ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ - ΜΑΙΟΣ

ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ - ΜΑΙΟΣ

* MAY 1

Death of ANTONIN LEOPOLD DVORAK 1904 in Prague
 EARLY YEARS AND FIRST SUCCESSES Czech composer.He was the eldest son of an innkeeperin a village north of Prague.He began his musical education inthe village school in 1847 and made a good progress on the violin.He studied the organ and theory and figured bass.In the autumn of 1857 he enrolled at the Organ School in Prague,graduating second in his class in 1859.Dvorakstayed with the theatre orchestra until the summer of 1871,acquiring a solid knowledge of French grand opera,operetta,Verdi,and Mozart.His first serious compositions,including chamber music,a song cycle,a cello concerto,and the first two symphonies,date from the early to mid-1860s.On leaving the theatre Dvorak supported himself by teaching.In 1873 he married his piano pupil Anna Cermakova.In 1875 he was awarded an Austrian state stipendiumof 400 gulden.on the basis of 15 compositions including the Third and Fourth Symphonies,which he received for a further three years.This greater pecuniary security unleashed a wealth of creativity:in 1875 alone he wrote the Gmajor StringQuintet,the B Piano Trio,the D major Piano Quartet,four Moravian Duets,the E major string Serenade,the Fifth Symphony,and the five-act opera 'Vanda'.
Dvorak: Humoresque
http://youtu.be/WmAZoexenx8

INTERNATIONAL FAME:THE AMERICAN YEARS On the recommendation of Brahms,who sat on the state stipendium committee from 1875,the Berlin publisher Simrockpublished a set of Moravian Duets in 1879 and prompted Dvorak to compose the first set of Slavonic Dances.At home,his tragic grand opera'Dimitrij' was a success in 1882.In 1883 he was invited by the Philharmonic Society ofLondon to conduct performances of his works in England the following year.Further works for England followed,including the oratorio'St Ludmila'(1886) and the Requiem Mass(1891) In 1887 Dvorak returned to the operawith'Jakobin',though he also continued to compose instrumental and orchestral works.At the height of his international popularity in 1892,he took up an invitation to become director of the National Conservatory of Music in America(NewYork) and professor of composition with an annual salary of $15,000.There ,in spite of teaching and administrative duties,he comosed his Ninth Symphony('From the New World',1893).During a return visit to New York in 1894-5 he composed the 'Biblical Songs' the Violin Sonatina in G major and the B minor Cello Concerto.On returning to Prague he immersed himself in Bohemian folklore.His last years were devoted to opera.Then he wrote his operatic masterpiece'Rusalka'(1900).It was highly successful with Prague audiences,and though his last and though his last opera,'Armida',a four-grand opera to an archaic text,was far less popular.Dvorak was still considering more texts at the time of his death in 1904 from a stroke.
Antonin Dvorak, tempo di valse
http://youtu.be/disqzLW1QJA

Death of WILLIAM PRIMROSE 1982 in Provo,
 UTScottish viola player.After studying the violin in Glasgow and London he went to Brussels,where Ysaye advised achange to a viola.He toured as a soloist,played in the London String Quartet,and led the violas in Toscanini's NBC orchestra.Bartok,Rubbra,and Fricker wrote concertos for him.He emigrated to the USA where he taught at Aspen,UCLA,and Bloomington,leading to teaching invitations from Japan.Though his instrument was not large,the fullness of tone he prodused was both beautiful and rounded.
William Primrose plays the Walton viola concerto
http://youtu.be/oMw7x5F5U-s






Death of ARAM KHACHATURIAN 1978 in Moscow

 Armenian composer.He studied in Moscow at the Gnesin Instituteof Music.His international reputation rests largely onthe Piano Concerto ,and on the ballets'Gayane(1942,from which comes the famous Sabre Dance) and 'Spartak(1954)He wrote about 25 film scores,including 'Vladimir Ilyich Levin(1948) and 'The Battle of Stalingrand',1949.These intensely patriotic films were made in the wake of the 1948 Zhdanov purges,when he attracted criticism forsome of his recent work,notably the Third Symphony(1947),written for the 30th anniversary of the October Revolution.Later however,he achieved considerable success with a series of concert rhapsodies-for violin,cello,and piano-characterised by vitality of rhythm,rich orchestration,and intoxicating,highly spiced,and distinctive melody owing much to the inflections of Armenian folk music. 
 Aram Khachaturian - "Spartacus"(Adagio) 
http://youtu.be/1MF9UbfNdtg

 Death of JOHANN LUDWIG BACH 1731 in Meiningen
German composer.A distant cousin of J.S.Bach whose output includes motets,funeral music,and cantatas,including the vividly dramatic 'Gott ist unser Zuversicht',some copies of which,in the hand of Johann Sebastian,survive.
Johann Ludwig Bach - Das ist meine Freude
http://youtu.be/Bv0NrpFzC9s

Death of LUIGI ARDITI 1903 in Hove
 Italian composer and conductor.He studied at the Milan Conservatory and began his musical career as a violinist.By the age of 20 he had had his opera'Ibriganti(1841)staged in Milan and by 1843 he was directing opera in Vercelli.Heleft Italy that year and went to Havana,where he wrote and produced his opera 'Il corsaro'He toured the principal North American cities as a conductor,went to Constantinople in 1856,and in 1858 settled in London,where he was appointed director of Her Majesty's Theatre.Athough he wrote many operas and numerous songs and dances,heis mainly remembered for two waltz-songs,the hugely successful' Il bacio' and 'Parla'.He published 'My Reminiscences'(London,1896).
Sumi Jo - Luigi Arditi - Il Bacio - Nobel Peace Prize
http://youtu.be/ZUFM4OymBac

Birth of HUGO ALFVEN 1872 in Stockholm
 Swedish composer,conductor,and violinist.He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm(1887-91)After continuing his studies abroad,he worked as a choral conductor and as musical director of the Uppsala Universityorchestra.Alfven's choral output is extensive,bur apart from the oratorio'Herrans bon' he is best known today for his five symphonies and programmatic orchestral pieces,for example'Midsommarvaka,in which an essentially late Romantic style is freshened by his imaginative use of Swedish folk tunes.
Hugo Alfven - Rhapsody No 1
http://youtu.be/C-wFEJExxn4




