1.
1912 in music
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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1912. February 28 – In a concert in Copenhagen, Carl Nielsen conducts the premiere of his Symphony No.3, march – Hart A. Wand publishes Dallas Blues, a jazz standard and an early published blues song. June 26 – Gustav Mahlers Symphony No.9 is premiered in Vienna by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bruno Walter, handy publishes The Memphis Blues, one of the first blues songs to become a hit. October 16 – Arnold Schoenbergs Pierrot Lunaire debuts at the Berlin Choralion-Saal, aino Ackté founds an opera festival in Savonlinna, after a period of dormancy, the Savonlinna Opera Festival will become one of the most important cultural events in Finland. The Birmingham Triennial Music Festival is held for the last time, William Henry Bell becomes director of the South African College of Music in Cape Town. After All That Ive Been To You w. Jack Drislane m. Chris Smith Alexanders Ragtime Band w. m, Irving Berlin, E. Ray Goetz, A. Baldwin Sloane All Night Long w. m. Shelton Brooks And The Green Grass Grew All Around w. William Jerome m. Harry Von Tilzer At The Devils Ball w. m, Irving Berlin Baby Seals Blues m. Artie Matthews Bagdad w. Anne Caldwell m, victor Herbert Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee w. Stanley Murphy m. Henry I. W. Elmer Bowman m. Chris Smith Beckys Got A Job In A Musical Show w. m, Irving Berlin Come Back To Me, My Melody Irving Berlin, Ted Snyder Come Back To Playland With Me w. m. Irving Berlin Down In Dear Old New Orleans w. Joe Young m. Conrad & Whidden Dreams Of Long Ago w. Earl Carroll m, enrico Caruso The Elevator Man Going Up, Going Up, Going Up, Going Up. w. m. Irving Berlin Everybody Loves A Chicken w. m, bobby Jones Everybody Two-Step w. Earl C. Jones m. Wallie Herzer Florida Rag V. Lowry The Funny Little Melody w. m, Irving Berlin Giannina Mia w. Otto Harbach m. Rudolf Friml Goodnight, Nurse w. Thomas J. Gray m. W. Raymond Walker He Played It On His Fid, Fid, Fiddle-dee-dee w. m. E. Ray Goetz & Irving Berlin Hitchy-Koo w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Lewis F. Muir & Maurice Abrahams Im Afraid, Pretty Maid, Im Afraid w. m. Irving Berlin Im The Lonesomest Gal In Town w. Lew Brown m. Albert Von Tilzer In My Harem w. m, Irving Berlin In the Garden w. m. C. Austin Miles Its A Long Way To Tipperary w. m, Jack Judge & Harry H. Williams Keep Away From The Fellow Who Owns An Automobile w. m. Irving Berlin Kentucky Sue by Lew Brown The Land Of Golden Dreams w. C. M. Denison m. E. F. Dusenberry Last Night Was The End Of The World w. Andrew B. Sterling m. Harry Von Tilzer The Last Shot Got Him w. m, Leo Silesu Love Is Like A Firefly w. Otto Harbach m
2.
