Τρίτη 6 Μαρτίου 2012

ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ - ΙΑΝΟΥΑΡΙΟΣ






ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟ ΗΜΕΡΟΛΟΓΙΟ ΙΑΝΟΥΑΡΙΟΣ





 
* JANUARY 1



Death of HERMANN ZILCHER 1948
in Wurzburg.
German composer, pianist , and conductor. He studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt,then began a career as a concert pianist. After teaching at the Munich Academy of Music (1908-20) he was appointed principal of the Wurzburg Conservatory, remaining in that post until 1944.
His compositions, in the German Romantic tradition with some popular elements, include two operas, five symphonies, three piano concertos, and a concerto for accordion, oratorios and other choral music,chamber music and many songs.
AKO - Hermann Zilcher: Suite op. 77



* JANUARY 2


Birth of FRANTISEK BRIXI 1732 in Prague

Czech composer and organist. His family, related to the Bendas, included several composers and organists of whom he was the most prominent. After musical training and a series of church organist posts in Prague, in 1751 he was appointed Kapellmeister of St Vitus Cathedral. Enormously prolific,he wrote some 500 religious works including masses and oratorios. His music embraced the Viennese characteristics of Fux and the Napolitan style of Alessandro Scarlatti;his lively rhythmic writing and melodic inventiveness continued to exert an influence on Czech music into the 19th century.
František Xaver Brixi (1732-1771) - Organ Concerto No.8 in D major
http://youtu.be/mVsRn3TAg9A




* JANUARY 2


Birth of Sir MICHAEL TIPPETT 1905 in London
English composer. He studied composition at the RCM(1923-8), and worked as a schoolteacher. Feeling that his composiional technique was still immature,he took further lessons(1930-2).By the end of the 1930s, with the Concerto for double string orchestra(1938-9), his style reached maturity. In 1940 Tippett became director of music at Morley College,and the next year he completed the oratorio ''A Child ofourTime''(1939-41), first performed 1944. The work is a reaction to a particular Nazi atrocity. This remained a fundamental theme of the five operas that followed the oratorio- The Midsummer Marriage(Covent Garden,1955), King Priam(Coventry'1962), The Knot Garden(Covent Garden,1970), The Ice Break(Covent Garden,1977),  and New Year (Houston,TX,1989)--and of his tho later choral works The Vision of St Augustine (1963-5) and The Mask of Time(1980-2). In his later years Tippett completed a Fourth Symphony(1976-7), the string quarters nos. 4 and 5 (1977-9,1990-1), and the Piano Sonata no.4 (1983-4), and the Triple Concerto(1979). His last work,the song without words for orchestra The Rose Lake (1991-3), was a visionary depiction of landscape inspired by a visit to Senegal. He was knighted in 1966.
Sir Michael Tippett - Concerto for Double String Orchestra (Outer Movements)
http://youtu.be/ekTqSv5oA3I


 
* JANUARY 3

Death of MARY GARDEN 1967 in Inverurie
Scottish-born American soprano. She had singing lessons in Chicago, then moved to Paris,were she studied with Lucien Fugere. She made her debut at the Opera-Comique in 1900 in the title roleof Charpentier's ''Luise'',a role she took over halfway through a performance when Marthe Rioton collapsed. She was acclaimed for her flexible and agile singing and her subtly evocative acting and within two years had become world-famous for her creation of Melisande in Debussy's opera; she later recorded a fragment from her historic performance with the composer at the piano. Her success as Manon led Massenet to write 'Cherubin'for her. In 1907 she was received with similar acclaim at her American debut as Thais at the Manhattan Opera. From 1910 she was the Chicago Grand Opera's leading soprano, and for a year was also the director of the company. She returned to Scotland in 1939.
Soprano Mary Garden: Debussy ~ Beau soir (1929)
http://youtu.be/6IsjdIO9eb0




* JANUARY 3


Birth of DIMITRI MITROPOULOS 1896 in Athens
Greek composer.He studied the piano and composition in Athens,Brussels,and Berlin(with Busoni), and became a repetiteur at the Berlin Opera.He conducted in Greece from 1927 and after 1930 gained fame for his colourful interpretations and exceptional memory.He was the music director of the Minneapolis Symphonic Orchestra from 1937 to 1949 and of the New Philharmonic Orchestra from 1950 to 1957.
His performances were theatrical and imaginative and were highly praised for their detail.Mitropoulos advocated much new music and gave the premieres of works by Villa-Lobos, Krenek, and Barber. He was also an admired pianist and a composer.
Dimitri Mitropoulos conducts New York Philharmonic in rehearsal and concert
http://youtu.be/Kl-dSoNHx8Y




* JANUARY 4


Birth of GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI 1710 in Ancona
Italian composer. The son of a surveyor,all of whose other children died in infancy, he seens always to have been in poor health; he was described as having a deformed leg, and may well have suffered from some form of tubercular disease. He was sent to study at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gecu Cristo in Naples. There his teachers included Durante and he dinstinguished himself as a violinist. In 1732,having already received one opera commission,he became maestro di cappella to Prince Ferdinando Stigliano,equerry to the Victory of Naples,and composed his first comic opera,'Lo frate'nnamorato', which achieved considerable popular success.
In December that year he composed a Mass and psalms for solemn services in the aftermath of a series of earthquakes in Naples, and shortly afterwards was appointed deputy to the city's maestro di cappella. His most famous opera,the intermezzo 'La serva pardona, was written the following year. In 1734 political upheavals cauced Pergolesi to go to Rome with his employer.
In 1735 his health seems to have been beginning to fail;he may have spent part of the summer at the Capuchin monastery at the nearby spa town of Pozzuoli, and his last opera was composed that autumn. Early in 1736 he retired to the Franciscan house at Pozzuoli, where he composed his last works,including the famous'Stabat mater'for soprano,alto, and strings.Such was his reputation that a good many works by other composers-especially instrumental pieces, including some of those drawn on by Stravinsky for 'Pulcinella-were misttributed to him.
Pergolesi - Violin Concerto in B Flat Major - Mov. 2&3/3
http://youtu.be/22-I_ZGz0R4



* JANUARY 4

Birth of JOSEF SUK 1874 in Krecovice
Czech composer and violinist. He studied at the Prague Conservatory(1855-92) with AntoninBennewitz for violin and with Dvorak (whose daughter Otilie he married) for composition. Dvorak's influence is marked in his earlier works, which include the Serenade in E (1896)  His major symphony, Asrael(1906),written to commemorate the death of Dvorak in 1904 and that of his young wife in 1905, is increasingly recognized as a signal contribution to the late romantic symphony and led to a series of large-scale orchestral masterpieces of comparable quality Suk was second violinist in the Bohemian Quartet (1891-1933) and was a composition teacher at the Prague Conservatory(1922-35).
Josef Suk, Dvorak Violin Concerto ( 1 )
http://youtu.be/xo3o4oxaUV0




* JANUARY 4


Death of GIOVANNI GIACOMO GASTOLDI 1609 in Mantua Italian composer.
He was first a singer and later 'maestro di cappella'in the Gonzaga chapel of S.Barbara, Mantua. He was famous for his ballettos,whic were published in a multitude of editions in the Netherlands, Paris and Scotland, as well as in Italoy. They were widely imitated, notably by Thomas Morley, who borrowed (and even pirated) thye words and even sometimes the music for his own volume of balletts.
Giovanni Gastoldi - Balletti per Cantare, Sonare e Ballare (1/5)
http://youtu.be/PVsGQdxnUz8




* JANUARY 5


Birth of ARTURO BENEDETTI MICHELANGELI 1995 in Brescia

Italian pianist. In 1939 he won the Geneva International Piano Competition and began a teaching and performing career,which, after 1945, brought him international fame. His playing was renowed for its idiosyncratic style,and while his reputation for cancellation remained notorious, his virtuosity became legendary; he was one of themost gifted players of his generation. His fairly limited repertory ranged from Scarlatti to Brahms,though his Debussy, Ravel, and Rakhmaninov were particularly fine. His students included Maurizio Pollini and Martha Angerich
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli - Ravel
 http://youtu.be/oxscP3QtSIg






* JANUARY 5


 Death of ANTONIO LOTTI 1740 in Venice
Italian composer.He may have been born in Hanover,where his father was Kapellmeister, byt by 1683 he was in Venice studying with Legrenzi. In 1689 he joined the choir of
St Mark's, holding various organist's posts there from 1690 and becoming maestro di cappella in 1736. He wrote many operas for the Venetian stage and also for Dresden. He was one of the few composers of his time to be equally successful with opera and with contrapuntal sacred music in the neo-Palestrina style, some of which has remained in use. Lotti was an influential teacher whose pupils included Galuppi.
Crucifixus (Lotti) - King's College, Cambridge
http://youtu.be/pLyB8nxvOeY