*MAY 2

Deathof Sir ARTHUR SOMERVELL 1937 in London
English composer and educationist.He studied composition with Parry at the RCM.He joined the staff of the RCM in 1894 and succeeded Stainer as Inspector of Music to the Board of Education in 1901.In 1920 he became Chief Inspector,a position he held until his retirement in 1928.He was knighted in 1929. He made his name during the 1890s with the cyoral cantatas'The Forsaken Mermaid'(1895) and 'Ode to the Sea'(1897).His 'Maud'(1898) is among the finesr settings of Tennyson.'A Broken Arc(1923),show a sympathy for Robert Browning's unorthodox world of faith and morality.
Arthur Somervell: Souvenir d'Avignon, Bourrée
http://youtu.be/KeyZ0Tg9g1U

Birth of ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI 1660 in Palermo Italian composer.For details SEE 22nd Oct.(music diary)
Alessandro Scarlatti - Cain overo Il primo omicidio (1707) - "La fraterna amica pace"
http://youtu.be/tq6oHKDXuhQ

Birth of ALAN RAWSTHORNE 1905 in Haslingden
 English composer.He studied at the RMCM(1926-30),then had private piano lessons with Egon Petri.After a brief period as music director of the school of dance and mime at Dartington Hall(1932-35) he worked as a freelance composer,producing numerour film scores.The rest of his output includes three symphonies,,two concertos each for piano andviolin,three string quarters,and a variety of other chamber works.His style is cosmopolitan,comparable more to Hindermith than to any English contemporaries. Among his few works of a more picturesque character are 'The creel(1940),a suite of fish portraits for piano duets,and the brilliantoverture'Street Corner'(1944).
Alan Rawsthorne: Concerto per pianoforte e orchestra n.1 (1939)
http://youtu.be/EF45zmTwsC8

Death of GIACOMO MEYERBEER 1864 in Paris
 German composer.He played an important role in the development of French music.Born into a wealthy Jewish banking family,he later changed his name to Meyerbeer on receiving a substantial legacy from a relative called Meyer. He showed early promise as a pianist,studying with Lauska and Clementi.At the age of 11 he made his public debut, playing Mozart's D minor Concerto K466.A suberb score-reader,he soon composed seriousworks,including the oratorio 'Gott und die Natur(1811) and the biblical opera'Jephtas Gelubde.He considered himself primarily a pianist and was admired as a virtuoso until he was encouraged by Salieri whom he met in Vienna,to travel to Italy to study writing for the voice.In Venice he was particularly struck with Rossini's music.The major work from the Italian period was 'Gli amori di Teolinda'.'Romilda e Costanza'was the first of a series of operas in the Rossian manner.'Emma di Resburgo' was his first major success,causing him to be regarded by many as Rossini's chief rival.In 1824,he prodused the finest of his Italian operas,'Il crosiato in Egitto.a great success at irs premiere in Venice.In 1825 he went to oversee the Paris premiere and decided to remain there ,where he lived for much of the rest of his life.Personal circumstances-the death of his father,his marriage,and the subsequent loss of two of his children-led to an eight-year compositional silence,broken in1831 with 'Robert le diable',his first essay in French grand opera,the form with which his name is irrevocably linked.
Giacomo Meyerbeer - Robert le Diable - "Idole de ma vie" (Joan Sutherland)
http://youtu.be/e4LlZzU9fHg

Death of GIUSEPPE MARIA JACCHINI 1727 in Bologna
 A pupil of Domenico Gabrielli,he was a member of the cappella at S.Petronio and,from 1688,of the Accademia Filarmonica.His sonatas,concertos,and sinfonias for trumpet and strings were well known in his lifetime,and many include obbligato parts for his instruments;his op.4(1701) contains some of the earliesr concertos with obbligato solos for cello,albeit of a fairy rudimentary nature.
Jacchini - Cello Sonata in A Minor
http://youtu.be/Yf2pOrP25C4

Death of LODOVICO VIADANA 1627 in Gualtieri,nr Mantua
Italian composer and frier.He was maestro di cappella at a number of less important Italian churches.A prolific composer of everything from light canzonettas and madrigals tomassive polychoral psalm settings,he is best known for his 'Cento concerti ecclesiastici(Venice,1602)This is the earliesr publication of church music with a true basso continuo which Viadana used as a means of avoiding some of the problems ofcomposing for the sparse resources of small churches.
Lodovico VIADANA.=4 Sinfonies Musicali
http://youtu.be/sp3Q_hWE_g0




* MAY 3

Death of ADOLPHE ADAM 1856 in ParisFrench composer.After studying at the Paris Conservatoire he began to write songs for the vaudeville theatres;having helped Boieldieu to orchestrate the overture for his opera'La Dame blanche(1825),he had his one-act opera 'Pierre et Catherine'(1829) prodused at the Opera-Comique.Following the July revolution he went to London,wherehis brother-in-law was director at Covent Garden;through him two of Adam's works were produced in 1832.The opera that established his reputation throughouyEurope was 'Le Postillon de Longjumeau(1836),from which the aria'Mes amis,ecoutez l'histoire'has remained a favourite of tenors.On his return from a visit to St Petersburg Adam wrote the work by which he is besr remembered today,the ballet'Giselle'(1841).In 1847 he bought a theatre,the Opera National,where he staged his own works and those of lesser-known French composers.But the 1848 Revolution put an end to the project;Adam was financially ruined and turned to journalism to supplement his income.In 1850 he was apppointed professor of composition at thye ParisConservatoire.However,he continued to write operas comiques'including 'Giralda'(1850),acknowledged as one of his finest pieces,and'Si j'etais roi(1852)The composer of some 70 operas,Adam is remembered as a pioneer and writer of graceful,fluent music in the Italianate idiom with dramatic power.
Hidden treasures - Adolphe Adam - Le postillon de Lonjumeau (1836) - Selected highlights
http://youtu.be/1LxSmJU73GQ 








