Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books.
Today is the story of March 22nd
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It is the 81st day of the year, leaving 284 days remaining in 2022.
This date in history was a monumental one for story tellers, particularly for those who told their tales with music.
On this date in 1963, the Beatles released their debut album, Please Please Me, in the United Kingdom. It quickly rocketed to the top of the charts, staying at No. 1 for an unprecedented 30 weeks.
It contained such hits as the title song, along with I Saw Her Standing There, Love Me Do, and Do You Wanna Know a Secret? Of the 14 songs on the album, eight were written by band members John Lennon and Paul McCartney, bringing into pop rock music what Rolling Stone later called "the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments."
On this date in 1948, the British composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Weber was born. Lloyd Weber helped rejuvenate musical theater on Broadway and the West End in the mid- to late 20th Century. In the late 1960s, he started working with lyricist Tim Rice, and together they had a string of hits, from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to Jesus Christ Superstar to Evita.
When he and Rice parted ways, Lloyd Weber continued to compose flashy, elaborate shows in a range of genres, including Phantom of the Opera, perhaps his biggest and longest running hit, Cats, and School of Rock.
On this date in 1930, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondhein was born in New York. Sondhein, who composed his own music and wrote his own lyrics, is credited with reinventing the Braodway musical by producing shows that went well beyond the traditional themes of musical theater.
His first significant work was writing the lyrics for West Side Story, which opened in 1957, with the music composed by Leonard Bernstein. Sondhein's first show when he where he wrote both the lyrics and the was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, based on farces by the Roman playwright Plautus. His plays through the rest of his life (he died in 2021) continued to surprise, enlighten, and excite audiences.
He is credited with studying, helping to develop, and teaching a Ukrainian form of music. Steeped in ancient folk music tradition, Lysenko broadened the appeal with other forms of music.
He studied at Kharkiv and Kyiv universities. He trained in Leipzig and St. Petersburg before returning to Kyiv, where he started the Lysenko Music and Drama School.
He wrote operas and operettas. He wrote chamber pieces, orchestral works, and a wide variety of piano songs. By promoting Ukrainian music and language -- and separating himself from Rusian culture, his work has been called the essence of Ukrainian musical culture.
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