1.
1875 in music
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This article is about music-related events in 1875. January 5 – Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, designed by Charles Garnier, march 3 – Georges Bizets opera Carmen debuts, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. May 6 – Richard Wagner conducts portions of Götterdämmerung in concert in Vienna, october 25 – The first performance of Tchaikovskys Piano Concerto No.1 is given in Boston, Massachusetts, with Hans von Bülow as soloist. Robert Volkmann becomes professor of harmony and counterpoint at the National Academy of Music in Budapest, composer Zdeněk Fibich marries operatic contralto Betty Hanušová, sister of his first wife Růžena Hanušová. Angels, Meet Me At the Cross Road w. m, will Hays Carve Dat Possum by Sam Lucas & Herbert Hershy Dreaming Forever of Thee w. m. John Hill Hewitt Ill Take You Home Again, Kathleen w. m,3, ballet Swan Lake Camille Saint-Saëns – Piano Concerto No.4 Má vlast – Six symphonic poems by Bedřich Smetana Carmen first performed in Paris. Music by Georges Bizet and libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, die Königin von Saba, music by Karl Goldmark and libretto by Salomon Mosenthal
2.
1876 in music
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This article is about music-related events in 1876. February – Baritone Lithgow James joins the English Opera Company, where he begins a partnership with his future wife Florence St. John, february 24 – Incidental music composed by Edvard Grieg for Henrik Ibsens Peer Gynt premieres. May 17 – Antonín Dvořák begins composing his Moravian Duets, august 16 – Richard Wagners Siegfried debuts in the new Bayreuth Festspielhaus. August 17 – Richard Wagners Götterdämmerung debuts in the new Bayreuth Festspielhaus, soprano Rosa Hasselbeck marries the conductor and composer Josef Sucher. Gabriel Faure - Violin Sonata No
3.
1877 in music
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This article is about music-related events in 1877. December 30 The premiere of Brahms Symphony No.2 is given in Vienna by the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Hans Richter, peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky marries Antonina Milyukova. Ludwig Thuille and Richard Strauss meet as students at Innsbruck, G. W. Hunt Chopsticks m. Arthur de Lulli Dear Old Pals w. m. G. W. Hunt Early In De Mornin w. m, will Hays In The Gloaming w. Meta Orred m. Annie Fortescue Harrison Little Daisys Request by Arabella M. Root The Lost Chord w. Adelaide Anne Procter m, leon Minkus – La Bayadère Joachim Raff – Violin Concerto no.2 op.206 in A minor Josef Rheinberger – Violin Sonata no.2 op
4.
1886 in music
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March 21 - Anton Bruckners Symphony No.7 is performed for the first time publicly in Vienna, conducted by Hans Richter. May 1 - The final version of Tchaikovskys Romeo and Juliet is performed for the first time, in Tbilisi, Georgia, under Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. June 9 - The centennial of the Stoughton Musical Society is celebrated in the United States, june - Soprano Adelina Patti marries tenor Ernesto Nicolini in south Wales. July 19 - Franz Liszt plays his last concert, in Luxembourg, December - Anton Seidl conducts the first American staging of Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera. The celesta is invented by Auguste Mustel, John Philip Sousa Johnny Get Your Gun w. m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld Semper Fidelis m. John Philip Sousa Somebodys Mother by James W. Wheeler Two Lovely Black Eyes, Oh, What a Surprise w. Charles Coborn m. 2, op.54 John Philip Sousa - The Gladiator March Richard Strauss - Aus Italien Alfredo Catalani - Edmea Adonis, London production opened at the Gaiety Theatre on May 31, dorothy, London production opened at the Gaiety Theatre on September 25. It transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre on December 20 and to the Lyric Theatre on December 17,1888, erminie - the Broadway production of this British show opened at the Casino Theatre on May 10 and ran for a very successful 571 performances. The Queen of Hearts, music by John Philip Sousa, January 22 - John J. Becker, American composer and editor January 25 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor March 3 - R. O
5.
1889 in music
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Events in the year 1889 in music. January 4 - Anton Seidl conducts Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera, november 20 - Gustav Mahler premieres his Symphony No. E. W. Rogers m. A. E. Duran Deau Down Went McGinty w. m, joseph Flynn Four Little Curly Headed Coons by James W. Wheeler Little Annie Rooney w. m. Michael Nolan Oh, Promise Me w. Clement Scott m, harry Dacre Slide Kelly Slide w. m. John W. Kelly Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes w. W. S. Gilbert m. Arthur Sullivan The Thunderer m, john Philip Sousa The Washington Post m. John Philip Sousa Edward Elgar - Queen Marys Song Enrique Granados - Danzas españolas Augusta Holmès - Ode triomphale Hubert Parry Ode on Saint Cecilias Day Symphony No,3, in C major, The English Symphony No
6.
