Δευτέρα 30 Ιουλίου 2012

ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ ΙΟΥΛΙΟΥ






*JULY  1 
Erik Satie - Gnossienne No.1 
Death of MARC'ANTONIO INGEGNERI 1592 in Cremona 
Italian composer and organist. He worked for most of his life in Cremona, where he became maestro di cappella about 1579. Most of his madrigals are contained in seven volumes published in Venice between 1572 and 1587, and one published posthumously in 1606. They are rather old-fashioned, although chromaticism is used occasionally, but were popular during Ingegneri's lifetime and after his death, and influenced his most important pupil, Monteverdi, with their clear, well-worked-out structures. His 27 responsories for Holy Week were for some time attributed to Palestrina.
In Monte Oliveti by Marc Antonio Ingegneri

* JULY  2
Death of THOMAS SELLE 1663 in Hamburg 
 German composer. He held appointments in north-west Germany before settling in Hamburg in 1641 as Kantor at the Johanneum and civic director of music. His compositions include some 280 sacred works,among them motets marked marked 'ad imitationnem Orlandi', which 'parodi' works by Lassus. His second St John Passion (1643) was the first to involve obbligato instruments, both to provide an accompaniment and to delineate characters.
Thomas Selle - Choralkonzerte 


Birth of JOHANN STADEN 1581 in Nuremberg
German organist and composer. After service, from about 1604, as court organist at Bayreuth in 1611 to Nuremberg where, as organist of St Sebald's, he initiated the so-called Nuremburg School. His succesors included Johann Kindermann, J.P.Krieger, and Pachelbel. With his Kirchen-Musik (1625-6) he was one of the first in Germany to provide sacred concertos for mixed vocal and instrumental resources. His output also includes solo songs, sacred and secular, and numerous individual instrumental compositions-symphonias, sonata s, and dances-which are among the finest of his time.
Die Kunst der Stadtpfeifer (1/3) Gottfried Reiche, Johann Staden, Johann Kindermann 


Death of FELIX MOTTL 1856 in Unter-St Veit, ViennaAustrian conductor. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Bruckner, assisted with the first Wagner Festival at Bayreuth in 1876 and in 1881 became principal conductor of the Karlsruhe Philharmonic Society, with which for 23 years he gave pioneering performances of Wagner and Berlioz with the highest standards of execution and ensemble. From 1886 he was a guest conductor at Bayreuth, where he closely followed Wagner's own flexible style of performance. In 1903 he became music director of the Munich Opera. He composed stage works and songs, and edited vocal scores of Wagner's operas.
Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Introduction (Vorspiel) played by Felix Mottl in 1907 


Birth of CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK 1714 in Erasbach, Upper Palatinate
Austrian composer. For details SEE Nov.15 (music diary)
Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orphee et Eurydice (1774 tenor version in French) -
No. 4. The Furies
(Richard
Death of FRANCOIS BAZIN 1878 in Paris 
French composer, teacher and conductor. At the ParisConservatoire (1834-40) he won first prizes for harmony, counterpoint, and organ, and also the Prix de Rome. He went on to pursue a career between theatre composition, teaching at the Conservatoire, and conducting. His success at the Opera-Comique inclured 'Maitre Pathelin' (1856) and,above all, 'Le Voyage en Chine' (1865). He also composed a Mass and other choral works. He published a harmony tutor in 1858 and succeeded Ambroise Thomas as professor of composition at the Conservatoire in 1871.
Roberto Alagna - "Je pense à vous" François Bazin 
 
* JULY  3


Birth of LEOS JANACEK 1854 in Hukvaldy,Czechoslovakia 
Czech composer. The son of a schoolmaster and organist, he studied at the Augustinian 'Queen's' Monastery and the German Realschule in Brno and in 1869 prepared himself to follow his father's career, attending the Brno Teacher Training College (1869-74) and the Prague Organ School (1874-5). He went for brief periods to study at the conservatories of Leipzig (1879-80) and Vienna (1880). In 1881 he became founder and first director of the Brno Organ School. For the next 30 or so years he lived in Brno in relative obscurity: his first mature works, such as the 'Lachian Dances' for orchestra (1889-90), suggested only that he would develop as a gifted follower of Dvorak. All his studies bore fruit in his opera 'Jenufa' (1904), a passionate tale of love and jealousy set in a Moravian village. The Prague premiere of this opera in a revised version, given in 1916, belatedly established his reputation, both nationally and soon internationally. A major influence of the music of this time was Janacek's passionate friendship with Camila Stosslova, 35 years his junior. In many ways she became his muse, and his love for her is commemorated in several of his later works. From this period came his orchestral rhapsody 'Taras Bulba' (1915-18) and his boldly scored Sinfonietta (1926), his two String Quarters (1923 qand 1928), and a variety of other chamber pieces. His greatest achievements however, came in a rapid succession of operas: 'The Excursions of Mr Broucek' (1920), 'The Cunning Little Vixen',(1924), The Makropoulos Affair (1926), and 'From the House of the Dead' (1930).Leoš Janáček  - Piano Sonata 1. X. 1905 "From the Street" (1 of 2) 


 Birth of LEOS JANACEK 1854 in Hukvaldy, Czechoslovakia
Czech composer. The son of a schoolmaster and organist, he studied at the Augustinian 'Queen's' Monastery and the German Realschule in Brno and in 1869 prepared himself to follow his father's career, attending the Brno Teacher Training College (1869-74) and the Prague Organ School(1874-5). He went for brief periods to study at the conservatories of Leipzig (1879-80) and Vienna (1880). In 1881 he became founder and first director of the Brno Organ School. For the next 30 or so years he lived in Brno in relative obscurity: his first mature works, such as the 'Lachian Dances' for orchestra (1889-90), suggested only that he would develop as a gifted follower og Dvorak. All his studies bore fruit in his opera 'Jenufa' (1904), a passionate tale of love and jealousy set in a Moravian village. The Prague premiere of this opera in a revised version, given in 1916, belatedly established his reputation, both nationally and soon internationally. A major influence of the music of this time was Janacek's passionate friendship with Camila Stosslova, 35 years his junior. In many ways she became his muse, and his love for her is commemorated in several of his later works. From this period came his orchestral rhapsody 'Taras Bulba' (1915-18) and his boldly scored Sinfonietta (1926), his two String Quarters (1923 and 1928), and a variety of other chamber pieces. His greatest achievements however, came in a rapid succession of operas:'The Excursions of Mr Broucek' (1920), 'The Cunning Little Vixen',(1924) 'The Makropoulos Affair' (1926), and 'From the House of the Dead' (1930).
Leoš Janáček  - Piano Sonata 1. X. 1905 "From the Street" (1 of 2)  

 * JULY  4


Birth of FLOR PEETERS 1903 in Tielen    
Belgian composer and organist. He studied at the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen, where he became cathedral organist in 1925, and in Paris with Marcel Dupre and Charles Tournemire. He was active as a recitalist throughout the world and as a teacher, directing the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp (1952-68). His enormous output includes organ music of all kinds, much of it reflecting his interests in Flemish Renaissance polyphony, the music of Bach, Gregorian chant, and Flemish folk music. In addition he composed masses and other church music, some secular vocal works, chamber music, and piano pieces.
Gloria Flor Peeters 


Death of WILLIAM BYRD 1623 in Stondon Massey, Essex 
English composer. He was the foremost English composer during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. His large output, which includes masses, motets, polyphonic songs, and works for keyboard and instrumental consort, ranks among the most individual and inspired of the late Renaissance, on a level of that of Palestrina, Lassus, or Victoria. It is thought likely that Byrd was a pupil of Tallis in the Chapel Royal, becoming Tallis's assistant after his voice broke. Early in 1572 Byrd was sworn in as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in the succession to Robert Parsons, also becoming joint organist with Tallis. During his career in London, Byrd devoted a greal deal of time to the composition of motets, Latin having been officially sanctioned by Elizabeth for the services of the Chapel Royal. In 1589 and 1591 Byrd issued two collections of 'Cantiones sacrae', many of which stand as moving testaments of his personal convictions. He was a prolific composer of keyboard music. He produced many fine sets of variations on popular melodies and ground basses as well as stylised dance music and such abstract pieces as fantasias and preludes.Byrd's impact on his contemporaries was profound; his pupils includedMorley and Tomkins, and there can have been few English composers of the period who failed to learn by his example. His output was widely admired, and served as a secure foundation for the work of a whole generation of younger composers.
Glenn Gould plays William Byrd - Sellinger's Round


