1.
1901 in art
–
March 12 – Whitechapel Gallery, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opens in London as one of the first publicly funded galleries for temporary exhibitions in the city. May 11 – The Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts inaugurates its Palace of Art, julien-Auguste Hervé exhibits his paintings in Paris under the title Expressionismes. Swedish-born painter Carl Oscar Borg enters the United States as a stowaway,28 January – James Richmond Barthé, sculptor. 22 March – Greta Kempton, Austrian-American artist,24 March – Ub Iwerks, American animator, cartoonist and special effects technician. 27 March – Carl Barks, American illustrator and comic book creator,9 June – John Skeaping, English sculptor and equine painter. July 5 – Len Lye, New Zealand-born kinetic sculptor and filmmaker, july 15 – Pyke Koch, Dutch painter. July 31 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor, august 29 – Anna Zinkeisen, Scottish-born artist September 14 – Lucien Aigner, Hungcvx arian photographer. October 2 – Alice Prin, French artists model and painter, october 10 – Alberto Giacometti, sculptor
2.
New York Herald
–
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6,1835, and 1924. The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, by 1845, it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the United States. In 1861, it circulated 84,000 copies and called itself the most largely circulated journal in the world, Bennett stated that the function of a newspaper is not to instruct but to startle and amuse. His politics tended to be anti-Catholic and he had tended to favor the Know-Nothing faction, during the American Civil War, his policy as expressed by the newspaper was to staunchly support the Democratic Party. Frederic Hudson served as managing editor of the paper from 1846–1866, Bennett turned over control of the paper to his son James Gordon Bennett, Jr. in 1866. Under Gordon Bennett Jr. the paper financed Henry Morton Stanleys expeditions into Africa to find David Livingstone, the paper also supported Stanleys trans-Africa exploration, and in 1879 supported the ill-fated expedition of George W. DeLong to the arctic region. On October 4,1887, Bennett Jr. sent Julius Chambers to Paris, Bennett himself later moved to Paris, but the New York Herald suffered from his attempt to manage its operation in New York by telegram. In 1924, after Bennett Jr. s death, the New York Herald was acquired by its rival the New York Tribune. In 1959, the New York Herald Tribune and its European edition were sold to John Hay Whitney, in 1966, the New York paper ceased publication. The Washington Post and the New York Times acquired joint control of the European edition, when the Herald was still under the authority of its original publisher Bennett, it was considered to be the most invasive and sensationalist of the leading New York papers. Its ability to entertain the public with timely daily news made it the leading circulation paper of its time, the New York Evening Telegram was founded in 1867 by the junior Bennett, and was considered by many to be an evening edition of the Herald. Frank Munsey acquired the Telegram in 1920, which ceased its connection to the Herald, New Yorks Herald Square is named after the New York Herald newspaper, in the north side of the square there is a sculpture commemorating the Bennetts. The statue of Minerva, the Bellringers, and Owls by Antonin Carles originally graced the New York Herald building and rang every hour until it was moved to Herald Square, the chorus of Give My Regards to Broadway includes the phrase, emember me to Herald Square. North of Herald Square is Times Square, which is named after rival The New York Times, New York Herald Tribune Three months with the New York Herald, or, Old news on board of a homeward. By John Henry Potter Photographs and architectural sketches of the New York Herald Building
3.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
–
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian pianist, composer, and conductor of the late-Romantic period, some of whose works are among the most popular in the classical repertoire. Born into a family, Rachmaninoff took up the piano at age four. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 and had composed several piano, in 1897, following the critical reaction to his Symphony No. 1, Rachmaninoff entered a depression and composed little until successful therapy allowed him to complete his enthusiastically received Piano Concerto No.2 in 1901. After the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia and resided in the United States, in 1942, Rachmaninoff moved to Beverly Hills, California. One month before his death from advanced melanoma, Rachmaninoff acquired American citizenship, the piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoffs compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument. Rachmaninoff was born at an estate in the Novgorod province in north-western Russia. It is unclear if he was born in the estate of Oneg, near Veliky Novgorod, or Semyonovo, near Staraya Russa, the Rachmaninoffs had strong musical and military leanings. The composers grandfather on the line, Arkady Alexandrovich, was a musician. His father, Vasily Arkadyevich Rachmaninoff, was an army officer and he married Lyubov Petrovna Butakova, the daughter of a wealthy army general who gave her five estates as part of her dowry. The couple had three sons and three daughters, Rachmaninoff being their fourth child, Rachmaninoff began piano and music lessons organised by his mother at the age of four. She became impressed with her sons musical ability to recite passages from memory without playing a wrong note. Rachmaninoff later dedicated Spring Waters, Song No.32 to Ornatskaya, in 1882, Rachmaninoffs father had to auction off their Oneg estate due to his financial incompetence—the familys five estates had been reduced to one. Rachmaninoff described his father as a wastrel, a gambler, a pathological liar. The family moved to a flat in Saint Petersburg. When Rachmaninoffs course of lessons with Ornatskaya neared its end, she arranged for him to music at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. That year, his sister Sofia died of diphtheria and his left the family, with their approval. In 1885, Rachmaninoffs sister Yelena died of pernicious anemia at eighteen and she was an important musical influence to Rachmaninoff who introduced him to the works of Tchaikovsky
4.