1917 in music
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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1917. S. See Category, Musical groups established in 1917 All The World Will Be Jealous Of Me w. Al Dubin m. Ernest R. Ball Any Time Is Kissing Time w. Oscar Asche m, frederic Norton from the musical Chu Chin Chow Are You From Heaven. W. m. L. Wolfe Gilbert & Anatole Friedland A Bachelor Gay w. Frank Clifford Harris & Valentine m. James W. Tate from the musical The Maid of the Mountains Barnyard Blues w. m. Edwin B. Charles Shisler Cheer Up, Liza John L. Golden, Raymond Hubbell Cleopatra Had A Jazz Band w. Jack Coogan m, jimmy Morgan Come To The Fair w. Helen Taylor m. Easthope Martin The Darktown Strutters Ball w. m, shelton Brooks Dixie Jass Band One-Step Original Dixieland Jass Band Down in the Valley trad US Eileen w. Henry Blossom m. Victor Herbert For Me And My Gal w. Edgar Leslie & E. Ray Goetz m. George W. Meyer For Your Country and My Country w. m. Irving Berlin Give a Man a Horse He Can Ride w. James Thomson m. Geoffrey OHara Give Me the Moonlight, Hirsch Good Luck and God Be With You, Laddie Boy w. Gus Edwards Good Bye Broadway, Hello France w. C. Francis Reisner & Benny Davis m, goodbye, Mule, with Yer Old Hee-Haw. w. William Herschell m. Barclay Walker Good-bye, That Means You w. Andrew B, sterling m. Arthur Lange Good-bye-ee w. m. R. P. Weston & Bert Lee Hail, the Gangs All Here w. D. A. Esrom m. Theodore F. Morse & Arthur Sullivan Have A Heart w. P. G. Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern Hawaiian Butterfly w. George A. Billy Baskette & Joseph H. Santley Homeward Bound m. George Meyer w. Howard Johnson, teresa del Riego How Can I Forget When Theres So Much To Remember w. m. Irving Berlin Huckleberry Finn by Cliff Hess I Dont Know Where Im Going But Im On My Way w. m, willie White Ill Take You Back To Italy w. m. Irving Berlin Im All Bound Round With The Mason-Dixon Line w. Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young m, irving Berlin, Edgar Leslie & George W. Meyer Lily Of The Valley w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Fred Fisher Love Will Find A Way w. Harry Graham m, introduced by José Collins in the musical The Maid of the Mountains Madmoiselle From Armentieres w. m. anon McNamaras Band w. John J. Stamford m. Shamus OConnor The Modern Maidens Prayer w. Ballard MacDonald m. James F. Hanley My Sunshine Jane w. J. Keirn Brennan m. Ernest R. Ball My Sweetie w. m. Al Jolson, B. G. DeSylva & Gus Kahn Napoleon w. P. G, Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern Nesting Time In Flatbush w. P. G. Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern Oh Its A Lovely War w. m. Maurice Scott Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh, abe Olman Ole Miss Rag w. m. Handy On The Road To Home Sweet Home w. Gus Kahn m, egbert van Alstyne Ostrich Walk m. Edwin B
3.
1913 in art
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January 19 – Lovis Corinths retrospective opens at the Munich Secession galleries. This year the New Munich Secession splits from the Munich Secession, end of January – Franz Marcs Collection II opens at the Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser in Munich. This is followed at the gallery in February by the first major retrospective of Picassos work, february–March – English painter Olive Hockin is implicated in suffragette attacks. February 17 – The Armory Show opens in New York City and it displays works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century. March 10 – French sculptor Camille Claudel is committed by her family to a hospital where she will remain until her death in 1943. May – The Paul Émile Chabas painting September Morn provokes a charge of indency when displayed in the window of a Chicago art gallery, may 27 – Die Brücke dissolved. The audience includes Gabriele DAnnunzio, Coco Chanel, Marcel Duchamp, Harry Graf Kessler, august–September – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner spends the summer painting on the island of Fehmarn, returning to Berlin he begins his series of street scenes from around the Potsdamer Platz. Autumn – The Neue Galerie in Berlin reopens with displays of the work of Picasso, October – August Macke paints at Hilterfingen. October 18 – Monument to the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, designed by Bruno Schmitz incorporating sculptures by Christian Behrens, December 12 – Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa, stolen from the Louvre in 1911, is located in Florence when Vincenzo Peruggia attempts to sell it. It is returned to Paris on December 30, generación del 13 established in Chile. The London Group is formed by merger of the Camden Town Group, target, the first exhibition of Rayonism. Maurice Utrillo has his first solo exhibition, at the Galerie Blot in Paris, omega Workshops established in London by Roger Fry and other members of the Bloomsbury Group to produce artist-designed furniture and textiles. Wyndham Lewis and others secede in October, first observation of a chimpanzee drawing. Guillaume Apollinaires The Cubist Painters, Aesthetic Meditations is published in Paris
4.
Vienna
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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
5.