*MAY 3 

 Death of FERDINANDO PAER 1839 in Paris
Italian composer. In 1792 he became maestro di cappella at Parma, where his opera 'Orphee et Euridice' had been staged the previous year. His first Italian opera, 'Circe'was given in Venice in 1792; it was followed by several others, including 'L'Idomeneo' and 'Griselda'. He spent some years in Vienna, where he heard Mozart's music, then became Kapellmeister of the Dresden court chapel. Napoleon greatly admired his music and in 1806 took him to Warsaw; on their return to Pari, Paer was in charge of the Imperial chapel. He wrote over 50 operas, of which Agnese (1809) and Le Maitre de chapelle, ou Le Souper Impervu (1821) were the best known. His other works include instrumental music,  cantatas, three oratorios and sacred music. His style shows the influence of Italian composers and of Mozart and Beethoven.
Paër: L'Agnese -Overture (Fasolis)
 http://youtu.be/dy7Nrfq9wbM



   

Death of HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ von BIBER 1704 in Salzburg
Bohemian composer and violinist.After early service tothe Prince-Bishop of Olomouc,he transferred in 1670 to the Archbishop's Kapelleat Salzburg,where he remained for the rest of his life,becoming Kapellmeisterin 1684.In 1690 he was knighted by Emperor Leopold I.The most renowned virtuosoof his time,Biber is remenbered mainly for his contributions to the solo violinrepertory.These include his 16 Mystery Sonatas.He also composed two operas,'Chila dura, la vince (1687) and 'Alessandro in pietra' (1689)
Spinosi:"Battalia", Heinrich Ignaz von Biber; live 2000
http://youtu.be/BC2oaSAToRE




 * MAY 4

Death of GEORGE ENESCU 1955 in Paris
Romanian composer.He made his debut as a violinist at the age of seven and begun studies at the Vienna Concervatory in 1890.In 1895 he went to the Paris Conservatoire to continue his violin studies,but concentrated  instead on composition under Massenet and Faure. He quickly achieved success in Paris with such works as the first two violin sonatas (1897 and 1902) and the two 'Romanian Rhapsodies' for orchestra (1901 and 1902), all of which he  performed himself as violinist, pianist, or conductor. As a violinist he made many international tours,winning renown for his playing of Bach and of contemporary works. He was also active as a teacher in Paris and Bucharest, his pupils including Yehudi Menuhin and Arthur Grumiaux. His small output(33 opus numbers) also includes a four-act opera, 'Oedipe(1921-31;Paris Opera,1036).
George Enescu - Rapsodia Romana (op.2)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTqchZPPB10&feature=share

Birth of EMIL von REZNICEK 1860 in Vienna
Austrian composer. He was sent to Graz to study law, but music was his first love and he soon moved on to Leipzig to study with Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn. Later he held various posts as a theatre and opera conductor in Austria and Germany. His compositions include many operas,four symphonies and other orchestral works,three string quartets,and some choral music. But he is remembered today almost entirely for the short,sparkling overture to his opera 'Donna Diana' (Prague,1894).
Donna Diana Overture - Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek - 1894
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew4LwBUzX5A&feature=share




* MAY 5

Birth of STANISLAW MONIUSZKO 1819 in Ubiel,nr MinskPolish composer.He is remembered today as the leading 19th-century Polish opera composer.On his return to Minsk in 1839 from studies in Berloin he composed songs and operettas,of which'The Lottery'(1843) was given a Warsaw performance in 1846.He began work shortly afterwards on the first version of 'Halka(1846-7),with Wolski as librettist.It remains to this day the most popular of all Polish operas.The success of 'Halka' in Warsaw launched Moniuszko's career.He immediately embarked on a European tour,and on his return to Poland accepted the post of director of Polish productions at the Grand Theatre.In 1861 he began work on his masterpiece'The Haunted Manor'in 1861.Two years later he was caught up in the growing political ferment that led to the insurrection of 1863(the Grand Theatre was converted into a barracks).The'Haunted Manor',regarded as excessively patriotic in tone,was withdrawn afterthree performances in 1865.From that point there was a decline in Moniuszko's creative powers,and he died in Warsaw of a heart attack seven years later.
Stanisław Moniuszko - Overture for "Halka"
http://youtu.be/kIjiT0IS_PI 








* MAY 6

Death of Georg Joseph Vogler 1814 in DarmstadtGerman theorist,keyboard player,and composer.His music school in Mannheim(founded 1776) was a proving-ground for his harmonic theory,which he expounded in severar treatises.He also designed organs ,including the portable 'orchestrion'.Weber and Meyerbeer were among his pupils.
Georg Joseph Vogler Hosianna, David's Son
http://youtu.be/BGMDQmniLAA




 * MAY 7 

Birth of JOHANNES BRAHMS 1833 in Hamburg German composer. For more details SEE 3rd April (music diary)
Brahms - Symphony No.3 - Poco Allegretto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1trE3ms3AGo&feature=share

Birth of PYOTR IL'YICH TCHAIKOVSKY 1840 in Votkinsk, Vyatka province 
Russian composer.For more details SEE Nov 6th (music diary)
Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (Finale)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2W1Wi2U9sQ&feature=share