* JANUARY 5


Death of HENRI HERZ 1888 in Paris

Austrian pianist, composer, teacher,and piano manufacturer.
A child prodigy, he showed musical gifts from the age of eight.
In 1816 he entered the Paris Conservatoire to study the piano and composition; he later spent over 30 years as a piano teacher there. In 1851 he founded his own piano factory,producing instruments highly regarded by his contemporaries. For Schumann, Herz's music was merely rapid, metetricious display, without originality or enduring qualities. Time has provedim correct on the last feature, though we can see in Herz's variation sets and piano concertos a fertile keyboard imagination, if never allied to a comparable musical inventiveness.
Henri Herz Fantaisie Méxicaine op. 162
http://youtu.be/FZ4j-wZd2sM




* JANUARY 5


Death of SERGEYEVICH ALEKSANDR DARGOMIZHSKY
1869 in St Petersburg
Russian composer. He studied the piano and was much in demand as a singing teacher, and aquired a knowledge of the classics through his friedship with Glinka. He had already composed two conventional operas, 'Esmeralda(1847) and Rusalka (1856), before taking a radically new direction in Kamenniy gost (The Stone Guest), a word-forword setting of Pushkin's poem on the Don Juan legent. The opera was left incomplete at Dargomizhsky's death but was soon completed by Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov and was performed in 1872. Although by general consent the result of Dargomizhsky's experiment is rather dry, the opera became highly influential among the advocates of musical realism in 19th-century Russia.
DARGOMIZHSKY - OVERTURE 'RUSALKA'.wmv
http://youtu.be/Dqj-hixVu8I



* JANUARY 6


Birth of GIUSEPPE SAMARTINI 1695 in Milan
Italian composer and a virtuoso oboist.In the 1720s he played in the opera orchestra in Milan,where he was heard and praised by Quantz.He visited London(1728),becoming oboist at the King's Theatre and taking an active part in concert life.Later he entered the service of the Prince of Wales.Burney describes his tone as superb,and near to that of the human voice.He composed some intresting concerti grossi after the Handelian model but with a more up-to-date idiom.
Giuseppe Sammartini (1695-1750) - Sonata No 4 in F major for two German flutes and continuo
http://youtu.be/mxtHr8Hq5aM




* JANUARY 6


Death of NICOLAS CHARLES BOCHSA 1856 in Sydney French harpist and composer. He was official harpist to Napoleon,then to LouisXVIII, in whose service he composed seven operas. In 1817 he left France to avoid imprisonment for forgery and took up residence in London,where he was successful as a harpist and a concerto impressario. He was declared bankrupt and revealed as a bigamist but through the king's influence was engaged as music director at the King's Theatre (1826-30). In1839 he eloped with Henry Bishop's wife, Anna, and toured in Europe,America, and Australia as a harp virtuoso. He contributed to the development of modern harp technique, his compositions including many works for the instrument; he also wrote a much-admired harp method.
Nocture en sol mineur, de Nicolas-Charles Bochsa
http://youtu.be/s2_SmAEfEfk




* JANUARY 6


Birth of JOSE de NEBRA 1702 in Madrid
Spanish composer, organist and teacher. From a family of musicians, he received his first instruction from his father. In 1724 he became an organist at the royal chapel in Madrid; he was subsequently promoted to vicemaestro and appointed assistant principal of the choir school (both 1751). His extensive output from before 1751 icludes a wide range of Spanish theatre music(mainly zarzuelas, autos sacramentales, and comedias, all including spoken dialogue). Afterwards,his positions required him to concentrate on liturgicalmusic and educational keyboard works, the former attempting to fill the void left by a fire that destroyed the musical archives at the royal chapel, and the latter often showing a clear debt to Domenico Scarlatti in its use of an embryonic sonata form. His most enduring sacred work was the Requiem composed for the funeral of Queen Maria Barbara (1758), which continued to be performed at royal funerals for several decades after his death.
Maria Bayo sings José de Nebra Arias - 1/3
http://youtu.be/sx6rzZ-bscg




* JANUARY 6


Birth of GIUSEPPE MARTUCCI 1856 in Capua
Italian composer and conductor. The son of a trombone player and bandmaster, he showed early talent as a pianist and entered the Naples Conservatory in 1867. After a career as a concert pianist he took up conducting and became one of the earliest champions of Wagner's music in Italy, directing the first Italian performance of 'Tristan und Isolde' at Bologna in 1888. He was director of the music school there (1886-1902), giving many concerts and composing symphonies and concertos in the Germanic style. He spent the last seven years of his life as head of the Naples Conservatory.
Notturno, op.70, no.1, Giuseppe Martucci, English Chamber Orchestra, Alfredo Bonavera
http://youtu.be/1uh_FYkLeUI



* JANUARY 7


Birth of FRANCIS POULENC 1899 in Paris
French composer. He had some piano lessons from Ricardo Vines,but as a composer he was self-taught at the time when his witty and exotic 'Rapsodie negre' for voice and chamber ensemble (1917) won him a place in the circle round Satie and thus in Les Six, the group which also included Milhaud and Honegger, and which was so christened in 1920. Several works of this time show him closely following Stravinsky who was perhaps the strongest influence on Poulenc's style, with added doses of Chabrier's wit.
Poulenc's gifts as a melodist, coupled with his literary friendships and his concert partnership with the tenor Pierre Bernac from 1935 to 1959'led to a large output of songs, including cycles to poems by Guillaume Apollinaire,Jean Cocteau,and Paul Eluard. It seems now as though he was the last in the line of great French melodistes streching back to Berlioz. His sympathy with the surrealist poets is also displayed in his bizarre but wonderfully effective operatic treatment of Apollinaire's play 'Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1947), while his solo opera 'La Voix humaine'(1959, text by Cocteau)shows his delicate sensitivity in underlining a scene from contemporary life, a woman speaking over the telephone to the lover who is abandoning her. Here Poulenc drew on his own experiences of depression, triggered to some extent by unhappy homosexual love affairs.
Poulenc Two Piano Concerto First Movement
http://youtu.be/cC4kJiTHTtQ




* JANUARY 7


Death of JACOBUS de KERLE 1591 in Prague
South Netherlands composer. He was one of the leading composers of the Counter-Reformation. During his career he worked at Orvieto, Rome, Dillingen, Augsburg, and, from1583 until his death, at the imperial court at Prague. His output, which includes masses, motets, and a cycle of hymns for the church's year, conforms to the requirements of the Council of Trent in its economy, restraint, and emphasis on the correct declamation of the text.
Missa da Pacem - Credo - Jacobus de Kerle
http://youtu.be/dGmA_Tfuhek




* JANUARY 7


Death of RUGGIERO GIOVANNELLI 1625 in Rome
Italian composer. He became maestro di cappella at the Cappella Giulia on the death of Palestrina, and then moved to the Cappella Sistina; he was also much n demand from other Roman institutions and patrons. He wrote church music, some in the style of Palestrina and some more modern in approach, as well as several volumes of attractive madrigals.
R. Giovannelli : "Jubilate Deo"
http://youtu.be/sUmPE0owJq0




* JANUARY 8


Death of PIERRE FOURNIER 1986 in Geneva
French cellist.His career was based largely in France between 1925 and 1939 but internationally therafter, particularly with Schnabel, Szigeti, and Primrose at the Edinburgh Festivals in chamber music by Schubert and Brahms. Known as the aristocrat of cellists, he had a broad repertory and his playing was notable for its beauty and the graceful poise of its phrasing. He gave the premieres of concertos by Roussel, Martin and Martinu.
Pierre Fournier plays Bach (vaimusic.com)
http://youtu.be/mWV3GPVy8Hk





* JANUARY 8


Death of FRANZ KROMMER 1831 in Vienna
Czech composer. Although he studied the organ and the violin with his uncle,he was largely self-taught as a composer. He was an organist in Turan for a few years before following the well-known path to Vienna in 1785 .
After pursuing a career as Kapellmeister to various of the Hangarian nobility and Duke Ignaz Fuchs in Vienna, he succeeded his compatriot Kozeluch as the emperor's Kammer Kapellmeister and Hofmusik Compositor in 1818.
Krommer's music, in particular his many quarters and quintets, were admired in Vienna and disseminated widely throughout Europe. His musical style faithfully reflected the changing tastes of his day,from rococo to early Romantic.
Franz Krommer - Clarinet Concerto in E flat major (1/3)
http://youtu.be/rq7sn6WZ1-A