1890 in music
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Events in the year 1890 in music. June 21 - Richard Strauss conducts the premiere of his symphonic poem Death, September 9 - Edward Elgars concert overture Froissart is premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester George W. The New York Phonograph Company opens the first recording studio, the Commodore Song Little Pig Went To Market by J. Cheever Goodwin & Gustave Kerker Maggie Murphys Home w. Edward Harrigan m. David Braham Passing By w. Robert Herrick m. Edward C. Purcell Star of the East w. George Cooper m, amanda Kennedy Throw Him Down McCloskey w. m. John W. Kelly Youll Miss Lots of Fun When Youre Married by John Philip Sousa & Edward M. Taber Ferruccio Busoni - Violin Sonata No. 1, Opus 29 Ernest Chausson - Chansons de Shakespeare Antonín Dvořák - Requiem,3, Opus 33 Armas Järnefelt - Ouverture Lyrique Carl Nielsen - String Quartet No
7.
1891 in music
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February 23 - Fourteen-year-old cellist Pablo Casals gives a solo recital in Barcelona. May 5 - The Music Hall in New York City has its opening and first public performance. October 16 - The Chicago Symphony Orchestra gives its inaugural concert, the Peabody Mason Concerts are inaugurated with a performance by Ferruccio Busoni. The ensemble attached to the Glasgow Choral Union is formally recognised as the Scottish Orchestra, actions Speak Louder Than Words w. George Horncastle m. Felix McGlennon Dont mind, my Darling, paul Steinmark Hey, Rube. w. J. Sherrie Matthews m. Harry Bulger High School Cadets March m. John Philip Sousa Little Boy Blue w. Eugene Field m, ethelbert Nevin The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo w. m. Fred Gilbert The Miners Dream Of Home w. m, will Godwin & Leo Dryden Molly O. w. m. Ethelbert Nevin The Pardon Came Too Late w. m, paul Dresser The Picture Thats Turned To The Wall w. m. Charles Graham Reuben And Cynthia w. m, dodworth, bandmaster and conductor Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, operatic soprano
8.
1892 in music
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April 28 - Jean Sibeliuss symphonic suite Kullervo is premiered. May 26 - A statue of Felix Mendelssohn, by Werner Stein, is dedicated at St. Thomas Church, removed by the Nazis in the 1930s, it was re-dedicated in 2008. September 24 - Opening of the Theater Unter den Linden, Berlin with Adolf Ferrons operetta Daphne and Gaul, september 26 - Antonín Dvořák arrives in the United States to take up his post as artistic director of the National Conservatory of Music. December 18 Anton Bruckners Symphony No.8 in C minor is premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic with Hans Richter conducting at the Stadttheater, - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys ballet The Nutcracker and opera Iolanta are premiered in a double bill at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. After the Ball becomes the first sheet music to sell over 1 million copies, erik Satie composes his first pieces in his own compositional system. Sergei Diaghilev graduates from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, ferdinand Praegers controversial biography Wagner As I Knew Him is published posthumously in London. Charles K. Harris The Bowery w. Charles H. Hoyt m, percy Gaunt Daddy Wouldnt Buy Me a Bow Wow w. m. C. W. Murphy & William Letters Future Mrs. Awkins by Albert Chevalier The Holy City w. Frederick Edward Weatherly m. Stephen Adams La Sultana Turkish March m, Virginia Field Molly And I And The Baby w. m. Harry Kennedy My Old Dutch w. Albert Chevalier m. Charles Ingle My Sweethearts The Man In The Moon w. m, james Thornton The Sweetest Story Ever Told w. m. R. M. Stults The Virginia Skedaddle w. m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld Daddy Wouldnt Buy Me a Bow-wow - Dan W. Quinn The Bowery - Dan W.1 in F-sharp minor, Op.1 Max Reger Cello Sonata No. 1, Op.5 Twelve Waltz-Caprices, Op.9, four-hand piano 20 German Dances, Op.10, four-hand piano Alexander Scriabin - Piano Sonata No
9.
1893 in music
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Events in the year 1893 in music. February 9 - Première of Giuseppe Verdis final opera Falstaff in La Scala in Milan, August 14-15 - Americas oldest music organization, the Stoughton Musical Society performs at the Worlds Columbian Exposition. October 28 - In Saint Petersburg, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance of his Symphony No.6 in B minor, Op.74, Pathétique, the second performance takes place 21 days later at a memorial concert conducted by Eduard Nápravník, incorporating minor revisions. Tchaikovsky wrote it between February and the end of August at Klin, December 16 - Antonín Dvořáks Symphony No.9 From the New World receives its première at Carnegie Hall in New York City. December 29 - Claude Debussys String Quartet is premièred in Paris, american sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill publish Song Stories for the Kindergarten including Good Morning to All, which later becomes known as Happy Birthday to You. Selected compositions, Cant Lose Me, Charlie w. m, Harry S. Miller The Cat Came Back w. m. Henry S. Miller December And May w. Edward Marks m. William Lorraine Do Do My Huckleberry Do w. Harry Dillon m, John Dillon The Fatal Wedding w. W. H. Windom m. Gussie L. Davis Good Morning to All w. Patty Smith Hill m, Mildred J. Hill I Long to See The Girl I Left Behind w. m. John T. Kelly The Liberty Bell by John Philip Sousa Mamie, may Irwin Marguerite by Charles A. White Oh. Charles Graham The Volunteer Organist w. William G. Gray m. Henry Lamb When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder w. m
10.