Arnold Schoenberg
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Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg or Schönberg was an Austrian composer, music theorist, and painter. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, by 1938, with the rise of the Nazi Party, Schoenbergs works were labeled degenerate music, because he was Jewish. He moved to the United States in 1934, Schoenbergs approach, both in terms of harmony and development, has been one of the most influential of 20th-century musical thought. Many European and American composers from at least three generations have consciously extended his thinking, whereas others have reacted against it. Schoenberg was known early in his career for simultaneously extending the traditionally opposed German Romantic styles of Brahms, later, his name would come to personify innovations in atonality that would become the most polemical feature of 20th-century art music. In the 1920s, Schoenberg developed the technique, an influential compositional method of manipulating an ordered series of all twelve notes in the chromatic scale. He also coined the term developing variation and was the first modern composer to embrace ways of developing motifs without resorting to the dominance of a melodic idea. Schoenbergs archival legacy is collected at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg was born into a lower middle-class Jewish family in the Leopoldstadt district of Vienna, at Obere Donaustraße 5. His father Samuel, a native of Bratislava, was a shopkeeper and he took only counterpoint lessons with the composer Alexander Zemlinsky, who was to become his first brother-in-law. In his twenties, Schoenberg earned a living by orchestrating operettas, while composing his own works and he later made an orchestral version of this, which became one of his most popular pieces. Strauss turned to a more conservative idiom in his own work after 1909, Mahler adopted him as a protégé and continued to support him, even after Schoenbergs style reached a point Mahler could no longer understand. Mahler worried about who would look after him after his death, Schoenberg, who had initially despised and mocked Mahlers music, was converted by the thunderbolt of Mahlers Third Symphony, which he considered a work of genius. Afterward he spoke of Mahler as a saint, in 1898 Schoenberg converted to Christianity in the Lutheran church. According to MacDonald this was partly to strengthen his attachment to Western European cultural traditions and he would self-identify as a member of the Jewish religion later in life. In October 1901, he married Mathilde Zemlinsky, the sister of the conductor and composer Alexander von Zemlinsky and he and Mathilde had two children, Gertrud and Georg. Gertrud would marry Schoenbergs pupil Felix Greissle in 1921, during the summer of 1908, his wife Mathilde left him for several months for a young Austrian painter, Richard Gerstl. This period marked a change in Schoenbergs work. This was the first composition without any reference at all to a key, also in this year, he completed one of his most revolutionary compositions, the String Quartet No
6.
Manuel de Falla
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Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish composer. Along with Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spains most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century and his image was on Spains 1970 100-pesetas banknote. Falla was born Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu in Cádiz and he was the son of José María Falla, a Valencian, and María Jesús Matheu, from Catalonia. In 1889 he continued his lessons with Alejandro Odero and learned the techniques of harmony. At age 15 he became interested in literature and journalism and founded the literary magazines El Burlón, by 1900 he was living with his family in the capital, where he attended the Real Conservatorio de Música y Declamación. He studied piano with José Tragó, a colleague of Isaac Albéniz, in 1897 he composed Melodia for cello and piano and dedicated it to Salvador Viniegra, who hosted evenings of chamber music that Falla attended. In 1899, by vote, he was awarded the first prize at the piano competition at his school of music. He premiered his first works, Romanza para violonchelo y piano, Nocturno para piano, Melodía para violonchelo y piano, Serenata andaluza para violín y piano, and Cuarteto en Sol y Mireya. That same year he started to use de with his first surname, when only the surname is used, however, the de is omitted. In 1900 he composed his Canción para piano and various other vocal and he premiered his Serenata andaluza y Vals-Capricho para piano in the Ateneo de Madrid. Due to the financial position of his family, he began to teach piano classes. Among his early pieces are a number of zarzuelas like La Juana y la Petra, on 12 April 1902 he premiered Los amores de la Inés in the Teatro Cómico de Madrid. The same year he met the composer Joaquín Turina and saw his Vals-Capricho y Serenata andaluza published by the Society of Authors, the following year he composed and performed Allegro de concierto for the Madrid Royal Conservatory competition. Enrique Granados took first prize with his composition of the same title, Falla then began his collaboration with composer Amadeo Vives on the zarzuelas Prisionero de guerra, El cornetín de órdenes and La cruz de Malta. His first important work was the one-act opera La vida breve, in April 1905 he won the first prize in a piano competition sponsored by the firm of Ortiz and Cussó. On 15 May his work Allegro de concierto premiered in the Ateneo de Madrid, Falla moved to Paris in 1907, where he remained for seven years. In 1908 King Alfonso XIII awarded him a grant that enabled him to remain in Paris while he finished his Cuatro piezas españolas. A second production was given the year at the Opéra-Comique, to acclaim from critics such as Pierre Lalo
7.
