt. You know, I was thinking about Mozart's delightfully cheeky gag
quoting one of his own hits. And it occurred to me that he was doing exactly what the Beatles did almost 200 years later. At the end of All You Need Is Love, you know, during the coda,
they throw in all sorts of stuff, a kind of Bach-y trumpet line and in the moody saxophone line and the beginning of Green Sleeves. And then?
All you need is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need.
Love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need.
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. The Beatles swiping a gag from Mozart, quoting one of their own early hits. Earlier on, we heard an aria from Don Giovanni followed by a harmony arrangement.
And as Mozart himself said in that letter to his father, it's extremely difficult... Not again. Excuse me.
Hello? Lawyer for whom? Yeah? Oh, come on. What is it about today? Doesn't anybody know when I'm kidding?
Look, I didn't mean that the Beatles swiped a gag from Mozart consciously. They probably didn't even know about the Mozart. Besides, Don Giovanni is PD. Sure, it's public domain.
I even mentioned that earlier, so give me a break. Honestly. Have we been using some pesticide recently that dries up people's sense of humor? Causes it to atrophy?
Maybe I should try to get Sickly Mix on TV so we could have an irony sign that flashes. Maybe a second one for hyperbole. Anyway, going back to harmony arrangements.
Obviously it's impossible, with six or eight winds, to capture all the variety of sound an orchestra can produce. Especially in the hands of a master orchestrator like Mozart.
Let's hear another comparison, but not involving orchestra. In this case, the composer of the original also did the arrangement.
Here's the beginning of Mozart's string quintet in C minor, followed by the same section from his serenade in C minor for wind octet. Do you think anything is lost in the arrangement?
The opening section of Mozart's string quintet in C minor, followed by that of the serenade in C minor, K388.
The Budapest string quartet with Milton Kadams, and the London wind soloists, led by Jack Brimer. Okay.
As some of you undoubtedly know, I played a little tricky-wicky on you there.
I allowed you to get the impression that the wind octet version was an arrangement of the string quintet version, when actually it was the other way around. I am so bad.
The serenade in C minor was not the only time that Mozart wrote very serious, and even somewhat dark, music for harmonie. Which, after all, was a kind of ensemble that was a little bit too much.
It was associated with eating, drinking, and making merry. In fact, it has been suggested that maybe that's why Mozart arranged the piece for string quintet.
That he wanted to give it a permanence that it wouldn't have had as just another chart in a harmonie band's book. Okay, guys, number 83, the Mozart C minor. A one, a two, a one, two, three.
Now, be that as it may or may not be, it is interesting to compare the two versions. Listen to the beginning of the original wind version.
The oboes, clarinets, and bassoons play the bold opening phrase in unison, that is, in octaves, but the horns keep playing the same two harmony notes for the first three measures.
Now, here's the string version. No harmony notes at all, just the unison theme.
Now, my guess is that the reason Mozart dropped the harmony notes is not that he was writing for fewer instruments.
He could have easily had both those harmony notes in one of the violas and still been able to cover all the octaves the theme uses. I think it's because of the comparative homogeneity of the string quintet.
In the wind octet version, the different tonal color of the horns keeps the harmony notes quite distinct from those of the melody, some of which are right in the same range.
Now, one of my parents' favorite pieces of music was Mozart's opera Così fan tutte. I had heard the music from Così many times before I ever saw it staged or even thought about its plot.
And when, as a teenager, I started listening to it with a composer's ear, I thought that the serenade in the second act, that is scored for winds only,
was simply another example of Mozart's delicious and innovative orchestration. Years later, I realized that those winds are not the winds of the orchestra.
Ferrando and Guglielmo are on a barge, and they've got a harmony band on board with them to accompany their singing. In other words, this is not an operatic stylization.
Except, perhaps, for the quality of the singing and the presence of a chorus, this is a direct imitation of a real-life situation.
Secondate arete amiche. Help, friendly breezes from Così fan tutte.
That was Sir Colin Davis conducting the orchestra and chorus of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
And the two serenading suitors were sung by Vladimiro Gonzaroli and Nicolae Gheida. What heavenly music!
I'm telling you, if I were Dorabella or Fiordaligi, my heart would be completely melted. I mean, it would be nothing but a puddle at the top of my stomach before that serenade was half over.
In fact, I'm a pretty hetero kind of guy. But listen, Ferrando and Guglielmo, if you sing that song to me, I'm yours. Here, I'll give you my phone number. And if you lose it, you can always reach me through the station.
My name's Peter Schickely, and I'm the host of a show called Schickely Mix from PRI, Public Radio International.
The Harmonie Ensemble, life of the party or music molester. As we have seen, those wind players were definitely party animals, or at least party pets.
As far as the second description goes, well, that depends on your feelings about arrangements and transcriptions in general.
Are they a valid form of art, or are they the musical equivalent of belly button lint? Or even fingernail scuzz? I'm pretty easygoing about these things myself.
In terms of musical criticism, you might say that I'm up to my ears in ad hoc. It's sort of like movie remakes. They're almost never better than the original. But once in a while, they're almost as good.
And very occasionally... Well, have you ever seen the original 1926 Ben-Hur? Neither have I.
Now, a while back there, I talked about the typical instrumentations used in the last quarter of the year. In the late 19th century. But the harmonie tradition began before that, and lasted well after it.
And even though I understand that the German for woodwind quintet is harmonique quintet, there is a distinction in my mind, and we all know how much that's worth,
between a harmonie ensemble and a woodwind quintet. And that is that the former tends to feature pairs of instruments, not necessarily exclusively,
while the latter is made up of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. Five instruments that are quite different from one another, and in point of fact, they don't blend very well when you come right down to it.
I'm taking the phone off the hook here, so if you're a member of a woodwind quintet, forget about calling, okay? Here's a delectable selection of harmonie music that covers quite a wide range, both chronologically...
we've got the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries here, but not in that order... and emotionally.
It ranges from music that might accompany a fairy dance in a ballet, to the sound of Elysium. We're running a little tight here, folks, so we'll have to go out on the last selection.
I call this suite inter-era harmonie musique. It has three movements, and lasts about 12 minutes. If you want me, I'll be over by the hors d'oeuvre.
Inter-era harmonie musique began with Stravinsky's octet, the main fast part of the first movement. That was Esa-Pekka Salonen and members of the London Sinfonietta.
Then came the ethereal, and since the play and movie, Amadeus' famous adagio from Mozart's serenade in B-flat, K. 361.
The Citizen Kane of harmonie musique, Sir Neville Mariner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
And last, the scherzo from the Little Symphony in B-flat major for nine wind instruments by Gounod, written in 1885. And that's Sickly Mix for this week.
Our program is made possible with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Endowment for the Arts. With additional support from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences,
and from this radio station and its members. Our program is distributed by PRI, Public Radio International.
We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an official playlist of all the music on today's program with album numbers and everything. Just refer to the program number. This is program number 127.
And this is Peter Sickley saying goodbye and reminding you that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi. You're looking good. See you next week.
If you'd like a copy of that playlist I mentioned, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Sickly Mix. That's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Sickly Mix.
Care of Public Radio International, 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, MN 55403.
PRI, Public Radio International.
Just a few seconds before dial o'clock. Oklahoma's choice for classical music and more all weekend. 90.1 KCSC, Edmond, Oklahoma City.
91.9 KBCW, McAllister. From the University of Central Oklahoma.