1883 in art
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20 April – Claude Monet moves to the house in Giverny which will be his main residence for the rest of his life. 28 October – Les XX established in Brussels by Octave Maus, L. Wyllie – Toil, Glitter, Grime and Wealth on a Flowing Tide 3 February – Camille Bombois, French naïve painter. 18 February – Jacques Ochs, French artist, épée and foil fencer,12 April Francis Cadell, Scottish Colourist painter Imogen Cunningham, American photographer. 24 June – Jean Metzinger, French painter and art theorist,16 July – Charles Sheeler, American modernist painter and photographer. 31 July – Erich Heckel, German painter and printmaker,19 August – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer. 14 September – Richard Gerstl, Austrian painter and draughtsman,9 November – Charles Demuth, American painter. 4 December – Felice Casorati, Italian painter,24 December – Stojan Aralica, famous Serbian Impressionist painter and academic. 26 December – Maurice Utrillo, French painter, date unknown – Charles Jourdan, French fashion designer
11.
1883 in architecture
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The year 1883 in architecture involved some significant events. May 1 - The Examination Schools of the University of Oxford, may 24 - Brooklyn Bridge, designed by John A. Roebling, is completed. May 26 - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, designed by Konstantin Thon, is dedicated, Albany City Hall in Albany, New York, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in Richardsonian Romanesque style, is completed. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago designed by William LeBaron Jenney, the Kuhns Building in Dayton, Ohio, is constructed. Hotel Windsor, Australia, designed by Charles Webb, is completed, cane Hill Hospital in Coulsdon, London, is completed. Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, England, designed by Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, is opened for guests, billings Memorial Library at the University of Vermont in Burlington, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, is built. Royal Gold Medal - Francis Cranmer Penrose, grand Prix de Rome, architecture, Gaston Redon
12.
Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)
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The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company, sometimes referred to as the old Met, the Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22,1883, with a performance of Faust. It was located at 1411 Broadway, occupying the block between West 39th Street and West 40th Street on the west side of the street in the Garment District of Midtown Manhattan. Nicknamed The Yellow Brick Brewery for its industrial looking exterior, the original Metropolitan Opera House was designed by J. Cleaveland Cady, on August 27,1892, the nine-year-old theater was gutted by fire. The 1892−93 season was canceled while the house was rebuilt along its original lines. During that season, the Vaudeville Club, which became the Metropolitan Opera Club, was founded and hosted entertainment in the undamaged portions of the house. In 1903, architects Carrère and Hastings extensively redesigned the interior of the opera house, the familiar golden auditorium with its sunburst chandelier, and curved proscenium inscribed with the names of six composers, dates from this time. The first of the Mets signature gold damask stage curtains was installed in 1906, in 1940, ownership of the opera house shifted from the wealthy families who occupied the theaters boxes to the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association. At this time the last major change to the interior was completed. The second tier of privately held boxes was converted into standard row seating and this enlarged the seating capacity and left only the first tier of boxes from the golden horseshoe of the opera houses origins as a showplace for New York society. The Met had a capacity of 3,625 with 224 standing room places. While the theater was noted for its excellent acoustics and elegant interior, scenery and sets were a regular sight leaning against the building exterior on 39th Street where crews had to shift them between performances. Various plans were put forward over the years to build a new home for the company, proposed new locations included Columbus Circle and what is now Rockefeller Center, but none of these plans came to fruition. Only with the development of Lincoln Center on New Yorks Upper West Side did the Met finally have the opportunity to build an opera house. The Metropolitan Opera said goodbye to its old house on April 16,1966, the long time Met star soprano Zinka Milanov made her last Met appearance that night and among the many invited guests was soprano Anna Case who had made her debut at the house in 1909. The final performance at the house was given not by the Met but the Bolshoi Ballet. The theater was purchased by Jack D. Weiler and despite a campaign to preserve the theater, it failed to obtain landmark status and it was replaced by a 40-story office tower,1411 Broadway, intended to provide a steady income for the opera company. Since 1966, the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center has been home to the Metropolitan Opera, the Met, One Hundred Years of Grand Opera
13.