Death of ANTONIO SALIERI 1825 in Vienna
Italian composer. Orphaned at 15,he was adopted by a Venetian nobleman, then introduced to Florian Gassmann, who became his second father and took him to Vienna in 1766. When Gassmann died in 1774 Salieri, strongly suppopted by Joseph II, was his natural successor as director of the Italian opera.His career was centred on opera buffa, or drammma giocoso,in the Venetian mould;in this he was an essential precursor to Mozart,whom he also anticipated by writing piano concertos.Among his early operas are an intermezzo,on opera -ballet taken from'Don Quixote',and a Gluckian 'reform 'opera,'Armida',modelled on 'Telemaco'rather than 'Alceste'. With the establishment of German opera in Vienna, Salieri produced several operas in Italy,and went to Paris as Gluck's accredited successor, though not stricktly his pupil.His second Paris opera,'Les Horaces', was considered over-serious,but the colourful'Tatare', to a text by Beaumarchais,was a success and was adopted for Vienna as 'Axur re d'Ormus'by Da Ponte, who wrote more operas for Salieri than for Mozart; their 'La Cifra (1789) is a precursor of'Cosi fan tutte', a libretto intended for Salieri but one that he abandoned after composing two numbers.In 1791 he declined the commission then executed by Mozart as 'La clemenza di Tito'. There is little foundation for the idea that Salieri and Mozart were rivals, and none of the popular theory that Salieri poisoned his more gifted,but less successful, contemporary. Salier i composed 'Falstaff'in 1799 but abandoned the stage soon after to write sacred music and to devote himself to teaching; his pupils included Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt.
Antonio Salieri - Sinfonia Veneziana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_5Dr8Bz5Bc&feature=share

Death of LEOPOLD KOZELUCH 1818 in Vienna
Czech composer,pianist,teacher,and publisher. His earliest musical training in Velvary was followed by tuition from his cousin in Prague and lessons with Dusek. After considering success with theatre music in Prague,Kozeluch left in 1778 for Vienna,where he forged a career as pianist, teacher and composer; in 1785 he founded his own publishing house. Many of his works were issued simultaneously in England and Vienna. Later, in common with Haydn and Beethoven,  he made folksong settings for the Scottish publisher George Thomson. In 1792 Kozeluch succeeded Mozart as Kammer Kapellmeister and Hofmusik Compositor, posts which occupied his time and energy until his death. He was prolific in other genres producing symphonies, concertos, cantatas, songs and a large number of accompanied keyboard sonatas(trios), but it was for his distinguished fortepiano music that he was widely popular.
Leopold Kozeluch - Clarinet Concerto N.1 Es-Dur - I.Allegro molto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yzHrEIwhtI&feature=share




* MAY 8

Death of HENRY DU MONT 1684 in ParisFrench composer,organist,and harpsichordist.He and his brother Lambert entered the choir school at Maastricht,where in 1629 Henry became organist,then studied at the Jesuit College. From 1643 until his death he wasorganist at St Paul,Paris,and he was granted French nationality in 1647.In 1652 he was named harpsichordist to the Duke of Anjou,in 1660 organist to the queen,and in 1663 one of the four maitres of the royal chapel.Additional ecclesiastical responsibilities enhanced his distinguished career.He composed chansons,airs,and keyboard music,but is best known for his prolific output of sacred music,notably his 'petits motets' and 'grands motets'.
GLORIA GREGORIEN : messe royale de Henry Du Mont.mp4
http://youtu.be/Mo5lpP9tECg







Death of MAURO GULIANI 1829 in NaplesItalian singer,guitarist ,and composer.
From 1806 to 1819 he taught and played the guitar in Vienna,later making concert tours abroad.The greatest guitarist of his day,he qalso wrote a great deal of guitar music.
Mauro Giuliani,Variations on the folia of Spain op 45
http://youtu.be/aEYUPPi0scU




* MAY 9

Birth of GIOVANNI PAISIELLO 1740 in Roccaforzata,nr Taranto
Italian composer.His career spanned about 40 years,during which he prodused over 80 operas,among them some of the besr and most popular of the period.In 1754 he entered the Conservatorio di S.Onofrio in Naples remaining there until 1763.He composed comic operas for the Nuovo and Fiorentini theatres.In 1776 he accepted an offer to become maestro di cappella to Catherine the Great.At St Petersburg he wrote Italian operas with clear characterization and increased musical complexity to maintain the interest of an non-Italian-speaking audience .His contract was renewed in 1779 and 1782,but he became homesick and,having obtained a year's paid leave,left Russia for good in 1784.On his way back to Italy he produced 'Il re Teodoro in Venezia'in Vienna (1784),and this, with 'Il barbiere di Siviglia(1782),left clear traces on Mozart's style in 'Le nozze di Figaro'and 'Don Giovanni'.After the successful premiere of 'Antigono' in1785 he was granted a pension with the proviso that he compose at least one opera seria each year for the Teatro S.Carlo. His most celebrated work from this period was 'Nina,o sia La pazza per amore'(1789),the outstanding example of sentimentalcomedy in late 18th-century opera.
Giovanni Paisiello - Il barbiere di Siviglia - Ouverture (Carella)
http://youtu.be/wOmtx5pIMzo




Death of DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE in Lubeck
Danish composer.In 1660 he was appointed organist at the German church in Helsinngor,and eight years later succeeded Franz Tunder as organist of the Marienkirche,Lubeck,a post he was to retain for the rest of his life. His instrumental compositions include chamber music for strings and continuo and numerous organ works-fantasias,fugues,chorale settings,and variations-many of them virtuoso compositions from which a clear line of descent can be traced to the great organ works of Bach.Such was his fame as an organist that Bach,in 1705,walked some 400 km from Arnstadt to Lubeck to study his technique,and overstayed his leave by three months.
Dietrich Buxtehude "Sonata in B flat major" (John Holloway) 1/2
http://youtu.be/9HH7J_o5PRA




* MAY 13

Death of JEHAN de L'ESCUREL 1304 in ParisFrench poet and composer.He appears to have been a cleric at Notre Dame Cathedral,Paris,and to have been hanged for debauchery.Asmall number of his monophonic chansons in the courtly tradition of the trouveres has survived;they show him to be,with Adam de la Halle,one of the most important precursors of Machaut.
 Ensemble Syntagma - Amour, voulez-vous acorder (Jehan de Lescurel)
http://youtu.be/Cgx95OT4nZY



