Επιμέλεια
*Costas Papageorgiou
* JUNE 3
Birth of FRANTISEK JAN SKROUP 1801 in OsiceCzech composer and conductor. Born into a musical family, he had his first lessons from hisfather. After studying law in Prague he turned his attention to opera in Czech. In1826 his 'Dratenik-the first Czech opera- was hugely successful. One of thesongs he wrote as part of the incidental music for J.K.Tyl's play 'Fidlovacka'(1834) was adopted in 1918 as the Czech national anthem. He left Prague in 1857to become conductor of the Opera in Rotterdam.
Ema Destinová, Dinh Gilly: Kde domov můj
German composer,organist,and pianist. He studied at the Berlin Conservatory (piano andcomposition). His compositional style underwent a radical change after hisarrival in Weimar in 1856, and in a short time he had assimilated many ofLiszt's techniques, basing his Organ Sonata on Liszt's 'Ad nos' Fantasy andFugue, and his piano sonata on Liszt's sonata in B minor. At the time of hisdeath, at the age of 24, he was one of the most talented of all Liszt'sstudents in Weimar, and his two major works--the Organ Sonata on the 94thPsalm, and the Piano Sonata--show a fluent mastery of the then radicalharmonic, motivic, and structural procedures of the 'Music of the Future'. Hadhe lived, it is likely that he would have made a significant contibution to 19th-centurymusic.
JuliusREUBKE - Sonata on the 94th Psalm – Allegro
Death of GEORGES BIZET 1875 in Bougival, near Paris
French composer. For more details SEE Oct 25th (music diary)
Symphonie 2 Satz / c dur George Bizet / Best of Classical Music Period Video /Masterpieces
English organist and composer. He appeared as a soloist in concertos at the age of six and composed a ballad opera at eight. In London he worked at Marylebone Gardens and then for almost 50 years at Vauxhall Gardens, where he composed numerous organ concertos and more than 2000 songs. He also wrote dramatic works,such as the successful comic opera 'The Double Disguise' (1784), a huge quantity of instrumental music, and a celebrated instruction book, 'Guida di musica'. He was a notable exponent of the galant style.
Forgotten Sonata by James Hook
French composer. He studied the organ and composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Francois Benoist and Halevy but, physically handicapped from birth and dependent on crutches,he found organ playing increasingly arduous. In 1856 he and Bizet shared first prize in a competition sponsored by Offenbach for an operetta entitled 'The Docteur Miracle', but his first major success came with the fashionably oriental 'Fleur-de-the' (Paris,1868). His music is characterized by a gift for melody and the inventive use of rhythm to great dramatic effect. He was made a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1900 and an Officier in 1910.
CARLA RUTILI - Lecocq : Fille de Mme Angot - Operette
* JUNE 4
Death of SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY 1951 in Boston, MARussian-born American conductor, composer and double-bassplayer. He studied the double bass at the Moscow Philharmonic School, playedwidely in Russia, and made international debuts in Berlin (1903) and London (1907).He left Russia after the 1917 Revolution and attained yet higher fame as aconductor on being appointed to the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1924-49).
Serge Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass excerpts
* JUNE 5
Death of LEONEL POWER 1445 in Canterbury
English singer,composer and theorist. He was employed in the houhold ofThomas, Duke ofClarence, until 1421. In 1439 he became master of the Lady Chapel choir at the Benedictine cathedral priory of Canterbury. His music, likeDunstaple's, is noted for its use of full chordal sonority. It is known on the Continent, and was influential there during the first half of the 15th century.
Leonel Power (1370/1385-1445) Gloria
German-born British composer and conductor. He studied with Hummel and Weber in Germany before moving to Naples as conductor of the S.Carlo and Fondo theatres. In 1835 he moved to London and soon became musical director at Drury Lane (1838-48) during a fertile period of English Romantic opera. In spite of his German roots, he was influenced most in his operas by the Italians. He wrote a number of cantatas and the oratorio 'St Peter' for Birminham (1870). He also produced two piano concertos, overtures, and many solo fantasias for piano on operaticthemes. He was knighted in 1871 after becoming a naturalized British citizen.