Friedrich Kiel
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Friedrich Kiel was a German composer and music teacher. After mentioning Johannes Brahms and others, Altmann writes, “He produced a number of chamber works, Kiel was born in Bad Laasphe, Puderbach. He was taught the rudiments of music and received his first piano lessons from his father, something of a prodigy, he played the piano almost without instruction at the age of six, and by his thirteenth year he had composed much music. Kiel eventually came to the attention of Prince Albrecht Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, a music lover. Through the Princes efforts, Kiel was allowed to study violin with the concertmaster of the Prince’s fine orchestra with which he performed as a soloist. Kiel was also given lessons from the renowned flautist Kaspar Kummer. By 1840, the eighteen-year-old Kiel was court conductor and the teacher to the prince’s children. Two years later, Louis Spohr heard him and arranged for a scholarship which allowed Kiel to study in Berlin with the renowned theorist, in Berlin, Kiel eventually became sought after as an instructor. In 1866, he received a position at the prestigious Stern conservatory. In 1870 he joined the faculty of the newly founded Hochschule für Musik which was thereafter considered one of the finest music schools in Germany. For his many students See, List of music students by teacher, Kiels hobby was mountaineering and at age 60, he climbed Europes second highest peak, the Monte Rosa, on the Swiss-Italian border. He died in Berlin two years later as the result of a traffic accident, Kiels compositions number over seventy, including a piano concerto, motets, oratorios, as well as a Missa Solemnis and two Requiems. Chamber music comprises a part of Kiels output and must be regarded among his most important. Altmann noted that, throughout my life, I have found Kiel’s chamber music a never-failing source of delight. ”He praised Kiel highly as a melodist. Writing about Kiels two Piano Quintets Opp.75 &76 in The Chamber Music Journal, R. H. R. Silvertrust remarks, several of his chamber works, along with the piano concerto and some choral works, have been recorded. Cobbett, W. W. ed. Cobbetts Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, Oxford University Press,1929 &1963, London. ISBN 0-19-318304-8 Altmann, Wilhelm Handbuch fur Streichquartettspieler, Amsterdam, Heinrichshofen Verlag ISBN 3-7959-0113-8 Chamber Music Journal, Vol. XVII, No.4 ISSN 1535-1726, web site of the publisher of Kiels music
14.
Gretsch
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Gretsch is an American company that manufactures guitars, basses and drums. The company was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, Friedrich Gretsch manufactured banjos, tambourines, and drums until his death in 1895. In 1916, his son, Fred Gretsch Sr. moved operations to Brooklyn, most modern-era Gretsch guitars are manufactured in the Far East, though American-made Custom Shop models are available. In 2003, Gretsch entered an agreement with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Under the terms of that agreement Fred W. Gretsch would retain ownership while FMIC would handle most of the development, distribution, Gretsch was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a young German immigrant. His Brooklyn shop was designed for the manufacture of banjos, tambourines, in 1895, Gretsch died at the age of 39, and the then successful company was taken over by his son Fred Sr. By 1916, Fred had moved the company into a larger 10-story building in the Williamsburg district, chuck Berry also played the Duo Jet when he recorded his first major hit, Maybellene and is pictured on his LP After School Session. Two other models were introduced - the Country Club, and the White Falcon, Guitar production by the Gretsch Company began in the early 1930s, and Gretsch guitars became highly sought after, most notably in the 1950s and 1960s. They lost favor with players during the 1970s and 1980s for various reasons, Gretsch eventually went bankrupt, then was revived in 1989 by Fred W. Gretsch, a great-grandson of Friedrich Gretsch. Fred W. Gretsch remains president of the company, during this time, Chet Atkins became an endorser of Gretsch. Atkins was one of the pre-eminent guitarists of his day, and his endorsement gave Gretsch greater visibility in competition with Gibson and Fender. Gretsch ultimately sold thousands of guitars with Chets name on the pickguard, most notably the 6120 Chet Atkins model, the worldwide success of Eddys twangy instrumental records, television appearances, and extensive touring, helped expose the Gretsch guitar to the teenage rock and roll market. George Harrison, years later, would refer to model as the Eddie Cochran/Duane Eddy guitar. Other Chet Atkins models were the Country Gentleman and the Tennessean, many rockabilly players had followed in the footsteps of Eddie Cochran, who also wielded a 6120 and Gene Vincents guitarist Cliff Gallup, who played a Duo Jet. Elvis Presley later owned a Gretsch Country Gentleman—, playing it briefly both on stage and in the studio, Gretsch quickly became a legitimate competitor to both Gibson and its main rivals, Fender and Rickenbacker. Gretsch fortunes rose yet again in the sixties when George Harrison played a Gretsch Country Gentleman on The Ed Sullivan Show. Despite popular belief, he acquired two Country Gentleman guitars, his first was destroyed when it fell out of the trunk of a car on the roadway. He would later switch to a Gretsch Tennessean and his Country Gentleman made its last appearance in the video of Youre Going to Lose That Girl in the movie Help
15.
The Farmer in the Dell
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The Farmer in the Dell is a singing game, nursery rhyme and childrens song. It probably originated in Germany, and was brought to North America by immigrants, from there it spread to many other nations and is popular in a number of languages. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6306, lyrics vary even within the same country. The following is a version in the United States, The UK variant has the nurse. Every letter makes a sound The A says Ah, Every letter makes a sound The L says L-l-l. The M says Mmm Every letter makes a sound The M says Mmm The N says Nnn Every letter makes a sound The N says Nnn The O says Oh, Every letter makes a sound The O says Oh. Every letter makes a sound The P says Puh and this was probably taken to North America by German immigrants, where it next surfaced in New York City in 1883 much in its modern form and using a melody similar to A Hunting We Will Go. From here it seems to have been adopted throughout the United States, Canada, in the early twentieth century it was evident as wide as France, Sweden, Australia, and South Africa. A dell is a wooded valley, in the Dutch language, the word deel means, among other things, the workspace in a farmers barn. The use of dell in this song may be a bastardisation of this term, like most childrens songs, there are geographic variations. In the United Kingdom the first line is changed to The Farmers in his den. The rhyme progresses through the farmer being in the den, his desire for a wife, hers for a child, its for a nurse. Every player then pats the one picked as the dog, the Hi-Ho, the derry-o is variously replaced with Ee-i, tiddly-i in London, Ee-i, adio, Ee-i, andio or Ee-i, entio, and Ee-i, ee-i. There is also a Thai version to the tune but with a slightly different story. The three verses roughly translate to Why does the frog have a stomach ache, why does the frog have a stomach ache. Because he has been eating wet rice, because the frog has been croaking. The song was published as a childrens book by David R. Godine. The players form a circle holding hands around one who is designated as the farmer, when the verse is over they stop and the farmer makes his choice of a wife
16.
