full of inspiration, increasing knowledge, good conversations, and new images!
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Gratias agimus | |
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Contents
- 1 Images for 2019
- 2 Christmas 2018
- 3 2019
- 3.1 1 January · Time which makes day and year · Carsten Koch
- 3.2 6 January · Three Kings
- 3.3 11 January · Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue
- 3.4 12 January · Raymond Arritt
- 3.5 23 January · Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben
- 3.6 30 January · Werner Bardenhewer
- 3.7 2 February · Im Frieden mein, o Herre mein
- 3.8 3 February · Mendelsohn's birthday
- 3.9 4 February · Birthday concert for Michael Herrmann
- 3.10 28 February · Psalm 75 · we give thanks
- 3.11 March · Women
- 3.12 12 – 19 March 2019 · Jordan
- 3.13 26 March · Jörg Streli
- 4 Playlist
- 5 Notes
Images for 2019
Christmas 2018
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Jauchzet, frohlocket! |
Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen!
Merry Christmastide, full of music and joy!
24 December · Merrily my heart shall leap
Christmas Eve | |
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Did you know ... that the German Christmas hymn "Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen"[a] (Merrily my heart shall leap) by Paul Gerhardt was published by Johann Crüger, who also wrote the melody? (24 December 2018)
Paul Gerhardt, 1653 1. Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen |
English Merrily my heart shall leap |
Did you know ...
... that composer Heinrich Schütz published only the recitatives of his Christmas Story and offered the other music for sale on request? (25 December 2013)
... that the 1810 Catholic hymnal by Christoph Bernhard Verspoell, with his melodies and organ settings, contains a song included in the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob in 2013?
25 December · Shout for joy, exult!
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Christmas Day | |
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Did you know ... that the choir sings Jauchzet, frohlocket! (Shout for joy, exult!), the beginning of Part I of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, first imitating kettledrums due to its secular model? (25 December 2018)
... that Camille Saint-Saëns commented after the premiere of the St. Cecilia Mass by Charles Gounod that "at first one was dazzled, then charmed, then conquered"? (13 January 2015)
... that Friedrich Spee wrote the lyrics of the Christmas carol "Zu Bethlehem geboren" to a popular French tune with a frivolous text? (21 January 2018)
... that the German Christmas carol "Freu dich, Erd und Sternenzelt" is based on a Czech song derived around 1500 from a Latin model (manuscript pictured)? (23 January 2018)
... that while the Three Kings bring gold, incense and myrrh to the manger, the singer of "Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier" offers spirit and mind, heart, soul and courage as gifts? (6 January 2018)
26 December · Call it causelessly merry
Did you know ... that the title of the poem "Sozusagen grundlos vergnügt" by Mascha Kaléko can be translated as "Call it causelessly merry"? (26 December 2018)
27 December · Great indeed is the godly mystery
Did you know ... that the cantata Kündlich groß ist das gottselige Geheimnis was written by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel for the Third Day of Christmas at the court of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen? (27 December 2018)
2019
1 January · Time which makes day and year · Carsten Koch
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Bachsaal at Schloss Köthen |
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Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht (Time, which day and year doth make), BWV 134a, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach for a celebration of New Year's Day in 1719 at the court of Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (hall in the palace pictured). The libretto by the author Christian Friedrich Hunold portrays a dialogue between two allegorical figures, Time (representing the past) and Divine Providence (the future). Bach set the words to eight movements consisting of alternating recitatives and arias, culminating in a choral finale. Most movements are duets for alto and tenor, supported by a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes, strings and continuo. The character of the music is close to Baroque opera, including its French dances. In Leipzig in 1724, Bach used this secular work as the basis for a church cantata for the Third Day of Easter, omitting two movements and changing only the text. (1 January 2019)
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Christmas Oratorio | |
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Did you know ...
... that Bach composed Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a, in 1719 as a congratulatory cantata for the court of Anhalt-Köthen? (14 July 2010)
... that the international Reger-Chor celebrated 25 years, singing music of Bach, Van Nuffel, Ryelandt, and Reger's Hebbel-Requiem in Wiesbaden and Bruges? (11 September 2010)
... that Carsten Koch conducted all Beethoven symphonies at the historic Unionskirche, and shared Bach's Christmas Oratorio there in an ecumenical project (performance pictured)? (1 January 2019)
6 January · Three Kings
Schon gewusst? Kantor Carsten Koch teilte Bachs Weihnachtsoratorium in der Idsteiner Unionskirche ökumenisch mit seinem Kollegen.
