#ClassicsaDay #PrideMonth Week 4 2025

The #ClassicsaDay team celebrates Pride Month this June. The wide spectrum of sexual identities is now common knowledge. But there have always been non-cis people. Some were able to live openly, others had to hide their orientation to live. 

For the challenge, I included as many pre-20th-century composers as possible. Here are my posts for the fourth and final week of #PrideMonth.

06/23/25 Stanley Bate (1911-1959): Symphony No. 3

British composer Bate started his career strong, but by the 1940s, it had mostly run its course. He died at age 47, depressed by his apparent failure. Though his music his slowly returning to the repertoire. 

06/24/25 Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960): Caribbean Pieces for 2 pianos

Australian composer Benjamin was as popular with audiences as he was unpopular with critics. Which seemed not to bother him a bit. 

06/25/25 Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012): Symphony No. 3

Bennett was equally known for his film scores as his concert music. Although an avowed modernist, Bennett borrowed from many genres of music. 

06/26/25 Lord Berners (1883-1950): Fantaisie espagnole for orchestra

Berners was a true Renaissance man. He was not only a talented composer but also an accomplished novelist and painter. 

06/27/25 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Overture to Candide

This 1956 operetta had a lackluster premiere. But over time, it has become one of Bernstein's best-known works. 

Next Month:

#ClassicsaDay #PrideMonth Week 3, 2025

  The #ClassicsaDay team celebrates Pride Month this June. The wide spectrum of sexual identities is now common knowledge. But there have always been non-cis people. Some were able to live openly, others had to hide their orientation to live. 

For the challenge, I included as many pre-20th-century composers as possible. Here are my posts for the third week of #PrideWeek.

06/16/25 Siegfried Wagner (1869-1930): Gluck

Siegfried was the son of Richard Wagner. On a long sea voyage to Asia, he became intimate with composer Clement Harris. The tone poem Gluck was dedicated to Harris's memory. 

06/17/25 Walter Arlen (1920-2023): Sonnet

Jewish composer Arlen fled the Nazis in 1939, settling in America. Although he composed throughout his life, most of his works were written after he retired in 1993. Arlen's works are mainly vocal and chamber music. 

6/18/25 Ruth Anderson (1928-2019): SUM (State of the Union Message)

Anderson studied with Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger. She was a pioneer in electronic music and also composed for traditional ensembles. 

06/19/25 Samuel Barber (1910-1981): A Hand of Bridge

Barber was always interested in vocal music, as was his partner Gian Carlo Menotti. "A Hand of Bridge" depicts the inner thoughts of four bridge players as they play a round. Menoti wrote the libretto. 

06/20/25 Jean Barraqué (1928-1973): Sequence for voice, percussion, and chamber ensemble

Barraqué was a fastidious composer who constantly revised his works. His catalog only contains about 30 completed pieces. He was known for his innovative use of serialism, which moved beyond the Schoenberg model. 

#ClassicsaDay #PrideMonth Week 2, 2025

   The #ClassicsaDay team celebrates Pride Month this June. The wide spectrum of sexual identities is now common knowledge. But there have always been non-cis people. Some were able to live openly, others had to hide their orientation to live. 

For the challenge, I included as many pre-20th-century composers as possible. Here are my posts for the second week of #PrideWeek.

06/09/25 Clement Harris (1871-1897): Paradise Lost

Harris was in a relationship with Siegfried Wagner. They were also part of Oscar Wilde's circle. "Paradise Lost" was written during a 6-month cruise with Wagner. 

06/10/25 Adela Maddison (1862-1929): Piano Quintet

Maddison was a British composer and concert producer. Although married, she had an affair with Gabriel Faure, and later in life entered a long-term relationship with Martha Mundt. Most of her works were unpublished, and the majority of them are now considered lost. 

06/11/25 Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Danse Macabre

Saint-Saëns was married and had two children. But his interest in young men never waned. And that part of his life never hindered his career or fame as a composer and organist. 

06/12/25 Ethel Smyth (1858-1944): The Song of Love

Smyth refused to let gender hinder her career. This work was written in 1888. Tchaikovsky encouraged her, as did Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann. The eight-movement cantata is based on the Song of Songs. It received its performance debut in 2023. 

06/13/25 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Piano Concerto No. 2

Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto became a repertoire standard almost immediately after its premiere. So much so that it's overshadowed his two subsequent concertos. 