* JANUARY 8


Death of ARCANGELO CORELLI 1713 in Rome
Italian violinist and composer. His upbringing was humble,not nobre;he arrived in Bologna in 1670; it seems that his teachers there were the violinists Benvenuti and Brugnoli-he is not known to have studied composition; he never acknowledged membership of the Bolognese Accademia Filarmonica; he associated himself entirely with the Roman School, having received a rigorous training in counterpoint under Matteo Simonelli; in Rome he composed in a wide variety of media possibly including vocal works; he was particularly renowed for his use of wind and brass instruments;and his abilities on the violin were incomparable. About 1679 he became musico da camera to ex-Queen Christina of Sweden, a connoisseur of young talent.However,by 1684 he had entered the service of Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili, with whom he remained until the latter's appointment as papal ;legate to Bologna in 1690.He was soon adopted by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, in whose household he spent the rest of his life,t0ogether with his close friend and colleague Matteo Fornari. Untillate in his life he led an immensely active career. During his lifetime he published five sets of sonatas.Extravagant claims have been made for Corelli's music, especially in regard to his treatment of harmony and tonality, but there is no doubt of his immense influence, as attested by the acknowledgments of such composers as Tartini, Couperin, and Telemann.
A. Corelli La Folia for violin and piano
http://youtu.be/BECZDIuqEvA




JANUARY 9

Birth of ALEXANDER TCHEREPNIN
 1899 in St Petersburg
Russian composer,conductor, and pianist,son of Nikolay Tcherepnin.In 1921 he settled with his father in Paris, where he studied at the Conservatoire.He then began a career as a virtuoso pianist and toured extensively His First Symphony,with its secondmovement scored for percussion, created a scandal in 1927;
its last movement contains many references to what has been dubbed the 'Tcherepnin scale'of nine notes, consisting of three progressions of a semitone,tone,and semitone.In the 1930s he spent three years in China; Chinese music was to influence many of his later works. He was a prolific composer, writing symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and dramatic works.
His completion of Musorgsky's unfinished comic opera 'Marriage' had its premiere in Essen in 1937. In 1949 he became instructor in theory at DePaul University, Chicago,
and in 1958 he took American citizenship.
http://youtu.be/3-s52cSAZrk



* JANUARY 10

Death of FRANK BRIDGE
  1941 in Eastbourne
English composer. He studied the violin and composition at the RCM (1899-1903). The mai emphasis of his studies was composition,under Stanford, though his violin playing enabled him to make a living after he left the RCM. He
switched to the viola and did a great deal of quartet playing in London.He was also an active orchestral and opera conductor, making five concert tours to the USA.
His early chamber works have a Brahmsian fluency and a fresh, distinctive lyric impulse that he learnt from Stanford. After the war,and several years of near-silence, the
modernity in the Piano Sonata (1921-4) signalled a further stylistic departure. His works did not appeal to English audiences of the time, and Bridge's importance came to be recognized only a generation after his death, thanks in part to the efforts of his pupil Benjamin Britten.
http://youtu.be/o-E63kPkUSQ



* JANUARY 10

Death of BENJAMIN GODARD
  in Cannes
French composer and viola player. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire and played the viola in various instrumental groups. His first great success came in 1878 with a prizewinning'dramatic symphony' Le Tasse, on the life of the poet Torquato Tasso. He went on to write operas of limited distinction, for which he is remembered largely by the berceuse from 'Jocelyn(1888)and an aria from 'La Vivandiere' (1895). He also wrote much instrumental music and songs,and his Suite for flute and orchestra(1890) is still played.
http://youtu.be/3-8rB6XdlG4




* JANUARY 11

Death of JOSEPH-NICOLAS-PANCRACE ROYER
 1755 in Paris
French composer, performer, and music administrator.
He maintained an influential position in Parisian musical life from 1730 onwards, when he was qappointed' maitre de musique'at the Opera and subsequently 'maitre de musique des enfans de France', a position that included the musical education of the Dauphin Louis.
His reputation as a harpsichordist and organist was equalled by his fame (second, for a time, only to that of Rameau) as an opera composer, and given official acknowledgment by numerous court appointments, including the position of 'chantre de la musique de la chambre du roi'. His opera ''Zaide,reine de Grenade''(1739) was his most spectacular success,and one of the first to feature a danced pantomime.It was revived frequently until well
after his death.
http://youtu.be/1yAasXSbVPs



* JANUARY 11

Birth of CHRISTIAN SINDING
  1856 in Kongsberg
Norwegian composer. After studying the violin,he turned his attention to composition.His piano quintet written in Munich, gained the advocacy of Busoni and the Brodsky Quartet. He next attracted attention with his Piano Concerto and First Symphony. Later in his life he taught composition at the newly founded Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York(1921-22)
He was the leading figure of the generation between Grieg and Svendsen on the one hand and Saeverud on the other.A prolific composer,he wrote four symphonies, three violin sonaas, three piano trios, and innumerable piano pieces, of which the best known is 'Rustle of Spring'.
His musical language is rooted in apost-Romantic idiom indebted to Wagner and Strauss. There are some 250 songs of variable quality that are second only to Grieg's in their impirtance for Norwegian song. The best of them,like much of his other music, evince both craftmanship and a cultured sensibility.
http://youtu.be/ga_sM1ankFM




 * JANUARY 11

Death of OSCAR STRAUS
1954 in Bad Ischl
Austrian composer. He studied with Max Bruch and wrote orchestral and instrumental music before taking up appointments as a theatre musical director. He entered the Strauss-Lehar operetta tradition with'A Waltz Dream' (1907) and 'The Brave soldier' , also known as 'The Chocolate-Cream Soldier'; 1908, after G.B.Shaw. He later had outstanding success with 'Der letzte Walzer (1920) and 'Drei Walzer'(1935), and with a waltz for the film La Ronde
(1950).
http://youtu.be/ccqDfvfVrtM



 
* JANUARY 12

Death of JOHN ECCLES
 1735 in Hampton Wick
A theatre composer, was in 1700 appointed Master of the King's Music, in which capacity he composed many occasional odes. In 1701 he won second prize in a competition for his settings of Congreve's 'The Judgement of Paris. Eccles wrote the music for some 12 masques and other dramatic pieces,including the English opera 'Semele (1707), which was not produced, and incidental music for more than 50 plays.
http://youtu.be/LZAiH0eOGYo



 * JANUARY 12

Birth of ERMANNO WOLF-FERRARI
1876 in Venice
Italian composer. The son of a German father and an Italian mother, he had little formal tuition in music until 1892 when he returned to Munich to study with Rheinberger..
He returned to Venice, became a friend of the composer Lorenzo Perosi, and wrote religious music before having his first operatic success with 'Le donne curiose', given in Munich in 1903. He was then appointed director of the Liceo Musicale Benedetto Marcello in Venice and composed another two operas for Munich,the second of which-'Il segreto di Susanna (1909), a witty conversation piece-has a continuing place in the repertory. His serious opera,' I gioielli della Madonna' (1911 ), in the verismo style of Mascagni,was also successful. During World War I a spirital crisis caused Wolf to give up composition, but from 1925 he wrote several other comic operas. For some years from 1939 he was professor of composition at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. His operas have rarely achieved the succes their wittiness seems to deserve: He was one of the first Italian composers to return to Goldoni and the commedia dell'arte for inspiration, and as such he was the precusor of Malipiero and the modernist Italian school.
http://youtu.be/KFqAKzcFQEE





 * JANUARY 12


Death of JOHANN MELCHIOR MOLTER
1765 in Karlsruhe
German composer. He served for two periods (1722-23 and 1742-65) as Kapellmeister in Karlsruhe, and held a similar post in between at Eisenach.
His compositions include symphonies,concertos, orchestra l sonatas, and chamber works. In his music a shift can be observed from a late Baroque to a 'galant'style.
http://youtu.be/TFOC-n4oOAg




* JANUARY 12
 
Birth of JACQUES DUPHLY
1715 in Rouen
French harpsichordist and composer. He was organist of Evreux Cathedral (1732), then of the two principal churches in Rouen. In 1742 he settled in Paris, where he published four books of harpsichord pieces (1744-68); each piece is named after a pupil or a friend. His works represent a fusion of French and Italian styles-the 'gouts reunis' attempted by many mid-18th-century composers. They consist of a mixture of dances and musical portraits or character pieces.
http://youtu.be/mq8MfVQByW4




 * JANUARY 12


Birth of ADOLF JENSEN
1837 in Kaliningradh
German composer. He worked as a piano teacher until ill health compelled him to retire to various south German and Austrian resorts. His early music-mainly songs and piano music-recalls Schumann, but he was later influenced by Liszt and Wagner. Some of his songs show his intention to translate Wagner's ideas of beauty and truth into music in the smaller forms, and reflect or even anticipate Tristanesque harmony.



