We couldn’t let the season go by without having some kind of summer-related theme. For this August, the Classics a Day team chose to catch some rays. And, to find out how many classical composers did so with their music.

Of course, any summer-related topic is fair game, too. Here are my posts for the first week of #FunintheSun.

08/01/22 Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet Op. 20, No. 1

The six Op. 20 quartets are collectively known as the Sun Quartets. The name comes from the 1774 printing which featured a rising sun on the cover.

08/02/22 Carl Ruggles: Sun-treader

Ruggles based his 1926 work on Robert Browning’s poem “Pauline” In it, the poet writes, “Sun-treader, light and life be thine forever.”

08/03/22 Thomas Arne: ‘The Glitt’ring Sun’

This aria comes from Arne’s cantata, “The Morning.” Arne used a text based on John Milton’s writings for this 1755 work.

08/04/22 Carl Nielsen: Helios Overture Op. 17

Helios was the Greek sun god. He drove a horse-drawn chariot across the sky daily, from east to west. Nielsen’s 1903 score was inspired by Greek art he studied during a trip to Athens. Art that, of course, depicted Helios in flight.

08/05/22 Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 76, No. 4

This quartet is nicknamed the “Sunrise” quartet. But not by Haydn. The rising theme supported by sustained chords seemed to suggest the rising sun (to somebody).

Tags: #ClassicsaDay, Carl Nielsen, Carl Ruggles, Franz Joseph Haydn, Thomas Arne, Twitter