| Today in Music History A Daily Look at Music History For Violin Students A Look at What Happened on Today's Date Long, Long Ago . . . Or Maybe Just Last Year |
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| TODAY IS July 26 |
| Did You Guess? |
| Can You Guess? In John Denver's song Thank God I'm a Country Boy he talks about playing a musical instrument. Can You Guess what instrument he mentions? Go to the Bottom of the Page for the Answer. |
| What Else Happened Today? |
| John de Lancie was born July 26, 1921. He entered the Curtis Institute of Music at 14 to study oboe with the legendary Tabuteau. He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1940, and played in the Army Band during World War II. |
| 1791 - Franz Xavier Mozart, composer, teacher and 6th child and youngest surviving son of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was born in Vienna. 1863 - Joseph Wihtol, Latvian composer and teacher and founder of the Riga Conservatory, was born. 1882 - First performance of Wagner's Parsifal. 1943 - Mick Jagger (Michael Phillip Jagger), lead singer of the Rolling Stones was born. 1968 - The Jackson Five signed a one-year contract with Motown. 1974 - John Denver earned a gold record for his all-time biggest hit, Annie's Song. Click Here For the Sheet Music at Sheet Music Plus. |
| John de Lancie 1921-2002 |
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| In 1946 he joined the Philadelphia Orchestra and was principal oboe 1954-77. He was one of the great oboists of his time, an important link in the style of oboe Tabuteau brought to the US from France. The "Philadelphia School" of oboe involves a "bigger and more flexible sonority than is usual for the oboe," and it is a style practiced by "every player in every orchestra in America." Students of Mr. de Lancie occupy principal chairs in Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, and Minneapolis. 1977-1985 de Lancie was director of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. It's library has been named after him. He became founding music dean of Miami's New World School of the Arts, but he soon returned to his roots in California. An interesting oboe fact about de Lancie is that shortly after the end of World War II he visited composer Richard Strauss. He mentioned to Strauss that there were many beautiful oboe themes in many of his works and asked if he had ever considered writing an oboe concerto. Strauss simply replied that he had not, and nothing more was said of the matter. Not long afterward de Lancie received a letter from Strauss's publisher letting him know that Strauss had, in fact, written an oboe concerto. The publisher offered de Lancie the opportunity to perform the US premiere of the work, but things did not work out. Mr. de Lancie did record the work, as you can see from the bottom of the page. Mr. de Lancie died in 2002. An interesting thing about him is that his son, an actor also named John de Lancie, played such roles as "Q" on Star Trek the Next Generation. |
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| John de Lancie plays Strauss's Oboe Concerto |
| My daddy taught me young how to hunt and how to whittle
Taught me how to work and play a tune on the fiddle Taught me how to love and how to give just a little Thank God Im a country boy Well I got me a fine wife I got me a fiddle When the sun's comin' up I got cakes on the griddle Life ain't nothin but a funy funny riddle Thank God Im a country boy |
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| Jackson 5 |
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| Many of John Denver's Hits |
| Cute Shirt With a Mama Kangaroo, a Baby Kangaroo and a Violin! Great Practice Reminder! |
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