* JANUARY 13

Birth of CHRISTOPH GRAUPNER
 1683 in Kirchberg
German composer. He studied for nine years under the Kantors, Schelle and Kuhnau.In 1706 he moved to
Hamburg, where he was befriended by Telemann and, fro 1707, acted as harpsichordist for the Theater am Gansemarkt. Among the operas he wrote for Hamburg ''Bellelophon''(1708) enjoyed particular success.
In 1722 he applied for the vacant post of Kantor at the Thomasschule but withdrew at the request of his employer, thus making way for Bach's appointment. His impressive output included some 1400 church cantatas, close in style to those of Bach, together with 113 symphonies,40 concertos, and numerous chamber and solo keyboard works.
http://youtu.be/6wFJWGdzDl8



* JANUARY 14


Death of STEPHEN HELLER 1888 in Paris

Hungarian-born French pianist and composer. At the age of 14 he began a two-year concert tour of central Europe, the strain of which resulted in his collapse from nervous exhaustion. In 1830 he obtained a post as piano teacher to a wealthy family in Augsburg, where he remained for eight years,studing composition and writing numerous lieder. Schumann admired his works and invited him to be the Augsburg correspondent of the 'Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik''.
In 1838 Heller moved to Paris,where he made a living as a critic and a composer of salon music and enjoyed the friendship of Berlioz. Though remembered today for his studies, he was an important transitional figure between German Romanticism and French Impressionism, as is demonstrated in his character pieces of the 1850s and by his later, more exploratory works including the Barcarolles op.141 and the Sonata in B minor op.143.
Stephen Heller: 25 Studies Op. 47 No. 15 - Adagio
http://youtu.be/3GVWykUI7PE




* JANUARY 14


Death of FRANCESCO CAVALLI 1676 in Venice

Italian composer. He was the son of Giovanni Battista Caletti, maestro di cappella at Crema Cathedral, and his early musical promise earned him the patronage of Federico Cavalli, the governor of Crema, whose name Francesco adopted in the 1630s as a mark of respect and gratitude.
 He entered the chour of St Mark's, Venice, as a soprano in 1616 and soon became well known as a singer; in 1620 he also became organist at SS Giovanni e Paolo, remaining in the post until 1630 when he married a wealthy widow, Maria Sozomeno. His first published work, the solo motet 'Cantate Domino' appeared in 1625. Cavalli's 'Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo' at the Teatro S.Cassiano in 1639 was the first of many operas produced over the next 20 years.
At the height of his fame , in 1660,Cavalli was invited to compose an opera at the wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain. When 'Ercole amante' was given n 1662 it was not a great success, Lully's ballets winning most acclaim. Cavalli returned to Venice later that year; although he had vowed never to produce another dramatic work, he composed several operas on quasi-historical themes which look forward to the late Baroque style. Cavalli had been appointed second organist at St Mark's in 1639 and became first organist in 1665; three years later he was maestro di cappella. He published a volume of church music in 1675, and then a Requiem which he intended to be sung twice yearly after his death. He died the following year, leavinf a large part of his substantial estate to the church of S.Lorenzo, where he was buried.
Francesco Cavalli - Lasso io vivo (L'Egisto) ~ Rolando Villazon
http://youtu.be/tm_CADWfiMo
 Francesco Cavalli: Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
http://youtu.be/7rKP1JpzZ30




* JANUARY 15


Death of ENRICO TOSELLI 1926 in Florence


Beniamino Gigli Enrico Toselli "Serenata" Version 1 1926 New Jersey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K2cHhpMJbE


* JANUARY 15

Birth of LOUISE BERTIN 1805 in Bievres
French composer. She studied with Reicha and Fetis, and became an original composer whose opera show harmonic and orchestral daring and dramatic intensity. She suffered from discrimination for being female,from partial paralysis, and the political unpopularity of her family. She published a few songs and composed instrumental music and cantatas. Her last operas, though neither was successful, are substantial documents of French Romantic music.''Fausto (1831)'' to an Italian libretto, was the first French opera on this theme;
''Esmeralda'' (1836), to a problematic libretto by Victor Hugo himself,concetrates on elaborate concerned numbers at the expense of solo music.
Hidden treasures - Louise Bertin - La Esmeralda (1836) - Selected highlights
http://youtu.be/jCSTCMBiArY




* JANUARY 15


Death of MARTIN PEERSON 1651 in London

English composer and keyboard player. Little is known about his early career beyond the facts that he was composing music by 1604 and two years later was cited for recusancy. Between1623 and 1630 he held various posts at Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral; he remained an 'almoner' of St Paul's during the Civil War.
Pearson is known principally for his songs and verse anthems, many of which were published in his 'Private Musicke' (London 1620) and 'Mottects or Grave Chamber Musique(London,1630)Only four of his keyboard pieces survive.
Martin Peerson - Fall of the Leafe
http://youtu.be/RXFnBWO96QU




* JANUARY 15


Death of ERNEST REYER 1909 in Le Lavandou


French composer and critic. As a composer he was largely self-taught. He had some success with two 'operas comiques' staged in Paris: ''Maitre Wolfram(1854) and 'La Statue(1861). His reputation rested on two serious operas, 'Sigurd'and'Salammbo' staged in Paris in 1885 and 1900 respectively.
A collection of his newspaper articles, 'Quarante ans de musique' (Paris,1909), is a valuable and entertaining source.
Ernest Reyer "Overture to Sigurd"
http://youtu.be/wdRrbVke-XM






* JANUARY 15


Death of GIOVANNI BATTISTA SAMMARTINI 1775 in Milan

Italian composer. He worked for most of his life in various churches in Milan. He was one of the most influencial figures in the early development of the symphony, beginning in something like the manner of Vivaldi but developing a style that is the apotheosis of the grace and elegance of the galant style. He may have taught and he certainly influenced, Gluck, and Mozart learnt much from him during his stay in Milan in 1770. Prince Esterhazy possessed copies of two of his symphonies, and though Haydn called him a 'scribbler ' there is a distinct similarity of style between the two composers.
Giovanni Battista Sammartini - Sinfonia in sol maggiore - Atalanta Fugiens, Vanni Moretto
http://youtu.be/wlrFaSaVjAs





* JANUARY 16 

Death of ANTONIO DRAGHI
1700 in Vienna
Italian composer and librettist.He spent most of his life in Vienna.He was a singer at the Teatro S.Apollinare
in Venice in 1657, but the following year was in Vienna in the service of the dowager Empress Eleanor, widow of Ferdinand III. Draghi was one of the most prolific composers of his day: there are, for instance, 59 three-act operas. Of his sacred music, besides oratorios he particularly cultivated the'sepolcro'-a dramatic presentation of the Passion or Crucifixion,peculiar to the imperial court. 
Rodrigo Del Pozo - O quanto errai - La vita nella morte - Draghi
http://youtu.be/aVu1KlF7BQM



* JANUARY 16

Death of LEO DELIBES
 1891 in Paris
Freanch composer. He had his first musical training from his mother and uncle. After his father's death in 1847 the family moved to Paris and he entered the Conservatoire,studying the organ with Francois Benoist and composition with Adam. From the age of 17, he was organist at various churches. He wrote music criticism,and became chorus master at the Theatre Lyrique (where he worked on Gounod's Faust)  and later at the Opera.
In 1866 he first gained wide attention for the ballet 'La Source', written jointly with Leon Minkus. He also composed a 'Pas des fleurs' for Adam's ballet score' Le Corsaire'in 1867,and this was later combined with
Delibe's half of' La Source'to form the ballet'Naila'. In 1869 he composed his final operetta, 'La Cour du roi Petaud',ahich the Opera staged his most celebrated creation, the classic ballet'Coppelia'(1870). Its success enabled him from 1871 to concentrate fully on composition, including the further full-scale ballet success 'Sylvia' (1876).
His operas 'Le Roi l'a dit', 'Jean de Nivelle', and 'Lakme', the last named an essay in the tyhen popular 'French oriental' style, ensured even greater honours.
His last opera, 'Kassya'(1893), based on a story by Sacher Masoch and orchestrated after his death by Massenet was an attempt at something more weighty; but it is his lightness of touch, melodic facility, deftness of theme, and orchestration that ensure his music's survival.
The Flower Duet (Lakmé) 
 http://youtu.be/8Qx2lMaMsl8


* JANUARY 16

Death of ARTURO TOSCANINI 1957 in New York
 Italian conductor. At the age of nine he was accepted at the Parma Conservatory to study the cello, piano, and composition. He began his career as an orchestral cellist with a touring opera company, for which he soon began coaching the singers. In 1886, aged 19 and with no conducting tuition or experience, he made his debut as a conductor with the company, taking over a performance of 'Aida' at a few minutes' notice and Conducting from memory. He was soon greatly in demand at Italian opera houses; he conducted the premieres of 'Pagliacci'(1892) and  'La Boheme' (1896) His debut as a conductor was in 1896. In1898 he was made music director at La Scala, Milan, where he gained fame for his fanatical demands for technical perfection and artistic expressiveness; he stayed until 1903, returning in 1906-8 and again in 1921-9, one of its finest periods.
In 1908 he went to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, where he conducted the premiere of  'La fanciulla del West' (1910) and first American performances of many operas including 'Boris Godunov' (1913). He conducted at Bayreuth and Salzburg and was guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra but refused to conduct in Italy, Germany, and Austria under the Nazi regimes. 
Beethoven Symphony No. 5, 1st mvt--Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symp 
 http://youtu.be/N6K_IuBsRM4

 

