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Begin The Beguine
"Begin the Beguine" is a popular song written by Cole Porter. Porter composed the song during a 1935 Pacific cruise aboard the Cunard ocean liner ''Franconia'' from Kalabahi, Indonesia, to Fiji. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical ''Jubilee'', produced at the Imperial Theatre in New York City. The first successful recording was a swing orchestral version released by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra in 1938. In 1981, Julio Iglesias released a Spanish language version which reached No. 1 on the U.K. chart, the first fully Spanish song to top the chart in the country. Music The beguine is a dance and music form, similar to a slow rhumba. In his book ''American Popular Song: The Great Innovators 1900–1950'', musicologist and composer Alec Wilder, described "Begin the Beguine" as a maverick, it is an unprecedented experiment and one which, to this day, after hearing it hundreds of times, I cannot sing or whistle or play from start to finish wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Begin The Beguine (film)
''Begin the Beguine'' () is a 1982 Spanish film written and directed by José Luis Garci, starring Antonio Ferrandis. The plot follows the story of a Spaniard who returns to his homeland after many years in exile when he wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. Its original Spanish title, ''Volver a Empezar'', means ''Starting Again''. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards, and was the first Spanish film to do so. Plot The film tells the story of Antonio Albajara, a renowned Spanish writer who returns to his hometown after 40 years, triggering memories of his past and exploring themes of love, art, and personal fulfillment. The film opens with Antonio Albajara (played by Antonio Ferrandis), a Nobel Prize-winning writer, receiving an invitation to an event in his hometown of Gijón. Antonio decides to attend and embarks on a journey back to his roots, revisiting the places and people that shaped his early years. As Antonio returns to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Theatre
The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shubert brothers. It has 1,457 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The auditorium interior is a New York City designated landmark. The theater is largely situated on 46th Street. A narrow lobby extends to the main entrance on 45th Street, where there is a three-story facade of white terracotta. The 46th Street facade, which is made of buff-colored brick, was intended as the carriage entrance. The lobby, originally decorated in dark and white tiles, leads to the rear of the theater's orchestra level. The auditorium contains Adam-style detailing, a large balcony, and box seats with carved panels above them. The flat proscenium arch above the stage is topped by a curved sounding boar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird was noted for what came to be known as the "Bluebird sound", which influenced rhythm and blues and early rock and roll. It is currently owned by RCA Records parent company Sony Music Entertainment. History The label was founded in 1932 as a division of RCA Victor by Eli Oberstein, an executive at the company. Bluebird competed with other budget labels at the time. Records were made quickly and cheaply. The "Bluebird sound" came from the session musician, session band that was used on many recordings to cut costs. The band included musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy, Roosevelt Sykes, Washboard Sam, and Sonny Boy Williamson I, Sonny Boy Williamson. Many blues musicians were signed to RCA Victor and Bluebird by Lester Melrose, a Artists a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing products ranging from pianos to sporting equipment since 1845. The company first began producing phonographs in 1916, then began marketing their own line of records as an afterthought. These first Brunswick records used the vertical cut system like Edison Disc Records, and were not sold in large numbers. They were recorded in the United States but sold only in Canada. In January 1920, a new line of Brunswick Records was introduced in the U.S. and Canada that employed the lateral cut system which was becoming the default cut for 78 discs. Brunswick started its standard popular series at 2000 and ended up in 1940 at 8517. However, when the series reached 4999, they skipped over the previous allocated 5000s and continued at 6000. When the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, classical, rock, hip hop, afrobeat, electronic, R&B, blues, jazz, and country. The label's name is derived from the initials of its now defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). After the RCA Corporation was purchased by General Electric in 1986, RCA Records was fully acquired by Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG); following the merger of BMG and Sony in 2004, RCA Records became a label of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. In 2008, after the dissolution of Sony/BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music, RCA Records became fully owned by Sony. RCA Records is the corporate successor of the Victor Talking Machine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Gray (arranger)
Jerry Gray (July 3, 1915 – August 10, 1976) was an American violinist, arranger, composer, and leader of swing dance orchestras (big bands) bearing his name. He is widely known for his work with popular music during the Swing (genre), Swing era. He worked with the bandleaders Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller. Early life Jerry Gray was born Generoso Graziano in East Boston, Massachusetts, United States. His father, Albert Graziano, was a music teacher who began teaching his son violin at age seven. As a teenager Graziano studied with and was a soloist with the Boston Junior Symphony Orchestra. Arrangements for Miller: Carioca for the air force band, as said by Miller himself in the intro to the record.The record with baritone singer, male vocal quartet and string section plus full big band. Early career In 1936, Gray joined Artie Shaw, who was calling himself Art Shaw, and his "New Music" orchestra as lead violinist. He studied musical arrangement under Shaw and became a staff a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchestrator
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts (e.g., melody, bassline, etc.) of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra. In classical music, composers have historically orchestrated their own music. Only gradually over the course of music history did orchestration come to be regarded as a separate compositional art and profession in itself. In modern classical music, composers almost invariably orchestrate their own work. Two notable exceptions to this are Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's solo piano work Pictures at an Exhibition and M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swing (genre)
Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Swing ride, an amusement park ride consisting of suspended seats that rotate like a merry-go-round Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Swing (1938 film), ''Swing'' (1938 film), an American film directed by Oscar Micheaux * Swing (1999 film), ''Swing'' (1999 film), an American film by Nick Mead * Swing (2002 film), ''Swing'' (2002 film), a French film by Tony Gatlif * Swing (2003 film), ''Swing'' (2003 film), an American film by Martin Guigui * Swing (2010 film), ''Swing'' (2010 film), a Hindi short film * Swing (2021 film), ''Swing'' (2021 film), an American film by Michael Mailer Music Styles * Swing (jazz performance style), the sense of propulsive rhythmic "feel" or "groove" in jazz * Swing music, a style of jazz popular during the 1930s–1950s Groups and labels * Swing (Canadian band), a Cana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ziegfeld Follies Of 1936
''The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936'' is a musical revue with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by Vernon Duke and sketches by Gershwin and David Freedman. The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of revues presented from 1907 through 1931, 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957. Productions and background Original 1936 The musical premiered on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on January 30, 1936 and closed on May 9, 1936 after 115 performances. Produced by Billie Burke Ziegfeld and Lee Shubert and J. J. Shubert, it was directed by John Murray Anderson and Edward Clarke Lilley, choreographed by Robert Alton, sketches directed by Edward D. Dowling, and ballets directed by George Balanchine. Scenic design and costumes were by Vincente Minnelli, with additional costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois, and original orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett, Conrad Salinger, Hans Spialek and Don Walker. The cast starred Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Eve Arden, Josephine Baker, Judy Canova, Gertrude Niesen, June ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josephine Baker
Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 French silent film ''Siren of the Tropics'', directed by and . During her early career, Baker was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the in Paris. Her performance in its 1927 revue caused a sensation in the city. Her costume, consisting only of a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess". Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a French nationality law#Dual citizenship, Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alec Wilder
Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer and author. Biography Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four Corners") bears the family's name and his maternal grandfather, and namesake, was prominent banker Alexander Lafayette Chew. As a young boy, he traveled to New York City with his mother and stayed at the Algonquin Hotel. It would later be his home for the last 40 or so years of his life. He attended several prep schools, unhappily, as a teenager. Around this time, he hired a lawyer and essentially "divorced" himself from his family, gaining for himself some portion of the family fortune. He was largely self-taught as a composer; he studied privately with the composers Herman Inch and Edward Royce, who taught at the Eastman School of Music in the 1920s, but never registered for classes and never received his degree. While there, he edite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
