After an enforced absence of two months, it was a joy to be able to gather again in late September. Only one session, of course, this month, picking up where we left off in our programming. Major work under the spotlight was Brahms’ “romantic” 3rd Symphony. (Brahms was quite romantically inclined by nature but lacked the courage to commit himself in love and remained single all his days. It is a matter of conjecture where Brahms’ romantic inclinations were at the time of the composition, but it is thought there must have been someone in mind at the time). Other (smaller) works in our programme included Elena Kats-Chernin’s bouncy “Dance of the Paper Umbrellas”; Prokofiev’s light and tuneful 1st Symphony (a delightful foil to the mood in Russia at the time of its composition -1917); and Haydn’s Symphony No. 96, nick-named the “Miracle” symphony, although mistakenly so. For each of the four works the story behind their composition proved as interesting as the music. You can read about them and listen to a performance of each by following the links on the Music Appreciation page of the U3A website.
Bill Squire
Bill Squire
Session Notes
Paper Umbrellas (animation)
Dance of the Paper Umbrellas
Brahms Symphony No.3
Prokofiev Symphony No. 1
Haydn Symphony No.96 - Should you have difficulty opening the Haydn Symphony from this link, copy and paste the following link into your Google or other search engine. That should do the trick.
https://www.vimeo.com/367278393
Paper Umbrellas (animation)
Dance of the Paper Umbrellas
Brahms Symphony No.3
Prokofiev Symphony No. 1
Haydn Symphony No.96 - Should you have difficulty opening the Haydn Symphony from this link, copy and paste the following link into your Google or other search engine. That should do the trick.
https://www.vimeo.com/367278393
