The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1922-12-08
Memory Test for Sixth Week.
Oh Sole MILO (di Capua).
Spinning Song (Mendelssohn).

Memory Test for Sixth Week.
Oh Sole Milo (di Capua).
Spinning Song (Mendelssohn).
Minuet in G (Beethoven).
Edison records: 82135, 80419.
Victor records: 17787, 18648, 6412S.
Columbia records: 7SO97, 1888, 1887.
"Oh Sole MILO" is one of the lovely
Neapolitan folk songs. Practically
nothing is known of its composer, Ed
uardo di Capua, but his song has,
nevertheless, become a favorite every
where and is much loved in Naples
where everyone is musical and every
one sings and plays serenades. ooh
Sole Mic" is a true folk song and all
the warmth of a sunshiny day in a
country noted for its balmy climate,
all the love fervor of a southern peo-
pie accustomed to beautiful nature at
it's best, the soft glow Of sunset, the
warm sands of the ocean, all are seen
in this folk song. The melody sings
smoothly and in unison until the eli
max is reached in the refrain. This
section of the song moves into a minor
mode in which we find two part har-
mony-an unusual thing in Neapolitan
folk songs. For a time the melody
is saddned, modulating again to the
major at the end. It is undoubtedly
the ~lovliest of all Italian folk songs.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
1909 1847.
Mendelssohn, as he is best known,
was of wealthy German parentage. His
life was least hampered by adverse
conditions, since from birth he was
given every advantage which wealth,
culture and social position could
bring. His grandfather was a noted
philosopher, his father a wealthy and
influential banker and his mothers
family, the Bartholdys, an illustrious
one. This was an inheritance which
few of our great musicians possessed.
Mendelssohn's mother and father re-
nounced the Jewish religion and adopt
ed the Christian faith, hyphenating
the two family anne
The Mendelssohn home in Berlin, al
most next door to the Kaiser's Palace,
was a center of culture and the young
composer was raised in an atmosphere
of refinement.
Mendelssohn used music to express
himself as freely as we use words,
and often when but a child, after a
long ramble in the woods when he
would sit at the piano and %improvise,
his sister Fanny, who was his con-
slant companion, would ask, "Did the
birds sing like that today, Felix" He
would reply that they did.
His music was of a light, happy ma
ture, characterized by extreme beauty
of design and finish and an elegance
typical of himself, but he was too far
removed from the longings and as
pirations of the human race for his
music to express their feelings. A
true estimate Of his position among
musicians, however, must place him
among the foremost composers, even
though he voiced the more refined
sentiments, rather than the elemental
passions of mankind.
Mendelssohn's works contain almost
every form of music. From his
"Songs Without Words" so-called be-
cause of their song form, the "Spring-
song" is unusually popular. 1t is a
song of spring and easily the best
known light classic in existence. 1t is,
indeed, the very spirit of springtime.
To the depressed it can bring back the
flowers and leaves to the brown gray
mother earth.
Ludwig Van Beethoven-177O-1e27
By man critics Beethoven is con-
sidered the greatest of all composers.
He lived during the age when men
were fighting for freedom from the
oppression of t%yrranical rulers and his
music breathes this atmosphere. He
was of noble, upright character and a
rugged personality and though he dis
liked nobility and their practices, he
had many friends among the nobility
of Vienna.
Before Beethoven was 80 years of
age he began to lose his hearing. This
affliction grew steadily worse until
he became stone deaf. On one occa-
sion when conducting an orchestra, at
the close of one of his own compo.
sitions the applause was tremendous
but he was not even aware of it un-
til a member of the orchestra turned
him toward his audience so he might
see, though he could not hear, theil
appreciation. His deafness made hin
morose and suspicious of everyone, but
did not hinder his musical career.
He was a very successful composer