 * JANUARY 16

Death of AMILCARE PONCHIELLI
 1834 in Milan
Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, graduating in 1854. His first opera, Ipromessi sposi, was first performed in Cremona in 1856, and several more followed before he was taken up by Giulio Ricordi, at that time Italy'smost powerful publisher. The finest fruit of this commercial and artistic collaboration was ''La Gioconda'' (La Scala, Milan, 1876), one of the most influencial operas for the sudsequent generation of Italian composers, and a work that retains a robust currency in the repertory. His later operas failed to make an equal effect, but his career involved conducting and teaching (from 1881 he taught at the Milan Conservatory, with pupils including Puccini and Mascagni). He also wrote instrumental and sacred music, notably 'Lamentazioni di Geremia(1886).
http://youtu.be/W3ILbnHhAzk
http://youtu.be/KHGg7AJzu7E




 * JANUARY 16

Birth of NICCOLO PICCINNI
1728 in Bari
Italian composer.He was one of the most successful and prolific composers in an age that prodused many such. He spent much of his career in Naples, holding church posts and teaching; nevertheless he wrote over 100 operas. In 1760 he composed the most celebrated opera buffa of its time, 'La Cecchina',to a libretto by Carlo Goldoni previously set by Duni and loosely based on Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela'. Piccinni dominated the stage in Naples for most of the 1760's, in spite of the rising star of Paisiello.
Piccinni arrived in Paris in 1776 and composed 'Ronald' under the close supervision of the librettist J.F. Marmontel. It was prodused in January 1778 and won over the public. Piccinni had only moderate success with the first production of 'Atys' (1780) and 'Iphigenie en Tauride'(1781) The successful revival of 'Atys' and the triumph of  'Didon'(both 1783) marked the zenith of his career. A generous rival to both Gluck and Sacchini, he was the victim of the Opera management,then of the Revolution. Forced back to Naples, he suffered imprisonment by association with a politically suspect son-in-law. Eventually he returned to Paris, dying just before a pension from Napoleon might have rescued him from indigence.
http://youtu.be/uO4RLU0iBA0



* JANUARY 17


Death of TOMASO GIOVANNI ALBINONI 1751 in Venice
Italian composer. The son of a prosperous stationer, he initially entered the business himself and held a licence to make and sell playing-cards; by the time of his father's death in 1709, however, he was no longer effectively involved with it styling himself 'musico veneto' His contacts with other Venetian musicians were therefore limited, and his own reputation as a musician depended entirely on his activities as a composer (although,his wife being a well-known singer, he is said to have run a successful singing school). In his own time Albinoni was famous throughout Europe, especially for his sonatas and concertos, which were particularly popular with amateurs and regarded as on a par with those of Corelli and Vivaldi. His violin writing is more conservative than Vivaldi's, especially in its use of higher positions.
The much-performed and recorded g minor Adagio ascribed to Albinoni is a modern composition by Remo Giazotto based on a fragment of one of his works.
Tomaso Albinoni - Concerto Op. 9/2 in d minor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnYdVPNEsRE&feature=share



 * JANUARY 17


Birth of JOHN STANLEY 1712 in London

English organist and composer. The son of a Post Office official, he was accidentally blinded at the age of two. He was a pupil of Maurice Greene, with whom,according to Burney,' he studied with great diligence and a success that was astonishing'. By the age of nine he was deputizing as organist at All Hallows, Bread Street,and 1723 he succeeded William Babell as organist there. Acontemporary newspaper report described him as one who'is become the surprise of the Town for his ingenious performance on the Harpsichord and Organ' Three years later Stanley became organist of St Andrew's, Holborn, and in 1734 of the inner temple. He took the degree of B.Mus. at Oxford when he ws 17-the youngest person ever to do so. After Handel died Stanley and J.C.Smith the younger directed the oratorio seasons at Covent Garden and Drury Lane. Seven years before his death Stanley succeeded Boyce as Master of the King's Music. He published three sets of organ voluntaries, and other instrumental music including a fine set of concerti grossi and six keyboard concertos.
John Stanley - Concerto in G major
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-7h-TRJ2U&feature=share



 * JANUARY 17


Birth of FRANCOIS-JOSEPH GOSSEC 1734 in Vergnies, Hainaut
French composer of Waloon origin. A chorister at Antwerp Cathedral from 1742, he went to Paris in 1751 and through Rameau's influence joined the orchestra of the tax-gatherer La Poupliniere, which Johann Stamitz directed in 1754-5.
Gossec was soon publishing chamber music and beginning his prolific career as a symphonist. He showed a predilection for unusual orchestration, using clarinets in a symphony in 1761; his'Messe des morts'(1760)exploits spatial disposition of orchestral and choral forces. After La Poupliniere's death(1762) he found other patrons, and composed several successful works for the Comedie-Italienne. He continued to write instrumental music and in 1769 founded the Concert des Amateurs, performing his own and Haydn's symphonies. His symphonies, in four movements, are the most important French works of his generation. He was among the founding directors of the Paris Conservatoire and devoted most of his energy after 1795 to teaching.
François-Joseph Gossec Symphonie Es-Dur 1. Allegro moderato
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBxcQq4FjwU&feature=share



* JANUARY 18


Birth of ALFONSO FERRABOSCO 1543 in Bologna
Italian composer. He travelled with his father to Rome, and in the late 1550s was in the service of Charles of Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine. In 1562 he was in England, where Elizabeth I granted him an annuity, and where he made his home until 1578, spending substantial periods in Italy and France. In 1577 he was accused of robbing and murdering a young foreigner in the service of Sir Philip Sidney, after which he left England to become, by 1582, a musician in the service of the Duke of Savoy at Turin. Queen Elizabeth's attempts to gain his return were unsuccessful. His madrigals, composed before it became fashionable to express,or 'paint'each detail of the verse, were influential in the development of the English school,and were probably the first to be known to English composers before the importation of madrigals from Italy was customary.
Alfonso Ferrabosco Il Padre (1543-1588) - Bruna sei tu, ma bella, madrigal à 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eihqqz-6BC4



 * JANUARY 18


Death of ANTONIO LITERES 1747 in Madrid
Spanish composer.In 1686 he won a place as a choirboy at the Colegio de Cantorcicos in Madrid,a college linked to the royal chapel,before being appointed a violinist at the chapel itself in 1693.He remained in that post until his death, combining his performing duties with the composition of sacred music and stage works. During his long tenure in Madrid he established influential contacts with eminent musicians including Sebastian Duron and Jose de Torres. His skill in absorbing Italian stylistic elements contributed to his reputation as a composer of standing.
LOS ELEMENTOS (Fragmento) - Antonio Literes (1673 - 1747)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4djOmFjgUWk&feature=share


* JANUARY 18


 Birth of EMMANUEL CHABRIER 1841 in Ambert, Puy-de-Dome
French composer.For details see 13th September(music diary)
Chabrier - España; Riccardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P77QKTOkZY&feature=share



* JANUARY 19

Death of FERDINAND HEROLD 1833 in ParisFrench composer.One of a long line of musicians,he was first taught music by his father,Francois-Joseph(1755-1802), who had been a pupil of C.P.E.Bach. At the Paris Conservatoire he studied the violin with Kreutzer and composition with Mehul. In 1812 he won the Prix de Rome,which took him to Rome for a year. He stayed for a time in Naples,and on his way back to Paris visited Vienna where he met Hummel and Salieri and heard operasby Mozart. Herold began his career as an operacomposer in 1815. 'Marie(1826), one of his most popular works,was praised for his elegance and skilful orchestration. In 1826 he was appointed singing master at the Opera. The largest theatre gave him the opportunity to compose a number of ballets, including 'La Somnambule'whichinspired imitations in the secondary theatres and was recognized as the first Romantic ballet. It was also the source of the libretto for Bellini's 'La Sonnambula',1831'His two major operatic successes, 'Zampa'(1831), a version of the Don Juan legend, and 'Le Pre aux Clercs'(1832), a more intimate treatment of the events later to be portrayed in Meyerbeer's 'Les Huguenots'(1836), came too late for him to enjoy their fruits. He died of tuberculosis shortly before his 42nd birthday.
http://youtu.be/vegv2z4XEKI



* JANUARY 19
 
Birth of BORIS BLACHER
 1903 in Niu-chang,ChinaGerman composer.Of German-Russian parentage. Ηe attended schools in Niu-chang, Irkutsk, and Charbin. In 1922 he moved to Berlin to study, also taking composition lessons. He remained in Berlin for the rest of his life. In1945 he was appointed professor of composition at the Hochschule,where he stayed until his retirement in 1970; his pupils included Gottfried von Einem. His output includes several ballets and operas,among the latter an objective treatment of Shakespeare in 'Romeo und Julia (1943,broadcast 1947, staged Salzburg,1950), and the rather less austere Abstrakte Oper no.I (Mannheim,1953).
The Paganini Variations(1947) show the colourfuldexterity of his orchestral writing
http://youtu.be/1dGj39RDuUk