Birth of PHILIPPE DE MONTE 1521 in Mechelen 
Flemish composer. An educated man who spoke and wrote five languages, he was in Italy from 1542 to 1551, teaching the children of a noble family in Naples. By 1554 he was in Rome, and that year visited Antwerp before travelling to England, where he was a member of the private chapel of Philip II of Spain, husband of Mary Tudor; there he met Thomas Byrd. He left England in 1555 and after a few more years in Italy was appointed court Kapellmeister to Maximilian II in 1568, remaining in the imperial service for the rest of his life and moving between Vienna and Prague, the favourite court of Maximilian's successor, Rudolf II. His output of 19 books of madrigals for five voices, nine for six, and three for seven was unusually large.
CINQUECENTO La dolce vista Philippe de Monte


* JULY 5
Death of WILLIAM G WHITTAKER 1944 in Orkney Isles
 English choral conductor and composer.He taught at Armstrong College,Durham University,between 1898 and 1929.He was then appointed professor of music at Glasgow University.In 1915 he founded the Newcastle Bach Choir,which became renowned for its performances of Bach and new British and French vocal music.Much of his own work,which included many arrangements of Northumbrian folk tunes,was vocal,notably the large-scale'A Lyke-Wake Dirge'and a setting of Psalm 139,but he also produced a piano quintet 'Among the North-umbrian Hills and a wind quintet.
"Maa Bonny Lad" arranged by Cheryl Shantz


* JULY 5
Birth of JOSEPH HOLBROOKE 1878 in Croydon
 English composer. He studied at the RAM and was heavily influenced by Wagner and Richard Strauss. His large output is dominated by music for the stage,the orchestra,and for chamber ensembles. Obsessed with the work of Edgar Allan Poe, he had his first success with the symphonic poem 'The Raven' (1900). He produced four symphonies,concertos for piano, violin, and cello, and many symphonic poems, all written for huge orchestra.
Joseph Holbrooke - The Children of Don.mpeg


* JULY  6 
Death of NICOLAS LEBEGUE 1702 in Paris
French composer. The son of a miller-maker, he left Laon for Paris when he was in his 20s. In 1664 he was appointed organist of St Merri, and in 1678 he joined Nivers, J.-D.Thomelin, and J.-B Buterne as one of the four organists to the royal chapel. In his later years he was swindled of his life savings, and at the age of 69 underwent successful surgery for a kidney stone. His published volumes of harpsichord pieces helped to standardize the number and order of dances in the suite, and his collections of organ works contain a wide range of pieces, from virtuoso keyboard trios to simple Mass versets and arrangements of popular 'noels'. 
NICOLAS LEBEGUE ( 1631-1702 ) - SUITE DU 1er TON POUR ORGUE - THIERRY MAEDER, orgue Parisot
* JULY  7  

Birth of GUSTAV MAHLER 1860 in Kaliste, Bohemia   
Austrian composer and conductor.For details SEE May 18th (music diary)
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No.9 in D-major - IV, Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend


Birth of GIAN CARLO MENOTTI 1911 in Cadegliano  
Italian-born American composer. He studied at the Milan Concervatory and with Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he taught from 1984 to 1955. In 1958 he founded the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto. Primarily an opera composer, he achieved international attention in the years immediately after World War II with 'The Medium' (1946), 'The Telephone' (1947), and 'The Consul' (1950), all of which show theatrical flair and an opportune use of music to heighten melodramatic situations. Menotti wrote the libretos for all his own operas and also for Samuel Barber's 'Vanesse'.   
Gian Carlo Menotti - Sebastian (1944) ballet suite [1/2]
Death of MICHELANGELO ROSSI 1656 in Rome   
Ιtalian composer and violinist. His early life was spent in Genoa, but by 1624 he was in Rome, where, apart from occasional visits elsewhere, he remained for the rest of his life. In the 1630s he was involved with the Barberini family; his opera'Erminia sul Giordano', performed with sets by Bernini at the Palazzo Barberini in 1633, includes some splendid arias and ensembles. Rossi's most important music is for keyboard; about 1640 he published a volume of keyboard music containing toccatas in a style similar to that of Frescobaldi. In his lifetime he was best known as a virtuoso violinist.    
Toccata Settima by Michelangelo Rossi on harpsichord  


* JULY  8  
Death of ANTONIO MARIA BONONCINI 1726 in Modena 
Italian composer. The younger brother of Giovanni, also studied in Bologna. He then worked in Vienna until 1713, when he returned to Italy,becoming maestro di cappella at Modena in 1721. Padre Martini praised the skilful counterpoint and bold use of harmony in his small output of opera, cantatas, and church music, but these factors may have militated against his achieving a popular success comparable to that of his brother.
Sul margine adorato - 


* JULY  9  
Death of GIOVANNI BONONCINI 1747 in Vienna  
Italian composer. The eldest son of Giovanni Maria, after whose death he went to Bologna; there he studied with Colonna and at the age of 15 became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica. By 18 he had become both maestro di cappella at S.Giovanni in Monte and a musician at S.Petronio, and had prodused a large quantity of instrumental and sacred music. In 1692 he went to Rome where he composed the opera'Il trionfo di Camilla', which enjoyed unprecedented success in Italy and elsewhere. In 1697 he entered the service of Leopold I in Vienna at an enormous salary. By the time he returned to Italy in 1713 Bononcini was one of the most celebrated composers in Europe. His recruitment by the Earl of Burlington as composer to the Royal Academy of music in London must have been a considerable coup for that organization. He arrived in London in 1720 and he remained in England until 1731. He returned to Vienna after a short visit to Lisbon. With Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti,Bononcini was one of the most composers of his time. In London he was regarded as virtually Handel's equal. 
Luciano Pavarotti. Per la gloria d´adorarvi. Giovanni Bononcini. 

* JULY  10


Birth of CARL ORFF 1895 in Munich  
German composer. For details SEE March 29th (music diary)
 Carl Orff - Music for 1936 Olympics 
Death of Sir DONALD TOVEY 1940 in Edinburgh
English pianist, composer, and writer of music. The son of an Eton master, he studied classics at Oxford but spent some years after graduation as a pianist and composer. In 1914 he was appointed professor ofmusic at Edinburgh University, where he wrote his famous programme notes for the Reid concerts which he also conducted. These were later collected and published as 'Essays in Musical Analysis'. He also wrote a book on Beethoven and some miscellaneous essays.   
Tovey - Air for Strings
  
Birth of LJUBA WELITSCH 1913 in Vienna 
 Austrian soprano. As a child she played the violin, going on to study philosophy at Sofia University before turning to singing. She made her operatic debut in Sofia in 1935, and sang in Graz and Munich before joining the Vienna State Opera in 1944; she caused a sensation during the company's visit to Covent Garden in 1947. She was famous-even-notorious-for the unbridled eroticism she brought to her singing. Her Salome, a role in which she was coached by Strauss, was considered definite.   
Ljuba Welitsch - Vissi d'arte Tosca 
Death of RUED LANGGAARD 1952 in Ride Danisnist.    Grounded in music by his parents, he made his debut as a virtuoso organist at the age of 11, and his precocious First Symphony was performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. His output is bizzarely inconsistent in style and quality, but at his best-as in the Fourth and Sixth Symphonies,T he Third Quartet, and above all the visionary 'Music of the Spheres', -he could be strikingly original.   
Rued Langgaard: Symphony #1 in B Minor "Mountain Pastorals", BVN 32 - I "Surf and Glimpses of Sun" 


*JULY  11  


Birth of CARLOS GOMES 1836 in Campinas   
Brazilian composer, of Portuguese parentage. He studied with father,a bandmaster,and began composing at the age of 15. He then entered the conservatory at Rio de Janeiro,where in 1861 he wrote his first opera. Two years later he went to Italy on an imperial scholarship to study at the Milan Conservatory.There he embarked on a highly successful career as a composer of operas in robust, lyrical Italian style. His best-known work,'Il Guarany', was produced at La Scala in 1870.  About 1890 Gomes returned to Brazil, but his monarchist leanings made him unpopular with the new rebublic, and no significant appointment came his way until a few months before his death, when he was appointed director of the Belem Conservatory (1895).  
O Guarani (Carlos  Gomes) 
Death of GEORGE GERSHWIN 1937 in Hollywood, CA
American composer.For details SEE Sept 26 (music diary)
George Gershwin clip on Nightmusic  