#ClassicsaDay #PrideMonth Week 1, 2025

 The #ClassicsaDay team celebrates Pride Month this June. The wide spectrum of sexual identities is now common knowledge. But there have always been non-cis people. Some were able to live openly, others had to hide their orientation to live. 

For the challenge, I included as many pre-20th-century composers as possible. Here are my posts for the first week of #PrideWeek. 

06/02/25 Dominique Phinot (c.1510-c.1556): Messe Quam Pulchra es

Phinot was a major composer of sacred music. Palestrina and De Lassus, who followed him, used his works as models. His music was published widely. In 1556, he was executed in Lyons for "homosexual practices."

06/03/25 Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy (1605-1677): Airs a quatre parties

Coypeau had a taste for low entertainment, such as puppet shows and organ grinders. He incorporated those common elements into his own music with witty satire. He was believed to be the lover of Cyrano de Bergerac, both of whom were members of an all-male "free spirits" club.

06/04/25 Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687): Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs

At one time, Lully was the most influential musician at Louis XIV's court. Although he was married with children, his homosexual encounters eventually cost him the patronage of the king. 

06/05/25 Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684):Entsetze dich, Natur

Rosenmüller was a German composer who spent a large amount of time in Italy. His career was derailed in 1655 when he was accused of molesting choirboys. Rosenmüller fled Italy, but on for a while. By 1658, he was at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. 

06/06/25 Frederick the Great (1712-1786): Flute Concerto No. 4 in D minor

Frederick's preference for men was an open secret at court. As a musician, he was a talented performer and composer, and he employed some of Europe's best musicians. 

#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalMexico Week 4, 2025

    Our neighbor to the south has a long, rich history of classical music. A much longer history than ours, in fact. For May, the Classics a Day team encourages folks to post videos of Mexican classical music. 

There's a lot to choose from. The first composers in New Spain were writing in the 1500s. 

Here are my posts for the third week of #ClassicalMexico.

05/26/25 Carlos Chávez (1899–1978): Xochipilli

Chávez subtitled this work "An Imagined Aztec Music. The subject is the Aztec god Xochipilli-Macuilxóchitl. The ensemble mimics the sound of pre-Columbian instruments.

05/27/25 Silvestre Revueltas (1899–1940): 5 Canciones de Ninos & 2 Conciones Profanas para Voz y Piano

Reveultas first published this collection of songs in 1945 for voice and piano. In 1969, an arrangement for voice and orchestra was made available. 

05/28/25 Eduardo Hernández Moncada (1899–1995): Sinfonia No. 1

Moncada was a member of the Nationalist Movement. As such, he was vitally interested in blending traditional Mexican musical forms with those of modern classical to create a true national style.  

05/29/25 Alfonso de Elias (1902-1984): Intermezzo

de Elias was a virtuoso pianist. And while he wrote many piano works, he also produced other forms of music: symphonies, ballets, concertos, string quartets, and other chamber music.  

05/30/25 Luis Sandi (1905–1996): Sinfonia No. 2

Sandi studied with Carlo Chavez (among others). He conducted Mexico's top orchestras and was a member of the International Music Council of UNESCO. 

Next Month:

#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalMexico Week 3, 2025

   Our neighbor to the south has a long, rich history of classical music. A much longer history than ours, in fact. For May, the Classics a Day team encourages folks to post videos of Mexican classical music. 

There's a lot to choose from. The first composers in New Spain were writing in the 1500s. 

Here are my posts for the third week of #ClassicalMexico.

05/19/25 Alfredo Carrasco (1875–1945): Romanza in palabras

Carrasco spent most of his professional career in Mexico City. Romanza in palabras is one of his most popular works.

 

05/20/25 Julián Carrillo Trujillo (1875–1965): Primera Suite para Orquesta, Op. 1

Carrillo would eventually develop his own musical system, Sonido 13. IN his early days, he composed music, like this suite, for a local orchestra.

 

05/21/25 José Rolón (1876–1945): Vals Capricho Op. 14 "Sobre las Oas"

Rolón studied with Nadia Boulanger in the early 20th Century. He would later found the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco.

 

05/22/25 Manuel María Ponce (1882–1948): Intermezzo

Ponce was a composer and music educator vitally interested in Mexican music. He wanted to preserve both the folk and classical traditions of his country. His own work shows indigenous music influence.

 

05/23/25 Arnulfo Miramontes (1882–1960): Sinfonia No. 1

Miramontes was a pianist, conductor, and composer who wrote in the Post-Romantic style. His first symphony was written in 1916. During the 1910s, he also composed a piano concerto, opera, requiem mass, and some important chamber music.

