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Thursday, January 14, 2016

Birthdays

LudwigRittervon Köchel.jpg

Ludwig Ritter von Köchel

In 1800 Ludwig Ritter von Köchel was born in Stein, Lower Austria. He studied law in Vienna and graduated with a PhD in 1827. For fifteen years, he was tutor to the four sons of Archduke Charles of Austria. Köchel was rewarded with a knighthood and a generous financial settlement, permitting him to spend the rest of his life as a private scholar. Contemporary scientists were greatly impressed by his botanical researches in North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, the United Kingdom, the North Cape, and Russia. In addition to botany, he was interested in geology and mineralogy, but also loved music, and was a member of the Mozarteum Salzburg. He died of cancer at age 77 in Vienna. By the way, von Köchel cataloged Mozart’s music, which is why we number each of Mozart’s compositions with a “K” or “Köchel” number! 1

Mariss Jansons

Happy 73rd birthday Mariss Jansons! He was born on this day in 1943 in Riga, Latvia. Iraida Jansone, who was Jewish, gave birth to her son in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after being smuggled out of the Riga Ghetto, where Iraida’s father and brother were murdered by the Nazis. As a child, Jansons first studied violin with his father. In 1946, Arvīds Jansons won second prize in a national competition and was chosen by Yevgeny Mravinsky to be his assistant at the Leningrad Philharmonic. When his family joined him in 1956, young Jansons entered the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied piano and conducting, although his father urged him to continue playing violin. In 1969, he continued his training in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky and in Salzburg with Herbert von Karajan. Karajan had invited Jansons to be his assistant with the Berlin Philharmonic, but the Soviet authorities blocked Jansons from ever hearing about the offer. 2

Nicholas McGegan

Happy 66th birthday Nicholas McGegan! Born on this day in 1950 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England. McGegan received his early education at Nottingham High School. He subsequently studied music at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and at Magdalen College, Oxford. McGegan has participated in some of the earliest “authentic-performance” recordings during the 1970s as a baroque flautist, including Christopher Hogwood’s seminal recordings of Mozart symphonies. He has taught music at such UK institutions as King’s College, Cambridge, Oriel College, Oxford, and the Royal College of Music. In the USA, McGegan has served as artist-in-residence at Washington University in St. Louis, beginning in 1979 when he was initially scheduled for one semester in residence, but his residency extended into the mid-1980s. Since 1985, McGegan has been music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco and Berkeley, California. In 1988, he served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival alongside Peter Maxwell Davies and Diane Wittry. From 1993-98 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Scottish Opera in Glasgow. From 1991 to 2011, McGegan was also Artistic Director of the Göttingen International Handel Festival. He was music director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra from 2002 to 2005. Since 2013 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Pasadena Symphony, and in 2014 the became Artist in Association with Australia’s Adelaide Symphony. He has also held long-term appointments with the Drottningholm Theatre, where he served as principal conductor from 1993–96, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. McGegan also founded the chamber music group, The Arcadian Academy. As a guest conductor, he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and many others, and has conducted opera at The Royal Opera at Covent Garden, the San Francisco Opera, and Santa Fe Opera, among others. 3

Andrew Manze

Happy 51st birthday Andrew Manze! Born on this day in 1965 in Beckenham, England. Manze studied violin and worked with Ton Koopman. In September 2014 he took up the position of Principal Conductor of the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Hannover. Between 2006 and 2014 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. He made a number of recordings with them including Beethoven’s Eroica (Harmonia Mundi) and Stenhammar Piano Concerti (Hyperion) and a cycle of the Brahms’ symphonies. Manze was Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from September 2010 to August 2014. As a guest conductor Manze has regular relationships with a number of leading international orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish and Swedish Chamber Orchestras. Manze’s recent and future debuts include New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. He became Associate Director of The Academy of Ancient Music in 1996 and then Artistic Director of The English Concert from 2003 to 2007. Manze is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at the Oslo Academy and has contributed to new editions of sonatas and concertos by Mozart and Bach published by Bärenreiter and Breitkopf and Härtel. He also teaches, edits and writes about music, as well as broadcasting regularly on radio and television. In 2011 Andrew Manze received the prestigious Rolf Schock Prize in Stockholm. 4

Premiers

In 1710 George Frideric Handel’s orchestral music for his opera Rodrigo was first played as incidental music to Ben Jonson’s play The Alchemist which was being revived at the King’s Theater. This would be the world’s introduction to Handel’s music.

In 1889 Charles Villiers Stanford’s Suite for Violin and Orchestra was premiered in Berlin, conducted by Stanford and featuring Joseph Joachim soloist.

In 1934 George Gershwin performed the premier of his ‘I Got Rhythm’ Variations in Boston.

In 1953 Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia Antartica was premiered in Manchester, England, with John Barbirolli conducting the Hallé Orchestra.

In 1955 Hector Villa-Lobos’ Harp Concerto and Sinfonia No. 8 were premiered by harpest Nicanor Zabaleta and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Villa-Lobos conducted these premieres.

In 1998 Michael Torke’s Brick Symphony for orchestra was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony with Alasdair Neale conducting.

On This Day in Classical Music

In 1690 the clarinet was invented in Nuremberg, Germany by woodwind instrument maker Johann Denner.

The Italian Opera Company of London was forced to find a new home after the Pantheon burned to the ground on this day in 1792. Ironically, they was forced into the Pantheon when their original home – the King’s Theater – burned down in 1789. They found a home in the Little Theater in the Haymarket. But as the name suggests, it was too small for their needs. They were only to happy to return to the newly restored King’s Theater later that year.

In 1867 the Norwegian Academy of Music opened. This was a project initiated by Norway’s greatest composer, Edvard Grieg.

In 1947 the Covent Garden Opera House opened after being renovated, with a performance of Bizet’s Carmen.

  1. Wikipedia contributors, “Ludwig Ritter von Köchel,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ludwig_Ritter_von_K%C3%B6chel&oldid=699358048 (accessed January 13, 2016).
  2. Wikipedia contributors, “Mariss Jansons,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mariss_Jansons&oldid=697865125(accessed January 13, 2016).
  3. Wikipedia contributors, “Nicholas McGegan,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicholas_McGegan&oldid=663505614 (accessed January 13, 2016).
  4. Wikipedia contributors, “Andrew Manze,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Manze&oldid=682378630(accessed January 13, 2016).