* JULY 12 
Birth of JUAN del ENCINA 1468 in Salamanca  
Spanish poet, dramatist, and composer. The son of an artisan called Fermoselle, he was a choirboy at Salamanca Cathedral and studied at the University there. By 1495 he was in the service of the Duke of Alba, and became famous as a writer of plays, on both secular and sacred themes. By 1500 he was in Rome; he was favoured by Pope Julius II, who granted him the archdiaconate of Malaga Cathedral. He was ordained in 1519, and celebrated his first Mass in Jerusalem that year. More than 60 villancicos by Encina survive, and he is considered the finest master of the genre. 
 Juan del Enzina (1468 - 1529), Hoy comamos y bevamos. Savall 

Birth of EVARISTO FELICE DALL'ABACO 1675 in Verona  
Italian composer and violinist. He worked at the Este cour at Modena from 1696 until at least 1701, and is next heard of in 1704 at the Bavarian court of Elector Maximilian II. He wrote attractive sonatas and concertos, and the rhythmic quality of his themes is sometimes reminiscent of Vivaldi.
Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco (1675-1742) Concerto a più Istrumenti No.3, Op.5  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd7wsv1mAK0&feature=share

Birth of GEORGE BUTTERWORTH 1885 in London  
English composer. He was educated at Eton, where he had lessons from Thomas Dunhill, and at Trinity College, Oxford (1904-8). He studied composition with Charles Wood ant the organ with Walter Parratt. He formed a friendship with Vaughan Williams and helped him with the reconstruction of 'A London Symphony'. Soon after war was declared in 1914 he joined the army and was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. A slender output reveals a refined sensibility inspired by the folksong movement. His orchestral works include ''Two English Idylls'' (1911), the rhapsody ''A Shropshire Lad'' (1912), and ''The Banks of Green Willow'' (1913). 
The Banks of Green Willow  

*JULY  13   
Death of ARNOLD SCHOENBERG 1951 in Los Angeles   
Austro-Hungarian composer. For details SEE Sep.13th (music diary) 
Arnold Schoenberg: Kammersymphonie op. 9 


*JULY  14 


Death of EDMUND HOOPER 1621 in London   English church musician and composer.By 1582 he was a singer at the choir of Westminster Abbey; six years later he was appointed Master of the Choristers there. In 1604 he became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and in 1615 was promoted to the position of joint organist, working alongside Orlando Gibbons. In addition to anthems and canticles, he wrote sacred songs for domestic use and some keyboard dance movements. 
Westminster Abbey Choir - Great Service(Hooper).wmv 


*JULY   15 


 Death of ERNEST BLOCH 1959 in Portland  
Swiss-born American composer. His violin and composition studies included periods in Geneva, Brussels, Frankfurt, and Munich. In 1904 he returned to work for his father in Geneva, where he composed his opera 'Macbeth', a bold music drama combining influence from Debussy, Wagner, and Musorgsky. In 1916 Bloch emigrated to the USA, where he taught at the Mannes School in New York, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the San Francisco Conservatory; his pupils included Roger Sessions and Quincy Porter. He continued to compose steadily, influenced by neo-classicism in such works as the Concerto Grosso no.1 but retaining the melodic warmth that had characterized his earlier Jewish music. He returned to Switzerland in 1930 and began to write large-scale works including the Jewish liturgical setting 'Avodath an Hakodesh' and the Violin Concerto. In 1939 he went back to the USA, settled in Oregon, and taught summer courses at the University of California at Berkeley. During his final period he concentrated on larger abstract forms. 
Ernest Bloch - Concerto Grosso 1   


*JULY  17  
 Death of GABRIEL PIERNE 1937 in Ploujean
French composer. He studied composition with Massenet and the organ with Franck at the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Prix de Rome. He returned from Italy to succeed Franck as organist of Ste Clotilde in Paris but then concentrated on conducting and composition. A conductor of the Colonne concerts he was responsible for the first performance of Debussy's 'Images' among many other works. His own compositions range from light pieces to substantial oratorios,o peras, and chamber works, and show a fertile imagination at work in a basically Franckian style.  
Canzonetta - Pierne

*JULY 19  
Death of JEAN-BAPTISTE FORQUERAY 1782 in Paris   French composer.
He was the son of Antoine. He too was a virtuoso viol player, who as a child played for Louis XIV. By 1726 he was playing in the 'petit choeur' of the Academie Royale as well as in the salons of wealthy Parisians; after his marriage in 1732 he lived with his wife at the hotel of the Chevalier Etienne Boucon, where he played with Jean-Pierre Guignon and Rameau. After the death of his wife in 1740 he married the harpsichordist Marie-Rose Dubois. During the 1740s they were much in demand as a duo and it would seem probable that she had a hand in the harpsichord transcription of the Forquerays'pieces de viole, which was published simultaneously.   
Jean-Baptiste Forqueray - La Forqueray 

*JULY  20   

 
 Death of JOHANN CHRISTOPH PEPUSCH 1752 in London  
  German composer and theorist. After service at the Prussian court he settled in London as viola player and harpsichordist at Drury Lane theatre. His music for the stage includes five masques, notably 'Venus and Adonis' and 'Apollo and Daphne ' and he probably wrote the overture to The Beggar's Opera'. He did much to revive older music being among the founders of the Academy of Vocal Music, editing Corelli's instrumental works for publication in London. In 1713 he was awarded the Oxford D.Mus. and in 1746 Fellowship of the Royal Society. He married Margherita de L'Epine, a wealthy Italian opera singer, with whom he lived in considerable style.   
The Beggar's Opera: Johann Christoph Pepusch - Ouverture 


* JULY 24
Death of BENEDETTO MARCELLO 1739 in Brescia
Italian composer,writer,theorist,and public servant,younger brother of Alessandro Marcello.He entered the service of the Venetian Republic in 1707,becoming governer of Pola in 1730,and chamberlain of Brescia in 1738.He was admitted to the Academia Filarmonica in Bologna in 1712.He was one of the leading cantata composers of the time,and a successful singing teacher. His satire of the manners of the opera house,'Il teatro alla moda',which lampooned such major figures as Vivaldi,brought him considerable notoriety at the time,but should not be taken too seriously as a historical document.
Benedetto Marcello: Le quattro stagioni (1731) - Sinfonia for strings & b.c. / I Virtuosi delle Muse


* JULY 25

Death of DOUGLAS S MOORE 1969 in Greenport,NYAmerican composer and teacher.He studied at Yale with Oratio Parker and after the war,with d'Indy and Boulanger in Paris and Bloch in Cleveland.He taught at Columbia University from 1926 to 1962.Although he wrote orchestral and chamber music and many choruses and songs,he is best remembered as the composer of some of the first native operas to find a place in the American repertory,notably the folk opera 'The Devil and Daniel Webster(New York,1939) and 'The Ballad of Baby Doe(Central City,CO,1956).
Silver Aria

* JULY 28

Death of ANTONIO VIVALDI
 1741 in ViennaItalian violinist and composer.For more details SEE March 4th(music diary)
Antonio Vivaldi Concierto en D mayor-John Williams


Death of JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
1750 in LeipzigGerman composer.For more details SEE March 21st (music diary)
J. S. Bach: Air (Classical guitar)

* JULY 29

Death of ROBERT SCHUMANN
  1856 in Endenich,near BonnGerman composer.For more details SEE June 8th (music diary)
Mitsuko Uchida Plays Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9 - Part I

* JULY 31

Death of THOMAS WHYTHORNE
1596 in LondonEnglish music teacher and composer.The son of a Somerset gentleman ,he was educated at Magdalen College School,Oxford,and studied with the playwright-musician John Heywood.In the early 1550s he travelled to Italy via the Nethelands and Germany. He spent most of his life in the service of the English nobility,partly as a music tutor.Between 1571 and 1575 he was Master of Music at the Archbishop of Canterbury's chapel at Lambeth Palace.His polyphonic songs,largely settings of his own verse,appeared in a 'vanity ' publcation in 1571 He also published(1591) a set of two-voice pieces that are aimed principally at 'young beginners '.
I have ere this time - Thomas Whythorne (University of Mobi
http://youtu.be/eGIXNRC0Dg4

* JULY 31

Death of FRANZ LISZT
1886 in BayreuthHungarian composer.For more details SEE Oct.22nd (music diary)
Franz Liszt - Un Sospiro (by Marc-André Hamelin)
http://youtu.be/jLHU2ES51uw

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Κυριακή 29 Ιουλίου 2012

ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ - ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ


‎* APRIL 1

Birth of SERGEY RAKHMANINOV 1873 in Semyonovo.
Russian composer,pianist,and conductor.For details SEE 28th March(music diary)

Sergey Rachmaninov plays Gluck "Melody"



Birth of PIETER HELLENDAAL 1721 in Rotterdam.
Dutch violinist,organist,and composer.He studied in Italy with Tartini but by 1744 was again living in theNetherlands,in Amsterdam.In 1751 he left for London,where he gave several concerts.He settled in England,becoming organist of Pembroke College,Cambridge,in 1762.His published works include two booksof violin sonatas,six grand concertos and six solos for violin as well as eight solos for the violoncello with a thorough bass.The written-out cadenzas to his autograph violin sonatas,now in the Fitzwilliam Museum,Cambridge,provide valuable insights into late 18th century performance practice.