 

#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalMexico Week 2, 2025

  Our neighbor to the south has a long, rich history of classical music. A much longer history than ours, in fact. For May, the Classics a Day team encourages folks to post videos of Mexican classical music. 

There's a lot to choose from. The first composers in New Spain were writing in the 1500s. 

Here are my posts for the second week of #ClassicalMexico.

05/12/25 Macedonio Alcalá (1831–1869): Dios munca muere

Alcalá was a violinist and pianist. Most of his music was improvised and unfortunately, seldom transcribed. One of his most popular works was Dios munca muere, written in 1868.

 

05/13/25 Melesio Morales (1839–1908): Il Sospiro d'Amore

Morales was a native Mexican opera composer. He achieved success as such in Florence in 1866. He wrote 10 operas, 2 cantatas, and several other works.

 

05/14/25 Guadalupe Olmedo (1853–1889): String Quartet Op. 14

Olmedo was the first woman to graduate from the National Conservatory of Music in 1875. This string quartet was one of 15 works she submitted for her degree examination (which she easily passed).

 

05/15/25 Ricardo Castro (1864–1907): Piano Concerto in A minor, OP. 22

Castro was equally famous as a pianist and a composer. He wrote his only piano concerto in 1940. 

   

05/16/25 Luis Sandi (1905–1996): La Hoja de Plata

Sandi was a conductor, teacher, and composer. Although a large part of his output was choral, Sandi also wrote some important works for orchestra.

 

#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalMexico Week 1

 Our neighbor to the south has a long, rich history of classical music. A much longer history than ours, in fact. For May, the Classics a Day team encourages folks to post videos of Mexican classical music. 

There's a lot to choose from. The first composers in New Spain were writing in the 1500s. 

Here are my posts for the first week of #ClassicalMexico.

05/01/25 Manuel de Zumaya (1678–1755): Aunque al sueño

Zumaya was born in Mexico. He was organist at the Mexico City Cathedral, and his music combines late-Renaissance, Baroque, and native musical styles. He's considered Mexico's greatest composer of the Baroque era.

 

05/02/25 Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (ca. 1590-1664): En la noche más Buena

Padilla emigrated to Mexico when he was about 30. He soon became Maestro of the Puebla de Los Angeles Cathedral. His music blends late Renaissance style with indigenous music traditions.

 

05/05/25 Juan García de Zéspedes (c. 1619 – 1678): Convidando está la Noche

Zéspedes was a native of Mexico. He was a singer, viola da gamba player, and composer. His sacred works incorporate native music rhythms.  

05/06/25 José María Bustamante (1777–1861): Habandera

Bustamante taught at the first conservatory in Latin America (founded in 1824). He was also active in the Mexican independence movement.

 

05/07/25 José Mariano Elízaga (1786–1842): Dúo de las Siete Palabras

Elizaga is considered the first great composer of independent Mexico. He founded one of the first music conservatories in America (1825) and established the first music printing press in Mexico.

 

05/08/25 Cenobio Paniagua (1821–1882): String Quartet No. 1

Paniagua was known primarily for his vocal works. He composed several operas, including the first Mexican opera seria. He was also a violinist and conductor.

 

05/09/25 Aniceto Ortega (1825–1875): Marcha Zaragoza

Ortega was a physician, composer, and pianist. He composed one of the earliest Mexican operas that used an indigenous story.  The Marcha Zaragoza is his most popular work.

 

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 5

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the fifth and final week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

04/28/25 Franz Liszt: A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy

This massive work is in two movements and depicts the first two parts of Dante's epic poem: Purgatory and Hell.

 

04/29/25 Franz Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

Liszt's sonata isn't based on Dante's poetry, but rather a Victor Hugo poem reacting to Dante's work “Après une lecture de Dante."

 

04/30/25 Giullaume de Machaut: Remede de Fortune

Machaut was a renowned poet and composer. "Remede de Fortune" combines poetry, song, and drama -- all created by Machaut.

 

Next Month:

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 4, 2025

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the fourth week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

04/21/25 Benjamin Britten: The Holy Sonnets of John Donne

Britten set a selection of John Donne's sonnets after viewing the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1947.

 

04/22/25 Peter Warlock: The Curlew (W.B. Yeats)

Warlock selected four poems by W.B. Yeats for this work. He completed it in 1922, and it was premiered that same year.

 

04/23/25 George Butterworth: Is my team ploughing? (Houseman)

Butterworth set six poems to music from A.E. Houseman's "Shropshire Lad." Butterworth completed the work in 1911. He would go on to set additional poems from the collection.