* MAY 14 

Birth of OTTO KLEMPERER 1885 in Breslau
 German conductor and composer.He studied in Berlin with Pfitzner,making his debut in Berlin in 1906 .At Mahler's recommendation,appointments in Prague(1907-10)and Hamburg (1910-12) followed,though he was forced to resign from the latter owing to public scandal concerning his liaison with the soprano Elisabeth Schumann.After working as Pfitzner's assistant in Strasbourg,he was appointed director of the Cologne Opere(1917-27),then of the Kroll Opera in Berlin(1927-31).Klemperer transferred to the Berlin State Opera in 1931 but left Germany after the Berlin acquisition of power in 1933 and emigrated to the USA,where he conducted the Philadelphia and Los Angeles Orchestras.After the war he worked briefly in Budapest(1947-50),but much of his later life was spent in London,where he first conducted the Philharmonia in 1951.He was appointed conductor for life in 1964.He began composing late in life, completing six symphonies and nine string quartets.
Otto Klemperer conducts Beethoven's 6th Symphony "Pastoral"- The Storm
http://youtu.be/JIs2zIGl59o

Birth of JOLY BRAGA SANTOS 1924 in Lisbon
Portuguese composer.His output covered a wide range of forms including stage and film work,with six powerfully argued symphonies at the core.The first four,written between 1946 and 1951,are touched in a conservative,polyphonic-modal idiom reminiscent of Sibelius or Vaughan Williams.
Joly Braga Santos - Symphony No. 4 Op. 16 (1950) **MUST HEAR**
http://youtu.be/bc6bk_aACtQ




Death of JOHANN ERNST ALTENBURG 1801 in Bitterfeld
 German trumpeter,organist,and theorist.The somof a military tpumpeter,he was taught toplay in the high clarino register of the trumpet as an apprentice in 1752.He became a freeman of the Guild of Trumpeters,only to find that he had little prospect of employment.He therefore studied the organ but had the chance to practise his old instrument again during the seven years war,being employed as a field trumpeter in the French army.At the end of the war he reverted to play the organ but he was unable to find any position more important than thyat of organist in varioussmall village churches.He is best known for his treatise(Halle,1795) on the'heroic and musical trumpeter's and kettledrummer's art',which provides valuable information on trumpet technique in the late Baroque period.
Altenburg, Morning Prayer (morgensegen)
http://youtu.be/ekounhYtuyU





*ΜΑΥ 15

Death of GIOVANNI CROCE 1609 in Venice
Italian composer.He was a pupil of Zarlino and a member of the choir of St Mark's,Venice,eventually becoming director of music there.His church music includes both small-scale motets and splendid works in the grand manner,using'cori spezzati;but he was best known for his extremely singable madrigals and canzonettas,which were closely imitated by Thomas Morley in England.His contribution to 'Il triomfo di Dori'(1592)was the inspiration for'The Triumphes of Oriana'.

Giovanni Croce : Cantate Domino
http://youtu.be/769GKNefB6s

Birth of CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI 1567 in Cremona Italian composer.
For more details SEE Nov.29th(music diary)
Zefiro torna (Monteverdi) - Rial & Jaroussky
http://youtu.be/e6tJWY2Vaz4





* MAY 16 

Death of MILY ALEKSEYEVICH BALAKIREV 1910 in St Petersburg
Russian composer,pianist,and conductor. For details see Jan 2nd  (music diary)
Mily Balakirev - Toccata - MARGARET FINGERHUT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlEh8iZUhb8&feature=share








*MAY 17 

Birth of ERIK SATIE 1866 in Honfleur
French composer.Of mixed parentage, he spent his formative years, between the ages of four and 12,living with grandparents and an eccentric uncle in Honfleur, where he had his first piano lessons. He then moved to Paris to join his father,and studied at the Conservatoire(1879-86). Among his earliest compositions were sets of... three 'Gymnopedies'(1888) and 'Gnossiennes'(1890) for piano, evoking the ancient world by means of pure simplicity, monotonous repetition, and highly original modal harmonies; they had an influence on his friend Debussy. His early music is the more noteworthy for having been written at a time when Wagner's music was dominant in Paris. During this period Satie was earning his living as a cafe pianist in Montmartre; he also contributed to the cafe repertory with songs and little waltzes.In 1898,however, he retired to the industrial suburb of Arcueil-Cachan, where he lived in self-imposed poverty for the rest of his life. In 1911 Ravel performed some of Satie's early piano pieces and Debussy conducted his own orchestration of two of the 'Cymnopedies. Satie's modest, mocking art endeared him to a new generation of French composers about the time of World War I. In 1915 he was discovered by Jean Cocteau and collaborated on the ballet'Parade'(1917). This was followed by the cantata'Socrate'(1919).

Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xm7s9eGxU&feature=share




* MAY 18

Βirth of Sir CLIFFORD CURZON 1907 in London
English pianist. His carrier was launched by Henry Wood in 1923, but he then studied further with Schnabel, Landowska and Boulanger. Initially a virtuoso concerto soloist, he undertook extensive tours of Europe and America but from 1945 turned to solo recitals and played chamber music interrupted by prolonged periods of study. His sensitively direct yet beautiful playing style made him a particularly renowned Mozartian. He was knighted in 1977.
 Clifford Curzon " Piano Concerto no. 4" (2. Movement) Beethoven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iPkUxkt2kk&feature=share

 Death of GUSTAV MAHLER 1911 in Vienna
Austrian composer and conductor. His ten symphonies are among the finest monuments to the declining years of the Austro-German domination of European music. In four of the symphonies he used the human voice and achieved a synthesis of song and symphonic form which, though not unique, has remained inimitable. He was a great conductor,bespecially of opera,bhis decade as director of the Vienna Court Opera being regarded as the zenith of that house's achievement.

