Seattle Pro Musica: This is Beethoven – Notes for an Uncertain Future (on-demand until 12/19/2020)
Free (Free)
Gabriel Fauré — Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11
Ralph Vaughan Williams — Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Dwight Beckmeyer, piano
Page Smith, cello
Ryan Gao, baritone
Seattle Pro Musica Choral Ensemble
Ethel Smyth – The March of the Women
Gabriel Fauré – Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Christmas Carols
As a meditation on our shared inability to know the ultimate course of our lives, Seattle Pro Musica offers three pieces written by composers who, like Beethoven, would be overtaken by deafness in their later years. Ethel Smyth's The March of the Women (1911) became an anthem of the women's suffrage movement. Her own career was beset by the sexism of being considered merely a "woman composer" with music that was either inappropriately powerful for a woman, or too delicate to stand up to the work of male composers. For her 75th birthday, a festival was organized to celebrate her works, by which time she had grown so deaf that she could hear neither the performances nor the appreciative audiences. Gabriel Fauré wrote Cantique de Jean Racine (1865) as a 19-year-old student. It is a piece full of the charm that characterizes his early works. This charm gave way to a more somber, withdrawn style as hearing loss set in during his final decades. Ralph Vaughan Williams composed his Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1912) two years before the outbreak of WWI. He felt compelled to enlist at the relatively advanced age of 42, a choice that would expose him to the loud gunfire that would lead to his eventual deafness. Despite his hearing loss, he continued to compose well regarded works until his death at the age of 85.
This is Beethoven will be livestreamed on the festival website from December 16-19, 2020. There is no cost to watch the livestreams! We simply ask you to share the stream, and make a donation to support the effort if you are able. All concerts will be available on the festival website after the livestream, accessible by donation.
The broadcast will begin at 8pm Pacific.
Donate to This Is Beethoven at https://www.thisisbeethoven.org/.