Klarinet Archive - Posting 000337.txt from 1996/12

From: GREG BAKER <BAKERG01@-----.EDU>
Subj: famous musical dogs in history (fwd)
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 20:37:17 -0500

This is a little something that I got from a friend a while back. It fits into
the cat/dog discussion perfectly. Enjoy!

Greg Baker

>From: TIGGER::KYANDJ01 "JESSS KYANDER" 24-JUL-1996 02:45:49.02
>To: BAKERG01
>CC:
>Subj: Doggy/horn humour! You might like...
>
>From: IN%"BWHOLMES%SJSUVM1.BITNET@-----.EDU" "Cabbage" 20-JUL-1996 17:11
:44.95
>To: IN%"horn@-----.edu" "hornlist"
>CC:
>Subj: Dogs in music
>
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>Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 12:53:58 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Cabbage <BWHOLMES%SJSUVM1.BITNET@-----.EDU>
>Subject: Dogs in music
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>Shane McLaughlin, keeper of Cabbage utterances, seems surprised that his
>dog sings when he practices horn. That is, when Shane practices horn.
>
>He does not indicate whether the dog responds appropriately to suitable
>manipulations of a horn club. (Be careful if your dog belongs to a
>Kennel Club.) To find out what should be done, take a closer look at
>the dog. Is this a valvedog, or, as the French would say, a Cur a
>Pistons? Or is it the valveless Cur d'Orchestre? Or is it an old-
>fashioned brand such as the Wiener Dog, favored by the Vienna Philharmonic?
>
>Now listen to the dog. Is it producing high-pitched whining, referred to
>as collieratura? Does your dog sing in the low register, in poodle tones?
>Or is your hound an ordinary muttso-soprano? Does your dog bark behind a
>screen? If so, you may be confident that what your dog is trying to
>communicate is THANK YOU VERY MUCH. NEXT!
>
>Of course, dogs have an ancient and honorable connection with music. One
>of Orlando di Lasso's most touching songs is "Bon jour, mon cur." Who,
>despite much effort, could ever forget Pachelbel's Canine? Dogs made
>early appearances on the opera stage in L'Incoronazione di Puppeo by
>Mutteverdi, as well as Purcel's Fido and Aeneus. J. S. Bark never wrote
>an opera, but he did write Wachet Arf. How about Donizetti's comic
>masterpiece, Les fleas du regiment? And Offenbach's Tails of Hoffman,
>with its superb barkarolle?
>
>Perhaps the most famous musical dog of the ninteenth century was Marke,
>a large Newfoundland owned by Richard Wagner. This dog both sang
>and played horn! In the first Ring Cycles at Bayreuth, he sang
>Hunding in Walkuere, and played the long Ruf in Siegfried! He also
>created one of the title roles in the opera Tristan Hund Isolde. The
>audience at the premier so admired his bellen canto style that they
>insisted he give a dozen solo bows! You can be sure that his tone,
>whether playing horn or singing, was both well-centered and woofy.
>
>Of course, Wagner was not alone in using dogs in music. For example,
>consider Schummann's Puppillon, Brahms' Hydrant Variations, Richard
>Strauss's Ein Houndenleben, Mahler's Das Leash von der Erde, Debussy's
>Une bark sur l'ocean, Ravel's Rhapsody espaniel, Hindemith's
>Mathias the Pointer, Canina Burana by Carl Arf, Schoenberg's
>Purina lunaire, and A Ceremony of Growls by Benjamin Bitten, not to
>mention the songs of Hugo Woof. Igrr Stravinsky, encouraged by the
>Russian impressario, Sergei Doggylev, composed a remarkable series of
>dog-related works, including L'Oiseau de Fur, Poochinella,
>Bowser de la Fee, and, of course, Oedipus Rex, an opera about
>the most famous dog in Greek mythology.
>
>Unfortunately, if your dog is aware of all this history, it is likely
>to continue howling. If you get tired of this, just repeat "Ciao, Dog!"
>many times, so that your dog can figure out you really mean business.
>
>Gotta go,
>Chou