Keyboard Racer & Quixote Retracer

The word always captures my attention. That’s amusing, because “la chasse” suggests a more basic kind of capturing. It’s the French word for “the hunt.” And in classical music, it suggests excitement. Pieces of music that have borrowed the word, and which I have played on Classic Mornings, include the scene in Act 1 of Adolphe Adam’s ballet Giselle, the Caprice No. 9 for solo violin by Nicolò Paganini, and the overture from Étienne Méhul’s opera  Le jeune Henri, which, as a concert overture, has come to be known as: La chasse du jeune Henri.

The word looks like “chase,” with a double “s” right?  The words are indeed related. And I found myself curious about the expression “cut to the chase.”  I let Merriam Webster inform me that it’s from film lingo and means transitioning to a chase or exciting scene. 

I’m glad I did a little further hunting. They claim that the first known use of the expression was in 1955. And there was a link to other words and phrases that were first used in 1955. Those include: charge card, computer science, home computer, litterbag, pinball, scuba diving, skydiving, and veggie. There are many many more. But I thought you’d find that small sampling interesting. I hope so, and that you didn’t prefer that I just cut to the chase, which I’ll do now.

It's the season of races, some of which are called chases. And I made a seasonal discovery while preparing to play for listeners that charming Piano Sonata No. 5 by the 18th century Venetian composer Baldassare Galuppi. It was made famous by the late Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-95). You might even call his live 1962 performance in Rome, which we hear regularly on Classic Mornings, an antedote to racing.

But I learned something about the 20th century Italian pianist that neither you nor I would have guessed by listening to that recording. I had been glancing at an article by the Australian author and musician Michael Moran.  He mentioned that Michelangeli was a pilot in the Italian Air Force during World War II.  And the pianist/pilot was fond of racing cars, having participated in the Mille Miglia (1000 Mile), a race from Brescia, his hometown, to Rome and back. It’s not exactly 1000 miles, but about 930.  Michelangeli drove in the race three times. He also had a fondness for Ferraris.  He owned some, and was a friend of Enzo Ferrari, the race car driver and founder of the famous car company. 

It's also a season of graduations. So, in the midst of the celebrations of students and teachers, I should mention that Michelangeli taught both Martha Argerich and the late Maurizio Pollini. And recently, when I played a recording by the Russian pianist Nikita Magaloff, which was released 35 years ago, I was reminded that he too was a teacher of Martha Argerich, as well as of Maria Tipo. I have played recordings by both of those pianists. I featured Magaloff in Carl Maria von Weber’s Invitation to the Dance, as arranged by the Polish piano virtuoso Karl Tausig, who was a pupil of Franz Liszt. Tausig, like his teacher, also arranged music

I mentioned two other teachers on the Friday before Mother’s Day. Saturday, May 8 marked the 30th anniversary of the passing of guitar virtuoso Celedonio Romero at age 83. He was the patriarch of the famous guitar quartet Los Romeros, in which he was joined by his three sons: Celin, Pepe, and Angel. He taught all three of them.

With Mother’s Day on May 9, I was curious to look into the life of the matriarch of Los Romeos as well. Once again, I was led to the wonderful website of Pepe Romero, which provides the history of the musical family. The story is told that Celedonio met Angelita at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Malaga, Spain. She was a singer and actress, he a guitarist. He was 18, she was 21. The rest is history. Angelita died in 1999.

Angelita taught her sons reading, writing, and literature. “An avid reader and philosopher, she enhanced their education with weekly trips to art museums. In teaching the young Pepe, she dictated the entire text of Cervantes' Don Quixote to him. She kept his hand-written copy as one of her greatest treasures.” Angelita was also an accomplished castanet player. She was featured on a number of Los Romeros recordings. Pepe notes that she was the driving force behind the family and that she toured the world with them, hardly ever missing a performance. 

I would be excited if you just joined us for Classic Mornings as often as you can! Tune in Monday through Friday from 9-noon on Illinois Classical 90.9 FM or online at will.illinois.edu.