John Robinson Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I wonder whether I might prevail upon members here to offer some suggestions for wedding music... ...with a big difference! My neice is getting married soon and has sent us all a message asking for suggestions for music for her reception. She asks for "favourite songs to: - dance to - chill out to (I believe that this means to relax to, rather than putting in a freezer) - eat to" Of course, I'm sure she expects us to suggest some 'pop music' (or whatever it's called these days) but I thought, just for a bit of fun, I'd list some suitable organ music! At least her grandfather, who is an organist, might appreciate them! Any suggestions? Perhaps not too obscure, or she won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Drinkell Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I am a disgrace to my profession.... The Dean's elder son got married a couple of weeks ago. Both he and his beloved are avid sci-fi fans. They wanted a certain French toccata as they went out, but asked if I could play the main theme from Star Wars as well. I managed to do the toccata on the manuals and Star Wars on the pedals. I'm thinking of calling it Darth Widor.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handsoff Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I am a disgrace to my profession.... The Dean's elder son got married a couple of weeks ago. Both he and his beloved are avid sci-fi fans. They wanted a certain French toccata as they went out, but asked if I could play the main theme from Star Wars as well. I managed to do the toccata on the manuals and Star Wars on the pedals. I'm thinking of calling it Darth Widor.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handsoff Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I wonder whether I might prevail upon members here to offer some suggestions for wedding music... ...with a big difference! My neice is getting married soon and has sent us all a message asking for suggestions for music for her reception. She asks for "favourite songs to: - dance to - chill out to (I believe that this means to relax to, rather than putting in a freezer) - eat to" Of course, I'm sure she expects us to suggest some 'pop music' (or whatever it's called these days) but I thought, just for a bit of fun, I'd list some suitable organ music! At least her grandfather, who is an organist, might appreciate them! Any suggestions? Perhaps not too obscure, or she won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Trois Danses - Jehan Alain Pastorale from Sonata I - Alexandre Guilmant Music while eating? No thanks. Maybe something played after the blower has been switched off. (Just a bit of a rattle to match the sound of clattering cutlery). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwhodges Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Music while eating? Mozart, perhaps (see the end of Don Giovanni). Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jephtha Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Music while eating? Hamburger Totentanz? Or maybe that's more for a funeral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip J Wells Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 At least she has not asked for background music while the speeches are being made (afterall churches have it whilst prayers are said)! PJW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsphead Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Music while eating? Dance of the sugar plum fairy, or surely one of the many eating and drinking songs from Carmina Burana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusingMuso Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Trois Danses - Jehan Alain Pastorale from Sonata I - Alexandre Guilmant Music while eating? No thanks. Maybe something played after the blower has been switched off. (Just a bit of a rattle to match the sound of clattering cutlery). ====================== The Toccata by Georgi Mushel is basically a Cossack dance; Mushel being Ukranian in origin rather than Russian (where he studied/lived) or an Uzbekistani, (where he worked). Now a Cossack dance really sorts out the men from the boys and the youths; most of the men dropping dead before the end! Highly recommended if you want a day to remember and an interesting photo-album. Other, gentler ideas, include anything going by the name "Sarabande" and, of course, the Bach "Gigue" Fugue. (There's the Buxtehude one for the less skilled organists among us). I think there is also something written on "The lord of the dance"....isn't it something to do with "A shaker hymn" set of variations. I believe it is American. For the ultimate in chill-out music, there's Flor Peeters delightful "Lied to the flowers," which no-one ever seems to play, but which just gorgeous. Very approriate for weddings, I would have thought. Still working of the food one, but has anyone ever written a CP on the tune to "At the lamb's high feast we sing?" MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiratutti Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Hello, Still working of the food one, but has anyone ever written a CP on the tune to "At the lamb's high feast we sing?" there is a short toccata on "At the Lamb's high feast" by Paul Manz. Cheers tiratutti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJJ Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 ====================== ........but has anyone ever written a CP on the tune to "At the lamb's high feast we sing?" MM Gerald Near - possibly. A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 The Toccata by Georgi Mushel is basically a Cossack dance; Mushel being Ukranian in origin rather than Russian (where he studied/lived) or an Uzbekistani, (where he worked). Glad you've come round to my way of thinking, MM. http://www.mander-organs.com/discussion/in...amp;#entry19230 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Robinson Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 I'm very pleased that my request elicited so much interest. Thank you all. Your suggestions are being 'short listed' as I write! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusingMuso Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Glad you've come round to my way of thinking, MM. http://www.mander-organs.com/discussion/in...amp;#entry19230 ========================== Now don't start counting chickens, because we may both be very, very wrong. It may be good to have a fellow companion in the midst of failure or misinformation, but no sooner had I written about "Cossack Dances," I discovered a rather ominous line relating to the said work, which read:- "The Toccata comes from a Suite of three organ pieces.......each based on UZBEK melodies." This was, after all, part of his brief when Mushel (Muschel?) left Moscow for the conservatoire at Tashkent; the usual modus operandi of the communist authorities being to embrace the music of local people, as part of the communist drive forward in the former USSR. I suppose I should now be investigating the tribes and castes of the Uzbeks, the history of the USSR, the actiivities of the Cossacks and the origins of Tashkent's population. Don't hold your breath! MM PS: Bright idea which will spare me the rest of my life. Mushel combined Uzbek melody with Ukrainian "Cossack Dance" rhythms.....that would make sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I wonder how distinctive was the folk music of these various "tribes". I have no idea - but at any rate, misguided (or not), it is certainly not difficult to imagine a Cossack-style dance being performed to the Toccata. I have the Aria and Toccata from this suite in a Peters volume. I'd love to see the whole work. A Russian pupil of mine once asked what I would like her to bring me back from a visit back home and I asked her to try to track down the suite. I wasn't surprised that she failed. I got a bottle of vodka instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusingMuso Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I wonder how distinctive was the folk music of these various "tribes". I have no idea - but at any rate, misguided (or not), it is certainly not difficult to imagine a Cossack-style dance being performed to the Toccata. I have the Aria and Toccata from this suite in a Peters volume. I'd love to see the whole work. A Russian pupil of mine once asked what I would like her to bring me back from a visit back home and I asked her to try to track down the suite. I wasn't surprised that she failed. I got a bottle of vodka instead. ======================= I think that the Suite (a term normally reserved for dances isn't it?), has just three pieces; the last of which is a Fugue, if my information is correct. Even more interesting, is the whereabouts of the four other works for organ which Mushel wrote, which I bet no-one has ever heard or played. I'm not surprised you didn't get a copy, because many of the Russian publishers went out of business when state-support was withdrawn, and although the copyright is technically held with them, and presumably "the state party," it means that they cannot be published elsewhere. There was talk of the entire works being published in America, but I don't think it ever came to anything. So all we've got are the original Peters edition, (possibly out of print now), and the re-print of the Toccata in the familiar organ-collection published by OUP (?). (Wasn't it enitled "Modern organ music" or something?) Of course this has absolutely nothing to do with the wedding, unless the groom intends to fling the bride around the room, then jump up and get his legs horizontal at the same time, before spinning like a top and landing on one knee. It's the sort of thing I used to do...... MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Even more interesting, is the whereabouts of the four other works for organ which Mushel wrote, which I bet no-one has ever heard or played. Well, here are his Six Pieces: http://nlib.org.ua/score/organo/organpieces2.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Drinkell Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Well, here are his Six Pieces: http://nlib.org.ua/score/organo/organpieces2.pdf They look interesting. Can anyone on here translate the titles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I don't have any Russian myself, but according to John Henderson's "bible", the movements are: 1. In memoriam 2. Nocturne 3. Intermezzo 4. Improvisation (I'd still like to know what the subtitle means though) 5. Praeludium 6. Fuga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiratutti Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Hello, 4. Improvisation (I'd still like to know what the subtitle means though) the subtitle на народную узбекскую тему says something like "over a well-known uzbek theme" (über ein bekanntes usbekisches Thema). Cheers tiratutti Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusingMuso Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Well, here are his Six Pieces: http://nlib.org.ua/score/organo/organpieces2.pdf ============================ How wonderful! I now have all 7 of Mushel's (Muschels?) organ works....thank you! I've been looking for these for years and had just about abandoned hope. The trouble is, I don't understand Russian, but I was aware of the Norad web-site, which is quite a gold-mine for things academic. I shall enjoy looking through them, and who knows, I may be able to incorporate some of them into my next "East European Tour recital" whenever that may be. Now the next challenge is to get hold of Klement Slavicky's organ music, and those ravishing Mezzo Soprano settings of the Psalms, with organ accompaniment. Beyond that, the music of Sokola and Weiderman........ MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusingMuso Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I wonder how distinctive was the folk music of these various "tribes". I have no idea - but at any rate, misguided (or not), it is certainly not difficult to imagine a Cossack-style dance being performed to the Toccata. ========================= I tried to read up a bit on Uzbek music, and apparently, the origins are Iranian and Indian. The rhythms are quite exciting, judging by what I listened to, but the use of microtonal intervals, pentatonics, homophony, monophony, (but absolutely no polyphony), sounds strange to our ears. It may well be that the Toccata is actually quite ethnic Uzbek, but I'll read on and see if I can discover more. MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madorganist Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I saw a wedding couple after this mornings service - they also want the Star Wars theme to go out to, with the Mendelssohn to come in to. All a bit bizarre if you ask me. Is the start of a trend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Hello, the subtitle на народную узбекскую тему says something like "over a well-known uzbek theme" (über ein bekanntes usbekisches Thema). Cheers tiratutti Thank you very much for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 How wonderful! I now have all 7 of Mushel's (Muschels?) organ works....thank you! Not quite all! According to John Henderson's book, the full list is: Uzbekistan Suite (Aria, Toccata, Fugue) Preludes (unpublished) Poem (for violin or cello + organ; unpublished) Samarkand Suite Six Pieces (as above) (Sorry for continuing the off-topic diversion.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now