Pieter Hellendaal: Concerto No.5 in D Major, Part 1

* APRIL 3

Death of FRANZ BERWALD 1868 in Stockholm.
Swedish composer.He was the most original Scandinavian symphonist before Sibelius.His career encompassed those of Chopin,Schumann'Mendelssohn,and,save forone year,Berlioz.Only one of Berwald's mature symphonies,the 'Sinfonie serieuse'(1842),was performed in his lifetime;his masterpiece,the'Sinfonie singuliere'(18450,had to wait 60 years for its premiere.The'Sinfonie capricieuse'was the last to reach the public:a performing edition prepared by ErnstEllberg was given in Stockolm in 1914 under Sibelius's brother-in-law,Armas Jarnefelt.
Franz Berwald - Symphony no.1 (Part 1/5)



Death of FRANCESCO CORCELLI 1778 in Madrid.
Italian composer and conductor,of French extraction.His first significant appointment was as maestro di cappella to the Duke of Parma(later Charles III of Spain),1727-33.He spent the rest of his career in Spain,initially as music master to the royal children in Madrid(from 1734) then for 40 years from 1737 as maestro de capilla of the royalchapel and rector of the choir school.He soon established a formidable reputation as a composer of opera and sacred music.Although many of Courcelle's operas are now lost,the most popular,'Farnace'(1739),is extant and displays a lively dramatic sense,a fondness for chromaticism,and wide ranging of vocal writing.His dramaticproclivities are also evident in his more than 400 sacred works.
F. Corselli: Lamentación II del Vierne Santo de Tiple Solo (1768) / La Real Cámara



Death of Sir PETER PEARS 1986 in Aldeburgh.
English tenor.He made his debut in 1942 and joined Sadler's Wells the following year.He created all Britten's major tenor roles,from Peter Grimes (1945) to Aschenbach in 'Death in Venice'(1973).Many of the composer's solo works were also written specifically for his voice,whose clear,reedy timbre was coupled with great versality of technique and expression,from the inwardly reflective or humorou to the grand and heroic.With Britten as pianist he was also a notable interpreter of lieder.

B.Britten & P.Pears - O Waly, Waly



Death of JOHANNES BRAHMS 1897 in Hamburg.
THE EARLY YEARS AND THE MAKING OF A COMPOSER
German composer.With his brother,he was educated at his parents' expense at a middle school for 'boys of the general middle class'.One of his teachers,to whom Brahms gave piano lessons while he was still a student there,described him as a conscientious and hard-working,if not brilliant.He graduated at 14 with some knowledge of Latin,French,English,natural sciences,history,mathematics and gymnastics.He gave his first performance at ten.He appeared in public from his 13th year and made an auspicious debut as a virtuoso pianist before his 16th birthday,with a programme that included one of his own compositions.Lacking concert engagements,he contributed to the family finances by playing in taverns,in dance halls,for the Hamburg City Theatre,and at the occasional musical evening at a fine house,where he earned good money.The shortage of money in the Brahms household came not from insufficient income,but from Johann Brahms's propensity for unwise spending.At 19,in an attempt to to satisfy his parents and build a concert career,Brahms embarked on a short tour to a few small towns in northen Germany.When Brahms returned to Hamburg in Dec.1853 he was the most feted young composer in Germany,with seven works about to be issued by leading publishers.The meteoric rise was the result of his meeting with the Schumanns,the single most momentous occuranceof his life, personally and musically.More beneficially,both Schumanns broadened Brahms's musical and literary horizons and introdused him to friends and acquaintances who would figure in his life for the next four decades.Brahm's involvement with the Schumann family quickly led to years of personal turmoil,as Schumann,unbeknown to all,was suffering from the late stages of neurosyphilis.His suicide attempt in February 1854 and subsequent admission to the hospital signalled the end of Brahm's period of productivity.In coming to Clara's aim he fell in love with her,while maintaining a reverential love and active concern for her husband,now in an asylum.With Schumann's death(1856),Brahms returned to Hamburg.An exploratory trip to Vienna in 1862 coincided with his rejection for the post of conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic and Choral Society,a blow he never forgot and one that closed the doors to Hamburg for ever.

UNSETTLED YEARS and VIENNA
In Vienna came quick success.Two concerts led to Brahms's selection as conductor of the Vienna Singverein(1863).Although he resigned after omly a year to devote himself to composing,performing,and getting his music published,his career never faltered again.He had no fixed domicile and little money,but he was composing one great work after another.The next summers were spent mostly in Baden-Baden,where Clara and her children had their only real home.Works from this time include some of his best chamber music.His crowning work of the period is 'A German Requiem'op.45,begun about 1865 and performed in Bremen in 1868.It was soon given in many cities,establishing broad acceptance for his music at last,and the large fee paid by his publisher marked the end of Brahms's financial problems.Published at virtually the same tine are his two most popular works,the Lullaby and the Hungarian Dances.With an offer to conduct the orchestra and chorus of the Gesellscaft der Musikfreunde,Brahms settled in Vienna in 1871.In 1875 he resigned his orchestral post and established the pattern of living he maintained for the rest of his life:touring as performer and conductor of his own works during autumn and winter,travelling in the spring,and composing during the summer,usually in the mountains.For the last 20 years of his life,Brahms was the dominant musical figure in Vienna.When he died of cancer just before his 64th birthday,the city declared a day of mourning and uried him in an honorary grave between Beethoven and Schubert.

BRAHMS'S MUSIC and PERSONAL LIFE
Throughout his life he wrote and published music for imstrumental and vocal combinations with which he was familiar:his first published works are for piano,the first choral works are for women's voices,and his first duo sonata is for cello and piano.Full scale chamber works are equally evident in this middle period of maturity:the three string quartets,the Second String Sextet,two piano trios,the two string quintets.The two Rhapsodies for piano also at this time.So did much of his vocal chamber music-best known is the first set of 'Liebesliederwalzer'op.52,but there are many others.rich additions to an otherwise small repertory.And during these years,as in all others,he composed songs,of which there are over 200.He is one of the four great 19th-century German lied composers,and the only one to have lived a relatively long life.By the middle of his life his music had come to appeal to a musically educated audiencein England,the USA,and the German-speaking countries,who not only attended concerts of his works but bought the printed music for home use,either in four-hand editions of the orchestral and choral music,or in the original versions of the smaller combinations.Brahms never married,although he had several serious attachments to women(besides Clara Schumann) and numerous flirtations.