Piano Concerto E Flat Opus 98 Julius Benedict
Death of ANSELM HUTTENBRENNER 1868 in Oberandritz
Austrian composer. He studied in Vienna with Salieri and made a modest reputation as a composer. He was also friendly with Beethoven and Schubert. Probably in 1823, Schubert gaveHuttenbrenner's brother Felix the score of the 'Unfinished' Symphony, whence it eventually passed to Anselm, who made a piano duet arrangement. In 1865 Johann Herbeck retrieved the score from him and conducted the belated premiere in Vienna.
Diabelli's Waltz - V17 Anselm Huttenbrenner
Birth of NICOLAS BERNIER 1665 in Mantes-la-Jolie
French composer. He was a boy chorister in the collegiate church of his native town. After studies in Rome, he settled in Pariw in 1692, becoming a celebrated harpsichord teacher. From1694 to 1698 he was maitre de chapelle at Chartres Cathedral, returning to Paris as director of music at St Germain-L'Auxerrois. He later succeeded Charpentier as director of music at the Sainte Chapelle (1704) and Lalande as sous-maitre of the royal chapel (1723).In addition to sacred compositions, Bernier published secular cantatas, four of eight books appeared in 1703 along with his first collection of petits motets. He also published a treatise on counterpoint, 'Principes de composition' .Louis-Claude Daquin was among his pupils.
Nicolas Bernier - Cantate Domino
Death of HENRI VIEUXTEMPS 1881 in Mustapha, Algeria
Belgian violinist and composer. One of the great 19th-century virtuoso violinists, he studied with Charles-Auguste de Beriot in Paris. His playing career, during which he revived Beethoven's Concerto, took him throughout Europe and three times to America. Among his admirers were Schumann and Berlioz, and his pupils included Eugene Ysaye. Of his 59 published works virtually all are for the violin, including five concertos, the most frequently played being the Fourth.Vieuxtemps, Henry Fantasia Appassionata (begin) opus 35
* JUNE 7
Death of FRANCESCO CORTECCIA 1571 in FlorenceItalian organist and composer. He was a choirboy at S.Giovanni Battista, Florence, and held various posts there until his death. In 1531 he became organist and maestro di cappella at S.Lorenzo,the Medici chapel, and in 1540 at the court. In 1539 he composed madrigals and intermedi for the wedding celebrations of Cosimo I, Duke of Florence, and Elonora di Toledo.
His liturgical music includes some of the earliest extant Italian Passion settings.
Francesco Corteccia, Vientene almo riposo, Jacopo Tintoretto
Birth of LEOPOLD AUER 1845 in VeszpremHungarian violinist.His virtuosity was restricted by physical limitation to his hands and he is largely remembered for refusing the dedication and premiere of Tchaikovsky's concerto. He was, however, a significant teacher, in London, Dresden, Philadelphia, an d St Petersburg (1868-1917), where he was also court violinist, playing solos at the Imperial Ballet; Mischa Elman, Efrem Zimbalist, and Heifetz were among his pupils.
Leopold Auer - Hungarian dance g-minor
* JUNE 8
German composer
EARLY YEARS AND MATURITY
One of the leading figures of the early Romantic period, was born in a provincial city into a cultured middle-class family -his father was a book-seller and publisher. In 1820 Schumann was sent to the local Gymnasium, where his education proceeded on traditional lines. This was supplemented by voracious reading. Musically Schumann became acquainted with works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Weber. His father's death in 1826 led his mother to focus on her son's future. Drinking champagne and smoking cigars featured among his other pursuits (alcohol later became an occasional problem). His most recent artistic enthousiasm was for the music of Schubert, whose death in November that year caused Schumann to cry all night. Even more significant was the start in August 1828 of serious pianistic sdudies with the leading local pedagogue Friedrich Wieck, who sensed Schumann's considerable talent and variable discipline, the latter in sharp contrast to Wieck's nine-year -old daughterClara, who was proving to be a prodigy.During a holiday in the summer of 1829 he travelled to Switzerland and Italy, where he fell briefly under the spell of Italian opera. Even more influential was the experience of hearing the great violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini play in Frankfurt in April 1830. This was the year in which Schumann turned decisively to music. Schumann's pianistic ambitions, however, suffered a permanent setback when he began to suffer weakeness in the index and middle fingers of his right hand; this is often attributed to his use of a mechanical contrivance to strengthen his hand. An additional activity was journalism. In 1834 Schumann fell in love with Ernestine von Fricken, a pupil of Wieck's whose father provided the theme of the Etudes symphoniques. By August of 1835 Schumann began to lose interest in Ernestine and found himself attracted to Clara, now nearly 16 and nine years his junior. They were finally married on 12 September 1840.
