Where will you be during the eclipse today?
We'll be right here bringing you great classical music before, during and after. Get in a sublime mood with Bach at One at 1 pm from Trinity-Wall Street. Then, once the sun has returned to its full orb of light, host Ross Amico will provide a musical coda from 4 - 7 pm, playing music inspired by the sun, the moon and the heavens.
Highlights will include “Hymn to the Sun” from Pietro Mascagni’s opera “Iris,” a selection from Jacques Offenbach’s ballet “Voyage to the Moon,” Kenneth Fuch’s horn concerto, “Canticle to the Sun,” reflective of St. Francis of Assisi’s appreciation of Brother Sun and Sister Moon, and George Frideric Handel’s “Total Eclipse” from the oratorio “Samson.” There will also be musical responses to the mythological figures of Apollo (the sun god), Helios (the personification of the sun), and Phaeton (Helios’ son, ill-equipped to handle his father’s blazing chariot).
And for your own listening pleasure, here are some recommendations Ross compiled if you want to create your own classical music eclipse playlist:
CARL NIELSEN – Helios Overture
JACQUES OFFENBACH – A Journey to the Moon
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN – String Quartets, Op. 20 “Sun;” Op. 76, No. 4 “Sunrise”
CONSTANT LAMBERT – Horoscope
GUSTAV HOLST – The Planets
HENRYK GORECKI – Symphony No. 2 “Copernican”
GEORGE CRUMB – Makrokosmos; Night of the Four Moons
JOHANN STRAUSS II – Music of the Spheres
RUED LANGGAARD – Music of the Spheres
ALAN HOVHANESS – Symphony No. 6 “Celestial Gate;” Visions of a Starry Night
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA – Looking Upward
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES – An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise
FREDERICK DELIUS – Song Before Sunrise
AULIS SALLINEN – Sunrise Serenade
HENRI DUTILLEUX – Timbres – Espace – Mouvement, ou La Nuit Etoilées
LOUIS VIERNE – 24 Pièces de fantaisie: Hymn to the Sun
NIKOLAI RIMSKY- KORSAKOV – Le Coqd’Or: Hymn to the Sun
PIETRO MASCAGNI – Iris: Hymn to the Sun
SAINT-SAENS – Phaeton
CHRISTOPHER ROUSE – Phaeton
IGOR STRAVINSKY – Apollo
IGOR MARKEVITCH – Icare
KENNETH FUCHS – Canticle to the Sun
FRANZ LISZT – Canticle to the Sun
LEO SOWERBY – Canticle to the Sun
JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY – Ballet Music for the Sun King
Anything by WILLIAM HERSCHEL (astronomer-composer)
LOU HARRISON – Equinox
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL – Samson: Total Eclipse
DAVID DEL TREDICI – Syzygy
AUGUSTA READ THOMAS – Eclipse Musings
MANUEL PONCE – Estrellita (Little Star)