Johannes Brahms - Lullaby
Johannes Brahms- Waltz
Johannes Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5




* APRIL 5

Birth of ALBERT ROUSSEL 1869 in Tourcoing.
French composer.As a young man he was torn between careers in music and the navy.Eventually he decided on the latter and enteredthe college at Brest in 1887,receiving his commission in 1889.While at sea ,however,he began to teach himself composition and his first works were performed in the naval church at Cherbourg.Aftera period of extended leave,during which he took lessons in composition,Roussel resigned his commission in 1894.He studied first with the organist Eugene Gigout at the Ecole Niedermeyer,then in 1898 enrolled as a pupil of d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum.He was appointed professor of counterpoint in 1902,resigning in protest of the rigidity of the Schola,s methods in 1914,though he continued to teach privately.His pupils included Satie, Varese,and Martinu.In 1909 Roussel married and went on a honeymoon cruise to India,which inspired his choral'Evocations'(1912),the first work for which e received public and critical acclaim.His health,precarious since the war,broke down in 1921.He settled in Varengeville on the Normandy coast,living almost as a recluse,though he made occational trips to Paris and abroad.His 60th birthday was the occasionof the week-long festival in Paris,and in 1930 his greatest and most popular symphony,the Third,was given its premiere by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Koussevitzky in Roussel'spresence.His austereFourth Symphony was completed in 1934.He died suddenly from a heart attack,having just completed his String Trio(1937).
Albert Roussel - Baccus and Ariadne Part 1



Birth of HERBERT Von KARAJAN 1908 in Salzburg.
Austrian conductor.He studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum and made his debut in Salzburg in 1927 with 'Fidelio'.Hesoon made a strong impression in Germany as a brilliant and original conductor,who achieved great polish and refinement in his performances.After early appointments at Ulm(1929) and Aachen (1934),he came to highprominence as music director of the Berlin State Opera from 1939 to 1945. He formed an important association with the Philharmonia Orchestra(1948-60) and was a powerful music director of the Vienna State Opera(1956-64),but it was as music director of the Berlin Philharmonic(1955-89) that he achieved his great prowess.He was influential in opera,being artistic director of the Salzburg Festival(1956-60,1964-88) and founding the Salzburg Easter Festival,where he staged his own productions.He also made many films and operas.His international career was halted until 1947 because of his Nazi affiliations.A charismatic individual,he was one of the outstanding conductors of the second half of the 20th century.

Beethoven, Symphony No 7, II Karajan, Berliner Phil



* APRIL 6

Birth of JOHANN KUHNAU 1660 in Geising,Harz Mountains.
German composer.In 1684, while pursuing legal studies at Leipzig,he was appointment organist,and seven years later Kantor,at St Thomas's-two posts in which he was Bach's immediate predecessor.His compositions include Latin and German motets,a fine St MarkPassion(1721) and innovatory keyboard works.A noted polymath,he gained renown not only as a musician but also as a lawyer,a translator from Hebrew,Greek,and other languages,a poet,and as author ofthe satirical novel 'The Musical Quack'.

Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722) - Magnificat in C major (1/3)



Death of TOMASSO TRAETTA 1779 in Venice.
Italian composer.He studied in Naples with Porpora and Durante and began his career as a prolific composer in conventional comic and serious genres,setting librettos by Carlo Goldoni and Pietro Metastasio.In 1758 he obtainedemployment at the Bourbon court of Parma,where,under the intendand Guillaume Du Tillot,he began a series of operas that anticipate the Viennese reform operas of Gluck and other attempts to unite French dramatic forms with modern Italian music.Traetta's works made integral use of scenes with chorus and ballets,and combined solo and choral singing into elaborate movements in which the forms resemble those of Gluck's reform operas,though Traetta's music is more expansively lyrical. He continued to turn his hand to more conventional works,and moved to Venice asdirector of the Conservatorio dell'Ospedaletto.In 1768 he succeeded Galuppi at the court of Catherine the Great in StPetersburg,where in 1772 he produced a crowning masterpiece,'Antigona'.After an unsuccessfur period in London,then under the spell of Sacchini,he returned to Venice in poor health. 

Traetta Tommaso: ANTIGONE at Sophiensæle by NOVOFLOT (part 1/14)



Death of IGOR FYODOROVICH STRAVINSKY 1971 in New York.
Russian composer.THE EARLY YEARS : PARIS BALLETSThe son of a renowned bass at the Imperial Opera,Stravinsky studied the piano and composition from boyhood,and from 1903 to 1906 he was a private composition pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov.His early works show the influence of Rimsky, but they show too that the young composer was learning from Skryabin,Tchaikovsky,Debussy,and Dukas.This period og eclectic preparation came to an end in 1910,when Stravinsky went to Paris with the ballet company of Serge Diaghilev,who commissioned from him a series of scores beginning with'The Firebird'91910).Though still indebted to the opulent fantasy of Rimsky's 'The Golden Cocherel,The Firebird gives some hint of the brilliant,stylized soronities and the almost mechanical rhythmic drive of its successor,'Petrushka'(911),yetnobody could have expected that Stravinsky would so quickly go on to produce such a startingly novel work as 'The Riteof Spring',(1913).Certainly the first-night audience was taken by surprise,excited to uproar by the violent rhythms of Stravinky's music and Nijinsky's choreography.Cut off from his homeland by World War I,Stravinsky returned repeatedly during the next few years to the folk tales of a later Russia.There were several cycles oflittle songs,the farmyards ballet'Renard'(1915-16),and another ballet'Les Noces'1914-23,for which he took some years to find the appropriate scoring.His next theatrical work was the ballet'Pulcinella(1920).

THE NEO-CLASSICAL WORKS
Stravinsky's neo-classicism takes the form of borrowing forms,ideas,and styles from throughout Western music,not just from the Classical period.Forinstance,'Oidipus rex(1926-7),which can be given as an opera or as an oratorio,looks back to Handel in its general shaping and in its massive choruses,while the arias have something of Verdi's passion.The'Dumbarton Oaks' ' Concerto(1937) is a modern Brandenburg,and there are reminiscences of Bach again in the Concerto for piano and wind(1923),whereas the Capriccio for piano and orchestra(1928) sprinkles Weber-like playfulness on a concerto grosso format.During this period Stravinsky was living in France,no longer able,since the revolution of 1917,to draw on funds from Russia.He was therefore obliged to earn his living as a performing musician:the two concertante piano works were written for himself to play,and he began to conduct his own works,especially at first performances and for recordings.The Violin Concerto,written'against'the great 19th-century works in the same key(by Beethoven,Brahms,and Tchaikovsky),exemplifies the anti-Romantic tendency in Stravinsky's neo-classicalmusic.As he wrote in his'Chroniquesde ma vie 'of 1935:''I consider that music is,by its very nature,essentially powerless to express anything at all....Thephenomenon of music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things.''This statement is belied by everything Stravinsky wrote,in that his music is always strikingly expressive,but in eulogizing order it givesan important clue to understanding his neo-classical works.

THE AMERICAN YEARS
During the composition of the Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra(1930),and following the outbreak of World War II,Stravinsky moved from Paris to Los Angeles,wich was his home for the rest of his life.Proximity to Hollywood brought requests for film music,but these projects foundered and Stravinsky put his material to use in the'Four Norwegian Moods(1942) and'Ode'(1943).The major work of his early American years,however,was anothersymphony,the tough and dynamic Symphony in Three Movements(1942-5)The output of religious works continued with the cantata'Babel'(1942) and the Mass for chorus and double wind quintet(1944-8),which was designed for use in church.There was then a final and exultant neoclassical essay,the full-length opera'The Rake's Progress'(Venice,(1951).Many of Stravinsky's late works are short epitaphs.

Stravinsky Conducts Firebird
Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
Stravinsky Petrouchka (1/4)


* APRIL 7

Birth of ROBERT CASADESUS 1899 in Paris.French pianist and composer.His pianism was renowned for its clarity of touch and for his affinity with the works of Ravel.He was also a distinguished teacher at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau.His solo career took him throughout the world,and he played in pertnership with the violinist Zino Francescatti and in a piano duo with his wife Gaby.Much of his music remains unpublished;his piano and chamber works are often complex and dissonant,yetmusically thoughtful.Several members of the Casadesus family were musicians,notably his uncles Francis(1870-1954),Henri(1879-1947),and Marius(1892-1981).

Robert Casadesus plays Chopin (vaimusic.com)


Death of IGNAZ HOLZBAUER 1783 in Mannheim
Austrian composer and conductor.Largely self-taught,he developed his composing skills by directing the music at the Burgtheater in Vienna.After three years in Italy with his wife,the singer Rosalie Andriedes,he moved to Stuttgart and then Mannheim(1753-78).Here he wrote his most important opera,''Gunther von Schwarzburg''(1777),a pioneering German grand opera both in its choice of a German historical theme and in the fluency of much of its handling ant its expressive orchestration.It was admired by Mozart,and influenced him in a number of specific ways(including 'Idomeneo ' and 'Die Zauberflote ').Holzbauer also composed much interesting church and chamber music.