Nice
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Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. The urban area of Nice extends beyond the city limits. Nice is about 13 kilometres from the principality of Monaco, the city is nicknamed Nice la Belle, which means Nice the Beautiful, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912. The area of todays Nice contains Terra Amata, a site which displays evidence of a very early use of fire. Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, through the ages, the town has changed hands many times. Its strategic location and port significantly contributed to its maritime strength, for centuries it was a dominion of Savoy, and was then part of France between 1792 and 1815, when it was returned to Piedmont-Sardinia until its re-annexation by France in 1860. The citys main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais owes its name to visitors to the resort, for decades now, the picturesque Nicean surroundings have attracted not only those in search of relaxation, but also those seeking inspiration. The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to some of Western cultures most outstanding painters, such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Arman. Their work is commemorated in many of the museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and it is one of its most visited cities and it also has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones. It is the capital city of the County of Nice. Nice was probably founded around 350 BC by the Greeks of Massalia, the ruins of Cemenelum are in Cimiez, now a district of Nice. In the 7th century, Nice joined the Genoese League formed by the towns of Liguria. In 729 the city repulsed the Saracens, but in 859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, during the Middle Ages, Nice participated in the wars and history of Italy. As an ally of Pisa it was the enemy of Genoa, during the 13th and 14th centuries the city fell more than once into the hands of the Counts of Provence, but it regained its independence even though related to Genoa. The medieval city walls surrounded the Old Town, the landward side was protected by the River Paillon, which was later covered over and is now the tram route towards the Acropolis. The east side of the town was protected by fortifications on Castle Hill, another river flowed into the port on the east side of Castle Hill. Engravings suggest that the area was also defended by walls
8.
Ballet
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Ballet /ˈbæleɪ/ is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own based on French terminology. It has been influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres. Becoming a ballet dancer requires years of training, Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art. Ballet may also refer to a dance work, which consists of the choreography. A well-known example of this is The Nutcracker, a ballet that was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained artists, the word came into English usage from the French around 1630. Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries before being spread from Italy to France by an Italian aristocrat, Catherine de Medici, in France, ballet developed even further under her aristocratic influence. The dancers in these early court ballets were mostly noble amateurs, Ballets in this period were lengthy and elaborate and often served a political purpose. Ornamented costumes were meant to impress viewers and restricted freedom of movement. The ballets were performed in large chambers with viewers on three sides, French court ballet reached its height under the reign of King Louis XIV. Known as the Sun King, Louis symbolized the brilliance of France, in 1661 Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse to establish standards and certify dance instructors. In 1672, Louis XIV made Jean-Baptiste Lully the director of the Académie Royale de Musique from which the first professional ballet company, Lully is considered the most important composer of music for ballets de cour and instrumental to the development of the form. Ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it continued to develop in Denmark, Italy, the arrival in Europe on the eve of First World War of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, revived interest in the ballet and started the modern era. The Russian choreographer Michel Fokine challenged tradition and called for reforms that reinvigorated ballet as an art form, in the 20th century, ballet had a wide influence on other dance genres, and subgenres of ballet have also evolved. In the United States, choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet, other developments include contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet. Also in the century, ballet took a turn dividing it from classical ballet to the introduction of modern dance. Stylistic variations have emerged and evolved since the Italian Renaissance, early, classical variations are primarily associated with geographic origin
9.
