A Lover's Concerto

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"A Lover's Concerto"
A Lover's Concerto - The Toys.jpg
Single by The Toys
from the album The Toys Sing "A Lover's Concerto" and "Attack!"
B-side "This Night"
ReleasedAugust 1965 (US)
October 1965 (UK)
Genre Pop
Length2:36
Label DynoVoice
Songwriter(s) Sandy Linzer, Denny Randell, Christian Petzold
Producer(s) Linzer and Randell
The Toys singles chronology
"A Lover's Concerto"
(1965)		"Attack!"
(1966)

"A Lover's Concerto" is a pop song written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, based on the 18th century composition by Christian Petzold, "Minuet in G major", and recorded in 1965 by the Toys. "A Lover's Concerto" sold more than two million copies and was awarded gold record certification by the RIAA. [1]

Contents

Their original version of the song was a major hit in the United States and United Kingdom (among other countries) during 1965. It peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 2. [2] "A Lover's Concerto" reached number 1 both on the US Cashbox chart (Billboard's main competitor), and in Canada on the RPM national singles chart. It peaked at number 5 in the UK Singles Chart. [3]

History

Linzer and Randell used the melody of the familiar "Minuet in G major" (BWV Anh. 114), which first appeared in J.S. Bach's Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach . [2] The only difference is that the "Minuet in G major" is written in 3
4 time, whereas "A Lover's Concerto" is arranged in 4
4 time. Although often attributed to Bach himself, the "Minuet in G major" is now generally accepted as having been written by Christian Petzold. [4] [5] [6]

The melody had been popularized by bandleader Freddy Martin in the 1940s, in a recording that was released under the title "A Lover's Concerto". [7]

Critic Dave Thompson wrote of the Toys' version: "Few records are this perfect. Riding across one of the most deceptively hook-laden melodies ever conceived ... 'A Lover's Concerto' marks the apogee of the Girl Group sound." [2] The song also has an unusual structure that blurs the differences between its verses and choruses. [2] Add to this, it was also popularized by Sarah Vaughan under Mercury label in the late ‘60s. The lyrics begin:

How gentle is the rain
That falls softly on the meadow,
Birds high up in the trees
Serenade the clouds with their melodies

Chart history

Related Research Articles

<i>Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach</i>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Toys</span> American pop girl group of the 1960s

The Toys were an American pop girl group from Jamaica, New York, which was formed in 1961 and disbanded in 1968. Their most successful recording was "A Lover's Concerto" (1965), which sold more than two million copies and reached the number-two spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Sandy Linzer is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Denny Randell and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including "A Lover's Concerto", "Let's Hang On!", "Working My Way Back to You", "Breakin' Down the Walls of Heartache", "Native New Yorker", and "Use It Up and Wear It Out". He was nominated with Randell for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) in 2012.

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Christian Petzold was a German composer and organist. He was active primarily in Dresden, and achieved a high reputation during his lifetime, but his surviving works are few. It was established in the 1970s that the famous Minuet in G major, previously attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, was in fact the work of Petzold. The sprightly melody was used in the 1965 pop music hit "A Lover's Concerto" by the American group The Toys.

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References

  1. ↑ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p.  198. ISBN   0-214-20512-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dave Thompson. "A Lover's Concerto - The Toys | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  3. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 563. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  4. ↑ Wolff, Christoph (2001). "Bach. III. 7. Johann Sebastian Bach. Works". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN   978-1-56159-239-5.‎
  5. ↑ Williams, Peter F.. 2007. J.S. Bach: A Life in Music, p. 158. Cambridge University Press.
  6. ↑ Schulenberg, David. 2006. The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach, p. 522 and elsewhere.
  7. ↑ Archived December 30, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1965-10-25. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  9. ↑ "flavour of new zealand - search lever". www.flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
  10. ↑ "The Toys: Singles". Officialcharts.com. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  11. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN   0-89820-089-X
  12. 1 2 "1969: The Top 100 Soul/R&B Singles". RateYourMusic. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 10/23/65". tropicalglen.com. Retrieved Dec 4, 2020.
  14. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN   0-89820-142-X.
  15. ↑ "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 25, 1965". Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
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