Gustav Mahler
–
Gustav Mahler was an Austrian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century, born in Bohemia as a German-speaking Jew of humble circumstances, Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler—who had converted to Catholicism to secure the regular opposition. Late in his life he was director of New Yorks Metropolitan Opera. Mahlers œuvre is relatively limited, for much of his composing was necessarily a part-time activity while he earned his living as a conductor. Some of Mahlers immediate musical successors included the composers of the Second Viennese School, notably Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten are among later 20th-century composers who admired and were influenced by Mahler. The International Gustav Mahler Institute was established in 1955 to honour the composers life, the Mahler family came from eastern Bohemia and were of humble circumstances, the composers grandmother had been a street pedlar. Bohemia was then part of the Austrian Empire, the Mahler family belonged to a German-speaking minority among Bohemians, from this background the future composer developed early on a permanent sense of exile, always an intruder, never welcomed. Bernhard Mahler, the son and the composers father, elevated himself to the ranks of the petite bourgeoisie by becoming a coachman. He bought a modest house in the village of Kalischt, halfway between Prague in Bohemia and Brno in Moravia, in the center of todays Czech Republic. Bernhards wife, Marie, gave birth to the first of the couples 14 children, a son Isidor, two years later, on 7 July 1860, their second son, Gustav, was born. In December 1860, Bernhard Mahler moved with his wife and infant son, Gustav, to the town of Iglau,25 km to the south-east, the family grew rapidly, but of the 12 children born to the family in Iglau only six survived infancy. All of these elements would later contribute to his musical vocabulary. When he was four years old, Gustav discovered his grandparents piano and he developed his performing skills sufficiently to be considered a local Wunderkind and gave his first public performance at the town theatre when he was ten years old. Although Gustav loved making music, his reports from the Iglau Gymnasium portrayed him as absent-minded. In 1871, in the hope of improving the results, his father sent him to the New Town Gymnasium in Prague. In 1874 he suffered a personal loss when his younger brother Ernst died after a long illness. Mahler sought to express his feelings in music, with the help of a friend, Josef Steiner, he work on an opera
5.
Vienna
–
Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
6.