 * JANUARY 19

Death of JOHAN JOACHIM AGRELL

1765 in Nuremberg Swedish composer, violinist,and harpsichordist. The son of a priest, he studied at Uppsala University, where he played in the university orchestra. He worked at Kassel, 1734-46,before obtaining the post of Kapellmeister at Nuremberg.
His instrumental music shows a tendency towards the galant style, and in his own day he achieved fame as a composer of the newly emerging symphony. He also wrote a number of harpsichord concertos.
http://youtu.be/ymI3ajS6z0Y






*JANUARY 20


Birth of ERNEST CHAUSSON 1855 in Paris. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Massenet(1879-81), though he benefited more by sitting in on Franck's classes. His other main formative influence was Wagner, and he made pilgrimages to Munich andeven spent his honeymoon with Jeanne Escudier in 1883 at Bayreuth in order to hear Parsifal. His composingcareer divides into three periods. The first (1877-86) shows his musical style evolving as he moved away from the elegant charm of Massenet towards the bolder harmonic language and sonorities of Wagner, and towards the chromaticism of Franck,which lent greater emotional depth to such works as the choral 'Hymne vedique' (1886). The second period (1886-94) began when he became secretary of the Societe Nationale and entered more fully into Parisian intellectual circles. In his third period (1894-9), he , encouraged by Debussy,sought to purge his music of external influences, though his output remained seripous. In 1897 he returned to chamber music and adopted an increasingly pure classical approach, achieving greater clarity and concision in his Piano Quqrtet,and in his String Quartet, the Scherzo of which he was working on at the time of his premature death in a cycling accident.
http://youtu.be/EdC_7hwXjSg



 *JANUARY 20

 Death of FLORIAN LEOPOLD GASSMANN 1774
In ViennaBohemian composer. He went to Italy in about 1732 to study with Padre Martini. He spent some time in Venice,in the service of Count Leonardo Veneri,and his success as an opera composer led to his appointment in Vienna in1763 as a ballet composer in succession to Gluck. In 1772 he became the imperial Hofkapellmeister,but he diedonly two years later after a fall from a carriage.
He wrote some opere serie, but his later comic operas for Vienna were more modern with a clear focus on ensemble finales;they may have had some influence on Mozart's early operas and are among his best works,especially'L'amore artigiano' (1767) and 'La contessina'(1770). With 'Ezio' (Rome,1770) he returned to opera seria, and the piece shows that he must have known of and appreciated Gluck's reforms in opera.
http://youtu.be/d2pPq5uzeh8



 *JANUARY 20

 Birth of GUILLAUME LEKEU 1870
In VerviersBelgian composer.He moved to Paris in 1888, and studied copmosition privately with Franck,and after Franck'sdeath with d'Indy, who encouraged him to enter for the Belgian Prix de Rome in 1`891, in which he received second prize.Ysaye heard the cantata he submitted and commissioned the Violin Sonata(1892), his best-knownwork. He produced several chamber pieces, including a piano sonata in the fugal style and a piano trio, and a violin sonata. His music,characterized by feverish intensity,was admired by most of his French contemporariesHe died of typhoid fever.
http://youtu.be/0CqhCxKeTs4



* JANUARY 21

Death of MICHEL CORRETTE 1795 in Paris

French organist and composer. Little is known of his life before 1732 when he became music director of both the Foire St Germain and the Fiore St Laurent, produsing vaudevilles and divertisments. He held organ posts and enjoyed the patronage of the Prince of Conti and the Duce of Angouleme. A prolific composer, he was one of the first in France to write concertos in the Italian manner, among them 25'concertos comiques', some of which are descriptive; many are based on popular tunes of the day. He also composed sacred music: masses,motets,lecons de tenebres and a Te Deum. Adedicated teacher, he published an astonishing number of 'methods'which provide interesting information about 18th-century French performance practice;the best known is the violin method, 'L'Ecole d'Orphee(1738),with its illustrated discussion of French and Italian styles.
Michel Corrette- Grand Thunder with Chorus for Organ
http://youtu.be/nSK_Th5-uDQ


* JANUARY 21


Death of THOMAS ATTWOOD WALMISLEY 1856 in Hastings

English composer. He took lessons from Attwood, his godfather, and developed rapidly as a composer and performer. At the age of 16 he became organist at Croyon Parish Church, moving to Cambridge in 1833 as organist of Trinity and St John's colleges. In 1836 he succeeded John Clarke-Whitfield as professor of music. At Cambridge he developed an enviable reputation as an organist and choir trainer. He prodused numerous chamber works, overtures,symphonic music,and choral odes; but he is best remembered for his church music, notably his full service in D (1843)and his Evening Services in B(1845) and D minor(1855), the last considereto be his masterpiece.
Magnificat in D minor - Walmisley
http://youtu.be/dWfP7KeLUKU



* JANUARY 21


Death of DOMENICO MAZZOCCHI 1665 in Rome

Italian composer.He was associated chiefly with the Aldobrandini family in Rome,for which he wrote his opera 'La catena d'Adone'.It is an developing genre,and Mazzocchi drew attention to its'mezz'arie',brief passages in aria style which sought to'break the tedium of the recitative'.He also published dialogues and
sonnet settings,five-voicemadrigals,a
nd oratorios.The madrigals(Rome,1638)could be performed with a
violin consort and contain extensive performance instructions;they are essentially old-fashioned but no less expressive for that.

Domenico Mazzocchi (1592-1665) - Sacrae Concertationes No.17. Dialogo dell'Apocalisse
http://youtu.be/vzCtVQ1BUVY



* JANUARY 21


Death of AUGUSTE FRANCHOMME 1884 in Paris



French cellist and composer. After occupying orchestral posts in Paris he turned to solo work and chamber music as well as becoming a significant teacher (developing the light,so-called 'French'bow technique).A friend of Mendelssohn and intimate of Chopin(who dedicated his cello sonata to him), Franchomme also composed several works for the cello.



Caprice Op.7 No.9 Pour Deux Violoncelles En Ré Majeur - Auguste Franchomme
http://youtu.be/gxmoP35i3AY



* JANUARY 21


Birth of HENRI DUPARC 1848 in Paris

French composer.
He studied composition with Cesar Franck.
His reputation rests on his 16 solo songs and one duet written between1868 and 1884. He also wrote a few orchestral works,of which the symphonic poem 'Lenore' (1875) is the most often heard. But in 1885 a deterioration of his nervous system put an end to composing, and the last half-century,where for a time was mayor of Marnes-les-Coquette.He brought out a definite edition of his songs in 1911 but, after working on an opera 'Roussalka'(based on Pushkin) from 1885 to 1895, he finaly burnt the score.
The best of his songs,though,rival any in either the French or German repertory, so that he must be regarded as a major composer of his time.
Henri Duparc - Lénore, poème symphonique d'après Bürger (1874-75)
http://youtu.be/UXcjpIACsa4




* January 22


Birth of ROSA PONSELLE 1897 in Meriden, CT.


American soprano of Italian parentage. She first sang in film theatres and vaudevilles and took lessons from William Thorner and Romano Romani, who recommended her to Caruso.His influence led to her opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as Leonora in 'La forza del destino'(1918), which was one of the most sensational events in the Metropolitan's history.
She was soon established as one of the outstanding sopranos of her time, and for the next 19 years at the Metropolitan Opera she sang 22 dramatic roles, notably Norma, Donna Anna,Violetta,Rachel (La Juive), and Santuzza.She achieved similar success at Covent Garden.


Rosa Ponselle - Pace, pace mio Dio (1928) RARE!
http://youtu.be/_hv7JpTYZRc



* JANUARY 22


Birth of VINCENZO RIGHINI 1756 in Bologna

Italian composer. After studying with Martini, he sang in Florence and Rome before joining Giuseppe Bustelli's opera company in Prague as a tenor and writing his first operas. By 1777  he had moved to Vienna,where he established himself as a singing teacher. He was engaged to substitute for Salieri at the court opera before he moved to Mainz, Trier, and in 1793 to the Prussian court in Berlin as Kapellmeister. His compositions include more than 150 songs,sacred pieces, cantatas, and piano works, as well as operas which increasingly typified the
Franco-Italian fusion favoured in Berlin.
Vincenzo Righini - Alcide al bivio - Aria: "non verranno a turbarti"
http://youtu.be/QSAh6p-NrBU



* JANUARY 23

Death of Dame CLARA BUTT
  1936 in North Stoke, OxonEnglish contralto. She won a scolarship to the RCM,where she took lessons and in 1892 made her debut qat the Royal Alobert Hall singing Ursula in Sulloivan's'The Golden Legend. A few days later she drew praise for her singing of Gluck's Orpheus at the Lyceum. She quickly rose to fame as a concert singer, specializing in English ballads and oratorios. Elgar particularly admired her unusually -powerful voice and meticulous enanciation, and powerful voice and meticulous enunciation, and composed his 'Sea Pictures!(1899) for her. In 1902 she gave the first performance of his'LOand of Hope and Glory. She made many recordings and was created DBE in 1920.
http://youtu.be/iefmyjEv6_0



