Naomi Lewin, WQXR Host
Naomi Lewin is the weekday afternoon host on WQXR, and the host of WQXR’s bi-weekly podcast Conducting Business. Before arriving at WQXR, Lewin was the midday host at WGUC, Cincinnati’s classical public radio station.
Top Five Beethoven Arrangements of Non-German Songs
Beethoven Meets Berlitz
Friday, October 28, 2011
Before Beethoven, composers mostly earned a living providing music for churches or aristocratic households. Beethoven had no use for that. As he famously wrote, "There are and will be thousands of princes; there is only one Beethoven."
The one and only Beethoven broke free of the model of composer as servant; in addition to accepting commissions from wealthy patrons, he made a living by performing and publishing his music. So when a Scottish publisher approached him about creating some genteel arrangements of folk songs -- mostly from the British Isles, but also from elsewhere in Europe -- he accepted. No matter that Beethoven didn't speak the languages he was dealing with. He was Beethoven, and his settings are utterly charming.
1. Scottish: Auld Lang Syne
2. Irish: The Heart of an Irishman
3. Welsh: The Vale of Clwyd
4. Italian: La Gondoletta
5. Polish: Poszla baba po popiól
Below: Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Felicity Lott and John Mark Ainsley sing Beethoven's arrangement of 'Auld Lang Syne' from 12 Scottish Songs:
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