Did you know ... that Peter Cornelius wrote poems and music for his song cycle Weihnachtslieder, and including a famous melody in the accompaniment of a song about the Three Kings? (6 January 2019)
11 January · Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue
Did you know ... that Max Reger composed Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue, Op. 127, for Karl Straube, to be played as the first organ piece at the new Centennial Hall in Breslau in 1913? (11 January 2019)
12 January · Raymond Arritt
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Raymond Arritt | |
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in 2017 |
Did you know ... ... that after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Peace Prize, contributing author Raymond Arritt (pictured) said "It's kind of neat: I have, like, .002 percent of a Nobel prize now"? (12 January 2019)
Ray's Rules
- You and your problems are not the most important thing in the world.
- Choose your battles. Yield when it doesn't matter, and stand your ground when it does.
- Keep a thick skin. Don't let criticism discourage you. Instead, let it teach you.
- You learn more from listening than from talking. "A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something." (Wilson Mizner)
- Don’t waste your time arguing with an idiot.
- Give other people the same respect that you would want from them. (Matthew 7:12)
- The surest way to drive yourself crazy is to compare yourself to other people.
- Take the high road, no matter what the other person does. It will benefit you in the long run. (Romans 12:20)
- Don’t take yourself too seriously: "We share 99% of our genes with mice, and we even have the genes that could make a tail." (Dr. Jane Rogers, Human Sequencing and Mapping Project Manager, Sanger Institute); "The graveyards are full of indispensable men." (Charles de Gaulle)
- The most important thing is to be able to look yourself in the mirror. “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it's right.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)[b]
"... go on with life, have a laugh, don't get too upset ..." (Shock Brigade Harvester Boris on 18 October 2012)
23 January · Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben
Did you know ... that Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben (Fall with thanks, fall with praise), Part IV of Bach's Christmas Oratorio for New Year's Day 1735, celebrates the naming of Jesus? (23 January 2019)
30 January · Werner Bardenhewer
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Schon gewußt?
Ein Krankenhaus in Mali ist nach
Pfarrer Werner Bardenhewer benannt.
(30. Januar 2019)
Did you know ...
... that a clinic in Mali is named after
Werner Bardenhewer,
born 90 years ago today,
who was for decades priest of
St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden,
and then founded a charity group?
(30 January 2019)
2 February · Im Frieden mein, o Herre mein
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Did you know ...
... that when Friedrich Spitta revised
"Im Frieden dein, o Herre mein",
a 1530 German Lutheran communion hymn
based on the biblical Nunc dimittis,
he completely changed the meaning?
(2 February 2019)
... that "Joy to the World" is one of the hymns based on Psalm 96, "Sing to the Lord a new song"?
(4 February 2019)
3 February · Mendelsohn's birthday
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- ... that the motet Lord, have mercy upon us was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1833, setting responses from the Book of Common Prayer?
- ... that Mendelssohn was requested to compose Psalm 100 for the new Hamburg Temple, but probably set it as Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt for the Berlin Cathedral?
4 February · Birthday concert for Michael Herrmann
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Michael Herrmann 4 February 1944 | |
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28 February · Psalm 75 · we give thanks
... that Bach set the phrase "Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks" from Psalm 75 in German to begin a cantata, and in Latin in his Mass in B minor?
March · Women
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Did you know ...
... that the soprano Melitta Muszely
appeared as the four women Hoffmann loves
in Felsenstein's production
at the Komische Oper Berlin in 1958,
and still sang recitals at age 80?
(30 March)
other March women:
Lydia Steier · Margit Bokor · Ria Ginster ·
Violin Concerto "Anne-Sophie" ·
Ursula Wendt-Walther · Zuzana Marková · Ruthilde Boesch · Claire Born · Julia Kleiter · Sophie Karthäuser · Genia Kühmeier
(Mädchenkantorei Limburg · Liane Synek ·
Lotte Schädle · Margit Schramm ·
Der geteilte Himmel · Ruth Hesse ·
Liselotte Hammes · Carmen Thomas)
12 – 19 March 2019 · Jordan
El Deir ("The Monastery"), Petra
Dead Sea from the Jordan mountains
View north from Djebel Haroun
Desert flowers, Wadi Rum
26 March · Jörg Streli
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26 March 1940 – 13 February 2019 |
Schon gewusst? Nach Plänen, an denen der Architekt
Jörg Streli mitwirkte, entstanden unter anderem eine Bergkapelle und die Aufstockung eines Krankenhauses.
(26. März)
Did you know ... that architect Jörg Streli
and his two colleagues, a team for 35 years,
designed the Sankt-Margarethen-Kapelle in Tyrol,
which rises like a tower on a circular floor?
(23 March)
Playlist
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Notes
- ^ part of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Part III
- ^ source: Ray's Rules