9/12/06 Crater Lake National Park Part 1

Porpora: Sinfonie da Camera Op.2 (Artifizii Musicali)

Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) 是巴洛克晚期的義大利作曲家。他在世的時候，除了是一位才華出眾的聲樂作曲家，還是一位相當有名氣的聲樂老師。他教出的學生裡，最有名的，當屬閹人歌手Caffarelli和Farinelli(其故事在1994被拍成比利時電影「絕代豔姬」(Farinelli)) 以及「交響曲之父」海頓。

Movie: Chérie

Chéri stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Léa de Lonval and Rupert Friend as the titular character Fred 'Chéri' Peloux in the late 19th, early 20th century drama/romance.   Set in Paris, France, Léa is a fictional courtesan, supposed to be one of the most famous of her time.  She is close to "retirement age" for a courtesan, but she ends up spending six years with young lover Chéri'.  Chéri' is the son of Léa's courtesan friend Charlotte Peloux (played by Kathy Bates), and according to the narrator, used to be fierce rivals in their younger days.  Yes, they are more than 20 years apart.

William Williams: Trio Sonatas (Camerata Köln)

William Williams (1675? - 1701)，出生年月不詳， 是英國的中期巴洛克作曲家。他的名字可謂俗到不行，又算是個早逝的音樂家。確定他是在1701年過逝，是因為文獻上有記載為他的遺孀和三位小孩舉辦的紀念音樂會。

Fasch: Trio Sonatas (Katharina Arfken et al)

Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) 直到今天，可能還是最不為人知的德國晚期巴洛克作曲家之一，名氣一直被巴哈，韓德爾，還有泰雷曼等大師所蓋過。家族裡的人都是神學家，因此早期音樂是自學的。12歲開始，他便Weissenfels和Leipzig(萊比錫)的宮廷，拜師音樂前輩Johann Philipp Krieger和Johann Kuhnau。

Movie: Lymelife

Lymelife is a nice little independent film starring quite an ensemble cast of Alec Baldwin, Jill Hennessy (of Law&Order), Cynthia Nixon, Timothy Hutton, and the younger cast of Rory Culkin (younger brother of Macaulay Culkin) and Emma Roberts.   

Balbastre: Pieces de Clavecin - Premier Livre (Jean-Patrice Brosse)

Claude Balbastre (1724-1799) 是巴洛克末期的法國作曲家。說是末期是再貼切也不過；他不僅跨越巴洛克和古曲時期的音樂，還經歷了法國大革命，安然度過餘生。

Movie: Invictus

Still watch movies from time to time, but too hard to keep up any movie reviews, as I'm already completely given a handful by writing my entries on Baroque music and National Parks.  I think I will try to be as brief as possible in my future movie reviews.

Concert: Concerto Koln (05/01/2010)

5/1/2010
Antoine Dauvergne, Quatrième Concert de Simphonies in A major, Op.4 No.2.

J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D major, BWV 1050
Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto for Cello and String and Continuo in D minor, RV 407
J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No.4 in G major, BWV 1049
Giovanni Sammartini, Symphony in A major, Jenkins-Churgin 62a

Albinoni: 6 sonata da chiesa Op.4 + 12 Trattenimenti armonici per camera Op.6 / The Locatelli Trio

Tomaso Albinoni 阿比諾尼 (1671-1751) 是義大利巴洛克晚期的作曲家，和Vivaldi(韋瓦第)以及Benedetto Marcello三位是當時威尼斯音樂界裡器樂曲作曲家的三巨頭之一。不過Albinoni跟Vivaldi與Marcello不同，並不是來自有音樂背景的家庭。Vivaldi的爸爸也是一位出色的小提琴家，而Vivaldi更是青出於藍。而Marcello是來自貴族世家，家族裡的人雖不把音樂當職業，但都有把音樂當休閒娛樂。

5/30/10 John Muir National Historic Site Part 2

John Muir 的馬車。當時從Martinez到舊金山要一小時多。

Muir's horse carriage.  It took an average of 1 hour to get to San Francisco

Leclair: Première Récréation (Collegium Musicum 90/ Simon Standage)

Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)是法國晚期巴洛克的作曲家。他最大的貢獻是將高超的小提琴演奏從義大利帶進法國，更是多學者公認的法國小提琴學派的創史人。

Leclair最早是拜自己法國藝術所賜，超初到義大利時是一位舞者，在Turin教舞蹈謀生。不過，他在義大利同時向Corelli的學生Giovanni Battista Somis學習小提琴，表現出過人的天份。Leclair在世時所出版的13部作品當中，有十部是義大利典型的奏鳴曲和協奏曲形式，只有三部是兩首組曲和一部歌劇，可見Leclair對於義大利音樂的影響和偏好。

Movie: An Education

"An Education" stars Carey Mulligan in her first lead role as Jenny and Peter Saarsgaard as David. It's a coming-of-age movie of a teenage girl in the 1960s of England.  Jenny is a high school teenage girl who is smart yet innocent, still unsure what she wants to do in life.  Jenny loves reading English literature, and her dream is to attend Oxford, although her dad has a different motive behind pushing her so hard.  In the times immediately preceding the feminist movement, a good successful life for a woman was to marry a wealthy husband.

Partiturbuch (Ensemble Echo Du Danube)

這張Partiturbuch收錄了當時十七世紀德語國家的宮廷器樂曲。如果仔細看這張CD所收錄的作曲家，大部份作曲家過逝年份，音樂之父巴哈連出生都還沒有。因此，這張CD上的作曲家們，可說真的都是他的大前輩。

這個Partiturbuch的編輯者為Jacob Ludwig，先後在Wolfenbüttel和Gotha的宮廷擔任音樂家。1662年，當他已經轉到Gotha宮廷時，想必是感謝前任顧主，Wolfenbüttel的Augustus公爵，便在Augustus的生日的時候獻上作為生日禮物。

Interlude

A bit busy preparing for an upcoming conference, so haven't had time to really sit down and write anything.   I'll have more to come when I return from my trip next week!