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Rise like lions after slumber,in unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep has fallen on you. Ye are many,they are few. Shelley
Eglantine and Rostosky, this is really exciting. I managed to win an auction once by bidding in the last second, but that is a pretty advanced procedure. So for a beginner it would be best to do a max bid. Then it does not matter when you place the bid. The only difficult thing is to decide how much you are really willing to pay.
My max bid was 4.4.k, and it went for 4.5k. Looked like a good instrument, but I hadn't been able to see it - ebay cocked up on messaging with the seller - and I wasn't prepared to go higher sight-unseen. I reckon the other bidder had a higher max on automatic bidding, perhaps 5k+.
I saw a very similar Goble for sale at 5.7k at the early music fest two weeks ago.
That's the first time I've done this on ebay, so I'm regarding it as a bit of a dry run, seeing how it works. In any case, the new 'music room' isn't ready yet... (Yes, I'm still chucking out! and haven't even started decorating.)
Currently working on: F. Couperin - Preludes & Sweelinck - Fantasia Chromatica J.S. Bach, Einaudi, Purcell, Froberger, Croft, Blow, Frescobaldi, Glass, Couperin 1930s upright (piano) & single manual William Foster (harpsichord)
Your absolutely correct Eglantine, now is a real bad time to have paper "money" either in the bank or at home in a biscuit tin. especially Euros, when they fail a lot mor will. Much better to have gold, diamonds, or an excellent investment like that harpsichord. I have bought a lot on ebay, with last minit "sniping" and some before the time that ebay had a counting down clock, I used to use a clock with a big sweeping second hand and had to synchronise it with each auction!
With large items like a piano, harpsichord, or a vehicle, it is best to go and view them, this is just common sense, if you dont you could buy a lemon. Also, when you go to view, have the cash that would be your maximum bid.... If you like the item, then offer the seller the cash.. Not many folk when faced with a wad of readies in their hand will turn it down, this is just human nature...
I used to do that when buying vehicles, If say the asking price was £1000, I would take £600 or £700, but in five and ten pound notes, this creates a bigger bundle than twenties and makes it harder to say no to when presented!! Human nature, see a bundle= want it!
It's allways worth a try.
Later dudes and dudettes..
Rise like lions after slumber,in unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep has fallen on you. Ye are many,they are few. Shelley
Cubop, meant to say.. bidding in the last few seconds (sniping) is not advanced procedure, its basic ebaying!!
Rise like lions after slumber,in unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep has fallen on you. Ye are many,they are few. Shelley
Good Saturday everyone! Great postings here. Good luck with your harpsichord search Eglantine.
Today we are going to present a series of posts that focus on the work of African-Canadian composer Nathaniel Dett. This is a collaborative project by AimeeO and me. I personally contacted Aimee about doing this collaborative project last month after I heard two postings she did of his piano compositions. By posting Dett's piano compositions, Aimee had rekindled an interest I had in Dett's music when I was a college student. Today I will focus on some of his choral works. Later today, Aimee will present some of Dett's piano compositions and more biographical information.
Celebrated composer Nathaniel Dett was born in Drummondville (Niagara Falls), Ontario on October 11, 1882. The community included descendants of African American slaves who had escaped slavery in the United States via the Underground Railroad He died on October 2, 1943 in Battle Creek, Michigan. Dett studied piano as a child and was church organist in Niagara Falls, Ontario from 1898-1903. During this period he composed numerous works, including the well-known The Cake Walk and After the Cake Walk. Among his other works are Listen to the Lambs (1914), an eight-part anthem; Juba Dance (1913), a piano solo that has appeared in the Royal Conservatory of Music syllabus and was a favorite of Dett’s friend, Percy Grainger; and the oratorio The Ordering of Moses (1937).
Dett earned several degrees at prestigious educational institutions, including Oberlin College (Bachelor of Music, 1908; and the Eastman School of Music (Master of Music, 1932). Dett studied composition in Paris with the internationally renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger, and performed at Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall. Dett also performed for two American presidents, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
My first post will be Listen to the Lambs." I first heard it performed when I was a high school student and my choir participated in a choral festival with several other African American congregations. Later, when I was in college, I would regularly listen to a 1955 recorded performance of the Tuskegee Universty chorus. It felt like a comfort food while I was away from my home community.
The remaining choral selections that I post today will be performed by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale based in Toronto. My next post includes an introduction to the work of the chorale, followed by a vibrant performance of the African American spiritual, "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho."
Just catching up with some musical posts. That's a lovely Johnny Nash, Griffin! Oh boy, maybe 10 years since I last heard it!
Perhaps in the same mood, and definitely in the same era (Nash was '74, De Vaughn was '72), is Be Thankful For What You've Got. Covered by many, many people (including Massive Attack) but William DeVaughn's original is still the biggest and the best. (There's also a DeVaugh 80s 12" disco version etc.)
Below are *some* lyrics - though they are not complete.... Still hunting.
Though you may not drive a great big cadillac Gangster whitewalls tv antenna in the back You may not have a car at all But just remember brothers and sisters You can still stand tall Just be thankful for what you've got Though you may not drive a great big cadillac Diamonds in the back, sunroof top, diggin the scene With the gangster lean For what you've got
You may not have a car at all But just remember brothers and sisters You can still stand tall Just be thankful for what you've got Diamonds in the back, sunroof top, diggin' the scene With the gangster lean ooh ooh ooh Though you may not drive a great big cadillac Gangster whitewalls tv antenna in the back You may not have a car at all But just remember brothers and sisters You can still stand tall Just be thankful for what you've got Diamonds in the back, sunroof top, diggin the scene With the Gangster lean
Last edited by Eglantine; 11/26/1101:35 PM.