Robert Schumann - Fairy Tales for Viola and Piano
MATURITY Marriage gave Schumann the emotional and domestic stability on which his subsequent achievements were founded. During 1840,the year of their marriage, Schumann turned decisively to song, produsing more than half his output in the genre, including a series of cycles. His first completed symphony (The Spring) was conducted by Mendelssohn at a concert given by Clara.Chamber music was the next area to be tackled,in 1842. After studying works by Haydn and Mozart, Shumann produced three string quartets, closely followed by a Piano Quintet, a Piano Quartet, and a set of 'Phantasiestucke' for piano trio. The following year opened with a setback: a severe and debilitating mental crisis whose effects lasted several months. He suffered similar attacks at intervals over a long period, which may have been congenital: his father had also had a 'nervous disorder', and his youngest sister Emilie had committed suicide in 1826.More happily, 1843 saw Schumann succeed with a new genre, that of the oratorio. His 'Das Paradies' and 'die Peri', based on an oriental poem by Thomas Moore, was given in December in Leipzig and won immediate success. In 1844 Clara determined on restoring the family's finances with a concert tour to Russia. The major productions of the next two years were orchestral. In 1847, he began work on an opera on the subject of 'Genoveva' based on earlier plays byLudwig Tieck and Friedrich Hebbel, as well as writing two piano trios. His ability to compose remained constant. Among his largest achievements of the period 1850-1852, are the Third Symphony and the Cello Concerto, the final version of the Fourth Symphony, together with various overtures and two cantatas ,and a Mass and Requiem. The arrival on the Schumann's doorstep in September 1853 of the 20-year-old Johannes Brahms provided the final happy interlude in his life. Brahms was to prove a personal tower of strength to Clara during the difficult days ahead: in early 1854 Schumman's condition worsened alarmingly. On 26 February he asked to be taken to an asylum and the following day attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine. He was admitted to an institution at Endenich, near Bonn, on 4 March, and remained there for over two years in a gradually deteriorating condition. He died of pneumoniaat the asylum, aged 46.Robert Schumann - Traumerei / Reverie
SCHUMANN'S MUSIC Commentators on Schumann's output have all agreed on the outstanding qualities of the piano music and songs. Schumann's piano music has needed no such defence. As a highly trained pianist he understood the instrument's character and potential as well as anyone of his generation, and his personal rapport with it from childhood made it a natural means of expression to the adult composer; this perhaps partly explains the highly distinctive nature of his piano writing in which exrertise combines with a certain idiosyncracy. Character pieces with fanciful names form a large part of Schumann's published output, while substantial works in such absolute genres as the sonata are rarer.Schumann's songs are notable above all for the high quality of thetexts he set. Their variety is also immense, and far widerthan an aquaintance with the 20 or 30 best-known examples might suggest. Much of his chamber output is neglected:beyond the well-known Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet (both 1842) lie fine works for string quartet and piano trio that are the only now entering the repertory. Schumman's first orchestral works came after solid achievements in piano music and song. He himself confessed that orchestration was a difficult art to master. Hissymphonies scarcely follow in the grand Beethovenian tradition of heroics and humanitarianism, yet they are substantial achievements, and in all four, together with the 'Overture, Scherzo, and Finale (1841), the quality of musical invention is considerably high. His choral music is less well-known, though growing familiarity with such works as the 'Scenes from Goethe's ''Faust'' and the colourful 'Paradise and the Peri', a oratorio for happy people, as convincingly demonstrated their worth. Another much-derided work is his opera,'Genoveva' which for long passed as the leading representative of the genre of a bad opera by a great composer.
Mitsuko Uchida Plays Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9 - Part I
Death of HANS LEO HASSLER in Frankfurt
German composer. He was the second of three sons of a Nuremberg organist. In 1584 he went to Venice to study with Andrea Gabrieli. He returned to Germany two years later to become organist to the banker Octavian II Fuger; this was his most productive composing period. After Octavian's death in 1600 he left Augsburg, returning for four years to Nuremberg, after which he moved to Ulm where he married at the age of 46, before ending his life as organist to the Elector of Saxony at Dresden. Hassler was a leading composer of his day. His secular compositions include Italian madrigals and rhythmic dance songs. The well-known 'Passion Chorale' (O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden) was adapted from one of his German love songs.
