Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa. The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States. A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals. In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

Bells and the Rebirth of Notre Dame

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Merry Christmas! Every year at this time we honor the memory of the great German-American musicologist, Karl Haas, host of the nationally syndicated radio program, Adventures in Good Music. Airing between 1970 and 2007, it was radio’s most widely listened-to classical music program. Following the show’s theme music, the second movement of Beethoven’s “Pathétique” Sonata, Haas would utter his trademark greeting, “Hello everyone.” One of the most popular episodes, The Story of the Bells, aired …

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Busoni’s “Nuit de Noël”: An Atmospheric Sketch

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Nuit de Noël (“Christmas Night”) is a six-page sketch for solo piano, written in 1908 by the Italian composer and pianist Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924). An Impressionistic tone painting of Christmas night, it is music filled with mysticism and atmosphere. Gently floating fourths and fifths evoke the magic of falling snowflakes. The rhythm takes the lilting form of a siciliana. A quotation emerges of the Sicilian carol, O sanctissima, known in German-speaking countries as …

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Berlioz’ “L’Enfance du Christ”: The Shepherds’ Farewell and Final Chorus

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Hector Berlioz’ L’enfance du Christ, Op. 25 (“The Childhood of Christ”) is a Christmas oratorio in three parts. It tells the story of the flight of the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus) into Egypt following King Herod’s decree that all newborn children in Judaea be massacred. Berlioz wrote the text, which is based on the Gospel of Matthew 2:13. The work was first performed at Paris’ Salle Herz on …

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Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Greensleeves: Celebrating a 400-Year-Old English Folk Song

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In 16th century England, Greensleeves was already such a popular melody that William Shakespeare referenced it in his 1597 comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor with Falstaff’s exclamation, Let the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’! The English folk song was first registered in September of 1580 under the title, “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves.” According to myth, the melody was written by Henry VIII. …

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Remembering Martial Solal

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Martial Solal, the Algerian-born French jazz pianist and composer, passed away last Thursday, December 12 in Versailles. He was 97 years old. In the preface to Solal’s autobiography, André Hodeir wrote, Martial Solal, born in 1927, is a pianist. According to Alain Gerber, he is ‘one of the world’s greatest musicians, across all styles, genres and cultures’. Solal ‘astounded’ Sviatoslav Richter, dazzled Duke Ellington with his ‘sensitivity, freshness, creativity and extraordinary technique’, …

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John Dowland’s “Time Stands Still”: A Renaissance Love Song

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An undercurrent of quiet melancholy runs throughout the songs of John Dowland (1563 – 1626), the English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer who was employed by the court of Christian IV of Denmark before returning to London to serve James I. The poet Richard Barnfield wrote that Dowland’s “heavenly touch upon the lute doth ravish human sense.” Dowland’s Time Stands Still, published in 1603 as part of The Third and Last Booke of …

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Takemitsu’s “I Hear the Water Dreaming”: An Impressionistic Concertante for Flute and Orchestra

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Dreamtime lies at the center of Australian aboriginal culture. A mythology dating back 60,000 years, it is a collection of stories involving the creation of the universe, the origin of life, and humanity’s role in the world. The stories are passed from one generation to another through music, art, and ceremony. It was a work of art—an aboriginal painting titled Water Dreaming from the desert region of Papunya in Western Australia—that formed …

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