Geraldine Farrar
–
Geraldine Farrar was an American soprano opera singer and film actress, noted for her beauty, acting ability, and the intimate timbre of her voice. She had a following among young women, who were nicknamed Gerry-flappers. Farrar was born Alice Geraldine Farrar in Melrose, Massachusetts, the daughter of baseball player Sidney Farrar, at 5 she began studying music in Boston and by 14 was giving recitals. Later she studied voice with the American soprano Emma Thursby in New York City, in Paris and she appeared in the title roles of Ambroise Thomas Mignon and Jules Massenets Manon, as well as Juliette in Gounods Roméo et Juliette. Her admirers in Berlin included Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, with whom she is believed to have had a beginning in 1903. After three years with the Monte Carlo Opera, she made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in Romeo et Juliette on November 26,1906. She appeared in the first Met performance of Giacomo Puccinis Madama Butterfly in 1907 and remained a member of the company until her retirement in 1922 and she developed a great popular following, especially among New Yorks young female opera-goers, who were known as Gerry-flappers. According to a New York Tribune review of the first performance and she recorded extensively for the Victor Talking Machine Company and was often featured prominently in that firms advertisements. She was one of the first performers to make a radio broadcast and she also appeared in silent movies, which were filmed between opera seasons. Farrar starred in more than a dozen films from 1915 to 1920, De Milles 1915 adaptation of Georges Bizets opera Carmen, for which she was extensively praised. Miss Farrars Carmen in the films is the greatest triumph the motion picture has yet achieved over the speaking stage, for her performance, she came in fourth place in the 1916 Screen Masterpiece contest held by Motion Picture Magazine, ahead of any other actress. Theda Baras performance of the same role received 9,150 votes, one of her other notable screen roles was as Joan of Arc in the 1917 film Joan the Woman. According to her biographer, In 1960 Farrar was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the music and film categories. However, the Los Angeles Times, which has documented and photographed every star as part of its ongoing Hollywood Star Walk project, was unable to locate the star honoring her film career, Farrar had a seven-year love affair with the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. Her ultimatum, that he leave his wife and children and marry her, Farrar was close friends with the star tenor Enrico Caruso and there has been speculation that they too had a love affair, but no conclusive evidence of this has surfaced. It is said that Caruso coined her motto, Farrar farà and her marriage to cinema actor Lou Tellegen on February 8,1916 was the source of considerable scandal. The marriage ended, as a result of her husbands numerous affairs, the circumstances of the divorce were brought again to public recollection by Tellegens bizarre 1934 suicide in Hollywood. Farrar reportedly said Why should that interest me, Farrar retired from opera in 1922 at the age of 40
7.
Percy Grainger
–
Percy Aldridge Grainger was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the years of the 20th century. He also made many adaptations of composers works. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his arrangement of the folk-dance tune Country Gardens. Grainger left Australia at the age of 13 to attend the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, between 1901 and 1914 he was based in London, where he established himself first as a society pianist and later as a concert performer, composer and collector of original folk melodies. As his reputation grew he met many of the significant figures in European music, forming important friendships with Frederick Delius and he became a champion of Nordic music and culture, his enthusiasm for which he often expressed in private letters. In 1914, Grainger moved to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life, though he travelled widely in Europe and he served briefly as a bandsman in the United States Army during 1917–18, and took American citizenship in 1918. After his mothers suicide in 1922 he became involved in educational work. He also experimented with music machines that he hoped would supersede human interpretation, in the 1930s he set up the Grainger Museum in Melbourne, his birthplace, as a monument to his life and works and as a future research archive. As he grew older he continued to concerts and to revise and rearrange his own compositions. After the Second World War, ill health reduced his levels of activity and he gave his last concert in 1960, less than a year before his death. Percy Graingers father, John Grainger, was an English-born architect who emigrated to Australia in 1877 and he won professional recognition for his design of the Princes Bridge across the Yarra River in Melbourne. In October 1880 he married Rose Annie Aldridge, daughter of Adelaide hotelier George Aldridge, the couple settled in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne where their only son, christened George Percy Grainger, was born on 8 July 1882. John Grainger was an accomplished artist, with cultural interests. These included David Mitchell, whose daughter Helen later gained fame as an operatic soprano under the name Nellie Melba. Johns claims to have discovered her are unfounded, although he may have offered her encouragement, John was a heavy drinker and a womaniser who, Rose learned after the marriage, had fathered a child in England before coming to Australia. His promiscuity placed heavy strains upon the relationship, particularly when Rose discovered shortly after Percys birth that she had contracted a form of syphilis from her husband, despite this, the Graingers stayed together until 1890, when John went to England for medical treatment. After his return to Australia they lived apart, the burden of raising Percy fell to Rose and he also designed Nellie Melbas home, Coombe Cottage, at Coldstream
8.