Cantate Domino: Hans Leo Hassler
* JUNE 9
Death of THOMAS TOMKINS 1656 in Martin Hussingtree,Worc. Εnglish organist and composer. The third child of Thomas Tomkins senior, organist of St Davids Cathedral, he was one of anotable musical family that included several other church musicians. In 1596 he was appointed organist in charge of the music at Worcester Cathedral, and in 1607 took the degree of B.Mus. at Magdalen College, Oxford. By 1620 he was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, succeeding Edmund Hooper as one of the organiststhe following year.Together with his son Nathaniel, a canon of the cathedral, he remained a staunch royalist, opposing the suspension of services during the Civil War. Tomkins was a prolific composer in many genres. He remained an Elizabethan in spirit right up to his death; there is barely a trace of new Italian style in his music, and all his works are polyphonic in conception. He also wrote music for consort and keyboard. The latter includes the 'Sad pavan 'headed' for these distracted times', dated a few days after the execution of Charles I.
"When David Heard" - Thomas Tomkins
Birth of ALBERIC MAGNARD 1865 in Paris
French composer. His father was the director of the 'Figaro', but Magnard directed much of his energies in his early years towards making his own way and refusinganything that might be construed as a favour. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Dubois and Massenet, winning a 'premier prix' in harmony. But he gained more from later private studies with d'Indy (1888-92), whose intransigent outlook on life and veneration for Beethoven he shared. Magnard himself was a natural contrapuntist, often seeming wilfully to shun the blandishments of orchestral colour. At other times, as in the scherzo of the Fourth Symphony (1911-13), he turns his back oncivilized Paris and allows his music to galumph. If Magnard is never an 'easy' composer, with rather too much Franckian seriousness for some modern tastes, the Fourth Symphony is a deeply impressive work, suggesting that by his mid-40s he was coming to terms with his own psychological problems and that his death, met with defending his property against German soldiers, was a great loss to French music.
Albéric Magnard - String Quartet in E minor, Op.16 - I. Sonate (1/2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrB6ube2NpY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrB6ube2NpY
Birth of GIOVANNI TOMASO ALBINONI 1671 in Venice
Italian composer. For more details SEE Jan17 (music diary).
Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni violin Sonata 1
* JUNE 10
French pianist, composer, and teacher, of German extraction. He was one of the earliest outstanding students of the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied the piano and composition. It was during his decade in England, where he moved in 1814, that he established an international reputation. In 1824 he returned to Paris, now recognized as a leading virtuoso, and also attracting attention as a composer.He was a part-owner of the Pleyel firm of piano makers. Leaving aside the many cases of paralysis no doubt caused by the 'guide-mains', the tutor offers a useful insight into early Romantic concepts of playing and teaching.
Frederic Kalkbrenner : Romance et Rondo Brillant F major Op.96 (1829)
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Death of FREDERICK DELIUS 1934
English composer.For more details SEE Jan. 29th (music diary)
Frederick Delius: "The Song of the High Hills"
* JUNE 11
French composer and organist. Of humble origins, he rose through the meritocratic system of the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Prix de Rome in 1861. He became organist of the Madeleine in Paris and a highly respected professor of harmony, counterpoint, and fugue at the Conservatoire, producing standard textbooks on these subjects. Of his compositions, little besides an organ Toccata is known today. In 1896 he was appointed director of the Conservatoire, but his reputation never recovered from Ravel's notorious 1905 failure in the Prix de Rome.
Theodore Dubois, Seven Last Words of Christ - First Word
Birth of RICHARD STRAUSS 1864 in Munich
German composer and conductor. For more details SEE Sep 8th (music diary)
Richard Strauss - Don Juan op. 20 (Karajan - BPO Osaka 1984)
*JUNE 12
German conductor. He played the viola in the Berlin Philharmonical Orchestra, taught himself score-reading and conducting, and assisted Schoenberg with the premiere of 'Pierrot lunaire' in 1911. Shortly afterwards he made his conducting debut wit that work. In 1914 he became conductor of the Riga Orchestra. In 1922 he took over the Frankfurt Museum Concerts from Furtwangler and became director of the Winterthur Musikkollegium, with which he gave the premiere of Webern's Variations for orchestra op.30 in 1943. Opposing the Nazis, he moved to Switzerland in 1933 and became conductor of the Zurich Radio Orchestra. After the war he gave first performances of major works by Dallapiccola, Dessau, and Henze and in 1954 he created the Studio for Electro-Acoustic Research in Gravesano.
