Classical Composers Who Loved Soccer

[Thomas Flannigan]

There have been many. One of the most famous is Dmitri Shostakovich. His Age of Gold Ballet describes the victory of socialism over capitalism through the vehicle of a soccer game. He was an avid fan of a Saint Petersberg club team; I cannot recall the name. In 1975 he was working on his Viola Sonata and went to sleep, asking to be wakened so he could watch a soccer game on TV. He died in his sleep.
Contemporary composer Mark-Anthony Turnage has written an opera, Playing Away, which was premiered in Munchen in 2002. The Dallas Opera is supposed to do it this year.
"Learning to Shout" is a pop opera by Peter Laang, who lives in the Aland Islands. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1323195,00.html

I hope there are people out there who are interested in this. Carlos Chavez must have been a soccer fan, but I have never read anything that confirms this. The same thing with Ravel, Vaughan Williams and John Rutter. Stravinsky had no interest in soccer. I have read just about everything I can find about Bartok and Sibelius, even visiting their homes turned into museums. But I have not found anything about their interest in soccer.

[Real Ray]

DAVID GOLIGHTLY Symphony no 1; Three Sea Scapes City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Gavin Sutherland) (recorded 28-30 August, 2000) ASC Records CS CD38 [54:41] Though he has composed extensively for theatre and film in this country, David Golightly's music is better known abroad. In particular he has strong links with St Petersburg, for whose Rouss-land Soglasie Choir he wrote The St Petersburg Mass, which was received in the city to great acclaim. Indeed the choir''s conductor went so far as to describe him as ''The Englishman with a Russian soul''. His Piano Sonata recently received its first performance at New York''s Carnegie Hall, and will be heard later this month in Oxford. From the age of nine, he has been an ardent supporter of Middlesbrough FC, and this symphony must be regarded as being the first-ever which is not only dedicated to a football club and its chairman but an orchestral portrait of the game. In fact, the work''s programme is intensely personal. ''My symphony was composed as an attempt to chart in musical terms the struggles, successes and failures which I have encountered on life''s journey'', says the composer, and in it he has also sought to encapsulate the fluctuating fortunes of his team. Golightly possesses a distinctive musical voice ? tonal in idiom, by turns gritty and lyrical in style, but constantly underpinned by insistent rhythmic energy and clothed in assured orchestral colours. A feature of the first three movements is their enigmatic, throwaway endings. Richly-scored and impassioned though it is, the slow movement suggests that the composer is striving to rein in his romantic inclinations. But any inhibitions he may have are cast to the winds in the turbulent finale ? a portrait of an actual football match and the serene C major ending is utterly captivating. Given limited rehearsal time, young conductor Gavin Sutherland and his forces play with evident commitment ? only the somewhat fragmentary second movement shows signs of strain. Recording sound is vivid but lacks bloom and ambience. The disc is completed by Three Sea Scapes, masterly arrangements of three shanties. Golightly is certainly a composer to watch, and this symphony is warmly recommended.
Performance ***
Sound ***
Reviewer: Adrian Smith Classical Music Web Site

Track List and Audio Sample (http://www.creightonscollection.co.uk/index.html?Pages/Albums/tl/A0049-TL.htm~mainFrame)

[Thomas Flannigan]

Thanks to Real Ray. I would not have heard of the Golightly First Symphony but for this post. Reading between the lines it sounds like he is one of the “Slavic” English composers like Taverner.
One thing that strikes me about composers is their reluctance to mention their love of sports or soccer. For example, I recall reading about Shostakovich’s soccer passion, with him standing in the terraces in St. Petersburg with a high fever. The magnificent autobiography “Testimony” http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087910998X/qid=1110823423/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-1398772-1145614 makes no mention of his passion..
Right now, I am reading two books: “Setting the Tone” by Ned Rorem, one of Chicago’s greatest composers, and “My Life With Janacek”, by Zdenka Janaceckova, the widow of Janacek. They are both great books but typical of books about a composer’s life. If the guy was interested in sports they sure cover it up!
I have a feeling that composers feel compelled to project an image of high culture and conceal their wild side, including something “low brow” like soccer. Unfortunately, too many classical music experts disdain entertainment that has mass appeal, like football. To be taken seriously the music should be cerebral and appeal to a limited, highly educated audience. But I imagine many of the modern masters from Europe, Mexico, Argentina and other places were soccer nuts.

[Real Ray]

Yeah, it's odd. But If you dig around, there some works out there. Here's another one by Finnish composer Osmo Tapio Räihälä-Barlinnie Nine
Barlinnie Nine was started in 1998 and finished in late 1999. Räihälä took part in a composers' workshop with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway and wrote this 13 minutes long composition for the occasion. After some misinformation by the organizers, the piece was not finished until only after the workshop's programme was chosen and thus the composition remained unperformed. The newly organized first performance will be given by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in April 2005.
Barlinnie Nine is a tribute to the Everton striker Duncan Ferguson and Räihälä describes the work as "an apotheosis for under-achieving". Several promising motifs are started but never fulfilled. These include some direct quotations (the Z-Cars theme and Abide With Me) but also "supporter chants" that are written by Räihälä himself.

[keller]

I'm sure i've heard that old Wolfy was seen on the terraces of Austria Saltzburg giving the finger to the Rapid fans at the 1787 cup final, and that he had "Salzburg 4 Eva" tatooed on his left buttock!! :)