THE EARLY YEARS
Mahler was the second of 14 children born to a Jewish distillery owner, Bernard Mahler, and his wife Marie. His father encouraged his obvious musical talent and in 1870 Mahler gave a piano recital in Iglau. The following year he was sent to school in Prague, where he was ill-treated; he was fetched home in 1872. In 1875, on the advice of a farm manager who had heard him play, Mahler was taken to Vienna to play to Julius Epstein, piano professor at the conservatory.  He was accepted as a student, but though successful in piano competitions at the conservatory, he abandoned playing in favour of composing. His career as a conductor began in operetta in 1880 at a small summer theatre at Bad Hall, Upper Austria. In 1883 he was appointed to a post at Olmutz. His next appointment was at Kassel (1883-5). There he had a love affair with a singer. Dissatisfied with Kassel, he moved to Prague for the 1885-6 season. There for the first time he conducted the Mozart and Wagner operas in which he was to excel. In 1886 he went to Leipzig where he conducted several Weber operas. In January 1888 a successful premiere of the comic opera 'Die drei Pintos' made Mahler famous. From 1888 to 1891 he reinvigorated the Royal Opera at Budapest. In summer 1892 he made his only visit to London, where he conducted at Drury Lane and Covent Garden.
L. Bernstein Conducts Mahler's 9th Symphony (1/9)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZhPE_XFY7I&feature=share

THE YEARS OF MATURITY

From 1893 Mahler spent his summers at a retreat in the Salzkammergut where he devoted his time to composition. The Second and Third Symphonies were completed in the years 1893-6. The Second Symphony was performed complete in Berlin in 1895,Mahler's first real success as a composer. Among champions of his work at this time was Richard Strauss.In 1897 he was baptized as a Catholic. He was appointed director of the Opera that autumn and in 1898 conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. In 1902 he married Alma Schindler,herself a composer and the daughter of an artist. Between 1899 and 1907 Mahler composed his Symphonies nos.4-8 and two big song cycles. In 1907 the anti-Semitic faction opposed to him secured his departure from the Opera. During this year his elder daughter,aged four, died from scarlet fever,and he was told that he had a malfunction of a heart valve.He left Europe for New York, where he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera from 1908 to 1910, leaving when Toscanini arrived. From 1909 he was conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Each summer he returned to Europe, composing 'Das Lied von der Erde' and the Ninth Symphony (1908-9), conducting his own works in major cities, and in 1910 supervising the first two performances at Munich of his enormous choral work, the Eighth Symphony. This was the crowning public triumph of his career. Back in New York for the 1910-11 season,he became seriously ill in February. He expressed a wish to return to Vienna his 50 years of life, lived at an incredible pitch of intense activity, ended in a clinic. 
Gustav Mahler - Adagietto from Symphony no. 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWPACef2_eY&feature=share

MAHLER'S STYLE
The importance of the influence of the flk-tale anthology 'Des Knaben Wunderborn' on Mahler's musical style cannot be exaggerated. The elements of satire, parody, and grotesquerie which are such a prominent feature derive from these tales and poems. Not only are the settings remarkable in themselves,but t6hey spilt over into Mahler's symphonic works. Thus, in the first symphony, the funeral march is based on a parody of the children's round 'Bruder Martin'; in the scherzo of the Second the song about St Anthony preaching to the fishes is quoted instrumentally. In the Third the children's vision of heaven 'Es sungen drei Engel' is a principal motif,as in the song 'Das himmlische Leben' which provides the last movement of the Fourth. The Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies are purely instrumental but are also linked with song setting. The Fifth may be defined as Mahler's 'Eroica', but the Sixth is his most tragic and classically formal symphony. The Seventh is a reversion to the earlier manner,but presented in a more sophisticated way. In these three central symphonies, a large orchestra is used economically, with passages of delicacy and refinement akin to chamber music. With the Eighth Symphony, Mahler again called upon the human voice. This work, nicknamed the 'Symphony of a Thousand' because of the number of performers engaged at the Munich premiere. For his last two symphonies, the Ninth and Tenth, Mahler returned to wholly instrumental forces.The ninth is emotionally concerned with farewell. The Tenth Symphony(1910-11), proves that Mahler had conquered the spiritual desolation implicit in the Ninth.
L. Bernstein Conducts Mahler's 9th Symphony (1/9)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZhPE_XFY7I&feature=share

Death of GEORG BOHM 1733 in Luneburg
German organist and composer. In the early 1690s,after study in Gotha and at Jena University, he went to Hamberg, where he met Reincken and Buxtehude, and absorbed into his keyboard writing significant French and Italian influences. From 1698 he served until his death as organist in Luneburg, where he gave encouragement to the young  J.S.Bach. He is chiefly remembered for his organ works, but he also composed cantatas, songs, and a 'St John Passion' (1704) formely attributed to Handel.
Georg Böhm - Choral Partita "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" - Simone Stella
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aes5ZDUE8pE&feature=share

Death of JACQUES AUBERT 1753 in Belleville,nr Paris
French violinist and composer. In 1719 he joined the household of the Prince of Conde, providing music for the prince's divertissements at Chantilly. In 1727 he became a member of the Vingt-Quatre Violons, and a year later was a first violin in the Opera Orchestra. He made his first appearance at the Concert Spirituel in 1729, and wrote most of hissubsequent compositions for that concert series.His six Italianate violin concertos (1734) were the first such works to be printed in France; his other instrumental music includes five books of violin sonatas, duets for two violins or flutes, and orchestral suites; they were fluent, graceful, and technically accomplished.
 J. Aubert le Vieux: Concertos & Concerts de Simphonies, Le Carillon / Collegium Musicum 90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2TXENOsvyk&feature=share

Death of LEROY ANDERSON 1975 in Woodbury,CT,
American composer of Swedish descent. He studied music at the New England Conservatory and Harvard and from 1929 to 1935 worked as an organist, choirmaster, conductor, and teacher. His often humorous light music, with its novel orchestral effects, includes 'Jazz Pizzicato' (1938), 'Fiddle-Faddle ' (1947), 'Sleigh Ride' (1948), and 'The Typewriter' (1950).