Germann Scherchen rehearses Bach (vaimusic.com)
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English composer. At the RCM(1893-1901) he studied composition with Stanford and the piano with Frederick Cliffe. He was organist of St Luke's, Chelsea (1904-26), and taught at the RCM, numbering among his pupils Moeran, Alan Bush, Searle, and Britten. His most important early compositions were chamber works. His orchestral output is slender but no less distinguished. Ireland showed a flair for orchestral colour in 'A London Overture' (1936), the overture 'Satyricon' (1946), but his most successful and frequently played large-scale work is the Piano Concerto(1930), which fuses most convincingly the Brahmsian rigour of his youth (filtered through Stanford) with the iridescent, bitter-sweet palette of his later development. His most intimate music is to be found in his songs and solo piano works which, at their best, are some of the finest utterances by an English composer of the period. After the war he returned to his home in Chelsea but spent his time increasingly in Sussex, where he eventually settled in 1953.
John Ireland - A Downland Suite - 3rd Movement (Minuet)
*JUNE 13
Birth of ANTON EBERL 1765 in Vienna Austrian composer and pianist. He showed conspicuous musical ability as a child. Mozart may have taught him in the 1780s, and some of Elberl's early compositions were published under Mozart's name. His first opera 'Die Marchande des Modes' (1787), was praised by Gluck. Apart from two stays in St Petersburg (1796-1800,1801-2) and concert tours in Germany, he worked in Vienna, where he was seen as a serious rival to Beethoven, as both pianist and composer.His surviving opera 'Die Konigin der schwarzen Inseln' (1801), his chamber works, piano works, and two mature symphonies contain music of striking quality and individuality, belied by his current neglect.
Anton EBERL ( 1765-1807 ) - SYMPHONIE EN RE MINEUR - FINALE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqwVJT2mpY&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqwVJT2mpY&feature=share
*JUNE 14
Norwegian composer and conductor. Born three years earlier than Grieg, whom he outlived by four years, Svendsen was the leading Norwegian symphonic composer of his day. He was the son of a bandmaster and by the age of 15 was already an accomplished violinist, also playing the flute and clarinet. It was in Leipzig that Svendsen wrote his first works, finding an individual voice very early. His Leipzig years were both happier and more fruitful than Grieg's,and the Octet op.I, the delightful First Symphony op.4, and the String Quintet op.5 are all works of astonishing individuality, assurance, and above all freshness. After returning to Norway, in 1867 Svendsen undertook a long tour embracing Scotland, Iceland, and the Faeroes. For the rest of the 1860s he lived in Paris. 1871 found him in Bayreuth, where he was much in Wagner's company. In the late 1870s he concentrated on conducting, appearing in London, Paris, and Leipzig, and from 1883 basing himself in Copenhagen. There he remained until ill health forced hisretirement in 1908. After the famous 'Romance in G major' for violin and orchestra the creative fires burnt themselves out.The Second Symphony, completed towards the end of his five-year spell (1872-7) in the Norwegian capital, was his last large-scale work.
Johan Svendsen Romance in G for Violin and Orchestra Op. 26
Franco-Flemish composer. He was a choirboy at St Nicolas, Mons, and tradition has it that he was kidnapped three times for the beauty of his voice. When his voice broke he went to Naples in the service of a minor nobleman, and there he became a member of the Accademia de'Sereni, a literary and artistic circle. He then visited Rome as a guest of the influencial Archbishop of Florence and obtained the important post of maestro di cappella at St John Lateran when he was only 21. He stayed in this post only briefly before being called home to visit his parents who were ill; they had both died by the time he arrived in Mons. His reputation was well established by the bublications of the 1550s, and in 1556 he was invited to become a singer at the Bavarian court of Duke Albrecht V in Munich. Whithin a few years he was head of the musical establishment, in the place of the then unfashionably Protestant Ludwig Daser; he held the position until his death. In 1558 he married Regina Wackinger, the daughter of a court official. Some of his church music from this period reflects the good fortune he was enjoying. In 1579 economic circumstances and the accession of the new duke, Wilhelm V, dictated a reduction in the 'cappella'. He refused a new post because he was settled in Munich with two town houses and one in the country. The publications of the 1580s are largely concerned with church music. By 1590 he was suffering from melancholia, sometimes scarcely recognizing his wife, and was beset by thoughts of death.