Symphony in D minor, by Ignaz Holzbauer

Birth of DOMENICO DRAGONETTI 1763 in Venice
Italian double-bass player and composer.In 1787 he began to play in the orchestra of St Mark's.His fame as a performer soon spread beyond Italy,and in 1794 he was invited to London,where he was engaged at the King's Theatre.For the next 53 years he played regularly in London orchestras He was a good friend of Haydn's,andBeethoven learned much about double-bass technique from him.He was active as a player into his 80s,whenBerlioz reported hearing him.Dragonetti was an incomparable virtuoso on his instrument,which was usually a three-string bass.His many compositions for it include concertos,chamber music,and numerous occasional works.

Domenico Dragonetti - Rondo' per Contrabbasso


* APRIL 8

Death of (Domenico)GAETANO(Maria)DONIZETTI 1848 in Pergamo
Italian composer.With Bellini,he was the leading Italian composer in the generation between Rossini and Verdi.
LIFE
At the age of nine Donizetti was admitted to the Lezioni Caritatevoli,a school founded by Mayr,taking classes in singing,keyboard,and later composition with Mayr himself.In 1815 Mayr arranged for him to continue his studies at the Liceo Filarmonico Comunale under Padre Mattei'Rossini's teacher.When he concluded his studies in Bolognia in 1817,Mayr helped him to obtain a commission that resulted in ''Enrico di Borgonia'' given its premiere in Venice in November 1818.In 1821 he wrote ''Zoraida di Granata''for the Teatro Argentina,Rome:While in Rome for rehearsals of 'Zorainda',Donizetti met the Vasseli family,whose daughter Virginia would become his wife in 1828.After more a decade in the theatre,Donizetti's reputation was established,nationally and internationally,by his 31st opera,''Anna Bolena''(Milan ,1830).From then until his departure for Paris in 1838 he produced 25 operas,among which are many of his most famous.A series of personal blows struck in the late 1830s.In 1835-6 his parents died within a few weeks of each other,and in July 1837,at the age of only 29,Virginia after giving birth to a stillborn child.Discouraged by a sequence of professional disappointments and personal tragedy,Donizetti left Naples in October 1838 and settled permananently in Paris.The rate of his production hardly slowed in this new atmosphere.He wrote several grand works for the Paris Opera.His health had been declining for some years,and by 1844 the syphilis that was eventually to kill him had become serious enough to slow his furious productivity to a crawl.Early in 1846 he was confined in an asylum in Paris.In the autumn of 1847 he was moved back to Bergamo,where he died on 8 April 1848.

Paula Robison, flute - "Sonata" by Donizetti



Birth of ASGER HAMERIK 1843 in Copenhagen
Danish composer,conductor and educationist.He studied with Gade and J.P.E.Hartmann in Copenhagen,with Bulow in Berlin,and finally(1864-9) with Berlioz in Paris-he seems to have been Berlioz's only pupil.He visited Italy and Austria,where the American consul in Vienna proposed that he take up the directorship of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.Hamerik moved to Baltimore in 1871,returning to Copenhagen only in 1898.Although he was the most prominent Danish symphonist between Gade and Nielsen,the early focus of his career was on opera(he wrote four)With the move to the USA,where he had an orchestra at his disposal,he began to concentrate on orchestral music,and many of his works were written for himself to conduct;he wrote little after his return to Europe.

Symphony No. 1 Op. 29 "Poetique" (1879) IV. Allegro Giusto (44)

Birth of CLAUDIO MERULO 1533 in cORREGGIO,nr Reggio nell'EmiliaItalian composer,organist,and printer.In 1556 he became organist at Brescia Cathedral,and the following year was successful in a competition for a similar post at St Mark's,Venice,where he remained until 1584.He was a coleague of Andrea Gabrieli there,and they shared the duty of writing ceremonial music;Merulo composed some splendid motets,which were published in several collections(Venice,1578-1605),as well as masses,a substantial number of madrigals,and music for pastoral plays.He was generally considered to be the finest organist of his day,and he was buried next to Cipriano de Rore in Parma Cathedral.

Sonata La Lusignuola


* APRIL 10

Death of GIACOMO ANTONIO PERTI 1756 in Bologna
Italian composer.By 1681,when he was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica,he had already had masses and operatic music performed.In 1690 he cucceeded his uncle as maestro at S.Pietro in Bologna,and in 1696 he was appointed maestro at S.Petronio,a post he retained for the rest of his life.He wrote much festive church music with instruments,including trumpets,as well as operas,oratorios,and trumpet sonatas in the Bolognese manner,and he was highly regarded by by such contemporaries as Corelli,Caldara,and Padre Martini.

Giacomo Antonio Perti - Dies irae


* APRIL 11

Birth of BASIL HARWOOD in Woodhouse,Olveston,Glos.
English organist and composer.He studied at Oxford (1878-81)and briefly in Leipzig with Salomon Jadassohn and Robert Papperitz(1882-3).He was organist at Ely Cathedral(1887-92),but most of his professional career was spent in Oxford,where he was organist of Christ Church(1892-1909) and yniversity choragus.His compositions include an organ concerto,cantatas,church music,and a corpus of technically demanding organ music, and a corpus of technically demanding organ music.In 1909 he retired from the music profession in order to manage his inherited Gloucestershire estate.

"O How Glorious Is the Kingdom", Anthem by Basil Harwood



* APRIL 12

Birth of FELICE GIARDINI in Turin
 Italian violinist and composer.A choirboy at Milan Cathedral,he studied the violin with G.B.Somis in Turin and by the age of 12 was playing in an opera orchestra in Rome.Later in Naples he became a leader of the Teatro S.Carlo orchestra ,gaining a reputation for embellishments and cadenzas.In 1748 he began an extended tour which took him in 1750 to England.He was involved in many London concert series,directed the Italian Opera at the King's Theatre,contributed to various English stage works.He returned to Naples in 1784 but went back to London in 1790 to direct the opera ay the Little Theatre in the Haymarket.Having little success he set out on his travels again,dying in poverty shortly after leaving St Petersburg.He wrote three operas,the oatorio ''Ruth'',and much chamber music.

Come Thou Almighty King


Birth of PIETRO NARDINI 1722 in Livorno
Italian composer.He studied with Tartini in Padua,then worked in the 1760s in Stuttgart as chamber musician and leader of the orchestra,which,under Lommelli,was among the best in Europe.In 1769 he went to Padua to care for the dying Tartini and then to Florence as director of music at t6he ducal court.One of the best-known violinists of his day,Nardini was admired by Leopold Mozart and Burney,though he was noted for his sweetness of tone rather than for virtuosity.He was one of the last to compose sonatas in the Baroque manner,withthe slow-quick-quick order of movements and continuo accompanimenents.

Pietro Nardini Violin concerto in E minor Peter Rybar, 1st mov.


* APRIL 13

Birth of FELICIEN DAVID 1810 in Canenet
 French composer.He studied at the Paris Conservatoire,then joined the Saint-Simonians,becoming the most prominent musicianin the order.Following the dissolution of the community by the government in 1832,he travelled in the Middle East,finding in it a fascinating source of musical inspiration.Back in France,he achieved great success with his'ode-symphonie' ''La Desert''(1844) which includes a prayer to Allah and a muezzin's call.Other concert works and songs were successful,but the opera comique'Lalla-Roukh'(1862),which held the stage for 20 years,is recognized as his masterpiece.He is regarded in some respect as a successor to Berlioz.

Félicien David : Le Désert


Death of FRANZ DANZI 1826 in Karlsruhe
 German composer and conductor.He studied with his father,then joined the Mannheim orchestra as first cellist in 1783.There he was encouraged to compose operas.He had already written a successful melodrama in the Benda vein,''Cleopatra''(1780),and went on to achieve his greatest operatic success with ''Die Mitternachtsstunde''(TheMidnight Hour,1789),an entertaining,artificial light comedy that includes some original harmonic touches.In 1790 he married the soprano Margarethe Marchand, with whom he toured.Her death in 1800 threw him into a deep depression,and he did not resume operatic duties until 1807,when he became Kapellmeister at Stuttgart.He befriended the young Carl Maria von Weber,encouraging performances of his work.Danzi is less well known todayfor his operas than for his attractive chamber music for wind instruments and for his concertos.