The Typewriter Leroy Anderson Martin Breinschmid with Strauß Festival Orchestra Vienna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2LJ1i7222c&feature=share

Death of ISSAC ALBENIZ 1909 in Cambo-les Bains

Spanish pianist and composer. He made his first public appearance as a pianist in Barcelona at the age of four. Three years later he was refused admission to the Paris Conservatoire because he was too young and in 1872 he stowed away on a ship bound for the Amarecas. After a tour of the USA, where he supported himself by playing the piano, further Europeantravels, and periods of study at the Leipzig and Brussels conservatories, he returned to Barcelona. Later, he refined his playing technique with Liszt in Budapest. An England tour in 1889 earned him enough money to undertake a period of study in Paris with d'Indy and Dukas. In 1890 he return to London where his single success was 'Pepita Jimenez(1896). In 1893 he settled in Paris, where his compositions began to attract attention  and respect, though ill health forced him to live in the south of France for most of the last decade of his life. His most important works are for his own instrument, and the two 'Suites espanolas' (1886-89) together with the 12 pieces infour books making up 'Iberia'(1906-8),which remains a dazzling compendium of rhythmic vigour, harmonic subtlety, and sheer pianistic virtuosity.
De Larrocha plays Albeniz Iberia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjmqUzhEGio&feature=share





* MAY 19

Death of HILDING ROSENBERG 1985 in Stockholm
Swedish composer and teacher. He studied the piano and organ at the Stockholm Conservatory(1915-16), then learnt counterpoint with Stenhammar and conducting with Scherchen. He was assistant conductor at the Royal Opera in Stockholm (1932-4) when the first of his seven operas, 'Resa till Amerika(Journey to America'), was prodused there. Rosenberg's compositions include two children's operas, four ballets, eight symphonies (nos.4' 5' and 8 are choral) and much other orchestral music,12 string quartets and other chamber pieces, and a generous quantity of choral music.
Hilding Rosenberg: Orchestral Suite: Intermezzo / Swedish Radio Symph.Orch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_TM8VPXwBw&feature=share






*MAY 21

Birth of HEINZ HOLLIGER 1939 in Langenthal
 Swiss oboist and composer.He studied at the conservatories of Berne,Basle,and Paris,his teaching including Emile Cassagnaud and Pierre Pierlot for the oboe,and Sandor Veress and Pierre Boulez for composition.One of the leading wind virtuosos of his time,he has had works writen for him byBerio,Henze,Penderecki,and many others. His own compositions show a fascination with extreme situations,both psychological and musical,and include several works for his own instrument,operas('Schneewittchen,Zurich,1998,and smaller-scale settings of Samuel Beckett plays),and 'Scardanelli-Zyklus'(1975-91),a concert of choral and instrumental pieces based on the poetry of Friedrich Holderlin.
Heinz Holliger with Mozart oboe
http://youtu.be/G9Y3AcJKQ-I


 

*MAY 22

Birth of RICHARD WAGNER 1813 in Leipzig
Richard Wagner Siegfried funeral march
German composer. For more details, see  Feb.13th (music diary).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8wHteSOwW4&feature=share






* MAY 23

Death of JOHN BLITHEMAN 1591 in London
English composer and organist. He was Master of the Choristers at Christ Church,Oxford,in 1564,and succeeded Tallis as organist to the Chapel Royal in 1585. Some of his keyboard music has survived in the Mulliner Book.
John Blitheman - In pace. Worcester Cathedral choir
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA2x7tAcXZQ&feature=share






* ΜΑΥ 25

Death of GUSTAV HOLST 1934 in London
English composer.For more details SEE Sep.21st (music diary)
Gustav Holst, The Hymn of Jesus (1/3)
http://youtu.be/WA-tUfeaAgU








* ΜΑΥ 26

Birth of Sir EUGENE GOOSENS 1893 in London
English conductor and composer. The son and granson of conductors, he studied composition at the RCM with Stansford and Charles Wood (1907-10) and the violin with Achille Rivarde. His early career as a conductor included the first English performance of 'The Rite of Spring'in 1921. His career blossomed through appointments with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (1923-31)and the Cincinnati Symphony (1931-46). In 1947 he moved to Australia where he was director of the New South Wales Conservatorium and resident conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra(1947-56). Between the wars Goossens was highly regarded as a composer,and such works as the Sinfonietta (1922), the Phantasy Sextet (1922-3), written for the wealthy musical patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, and the Concertino for string octet (1928) are highly attractive in their eclectic mixture of post-Romanticism and wiry neo-classicism. He also prodused two operas,'Judith' (1929) and 'Don Juan de Maanara' (1937), and also the oratorio 'The Apocalypse' (1953). His brother was the oboist Leon Goossens (1897-1988) and his sister the harpist Sidonie (1899-2004).

Sir Eugene Goossens - Symphony No. 1 Op. 58 (1938) **RECOMMENDED**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5guPvUeUY&feature=share




* MAY 27

Death of NICOLO PAGANINI 1840 in Nice
Italian violinist and composer. He was the most famous violinist of his time. Taught initially by his father,he also took composition lessons in Genoa.In 1800 went with his family to Livorno. A year later he settled in Lucca,as leader of a newly formed orchestra,and two years after that was appointed violinist to the court there. In December 1809 he left to pursue a solo career. For the next 18 years Paganini concentrated his concert-giving within the Italian peninsula, his triumphant success in Milan in 1813 consolidating his position as the foremost virtuoso of his generation. In 1828 he travelled to Vienna for a series of wildly successful concerts, so launching a considerable European career, taking him to almost all the major centres. Paganini'slast years were dogged by ill health: in 1838 he lost his voice completely.He had an enormous influence on subsequent generations of violinists, partly through his technical example and then- more long-lasting-through his compositions, particularly the famous'Caprices'for solo violin,which remain a virtuoso pinnacle. After first hearing him play in Paris in 1832, Liszt consciously cultivated himself as the 'Paganini of the piano'; Chopin and Schumann were hardly less influent, and his effect is felt as late as Brahms and Rakhmaninov. Paganini was, in short, a key influence on the composers who came to their first maturity in the early 19th-century.
Jascha Heifetz plays Paganini Caprice No. 24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPcnGrie__M&feature=share