St Petersburg Quartet, Orlande de Lassus,Stabat Mater.mp4
* JUNE 15
French pianist, teacher, and conductor. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Chopin's disciple Emile Descombes and with Louis Diemer, winning a first prize in 1896. In 1907 he was given a senior class at the Conservatoire which he held until 1923. His repertory was centred on Chopin, Schumannand Debussy. No one has ever matched the wild fury of his Chopin B minor prelude. His tone was sonorous and produced without apparent effort-he had no time for players who banged. All in all, he was one of the greatest pianists of his age.
Alfred Cortot rare videos
Βirth of CHARLES WOOD 1866 in Armagn
Irish composer and teacher. He studied with Stanford at the RCM (1883-7), where in 1888 he was appointed to the teaching staff. At Cambridge he became a university lecturer (1897) and professor of music (1924). He produced a large quantity of church music including many services and some fine anthems. He also composed a piano concerto, orchestral works, songs, cantatas, incidental music, two one-part operas and eight string quarters of great craftsmanship.
Charles Wood - This Joyful Eastertide
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Norwegian composer. He was not only the foremost composer Norway has produced but the first Scandinavian composer to win universal acceptance abroad. He showed early talent as a pianist and he was sent to Leipzig to study at the age of 15. But he was not happy there and in 1860 was afflicted by an attack of pleurisy which resulted in a collapsed lung. For the rest of his days he was plagued with respiratory problems and struggled through life on one lung. After Leipzig he went to Copenhagen and took lessons from Gade who, on being shown some of Grieg's smaller pieces, told him to write a symphony; this he finished in 1864. In 1867 Grieg married his cousin, the singer Nina Hagerup, for whom he composed many of his songs. Although Grieg had met Ibsen in Rome in 1866 they had not become close. Ibsen had never intended 'Peer Gynt' to be staged, but in 1874 when his dramatic poem was going into its third printing he decided to adapt it as a play, and it was to Grieg that his thoughts turned when the idea of incidental music first surfaced in his mind. The great success of their enterprise in 1876 took both author and composer by surprise, and neither expected the play to make any headway outside Norway. He visited England in 1888, and it was there that he gave his last concert in 1906. More than any other artist before him (with the exception of Musotgsky) he evokes the character of a nation's music. Throughout his life, both in the songs and in the piano music there is a growing response to the musical language of Norway, and his awareness of its harmonic originality deepened continually.
Edvard Grieg's Solveig's Song
French organist and composer,of part-Jewish ancestry. His great-uncle was physician to Louis XIV,and at the age of six Daquin was taken to play before the king. His godmother was the harpsichordist Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. A renowned improviser against Rameau for the post of organist at St Paul in 1727, succeeding Marchand at the Cordeliers in 1732 and Dandrieu at the royal chapel in 1739; in 1755 he took on one quarter-share of the prestigious organ post at Notre Dame. His works include suites of descriptive harpsichord pieces (Paris,1735),of which the best known is 'Le Coucou', and a book of 'noels' (Paris,1757).
Louis-Claude Daquin, Le Coucou, Keulemans, Martinet, Audubon
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* JUNE 17
Birth of IGOR FYODOROVICH STRAVINSKY 1882
Russian composer. For more details SEE April 6th (music diary)
Igor Stravinsky plays Stravinsky Piano Sonata (1924)
Death of ALBERTO WILLIAMS 1952 in Buenos Aires
Argentine composer and pianist. He studied at Buenos Aires and in 1882 won a scholarship to the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied composition with Franck and the piano with Georges Mathias. On his return to Argentina in 1889 he earned his living as a concert pianist and began to explore the traditional music of his native land. He played a major role in Argentine musical life,founding a conservatory (1893) and several concert societies in Buenos Aires. His output include nine symphonies, three violin sonatas, and 75 songs.
