We honor a person’s value by commemorating their accomplishments and observing their special quality or character. Small though the honor may be, the artists, scholars, leaders and others whose contributions are offered as exemplary models on this site are being honored in their value.
Real
True Narratives
Shakespeare’s work probably has received more extensive treatment than anyone else’s.
- Garry Wills, Rome and Rhetoric: Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (Yale University Press, 2011).
- Garry Wills, Verdi’s Shakespeare: Men of the Theatre (Viking, 2011).
- Andrew McConnell Stott, What Blest Genius? The Jubilee That Made Shakespeare (W.W. Norton & Company, 2019): “ . . . a vivacious portrait of the Stratford-upon-Avon Jubilee of 1769, organized by the actor and manager David Garrick, whose goal was to make a lot of noise for himself and in the process marmorealize Shakespeare.”
- Stuart Kells, Shakespeare’s Library: Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature (Counterpoint, 2019): “Kells goes on a quest through the oddly perverse world of booksellers and bibliographers, in search of Shakespeare’s own tomes.”
Other narratives on the subject:
- Sean Connolly, On Every Tide: The Making and Remaking of the Irish World (): “In June 1963, on his sentimental journey to the land of his ancestors, President John F. Kennedy told an adoring crowd in Cork, Ireland, 'Most countries send out oil or iron, steel or gold, or some other crop, but Ireland has had only one export and that is its people.'”
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
- Calle 54, a documentary “tribute to Latin jazz”
- Buena Vista Social Club, a documentary tribute to Cuban music and musicians
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Poetry
Poems:
- Pablo Neruda, “Chant to Bolivar”
- John Keats, “Robin Hood”
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
The technical difficulty of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53, “Waldstein” (1803) (approx. 24-27’), suggests that he must have had great respect for Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein, for whom he named the work. Top recorded performances are by Artur Schnabel in 1934, Rudolf Serkin in 1952, Lili Kraus in 1953, Jenő Jandó in 1987, Louis Lortie in 1991, Richard Goode in 1993, Alfred Brendel in 1993, Ronald Brautigam in 2004, Paul Lewis in 2006, Jonathan Biss in 2013, and Olga Paschenko in 2021 (begin at 24:45).
Every composer’s value is honored by the performance of his works. Some composers have organizations devoted to the promotion of their compositions. The Hugo Wolf Society compiled, and EMI has released an excellent compilation of his works. The collection includes performances from 1931-1938.
In keeping with his Le Tombeau de Couperin, Maurice Ravel composed a five-movement suite for solo piano, honoring five fellow members of a French avant-garde group, Les Apaches. The work is titled Miroirs (Mirrors), M. 13 (1905) (approx. 24-30’). Top recorded performances are by Walter Gieseking in 1954, Jean-Yves Thibaudet in 1991, Steven Osborne in 2000, Louis Lortie in 2003, Herbert Schuch in 2004, Anna Vinnitskaya in 2011, Julien Brocal in 2018, and Beatrice Rana in 2019.
Jazz trumpeter Franz Koglmann is among the most outwardly thoughtful of musicians. He has paid homage to at least two disparate musical figures, in the albums “An Affair with Strauss” (1997); and “We Thought About Duke” (2001) (56’).
Compositions:
- Paul Hindemith, Nobilissima Visione, suite drawn from the ballet Saint Francis (1938) (approx. 25’), in honor of St. Francis of Assisi
- Howard Hanson commented that his Symphony No. 3, Op. 33 (1941) (approx. 33-36’) is a tribute to “the sturdy race of northern pioneers who as early as 1638 founded the first Swedish settlement on the Delaware, and who were in later centuries to constitute such a mighty force in the conquering of the West.”
- Sandor Veress, Hommage à Paul Klee (1951) (approx. 30’)
- Joan La Barbara, 73 Poems of Kenneth Goldsmith (1994) (approx. 45’)
- Cristóbal Halffter, Elegies for the Deaths of 3 Spanish Poets (1975) (approx. 40’)
- György Kurtág, Hommage à Robert Schumann, Op. 15d (1990) (approx. 12’)
- Darius Milhaud, Les charmes de la vie (Hommage à Watteau), Op. 360 (1957) (approx. 18’)
- Andrzej Panufnik, Hommage à Chopin, for flute and small string orchestra (1966 arrangement of 1949 vocal work) (approx. 10-13’)
- Lalo Schifrin, Hommage à Ravel (1995) (approx. 26’)
- Lukas Foss, Symphony No. 1 in G Major (1944) (approx. 33’) “clearly shows the influence of Foss’s one-time teacher Hindemith . . .”
- Gordon Getty, The White Election (2009) (approx. 69’) is a song cycle set to Emily Dickinson poems.
- John Foulds, Apotheosis (Elegy) for violin and orchestra, Op. 18 (1909) (approx. 11’), was composed to honor the violinist Joseph Joachim, after he died.
- Qigang Chen, Er Huang, for piano & orchestra (2009) (approx. 18’) is based on Peking opera melodies.
- John Adams, My Father Knew Charles Ives (2003) (approx. 26-28’)
- Kurt Atterberg, Symphony No. 1, in B minor, Op. 3 (1910) (approx. 41’): borrowing from Bruckner and Brahms.
- Meredith Willson, Symphony No. 2 in E minor, “The Missions of California” (1948) (approx. 32-39’), is “a collection of tone poems”, paying homage to “Spanish Catholic heritage”.
