Music: Sun Jan 30

 

It’s hard to believe that sweet, peace-loving classical composers could ever be construed as threats to public safety, but the composers featured in this morning’s solo piano selections all ran afoul of the law at one time or another.

Franz Schubert, always depicted surrounded by his coterie of fun-loving, artistic friends, was once arrested for what might be termed “disorderly public conduct” by the zealous, repressive Viennese police of the 1820’s. Johann Sebastian Bach committed the sin of demanding immediate release from his employment with the Duke of Weimar; his impertinence cost him four weeks in the slammer. The French composer Erik Satie, often viewed as one of music’s great eccentrics, created a public riot at the premiere of his ballet Parade, a collaboration with Jean Cocteau. Satie’s profane response to a Parisian music critic led to the filing of charges against him.

 

Read on for programming details, and stay tuned for spoken introductions.

 

Gathering Music: Adam Kent, piano
Sonata in C Minor, Op. Posth.

            II. Adagio

                                                            Franz Schubert

 

Meditation:
“Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”*

                                                            J. S. Bach, arr. by Ferruccio Busoni

 

*Translation:

I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ,
I pray, hear my lamentation,
bestow your grace on me at this time,
do not let me despair;
I think that I have the right faith, Lord,
which you wanted to give me,
to live for you,
to be useful to my neighbour,
to keep your word properly.

Interlude:
Gymnopedie No. 1

                                                            Erik Satie

Postlude:
Moment Musical in F Minor, Op. 94, No. 3

                                                            Schubert