Alberto Williams: Primera Suite Argentina, mvts. 1 Hueya, 2 Milonga. Stringendo's Vivace Orchestra
Finnish composer, pianist, teacher, and critic. Childhood ability as a pianist led him to enrol at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where besides the piano he studied composition and orchestration. His wartime experiences were reflected in his first two symphonies, which are permeated with march rhythms. He composed vigorously throughout the 1950s, but at the end of the decade he stopped, turning instead to music criticism and teaching. His compositional silence ended with the Third Symphony; four more were to follow, as wellk as concertos for cello, violin, flute, and clarinet. His neo-classical style bears the imprint of Shostakovich and Prokofiev, but his music is more rigorously contrapuntal, and his elusive harmonic idiom is entirely his own.
Einar Englund - Symphony No. 2 (1/3) The Blackbird
* JUNE 18
Birth of GIUSEPPE SCARLATTI 1723 in Naples
Italian composer. A nephew of Domenico Scarlatti, pursued the career of an opera composer from 1739 in various Italian cities including Rome, Florence, and Venice; he may have visited his uncle in Spain in 1752, when an opera of his was performed in Barcelona. From 1757 he lived mainly in Vienna, where Gluck befriended him, as ballet composer to the Kartnertortheater, and later probably in the service of Prince Schwarzenberg. His operas, which show a gift for writing simple and attractive melody, were among the better ones composed by Italians in Vienna at that time.
Giuseppe Scarlatti: Dove è amore è gelosia (Where there is love, there is jealousy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StfiLQW4DZU&feature=share
Death of MANUEL ROSENTHAL 2003 in Paris
French conductor and composer. He studied the violin with Boucherit and in 1926 was invited by Ravel to bring him some of his compositions. In 1928 Ravel also persuaded the Concerts Pasdeloup to engage Rosenthal as a conductor. From there he went on to conduct the French National Orchestra and to an international career that lasted for over 60 years. As a coposer he is best known for such lighthearted works as hisoperetta 'La Poule Noire', his 'Chansons du Monsieur Bleu', and his ballet 'Gaiete parisienne' based on music by Offenbach.
Erik SATIE - Trois petites pièces montées - dir. Manuel Rosenthal
* JUNE 19
Italian composer. After early studies in Lucca he completed his education at the Paris and Milan conservatories, graduating from the latter with a one-act opera, 'La falce' (1875), to a libretto by Arrigo Boito. He composed various operas and orchestral works during the 1880s, notably 'Dejanine (1883), as well as being closely involved in the latter stages of Italy's bohemian movement, known as the ''scapigliatura''. Dogged by ill health, he was nevertheless appointed composition professor at the Milan conservatory in 1888. His most famous opera, 'La Wally', was succesfully performed at La Scala, Milan, in 1892 and retains a tenuous hold on the repertory even today, its anticipations of verismo and prominent harmonic influence of Wagner proving that Catalani was an important representative of the Italian 'fin de siecle'.
Alfredo Catalani - "Dance of the water nymphs" from "Loreley" (1890) [Toscanini]
* JUNE 21
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Death of NIKOLAY ANDREYEVICH RIMSKY-KORSACOV 1908 in Lyubensk, nr Luga
Russian composer,conductor and teacher.For more details SEE March 18 (music diary)
Rimsky Korsakov - Symphony No. 2 "Antar" (1/4)
Death of HEINRICH KAMINSKI 1946 in Ried Bavaria
German composer and teacher. He studied at the Stern Conservatorium in Berlin and in 1930 succeeded Pfitzner as professor of Fine A rts in Berlin, leaving in 1933 with the Nazi's accession to power and returning to Ried to compose. His music is powerfully polyphonic, with a sense of arcitecture inherited from Bruckner and of purposful countepoint acquired from Bach. His output is small but of high quality; there are two operas,a setting of Psalm 69 and a magnificat, and organ music
Heinrich Kaminski Der 130 Psalm
* JUNE 23
Death of THOMAS ROSEINGRAVE 1766 in Dunleary English composer.
He was the son of Daniel Roseingrave, an organist of possible Irish origin,and had his first music lessons from his father, going with him to Dublin in 1698.In 1709 he went to Italy to study music; in Venice to meet Domenico Scarlati,who made a great impression on him. In 1725 he competed successfuly for the post of organist at St George's,Hanover Square. He was now at the height of his powers as an organist, teacher, and outstanding improviser. His career, however, came to an end when marriage to a young pupil was forbitten by her father: thereafter Roseingrave neglected his professional duties and was pensioned off. He eventually retired to Dublin, where his opera''Phaedra and Hippolitus'' was prodused in 1753, and ocassionally gave harpsichird recitals. He was buried in St Patrick's Cathedral.