Sam Lucas
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Sam Lucas was an African American actor, comedian, singer, and songwriter. Sam Lucass exact date of birth is disputed, Lucass year of birth, to freed former slaves, has also been cited as 1839,1840,1841, and 1850. He was the first black man to portray the role of Uncle Tom on both stage and screen, James Weldon Johnson described him as the Grand Old Man of the Negro Stage. Lucas was born Samuel Mildmay Lucas in Washington Court House, Ohio to free black parents and he showed a talent for guitar and singing as a teenager, and while working as a barber, his local performances gained him a positive reputation. In 1858 he began his career as a performer with the traveling African-American minstrel companies, over the next five years, he sang and acted on stage and on riverboats, and composed music for his shows. Meanwhile, he found ways to integrate his African-American roots into the white form, for instance. As black minstrelsy grew popular with the public, Lucas became one of its first celebrities, particularly known for his portrayals of pitiable. His fame allowed him to choose his engagements, and over the span of his career and he never led a troupe of his own, however. Throughout his life, Lucas performed with minstrel groups including Lew Johnsons Plantation Minstrels, Callender’s Georgia Minstrels. After his time as a performer, Lucas began to perform in vaudeville. Meanwhile, Lucas attempted to branch out into non-minstrel material, in 1875, for instance, he performed alongside Emma and Anna Hyer in Out of Bondage, a musical drama about a freed slave who is made over to fit into upper-class, white society. He followed this by another stint in black minstrelsy, and in 1876, he was playing with Spragues Georgia Minstrels, in 1878, Charles and Gustave Frohman needed an advertising gimmick to help rescue a poorly performing comedy troupe. Their answer was to stage a production of Uncle Toms Cabin with a black man in the lead role. Lucass reputation as an actor was known, as was his wealth, Gustave wired Charles, Get me an Eva. Be sure to tell Sam to bring his diamonds, Lucas became the first African American to play Uncle Tom in a serious production. Nevertheless, the show fared poorly in Richmond, Virginia, the problems seem to have been many. One critic remarked that little Eva was so large that she nearly flattened St. Clair when she sat in his lap, Lucas had to hawk his stash of diamonds to pay the troupes transport back to Cincinnati. Lucas rejoined the Hyer sisters for The Underground Railroad, only to go back to blackface acts after its run and he also continued to write, and much of his output shows a more African American perspective when compared to work of other black composers, such as James Bland
17.
John Philip Sousa
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John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known primarily for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of composition, he is known as The March King. Among his best-known marches are The Stars and Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis, The Liberty Bell, The Thunderer, Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. His father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868, after departing the band in 1875, Sousa learned to conduct. From 1880 until his death, he focused exclusively on conducting and he eventually rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. On leaving the Marine Band, Sousa organized his own band and he toured Europe and Australia and developed the sousaphone, a large brass instrument similar to the helicon and tuba. At the outbreak of World War I, Sousa was commissioned as a lieutenant commander, following his tenure, he returned to conduct the Sousa Band until his death in 1932. In the 1920s he was promoted to lieutenant commander in the naval reserve, Sousa started his music education by playing the violin as a pupil of John Esputa and George Felix Benkert for harmony and musical composition at the age of six. He was found to have absolute pitch, during his childhood, Sousa studied voice, violin, piano, flute, cornet, baritone horn, trombone, and alto horn. When Sousa was 13, his father, a trombonist in the Marine Band, several years long after serving his apprenticeship, Sousa joined a theatrical orchestra where he learned to conduct. He returned to the U. S. Marine Band as its head in 1880, Sousa led The Presidents Own band under five presidents from Rutherford B. Hayes to Benjamin Harrison. Sousas band played at two Inaugural Balls, those of James A. Garfield in 1881, and Benjamin Harrison in 1889 and he wanted a tuba that could sound upward and over the band whether its player was seated or marching. The sousaphone was re-created in 1898 by C. G. Conn and he organized The Sousa Band the year he left the Marine Band. The Sousa Band toured from 1892 to 1931, performing at 15,623 concerts both in America and around the world, including at the World Exposition in Paris, France and at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In Paris, the Sousa Band marched through the streets to the Arc de Triomphe – one of only eight parades the band marched in over its forty years, on December 30,1879, Sousa married Jane van Middlesworth Bellis. They had three children, John Philip, Jr. Jane Priscilla, and Helen, All were buried in the John Philip Sousa plot in the Congressional Cemetery. Wife Jane, daughters Jane Priscilla and Helen Abert joined the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1907 and their ancestor was Adam Bellis, who served under several different commands for the New Jersey troops in the American Revolutionary War. Late in his life, Sousa lived in Sands Point, New York, Sousa died of heart failure at the age of 77 on March 6,1932, in his room at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania
18.
