2012/08/31
Once in a blue moon - The blue moon
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分享
Once in a blue moon - Tonight's blue moon
Tonight a so-called "blue moon" set to rise in the night sky, so what is a blue moon, exactly?
A blue moon tale - Somewhat interesting, the answer has nothing to do with the moon's color. The "blue moon" tale is a convoluted one, with much of the action taking place in the relatively recent past....
In 1946,
"Sky and Telescope" magazine traced the term to the "Maine Farmer's Almanac," where it apparently referred to the third full moon in a season that contains four full moons instead of the usual three. The year is divided into four equal seasons, each 91 or 92 days long. Because there are 29.5 days between full moons, four full moons occasionally get squeezed into a single season. [Once-in-a-Blue-Moon Not Really Blue (Infographic)]
But the author of the "Sky and Telescope" article misintrepeted this complicated definition, declaring that a "blue moon" is actually the second full moon in a month with two full moons.
Then, in 1981,
the designers of the board game Trivial Pursuit came across the 1946 magazine article. They put the definition into the game, and suddenly this incorrect explanation of an unscientific term became “general knowledge.”
The blue moon in AugustSo that is why tonight's full moon is known as a "blue moon." It really is no different than any other full moon, except that an accident of the calendar causes it to be the second full moon in the month of August, the first having been on Aug. 1.
While the phrase "once in a blue moon" implies that the skywatching phenomenon should be exceedingly rare, that's not the case. On average, blue moons come along once every 2.7 years.
(Information and photo extracted from http://www.space.com/15455-blue-moon.html)
2012/08/14
The Minstrel's Adieu to His Native Land
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音學
The Minstrel's Adieu to His Native Land
Do you believe in 'Love at first sight'? This is a very melodic harp piece that I fell in love with it when I first listened to Noa Gabay's performance on youtube!
The Minstrel's Adieu to His Native Land is one of John Thomas' most famous works, written for harp but sounding like an appropriate background theme for just about every touring player. The Welsh title of this masterwork is Ffarwell y Telynor, and the piece was originally concocted for the private harpist of Queen Victoria.
JOHN THOMAS
HARPIST TO THE QUEEN
Pencerdd Gwalia(1826-1913)
John Thomas composed, arranged and published a vast amount of music, especially music for the harp. Harpists owe him a great debt for rescuing the works of Parish Alvars from oblivion and re-publishing them. Favourite works in his repertoire were Parish Alvars’s Serenade, Mandoline and Danse des Fées, and he was also the first in modern times to edit and publish both Handel’s Harp Concerto and Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. He became Harpist to the Queen in 1871, and at the time of her Golden Jubilee in 1887, he composed a work entitled ‘Cambria’s Homage to our Empress Queen’ for Male Voice Choir and thirteen harps! He gave his last public concert the following year, in June 1888, when his programme included a remarkable performance of ‘Sounds of Ossian’ Parish Alvars’s great posthumous work, then, as now, still in manuscript. Continuing to compose, edit and publish, John Thomas lived on into the twentieth century, and after the death of Queen Victoria, he became Harpist to King Edward VII. His death occurred in London on 19 March 1913.
Interestingly when John Thomas was in Wales, he played the Welsh triple harp in traditional way i.e.with his left hand playing the treble and his right hand playing the bass! He had to abandon his Welsh method and re-learn harp when he came to study harp in London.
(Extracted from http://www.adlaismusicpublishers.co.uk/pages/harpists/john_thomas.htm)
The Minstrel's Adieu to His Native Land
THE LEGACY
WHEN in death I shall calmly recline,
O bear my heart to my mistress dear,
Tell her it lived upon smiles and wine
Of the brightest hue, while it linger'd here.
Bid her not shed one tear of sorrow
To sully a heart so brilliant and light;
But balmy drops of the red grape borrow,
To bathe the relic from morn till night.
When the light of my song is o'er,
Then take my harp to your ancient hall;
Hang it up at that friendly door,
Where weary travellers love to call.
Then if some bard, who roams forsaken,
Revive its soft note in passing along,
Oh! let one thought of its master waken
Your warmest smile for the child of song.
Keep this cup, which is now o'erflowing,
To grace your revel, when I'm at rest;
Never, oh! never its balm bestowing
On lips that beauty hath seldom blest.
But when some warm devoted lover
To her he adores shall bathe its brim,
Then, then my spirit around shall hover,
And hallow each drop that foams for him.
----- Poem of Sir Thomas Moore
Youtube video -
Noa Gabay, 12 years old, playing The minstrel's adieu to his native land by John Thomas. This performance won her 1st Place in the Solo Harp at the Urdd National Eisteddfod June 2010, Wales.
女子多善變, 一聽就移情別戀上這個jazz版的 "The Minstrel's Suicide!
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/john-thomas-classical-artist#ixzz1ZdbQFuXG
http://www.adlaismusicpublishers.co.uk/pages/harpists/john_thomas.htm
Pencerdd Gwalia(1826-1913)
John Thomas composed, arranged and published a vast amount of music, especially music for the harp. Harpists owe him a great debt for rescuing the works of Parish Alvars from oblivion and re-publishing them. Favourite works in his repertoire were Parish Alvars’s Serenade, Mandoline and Danse des Fées, and he was also the first in modern times to edit and publish both Handel’s Harp Concerto and Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. He became Harpist to the Queen in 1871, and at the time of her Golden Jubilee in 1887, he composed a work entitled ‘Cambria’s Homage to our Empress Queen’ for Male Voice Choir and thirteen harps! He gave his last public concert the following year, in June 1888, when his programme included a remarkable performance of ‘Sounds of Ossian’ Parish Alvars’s great posthumous work, then, as now, still in manuscript. Continuing to compose, edit and publish, John Thomas lived on into the twentieth century, and after the death of Queen Victoria, he became Harpist to King Edward VII. His death occurred in London on 19 March 1913.
Interestingly when John Thomas was in Wales, he played the Welsh triple harp in traditional way i.e.with his left hand playing the treble and his right hand playing the bass! He had to abandon his Welsh method and re-learn harp when he came to study harp in London.
(Extracted from http://www.adlaismusicpublishers.co.uk/pages/harpists/john_thomas.htm)
The Minstrel's Adieu to His Native Land
THE LEGACY
----- Poem of Sir Thomas Moore
Youtube video -
Noa Gabay, 12 years old, playing The minstrel's adieu to his native land by John Thomas. This performance won her 1st Place in the Solo Harp at the Urdd National Eisteddfod June 2010, Wales.
http://www.adlaismusicpublishers.co.uk/pages/harpists/john_thomas.htm
2012/08/01
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