The Rite of Spring
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The Rite of Spring is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilevs Ballets Russes company, when first performed, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation and a near-riot in the audience. Stravinsky was a young, virtually unknown composer when Diaghilev recruited him to create works for the Ballets Russes, the Rite was the third such project, after the acclaimed Firebird and Petrushka. Massines was the forerunner of many productions directed by the worlds leading ballet-masters. In the 1980s, Nijinskys original choreography, long believed lost, was reconstructed by the Joffrey Ballet in Los Angeles, Stravinskys score contains many novel features for its time, including experiments in tonality, metre, rhythm, stress and dissonance. Analysts have noted in the score a significant grounding in Russian folk music, the music has influenced many of the 20th-centurys leading composers and is one of the most recorded works in the classical repertoire. Fyodors association with many of the figures in Russian music, including Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Mussorgsky. In 1901 Stravinsky began to study law at St Petersburg University, while taking lessons in harmony. Having impressed Rimsky-Korsakov with some of his compositional efforts, Stravinsky worked under the guidance of the older composer. In 1909 Feu dartifice was performed at a concert in St Petersburg, among those in the audience was the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who at that time was planning to introduce Russian music and art to western audiences. Like Stravinsky, Diaghilev had initially studied law, but had gravitated via journalism into the theatrical world, in 1907 he began his theatrical career by presenting five concerts in Paris, in the following year he introduced Mussorgskys opera Boris Godunov. In 1909, still in Paris, he launched the Ballets Russes, initially with Borodins Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, to present these works Diaghilev recruited the choreographer Michel Fokine, the designer Léon Bakst and the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Diaghilevs intention, however, was to new works in a distinctively 20th-century style. Having heard Feu dartifice he approached Stravinsky, initially with a request for help in orchestrating music by Chopin to create the ballet Les Sylphides. Stravinsky worked on the opening Nocturne and the closing Valse Brillante, his reward was a bigger commission, to write the music for a new ballet. Stravinsky worked through the winter of 1909–10, in association with Fokine who was choreographing The Firebird. During this period Stravinsky made the acquaintance of Nijinsky who, although not dancing in the ballet, was an observer of its development. Stravinsky was uncomplimentary when recording his first impressions of the dancer, observing that he seemed immature, on the other hand, Stravinsky found Diaghilev an inspiration, the very essence of a great personality
10.
Igor Stravinsky
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Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century, Stravinskys compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. His Russian phase which continued with such as Renard, The Soldiers Tale. The works from this tended to make use of traditional musical forms, drawing on earlier styles. In the 1950s, Stravinsky adopted serial procedures, Stravinsky was born on 17 June 1882 in Oranienbaum, a suburb of Saint Petersburg, the Russian imperial capital, and was brought up in Saint Petersburg. It is believed that Stravinsky’s ancestry is traceable back to the 17th and 18th centuries, to the bearers of the Soulima, ivan Sulima, was a famous Ukrainian hetman 1628–1635. Stravinskys family branch most likely came from Stravinskas, polonized Lithuanian land owners and it is still unclear to when exactly the Soulima part of the surname was dropped. Stravinsky recalled his schooldays as being lonely, later saying that I never came across anyone who had any attraction for me. Stravinsky began piano lessons as a boy, studying music theory. In 1890, he saw a performance of Tchaikovskys ballet The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre, despite his enthusiasm for music, his parents expected him to study law. Stravinsky enrolled at the University of Saint Petersburg in 1901, Stravinskys father died of cancer that year, by which time his son had already begun spending more time on his musical studies than on law. Thereafter, he concentrated on studying music, in 1905, he began to take twice-weekly private lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov, whom he came to regard as a second father. These lessons continued until Rimsky-Korsakovs death in 1908, in 1905 Stravinsky was betrothed to his cousin Katherine Gavrylivna Nosenko, whom he had known since early childhood. Diaghilev was sufficiently impressed by Fireworks to commission Stravinsky to carry out some orchestrations and then to compose a ballet score. The early period of Igor Stravinsky’s work would be incomplete without a research of his life while in Ukraine. From approximately 1890 till 1914 the composer was frequently visiting Ustyluh, town in Volyn Oblast and he spent most of his summers there and that’s where he met his cousin, Katherine Nosenko who he married in 1906. In 1907 Stravinsky designed and built his own house in Ustyluh where his own family stayed often during summer times until 1914 and his new Ukrainian home he called “My heavenly place”. In this house Igor Stravinsky worked on his seventeen early compositions, among which were orchestral fantasy Fireworks, ballets Firebird, Petrushka, currently, after its renovation this house is the only composers house-museum opened to the public
11.
