Writes (former) Liberal Arts Professor Felix Kaputu:
I’m in Brazil, about to undertake a comparative analysis of the Likumbi Lya Mize (from Zambia) and the Congado (from Brazil). Both are festivals that celebrate ancestors’ memories in specific conditions. The Congado also seems to carry many remembrances of African rituals especially those from Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Paul Bempechat concertizes. Autochrome images of Paris c. 1910-1920.
Surely a Mass Art first… France is about to honor Liberal Arts Professor Paul Bempechat for for his services to French culture internationally and especially for his revival of French composer Jean Cras. His efforts to promote ecumenism through music, especially through the music of Felix Mendelssohn, also inspired French authorities to confer this award.
The French Consul in Boston will be investing him with the title of knight of the order of arts and letters on October 4th in Cambridge.This award is equivalent to a lifetime achievement award. Huzzah to Sir Paul!
“An Elegant Interior Scene,” oil on canvas, Trevor Haddon (1880). Lieder by Luise Greger
Writes Professor Paul Bempechat:
“Luise Greger, the wonderful composer of German art song, was about to disappear into utter obscurity until her descendants asked me to write an introductory piece. The Journal of the International Society for Women in Music published my piece a few days ago. You can read the journal here.”
Philip Glass, “Satyagraha,” Act 1, Scene 2, Tolstoy Farm
First Tolstoy. Then Gandhi, who revered Tolstoy. Then Philip Glass, who revered Gandhi and wrote on commission Satyagraha, his opera honoring Gandhi. Now, us. Listen.
Primate biologists reported today that chimpanzees are utterly indifferent to human music. It’s all the same to a chimp if it’s Beethoven or Justin Bieber.
“Of course,” says Professor of Jazz Peter Kenagy. He writes:
Humans have been doing musical and creative things that set them apart from others for about 50,000 years. So it’s no surprise that only humans appreciate human music. Each of the more intelligent animals (dolphins, whales, primates, birds) communicates with some kind of speech, often tonal, that sounds sort of musical. While they may not understand our music, we don’t really understand and appreciate their sound forms either.
Whipoorwill
I think it’s sort of presumptuous to assume other animals should appreciate our music, since music is not simply sound waves. Music exists in a social context. Music makes
meaning within our human experience. The hope that animals would appreciate our music says that we are proud of our humanity, and we want other “lesser” animals to get it. In us, Bach lights up the human brain in neuroscience studies in ways that go beyond other music. But animals, who may not respond to Bach in any way we can discern, nevertheless live more in tune with the sound world than we do. In ways humans no longer do, animals rely on sound and hearing to survive.
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Chopin: Mazurka Opus 67, No. 4 in A Minor. Pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. Waltz video source. Robert Gerst video.
Liberal Arts Professor Paul Bempéchat performs Chopin Polanaises and Mazurkas 3 PM Sunday February 26th in the Junior Common Room at Leverett House Harvard University 28 DeWolfe Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Seating is reserved and limited. To attend, contact Mr. Bempéchat at pabempechat@massart.edu.
Bempéchat is Spring 2017 artist-in-residence at Leverett House. He’s teaching Music and Society here at Mass Art during the spring 2017 semester.
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”, IV. Urlicht—sehr feurlich, aber schlict (Olga Borodina with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra)
Wednesday, October 16, 2016, 6:30 PM in the Huntington Studio of the DMC Paul-André Bempéchat will be presenting his newly-published collection of essays on Gustav Mahler, the great composer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and renowned conductor of the New York Philharmonic. The book honors the 90th birthday of Henry-Louis de La Grange, the world’s foremost Mahler scholar. Charles Altieri (Mass Art ’18) served as publication graphic designer.
Bempéchat will introduce the music of Mahler and introduce the family, life and works of M. de La Grange who, since the age of 20, has tirelessly devoted his life to establishing Mahler in the Pantheon of classical composers.
Trumpeter is Liberal Arts faculty member Peter Kenagy. His original composition is “In Dreams.” This semester he’s teaching History of Jazz (LASS 229).
Images are by Liberal Arts faculty member Robert Gerst. This fall he’s teaching History of Film (LALW 349) and a summative elective focusing on the television series, “Friday Night Lights” (LALW 406).
Liberal Arts faculty and students include poets, musicians, cultural historians, and hearing all those national anthems celebrating gold, silver, and bronze metal winners at the Olympics inspires a question: shall we composers, poets, and other inspired people put our heads together to compose an official Liberal Arts Department song? Volunteer here.
It’s November 1, 2013. Liberal Arts faculty member Paul Bempéchat is touring in Clarksberg, West Virginia…performing Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words in E Major, Opus 19. no. 1. This fall he’s teaching Film Music (LASS 242).