 

04/24/25 George Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad (Rhapsody for Orchestra)

Butterworth wrote two song cycles based on A.E. Houseman's "Shropshire Lad." His orchestral rhapsody served as an instrumental epilogue to the project. It premiered in 1913.

 

04/25/25 Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge (Houseman)

Vaughan Williams set six poems from A.E. Houseman's "Shropshire Lad" to music. Originally, the songs were for voice and piano. In 1924, Vaughan Williams created a version for voice and orchestra.

 

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 2, 2025

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the second week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

04/07/25 Roger Quilter: Three Shakespeare Songs for Baritone and Piano, Op. 6

Quilter's 1905 set features "Come away, death" and "O Mistress mine" from "Twelfth Night," and "Blow, blow thou winter wind" from "As You Like It."

04/08/25 Johannes Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53

This 1869 work sets verses from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Harzreise im Winter." The poem describes the Harz mountain covered in snow, which Brahsm interpreted metaphorically.   

04/09/25 Felix Mendelssohn: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage

Mendelssohn based his tone poem on a pair of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In the age before steam, calm seas were dangerous -- only when strong winds could a voyage continue.

04/10/25 Krzystof Pendericki: Symphony No. 8 (Lieder der Vergänglichkeit) 

This 2005 work uses the poetry of Joseph von Eichendorff, Rainer Maria Rilke, Hermann Hesse, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Achim von Arnim.

04/11/25 Franz Lehár: Friederike

This 1928 operetta was inspired by John Wolfgang Goethe's poem "Heidenröslein." The work tells the story of Goethe's doomed love for Friderike, who sacrifices her love for the poet's career.  

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 1, 2025

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the first week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

4/1/25 Ralph Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs

These a cappella works were originally written in 1951 as test pieces for a choral competition. Two songs are from "The Tempest," the third from "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

 

4/2/25 Aaron Copland: Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson

Copland composed this cycle in 1950, each poem was dedicated to a different friend. In 1970, Copland finished an orchestral arrangement of this work.

 

4/3/25 Franz Schubert: Du bist di Ruh (Friedrich Ruckert)

Friedrich Ruckert was one of the most popular poets in 1800s Germany. Many composers set his poems to music -- including Franz Schubert.

 

4/4/25 Robert Schumann: Liederkreis, Op. 39 (Joseph von Eichendorff)

Eichendorff was a popular novelist and poet of the Romantic Era. His poems were often incorporated into his novels, sung by the protagonists. Schumann's cycle is taken from a collection of Eichendorff poems, "Intermezzo."

 

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 4, 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the fourth and final week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

03/24/25 Dora Pejačevič (1885-1923) Piano quartet in D minor, Op 25

Pejacevic was one of Croatia's most important composers and a talented pianist. Her piano quintet was written in 1908, when she was only 23.

 

03/25/25 Florence Price (1887-1953): Piano concerto in One Movement

Price composed her concerto in 1934 and premiered it at the Chicago Musical College. The score was considered lost until it was found in her former residence in 2009.

 

03/26/25 Clara Schumann (1819-1896) Drei Romanzen, Op. 21

Clara Schumann composed relatively few compositions. Her Three Romances was one of her last works, written in 1853. At the time she was 34, a mother of 7, and concertizing throughout Europe.

 

03/27/25 María Teresa Prieto (1896-1982): Cuadros de la Naturaleza, Diptico para Orquesta 1965

Prieto was a Spanish composer who spent most of her life in Mexico. Her music blended 12-tone technique with Mexican traditional music.

 

03/28/25 Louise Farrenc (1804–1875): Trio for flute, cello, and piano, Op. 45

Farrenc was a piano virtuoso and composer. In her lifetime, she was one of the most famous and respected musicians in Paris.

Next month:

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 3, 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the third week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

03/17/25 Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1709-1758): Argenore Overture

Wilhelminie was the older sister of Frederick the Great. Like her brother, she was a talented amateur musician and composer. This is the overture to her 1740 opera.

 

03/18/25 Anna Bon (c.1739-c.1767): Flute sonata in D major, Op. 1 No. 4

Anna was the daughter of professional musicians. The family came to work at the Esterhazy estate under Franz Joseph Haydn. Bon was a harpsichordist as well as a composer.

 

03/19/25 Marianne von Martinez (1744-1812): La Tempesta

Martinez was a talented harpsichordist, singer, and composer. "La Tempesta" was most likely premiered by Martinez herself.

