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January 6
Max Bruch
Birth: January 6, 1838 in Cologne, Germany
Death: October 20, 1920 in Friedenau, Germany
Bruch started composing as a child, displaying an extraordinary
musical talent. In 1852, he wrote a symphony and a string quartet,
the latter work bringing him a scholarship from the Frankfurt-based
Mozart foundation. In 1858, having embarked on a teaching career
in Cologne, he produced his first opera, Scherz, List und Rache.
Bruch's opera Loreley was produced in 1863. After leaving his Mannheim
post, Bruch moved to Koblenz, Sonderhausen, and Berlin, where his
third opera, Hermione, was produced in 1872. In 1881, he resumed
his career as a conductor, leading the Liverpool Philharmonic Society,
but he did not get along with the players, who had rather lax standards.
In 1883 Bruch left Liverpool and became director of the Breslau
Orchesterverein, where he stayed through the end of the season
in 1890. That autumn, Bruch took up an appointment as professor
of composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, working
there until his retirement in 1910 and retaining his rank as a
professor there until his death in 1920. During his lifetime he
had a reputation one of music's great composers. Bruch's best-known
work is his passionately romantic Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor
(1868), a major item in the standard violin repertoire.
Alexander Scriabin
Birth: January 6, 1872 in Moscow
Death: April 27, 1915 in Moscow
Mystic, visionary, virtuoso, and composer, Scriabin dedicated his
life to creating musical works that would, he believed, open the
portals of the spiritual world. Scriabin took piano lessons as
a child, joining, in 1884, Nikolay Zverov's class, where Rachmaninov
was a fellow student. From 1888 to 1892, Scriabin studied at the
Moscow Conservatory, where his teachers included Arensky, Taneyev,
and Safonov. Although Scriabin's hand could not easily stretch
beyond an octave, he developed into a prodigious pianist, launching
an international concert career in 1894. Mostly inspired by Chopin,
his early compositions include nocturnes, mazurkas, preludes, and
etudes for piano. Toward the end of the century, Scriabin started
writing orchestral works, earning a solid reputation as a composer,
and obtaining a professorship at the Moscow Conservatory in 1898.
In 1903, however, Scriabin abandoned his wife and their four children
and embarked on a European journey with a young admirer, Tatyana
Schloezer. During his sojourn in Western Europe, which lasted six
years, Scriabin started developing an original, highly personal
musical idiom, experimenting with new harmonic structures and searching
for new sonorities. In 1905, Scriabin discovered the theosophical
teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, which became the intellectual
foundation of his musical and philosophical efforts. Scriabin embraced
theosophy as an intellectual framework for his profound feelings
about humankind's quest for God. Works from this period, exemplified
by the Poem of Ecstasy (1908) and Prometheus (1910), reflect Scriabin's
conception of music as a bridge to mystical ecstasy. While Scriabin
never quite crossed the threshold to atonality, his music nevertheless
replaced the traditional concept of tonality by an intricate system
of chords. In 1915, Scriabin died in of septicemia caused by a
carbuncle on his lip. Among his unfinished projects was Mysterium,
a grandiose religious synthesis of all arts, which would herald
the birth of a new world.
January 20
Ernest Chausson
Birth: January 20, 1855 in Paris
Death: June 10, 1899 in Limay, France
Chausson came from a well-to-do family; in fact, comfortable circumstances
throughout his entire life made it unnecessary for him to pursue
a living as a musician. Although interested in music from a young
age, Chausson pursued law studies at his father's behest. In 1877,
he was sworn in as a lawyer in Paris; in the same year, he wrote
his first work, the unpublished song Lilas. The impulse to devote
himself to composition was sparked in 1879, when he attended a
performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in Munich. Chausson
entered the Paris Conservatory in the following year and began
studies with Jules Massenet; his formal musical education was rounded
out by private study with Cesar Franck. As secretary of the Société Nationale
de Musique (an organization founded by Saint-Saëns and others),
Chausson became a full-fledged member of the Parisian musical community.
A prolific composer of songs, Chausson also composed works for
voice and orchestra, choral music, and several operas. He is best
known, however, for his chamber music — the Concerto for
piano, violin, and string quartet, Op. 21 (1889-91) and the Piano
Quartet, Op. 30 (1897) — and for imaginative orchestral works
like the Symphony in B flat major, Op. 20 (1889-90) and the Poème
for violin and orchestra, Op. 25 (1896). Chausson died in 1899,
at the age of 44, from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident.
