Storyteller pianist Silver to launch music history series

LA JOLLA, California (Press Release)—Jacquelyne Silver, who lectures and plays piano, returns to the Athenaeum with a new series. “We have been making music since the beginning of mankind,” Silver says. “It brings us together, quickens our pulses, and is the universal language.” With her pianistic expertise and  storytelling talent, Silver will elucidate upon the makers of music in a journey through Western music.  Here is her preview of the programming:

MAY 3 MEDIEVAL, RENAISSANCE, AND THE BAROQUE ERA
Evidence from prehistoric caves shows that art and music were part of the Neanderthal civilization and earlier. In antiquity, Greece produced mathematician-music theorist Pythagoras. We had the traveling musicians of Europe, the troubadours, followed by the cultural and scientific awakening of the Renaissance. We will hear the evolution of sound through works of Josquin des Prez and Count Carlo Gesualdo, the Grand Baroque with the exquisite music of Antonio Vivaldi, and the incomparable master of the Baroque, J. S. Bach.

MAY 10 THE HIGH BAROQUE AND THE CLASSICAL ERA
Bach broached new frontiers. We will hear music so ahead of its time that jazz players today imitate him, including selections from the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Brandenburg Concerti. We’ll meet up with Frederic Handel and enter the magnificence of the Classical Era—with works by Wolfgang Mozart, Josef Haydn, and Domenico Scarlatti, and some early American music. Reflecting the times, a direct revolution against the Baroque, the Age of Enlightenment had begun.

MAY 17 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN AND THE ROMANTIC ERA
A revolutionary from Bonn, Beethoven spanned the bridge between the late Classical Era and the new Romantic Era. Pride in one’s culture became widespread and folk music became an inspiration. Chopin wrote mazurkas and polonaises; Liszt produced Hungarian rhapsodies; and Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, and Mendelssohn stayed close to German folk melodies. The United States’ first national music came into being with Stephen Foster and Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

MAY 24 THE CONTINUATION OF THE ROMANTIC ERA AND IMPRESSIONISM
Verdi gave us his vision; Rossini, comic flair; and Tchaikovsky, dense harmonies. Johann Strauss became number one on the hit parade with his waltzes; Bizet wrote a surprise hit, Carmen; and Dvorak composed the New World Symphony. Enter Impressionism and Debussy, who heard sounds in the blends of color in the paintings of Monet, Renoir, and Picasso; the fascinating, mysterious Basque, Ravel; and Satie, who played his own jazz nightly at Le Chat Noir.

MAY 31 THE END OF THE ROMANTIC ERA AND INTO THE 20TH CENTURY
The 20th century was an ever-changing era of music and art. We will explore the extraordinary development of Broadway, jazz, ragtime and, American folk music. Arnold Schoenberg developed the 12-tone system; Prokofiev and Shostakovich’s creativity and beautiful visions transcended obstacles; Puccini, Bartok, Copland, and Bernstein gave us their brilliant musical signatures. From Cole Porter and Gershwin to the advent of the iPhone is a long and winding road, but the Muse of Music blazes her way into our heart forever.

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library,1008 Wall St, La Jolla, is one of only 16 nonprofit membership libraries in the United States. Founded in 1899, the Athenaeum provides library resources in music and the arts and presents over 200 programs and cultural events annually at four venues in four different zip codes in San Diego. This rare cultural institution offers a depth and accessibility of resources and programs found nowhere else in the region. The library, devoted exclusively to music and art, has an outstanding and ever-expanding collection of books, periodicals, reference material, compact discs, DVDs, sheet music, and librettos, as well as one of the most significant collections of artists’ books in Southern California. The Athenaeum also presents an eclectic, year-round schedule of art exhibitions, concerts (classical, jazz, acoustics, and new music), lectures, studio art classes through its School of the Arts, tours, and special events. The library is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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Preceding provided by the Athenaeum.