Franz Danzi: Flute Concerto No. 4 op. 43 in D major (1/2)


Birth of Sir WILLIAM STERNDALE BENNETT in Sheffield
 English composer.He was the son of the organist of Sheffield parish church but was orphaned when threeyears old and was brought up in Cambridge,where he was a King's chorister. In 1826 he was admitted'as a prodigy' to the RAM,studying the violin,piano,and composition.Soon his brilliance as a pianist became well known,and a piano concerto he wrote in 1832,when Cipriani Potter had become his teacher,earned him an invitation to Germany from Mendelssohn.In the next six years he composed five more concertos,several symphonies,and songs and piano pieces;Schumann expressed intense admiration for his work. He became professor of music at Cambridge University in 1856.and principal of the RAM in 1866.He was knighted in 1871.He also edited works by Bach and Handel

Sterndale Bennett - Symphony in G minor - Allegro Moderato

* APRIL 14

Death of JOHANN ERASMUS KINDERMANN 1616 in Nuremberg
 German organist and composer.In 1635 he was sent by the Nuremberg city council to study in Italy.He returned in 1636 and spent most of his remaining years there,from 1640 as organist at the Egidienkirche.His works include motets,cantatas,and dialogues,some beautiful chorale settings,and the'Harmonia Organica'(1645),a collection of organ music including improvisatory preludes and fugal fantasias on chorale melodies.

Johann Erasmus Kindermann (1616-1655) Präambulum in D-dur


Death of GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL 1759 in London
 English composer of German birth.For more details SEE birth 23rd Feb.(music diary)

George Frideric Handel - Sarabande


* APRIL 15

Birth of DOMENICO GABRIELLI 1651 in Bologna
 Italian composer and cellist.He studied composition and the cello in Bologna.He was in the orchestra of S.Petroniofrom 1680 until his death,except for a few months in 1687 when he was temporarily dismissed for not addending to his dudies-not surprisingly,for by that time he had become a sought-after opera composer who was frequently in Venice,Modena,or Turin to supervise productions of his works.In 1683 he became the president of the Bolognia Accademica Filarmonica.Today some historical importance attaches to his 'Ricercari of 1689 which,together with the two sonatas for cello and continuo,are among the earliest contributions to the cello repertory

Domenico Gabrielli - ricercar per cello solo №2


Death of FRANCESCO da MILANO 1543 in Milan
 Italian composer and lutenist.He was in the service of three popes(Leo X,Clement VII,and Paul III) in Rome before moving to Piacenza in the late 1520s.For a time around 1530 he may have been the organist of Milan Cathedral.Hereturned to Rome in 1535,working for two cardinals,and for Pope Paul III,with whom he visited Nice in 1538.Milano was the most celebrated lutenist of the 16th century and composed a great deal of attractive music for his instrument,mostly ricercas and fantasias,and made many arrangements of motets,madrigals,and chansons.His music was widely known,not only in Italy but also in France and England.

Francesco da Milano - Fantasia N30 - Lute


* APRIL 16

Death of IPATYEVICH YEVSTIGNEY FOMIN 1800 in St Petersburg
 Russian composer.He received a thourough education in music,first at the Academy of Fine Arts inSt Petersburg,thenin Italy,where he was elected a member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna in 1785.He returned to Russia thefollowing year,and at first probably earned his living in government administration,later coaching singers for the court theatre. As a composer he is known chiefly for his operas.Perhaps his most powerful work is the melodrama''Orpheus and Euridice''(1792),which is marked by a sure feel for dramatic situation and tragic expression.Many of Fomin's scores were lost during a long period of oblivion;his work was rediscovered only in the 1950s.

E.Fomin. Ouverture "Orpheus and Euridique" (part)


Death of TOBIAS HUME 1645 in London
 English composer and musician.He served as an officer in the Swedish and Russian armies,and considered music'theonly effeminate part of me'.He published two collections of music,'The First Part of Ayres(London,1605),a large and often witty set of pieces of lyra viol,and 'Captaine Humes Poeticall Mussicke(London,1607),'so contrived,that it may be plaied 8 severall waies upon sundry Instruments'.The collections are interesting both for their idiosyncrasy and for the variety of their invention.

Jordi Savall~Tobias Hume~'Harke Harke'
* APRIL 17

Birth of ARTUR SCHNABEL 1882 in Lipnik
 Austrian-born American pianist. A pupil of Leschetizky,he made his debut in 1890-already a profoundly thoughtful musician.Until 1933 he lived in Berlin,partnering such artists as Flesch,Casals,Hindermith,Szigeti,Fournier,and Primrose.During this time he developed and recorded his renowned readings of Beethoven's piano works and also taught at the Berlin Academy.It was the translucent clarity he brought to Beethoven,the lyricism to Schubert,and the measured depth to Mozart that defined his stature as a visionary and creative virtuoso of the old school.He took American citizenship in 1944.

Artur Schnabel plays Mozart Sonata No.8, K.310 (I)



Birth of Dame MAGGIE TEYTE 1888 in Wolverhampton
 English soprano.She studied at the RCM and in Paris,concentrating on French repertory.In 1906 she made her debut in Paris singing Cherubino and Zerlina in extracts from Mozart operas mounted as part of a Mozart Festival organized by Reynaldo Hahn and Lilli Lehmann.Following a successful appearance at the Opera-Comique,Paris,Debussy chose her to sing Melisande in his opera and personally coached her.She gained international fame in the role,singing it forthe last time in 1948 in the USA.She was one of the most admired performers of French melodies,especially those ofDebussy,Faure,and Hahn,her pure and supple voice ideal for their sentiment and textures.She was made DBE in1958 and a singing award has been established in her memory.

Maggie Teyte Sings Psyche



Birth of JOHANN DAVID HEINICHEN 1683 in Krossuln,nr Weissenfels
 German composer and theorist.After practising law at Weissenfels he embarked on a career in music,primarily as an opera composer.In 1710 he settled in Venice where during the Carnival season of 1713,he achieved his greatest operatic successes,with 'Mario' and 'Le Passioni per troppo amore'. He spent his final years at Dresden,asKapellmeister to the Elector of Saxony,and there in 1728 he prodused his treatise'DerGeneralbass in der Composition',a valuable study of continuo realization,particularly as practised in Italian opera houses of the time.

Johann David Heinichen: Concerto a 7, G-Dur.


Death of HEINRICH PHILIPP ERLEBACH 1714 in Rudolstadt
 German composer.He was Kapellmeister for 33 years at the ducal court in Rudolstadt.His surviving works include six ouvertures,six sonatas for violin,bass viol,and continuo,two volumes of songs with instrumental ritornellos,cantatas,motets,and sacred songs.

Philipp Heinrich Erlebach -Air Gavotte I, Menuet II, Bourree. Menuet II DaCapo




* APRIL 18


Birth of LEOPOLD(Antony)STOKOWSKI 1882 in LondonEnglish-born American conductor.For more details SEE Sep.13th (music diary)

Stokowski conducts Clair de Lune


Death of OTTORINO RESPIGHI 1936 in RomeItalian composer.
 In 1891 he entered the Liceo Musicale,Bologna,to learnthe violin,and went on to study composition there in 1898.In 1900 and 1902 he visited Russia,where he was taught by Rimsky-Korsakov,and in 1908-9 heattended Bruch's composition classes in Berlin.He played both the violin and the viola and was for five years(1903-8)a member of Mugellini's quintet in Bologna. He was appointed professor of composition at the Accademia di S.Cecilia,Rome,in 1913 and director there in 1924,but he resigned the directorship in 1926 so that he could spend more time composing,teaching,accompanying his wife,the singer and composer Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo(1894-1996),who became his biographer,and conducting his own works.It is for his orchestral music that he is best known,notably the descriptive suites'Fontane di Roma(1914-16)and Pini di Roma(1923-24),with their picturesque,sparkling orchestration.In middle age he took a great interest in early music,more from the point of view of the arranger than of the scholar.In his later years he return to opera,but he never achieved more than ephemeral success in the field of dramatic music.

RESPIGHI: Siciliana and Italiana - Paintings By "CARAVAGGIO"


Death of CECILE CHAMINADE in Monte Carlo
 French pianist and composer.She had considerable success in the early 20th century and even had a perfume namedafter her sold with her portrait.She studied privately with various composers at the Paris Conservatoire.Often dismissed as a salon composer,she in fact left several substantial pieces including an early Piano Trio,a Piano Sonata,and a Concertino for flute and orchestra.Her piano piece'Automne'at one time sold more than 6000 copies a year.Her recitals of her own music were particularly well received in the USA,where her rarity as a female composer was a distinct advantage,and where clubs were set up for the promotion of her music.

