1.
Impressionism in music
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Impressionism is a philosophical and aesthetic term borrowed from late 19th century French painting after Monets Impression, Sunrise. The most prominent in musical impressionism is the use of color, or in term, timbre. Some impressionist composers, Debussy and Ravel in particular, are labeled as symbolist composers. Some of the key forerunners of and influences on the impressionist style include Modest Mussorgsky, Emmanuel Chabrier, Edvard Grieg, Gabriel Fauré, Henri Duparc, elements of impressionism can also be traced back to works by Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner. Ernest Fanelli was claimed to have innovated the style in the early 1880s, the performance of his works in that year led to claims that he was the father of musical Impressionism. Ravel wrote, this impressionism is certainly different from that of present-day composers. Mr. Fanellis impressionism derives more directly from Berlioz, the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius is also associated with impressionism, and his The Swan of Tuonela predates Debussys Prélude à laprès-midi dun faune by a year. The American composer Howard Hanson also borrowed from both Sibelius and impressionism generally in such as his Second Symphony. The Enjoyment of Music, seventh edition, New York, W. W. Norton & Company,1995. London, Hutchinson, New York, Charles Scribners Sons,1973, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. New York, Dodd, Mead & company,1937
2.
9th arrondissement of Paris
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The 9th arrondissement, located on the Right Bank, is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. Along with the 2nd and 8th arrondissements, it one of the business centers of Paris. The land area of this arrondissement is 2.179 km2, groupe Danone has its head office in the 17 Boulevard Haussmann building in the 9th arrondissement. BNP Paribas has its office in the arrondissement. Kroll Inc. also has an office in this arrondissement, until June 1995, the head office of Société Générale was in this arrondissement. On that month the head office moved to the Société Générale Towers, the former head office remains as the companys registered office. Google Paris has its offices in the arrondissement, the peak population of the 9th arrondissement occurred in 1901, when it had 124,011 inhabitants. Since then, the arrondissement has widely attracted business activity, as a result, the population was in 1999 only 55,838 inhabitants, while it held 111,939 jobs. Media related to Paris 9e arrondissement at Wikimedia Commons 9th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
3.
Conservatoire de Paris
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The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France. The Conservatoire offers instruction in music, dance, and drama, today the conservatories operate under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Communication. On 3 December 1783 Papillon de la Ferté, intendant of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi, the school was instituted by a decree of 3 January 1784 and opened on 1 April with the composer François-Joseph Gossec as the provisional director. Piccinni refused the directorship, but did join the faculty as a professor of singing, the new school was located in buildings adjacent to the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs at the junction of the rue Bergère and the rue du Faubourg Poissonnière. In June, a class in dramatic declamation was added, in 1792, Bernard Sarrette created the École gratuite de la garde nationale, which in the following year became the Institut national de musique. On 3 August 1795, the government combined the École royale with the Institut national de musique, the combined organization remained in the facilities on the rue Bergère. The first 351 pupils commenced their studies in October 1796, a concert hall, designed by the architect François-Jacques Delannoy, was inaugurated on 7 July 1811. The hall, which exists today, was in the shape of a U. It held an audience of 1055, the acoustics were generally regarded as superb. The French composer and conductor Antoine Elwart described it as the Stradivarius of concert halls, in 1828 François Habeneck, a professor of violin and head of the Conservatorys orchestra, founded the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire. The Society held concerts in the hall almost continuously until 1945, the French composer Hector Berlioz premiered his Symphonie fantastique in the conservatorys hall on 5 December 1830 with an orchestra of more than a hundred players. The original library was created by Sarrette in 1801, after the construction of the concert hall, the library moved to a large room above the entrance vestibule. In the 1830s, Berlioz became a curator in the Conservatory library and was the librarian from 1852 until his death in 1869. He was succeeded as librarian by Félicien David, Sarrette was dismissed on 28 December 1814, after the Bourbon Restoration, but was reinstated on 26 May 1815, after Napoleons return to power during the Hundred Days. However, after Napoleons fall, Sarrette was finally compelled to retire on 17 November, in 1819, François Benoist was appointed professor of organ. Probably the best known director in the 19th century was Luigi Cherubini, Cherubini maintained high standards and his staff included teachers such as François-Joseph Fétis, Habeneck, Fromental Halévy, Le Sueur, Ferdinando Paer, and Anton Reicha. Cherubini was succeeded by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber in 1842, in 1852, Camille Urso, who studied with Lambert Massart, became the first female student to win a prize on violin. The Conservatory Instrument Museum, founded in 1861, was formed from the instrument collection of Louis Clapisson, the French music historian Gustave Chouquet became the curator of the museum in 1871 and did much to expand and upgrade the collection
4.