Thomas Roseingrave - Allemande in F minor
* JUNE 25
Birth of FRANCESCO ARAIA 1709 in Naples
Italian composer. He made his debut as a composer at the age of 14 and had written operas for various Italian cities before 1735, when he became maestro di cappella to the Russian imperial court at St Petersburg. He remained there,composing operas and cantatas, until 1759, when he retired to Italy; in 1762 he was recalled to provide music for the coronation of Emperor Peter III, but he returned to Italy again after the latter's assasination, and settled in Bologna. When or where died is not known.
Bartoli - Sacrificium, Cadrò, ma qual si mira, Francesco Araia
* JUNE 26
Siegfried's Tod & Trauermarsch Wolfgang Windgassen
* JUNE 28
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Swiss philosopher,theorist,and composer.He undertook his own musical education while teaching at Neuchatel and Lausanne. After a visit to Venice in 1743 he composed and produced 'Les Muses galantes' (1744), an opera-ballet modelled on the operas of Rameau. In 1752 his most successful opera, acclaimed in Paris and abroad, was performed: 'Le Devin du village'. Although his view was that opera was not viable in the French language, he later came to admire those directed by Gluck at the Opera.
Jean Jacques Rousseau - Les Muses Galantes - extraits
English composer. At the RAM he studied the violin counterpoint and composition. He enjoyed some success with his first opera 'Iernin' (1934) which led to two further operatic ventures, 'The Serf' (1938), given at Covent Garden under Albert Coates, and'John Socman (1951) for the Festival of Britain. Composition was interrupted by World War II, during which Lloyd served in the Royal Marines. Severely shell-shocked, he was invalided out in 1942. Between 1945 and 1948 he lived with his wife in Switzerland and resumed composition. His output consisted of 12 symphonies, four piano concertos, and two violin concertos, though he also wrote choral works and chamber and piano music.
GEORGE LLOYD: Symphony No. 11 (1985); Move. I, "Vivo"
Birth of JOSEPH JOACHIM 1831 in Bratislava,Slovakia
Austro-Hungarian violinist. A child prodigy,he studied the violin in Pest and Vienna. In 1843 he went to Leipzig, where he became a protege of Mendelssohn. He was appointed by Liszt as leader of his orchestra in Weimar (1850-3) then became leader and Kapellmeister of the court orchestra in Hanover. From1866 Joachim's annual visits to England exerted enormous influence on English concert life. It was Joachim who first provided the encouragement for Brahm's cinfidant. Their friendship survived a rapture when Brahms sided with Joachim's wife in the violinist's unsuccessful suit for divorce in 1881; Joachim suffered from extreme jealousy, a trait that clouded his life more than once, and not until Brahms's Double Concerto op.102 was being rehearced( 1887) did the two men meet again. In 1869 he founded the Joachim Quarter, whose celebrated performances were a dominant feature of musical life in much of Europe for over 40 years.
Joseph Joachim Romanze in C
Death of ANTOINE FORQUERAY 1745 in Mantes
Viol player and composer. As a child he was taken into the court as a page and taught to play the bass viol; in1689 he was appointedan ordinaire de la chambre du roi. In Paris he and his wife lived and performed at the hotel of the Prince of Carignan; their son, Jan-Baptiste-Antoine, was born there.However, Forqueray neglected his family and in 1710 he and his wife separated. He had his teenage son imprisoned (1715) and later banished from France (1725). He was admired for his performances of Italian violin sonatas on the bass viol and his ability to improvise. His playing was often compared with that of his eldest colleague Marin Marais. He never published and only a few manuscript pieces survive; he left it to his son to publish an edition of their 'pieces de viole' in 1747.
Forqueray - La Couperin / Il Giardino Armonico
* JUNE 29
Death of JOHN ADSON 1640 in London
English recorder and cornett player, arranger, and composer. In 1614 he became one of the London waits, a post he held until his death. From 1633 he was also employed as a court musician. His publication 'Courtly Masquing Ayres' (1621) a collection of lively dances for instrumental consort, includes arrangements of works by unidentified court composers, and original works by Adson himself.
Adson Courtly Masquing Ayres
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