Hectic Week

It has been a tremendously hectic week around the house with a seemingly endless list of chores, errands and tasks that had to be accomplished in the moment.  In addition to the crazy schedule, we have been having Internet connectivity issues with Charter.  After the second service visit this week (out of several over the last 2 months), it was determined that indeed there was a problem, and the tab that we were connected to was not receiving the proper signals and needed to be replaced.  They switched us to another tab and it is working for now, but Will will be watching the network performance like a fucking hawk and will inform Charter of any issues that crop up.  

I also found that when I did have time to write this week and I had Internet access, my motivation to do so had waned to the point of failing completely.  I guess you would say I was definitely uninspired most of the week for whatever reasons or no reason at all.  It was just plain weird that I could not complete a sentence.  Maybe it was just a case of writer's block, but nothing got written all week.  I did manage to pull together the music for one of the featured composers this week and will share that with you here today.  

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the University of Cambridge before studying music in Leipzig and Berlin. He was instrumental in raising the status of the Cambridge University Musical Society, attracting international stars to perform with it.

While still an undergraduate, Stanford was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882, aged 29, he was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. From 1887 he was also the professor of music at Cambridge. As a teacher, Stanford was sceptical about modernism, and based his instruction chiefly on classical principles as exemplified in the music of Brahms. Among his pupils were rising composers whose fame went on to surpass his own, such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. As a conductor, Stanford held posts with the Bach Choir and the Leeds triennial music festival.

Stanford composed a substantial number of concert works, including seven symphonies, but his best-remembered pieces are his choral works for church performance, chiefly composed in the Anglican tradition. He was a dedicated composer of opera, but none of his nine completed operas has endured in the general repertory. Some critics regarded Stanford, together with Hubert Parry and Alexander Mackenzie, as responsible for a renaissance in music from the British Isles. However, after his conspicuous success as a composer in the last two decades of the 19th century, his music was eclipsed in the 20th century by that of Edward Elgar as well as former pupils.  Among the best known of his many pupils were Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Ireland, Frank Bridge and Arthur Bliss.

I made two play lists to share with you today.  The first down below is :

Two "Irish" works by Stanford. First is his Symphony Number 3 in F Minor, Opus 28 "Irish" with a performance by the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley and his Irish Rhapsody Number 4 in A minor, Opus 141 "The Fisherman of Lough Neagh" performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sir Adrian Boult.  

Over on my tumblr I have this play list:

Two Pieces, His Piano Trio Number 1 performed by the Gould Piano Trio and his Cello Concerto with a performance by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Nicholas Braithwaite with Cello Soloist Alexander Baillie.

Then finally it is time for some Fantasy Fuel which you will find posted down below in this week's simmering sultry edition.  Over on my tumblr, one of my favorite fantasy lovers of all time, Marlon Teixeira is your Hotti of the Day!  Thanks for5 the visit, check back over the weekend for your Sunday Morning Concert.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!