Busoni's Arlecchino – An Opera Extraordinaire

Despite being rare, it is still an exceptional pleasure to learn about people whose actions or projects make you think nothing but "What?" in all the capital letters. It's OK that Ferrucio Busoni's piano concerto is the largest of them all or that it is written for almost the largest orchestra possible, but when I found out about the male voice choir that joins in the last movement, being hidden behind the curtain... I went through a whole range of emotions on it!

Shortly after I found myself thinking "Whoa, Busoni appears to be a composer I'd like to get myself acquainted with!" The thing is, if we take, for example, Eric Satie, he, with all his extravagant pranks, still remains an author of many genuinely fine works. Having a sense of humor doesn't mean that a composer doesn't take his work seriously, otherwise – as for me, it adds up a feeling of personality to his works and sometimes cheers us up (which is what music is supposed in the first instance).

Talking about Busoni's pieces that can boost our internal optimism, Harlequin is a definite highlight. Feeling of this opera is inexpressible – you just have to experience it on your own, preferrably in the concert hall. Harlequin, or The Windows, BV 270 Op.50 – here you can find sheet music of Arlecchino's closing speech, and below is the orchestersuite. Overall arrangement of the piece is so full of resource and life that it is impossible not to like it; first-grade masterpiece is what Arlecchino really is.

Cantata No.29 by J.S. Bach

I’ve always been collecting the curiosities and facts not many are aware of about composers, especially about those who belong to the Classical and Romantic periods. Indeed, we see a lot of weirdoes around us – be they town freaks or TV hosts – and learning about the strange situations that grey-haired men in frock-coats were sometimes involved in is always fun: insomuch it doesn’t fit in with their image of respectable gentlemen.

Here is a recent yet one of the most stunning facts I have ever stumbled on: even though his name is easily recognized by literally anyone, not many know that Johann Sebastian Bach was once sentenced to prison! Inapprehensible as it is, it is still the part of his biography – this happened to Bach for his strong desire to change job; as a consequence for being too persistent, he was arrested. On expiration of one month the Duke of Saxeweimar freed him, though, and gave a freedom to work wherever he wants. After moving to Köthen Bach was mainly composing cantatas – one of the most popular is available for download here: Cantata No.29 Overture (Arrangement for Piano), BWV 29.

Jerusalem by Hubert Parry

OK, with a piece I want to share today things seem complicated: my life for it, hardly one of a hundred musicologists would know what I mean, presenting the fact that one famous stamp-collector, a few of whose findings can be found under the bulletproof glass, once said this song is a better national anthem than the one already established in his country. As all of this resembles rather a convoluted plot of a film like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia than something to intrigue a rapt pianist or vocalist, I will say differently: a piece I’m talking about is Jerusalem by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry and that stamp-collector is no one other than George V who was a King of the United Kingdom back in days.

With lyrics taken from William Blake’s poem, Jerusalem is a very special song – it has been unofficial hymn of England for decades. Download it here: Jerusalem (And did Those Feet in Ancient Time).