" If music be the food of love, play on" - Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)

     
  Beethoven -  Plaudite, amici, comecia finita est ( applaud my friends, the comedy is over)

  said on his deathbed!

When Beethoven taught Piano he wasn't at all fazed jf a pupil dropped the odd wrong note - but he would go ballistic if they played without passion!

Port Charlotte claims to be one of  Islay's biggest peat hitters, they claim it's because their warehouses are so close to the sea!

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     Every one a rare and precious Single Malt!

Schubert - "I try to decorate my imagination as much as I can"

Schubert composed around twenty Operas/ Stage Works but in spite of their quality they are seldom performed. Recordings are equally hard to track down.

'Singleton of Glen Ord'  is easy to locate on Supermarket shelves but it's predecessor 'Glen Ord' is increasingly hard to find. A 40 year old bottle has a price tag of about £1, 714!

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Viva Verdi - Vittorio Emanuele, Re D'Italia (long live Victor Emmanuel King of Italy)

The French have been at loggerheads for centuries on who produces the finest Wine. I concurred to bring the music and wine together would be a gesture of peace, perfect partners.

Giuseppe Verdi translates into English as Joe Green!

His Opera Rigoletto has no Arias or Finale, it is composed entirely of Duets!

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     In an English country garden

"if somebody says they like Mozart I immediately know they are not a good Musician" - Frederick Delius.

Fullers Golden Pride has been reffered to as the Cognac of Beers. At 8.5% proof I think it should be savoured like Wine.

Ralph Vaughan-Williams was related to Josiah Wedgwood and Charles Darwin! He composed 'The Lark Ascending' in 1914, but with the onset  of the Great War, he had to wait until 1921 before it was premiered.

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     Masters of their Craft

The complete Mozart on the Phillips label comprises of 180 cd's and over 200 hours of music. Mozart composed his first piece,  Minuet with Trio K1, at the age of just five!

When the Conductor Otto Klemperor was asked who were his favourite Composers, he listed several, when the Interviewer said "what about Mozart?" he replied "oh sorry! I thought you meant apart from Mozart"

Glenffidich literally means 'Valley of the Deer" hence a Stag has always been the logo.

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     A warm wind to Valhalla

"Imagination creates reality" - Richard Wagner

Bayreuth Festival Theatre is dedicated solely to the performance of Wagners stage works. No works of any other Composer have ever been played there.

Warsteiner has been owned by the Cramer family since 1753 and is Germany's largest privately owned brewery

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     Calling the Wolves out of the wood!

Witold Lutoslaski created a new musical language by blending folk songs, serialism and atonal counterpoint with conventional harmonies and melody.

"Melody was banned from music by Composers of the avant-garde" - Krzysztof  Penderecki

The Tychy brewery was established in 1629, making it one of the oldest breweries in Europe.

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      No escaping our Viking roots!

Handel is one of the most prolific composers of all time - his works include 42 operas, 25 oratorios, 125 cantatas, 18 concerti grossi and 12 organ concertos.

The tradition of standing for the Hallelujah chorus was begun by King George ll.

Highland Park is the most Northerly distillery in the world, on the Orkney Islands off the North Coast of Scotland.

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    Notes of Czeck melodies

"the music of the people is like a rare and lovely flower growing amidst a patch of weeds - Antonin Dvorak.

Dvorak was the first Bohemian Composer to achieve worldwide recognition. The secret to his success is thought to be down to his ear for melody and turning folk music into 19th century Romantic music.

This state owned brewery has been in a trademark dispute with an American company of the same name since the early 1900's! It is brewed in the Czech city of Budweis.

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    The Ancient and the latest

When William Byrd (1540 - 1623) was organist at Lincoln Cathedral, he lived at 6 Minster Yard which is about a ten minute walk from our house!

One of Thomas Tallis's works, Spem in Alium, has the choir divided into forty parts, with each part singing a different line! His music varied from complex polyphany to simple antiphons depending on whether the Monarch was Protestant or Catholic.

Jura Winter edition was released in January 2021. Sadly 'Prophecy' and 'Superstition have been discontinued! It is a charming little Distillery and only a five minute ferry ride from Islay.

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     A shimmy on the edge!

Ironically Max Bruch never visited the Highlands or Islands yet his 'Scottish Serenade' perfectly musicalises the Far North and Western Isles.

When Mendelssohn visited Fingals Cave, Staffa - off the West coast off Mull, he wrote a postcard to his Sister which included the first eight bars of the 'Hebrides Overture'. He also said in the same correspondence "the Hebrides have seriously affected me"

Prior to the Laphroig distillery being constructed in 1815, distilling whisky was a fitting way of getting rid of any excess barley that had been on hand for cattle feed. It wasn't long before they realised they could make more money from Whisky.

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       Italy - always in good voice

Domenico Cimarosa composed over eighty full length operas yet only 'The Secret Marriage' is regularly played.

Gioachino Rossini (1792 - 1868) relinquished being an Opera Composing 

machine at 37 years of age to become a Chef!

Gaetano Donizetti led a very sad life, his beloved Wife and all three children died before he did! This melancholy is reflected in his music, mainly opera - 75 of them!

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A glass of Wine on the terrace

Claude Debussy was one of the first men ever to have a Colostomy operation. This was in 1915, he died of cancer in 1918 giving him time to premier his famous Violin Sonata.

Joseph Canteloube is unjustly associated with the one work - Chants d'Auvergne. His oevre consists of piece after piece of luxurious orchestration and harmonic language yet ironically very little is published.

Wine experts think this Bordeaux Red with Veal or Vennison is a match made in Heaven.

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Spain - A splash of sunshine and the 'feel good' factor

"the harmonic effects which our guitarists produce unconsciously are one of the miracles of our natural art" - Manuel de Falla.

By age 4, Isaac Albéniz was considered to be a piano prodigy. Twice he ran away from home as a child and supported himself by concert tours!

The history of San Miguel dates back to 1890 in the Philippines . The brewery took its name from its location San Miguel Manila. As part of its overseas expansion it moved into the Spanish market in 1953.

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(to be continued)