Birth of JOACHIM RAFF 1822 in Lachen, in Zurich
German composer and teacher. He earned his living by teaching while he studied music privately. On Mendelssohn's recommendation, Breitkopf & Hartel published some piano pieces in 1844. In Basle the next year Raff met Liszt,who helped him find work in Cologne,as a critic and in a music shop. In 1847 Liszt again helped Raff find work, in Hamburg as arranger for a publisher, and in 1850 Raff became Liszt's assistant in Weimar, undertaking various tasks;he later claimed to have orchestrated some of the music Liszt was writing at the time.After six years in Weimar, during which his own opera 'Konig Alfred' was staged (1851), Raff left for Wiesbaden, where he taught the piano and composed; as director of the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt (1877-82) he was one of the most sought-after composition teachers in Germany. The backbone of his output is a series of 11 symphonies, of which nos.3 (Im Walde,1869) and 5 (Leonore, 1872) have regained some of the currency they lost during most of the 20th century. He also composed a generous quantity of chamber music, as well as piano and choral music
Joachim Raff - Symphony No. 5 in E Major "Lenore" Op. 177 (1872) **MUST HEAR**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bCouf7yAcE&feature=share

Death of GIOVANNI LEGRENZI 1690 in Venice
Italian composer. The son of a violinist,in 1654 he became organist at the civic church of S.Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, where in all likelihood he had received his early education.He remained until 1656, when he was appointed director of music at the Accademia dello Spirito Santo in Ferrara. There he began to compose opera. He stayed for about 11 years. In the early 1670s he moved to Venice, where he was incharge of music at the Conservatory of the Mendicanti and,from 1685, maestro di cappella at St Mark's. His last years were clouded by illness. Legrenzi wrote church music throughout his career; his motets for solo voice of small ensemble are particularly attractive. But his most distinguished work lies in opera. The individuality of his melody with its fluid continuity account for his enormous success both in Italy and beyond.
Giovanni Legrenzi "O Vos"-Olga Nazaykinskaya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmtv4aoO50E&feature=share




* MAY 28



Birth of RICCARDO ZANDONAI 1883 in Sacco,Trento
Italian composer. He studied with Mascagni at the Pesaro Liceo Musicale, of which he was director for the last few years of his life. Regarded as a possible cuccessor to Puccini, he combined a gift for lyrical melody with a love of colourful pageantry; 'Franscesca da Rimini' (Turin,1914) was the most successful of his operas. His other works include several orchestral pieces,choral music,and songs.
Riccardo Zandonai: Concerto Romantico (1919)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gASMiQut5jM&feature=share

Death of VISSARION YAKOVLEVICH SHEBALIN 1963 in Moscow
Russian composer. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory, of which he was later director (1942-48). He was a prolfic composer in numerous genres, his works including five symphonies, the two-hour choral symphony 'Lenin', and the opera 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Today, however, he is best known for his work on other composers' music, chiefly his completion of Musorgsky's 'Sorochintsy Fair' and his orchestration of the supplementary pas de deux in Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake'.
Vissarion Shebalin: String Trio op. 4 mov.1 (Audio only)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY0WumVr7z8&feature=share





 
Death of LUIGI BOCCHERINI 1805 in Madrid
Italian composer and cellist.For more details SEE Feb 19 (music diary)
Luigi Boccherini - Minuet - String Quintet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZOknKotVc&feature=share







* MAY 29

Death of MILY ALEXEYEVICH BALAKIREV 1910 in St Petersburg
Russian composer,pianist and conductor. For more details SEE Jan 2nd (music diary)

Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev: Overture on 3 Russian Themes
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk_DZoeAKyE&feature=share
  




* MAY 30



Birth of ALFRED DELLER 1912 in Margate
English countertenor. He was one of the most celebrated countertenors of recent times, exerting a strong influence on the latter-day revival of interest in the art of the castrato. After singing in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, he formed the Deller Consort principally for the performance of 16th-and 17th-century music.Britten wrote the part of Oberon in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' for him. He sang with florid virtuosity, which some found mannered, but also lyrically with a gently supple delivery.

Alfred Deller - Music for a while - Purcell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trOXaDeFeD4&feature=share









* MAY 31

Death of FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN 1809 in Vienna
Austrian composer. For more details SEE April 1st (music diary)
 Joseph Haydn - Deutschland Uber Alles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2IaFaJrmno&feature=share







Birth of MARIN MARAIS 1656 in Paris
French composer and bass viol player. The son of a shoemaker,he was a choirboy at St Germain-L'Auxerrois with Lalande. He studied the bass violin for six months with Sainte-Colombe and by 1675 was playing in the Academie orchestra under Lully. A skilled composer as well as performer, he published his first book of 'pieces de violes' in Paris in 1686. After Lully's death in 1687, Marais collaborated with Louis Lully on 'Alcide' (1693) before composing three 'tragedies en musique' of his own for performace at the Opera,o f which 'Alcyone' (1706) was particularly admired for the thundering multiple bass parts of its tempest scene. The defining qualities of Marais's viol music are its craftmanship, stylistic refinement,a nd mastery of idiom. He was succeeded at courtby his elder son,Vincent (1677-1737), in 1725; another son, Roland (1685-1750), published two collections of 'pieces de viole' (1735,1738).
Marais - Chaconne for Solo Viola da Gamba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTd0q4y6ln8&feature=share

Birth of ITALO MONTEMEZZI in Vigasio, near Verona
Italian composer. He studied and then taught at the Milan Conservatory before being taken up by the Ricordi publishing firm. Their faith in him, doubtless boosted by his evident absorption both of Wagnerian techniques and of the 'advanced' styles of Debussy and Strauss, was vindicated by the enormous international success of 'L'amore dei tre re' (La Scala, Milan,1913), which retains a tenuous hold on the repertory. Montemezzi spent much of his later career in the USA, where he conducted frequent revivals of L'amore dei tre re.
Italo Montemezzi - L'amore dei tre re - Atto primo, scena finale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtWmjQ2Zim8&feature=share