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Historic Boyhoods by Rupert S. Holland

historic_boyhoods_1402

 

Most boys grow up to be honest, maybe even good, men, but do not stand out from the crowd. Occasionally, along comes a boy who is destined, either by character or circumstance, to make his mark on the world. In this work are included 21 biographical sketches of boys who became famous in the arts, affairs of state or exploration and discovery. Historical fact is blended with surmise and imagination to bring these boyhoods alive. – Summary by Lynne Thompson for Librivox

Whole book (zip file)Download

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Internet Archive Page

Online text

Run time: 6:57

Christopher Columbus The Boy of Genoa: 1446(?)-1506

Michael Angelo The Boy of the Medici Gardens: 1475-1564

Walter Raleigh The Boy of Devon: 1552-1618

Peter the Great The Boy of the Kremlin: 1672-1725

Frederick the Great The Boy of Potsdam: 1712-1788

George Washington The Boy of the Old Dominion: 1732-1799

Daniel Boone The Boy of the Frontier: 1735-1820

John Paul Jones The Boy of the Atlantic: 1747-1792

Mozart The Boy of Salzburg: 1756-1791

Lafayette The Boy of Versailles: 1757-1834

Horatio Nelson The Boy of the Channel Fleet: 1758-1805

Robert Fulton The Boy of the Conestoga: 1765-1815

Andrew Jackson The Boy of the Carolinas: 1767-1845

Napoleon Bonaparte The Boy of Brienne: 1769-1821

Walter Scott The Boy of the Canongate: 1771-1832

James Fenimore Cooper The Boy of Otsego Hall: 1789-1851

John Ericsson The Boy of the G?ta Canal: 1803-1889

Garibaldi The Boy of the Mediterranean: 1807-1882

Abraham Lincoln The Boy of the American Wilderness: 1809-1865

Charles Dickens The Boy of the London Streets: 1812-1870

Otto von Bismarck The Boy of G?ttingen: 1815-1898

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Richard Wagner: The Story of the Boy Who Wrote Little Plays by Thomas Tapper

Wagner's Lohengrin
Wagner’s Lohengrin

Read this book online to see the illustrations OR Follow along on your Kindle

Richard Wagner: The Story of the Boy Who Wrote Little Plays (left click to play or right click ?save as? to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper.?Download the entire book as a zipped file?OR?Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

Run time: 14 minutes

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Frederic Francois Chopin: The Story of a Boy Who Made Beautiful Melodies by Thomas Tapper

Chopin playing for the prince

 

Read this book and see the illustrations online or Follow along on your Kindle

Frederic Francois Chopin: The Story of a Boy Who Made Beautiful Melodies (left click to play or right click ?save as? to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper.?Download the entire book as a zipped file?OR?Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

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Franz Joseph Haydn: The Story of the Choir Boy who became a Great Composer


Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle

Franz Joseph Haydn: The Story of the Choir Boy who became a Great Composer (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

You can find out more about Haydn here!

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Mozart: The Story of a Little Boy and his Sister Who Gave Concerts by Thomas Tapper

Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle

Mozart: The Story of a Little Boy and his Sister who gave Concerts (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

Listen to Mozart’s music

Click here to read a short bio of Mozart on Classics for Kids and to listen to his piano Sonata No. 11 in A.

The following several selections are recorded by Jon Sayles on classical guitar.? For more of his beautiful recordings of both classical and early/renaissance music,? visit his website.

Andante from Divertimento II (K439b)
Allegro–from K229

Adagio after K439b

Listen to more podcasts about Mozart on Classics for Kids.

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Handel: The Story of a Little Boy who practiced in an Attic by Thomas Tapper

Read this book and see the illustrations online OR Follow along on your Kindle

Handel: The Little Boy who practiced in an Attic (left click to play or right click “save as” to download)

This story is an excerpt from the book Stories of Great Composers for Children by Thomas Tapper. Download the entire book as a zipped file OR Subscribe to the entire book in iTunes

You can find out more about Handel here!

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Johann Sebastian Bach: The Story of the Boy who Sang in the Streets by Thomas Tapper

Read this book and view the illustrations online, OR Follow along on your Kindle

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Story of the Boy who Sang in the Streets (left click to listen or Right Click “save as” to download)

This story is from the book “Stories of Great Composers for Children” by Thomas Tapper. Subscribe to the whole book in iTunes or Download the entire book as a zipped file.