- William Cornysh, Stabat Mater (ca. 1500) (approx. 15-17’) pays homage to the mother of Christ, in Christian theology.
- William Bolcom, Recuerdos (Reminiscences) (three homages) (1991) (approx. 15’) was written “in homage to the Brazilian composer and pianist Ernesto Nazareth . . .”
- Barbara Harbach, Visions of Hildegard for Violin and Piano (2009) (approx. 15’) “was inspired by Hildegard of Bingen of the Order of Saint Benedict . . .”
- Michael Colgrass, Letter from Mozart (1976) (approx. 15’): a contemporary composer draws on Mozart’s work for his own.
- Petros Petridis, Requiem for the Emperor Constantine Palaiologos (1964) (approx.): “The Requiem for the Emperor Constantine Palaiologos mourns the end of the Byzantine Empire with elegiac lyricism culminating in an ultimately uplifting finale.”
- Arnold Bax, In Memoriam (1916) (approx. 15’): Bax subtitled this work “In memory of Pádraig Pearse”, who had died fighting for Ireland in World War I.
- Ian Venables, Portraits of a Mind (2022) (approx. 16’) “is a song cycle commissioned from the contemporary composer Ian Venables by The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth on the 12 October 1872.”
- Mieczysław Weinberg, Symphony No. 12, Op. 114, ”In memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich” (1976) (approx. 56’)
- Christopher Cerrone, The Arching Path (2016) (approx. 15’) “was inspired by a visit to the Ponte Sul Basento (Bridge over the Basento River), a bridge in the southern Italian city of Potenza. It is often called the Ponte Musmeci, named after its designer, the engineer Sergio Musmeci. While visiting Potenza, I was struck by this beautiful and hulking modernist mass—with its curving lines and concrete structure—that stood out from so much older, historical, and ornamented architecture in Italy.”
Performances:
- “Interpretations of Monk” (52’) is a recording of a live performance on November 1, 1981, at Wollman Auditorium, Columbia University, New York City, featuring pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Barry Harris
Albums:
- Michael Musillami, “Pictures” (2020) (56’): “Inspired loosely by Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, the album is essentially a set of nine tributes to musical figures whose influence has shaped the pianist and guitarist . . .”
- Louis Hayes, “Serenade for Horace” (2017) (59’) pays tribute to Horace Silver.
- Tülay German & François Rabbath, “Hommage a Nazim Hikmet” (31’) – Hikmet was a Turkish poet.
- Various artists, “Astor 2020: La Historia Continúa” (2020) (50’) is a collection of tracks after the legendary accordionist and tango champion, Astor Piazzolla.
- Clarice Assad, “Window to the World: A Tribute to Milton Nascimento” (2021) (39’): “Capturing the essence and spirit of Nascimento’s songs, the ensemble impart their own identities into nine reimaginings, juxtaposing moments of dark harmony and tension against infectiously positive Brazilian grooves.”
- Alternative Guitar Summit, “Honoring Pat Martino, Volume 1” (2022) (59’): “There are a mere handful of guitarists that have changed the way we think about the guitar over the past five or six decades, Pat Martino is perhaps one of the greatest and best-known of those icons.”
- Louise Bessette, Mark Djokic & Chloé Dominguez, “Un Piano Autour du Monde” (A Piano Around the World” (2022) (75’) features works of Argentinian tango master Astor Piazzolla, joyously and affectionately performed by a piano trio.
- Dave McMurray, “Grateful Deadication” (2021) (61’) and “Grateful Deadication 2” (2023) (65’): these albums, Murray “reimagines” Grateful Dead tunes, giving them “a whole new funky spin”.
- Various artists, “I Am a Pilgrim: Doc Watson at 100” (2023) (50’) “presents the depth of Watson’s influence and legacy, and the album’s tracks, both instrumental and vocal, present a range of masterful, captivating and exceptional performances from various artists. Many renowned musicians, including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and Grammy Award winners, have participated on the album, covering Watson’s work through a kaleidoscopic lens of not only American folk and bluegrass but also blues, jazz, and experimental and rock music.”
- Jamie Baum Septet, “What Times Are These” (2024) (75’): “Using vocal timbres and styles as compositional colors, Baum creates settings that bring out the individual voices of the poets.”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Dan Fogelberg, “Leader of the Band” (lyrics) (Dan Fogelberg’s father was a band leader)
- Nawang Khechog, Nobel Peace Laureate, 1989; The Dalai Lama of Tibet
- Franz Schubert (composer), “Kantate zum Geburtstag des Sängers Johann Michael Vogl” (Cantata for the Birthday of the Singer Johann Michael Vogel), D. 666 (lyrics)
- Iannis Xenakis, (composer),. “Hommage à Ravel”
- Heitor Villa-Lobos (composer), “Hommage à Chopin”
Visual Arts
- Marc Chagall, Homage to Mozart (1972)
- Salvador Dali, Homage to Erik Satie (1926)
- Georges Braque, Homage to J.S. Bach (1912)
- Gustav Klimt, Schubert at the Piano II (1899)
- Gustav Klimt, Schubert at the Piano I (c. 1896)
- Vasily Perov, Portrait of the Sculptor Vladimir Brovsky
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Richard Wagner (1882)
- Henri Fantin-Latour, A Studio in the Batignolles (Homage to Manet) (1870)
- Henri Fantin-Latour, Homage to Delacroix (1864)
