1732 - He taught Ludwig van Beethoven and was a close friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Joseph Haydn was born today. Haydn became one of the most prolific and prominent music stylists and composers of the classical period of music. Indeed, many call him the 'father of the symphony' and 'father of the string quartet' because of his original contributions to the art form. He spent most of his life in Austria and was a court musician for the wealthy Hungarian aristocratic Esterházy family on their remote estate. Consequently, most of Haydn's life was isolated from other musical trends from his contemporary composers and he was quoted as saying, he was "forced to become original". And so, dear reader, close your eyes for a few moments, and listen to this beautiful piece of music from Haydn, Creation, performed by the choirs of OPPC First CRC and Shoreline Christian High School in May of 2006. Directed by Norm Jonkman. Beautiful.
1943 - It is now 68 years today since the innovative Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical Oklahoma! debuted on Broadway. The original title was Away We Go and was based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. The story was set 1906 outside the town of Claremore in Oklahoma Territory, and tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie, a friend of Laurey's. The play was a box-office smash and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances, later enjoying award-winning revivals, national tours, foreign productions and an Academy Award-winning 1955 film adaptation. It has long been a popular choice for school and community productions. Built on the innovations of an earlier musical Show Boat, Oklahoma! was part of the development of the so-called "book musical", a musical play where the songs and dances are integrated into the crux of the storyline with dramatic goals able to evoke genuine emotions other than laughter. Additionally, Oklahoma! features musical themes, or motifs, that recur throughout the play and connect the music and story more closely than any previous musical predecessors. A special Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for Oklahoma! in the category of "Special Awards And Citations - Letters" in 1944 - it was the duo's first musical. This is a scene from the 1998 London West End version, starring Vicki Simon as Ado Annie.
1958 - The supreme commander of guitar rock'n'roll music, Chuck Berry, released his classic Johnny B. Goode today, and an entire generation of guitar players was inspired. His guitar playing style was original, funky, and his presence and presentation entirely new. Without Chuck Berry there would not have been Keith Richards and thousands of others. Without his 'duck walk' Angus Young would not have been famous for his exact copy of 'the duck walk' - a tribute to Chuck I am sure. So let's go back to 1958 and watch the original Chuck Berry Johnny B. Goode on the American TV show, Whiskey A Go Go, introduced by Trini Lopez.
1967 - Jimi Hendrix famously supported the Monkees on their American tour in 1967, but he also began his first British tour, supporting balladeers The Walker Brothers, the tour beginning on this day. Others on the bill included, believe it or not, Cat Stevens, and Englebert Humperdink, among others. Here's a review in NME, a week later:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience are a musical labyrinth—you either find your way into the solid wall of incredible sound, or you sit back and gasp at Hendrix’ guitar antics and showmanship, wondering what it’s all about. The sounds are something new - you either dig it or you do not. Foxy Lady, Can You See Me and Jimi’s two hits Hey Joe, and Purple Haze, were the entire Hendrix programme. Finale to Hendrix’ act came about when his guitar burst into flames by "accident" we are assured, and precipitated the entrance of a security officer who sprayed detergent from a canister all over compere Nick Jones. The Californians’ act was all but drowned by a posse of young "ladies" seated directly behind the reviewers."
But here now, live from the show the next night at Gaumont Cinema in Ipswich, England, is the possible holy grail of lost Hendrix footage.
1982 - From 1973, this is one of the biggest hits for The Doobie Brothers, China Grove. Just nine years after this worldwide smash hit, and 30 million album sales later, the group split up. Without doubt, one of the great rock groups.
1987 - In brief, Prince's Sign O' The Times LP was released in the U.S today, and two years later Guns N' Roses released their single Patience on the same day, March 31. In 1992 Bruce Springsteen released two recordings, Human touch and Lucky Day. Violence hit rock'n'roll in 1995 when a former Led Zeppelin fan was arrested for trying to stab Jimmy Page at a Page and Robert Plant concert, and in the same year on the same day, queen of Latin music, Selena, was killed by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who had been fired for embezzlement. Selina scored 14 top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits. Here's the murder story.
1998 - The first Celebration of Female Artists Awards took place at The Grosvenor House in London, but I cannot find out if any further events like this took place. Does anyone out there know if these awards still exist? In the same year, 1998, the video for Good Times, the only movie to star Sonny & Cher, hit the stores. The video included an unreleased version of I Got You Babe. The movie was made in 1967 and as you will see by this excerpt, wasn't very good.
1999 - It's now 12 years since the Cranberries set the trend for online concert ticket sales when they announced that tickets for their forthcoming U.S. tour would only be sold via the Internet at www.cranberries.com. Sounds like a cue for this live footage from Paris of the band performing Zombie. By the way...French crowds rock, watch this.