Listen to Bach’s music:

The following several selections are recorded by Jon Sayles on classical guitar.? For more of his beautiful recordings of both classical and early/renaissance music, including several more Bach selections, visit his website.

Sheep May Safely Graze

Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light (from the Christmas Oratorio)

Now Let us to the Bagpipe’s Sound from the Peasant’s Cantata

Gavotte in A

Goldberg Variations, Number 2,? Number 10, Number 18

Listen to the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on Classics for Kids

More resources for studying Bach:

For more stories about Bach, including the podcasts “About Johann Sebastian Bach”, “The Sons of Johann Sebastian Bach”, “What’s a Concerto” and “More about the Brandenburg Concertos”, visit Classics for Kids.

Classics for Kids activity sheet about Bach and the Brandenburg Concertos

CurrClick has many resources for the study of Bach and classical music.

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Rusty in Orchestraville

European Union Youth Orchestra playing at Royal Albert Hall, public domain image

This album at Kiddie Records Weekly introduces young children to the instruments of the orchestra.   The unusual effect of instruments “talking” is achieved with the use of a sonovox.

Click here to go to Kiddie Records Weekly 2005, page down the left sidebar to March, Week 10 and click on the album title.   Look under the album cover for the links to launch the audio stream.

Click here to see a selection of downloadable materials from CurrClick which could be used in a study of composers.

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Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci for young people

Scene from the Opera Pagliacci, photo released to public domain

The Young People’s Opera House presents Pagliacci for the juvenile audience.  This program can be streamed from Kiddie Records Weekly. Page down to February week 9, then click the link.  Page below the album cover to see the links for launching the audio stream.

Here is a description of this opera from Kiddie Records Weekly:

This seldom seen label introduces an opera classic to the kids.  Composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1858-1919), it is the story of a sad clown who, betrayed by his wife, must make his audience laugh while he weeps behind a painted smile.  Driven to madness, his jealous rage brings about a tragic finale.

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Opera on Kiddie Records Weekly

Nino Ananiashvii in Swan Lake ballet, image published under Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 by author Paata Vardanashvii

The album Capitol Music Appreciation Singles features 4 classical music programs for children.

Titles in this program are:

Themes from Peer Gynt Suites

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake

The Three-Cornered Hat

Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers

To listen to any of the above programs, click here. Page down to July week 27 and click the link.  Look below the album cover for links to each of these albums.

Aleksander Zelwerowicz as Figaro in The Barber of Seville

Click here for the album The Barber of Seville. Page down to January week 4.  There are 3 other albums presented during the same week.   To hear The Barber of Seville, launch the audio stream in Windows Media player and click album 3.

Tyl and His Merry Pranks (album 4 at this same link) is also part of the series Stories of the Ballet.

Kiddie Records Weekly 2009 has another album from the series Stories of the Ballet.   Page down to week 25 and click Pineapple Poll.   Launch the audio stream in Windows Media player and click album 3.

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Georg Friedrich Handel

Georg Friedrich Handel, by Balthasar Denner, public domain image

Classics for Kids has many excellent podcasts for children about composers.  Here are some links to their site:

You can read a short biography of Handel here. Click “hear the music” to hear a selection from Handel.  And here are some podcasts about Handel.

Click here to listen to all of their podcasts about Handel, and to view activity sheets and brief quizzes.
Titles include:

About George Frederick Handel

The Story of the Water Music

Other Water Music

Music By Royalty and Nobility

For more great podcasts and worksheets about other composers, go to Classics for Kids.

Clicking these links will take you away from My Audio School, so please be sure you have an adult’s permission.

Click here to see a selection of downloadable materials from CurrClick which could be used in a study of composers. This link will also take you away from My Audio School.

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Stories and Music for Christmas

Stories:

The Angel at the Altar

The Manger of Bethlehem

Shepherds and Singing Angels

The Star and the Wise Men

Music:

The following Christmas songs and madrigals are masterfully played by classical guitarist Jon Sayles. Many thanks to Mr. Sayles for releasing this music to the public domain, for our enjoyment.

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

Sweet was the Song the Virgin Sang by John Wilbye

Hark, Jolly Shepherds by Thomas Morley

Though Amaryllis Dance in Green by William Byrd

Four hands, two necks, one Wreathing by Thomas Weelkes