I'm especially fascinated here by the orchestra itself: it's a big group, with a ton of strings, and the layout is pretty interesting, too, with the harps right down between the cellos and the violas, and the basses way up in the back of the entire orchestra. This is very cool!
The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Something for Thursday
Here's something cool: Franz von Suppe's overture Poet and Peasant, played by the MGM Symphony Orchestra in a film made in 1955. My understanding is that films like these used to be part of the pre-feature entertainment in movie theaters. Would that they would do stuff like this again!
I'm especially fascinated here by the orchestra itself: it's a big group, with a ton of strings, and the layout is pretty interesting, too, with the harps right down between the cellos and the violas, and the basses way up in the back of the entire orchestra. This is very cool!
I'm especially fascinated here by the orchestra itself: it's a big group, with a ton of strings, and the layout is pretty interesting, too, with the harps right down between the cellos and the violas, and the basses way up in the back of the entire orchestra. This is very cool!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I love this foe so many reasons:
1) the info about the historical context of this performance
2) I have this double LP with a bunch of overtures (Offenbach, Rossini, among many others) which I loved. This piece was also on it
3) those overtures were often used in those old WB cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck) and they were almost certainly my 1st introductions to those pieces
One of my all time favorites!
Sic transit gloria mundi.
This is my favorite of all of von Suppe's overtures, and I had the pleasure of playing it three times in various symphonic bands. Von Suppe was much beloved in his own time, with the people of Vienna ranking him right up there with Schubert.
The orchestral makeup is interesting, but the placement of the harpist less so.
Post a Comment