 * JANUARY 23

Death of JOHN FIELD
1837 in MoscowIrish composer and pianist. He was a pioneer in the development of a Romantic style of piano music that reachedits zenith in the works of Chopin, and he is best remembered today for his nocturnes, written between 1812 and 1836.By the end of 1793 he had become a pupil of Clementi and was said by Haydn to play the piano 'extremely well 'For seven years he studied with Clementi and enjoyed a close friendship with Dussek. In 1799 his First PianoConcerto was performed at the King's Theatre, marking an important stage in his career.
A year later, having concluded hia apprenticeship with Clementi, he was in great demand in London as a concert pianist. In 1802 ha accompanied Clementi on a continental business tour, to Paris, Vienna, and finally St Petersburg. There he becamethe darling of Russian aristocratic society and earned a comfortable living as a pianist and teacher of wealthypupils. In 1831 he returned to London seeking medical attention for cancer and was operated on with partial success. He then undertook concerts in London and Manchester, as well as playing his Seventh Piano Concertoin Paris in December 1832. After concerts in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy he became increasingly illbut gave three concerts in Vienna before arriving back in Moscow in September 1835.He died there 16 months later.
http://youtu.be/CPTFlFWBVss



 * JANUARY 23

Birth of MUZIO CLEMENTI
1752 in RomeItalian-born British composer, pianist,teacher,and piano manufacturer. At 13 he was organist at a minor church in Rome, but was soon discovered by a travelling English gentleman,who persuaded Clementi's father to allow his son to go to England.Clementi lived for seven years at Beckford's estate near Blandford Forum,Dorset,where hestudied in isolation. His technically brilliant sonatas op.2 began to established his reputation.In 1780 he touredEurope, playing before Marie Antoinette in Paris and taking part in the famous contest with Mozart in Vienna. In the period 1779-90 he published about 60 sonatas, many of which were admired by Beethoven. As partcompensation, he still commanded high fees as a teacher and invested the money he earned in piano manufacturing and publishing. Between 1802 and 1810 he visited Russia and Italy twice and Vienna four times, though his plans were hampered by the Napoleonic wars.Three years after he returned to London, he was named as one of the six directors of the newly founded Philharmonic Society (1813). In 1830 he retiredwith his second wife and family to the country,where he died.
He was buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbeywith great ceremony and adulation.
http://youtu.be/XlTElcKMoQ0



 * JANUARY 23

Death of SAMUEL BARBER
1981 in New YorkAmerican composer. At the age of 14 he enterede the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he studied composition with Rosario Scalero, and where from 1931 to 1933 he taught the piano.
From then he earned his living from the music.
The opulent,openly Romantic style of his early works is well shown in the String Quartet in B minor (1936), whose slow movement, orchestrated as the Adagio for Strings, quickly gained wide popularity. Much of Barber's best music is to be found in his vocal works, which include two operas introduced at the Metropolitan in New York, 'Vanessa'(1958) and 'Antony and Cleopatra'(1966).
http://youtu.be/RRMz8fKkG2g



* JANUARY 24

Birth of Broschi Carlo FARINELLI
1705 in BolognaItalian soprano castrato. He took lessons from Porpora, in whose 'Angelica e Medoro' he made his public debut in Naples in 1720, with such success that Porpora created for him the demanding title role of 'Adelaide' (Rome ,1723)The following year Farinelli began his international travels, which for 13 years brought him the highest acclaim, especially when he appeared in London at the Opera of the Nobility. In 1737 he left the public stage and entered the private service of the Spanish court in Madrid, where he was the prized employee of Philip V and then Ferdinand VI. There he was olso in charge of a variety of administrative matters, and the production of many Italian operas. In 1759 he settled in Bologna, where he collected pictures and played theharpsichord and viola d'amore. From his own day to the present, Farinelli's life has been the subject of numerousfictional accounts including a film(1994)
http://youtu.be/NWMOmBohlTE



 * JANUARY 24

Death of FRIEDRICH von FLOTOW
1883 in DarmstadtGerman composer. He studied with Reicha and Pixis in Paris, where his first ten operas were produced. His firstmajor German Romantic opera was 'Alessandro Stradella (1844), based on an episode in that composer's adventurous life. His greatest success was 'Martha'(1847), in which 'opera comique'provides the main influence, though some of the vocal writing is strongly Italianate. The 1848 Revolution led him to return to Germany. He moved to Vienna in 1852, then became director of the grand-ducal court opera in Mecklenburg,1885-62.
He settled on the family estate at Toitendorf in 1873. None of his later works,whether French or German, achieved anything like the success of 'Stradella'or 'Martha'.
http://youtu.be/Mu1vkHll0IY



 * JANUARY 24

Death of CONRAD PAUMANN
1473 in Munich German organist and composer.
He was born blind. By 1446 he was organist at St Sebaldus, Nuremberg, and he was appointed town organist in1447. Three years later he accepted the post of court organist at Munich,and from there he travelled widely in Germany,France,and Italy, where he was knighted. His best wnown work,a composition manual for the organ called 'Fundamentum organisandi (1452) includes arrangements of German lieder. Little of his music survives, however. Presumably most of it was played extempore or from memory and was never notated. He is buried in the Frauenkirche, Munich; an epitaph there shows him surrounded by instruments.
http://youtu.be/i56YtRgwnQc




* JANUARY 25

Death of ROBERT PARSONS
 1572 in Newark-on-TrentEnglish church musician and composer.In 1563 he was made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal;earlier he mayhave been a chorister of the choir.His death,by drowning in the river Trent,probably occured when he was still young,since a eulogy refers to him having been cut down in 'first flower'.His earliest works date from the 1550s,but the majority are Elizabethan.They include consort music,songs,motets,and a small quantity of English church music.Several of his compositions were influential on William Byrd,who subsequently filled his position at the Chapel Royal.
http://youtu.be/f2WrDvI847g



* JANUARY 26

Death of CHRISTIAN GOTTLOB NEEFE
 1798 in DessauGerman composer. He began composing when he was 12, later studying law, then composition with J.A.Hiller. He worked with travelling troupes, and in Bonn became one of Beethoven's first teachers.
In 1794 he was appointed director of the Dessau thyeatre.
His songs show some anticipation of the Romantic lied, and in his 'Singspiele'he can extend the conventions to lively dramatic effect.
http://youtu.be/hKZd2KYflok




* JANUARY 26

Birth of JACQUELINE DU PRE

1945 in Oxford English cellist.
From 1955 she studied with William Pleeth, later with Tortelier, Casals,and Rostropovich, and began her short but hugely successful career with a recital in 1961 at the Wigmore Hall, London.
Married to the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, she played in concerts throughout the world.
Her distinctively physical playing style was eloquently suited to the Schumann and Elgar concertos.
In 1973 multiple sclerosis forced her to retire from the concert hall, but her beauty of tone and dazzling natural technique is preservedon many recordings.
http://youtu.be/Qbs2H_PvGpE




* JANUARY 26

(από * Magda Riga) Σαν σήμερα το 1911 πρώτη παρουσίαση του R.Strauss - Rosenkavalier 
στη Δρέσδη.
Synopsis Der Rosenkavalier
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=21
Hab' mir's gelobt (Thielemann)
http://youtu.be/BBJQ-CYNs00




* JANUARY 27

Birth of WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART



1756 in SalzburgAustrian composer.For details SEE Dec.5th entry (music diary)
http://youtu.be/JcUh-ggBfzI






* JANUARY 27

Death of GIUSEPPE VERDI
1901 in MilanItalian composer. For details SEE Oct.10th
( music diary )
http://youtu.be/y0EAL3vXZrM




 * JANUARY 27

Birth of EDOUARD LALO
1823 in LilleFrench composer. He studied in Lille, then moved to Paris at the age of 16. There he lived as a violinist and teacher, playing in some of Berlioz's concerts and composing two symphonies which he destroyed. His chamber music of the 1850s received some attention. Following his marriage to a singer in 1865he wrote a grand opera, 'Fiesque' but he was deeply dispirited when it failed to win a competition and when lukewarm interest from the Paris and Brussels opera houses came to nothing. He wrote the ballet 'Namouna (1881), greatlyadmired by Debussy,and the opera 'Le Roi d'Ys' (1888),which firmly established his reputation. Based on the Breton mythof the legendary submerged city of Ys, the opera blends Breton folk music with his habitual style:a love of compound-time signatures,s uprise chords, and an idiosyncratic dark and turbulent harmonic language. It is oneof the strongest regionalist French operas of the period. 
http://youtu.be/fanW2dQHmto



