Colorful Music
Here is a rather interesting composer story of the day! Do enjoy! I am about to head to my honors modern European class. I have to attend a pep-rally after that. It seems that I will be at a football game tonight! I also plan to see Hairspray with Patrick and Brenden and Balls of Fury with Mary, Charlotte, and Gianna.
Colorful music by Bliss and Torke
On this date in 1922, English composer Arthur Bliss conducted the first performance of his "Color Symphony" at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester. Bliss had stumbled across a book on heraldry, and his imagination was fired by the traditional and symbolic meanings of the various colors used in coats of arms and shields.
In heraldry, for example, purple stands for "amethysts, pageantry, royalty, and death." Purple became the first movement of Bliss's symphony. Red, the second movement, depicted "rubies, wine, revelry, furnaces, courage and magi," and Blue, the third movement, was said to be the color of "sapphires, deep water, skies, loyalty and melancholy."
Fascination with color and music can be traced back to the Baroque age, when many composers had theories about it. This fascination continues today. American composer Michael Torke has written a number of orchestral works that attempt to translate color into music, bearing evocative or witty titles like "Ecstatic Orange," and "The Yellow Pages."
Michael Torke was born in Milwaukee in 1961, but these days lives and works in New York City, writing music noted for its rhythmic energy and striking melodies. Color, however, is not Torke's only source of inspiration: a recent work, titled "Corner in Manhattan," depicts the cityscape and sounds surrounding Torke's studio.
Colorful music by Bliss and Torke
On this date in 1922, English composer Arthur Bliss conducted the first performance of his "Color Symphony" at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester. Bliss had stumbled across a book on heraldry, and his imagination was fired by the traditional and symbolic meanings of the various colors used in coats of arms and shields.
In heraldry, for example, purple stands for "amethysts, pageantry, royalty, and death." Purple became the first movement of Bliss's symphony. Red, the second movement, depicted "rubies, wine, revelry, furnaces, courage and magi," and Blue, the third movement, was said to be the color of "sapphires, deep water, skies, loyalty and melancholy."
Fascination with color and music can be traced back to the Baroque age, when many composers had theories about it. This fascination continues today. American composer Michael Torke has written a number of orchestral works that attempt to translate color into music, bearing evocative or witty titles like "Ecstatic Orange," and "The Yellow Pages."
Michael Torke was born in Milwaukee in 1961, but these days lives and works in New York City, writing music noted for its rhythmic energy and striking melodies. Color, however, is not Torke's only source of inspiration: a recent work, titled "Corner in Manhattan," depicts the cityscape and sounds surrounding Torke's studio.