Apr. 18th, 2012

crysania4: (Default)



{Take the 100 Things challenge!}


I've decided that I'm going to do not one, but TWO 100 things challenge. I post enough as is anyway, right? The two subjects are going to be:

100 photos of Dahlia that I love. These photos will be NEW photos I take, not old ones. I probably won't take one every day but I'm hoping to get the camera out for a few photos each week. Most of these will be ones where I put something on her or around her. I was going to do 100 photos of Dahlia wearing things on her head, but I'm going to open up my creativity to more than just things on her head. I do want to try various props and silly things though! The photos need to be unique, not just photos of her sitting there looking pretty.

To that end: If anyone has any awesome ideas or things you'd like to see on Dahlia (or with Dahlia), please do let me know because I'm happy to try it, within reason!

100 pieces of Classical music that everyone should know. It's going to be hard picking just 100!

All of these posts will be public.
crysania4: (Default)
I'm going to kick off this off with one of my absolute favourite pieces of music.

Stabat Mater by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Palestrina was born in a small town near Rome (called Palestrina) sometime around 1525 or 1526. Like many composers of his time, his exact birth date is still somewhat of a mystery. He was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and is sometimes credited with saving polyphonic music (polyphonic means "many voiced") from being banned from the Catholic Church by the Council of Trent. It's a romantic notion, but alas no solid evidence of this has been shown.

Suffice it to say, the beauty and clarity of his polyphony has survived the ages. Johann Fux, an Austrian composer and contemporary of Bach, codified and created the "rules" of such polyphony and for many centuries, students have studied the works of Palestrina to gain a better understanding of that perfectly serene, perfectly clear music he wrote.

The Stabat Mater Dolorosa ("The sorrowful mother stood") is a hymn about the sorrows of Mary.

I was introduced to it (my first exposure to Palestrina) when I was a freshman in college. The choir I was in was singing a piece from the Renaissance and the conductor played it as an example of Renaissance-style singing (the beauty of no vibrato!). I was instantly in love with the work and asked the conductor to make me a copy of the recording (on cassette tape back in the early 1990s!). I listened to it a lot throughout my college years.

Many years later, I was determined to find it on CD. I knew who the work was by. I knew the name of the work. But I couldn't find THE recording. I found many other ones, but none had the spark this particular recording did. What was so different? Ornamentation. Most performances of Palestrina's works are entirely without ornamentation, but some musicologists believe that, like other music of the era, not everything sung was written into the music. Andrew Parrott and Tarverner Choir put out a recording that included ornamentation.

It is, by far, my favourite recording of the work. Lucky for all of you, someone has uploaded this fantastic version to youtube!

crysania4: (Default)
I stopped at Petsmart today and found a silly leopard print bandana. I couldn't resist putting it on Dahlia for my first 100 things post.

So here's a very serious Babushka dog. I do a lot of shots of Dahlia at her level. For this one I got down on the ground underneath her to shoot up at her instead. I like the effect.

day1-3

EXIF data: Sony A580 | Sony 18-55mm | f/10 | 1/200 | ISO 400 | 35mm

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