Ragtime
–
Ragtime – also spelled rag-time or rag time – is a musical genre that enjoyed its peak popularity between 1895 and 1918. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated, or ragged, rhythm, the genre has its origins in African-American communities like St. Louis years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. Ernest Hogan was a pioneer of music and was the first to compose ragtime into sheet music. The composition was called LA Pas Ma LA and it was released in 1895, Hogan has also been credited for coining the term ragtime. The term is derived from his hometown Shake Rag in Bowling Green. Ben Harney, who is also a Kentucky native has often credited for introducing the music to the mainstream public. His first ragtime composition Youve been an old wagon but you done broke helped popularize the musical genre. The composition was published in 1895 but released in 1896, Ragtime was also a modification of the march made popular by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African music. For at least 12 years after its publication, Maple Leaf Rag heavily influenced subsequent ragtime composers with its melody lines, Ragtime fell out of favor as jazz claimed the publics imagination after 1917, but there have been numerous revivals since the music has been re-discovered. First in the early 1940s, many bands began to include ragtime in their repertoire. A more significant revival occurred in the 1950s as a variety of ragtime styles of the past were made available on records, and new rags were composed, published. In 1971 Joshua Rifkin brought out a compilation of Joplins work which was nominated for a Grammy Award, in 1973 The New England Ragtime Ensemble recorded The Red Back Book, a compilation of some of Joplins rags in period orchestrations edited by conservatory president Gunther Schuller. This also won a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance of the year and was named Billboards Top Classical Album of 1974, subsequently, the motion picture The Sting brought ragtime to a wide audience with its soundtrack of Joplin tunes. The films rendering of The Entertainer, adapted and orchestrated by Marvin Hamlisch, was a Top 5 hit in 1974. Ragtime – with Joplins work at the forefront – has been cited as an American equivalent of the minuets of Mozart, Ragtime also influenced classical composers including Erik Satie, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky. Ragtime originated in African American music in the late 19th century and descended from the jigs and march music played by African American bands, referred to as jig piano or piano thumping. By the start of the 20th century, it widely popular throughout North America and was listened and danced to, performed. A distinctly American musical style, ragtime may be considered a synthesis of African syncopation and European classical music, some early piano rags are entitled marches, and jig and rag were used interchangeably in the mid-1890s
9.
St James's Hall
–
St. Jamess Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, and Vine Street and George Court, there was a frontage on Regent Street, and another in Piccadilly. Taking the orchestra into account, the hall had seating for slightly over 2,000 persons. It had a grand hall 140 feet long and 60 feet broad, on the ground floor were two smaller halls, one 60 feet square, the other 60 feet by 55 feet. The Hall was decorated in the Florentine style, with features imitating the great Moorish Palace of the Alhambra, the Piccadilly facade was given a Gothic design, and the complex of two restaurants and three halls was hidden behind Nashs Quadrant. Sir George Henschel recalled its dear old, uncomfortable, long, narrow, green-upholstered benches with the numbers of the seats tied over the backs with bright pink tape. It stood empty for nearly a year after its opening, the first performance at the hall was The Hymn of Praise by the Vocal Association, under Julius Benedict. Sims Reeves sang Beethovens Adelaide there, accompanied by Arabella Goddard, according to Reeves biographer, The hall itself met with general approval, but the arrangements for chorus and orchestra were severely condemned. In the same year, one of the first complete performances of J. S, Bachs St Matthew Passion to be heard in England was given there under William Sterndale Bennett, with Sims Reeves, Helen Lemmens-Sherrington, Charlotte Sainton-Dolby and Willoughby Weiss. The hall became known for its continuous production of blackface minstrelsy from 1862 until 1904, in residence for the whole active life of the hall, the Minstrels had their permanent home there, but their interests often conflicted with those of the main hall. In January 1890, for instance, George Bernard Shaw wrote, I was inhumanly tormented by a quadrille band which the proprietors of St Jamess Hall had stationed within earshot of the concert-hall. Only a fortnight later, the band, at first subdued, after the movement was applauded a member of the audience began calling out that a complaint should be lodged, and won general approval, hear, hear, and people standing up to look at him. Monday Pops were held in the evening, and Saturday Pops on Saturday afternoons and their programmes were almost exclusively classical, and consisted of piano and organ recital, singers, violinists, string quartets and other chamber ensemble. They were managed by John Boosey, and later by William Boosey, swelling the total of the Monday Popular Concerts to no less than sixty-three within two years of their foundation. Such a result is unparalleled in the history of musical entertainments, George Bernard Shaw gives an interesting narrative of the Pops between 1888 and 1894. Shaw admired the Joachim Quartet, led either by Joachim himself or often by Mme Wilma Norman Neruda, with L. Ries, Herr Strauss and this was certainly the star turn in that period. They frequently played full works, or even groups of works, at the Pops, the concerts were mixed, often consisting of a chamber-work, some songs, and instrumental solos. The Hall became known for the London Ballad Concerts, which began in the 1860s, by Messrs Boosey for the performance of the CHOICEST ENGLISH VOCAL MUSIC by the MOST EMINENT ARTISTS
10.
