Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, December 11, 2015

Birthdays

Hector Berlioz

In 1803 Hector Berlioz was born in La Cote-Saint-Andre, France. He is best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts (Requiem). Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works, and conducted several concerts with more than 1,000 musicians. He also composed around 50 songs. His influence was critical for the further development of Romanticism, especially in composers like Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler. 1

Elliott Carter.jpg

Elliott Carter

In 1908 Elliott Carter was born in New York. He was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, then returned to the United States. After an early neoclassical phase, his style shifted to an emphasis on atonality and rhythmic complexity. His compositions are known and performed throughout the world; they include orchestral, chamber music, solo instrumental, and vocal works. He was extremely productive in his later years, publishing more than 40 works between the ages of 90 and 100, and over 20 more after he turned 100 in 2008. He completed his last work, Epigrams for piano trio, on August 13, 2012. 2

Rachel Portman

Happy 55th birthday Rachel Portman! Born on this day in 1960 in Haslemere, England. She was educated at Charterhouse School and became interested in music from a young age, beginning composing at the age of 14. After finishing school, Portman studied Music at Worcester College, Oxford. It was here that her interest in composing music for films began as she started experimenting with writing music for student films and theatre productions. Rachel Portman’s career in music began with writing music for drama in BBC and Channel 4 films such as Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Mike Leigh’s Four Days In July and Jim Henson’s Storyteller series. Since then, Portman has written over 100 scores for film, television and theatre, including Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme), Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski), Hart’s War (Greg Hoblit), The Legend of Bagger Vance (Robert Redford), Beloved (Jonathan Demme), Benny and Joon (Jeremiah Chechik), Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh), Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek), Grey Gardens (Michael Sucsy), The Duchess (Saul Dibb), One Day (Lone Scherfig), The Vow (Michael Sucsy), Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Wayne Wang), The Lake House (Alejandro Agresti), Infamous (Douglas McGrath), Mona Lisa Smile (Mike Newell), and The Human Stain (Robert Benton). Portman is perhaps best known for her music soundtrack compositions in the movies Chocolat and The Cider House Rules. Her other works include a children’s opera, The Little Prince (which was later adapted for television) and Little House on the Prairie, a musical based upon the Laura Ingalls Wilder books Little House on the Prairie (2008). Portman was commissioned to write a piece of choral music for the BBC Proms series in August 2007. She was the first female composer to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Musical or Comedy Score (for Emma in 1996). (Previously, female songwriters Barbra Streisand, in 1977, Buffy Sainte-Marie, in 1983, andCarly Simon, in 1989, each won Oscars, but in the category of Best Original Song). Portman was also nominated for Academy Awards for her scores for The Cider House Rules in 1999 and Chocolat in 2000. On 19 May 2010, she was given the Richard Kirk Award at the BMI Film & TV Awards for her contributions to film and television music. Portman is the first woman to receive the honour. Portman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours. In 2015 Portman received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special for her work on Bessie. 3

Premiers

In 1873 Johannes Brahms’ String Quartet in c, Op. 51, no. 1, was premiered in Vienna by the Hellmesberger Quartet. 

In 1908 Frederick Delius’ In a Summer Garden was premiered by the London Philharmonic. 

In 1925 Carl Nielsen conducted the Royal Orchestra in the premiere of his Symphony No. 6 (“Sinfonia semplice”).

In 1935 Henry Cowell’s Mosaic Quartet (String Quartet No. 3) was premiered by the Modern Art Quartet at the 7th of the WPA Composers’ Forum-Laboratories, at the Midtown Community Center in New York. 

In 1950 Paul Hindemith’s Clarinet Concerto was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting, with Benny Goodman the soloist. 

In 1959 Henri Dutilleux’s Symphony No. 2 was premiered by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting. 

In 1981 David Diamond’s Violin Sonata No. 2 was premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., by Robert McDuffie (violin) and William Black (piano). 

In 1985 Philip Glass & Robert Moran’s opera The Juniper Tree was premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.

On This Day in Classical Music

In 1784 Mozart finished his work on his Piano Concerto No. 19 and celebrated by becoming a member of the Freemasons.

In 1818 the custody battle between Beethoven and his inlaws over his nephew takes a dramatic turn when Beethoven admits that he is not a nobleman. The “van” in his name is an affectation. The case must be started over again in the courts of the common people.

In 1819 the earliest datable works of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn are performed as a birthday present for their father.

In 1920 Enrico Caruso suffers a throat hemorrhage wile performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He would only perform three more times and die less than a year later.

In 1936 Dmitri Shostakovich withdrew his Symphony No. 4 from a performance in Leningrad. This may have saved his life as Stalin was not happy with the style of Shostakovich’s music. It would not be heard until well after Stalin’s death.

  1. Wikipedia contributors, “Hector Berlioz,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hector_Berlioz&oldid=693599400 (accessed December 11, 2015).
  2. Wikipedia contributors, “Elliott Carter,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elliott_Carter&oldid=687990659 (accessed December 11, 2015).
  3. Wikipedia contributors, “Rachel Portman,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rachel_Portman&oldid=690554239 (accessed December 11, 2015).