James Galway - Concertino for Flute and Piano - Cécile Chaminade



* APRIL 19

Birth of MAX von SHILLINGS 1868 in Duren
 German composer and conductor.He studied in Bonn and Munich and worked at Bayreuth as a stage conductor(from 1892) He was primarily a dramatic composer,his early operas'Ingwelde,Der Pfeifertag,and Moloch being essentially Wagnerian derivatives.'Mona Lisa(1915),his most successful stage work,shows the influence of Puccini and combines elements of German post-Romanticism with elements of Italian verismo to powerful effect.President of the Prussian Academy of Arts(from 1932),where he oversaw the dismissal of Schoenberg and Schreker.Intensely conservative during the years of the Weimar Republic,he was admired by the Nazis.Shortly before his death,he was admired by the Nazis.Shortly before his death,he was authorized by Hitler to reorganize German musical life.

MonaLisa

Death of SIGISMONDO d'INDIA 1629 in Modena
Italian nobleman and composer.In 1606 he was in Mantua,where he may have met Monteverdi,and between 1608 and 1611 he visited Florence,Rome,Naples,Parma,and Piacenza.He became director of the chamber music at the court of Carlo Emanuele I,Duke of Savoy,at Turin in 1611,moving to the Este court at Modena in 1623 after malicious gossip had forced his departure.In 1624 he went to Rome,where his sacred opera'Sant'Eustachio'was performed in the palace of Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy,but he returned to Modena,and probably died there,although he may have taken up an appointment offered him at the Bavarian court of Maximilian I.D'India was an important composer of monodic songs and madrigals.

Sigismondo d'India "LANGUE AL VOSTRO LANGUIR"- Antiqum XXI (AXXI)

Birth of SEBASTIAN DURON in Brihuega
 Spanish composer.He held organist's posts at the cathedrals of Zaragoza,Seville,Burgo de Osma,andPalencia,and at the royan chapel in Madrid.A favourite at the Madrid court in 1701 he was named maestro de capilla and rector of the royal choir school;he also became the 'official'composer of zazuelas and court comedies.However,in 1706 he was banished by Philip V for supporting the Habsburgs in the War of the Spanish Succession;from then until his death he was chaplain to Marianna of Neuburg,the widowed queen of Carlos II, in southern France.

CORAZÓN, CAUSA TENÉIS - Sebastián Durón (1660 - 1716)


* APRIL 22

Birth of Dame ETHEL SMYTH 1858 in Marylebone
English composer.She studied at the Leipzig Conservatory,and was encouraged by Brahms,Tchaikovsky,Grieg,Joachim,and Clara Schumann,but retained a violent antipathy to the work of Wagner.Shewrote an interesting account of Mahler's operatic period in the 1880s.She made a great impression in London in 1893 with her Mass in D,but her main inerest was opera,which fixed her attentions on Germany.Her first effort in the genre,the two-act comedy'Fantasio',was prodused in Weimar in 1898;a second,'Der Wald',in one act,was given in Berlin and at Covent Garden in 1902,and in New York the next year.More coherent in style and structure,'The Wreckers',performed in Leipzig in 1906 under Nikisch,made a much profounder impression.In her output there are alsothree more works for the stage:the comic opera'The Boatswain's Mate',and two further one-act operas,'Fete galande'and 'Entente cordiale'.She wrote choral works,concertos for horn ,violin,and orchestra.Smyth attached herself to the suffragette cause and prodused the anthem'March of the Women'in 1911;her militant behaviour led to imprisonment in Holloway for two months.She received hononary doctorates at Durham(1910) and Oxford(1912) and was created DBE in 1922.
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth: The Wreckers Overture

*APRIL 24

Birth of JOHANN PHILIPP KIRNBERGER in Saalfeld,nr Weimar
German theorist and composer.He became a pupil of J.S.Bach in 1739.He joined the orchestra of Frederick the Great as a violinist in 1751 and later became music director to Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia,in whose service he remained until his death.


Johann Philipp Kirnberger, Les Tambourins
* APRIL 25

Death of NIELS VIGGO BENTZON 2000 in Frederiksberg
 Danish composer and pianist. He studied at the Royal Danish Conservatory(1939-43),where from 1950 to 1988 he taught theory and composition.He was also active as a pianist,painter,poet,and critic and wrote several books.His enormous output,amounting to well over 600 works,shows the steady development of a vigorous,dissonant,diatonic style,influenced by Hindemith,Schoenberg,and Stravinsky.His works consist principally of orchestral and chamber music,much of it for piano,and he also wrote operas and ballets.

Niels Viggo Bentzon Op.47 - Allegro

Birth of PASQUALE ANFOSSI 1727 in Taggia
 Italian opera composer.Having begun his career in Naples as a theatre orchestra violinist,he turned to composition,taking lessons from Sacchini and Piccinni.Throughout the 1770s he worked mainly in Rome and Venice.In late 1782 he travelled to London,where his''Il trionfo della constanza''was performed at te King's Theatre on 19 December;he subsequently served as music director there before returning to Italy in 1786.In July 1792 he was appointed maestro di cappella at St John Lateran,Rome,where he remained until his death.He wrote over 60 operas,both heroic and comic;many are spectacular and based on exotic themes.He also wrote sacred music including about 20 oratorios

Anfossi: La finta giardiniera - Overture (Florio)
‎* APRIL 27

Death of SERGEY PROKOFIEV 1891 in Sontsovka,
 EkaterinoslavRussian composer.For details SEE 5th Mar.(music diary)
Martha Argerich plays Prokofiev toccata



* APRIL 27

Birth of GEORGY LVOVICH CATOIRE in Moscow
 Russian composer and theorist of French descent.While studying mathematics at the universities of Moscow and Berlin,he also took private piano lessons from Karl Klindworth(1830-1916),from whom he inherited his Wagneriansympathies.He later studied with Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov in St Petersburg.His first compositions won the approval of Tchaikovsky in 1886;together with Wagner,Tchaikovsky became a major influence on his music,though Catoire was most accomplished in the field of chamber music.He is best remembered as a professor at the MoscoConservatory(from 1917) who contributed significantly to the development of Russia music theory through his books on harmony and musical form.
Georgy Catoire - Symphony in C Minor Op. 7 (1899)

* APRIL 27

Birth of LOUIS NIEDERMEYER1802 in Nyon
 French composer.After studying the piano with Moscheles in Vienna and composition in Vienna,he sttled in Paris in 1823.Afew of his operas were performed there,of which the best was perhaps'Marie Stuart'.In 1853 he founded the Ecole Niedermeyer to give a grounding to church organists:Josquin,Palestrina,Victiria,and Bach formed the centre of the repertory,Schumann and Chopin were forbidden.Faure,Gigout,and Messager were among its pupils.
MARIO LANZA (Live) Pietà, Signore - NIEDERMEYER

* APRIL 27

Death of OLIVIER MESSIAEN 1992 in Paris
 French composer.For details SEE Dec 10th (music diary)
Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie Mvt. 1

* APRIL 27

Death of ALEKSANDR NIKOLAYEVICH SKRYABIN 1915 in Moscow
 Russian composer.For details SEE Jan 6th (music diary)
Alexander SCRIABIN: Op. 11, No. 13 (Prelude)


* APRIL 29

Death of JUAN BAUTISTA JOSE CABANILLES 1712 IN Valencia
 Spanish organist and composer.At the age of 21 he succeeded his teacher as organist of Valencia Cathedral,where he stayed until his death.He was ordained priest in 1668.He was the most famous and important Spanish organist and organ composer of the second half of the 17th century,and one of the greatest European organists before Bach.His surviving works,which include about 200 tientos,six toccatas,keyboard dances,and sets of variations,are simple in style,being written for the rather primitive Spanishorgan without pedal keyboard,yet highly expressive.Most of his vocal music is lost.
Batalla Imperial for Organ
* APRIL 30

Birth of FRANZ LEHAR 1870 in Komarom
 Austro-Hungarian composer and conductor.For more details SEE Oct 24th(music diary)

Count of Luxembourg Waltzes (Lehar) Tonhalle Orchestra Franz Lehar


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