Like the good doctor, some composers prefer animals to people. Browse our playlist from this week's musical managerie. On Ether Game, we put the spotlight on animals. 

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Organ Concerto No. 13 The Cuckoo and the Nightingale: Allegro Birdsongs have been part of music for probably as long as music has been around—they are the most musical creatures, after all. It’s thought that the two most popular birds, at least in Western Classical music, are the cuckoo and the nightingale. Both birds are native to Europe, and both have a very distinctive call. The cuckoo is known by its familiar minor third, and the nightingale by its short, repeated flute-like tones. In this Handel organ concerto, it’s a two-for-one punch, with both the cuckoo and nightingale being imitated in succession. Handel’s skill at the organ was known all throughout Europe, and people would flock to see him perform. He would often premiere his organ concertos during the premiere of one of his ORATORIOS, just to get people in the door for the oratorio. In this case, the “Cuckoo And The Nightingale” premiered at the same event as his oratorio Israel In Egypt.

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Waldscenen Op. 82: 'Vogel als Prophet' [The Prophet-Bird] The year 1849 was a fruitful year in Robert Schumann’s life. At the time, he was living in Dresden and there he penned over 40 larger works, including this set of nine short piano pieces, Waldszenen, or “Forest Scenes.” This particular movement, “Vogel als Prophet” or “The Prophetic Bird,” with its delicate texture and haunting chromaticism, makes it the most striking, and most popular, selection from this set. Historically, 1849 was quite a chaotic year for Dresden. The May Uprising took place that year and the fighting that broke out forced Schumann and his family to escape for a few months. This climate of upheaval likely influenced Schumann when he wrote the Forest Scenes. They are not your typical exaltation of pastoral meadows and rivers, but hint at something more melancholy and sinister, for instance the fourth piece is accompanied by a poem describing flowers pale as death and nourished by blood.

Henry Mancini (1924-1994) Baby Elephant Walk In the 1950s, Henry Mancini was forging a career path in film scoring while working for Universal Studios, where he wrote and arranged for a number of monster flicks, B movies, and routine comedies. His biggest success came in the 1960s, when he incorporated his knack for jazz and popular song into his film work. Many of his works have become popular songs in their own right, often out of the context for which they were written. His “Baby Elephant Walk” from the 1962 John Wayne film Hatari! has certainly outlasted the original film. Written to accompany a scene where three baby elephants are led to the watering hole, Mancini felt that in the scene, the baby elephants were incidentally walking eight beats to a measure, and was reminded of the boogie-woogie song “Down the Road a Piece” from 1940.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Renard Stravinsky’s comedic one-act opera-ballet was originally commissioned in 1915 by the prominent arts patron and heiress Winnaretta Singer, for performance in her salon. However the piece did not premiere until it was staged by the Ballet Russe in 1922. Stravinsky’s adaptation of a Russian folktale depicting a clever fox and a gullible rooster calls for four singers and a small chamber ensemble, as well as a troupe of acrobatic dancers. As opposed to conventional operatic performance, the singers do not act in the scenes, but rather provide narration and commentary while all the action is performed by the dancers. Even though the tale of Renard is ultimately meant to teach a moral, Stravinsky intended the piece to be satirical and humorous, with the dancers imitating the exaggerated motions of the Russian Army and the singers occasionally making nonsensical animal noises.

 
Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Hermit Songs, Op. 29: 8. The Monk and His Cat, 10. The Desire for Hermitage In his song cycle, Samuel Barber used several short, informal medieval texts, many of which were scribbled by monks into the margins of more official documents. (In the middle ages, paper was an expensive commodity that nobody wasted) These texts vary from simple, beautiful devotional poetry to some downright earthy allusions to worldly vices. In the first song we heard, a scholarly monk affectionately compares his daily activities with those of Pangar, his pet cat, while in the second, he expresses his desire for solitude. Barber preceded quite a roster of 20th century composers who enjoyed cats, including Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Wendy Carlos, John Tavener, John Cage and Alberto Ginastera. “Hermit Songs' ' premiered in 1953, with the composer accompanying soprano Leotyne Price. 

Leslie Bricusse (b. 1931) and Lionel Newman (1916-1989) Doctor Dolittle (1967) Title Sequence In 1920, a civil engineer named Hugh Lofting began a series of children’s books about an English physician who shuns human patients in favor of animals, with whom he has learned to communicate and speak plainly. The Story of Dr. Dolittle was later adapted into several stage musicals and films, including a 1967 film starring Rex Harrison and Samantha Eggar. While the scope of this movie is impressive, it’s production was notoriously troubled with numerous setbacks. There was the difficulty of controlling over a thousand live animals on set in uncooperative weather, and even part of the set was bombed by a disgruntled army officer who thought the production was ruining the English countryside. The lush soundtrack was written and orchestrated by Leslie Bricusse, who would later compose music for another well-known adaptation of children’s literature with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971.

Desprez, Josquin (c.1440-1521) El grillo [The cricket], Allegez Moy Josquin’s frottola El Grillo, or “the cricket,” is found in a single manuscript dating from 1505. The piece employs various devices to depict the text, including a number of notes on the single word “long,” and chirp-like alternations between the singers. The composition probably comes from Josquin’s stay in Milan. At the same time, Ercole d’Este was looking for musicians to serve at court in Ferrara, and was interested in hiring Josquin, whose reputation was considerable. Not only was he known as a great composer, but he was also known as something of a prima donna, composing at his own will rather than that of his patrons. Despite these warnings, and his high salary demands, Josquin was maestro di cappella in Ferrara for one year, from April 1503 to April 1504. It is most likely that Josquin left the post due to an outbreak of plague. If so, it was a wise move—his successor, Jacob Obrecht, died of the plague the following year.

Hollis Taylor Beautiful Birds: III. Hummingbirds Australian-American composer and Old-Time fiddler Hollis Taylor describes herself as a zoomusicologist, that’s a field of study developed in the early 80s to examine the way animals communicate through the lens of music. She is particularly fascinated with the Pied Butcherbird, a native Australian songbird with a reputation for complex and highly musical birdsong. Her three-part chamber work Beautiful Birds was inspired by lyrebirds, flamingos and hummingbirds, and commissioned by the Ensemble Offspring for their pandemic album Songbirds, which also features music inspired by butcherbirds, blackbirds, lorikeets leafcutter ants and frogs.

Cat Stevens (1967) I Love My Dog Cat Stevens’ first single I Love my Dog was released in 1966 and appeared on his debut album Matthew and Son the following year. He originally wrote and recorded the song for guitar and piano, however music producer and former Springfields member Mike Hurst encouraged him to add timpani and viola, giving the song a chamber-pop flavor that would extend to the rest of the album. The album release was followed by a period of heavy touring and performing where Stevens cultivated a typical teen-idol pop star image. However after being hospitalized for several months with severe tuberculosis and a collapsed lung, Cat Stevens completely re-directed his music to the stripped-down and more intimate folk-rock aesthetic he is best known for.