Halvor K. Hosar
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halvorkhosar.bsky.social
Halvor K. Hosar
@halvorkhosar.bsky.social
Musicologist and Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Stavanger (he/him) | Hobby etymologist and aelurophile. Opines too much about eighteenth-century music, most often about Haydn, Wanhal, Dittersdorf or Pleyel.
My Scandinavian friends might have interest in my just-published chronicle, where I explain how German nationalism from the nineteenth century still makes the NRK (Norway's BBC) miss the mark on when the first Norwegian symphony was written by a century:

www.forskersonen.no/kronikk-kult...
Kvifor veit ikkje NRK kva ein symfoni er?
KRONIKK: Det er i hovudsak Haydn og Beethoven som har etablert synet vårt på kva ein «ekte» symfoni skal vere.
www.forskersonen.no
June 22, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
#NowSpinning some Grieg, on the occasion of the composer’s 182nd birthday. This is bewitching music, gloriously presented by Andsnes at his considerable peak.
June 15, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
I have to work today and can’t attend a protest, but I can suggest Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” as a very appropriate soundtrack for today that absolutely slaps

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxg... Living Colour - Cult Of Personality (Official Video) - YouTube
Living Colour - Cult Of Personality (Official Video)
YouTube video by LivingColourVEVO
www.youtube.com
June 14, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
A friend just texted to congratulate me on a forthcoming project, about which she learned from ChatGPT.

Never mind that I am ... not currently writing a book on the divine feminine... ?

Again, again, again: AI is bad and wrong and won't give you accurate info, friends.

It's not a search engine.
June 13, 2025 at 6:45 PM
I predict that this footnote will be read as much as the other ones in the article combined.
June 13, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
Can I interest you in some GINORMOUS kitten ears in these trying times?
April 3, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
#ContemporariesOfHaydn #18

Anton Zimmermann (1741-1781)

🧵 If you love Haydn's E-minor Sturm und Drang masterpiece the "Trauer" symphony, then check out this symphony in similar vein composed by the Kapellmeister at the Pressburg court, not 50 miles away from the Eszterházy Palace.
April 2, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Calling out early-twentieth-century classical music people on BlueSky:

Do any of you know a reputable source that discusses the story about the 'non-existent' chord in Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht? I have known and shared this story for too long without verifying it.
March 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
Yeah. This guy. A huge fan. These were the very VERY first recordings on Naxos I ever purchased. 20 years ago?!? Long gone but now I have these. Am a huge fan of the Ovid. (Also the orchestra Tafelmusik. A wonderful composer!
March 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Tomorrow I'll be teaching Russian romantic music, where I of course include a slide cautioning about the dangers of mixing the Mighty Five with the Furious Five (it works better in Norwegian). Regardless, if one were to pair members from each group, who would be analogous with whom?
March 17, 2025 at 8:25 PM
@mogmusic.bsky.social, welcome to BlueSky! Truth be told I am not often here, but I am stoked to have you with us anyway!
March 12, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
Celebrate International Women's Day by interrupting men with your unsolicited opinions and taking credit for their work. If they get upset about it, be sure to tell them that they sound hysterical and should smile more.
March 8, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Despite having read the words 'Adagio cantabile' thousands of times, I last night misread an indication in a manuscript as 'Adagio cannibale'. I do not know what this says about me, but if anybody wants to write a composition with that name, it is now up for grabs!
February 14, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
In 1763, a ticket for the Académie du Musique during Lent in #Vienna cost up to 1 Gulden 8 Kreuzer -the equivalent of 14.9 liters of wine or 29.8 kg of bread! 🍷🍞 Thanks to the #WienWiki purchasing power calculator,we can put these prices into perspective. #Musicology #MusicHistory
shorturl.at/nox1A
February 14, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
Alban Berg was born on February 9 1885. His Violin Concerto shows just how beautiful atonal music can be. The tonality hidden within the serialist approach is headspinningly lovely. What are your favourite recordings of Berg’s Violin Concerto?
February 8, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Calling music(ology) BlueSky! Are there any books that discuss repetition in music as an aesthetic phenomenon? (Any angle thereunder would be interesting.)
February 8, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
Folks, I don't intend to post about every single horrible thing that's happening at the moment because I'm not a direct news source and also because my mental health has an upper limit. Don't confuse lack of obsessive news updating for lack of concern or lack of personal action. Also, here's a cat.
February 5, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I am currently working on the new digital catalogue of Wanhal's works, and realize that I have ingrained the old Weinmann numbers so thoroughly that I am probably going to be the last person standing who works from them *rather than from the numbering system I made myself*!
January 29, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
Look at the waves of redundancies announced in just the last few days. If you work in UK Higher Education, now is the time to join a union (if you're not a member already).
January 29, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
#A-Haydn-A-Day chases darkness away!

Day 70: Symphony No. 73 "La Chasse"

What's in a name? The finale is recycled from Haydn's overture to the opera La fedeltà premiata, which features Diana, goddess of the hunt. Its galloping 6/8 rhythms and ringing horn calls were common depictions of hunting.
Joseph Haydn / Symphony No. 73 in D major "La chasse" (Harnoncourt)
YouTube video by scrymgeour34
youtu.be
January 29, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
#A-Haydn-A-Day Day 69: Symphony No. 88

‘I want my Ninth Symphony to sound like this!’ - Johannes Brahms (allegedly) after hearing this symphony's slow movement.

Watch Lenny conduct the finale a second time, using only his face. A great bit of showmanship for the benefit of the cameras alone.
Haydn - Symphony No. 88 - Leonard Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic
YouTube video by bassist
youtu.be
January 28, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
With Nvidia stock in decline, it’s finally time for 3dfx to make a comeback
January 27, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I don't think I have many Norwegian readers here, but if anybody should chance across this, I am holding a presentation on the role of Ovid's Metamorphoses in music. I can promise Monteverdi, Dittersdorf and Haydn!

barokkfest.no/komponert-ov...
Komponert over Ovids Metamorfoser | Barokkfest - norsk
barokkfest.no
January 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Halvor K. Hosar
DO YOU EVER LOOK AT CATS AND WONDER

HEY WHY DOES THIS LITTLE ANIMAL LIVE IN MY HOUSE?

WHAT IS IT DOING?

HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY?
January 24, 2025 at 11:39 PM