Tags
Aaron Copland, Clara Wieck, classical, classical music, composers, Elgar, opera, orchestra, philharmonic, Russian composers
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
You can listen to the Classical Music Almanac Podcast Daily here.
Birthdays
In 1835 Eduard Strauss was born in Vienna. He was an Austrian composer who, together with brothers Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss made up the Strauss musical dynasty. He was the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim. The family dominated the Viennese light music world for decades, creating many waltzes and polkas for many Austrian nobility as well as dance-music enthusiasts around Europe. He was affectionately known in his family as ‘Edi’. 1
Happy birthday Fabio Biondi! Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi had a late start, never having even held a violin till age 11, but by the following year he had advanced so quickly that he played a concerto with the RAI Symphony Orchestra. When he was 16, he performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s violin concertos at the Musikverein in Vienna. Since then, he has performed with a number of baroque ensembles including La Capella Reial, Musica Antiqua Wien, Seminario Musicale, La Chapelle Royale and Les Musiciens du Louvre. In 1990 Biondi founded Europa Galante, an Italian ensemble specializing in baroque music, that he directs. Biondi’s recordings include Antonio Vivaldi’s Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione including The Four Seasons and the opera Bajazet, Arcangelo Corelli’s concerti grossi, works ofAlessandro Scarlatti and George Frideric Handel, from the 18th-century Italian violin repertoire (Antonio Vivaldi, Francesco Maria Veracini, Pietro Locatelli, Giuseppe Tartini), as well as sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann. Biondi also performs in duos with keyboard (piano, harpsichord or fortepiano). In 2005 Biondi became artistic director for baroque music of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He plays a 1766 Carlo Ferdinando Gagliano violin lent him by the Salvatore Cicero Foundation in Palermo, and also a Andrea Guarneri (Cremona, 1686) violin. 2
Happy birthday Xuefei Yang! She was born in Beijing in 1977, and began playing the guitar when she was seven. Three years later, she started studying under Chen Zhi, the Chairman of the China Classical Guitar Society. She made a public debut at the First China International Guitar Festival, where she met with an immediate acclaim. At her debut, one of the most respected luthiers, Masaru Kohno, presented her a guitar, Pepe by Aria; it was her first foreign-made guitar. The next achievement that she made was a second prize at the Beijing Senior Guitar competition; at that time, she was only eleven. As a schoolgirl, Yang rapidly achieved an international reputation, playing extensively in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Spain, and Australia, and giving concert tours in Taiwan, Japan and Portugal. At twelve, she played in Tokyo for the first time, and was given a special award by the Guitar Alliance of Japan. Masaru Kohno, this time, took Yang to his studio and asked her to take any guitar with her. She played the Kohno guitar, made of cedar and jacaranda, regularly over the next five years. During her Madrid debut at age 14, the composer Joaquín Rodrigo was among the audience; in 1995, after John Williams listened to her performance in Beijing, he was so impressed that he loaned two of his own Greg Smallman guitars to her conservatory, for her and other top students to play. After completing her secondary schooling, Yang went on to complete her studies in Beijing, becoming the first guitarist to enter a music school in China, and obtaining a Bachelor of Arts from the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music. She then become the first guitarist from China to study in the United Kingdom and the first guitarist ever to receive an international scholarship from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for her postgraduate programme at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She moved to London in 2000, studying under Michael Lewin, John Mills and Timothy Walker and further establishing her international career with many solo recitals and concert performances in the UK and Europe. She graduated with distinction in 2002, achieving a Recital Diploma and receiving the Royal Academy of Music Principal’s prize for exceptional all-round studentship. Yang has won numerous prizes in music competitions including the Stotsenberg International Classical Guitar Competition, the San Francisco International Guitar Competition and the Young Concert Artist International competition in the United States, and the Darwin International Guitar Competition in Australia. She was awarded first prize in the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award by the City of London’s Worshipful Company of Musicians, and won the Dorothy Grinstead Prize for a recital at Fairfield Hall, Croydon. Yang has already given recitals or concerts in many countries, including the United Kingdom, the U.S., Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Australia, China, Japan and Singapore. Concert appearances have included playing Rodrigo’s “Fantasia para un Gentilhombre” with the BBC Concert Orchestra and “Concierto de Aranjuez” with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra at Duke’s Hall. She has featured on radio as part of the BBC Proms London Composer Portrait series, and performed at 54 concerts for the “Night of the Proms Tour” in 2003/2004. In January 2011 she appeared in Ireland for the first time, at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. In April 2013 she played at the Village Hall in Parbold. 3
Premieres
In 1807 Ludwig von Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 was premiered, a work dedicated to Count Franz von Oppersdorff, who commissioned it.
In 1886 Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite (orchestral version) was premiered in Bergen, conducted by Grieg.
In 1897 Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1 was premiered in St. Petersburg and conducted by Alexander Glazunov.
In 1908 Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnole was premiered in Paris.
In 1911 Scriabin’s Symphony No. 5 (“Prometheus: Poem of Fire“) was premiered in Moscow, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky and with the composer as the piano soloist.
On This Day in Classical Music
In 1825 Gaetano Donizetti was named maestro di cappella of the Teatro Carolino in Palermo.
In 1838 Clara Wieck was given the title Royal and Imperial Virtuosa by the Emperor of Austria. She was 18 years old.
In 1847 Hector Berlioz began a series of five highly successful concerts in St. Petersburg, for which he earned 12,000 francs (approximately $160,000).
In 1866 Bedřich Smetana completed the orchestrations for his opera The Bartered Bride.
In 1895 Enrico Caruso made his operatic debut in Naples. He was twenty-two years old. He performed in L’Amico Francesco, by Domenico Morelli.
In 1918 Edward Elgar underwent a tonsillectomy. During his recovery in began work on his Cello Concerto.
In 1960 Aaron Copland traveled to Russia, taking part in a cultural-exchange program.
In 1962 Luciano Pavarotti makes his major operatic debut, singing the part of the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto, in Palermo.
In 1978 Mstislav Rostropovich had his citizenship revoked by the Soviet Union for “anti-Soviet activity” which included advocating for art without borders, freedom of speech, and other democratic values.
Recommended Listening
- Wikipedia contributors, “Eduard Strauss,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eduard_Strauss&oldid=707814205 (accessed March 14, 2016).
- Wikipedia contributors, “Fabio Biondi,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fabio_Biondi&oldid=708950137 (accessed March 14, 2016).
- Wikipedia contributors, “Xuefei Yang,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Xuefei_Yang&oldid=705676480 (accessed March 14, 2016).