Westport Public Library MOVIE & MUSIC Blog

As Halloween approaches, people are busily making their costumes and their plans for this holiday. Yale University has their unique tradition of a Halloween show created by the students beginning at 11:00 p.m. at Woolsey Hall; this performance usually involves the musicians of the highly acclaimed Yale Symphony Orchestra playing classical and popular favorites.

For those who would like some scary music to set the mood for their spooky festivities or to welcome young or old trick-or-treaters, the library offers these suggestions:

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Berlioz, Hector. "Witches Sabbath" from Symphonie Fantastique

Grieg, Edvard. "Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt Suite

Mussorgsky, Modest. Night on Bald Mountain

Respighi, Ottorinio. "Pines near a Catacomb" from Pines of Rome

Saint-Saens, Camille. Dance Macabre

Strauss, Richard. Last movement of Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche

Strauss, Richard. Death and Transfiguration

Stravinsky, Igor. Rite of Spring

Tartini, Giuseppe. Devil's Trill

Wagner, Richard. Overture to the Flying Dutchman

The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced the 25 top documentaries as voted on by their members. Not surprisingly, the top 10 list includes two produced by Michael Moore and the Academy Award Winning An Inconvenient Truth. All are available to borrow in the library. A complete list along with essays about each of the films is available on the IDA website. The library has all but one of the winners available to borrow.

#1 Hoop Dreams (1994) Follows two inner-city high school basketball "phenoms" as they chase NBA dreams.

#2 The Thin Blue Line (1988) Accounts the conviction and imprisonment of Randall Adams for the murder of a Dallas policeman while raising questions about his quilt.

#3 Bowling for Columbine (2002) Filmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.

#4 Spellbound (2002) A gem that follows eight young people on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

#5 Harlan County, U.SA. (1976) In 1973, the Brookside Coal Miners voted to join the United Mine Workers, a decision not shared by the Duke Power Company. The bitter struggle between the miners and their company is documented.

#6 An Inconvenient Truth (2006) Nobel Prize Winner and former Vice-President Al Gore's passionate campaign to create public awareness of the issues surrounding global warming.

#7 Crumb (1994) Take a ride through the mind of the R. Crumb, creator of Fritz the Cat.

#8 Gimme Shelter (1970) Documents the Rolling Stone's 1969 tour of the United States. Along with Woodstock (#25), the classic rock and roll documentaries.

#9 The Fog of War (2003) A journey through seminal events in American history as seen through the eyes of former Secretary of Defense Robert S.McNamara. He served under Kennedy and Johnson.

#10 Roger & Me (1989) Hard times come to his hometown Flint, MI and Michael Moore doggedly pursues then GM chairman, Roger Smith.

Although the relationship between music and the arts has been frequently analyzed and studied, a book depicting portraits of composers by famous artists has not. This collection is arranged chronologically from Martin Luther to John Cage by artists from Lucas Cranach the Elder to Walter De Maria. Biographical discussion and exploration of the composer, the artist, their collaboration, and the time period are followed by the actual image. These reproductions may be drawings, paintings, sculptures or sketches. Admiration for Niccolo Paganini's concerts by Eugene Delacroix, mutual respect exhibited by Richard Strauss and Max Liebermann, solid friendships like Emmanuel Chabrier and Edouard Manet, as well as working relationships like Erik Satie and Pablo Picasso are noted by the authors. Whimisical caricatures by Honore Daumier of Rossini, Berlioz, and Wagner and Jean Cocteau of Francis Poulenc are also included. Walter De Maria's Statue of John Cage is a fitting tribute to this composer who valued structure, choice and freedom.

Arnold Schoenberg, who worked as both a composer and a painter, aptly put his two passions as "a way of expressing myself, of presenting emotions, ideas".

Although nominated six times for an Oscar, she never won. She did win a Golden Globe for her performance in The King and I. Like many girls before me, who adored this move, I had entire sections memorized.

Movie channels such as TCM plan tributes this weekend. And, our collection offers you additonal choice.

Saturday, October 20, 2007 marks the new season of Fairfield County's own American Chamber Orchestra with the premiere of Dr. Rex Cadwallader's Symphony #2 in C-sharp Minor. Dr. Cadwallader, a noted jazz pianist and Chairman of the Performing Arts Department at Greens Farms Academy, had his composition Symphony-Wind River played by this same group in 2004. His Cello Concerto #1 was first performed by Rebecca Patterson with the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra in 2006, as was his piece Connecticut Legends by the New Haven Civic Orchestra in 2006.

Stephan Tieszsen, Concertmaster of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, will perform Mozart's Violin Concerto #3 in G Major. This work will be played without a "formal" conductor in keeping with performance practices during Mozart's life.

The overtures Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky and Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach will prepare the audience for the upcoming Halloween celebration. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Fairfield with a pre-concert talk at 7:15 PM.

The Library invites you to investigate its compact disc collection for the above mentioned compositions. Feel free to check out Isaac Stern playing Mozart's Violin Concerto #3, the Concertgebouw Orchestra playing Night on Bald Mountain and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra playing Orpheus in the Underworld.

