Greetings, scholars! Let's promenade!

Take a trip to the Seattle Art Museum before May 19th and you will get to promenade through the special exhibit, European Masters. You will see paintings by Rembrandt, Van Dyke, and Gainsborough, among others. As you walk through the gallery, you will find a portraiture of a little girl and a painting of two young boys on horseback with their playful dogs running alongside. Children in the 19th century enjoyed having fun, just as you do!

Little Miss Murray by Sir Thomas Lawrence

The Hon. E. S. Russell and His Brother by Edwin Landseer

Pause for a while during your museum promenade to gaze at Mr. Rembrandt's self-portraiture:

Portrait of the Artist by Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt created almost one hundred self-portraitures! Fifty were paintings and the rest were etchings and drawings. Can you spy with your little eye his maulstick, palette, and brushes? 
 Notice Rembrandt's brilliant use of the color white, which is why the fancy, expensive toothpaste is named after him. He is one of the masters of chiaroscuro, which means light and dark in Italian. The other master is my favorite, Caravaggio.
Homework: What is the purpose of a maulstick when painting?

Do you remember the maulstick in Velázquez' painting, Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-Waiting)? Let's review what we discovered about the world's most beloved painting.

Las Meninas by Velázquez

Velázquez was the court painter for King Philip IV of Spain. He worked very hard for the king. After he died, the king painted the honorary red cross on Velázquez' chest that you see in the painting. The dwarf and the young jester (playfully teasing the family dog) and the ladies-in-waiting to the lovely Princess Margarita are all welcomed into the fold of family for this group portraiture. Velázquez created a sense of movement in the painting that makes us want to jump into the scene and play. He had some fun with anyone who views this huge painting, as well. Who is the subject? It was commissioned by the king and queen, but they are painted only as a dim reflection in the mirror. Is the princess the subject? 

Could it be true?

The subject is you!

WARNING: If you do get a chance to visit SAM, beware of the Stendahl Syndrome - fainting and heart-racing after viewing fine art. This sickness is named after Mr. Stendahl and his fainting spell upon seeing great artworks in the Uffizi Gallery Museum in Florence, Italy. Mrs. Dike has endured this sickness myriad times. The first episode followed seeing Copley's Watson and the Shark in the Detroit Art Museum when she was 10.

Listen once again to Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, a piece he wrote to honor his dear, artist/architect friend, Victor Hartmann, who had died just before the piece was composed. Pictures at an Exhibition was written for piano, but is now usually played by orchestra in an arrangement by Ravel.

Let's go on an artistic/musical treasure hunt! Find:

1. Promenade theme...How many times does it reappear throughout the piece? Listen carefully; Sometimes it's disguised! 
2. Clumsy, shrieking nutcracker 
3. Sad troubadour by a castle (Saxophone alert!?)
4. Children playing in the Tuileries Garden
5. Peasant singing as he drives comes closer in his wagon with giant wheels pulled by huge oxen
6. Unhatched chicks dancing a ballet - only legs, arms, and heads showing
7. Rich, conceited man arguing with a poor, whining man
8. Ladies arguing and bickering over fine Limoges china at a sale in Paris
9. Scary, underground tombs (catacombs)
10. Baba Yaga, the witch of Russian folktales, flying around on a clock-shaped hut
11. The Great Gate of Kiev - Listen for the pealing bells and the final, triumphant return of the Promenade!

Hartmann's Chicks Sketch

Baba Yaga's Hut on Hen's Legs

Ars longa, vita brevis! (Life is short, art lasts!)

Haydn Seek: Surprises, Jokes, Pranks, a Pun, and a Poem!

Greetings, scholars!

Happy Birthday to Franz Joseph Haydn, the Classical composer, born on March 31, 1732! Haydn was born in Austria. (Be the first to find it on our class globe this week!) Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven spent much time composing and performing in the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria and are thus known as Viennese Classical composers. Haydn was a choirboy and he taught himself music theory!

Haydn playing string quartets

Haydn's nickname was "Papa" because he was good-natured and kind to everyone. Also, although he did not have any children, he is considered the father of the symphony and the string quartet. Papa Haydn's symphonies (106 in all) were often given nicknames, as well. Listen to the second movement of Symphony #101 in D Major and see if you can guess why it is nicknamed the "Clock."

I hope you enjoyed a happy April Fool's Day! Scherzo is a musical term that means joke. Papa Haydn loved to include jokes in his music. His Symphony #94 (nicknamed the "Surprise Symphony") is bound to make you giggle. Brace yourself for the fortissimo
(very loud) chord during the pianissimo (very soft) section of the 2nd movement. Perhaps Haydn was trying to put you to sleep, only to wake you up again?


My favorite musical prank is from Haydn's "Farewell Symphony" (#41). Haydn added a 5th movement in order to convince the Duke of Esterhazy that his exhausted musicians needed a break and the chance to be with their own families for a time. Enjoy the graceful, gentle Finale and watch for the musicians and conductor to slyly and gradually leave the stage until only the first two desks of violins are left. Below, the violinists turn off their stand lights; In Haydn's day, they would have blown out their stand candles!

Alas, the Duke allowed the musicians a well-deserved vacation. Extra credit for knowing which instrument the Duke played. His first name was Nikolaus I.

Princess Henriette (daughter of Louis XV) playing the Viola da Gamba, by Nattier c.1754

Homework: Draw a self-portraiture, including your finest 18th century attire, playing an instrument from that period. We will hang your portraits in the lobby.

Haydn Seek
My poem for you is no joke;
Toward you, little fun would I poke.
Always remember,
Whether June or December:
Meeting and greeting
Trump tweeting.
Haydn and Mozart? They met!
Mozart and Beethoven? You bet!
Haydn and Beethoven? Teacher's pet!
Each of these pairs 
Of Viennese Classicists
Enjoyed a tete-a-tete!
~Mrs. Dike