Currently working on: F. Couperin - Preludes & Sweelinck - Fantasia Chromatica J.S. Bach, Einaudi, Purcell, Froberger, Croft, Blow, Frescobaldi, Glass, Couperin 1930s upright (piano) & single manual William Foster (harpsichord)
I accidentally stumbled on Dett a while back. Our local cable company has a couple of classical music channels, and I’ll put them on when I’m reading. When I hear something I like, I’ll make a note of it and look it up later. Nathaniel Dett’s Magnolia Suite was one of those pieces. Since he was unfamiliar to me, I did a little digging. I’d like to thank Griffin for encouraging me to learn more about this man!
Dett is mainly known for his choral work. His choral works have been performed for presidents, and the Canadian choral group, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, bears his name. What many people don’t know, however, are his other accomplishments, my favorite one being that he wrote several piano compositions. Dett also was a writer, educator, life –long student, and a conductor.
Dett’s degree at Oberlin was in piano and composition, completed in 1908. He was the first black man to do so. He moved to Tennessee and started teaching at Lane College in Tennessee, and the Lincoln Institute in Missouri. Here he started writing choral and piano compositions for his students. During this period, he wrote his piano suites Magnolia (1912) and In the Bottoms (1913). In 1913 he became the music director for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, a position he held for almost 20 years. His major accomplishment there was his work with the choir, which he led to international prominence. He directed choirs most of his career, one notable highlight being Tchaikovsky’s The Legend at Carnegie Hall. After his time at the Hampton institute, he taught privately and conducted a chorus for NBC. At the end of his life, he was working with the USO as a musical advisor. He died while on tour with the USO.
Although Dett had a busy working life, he remained committed to learning. He continued his studies at Harvard, the University of PA, Chicago’s American Conservatory of Music, and Columbia University. He won the Bowdoin prize at Harvard for his thesis, Negro Music. In 1932 he achieved his Masters Degree in Music from the Eastman School of Music.
Dett also had a love of poetry, nurtured by his mother. He wrote a book of poetry called The Album of a Heart in 1911, and later, another unpublished collection of poetry and essays. Here’s his Rubenstein Staccato Etude:
Staccato! Staccato! Leggier agitato! In and out does the melody twist-- Unique proposition Is this composition. (Alas! for the player who hasn't the wrist!) Now in the dominant Theme ringing prominent, Bass still repeating its one monotone, Double notes crying, Up keyboard go flying, The change to the minor comes in like a groan. Without a cessation A chaste modulation Hastens adown to subdominant key, Where melody mellow-like Singing so 'cello-like Rises and falls in a wild ecstasy. Scarce is this finished When chords all diminished Break loose in a patter that comes down like rain, A pedal-point wonder Rivaling thunder. Now all is mad agitation again. Like laughter jolly Begins the finale; Again does the 'cello its tones seem to lend Diminuendo ad molto crescendo. Ah! Rubinstein only could make such an end!
When he wasn’t writing poetry, Dett was composing. He wrote over 100 compositions. According to Wikipedia, Dett said this about what he wanted to achieve as a composer:
“We have this wonderful store of folk music—the melodies of an enslaved people ... But this store will be of no value unless we utilize it, unless we treat it in such manner that it can be presented in choral form, in lyric and operatic works, in concertos and suites and salon music—unless our musical architects take the rough timber of Negro themes and fashion from it music which will prove that we, too, have national feelings and characteristics, as have the European peoples whose forms we have zealously followed for so long.â€
While his choral works have been prominent, he wrote quite a bit for the piano. Some of his works were After The Cakewalk (1900), Cave of Winds (1902), Inspiration Waltzes (1903), My Agnes From Niagara (1909), Magnolia Suite for Piano (1912); In the Bottoms: Characteristic Suite for the Piano (1913); Enchantment: A Romantic Suite for the Piano on an Original Program (1922); Cinnamon Grove: A Suite for the Piano (1928); Tropic Winter: Suite for Piano (1938); Eight Bible Vignettes: Father Abraham (1941), Desert Interlude (1942), As His Own Soul (1942), Martha Complained (1942), I Am the True Vine (1943), Other Sheep (1943), Barcarolle of Tears (1943), and Madrigal Divine (1943).
Sadly, these aren’t all that popular. Only a few seem to have been recorded. I went digging around on You Tube and couldn’t find that much. I did find In the Bottoms in its entirety. I think it shows off his ability to incorporate a range of musical styles. I’ll put that in my next post.
If you're in the UK, I can recommend this week's HIGNFY. A really good one - include the fake Sun headline about Rebekah Wade/Brooks: a total classic! The extended version is on tomorrow evening.
Currently working on: F. Couperin - Preludes & Sweelinck - Fantasia Chromatica J.S. Bach, Einaudi, Purcell, Froberger, Croft, Blow, Frescobaldi, Glass, Couperin 1930s upright (piano) & single manual William Foster (harpsichord)
Griffin, Aimee, thank you so much for these excellent postings about Nathaniel Dett. I didn’t know this composer, but I’ve loved those choral works, and the piano pieces are amazing!
![[Linked Image]](https://pianoworld.com/ABF_Medals/3medals.jpg)
Well-guessed R.![[Linked Image]]( https://www.pianoworld.com/forumpicts/MOYD_2011/MOYD_1.gif)
