Classic orchestra version

Andres Segovia Guitar version

The Theme of Handel’s Sarabande is a variation of La Folia, one of the oldest remembered European musical themes on record.

La Folia’s history

Over the course of three centuries, more than 150 composers have used it in their works. The first publications of this theme date from the middle of the 17th century, but it is probably much older. Plays of the renaissance theatre in Portugal, including works by Gil Vicente, mention the folia as a dance performed by shepherds or peasants. The Portuguese origin is recorded in the 1577 treatise De musica libri septem by Francisco de Salinas.

Jean-Baptiste Lully, in collaboration with Philidor in 1672, Arcangelo Corelli in 1700, Alessandro Scarlatti in 1710, Antonio Vivaldi in his Opus 1 No 12 of 1705, Francesco Geminiani in his Concerto Grosso Number 12, and Johann Sebastian Bach in his Peasants’ Cantata of 1742 are considered to highlight this ‘later’ folia repeating theme in a brilliant way. Antonio Salieri’s 26 variations, produced late in his career, are among his finest works.

In the 19th century, Franz Liszt include a version of the Folia in his Rhapsodie Espagnole, and Ludwig van Beethoven quoted it briefly in the second movement of his Fifth Symphony.

La Folia once again regained composers’ interest during the 1930s with Sergei Rachmaninov in his Variations on a theme by Corelli in 1931 and Manuel María Ponce and his Variations on “Spanish Folia” and Fugue for guitar.

Actually, the folia framework, (i)-V-i-VII-III-VII-i-V-(i), appeared in musical sources almost a century before the first documented piece called “folia”. It emerged between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century in vocal repertory found both in Italian (“Canzoniere di Montecassino”, “Canzoniere di Perugia”, and in the frottola repertory) and Spanish sources (mainly in the “Cancionero Musical de Palacio”, and, some years later, in the ensaladas repertory). Even though the folía framework appeared almost at the same time in different countries with numerous variants that share similar structural features, it is not possible to establish in which country the framework originated. Anyway, recent researches suggest the origin of the folia framework lies in the application of a specific compositional and improvisational method to simple melodies in minor mode. Thus, it was not a specific theme or a fixed sequence of chords what was disseminated throughout Europe at the end of 15th century, but a compositional-improvisational process which could generate these sequences of chords.

[wikipedia]

A. Corelli – ” La Follia ” op.5 n°12 Gustav Leonhardt

Francesco Geminiani – Concerto grosso n.12 in re minore “La follia”

J.S.Bach : Folie d’Espagne (cantate des paysans)

If you want more you can also enjoy Antonio Salieri 26 variations on ‘La Follia di Spagna’ on youtube.

Cameras: Canon 5D and 7D
Edition: FCP and After Effects

http://twopenguinsproductions.com/

Sweetbox version

Lyrics

Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be alright

Whoever thought the sun would come crashing down
My life in flames, my tears concrete the pain
We feel the end, the darkest, deepest riverbed
My book of life ain’t complete without you here
Alone I sit and reminisce, sometimes
I miss your touch, your kiss, your smile
And meanwhile you know I never cry
Cuz deep down inside
You know our love will never ever die

Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be okay
Everything’s gonna be alright
Together we can take this one day at a time
Can you take my breath away?
Can you give him life today?
Is everything gonna be okay?
I’ll be your strength
I’ll be here when you wake up

Take your time, and I’ll be here when you wake up

I never thought my heart would miss a single beat
Caress your hands, as I watch you while you sleep
So sweet, I weep as I search within
To find a cure, to bring you back again
And the sun will rise, open up your eyes
Surprise, just a blink of an eye
I try, I try to be positive
You’re a fighter, so fight, wake up and live

Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be okay
Everything’s gonna be alright
Together we can take this one day at a time
Can you take my breath away?
Can you give him life today?
Is everything gonna be okay?
I’ll be your strength
I’ll be here when you wake up

Everything’s gonna be alright

I’d give my life to only see you breathe again
Hand in hand as we walk on the white sands
To hear your voice, rejoice as you rise and say
This is the day that I wake, and pray, okay?
Tears in silence, as time just moves on
You can’t hear it though, but I’m playin’ my favorite songs
I miss you much, I wish you’d come back to me
You see I’d wait a lifetime, cuz you’re my destiny

Everything’s gonna be alright
Everything’s gonna be okay
Everything’s gonna be alright
Together we can take this one day at a time
Can you take my breath away?
Can you give him life today?
Is everything gonna be okay?
I’ll be your strength
I’ll be here when you wake up

Have a nice weekend.

The Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), also known as Rufous and Common Nightingale, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It belongs to a group of more terrestrial species, often called chats.

It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and south-west Asia, but is not found naturally in the Americas.

Nigthingale’s sounds:
Male Nigthingale sound by Guido Gerding
Nigthingale by Fabienne Muriset

Now enjoy the song inspired by this bird to Yanni.

Photos taken with Nikon D90 and AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4,5-5.6 G VR lens. No post processing except resizing and jpg quality to 90% to reduce the size of images. And watermarking with imagemagick (I wanted to test this classic software).

Shot with Canon 5D Mark II and 7D with 70-200L, 24-105L and 16-35L lenses.
Video: Gunnar Konráðsson
nunnikonn.com

Music: Hannes Smith

Capo Productions has been recording and producing music for over 15 years. Specialized in a wide variety of production styles such as classical, pop, house and hip hop, the music is a unique blend between symphonic and electronic. More about Capo Productions http://sites.google.com/site/capoproductions/

Just to feel good, enjoy the summer.

The lyrics of the song talk about a compulsive horse-track gambler who compares his addiction for the horses with his attraction to women.

It has been performed by numerous tango orchestras and is commonly featured in films and television. Tango scenes with “Por una cabeza” appear in Planet 51, Schindler’s List, Scent of a Woman, Delicatessen, True Lies, All the King’s Men, Bad Santa, Episode 37 of Nip/Tuck, Episode 9 of Sweet Spy, the beginning and ending credits of I’m Sorry, I Love You, and the CSI: NY episode “Down the Rabbit Hole”, and in the movie “Frida” (Salma Hayek), Gardel is heard on a radio singing it.

Instrumental version (no lyrics)

Old version with lyrics

Le Carnaval was composed in February 1886 while Saint-Saëns was vacationing in a small Austrian village. It was originally scored for a chamber group of flute, clarinet, two pianos, glass harmonica, xylophone, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, but is usually performed today with a full orchestra of strings, and with a glockenspiel substituting for the rare glass harmonica.

Saint-Saëns, apparently concerned that the piece was too frivolous and likely to harm his reputation as a serious composer, suppressed performances of it and only allowed one movement, Le Cygne, to be published in his lifetime. Only small private performances were given for close friends like Franz Liszt.

Saint-Saëns did, however, include a provision which allowed the suite to be published after his death, and it has since become one of his most popular works. It is a favorite of music teachers and young children, along with Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

Today you can enjoy the 7th movement: The aquarium

Strings without double-bass, two pianos, flute, and harmonica: This is one of the more musically rich movements. The melody is played by the flute, backed by the strings, on top of tumultuous, glissando like runs in the piano. The first piano plays a descending ten-on-one ostinato, while the second plays a six-on-one. These figures, plus the occasional glissando from the harmonica, are very evocative of a peaceful, dimly-lit aquarium. This intermittent section where the pianos play high sixteenths is reminiscent of parts of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker.

If you have heard the music before maybe due to the fact that “The Aquarium” is featured in the trailers for the 1994 film Only You, the 1974 film The Godfather Part II, the 1995 film Babe, the 2006 film Charlotte’s Web and the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and appears to be one of the influences on the main theme in Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and is especially prominent in the cue titled “The West Wing”. It is also the opening theme music to the 1978 film Days of Heaven and the opening and closing theme in the 1992 film documentary, Visions of Light. “Aquarium” is played throughout the Simpsons episode “The Wife Aquatic”, and can be heard in the episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show entitled “The Cat That Laid the Golden Hairball”. It is also heard in the video game Crash Tag Team Racing, and along with “Swan” is part of the soundtrack of the video game Burnout Paradise (2008 edition)….