Pierre Monteux
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Pierre Benjamin Monteux was a French conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as a player and occasional conductor. Thereafter he directed orchestras around the world for more than half a century, from 1917 to 1919 Monteux was the principal conductor of the French repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He led the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, in 1961, aged eighty-six, he accepted the chief conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra, a post which he held until his death three years later. Although known for his performances of the French repertoire, his love was the music of German composers. He disliked recording, finding it incompatible with spontaneity, but he made a substantial number of records. Monteux was well known as a teacher, in 1932 he began a conducting class in Paris, which he developed into a summer school that was later moved to his summer home in Les Baux in the south of France. After moving permanently to the US in 1942, and taking American citizenship, he founded a school for conductors and orchestral musicians in Hancock, Maine. Among his students in France and America who went on to fame were Igor Markevitch, Neville Marriner, André Previn, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa. The school in Hancock has continued since Monteuxs death, Pierre Monteux was born in Paris, the third son and the fifth of six children of Gustave Élie Monteux, a shoe salesman, and his wife, Clémence Rebecca née Brisac. The Monteux family was descended from Sephardic Jews who settled in the south of France, the Monteux ancestors included at least one rabbi, but Gustave Monteux and his family were not religious. Among Monteuxs brothers were Henri, who became an actor, and Paul, Gustave Monteux was not musical, but his wife was a graduate of the Conservatoire de Musique de Marseille and gave piano lessons. Pierre took violin lessons from the age of six, when he was nine years old Monteux was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris. He studied the violin with Jules Garcin and Henri Berthelier, composition with Charles Lenepveu and his fellow violin students included George Enescu, Carl Flesch, Fritz Kreisler and Jacques Thibaud. Among the piano students at the Conservatoire was Alfred Cortot, with whom he developed a lifelong friendship, at the age of twelve, Monteux organised and conducted a small orchestra of Conservatoire students to accompany Cortot in performances of concertos in and around Paris. He attended the premiere of César Francks Symphony in February 1889. At the age of fifteen, while continuing his violin studies and he studied privately with Benjamin Godard, with whom he performed in the premiere of Saint-Saënss Septet, with the composer at the keyboard. Monteux joined the Geloso Quartet as violist, he played concerts with them
12.
Vaslav Nijinsky
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Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish descent, cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations and he could dance en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps. Nijinsky was introduced to dance by his parents, who were senior dancers with the travelling Setov opera company and his older brother Stanislav Fomitch and younger sister Bronislava Nijinska also became dancers. At age nine Nijinsky was accepted at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, in 1907 he graduated and became a member of the Imperial Ballet, starting at the rank of coryphée instead of in the corps de ballet, already taking starring roles. His sister Bronia also became a dancer and choreographer, working closely with him for much of his career, in 1909 he joined the Ballets Russes, a new ballet company started by Sergei Diaghilev. The impresario took the Russian Ballets to Paris, where high-quality productions such as those of the Imperial Ballet were not known, Nijinsky became the companys star male dancer, causing an enormous stir amongst audiences whenever he performed. In ordinary life he appeared unremarkable and was withdrawn in conversation, in 1912 Nijinsky began choreographing original ballets, including Laprès-midi dun faune to music by Claude Debussy, Jeux, and Till Eulenspiegel. At the premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps in Paris, with music by Igor Stravinsky, faune caused controversy because of its sexually suggestive final scene. Nijinsky originally conceived Jeux as an interaction among three males, although Diaghilev insisted it be danced by one male and two females. In 1913 Nijinsky married Hungarian Romola de Pulszky while on tour with the company in South America and she had stalked the company and Nijinsky since 1912. The marriage caused a break with Diaghilev, who soon dismissed Nijinsky from the company, the couple had two daughters together, Kyra and Tamara Nijinska. With no alternative available, Nijinsky tried to form his own company. He was interned in Budapest, Hungary during World War I and he was finally permitted to leave after intervention by Diaghilev and international leaders, he was allowed to go to New York for an American tour. Calls for his release had been made by Alfonso XIII of Spain, Nijinsky became increasingly mentally unstable with the stresses of having to manage tours himself and deprived of opportunities to dance, which had always been his total obsession. After a tour of South America in 1917, and due to travel difficulties imposed by the war and his mental condition deteriorated, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1919 and committed to an asylum for the first time. For the next 30 years, he was in and out of institutions, Vaslav Nijinsky was born in 1889 or 1890 in Kiev, Russian Empire, as Wacław Niżyński, to ethnic Polish parents, touring dancers Tomasz Niżyński and Eleonora Bereda. He identified himself as Polish although he grew up in the interior of Russia with his parents, Eleanora, along with her two brothers and two sisters, was orphaned while still a child. She started to earn a living as an extra in Warsaws Grand Theatre Ballet, in 1868 her talent was spotted and she moved to Kiev as a solo dancer