Walter Hamor Piston
Birth: January 20, 1894 in Rockland, ME
Death: November 12, 1976 in Belmont, MA
Piston was born of Italian lineage; the family name had been Pistone
but his grandparents had Anglicized it by dropping the "e." In
his teens, Piston's musical education commenced with piano and
violin lessons. At that time, however, painting was his main interest,
but he conceded the superiority of his future wife, Kathryn Nason,
in that field and concentrated on music. With the entry of the
US into the First World War, Piston hurriedly crammed the rudiments
of saxophone technique and enlisted in the Navy as a band musician.
In between rehearsals and performances, he familiarized himself
with most of the other instruments in the band, learning to produce
at least a few tunes on each one. After the war, Piston entered
Harvard to study music, graduating summa cum laude in 1924. From
there he went to Paris on a Paine Fellowship to study with Paul
Dukas and Nadia Boulanger. This was a heady time, for many of who
would become America's most noted composers were under the wing
of the latter: Copland, Harris, Thompson, and Barber, to name a
few. Piston returned to the U.S. in 1926 and joined the faculty
of Harvard, retiring in 1960. 1938 his ballet, The Incredible Flutist
was performed, and the suite from this was for a long time his
most celebrated work. Meanwhile, Piston had commenced upon his
series of eight symphonies with his First in 1937. With these the
composer revealed his prowess in the field of large-scale absolute
music, garnering a steady stream of prestigious awards and honors,
among them the New York Music Critics Circle for the Second Symphony
(1945), and the Pulitzer Prize for the Third (1948) and the Seventh
(1959). As a composer, Walter Piston remained an enlightened conservative.
Taking the neo-Classic mode of expression and infusing it into
larger Romantic forms with flawless craftsmanship, he was one of
the great bearers of the symphonic tradition in the twentieth century.
January 27
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Birth: January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Death: December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the lone surviving son of a proud,
shrewd, exploitative father. Leopold toured the boy and his sister,
Nannerl, as prodigies between 1762 and 1773, from London to Italy
via Germany, France, England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and,
of course, Vienna. Mozart, although frequently and seriously ill,
spent less than four years at home in Salzburg before 1773. The
arrival of a haughty, stingy new archbishop curtailed father-son
travel time. Grudgingly, Leopold sent his wife in 1777 to chaperone
an ill-fated trip to Paris (where she died). En route, Mozart fell
in love with Aloisia Weber, whose sister Constanze he happily married
in 1783, without his father’s approval. From 1782 on, Mozart
was his own man (although perpetually nagged by papa, whose funeral
in 1787 Mozart boycotted). Before age 20 Wolfgang had written nine
operas, five violin concertos, at least 30 symphonies, dozens of
divertimentos and serenades, a ream of liturgical pieces, six sonatas,
and six concertos for klavier. Mozart began presenting solo concerts
with orchestra, which produced a trove of sublime klavier concertos
between 1782 and 1786. After the successful singspiel Die Entführung
aus dem Serail in 1782, he wrote just two operatic fragments and
the single-act Der Schauspieldirektor before five final and uniquely
brilliant operas. When Constanze became chronically ill (six pregnancies
in as many years), the family coffers that had been well filled
since 1783 emptied quickly, as Mozart had no sense of money management
whatsoever. All debts were repaid before Mozart's untimely death,
except 1000 kroner owed a fellow mason, which Constanze settled
posthumously. In his last year, Mozart earned the equivalent of
$80,000, including his fee for the unfinished Requiem, completed
by a pupil.
Edouard Lalo
Birth: January 27, 1823 in Lille, France
Death: April 22, 1892 in Paris
Lalo left home at 16 because his father did not want him to be
a professional musician. He studied the violin at the Paris Conservatoire,
also learning composition privately. In the 1850s, Lalo became
an important member of a movement to revive chamber music in France.
By the mid-1850s, he had already composed two piano trios and he
helped found the Armingaud Quartet, an ensemble created to promote
the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Mendelssohn.
Lalo, who was the quartet's violist and second violinist, composed
a string quartet in 1859, thus enhancing his stature as a composer
of chamber music. In 1865, Lalo married Julie Bernier de Maligny,
a singer who eventually became a leading performer of his songs.
The creation, in 1871, of the Societe Nationale de Musique, provided
Lalo with an impetus to continue composing for the orchestra. During
the 1870s, Lalo composed several impressive works, including a
Violin Concerto in F major, the famous Symphonie espagnole, the
Cello Concerto, and the Fantaisie norvegienne for violin and orchestra.
In 1875, Lalo started work on Roi d'Ys, an opera based on a Breton
legend. Lalo offered it to the Paris Opera in 1881, but theaters
refused to produce the work. Throughout the 1880s, however, Lalo
continued promoting Le Roi d'Ys. The opera was finally performed
at the Opera-Comique in 1888, and the reception was extremely favorable.