 * JANUARY 27 


Birth of JUAN CRISTOFORO ARRIAGA
1806 in BilbaoSpanish violinist and composer. His first opera, 'Los Esclavos Felices', when written and produced in Bilbao when he was only 13. In 1821 he entered the Paris Conservatoire,and before his untimely death he composed three string quartets,two sacred works, a second opera and some incidental music, a handful of piano studies, two overtures, and an attractive symphony in D,which is still performed. With the Spanish nationalism in the 1850s, Arriaga became a cult figure,and the elegant substance of the symphony and quarters in particular go far towards justifying his fame.
http://youtu.be/IEOaGM5iH5o



 * JANUARY 27

Death of ERICH KLEIBER 
1956 in ZurichAustrian conductor.
After studying in Prague, he was appointed to the Darmstadt Opera in 1912. Through asuccession of appointments at German opera houses he rose to fame as a meticulous ensemble builder and a conductor of great drilliance and high discipline.
From 1923 to 1934 he was music director of the Berlin State Opera, where he gave premieres of many works, including Berg's 'Wozzeck'.
Opposing the Nazi regime, he lived in exile, exerting great influence at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires (1936-49) and, after the war, as a guest at Covent Garden. His son Carlos(1930-2004) was also a conductor.
http://youtu.be/PiF5glYvfcw





* JANUARY 28 

 Birth of ARTUR RUBINSTEIN
1887 in LodzPolish-born American pianist.For details SEE entry Dec.20th (music diary)
http://youtu.be/iEKJY6A_cnc





 * JANUARY 28 

Birth of Sir JOHN TAVENER
1944 in London English composer. He studied with Lennox Berkeley at the RAM and with David Lumsdaine, achieving early success with 'The Whale' (1965-6), a dramatic cantata that makes effective use of simple materials deriving from Stravinsky and Messiaen. He joined the Russian Orthodox Church in 1978, and his music has focused increasingly on the spiritual, liturgical aspects of his chosen faith. His works, from 'Ultimus ritos'(1969-72) to 'Fall andResurrection' (1999), are often on a massive scale and exploit the resonance of large church buildings. ButTavener has also been successful in his use of an intimate, meditative,minimalist style comparable to that of Arvo Part, as well as with concert works(for example, 'The Protecting Veil' for cello and orchestra, 1988-9) and opera (Mary of Egypt', Aldeburgh, 1992). He was knighted in 2000.
http://youtu.be/BkgN9OjMXgw



 * JANUARY 28 

Death of REYNALDO HAHN
1947 in ParisVenezuelan-born French composer, singer, and critic. His father moved to Paris in 1878 and Hahn entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1885, studying with Dubois and Massenet among others.
He was much in demand as a salon singer and as a singing teacher. Happily, a good number of his recordings are available on CD. He took aparticular interesr in Mozart, conducting 'Don Giovanni' at Salzburg in 1906 and in 1925 writing an operetta 'Mozart', following the success of 'Ciboulette' (Paris,1923). Perhaps the best of his more serious works are the powerful Piano Quintet (1922) and the opera 'Le Merchand de Venise' (Paris,1935).
In 1945 he was made a member of the Institut and appointed director of the Paris Opera.



* JANUARY 29


death of FERRUCCIO TAGLIAVINI 1955 in Reggio nell'Emilia
Italian tenor. He took lessons from Amadeo Bassi and made his debut as Rodolfo in La boheme in Florence in 1939.
By 1945 he was one of Italy's most sought-after tenors for lyrical bel canto roles, and his fame spread internationally when he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York,in 1947. One of his greatest successes was as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, in which he was praised for his agile and mellifluous singing and his engaging comic acting.
He was also impressive in the tragic title role of Massenet's Werther.
Ferruccio Tagliavini "Pourquoi me reveiller?" Werther
http://youtu.be/WLelIQ00yXo  





* JANUARY 29


Birth of FREDERICK DELIUS 1862 in Bradford
English composer. He was the son of a German wool mercant who had settled in Yorkshire and played a part in the 1886 entered the Leipzig Conservatory, where he was befriended by Grieg. He settled in Paris, where he joined the circle of Paul Gauguin, August Strindberg, and Edvard Munch. His earliest compositions were songs,chamber works, and orchestral pieces,but after 1890 he concentrated on operas. Only the two last of these were prodused in his lifetime, 'Koanga'(1904),and 'A Village Romeo and Juliet' (1907).In 1897 Delius settled at Grez-sur-Loing with an artist, Jelka Rosen, whom he married in 1903. Always susceptible to women, Delius contracted syphilis probably in Florida. The physical effects began to tell in about 1920, and the fine incidental music for Flecker's'Hassan' (1920-3) was the last music he wrote in his own hand. Delius blind and paralysed, last visited England in 1929 for Beecham's festival of his music. He was made Companion of Honour that year. He died in France but was buried at Limpsfield, Surrey. His music is principally concerned with nostalgia for lost love,and perhaps the finest example of it is his Whitman setting for baritone, chorus,and orchestra, 'Sea Drift'(1903-4).
Frederick Delius Piano Concerto Part I
http://youtu.be/RubafY-0usk



* JANUARY 29


Birth of DANIEL FRANCOIS ESPRIT AUBER 1782 in Caen
French composer. In 1802 his father sent him to London, where he found success as a performer and a composer of romances, but he returned the next year after the outbreak of war between England and France. He attracted Cherubini's attention with a one-act opera, and from him received his first real compositionlessons in 1805. His earliest attempts at writing operas were unsuccessful, but his father's bankruptcy spurred him on to more determined efforts, and the operas comiques 'La Bergere chatelaine'(1820) and 'Emma'(1821) won considerable popularity. Thereafter Auber prodused a stream of operas until 1869. Auber had a facility for simple popular melodies and clear harmony, and for sparkling orchestration and dramatic ensembles; like many of his contemporaries he was influenced by Rossini's vocal writing. His arias became more expressive in the 1840's, but he also continued to use popular song types such as barcarolles, ballades, and chansons.Though best known for his operas, Auber wrote a body of sacred music, as well as songs,cantatas,and orchestral and chamber pieces.
He was much honoured, becoming director of the Paris Conservatoire in 1842 and maitre de chapelle to Napoleon III in 1852.
Daniel Auber - La muette de Portici - "Amis, le soleil va paraitre" (Alfredo Kraus)
http://youtu.be/q3Fwo7Uj9Sk



* JANUARY 29


Birth of GEORG CHRISTOPH WAGENSEIL 1715 in Vienna
Austrian composer.He was the son of an official at the Habsburg court.His most important teacher was Fux,on whose recommendation he was appointed court composer in 1739.In 1745 he travelled to Venice for the premiere of his first opera'Ariodante',and over the first 15 years he cemented his reputation as an opera composer with a series of successful works.He played an important role in the development of the Viennese Classical style.His symphonies were models of Haydn's early works.Most of his numerous keyboard concertos are chamber works that make only modest demands on amateur performers,but they were well known in the Mozart household in Salzburg and influenced the style and form of Wolfgang's earliest concertos.
Georg Christoph Wagenseil - Concerto for Harp, Two Violins and Cello - Allegro
http://youtu.be/NognD74Ixhk




* JANUARY 30


Birth of JOHANN JOACHIM QUANTZ 1697 in Oberscheden,nr Gottingen
German flautist, composer,and theorist. Trained as a town musician,he became proficient on woodwind, string, and keyboard instruments. In 1718,however, on entering the chapel of the king of Poland, which was stationed alternately in Warsaw and Dresden, he specialized first on the oboe and then took up the flute,s tudying with Pierre Buffardin.In 1728, during a visit to Berlin, he was appointed flute tutor to Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia; a year after the prince'c accession in 1740, he joined the royal band at Berlin and Potsdam. Greatly admired by Frederick,he became a leading figure in the musical life of the court, teaching, directing chamber concerts at Sanssouci, and composing numerous flute sonatas and concertos for the king's enjoyment.
Johann Joachim Quantz - Concerto in G major - 1. Allegro Assai (flauto traversiere)
http://youtu.be/0t3EMPmpgUE



* JANUARY 30




Francis Poulenc - Aubade (1929) [1/2]
http://youtu.be/b62j1LHwwEE







* JANUARY 31


Birth of FRANCOIS DEVIENNE

1759 in Joinville, Haute-MarneFrench composer. He joined the Paris Opera orchestra in 1779 before entering the service of Cardinal de Rohan. In the 1780s his works began to be performed in various concert series, including the Concert Spirituel, but he became famous as a composer only after the Revolution. He wrote his first opera comique in 1790; two years later came the popular 'Les Visitandines, which enjoyed performances throughout the 19th century. His flute method remained in use until recent times. His many compositions include chamber music and concertos for wind instruments.
http://youtu.be/kkeL_4h8OIY





* JANUARY 31

Birth of FRANZ PETER SCHUBERT






1797 in ViennaAustrian composer.
For details SEE Nov.19th (music diary






 






















 















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