* 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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