Classical music
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Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music, including both liturgical and secular music. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period, Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches, tempo, meter and rhythms for a piece of music. This can leave less room for such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, the earliest reference to classical music recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, the written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them, J. S. The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works, Musical notation enables 2000s-era performers to sing a choral work from the 1300s Renaissance era or a 1700s Baroque concerto with many of the features of the music being reproduced. That said, the score does not provide complete and exact instructions on how to perform a historical work, even if the tempo is written with an Italian instruction, we do not know exactly how fast the piece should be played. Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations, during the Classical era, the composer-performer Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto, during the Romantic era, Beethoven would improvise at the piano. The instruments currently used in most classical music were largely invented before the mid-19th century and they consist of the instruments found in an orchestra or in a concert band, together with several other solo instruments. The symphony orchestra is the most widely known medium for music and includes members of the string, woodwind, brass. The concert band consists of members of the woodwind, brass and it generally has a larger variety and number of woodwind and brass instruments than the orchestra but does not have a string section. However, many bands use a double bass. Many of the used to perform medieval music still exist. Medieval instruments included the flute, the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute. As well, early versions of the organ, fiddle, Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut, during the earlier medieval period, the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant, was monophonic, using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th
19.
Anton Arensky
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Anton Stepanovich Arensky, was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music. Arensky was born in a music-loving, affluent family in Novgorod and he was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine. With his mother and father, he moved to Saint Petersburg in 1879, after graduating from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1882, Arensky became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his students there were Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Gretchaninov, in 1895 Arensky returned to Saint Petersburg as the director of the Imperial Choir, a post for which he had been recommended by Mily Balakirev. He retired from this position in 1901, living off a comfortable pension and spending his time as a pianist, conductor. Arensky died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Perkjärvi, Finland at the age of 44, while very little is known about his private life, Rimsky-Korsakov alleges that drinking and gambling undermined his health. The Antarctic Arensky Glacier was named after him, pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the greatest influence on Arenskys musical compositions. Indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov said, In his youth Arensky did not escape some influence from me, the perception that he lacked a distinctive personal style contributed to long-term neglect of his music, though in recent years a large number of his compositions have been recorded. Arensky was perhaps at his best in music, in which genre he wrote two string quartets, two piano trios, and a piano quintet. Une Nuit dÉgypte or Nuits égyptiennes, originally composed for the Imperial Ballet, St. Petersburg. Production was never given due to the death of the choreographer before completion, revival by Mikhail Fokine for the Imperial Ballet. Imperial Mariinsky Theatre,8 March 1908, revival by Mikhail Fokine as Cléopâtre for the Ballets Russes. Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris,2 June 1909, additional music by Alexander Glazunov, Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Taneyev, and Nikolai Tcherepnin
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Johannes Brahms
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Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his life in Vienna. Brahms composed for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works and he worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have become staples of the concert repertoire. An uncompromising perfectionist, Brahms destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished, Brahms has been considered, by his contemporaries and by later writers, as both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg, the diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahmss works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers. Embedded within his meticulous structures, however, are deeply romantic motifs, Brahmss father, Johann Jakob Brahms, was from the town of Heide in Holstein. The family name was sometimes spelt Brahmst or Brams, and derives from Bram. Against the familys will, Johann Jakob pursued a career in music, arriving in Hamburg in 1826, where he work as a jobbing musician. In 1830, he married Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen, a seamstress 17 years older than he was, in the same year he was appointed as a horn player in the Hamburg militia. Eventually he became a player in the Hamburg Stadttheater and the Hamburg Philharmonic Society. As Johann Jakob prospered, the family moved over the years to better accommodation in Hamburg. Johannes Brahms was born in 1833, his sister Elisabeth had been born in 1831, Fritz also became a pianist, overshadowed by his brother he emigrated to Caracas in 1867, and later returned to Hamburg as a teacher. Johann Jakob gave his son his first musical training, Johannes also learnt to play the violin, from 1840 he studied piano with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel. Cossel complained in 1842 that Brahms could be such a good player, at the age of 10, Brahms made his debut as a performer in a private concert including Beethovens quintet for piano and winds Op.16 and a piano quartet by Mozart. He also played as a solo work an étude of Henri Herz, by 1845 he had written a piano sonata in G minor
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Symphony No. 3 (Brahms)