Opera composers have always looked to literary materials to base their music on. Their efforts have led to operas derived from the masterworks of literature, mythology, fables, fairy tales, short stories and novels.

Which characteristics of a story would catch a composer's eye and entice him to create a piece of music? Is it the plot, the background or a character's development that is the catalyst toward a musical conception? Or, is it an opera company's commission?

Gary Schmidgall in his book Literature as Opera addresses this subject. Milton Cross has compiled operatic stories in his The New Milton Cross' Complete Stories of the Great Operas.

Here is a listing of some operas that began life as another literary vehicle:

Bizet, Georges Carmen by Prosper Merimee

Britten, Benjamin Billy Budd by Herman Melville

Britten, Benjamin Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

Floyd, Carlisle Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Humperdinck, Engelbert Hansel and Gretel by Brothers Grimm

Janacek, Leos House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Prokofiev, Sergey War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Rossini, Gioacchino La Cenerentola by Brothers Grimm

Last night I had the opportunity to see the play The Turn of the Screw at the Westport Country Playhouse. It was so appropriate to stage this work with its gothic background and mysterious overtones at this time of the year. After the show, my husband and I discussed it and compared it to the movie and opera based on the same novella. Wouldn't it be special for a theater and opera company to collaborate and perform the same work? Imagine if the Metropolitan Opera and the Vivian Beaumont Theater would both present A View from the Bridge. This would be an extraordinary opportunity for an artist like Tazewell Thompson to showcase his dramatic and musical skills.

What inspires a composer to turn a drama into an opera? Is it the storyline, monetary considerations or a burst of creativity?

As you are pondering these questions, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions. Here is a listing of some operas which originally were plays:

Barber, Samuel Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

Bolcom, William A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

Britten, Benjamin The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Gounod, Charles Romeo et Juliette by William Shakespeare

Strauss, Richard Elektra by Sophocles

Verdi, Giuseppe Falstaff by William Shakespeare

Verdi, Giuseppe Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Verdi, Giuseppe Otello by William Shakespeare

What is your favorite rendering of a play into an opera?

The "King of the High Cs" was born to a baker who was also an amateur singer. As a teenager, Pavarotti joined his father in the Modena church and opera chorus. After the group won an international singing competition in Wales, he gave up his teaching aspirations and threw himself into operatic singing. His subsequent successes in the smaller European opera houses led to his 1963 debut at London's Covent Garden where he substituted for Giuseppe Di Stefano as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme. That acclaimed role led him to an accomplished, fruitful partnership with soprano Joan Sutherland and conductor Richard Bonynge. His voice was exemplary of Italian tenor artistry with the sublime touch of a baritone.

The Library's recordings include La Fille Du Regiment, Manon, I Puritani, Turandot, etc. You may read about his life and music in Herbert H. Breslin's The King and I, Martin Mayer's Grandissimo Pavarotti, and Luciano Pavarotti's Pavarotti, My Own Story and Pavarotti, My World.

As a tribute to Mr. Pavarotti and his legacy to the musical world, please enjoy him in his prime with Joan Sutherland from this 1965 Australian version of Verdi's La Traviata.

How about some perfect movies to mark the age of exploration and commemorate Columbus Day? Our audio visual department offers some choices.

Christopher Columbus: The Discovery based on a screenplay penned by Mario Puzo includes quite a cast of well known names including Marlon Brando, Tom Selleck, Rachel Ward and Benicio Del Toro.

Discovery tales featuring the Pocahontas and John Smith romance run from Disney's version to The New World featuring Colin Farrell as Smith. The film captures the beauty of then unspoiled wilderness and Q'Orianka Kilcher is radiant as the heroine.

Marco Polo was originally made for TV, it offers stunning scenery and an absorbing portrayal of the Venetian explorer's trek.

If old world exploration doesn't interest you maybe the 20th century equivalents hunting for ancient treasure may. Nothing beats any of the adventures featuring Indiana Jones staring Harrison Ford for a good rush of adrenaline. Watch them again. The latest (and the last?) adventuresis coming to a theatre near you next year. Were you an extra or involved in the production of the scenes filmed in Connecticut?

As an addendum to Eugene Drucker's talk on his novel, The Savior, I thought I would mention recent novels with musicians as protaganists.

Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach, looks at the relationship of a young couple on the cusp of their wedding night. The merger of their lives is questionable as Florence, a violinist in an up and coming string quartet, envisions a different future than Edward, a student of history who will be working for her father's business.

Paul Adam's The Rainaldi Quartet, is a contemporary thriller where an elderly violin-maker, Gianni Castiglione, is suddenly murdered after dropping hints about a search for a rare and magnificent Stradivarius violin in Italy. The remaining members of his string quartet, who are a luthier, a priest and a police detective, search the countryside for this priceless, long-lost violin alongside the devious killer.

Margriet de Moor's The Kreutzer Sonata is a retelling of Leo Tolstoy's novella of the same name which was originally inspired by Beethoven's magnificent piece. Tolstoy's story in turn inspired Czech composer Leos Janacek to write a string quartet called Kreutzer Sonata. De Morr's tale of love and jealousy uniquely interweaves the music with the storyline.