 

03/20/25 Josepha Barbara von Auernhammer (1758-1820): Soanta for Harpsichord and Violin in C major

Auerhammer was well-known in Vienna as a performer and composer. Mozart admired her technique and dedicated two of his violin sonatas to her.

 

03/21/25 Emilie Mayer (1812–1883): Symphony No. 1 in C minor

The only thing holding Mayer back was her gender. She published over 50 works, wrote 8 symphonies, and was co-chair of the Berlin Opera Academy.

 

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 2, 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the second week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

3/10/25 Francesca Caccini (1587–1640?): O Che Nuovo Stupor

Her father was one of the first opera composers, and Francesca herself wrote incidental music for plays by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, grand-nephew of Michelangelo.

3/11/25 Leonora Duarte (1610–1678): Sinfonia No. 4

Duarte was an accomplished instrumentalist. She played the lute, virginal, and viol. She composed a set of seven sinfonias for the viol, probably in the late 1620s.

 

03/12/25 Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677): Cantate, Ariette e Duetti No. 16, Op. 2

Strozzi was a talented instrumentalist, singer, and composer. In the 1670s she had the most secular music in print of any composer, male or female.

 

03/13/25 Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704): Sonata duodecima

Leonarda entered a convent at age 16. But her talent for composition extended far beyond its walls. She published 20 collections of her music and was known as the Muse of Novara.

 

Mlle Bocquet (early 17th C.-after 1660): Gigue

We don't know her first name or much about her life. But she was once considered one of the best lutenists in Paris and her music was widely distributed throughout Western Europe.

 

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 1 2025

 March is Women's History Month. And it's a great opportunity for Classics a Day to focus on the contributions of women to classical music. 

Women composers are often unjustly overlooked by history. The problem is seldom the quality of their work -- just the worker's gender. The challenge in March is to post examples of music by women composers. There's a millennium of music to choose from. For me, the challenge was what to leave out. Here are my posts for the first week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

03/03/25 Kassia (c. 810- before 865): Hymn of Kassia

Kassia is the earliest known woman composer. She was a noblewoman in Constantinople who became an Eastern Orthodox Abbess and founded an order of nuns. She composed over 40 hymns, many of which are still used in church services to this day.

 

03/04/25 Hildegard von Bingen: (1098-1179) De spirito Sancto

Though not the earliest known Medieval female composer, Hildegard is certainly the best-known. Her music was originally written to be sung during services in her convent. In the 1920s, her music was revived and is now performed throughout the world.

 

03/05/25 Maddalena Casula (c. 1544-c.1590): Morir non può il mio cuore

Casuala was a lutenist patronized by Isabelle de Medici. Casuala published four volumes of her madrigals between 1566 and 1586. She's the earliest known published female composer.

 

03/06/25 Raffaella Aleotti (c. 1575-after 1620): Sacrae cantonies: Sancta et immaculata virginitas

Aleotti became a nun at age 14. Yet she composed both sacred and secular works. A collection of sacred music (Sacrae cantonies) was published in 1593.

 

03/07/25 Alba Iressina (c.1590-d after 1638): Vulnerasti cor meum

Iressina was abbess of a convent in Vicenza. She studied with Leone Leoni, a priest and composer. He included four of her works (with credit) in a collection published in 1622.

 

#ClassicsaDay #BlackHistoryMonth Week 4, 2025

February is Black History Month and a logical time to highlight contributions by people of color to classical music. Those contributions have been significant -- and not just in the past 50 years. 

This month's #ClassicsaDay challenge is to post musical examples of works by composers of color, or classical music recordings made by people of color. There is a lot to choose from. 

Here are my social media posts for the fourth and final week of #BlackHistoryMonth.

02/24/25 Margaret Bonds - Montgomery Variations

Bonds wrote this work in 1964. It's based on a spiritual, and depicts the major events of the Civil Rights Movement, beginning with the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.

 

02/25/25 Clarence Cameron White: Bandana Sketches II & IV

White was a violinist and composer active in the early 20th century. The work features arrangements of four African-American spirituals and work songs.

 

08/26/25 Zenobia Powell Perry: Homage

"Homage" is a movement from "Piano Potpourri," written in 1990. Perry composed it in homage to Black composer William Dawson. "Homage" is often performed as a stand-alone piece.

 

02/27/25 Thomas Kerr: Riding to Town

The song uses the poem "Riding to Town" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It was written in 1943 and was included in the "Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers."