February 3
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Birth: February 3? 1525 in Palestrina?, Italy
Death: February 2, 1594 in Rome, Italy
Regarded by some as the “Prince of Music” and the “Savior
of Church Music”, Palestrina was one of the most highly acclaimed
musicians of the sixteenth century. He spent his entire career
around Rome, working in churches with good archival records. His
exact birth date remains unknown, but his age at death is given
in a famous eulogy. Whether he was born in Rome or in the provincial
town of Palestrina, "Gianetto" received his first musical
training in Rome as choirboy at Santa Maria Maggiore. In 1544,
he accepted a post as organist for the Cathedral of Palestrina.
While there, he married Lucrezia Gori and met the future Pope Julius
III. He returned to Rome in 1551, serving as Master of the Boys
for the Vatican's Capella Giulia and then, at Pope Julius' instigation,
singing in the Sistine Chapel. Fired by a later Pope because of
his marital status, he quickly became choirmaster for Saint John
Lateran. He served the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Seminario
Romano and the wealthy Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, published four
more books of music, and turned down an offer to become chapelmaster
for the Holy Roman Emperor. His last professional appointment was
a long tenure (1571-94) as master of the Capella Giulia in St.
Peter's. In addition, he performed freelance work for at least
12 other Roman churches and institutions, managed his second wife's
fur business, and invested in Roman real estate. Palestrina marketed
his immense compositional output in nearly 30 published collections
during his lifetime; many more of his roughly 700 works survive
in manuscripts. He is best known for more than 100 masses, though
he composed in every other liturgical genre of his day, as well
as nearly 100 madrigals.
Felix Mendelssohn (Bartholdy)
Birth: February 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany
Death: November 4, 1847 in Leipzig, Germany
Great musical prodigies, Felix and his sister Fanny were given
piano lessons and both joined the Berlin Singakademie. Although
he did spend some time at the University of Berlin, most of his
education was received through friendships and travel. Mendelssohn's
advocacy was the single most important factor in the revival of
Bach's vocal music in the nineteenth century, most famously realized
in the 1829 performance of the Saint Matthew Passion at the Berlin
Singakadamie. He did some touring as a pianist with Ignaz Moscheles,
then took the position as music director in Düsseldorf from
1833 to 1835. Tension with the theater owner caused him to resign
some of his duties, and in 1835, Mendelssohn became municipal music
director in Leipzig, where he also would conduct the Gewandhaus
Orchestra. He would raise the level of the still-thriving ensemble
to a new standard of excellence. In 1838, he married Cécile
Jeanrenaud, enjoying an idyllic marriage and family life that was
quite unlike the stormy romantic entanglements, which profoundly
affected such composers as Berlioz, Chopin, and Liszt. He was even
able to establish a new conservatory in the city, which is still
a well-respected institution. A talented visual artist, he was
a refined connoisseur of literature and philosophy. Mendelssohn's
music overflows with energy, ebullience, drama, and invention,
as evidenced in his most enduring works: the incidental music to
A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hebrides Overture; Songs Without Words;
Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4; and the Violin Concerto in e.
February 17
Arcangelo Corelli
Birth: February 17, 1653 in Fusignano, Italy
Death: January 8, 1713 in Rome
Corelli was born in the town of Fusignano to a wealthy family.
He most likely began his musical studies with a local priest before
moving to Bologna where he studied at the Accademia Filarmonica.
Before 1675, Corelli moved to Rome, where he began appearing as
a violinist in ensembles formed for various religious and civic
occasions. He soon emerged as one of the city's pre-eminent musicians
and entered the service of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had established
herself in Rome after abdicating her throne. Following her death,
Corelli entered the service of Cardinal Pamphili, who gave him
a generous salary and a place to live; he would remain in the Cardinal's
service until 1690, when the Cardinal left the city. Corelli's
patronage was then assumed by the young Cardinal Ottoboni, who
had received his office through the intervention of Pope Alexander
VIII, his uncle. Few musicians have ever enjoyed a more secure
or lucrative relationship with a patron. In this position, Corelli
achieved wide fame and extreme wealth, and upon his death in 1713
he was interred in the Pantheon. Arcangelo Corelli was the first
master of the modern violin, and the predominance of that instrument
in the music of the following three centuries is his technical
and pedagogical legacy. The fundamentals of modern string playing — including
bowing and fingering technique — descend directly from Corelli.
Though he did not create the concerto grosso form, Corelli wrote
the first significant compositions in the genre, laying the foundations
for the achievements of Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach a generation
later.
Copyright©WWUH: January/February
Program Guide, 2005 |
