Category: music

This partly cloudy end of May with the honey locusts in bloom reminds of when I first discovered the Schubert Cello Quintet eight or nine years ago (and blackberries in cream-top yogurt, and the difficulties of sad people, but that’s not what we’re talking about today). I had to listen to it twice this weekend while sewing, and you should listen to it, too. The second movement, the loveliest, is below, but the whole thing is worth an hour of your time.

Today is the birthday of Johannes Brahms AND of Piotr Tchaikovsky. Poor Brahms was in love with Clara Schumann his whole life, which was tricky because Robert Schumann was his good friend and mentor, and poor Tchaikovsky was gay at a time when that was illegal in Russia. (Hell, it still might be.)

I recommend listening to the Brahms string sextet #1, which I found online here (pretty good, but find the Berlin Octet recording). And for Tchaikovsky, you can watch The Music Lovers, but then you’ll be depressed, so you’d better just put on the 1812 Overture.

Readers who aren’t my family may not know that I was a musician for a long time–all through school, high school, and even a college degree. (What, sell out for advertising? Okay!) Back in the days of corn mazes and desperate crushes, I played in the pit orchestra for my high school’s productions of 1776 and Guys and Dolls. While I have fond memories of the piccolo playing fife tunes in my ear and having a desperate crush on the senator from South Carolina in 1776, my favorite memory is from the Guys and Dolls run, where the Salvation Army chorus sings a number “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” (Literally. That line is the entire chorus.)

My stand partner and the cellist and I were all friends, and we were walking out after the dress rehearsal discussing the performance. The cellist, Brian, said that he thought it was going to be good, and that he really liked the “Sit Down Boat” song.
Stand partner and I look at each other. “What song, B?” we asked.
“You know, the one where they sing ‘Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down BOAT!”

And we had to laugh, because that is exactly what it sounded like the chorus was singing. I can only imagine what the pit orchestra sounded like. Good times with diction and high school music.