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)
–
The Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between the autumn of 1900 and April 1901. The second and third movements were first performed with the composer as soloist on 2 December 1900, the complete work was premiered, again with the composer as soloist, on 9 November 1901, with his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting. This piece is one of Rachmaninoffs most enduringly popular pieces, at its 1897 premiere, Rachmaninoffs first symphony, though now considered a significant achievement, was derided by contemporary critics. Compounded by problems in his life, Rachmaninoff fell into a depression that lasted for several years. His second piano concerto confirmed his recovery from depression and writers block. The concerto was dedicated to Nikolai Dahl, a physician who had much to restore Rachmaninoffs self-confidence. The work is scored for 2 flutes,2 oboes,2 clarinets in B♭ and A,2 bassoons,4 horns in F,2 trumpets in B♭,3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, solo piano, and strings. It is written in three-movement concerto form, the opening movement begins with a series of bell-like tollings on the piano that build tension, eventually climaxing in the introduction of the main theme. In this first section, the orchestra carries the Russian-character melody while the piano makes an accompaniment made of rapid oscillating arpeggios, after the statement of the long first theme, a quicker transition follows until the lyrical second theme, in E flat major, is presented. The exposition ends with a closing section. The agitated and unstable development borrows motives from both themes changing keys very often and giving the melody to different instruments while a new idea is slowly formed. The music builds in a climax as if the first bars were to be repeated. This is followed by a solo, which leads into a descending chromatic passage. Then the second theme is heard, beginning with a horn solo and it starts with an unexpected key of A-flat major but in a short while it moves back to C minor. From the beginning of this theme the movement is placid until drawn into the closing section. The second movement opens with a series of chords in the strings which modulate from the C minor of the previous movement to the E major of this movement. At the beginning of the A section, the piano enters and this opening piano figure was composed in 1891 as the opening of the Romance from Two Pieces For Six Hands. The main theme is introduced by the flute, before being developed by an extensive clarinet solo
11.
1894 in music
–
March 14 - Johan Svendsen conducts the world premiere of Carl Nielsens Symphony No.1 in Copenhagen. March 16 - Jules Massenets opera Thaïs is premiered in Paris, april 19 - Jules Massenets opera Werther is premiered in New York City. September 22 - Opening of the Teatro Lirico Internazionale in Milan, december 22 - Claude Debussys Prélude à laprès-midi dun faune is premiered in Paris Enrico Caruso makes his operatic debut. George W. Johnson is said to have recorded over 25,000 phonograph records The National College of Music, the college still exists today as an examination board for music and drama. George H. Thomas develops the first illustrated song to promote The Little Lost Child, airy, Fairy Lillian w. Tony Raymond m. Maurice Levi And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back w. Monroe H. Rosenfeld m. Felix McGlennon At Trinity Church I Met My Doom w. m, Fred Gilbert Dont Be Cross by Karl Zeller from the operetta Der Obersteiger Forgotten w. Flora Wulschner m. Eugene Cowles Hes Got To Keep A-Movin w. m. T. W. Connor His Last Thoughts Were Of You w. Edward B, George Evans Ive Been Working on the Railroad w. m. trad I Cant Change It. M. Tobias The Little Lost Child w. Edward B, marks m. Joseph W. Stern Long Ago In Alcala w. Frederick Edward Weatherley & Adrian Ross m. André Messager My Friend The Major w. m, E. W. Rogers My Pearl Is A Bowery Girl w. William Jerome m. Andrew Mack Oh. That Gorgonzola Cheese w. Fred W. Leigh m. Harry Champion The Owls Serenade w. Arthur J. Lamb, H. W. Petrie She Is More To Be Pitied Than Censured w. m. Gray She May Have Seen Better Days w. m, James Thornton The Sidewalks of New York w. m. Lawlor & James W. Blake Why Did Nellie Leave Home, by George M. Cohan Yale Society Two-Step by C