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The Symphony No.3 in F major, Op.90, is a symphony by Johannes Brahms. The work was written in the summer of 1883 at Wiesbaden, in the interim Brahms had written some of his greatest works, including the Violin Concerto, two overtures, and the Second Piano Concerto. The premiere performance was given on 2 December 1883 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and it is the shortest of Brahms four symphonies, a typical performance lasts between 30 and 40 minutes. The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, a contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings. The symphony consists of four movements, marked as follows, Allegro con brio, andante, in a modified sonata form. Allegro – Un poco sostenuto, in a sonata form. Hans Richter, who conducted the premiere of the symphony, proclaimed it to be Brahms Eroica, the symphony was well received, more so than his Second Symphony. Although Richard Wagner had died earlier that year, the feud between Brahms and Wagner had not yet subsided. Wagner enthusiasts tried to interfere with the premiere, and the conflict between the two factions nearly brought about a duel. After each performance, Brahms polished his score further, until it was published in May 1884, a musical motto consisting of three notes, F–A♭–F, was significant to Brahms. At the time of the Third Symphony, Brahms was a bachelor who declared himself to be Frei aber froh, Free. His F–A–F motto, and some altered variations of it, can be throughout the symphony. At the beginning of the symphony the motto is the melody of the first three measures, and it is the bass line underlying the main theme in the next three, the motto persists, either boldly or disguised, as the melody or accompaniment throughout the movement. The finale is a lyrical, passionate movement, rich in melody that is exploited, altered. The movement ends with reference to the motto heard in the first movement – one which quotes a motif heard in Schumanns Symphony No,3, Rhenish in the first movement just before the second theme enters in the recapitulation – then fades away to a quiet ending. Brahmss Third Symphony in popular culture Frisch, Walter, visual analysis of Brahms Symphony no
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Emmanuel Chabrier
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Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas, songs. He was admired by composers as diverse as Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Satie, Schmitt, Stravinsky, Chabrier was also associated with some of the leading writers and painters of his time. He was especially friendly with the painters Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, a number of such paintings from his personal collection are now housed in some of the worlds leading art museums. Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier was born in Ambert, a town in the Auvergne region of central France and his father was an attorney, his childhood nanny Anne Delayre remained close to him throughout her life. He began his music lessons at the age of six, the earliest of his compositions to survive in manuscript are piano works from 1849, a piano piece from this period, Le Scalp. was later modified into the Marche des Cipayes. In 1856 the family made Paris their home, and the young Chabrier continued serious studies in both of his chosen fields, despite this, his passion was music, during the 1860s he composed a number of minor piano works. His enthusiasm for Wagners music began at this time, and he copied out the score of Tannhäuser. From 1862 he entered the circle of the Parnassians in Paris and his passion for poetry led to a long friendship with Paul Verlaine, who contributed librettos to two early operettas that Chabrier did not complete. The wife of Renoir, a friend of Chabrier, wrote, one day Chabrier came and it sounded as if a hurricane had been let loose. He pounded and pounded the keyboard, the street was full of people, and they were listening, fascinated. When Chabrier reached the last crashing chords, I swore to myself I would never touch the piano again Besides, Chabrier had broken several strings and put the piano out of action. Alfred Bruneau recalled that he played the piano as no one has played it before. During the Franco-Prussian War and Commune, Chabrier continued with his job as the ministry moved from Tours to Bordeaux to Versailles. In 1873, he married Marie Alice Dejean, with whom he had three sons, one of whom died in early childhood and he began several stage works during the 1870s. His first one to be completed was Létoile, which achieved 48 successful performances at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in 1877, on a trip to Munich with Henri Duparc in 1879, he discovered Wagners opera Tristan und Isolde. This event led him to realize his passion for composition. That year he composed his piano cycle Pièces pittoresques, of which the Idylle greatly influenced Francis Poulenc, Chabrier plunged himself into the scores of Wagner, and became an assistant to Charles Lamoureux in preparing concert performances of the German composers works in Paris
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George Whitefield Chadwick
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George Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Chadwicks works are influenced by the Realist movement in the arts, many consider his music to portray a distinctively American style. His works included several operas, three symphonies, five string quartets, tone poems, incidental music, songs and choral anthems. Along with a group of composers collectively known as the Boston Six. The other five were Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, born in a rural part of Lowell, Massachusetts, Chadwick received some early musical training from organ lessons given by his older brother, Fitz Henry. He developed an independent, self-reliant character early in his life, dropping out of high school in 1871, Chadwick assisted briefly in his fathers insurance business. The experience enabled him to travel to Boston and other cities, Chadwick entered New England Conservatory as a special student in 1872, so that he could study with the faculty without satisfying the rigorous entrance or degree requirements. However, he approached his studies seriously and took advantage of what NEC offered, Chadwick studied organ with George E. Whiting, piano with Carlyle Petersilea, and theory with Stephen A. Emery, each of whom was well respected in the Boston music scene. In America, he pursued studies with Eugene Thayer. In 1876, Chadwick accepted a faculty position in the program at Olivet College and was a valued instructor as well as administrator. While at Olivet, Chadwick founded the Music Teachers National Association, the first evidence of his interest in composing appeared during this time, from a performance of his Canon in E-flat dated 6 November 1876. Realizing that his career in the U. S. would be limited without further studies in Europe. He studied in Leipzig at the Royal Conservatory of Music under Carl Reinecke, chadwicks most significant compositions as a student there include two string quartets and the concert overture Rip Van Winkle. They helped confirm his position as a promising young American composer among his German contemporaries, after his two-year stay in Leipzig, Chadwick traveled around Europe with a group of artists who called themselves the Duveneck Boys. They were led by the young and charismatic Frank Duveneck, who was known for his portrait works in the style of Velázquez. The group was based in Munich, then major culture center second to Paris, Chadwick also stayed in France with the group, where he was taken with the French lifestyle and influenced by the emerging Impressionist movement. Chadwick resumed his studies with Josef Rheinberger at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. Rheinberger was known as a musical craftsman who incorporated polyphony with creativity and clarity
