Grab Bag

       Gil Scott-Heron: Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Submitted by Liz, who writes: One of my favorite fight songs.

       Vladimir Vavilov: Ave Maria for Cello and Strings

Submitted by Myndall. Attributed to Giulio Caccini but is composed by Vladimir Vavilov. Ave Maria" is a popular and much recorded aria composed by Vladimir Vavilov around 1970. It is a musical hoax generally misattributed to Baroque composer Giulio Caccini. Vavilov himself published and recorded it on the Melodiya label with the ascription to "Anonymous" in 1972. It is believed that the work received its ascription to Giulio Caccini after Vavilov's death, by organist Mark Shakhin (one of its performers on the mentioned "Melodiya" longplay), who gave the "newly discovered scores" to other musicians; then in an arrangement made by the organist Oleg Yanchenko for the recording by Irina Arkhipova in 1987, then the piece came to be famous worldwide.

       Edgard Varèse: Hyperprism

Submitted by Lewis, who writes: I want this piece to be played at my funeral.

       Innuit throat singing

Submitted by Mike, who writes: A video demonstrating and explaining Innuit throat singing. Mainly performed by women, they make gutteral noises that are amplified using the others' mouths (or so I was taught, doesn't look like they stand that close to each other in the video).

       Martines — Miserere

Submitted by Scott, who writes: Here's a short piece that I arranged for string orchestra by the relatively unknown composer Marianna Martines. It's the opening Largo from her Miserere for choir 4 voices and organ. The manuscript is dated 1768.

I find this piece hauntingly beautiful, and it works very well for string orchestra with the contrabasses providing the "heartbeat". That idea plus all of the dynamics and phrasing are mine (since not much is provided in the score). Honestly, it reminds me a little of Mozart's masterpiece "Ave Verum Corpus".

Marianna Martines lived from 1744 to 1812, and here's the interesting part. She lived in Vienna on the third floor of a large apartment building of which the first floor was occupied by the dowager princess of the wealthy Esterházy family. A struggling composer named Joseph Haydn lived in the cold, damp attic. It is through her, in part, that he was introduced to the wealthy Esterházy family. As you might know, Prince Paul Anton and his son Nikolaus were very musically inclined and became Haydn's primary patron. I'm not sure if Marrianna and Mozart were friends, but it seems unlikely that they were not acquainted through Haydn in the Vienna artistic circles. One might imagine she might have been another famous contemporary of that time and place, save she was born a woman.