 

08/28/25 Regina Harris Baiocchi: Communion

This work is a concertino for marimba and string quartet. It was inspired by the mural "Communion of the Saints" in St. Elizabeth Seaton Church, Naperville, IL. It was painted by Lillian Brulc.

 

Next month:

#ClassicsaDay #BlackHistoryMonth Week 3

February is Black History Month and a logical time to highlight contributions by people of color to classical music. Those contributions have been significant -- and not just in the past 50 years. 

This month's #ClassicsaDay challenge is to post musical examples of works by composers of color, or classical music recordings made by people of color. There is a lot to choose from. 

Here are my social media posts for the third week of #BlackHistoryMonth.

2/17/25 Adolphus Hailstork: Symphony No. 1

Hailstork has been a professor of music and the Composer-in-Residence at Norfolk State University, an HBCU. He composed his first symphony in 1988 for the Ocean Grove, NJ Summer Music Festival.

 

2/18/25 Ulysses Kay: Chariots - An Orchestral Rhapsody 1978

Kay's "Chariots" was commissioned by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. It was premiered in 1978 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The composer conducted the performance.

 

2/19/25 James Lee III: Shades of Unbroken Dreams (Piano Concerto)

Lee's Piano Concerto was premiered in 2023. It was written for the 60th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It reflects on how much (and how little) progress has been made since then.

 

2/20/25 Shawn Okpebholo: Zoom

Zoom was commissioned by the US Air Force Band which premiered it in 2021. The title refers not to speed, but to the software that connected people during the pandemic.

 

2/21/25 Alvin Singleton: In My Own Skin

this work was premiered in 2011. The work depicts the sometimes uneasy alliance between different creative worlds -- in this case, jazz and classical music.

 

#ClassicsaDay #BlackHistoryMonth Week 2, 2025

 February is Black History Month and a logical time to highlight contributions by people of color to classical music. Those contributions have been significant -- and not just in the past 50 years. 

This month's #ClassicsaDay challenge is to post musical examples of works by composers of color, or classical music recordings made by people of color. There is a lot to choose from. 

Here are my social media posts for the second week of #BlackHistoryMonth.

02/10/25 Roque Cordero: Sinfonia No. 2

Panamanian composer Cordero did much to develop classical music in his country. He was director of the Panama Institute of Music, conductor of the country's National Symphony, and assistant director of the Latin American Music Center.

02/11/25 Arthur Cunningham: Harlem Suite

Cunningham was a graduate of Fisk and Julliard. He often mixed pop genres with classical forms and is credited with creating the first rock opera in 1963.

 

02/12/25 Jessie Montgomery: Starburst

Montgomery was composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2016. Her 2023 album "Contemporary American Composers" won a Grammy in 2023.

 

02/13/25 Philippa Schuyler: Voodoo Festival

Schuyler was a virtuoso pianist and composer. She concertized at the 1939 World's Fair (age 8) and was the youngest member of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors.

 

02/14/25 Irene Britton Smith: Sinfonietta

Smith was of both Black and Native American descent. She was a pioneer of music education and a concert violinist. In 1958, she was able to study with Nadia Boulanger in France.

 

#ClassicsaDay #BlackHistoryMonth Week 1 2025

 February is Black History Month, and a logical time to highlight contributions by people of color to classical music. Those contributions have been significant -- and not just in the past 50 years. 

This month's #ClassicsaDay challenge is to post musical examples of works by composers of color, or classical music recordings made by people of color. There is a lot to choose from. 

Here are my social media posts for the first week of #BlackHistoryMonth.

02/03/25 Michael Abels: Global Warming

When Abels wrote this work in 1999, the title referred to the thawing of the Cold War. It's since taken on a new meaning.

 

02/04/25 Florence Price: Symphony No. 3

The Works Progress Administration commissioned this work in 1938. It was premiered in 1940 by the Michigan WPA Symphony Orchestra.  

02/05/25 Eleanor Alberga: Symphony No. 1 "Strata"

British composer Alberga composed this work in 2022. It was inspired by geology. Each movement depicts a different layer of the earth's crust.

 

02/06/25 Regina Harris Baiocchi: Hold Out for Joy

Baiocchi is an author, poet, and composer. Her work "Hold Out for Joy" was written in 1986 and is based on Psalm 30.

 

02/07/25 Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Symphony No. 2 in D major

Bologne was a mixed-race composer, born of a French noble and Jamaican enslaved woman. He would become one of France's greatest violinists of the late 1790s, as well as its finest swordsman.