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Charles Gounod
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Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria, based on a work by Bach, as well as his opera Faust. Another opera by Gounod occasionally still performed is Roméo et Juliette, although he is known for his Grand Operas, the soprano aria Que ferons-nous avec le ragoût de citrouille. From his first opera Livre de recettes dun enfant is still performed in concert as an encore, Gounod died at Saint-Cloud in 1893, after a final revision of his twelve operas. His funeral took place ten days later at the Church of the Madeleine, with Camille Saint-Saëns playing the organ and Gabriel Fauré conducting. Ironically because of its obscurity today, an arrangement of Que ferons-nous avec le ragoût de citrouille. was performed by Saint-Saens at the funeral, due to its simple and it was later published as a posthumous Op.60. He was buried at the Cimetière dAuteuil in Paris, Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher, Gounod first showed his musical talents under her tutelage. He then entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Fromental Halévy, in 1839 he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. In so doing he was following his father, François-Louis Gounod had won the second Prix de Rome in painting in 1783. During his stay of four years in Italy, Gounod studied the music of Palestrina and other sacred works of the sixteenth century, around 1846-47 he gave serious consideration to joining the priesthood, but he changed his mind before actually taking holy orders, and went back to composition. During that period he was attached to the Church of Foreign Missions in Paris, in 1854 Gounod completed a Messe Solennelle, also known as the St. Cecilia Mass. This work was first performed in its entirety in the church of St. Eustache in Paris on Saint Cecilias Day,22 November 1855, during 1855 Gounod wrote two symphonies. His Symphony No.1 in D major was the inspiration for the Symphony in C composed later that year by Georges Bizet, fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, introduced the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach to Gounod, who came to revere him. For him The Well-Tempered Clavier was the law to pianoforte study. the unquestioned textbook of musical composition and it inspired Gounod to devise a melody and superimpose it on the C major Prelude from the collections first book. To this melody in 1859, Gounod fitted the words of the Ave Maria, Gounod wrote his first opera, Sapho, in 1851 at the urging of his friend, the singer Pauline Viardot, it was a commercial failure. He had no theatrical success until Faust, derived from Goethe. The romantic and melodious Roméo et Juliette, premiered in 1867, is revived now, mireille, first performed in 1864, has been admired by connoisseurs rather than by the general public. The other Gounod operas have fallen into oblivion, from 1870 to 1874 Gounod lived in England, at 17 Morden Road, Blackheath
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Franz Liszt
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Franz Liszt was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary. Liszt gained renown in Europe during the nineteenth century for his prodigious virtuosic skill as a pianist. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the New German School and he left behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated many 20th-century ideas and trends. Franz Liszt was born to Anna Liszt and Adam Liszt on October 22,1811, in the village of Doborján in Sopron County, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Liszts father played the piano, violin, cello and guitar. He had been in the service of Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy and knew Haydn, Hummel, at age six, Franz began listening attentively to his fathers piano playing and showed an interest in both sacred and Romani music. Adam began teaching him the piano at age seven, and Franz began composing in an elementary manner when he was eight and he appeared in concerts at Sopron and Pressburg in October and November 1820 at age 9. After the concerts, a group of wealthy sponsors offered to finance Franzs musical education in Vienna, There Liszt received piano lessons from Carl Czerny, who in his own youth had been a student of Beethoven and Hummel. He also received lessons in composition from Antonio Salieri, then director of the Viennese court. Liszts public debut in Vienna on December 1,1822, at a concert at the Landständischer Saal, was a great success and he was greeted in Austrian and Hungarian aristocratic circles and also met Beethoven and Schubert. In spring 1823, when his one-year leave of absence came to an end, Adam Liszt therefore took his leave of the Princes services. At the end of April 1823, the returned to Hungary for the last time. At the end of May 1823, the family went to Vienna again, towards the end of 1823 or early 1824, Liszts first composition to be published, his Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli, appeared as Variation 24 in Part II of Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. Liszts inclusion in the Diabelli project—he was described in it as an 11 year old boy, born in Hungary—was almost certainly at the instigation of Czerny, his teacher, Liszt was the only child composer in the anthology. After his fathers death in 1827, Liszt moved to Paris, to earn money, Liszt gave lessons in piano playing and composition, often from early morning until late at night. His students were scattered across the city and he often had to long distances. Because of this, he kept uncertain hours and also took up smoking, the following year he fell in love with one of his pupils, Caroline de Saint-Cricq, the daughter of Charles Xs minister of commerce, Pierre de Saint-Cricq. Her father, however, insisted that the affair be broken off, Liszt fell very ill, to the extent that an obituary notice was printed in a Paris newspaper, and he underwent a long period of religious doubts and pessimism. He again stated a wish to join the Church but was dissuaded this time by his mother and he had many discussions with the Abbé de Lamennais, who acted as his spiritual father, and also with Chrétien Urhan, a German-born violinist who introduced him to the Saint-Simonists