Georges Mathias
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Georges Amédée Saint-Clair Mathias was a French composer, pianist and teacher. Alongside his teaching work, Georges Mathias was an active concert pianist. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with François Bazin, Auguste Barbereau, Augustin Savard, privately, he studied composition with Friedrich Kalkbrenner and piano with Frédéric Chopin. After finishing his studies, he taught piano at the Conservatoire from 1862 to 1893, Mathias and another Chopins student Karol Mikuli had an important impact on passing his style on the next generations of musicians. Besides teaching, he was active as a concert pianist. On 14 March 1864, he was the principal pianist at the premiere of Gioachino Rossinis Petite messe solennelle and he was the recipient of the Legion of Honour in 1872. He died in Paris in 1910, on his 84th birthday, free scores by Georges Mathias at the International Music Score Library Project Information about Mathias in other sources
5.
Claude Debussy
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Achille-Claude Debussy, known since the 1890s as Claude-Achille Debussy or Claude Debussy, was a French composer. He and Maurice Ravel were the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music and he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1903. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Debussys music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of nontraditional tonalities. The prominent French literary style of his period was known as Symbolism, Debussy, the oldest of five children, was born Achille-Claude Debussy on 22 August 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. His father, Manuel-Achille Debussy, owned a shop there, his mother. The family moved to Paris in 1867, but in 1870 Debussys pregnant mother fled with Claude to his aunts home in Cannes to escape the Franco-Prussian War. At the age of seven, he began lessons with an Italian violinist in his early 40s named Jean Cerutti. In 1871 he drew the attention of Marie Mauté de Fleurville, Debussy always believed her, although there is no independent evidence to support her claim. His talents soon became evident, and in 1872, at age ten, Debussy entered the Paris Conservatoire and he also became a lifelong friend of fellow student and distinguished pianist Isidor Philipp. After Debussys death, many pianists sought Philipps advice on playing his works, Debussy was experimental from the outset, favouring dissonances and intervals that were not taught at the Academy. Like Georges Bizet, he was a brilliant pianist and a sight reader. However, Debussy never once won a competition, and his personal opinion on competitions are that it is rather. The rules are taught in places called Conservatories, Art Schools, the contests, preceded by strict training, take place once a year and the umpires of the game are members of the institute —Monsieur Croche. The pieces he played in public at this time included sonata movements by Beethoven, Schumann and Weber,2, a movement from the Piano Concerto No. 1, and the Allegro de concert, during the summers of 1880,1881, and 1882, he accompanied Nadezhda von Meck, the wealthy patroness of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as she travelled with her family in Europe. Despite von Mecks closeness to Tchaikovsky, the Russian master appears to have had effect on Debussy. In September 1880 she sent his Danse bohémienne for Tchaikovskys perusal, a month later Tchaikovsky wrote back to her, It is a pretty piece. Not a single idea is expressed fully, the form is terribly shriveled, Debussy did not publish the piece, and the manuscript remained in the von Meck family, it was eventually sold to B
6.
Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois
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The Church of Saint-Germain-lAuxerrois is situated at 2 Place du Louvre, Paris 75001, the nearest Métro station is Louvre-Rivoli. Alexandre Boëly was organist at church from 1840 to 1851. Founded in the 7th century, the church was rebuilt many times over several centuries and it now has construction in Roman, Gothic and Renaissance styles. The most striking feature is the porch, with a rose window and a balustrade above which encircles the whole church. During the Wars of Religion, its bell called Marie sounded on the night of 23 August 1572, thousands of Huguenots, who visited the city for a royal wedding, were killed by the mob of Paris. A splendid stained glass still remains, in spite of plunderings during the French Revolution, the north tower was added in 1860 and stands opposite the Mairie of the 1st Arrondissement. Website Media related to Église Saint-Germain-lAuxerrois de Paris at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris
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The Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul is a church in the 10th arrondissement of Paris dedicated to Saint Vincent de Paul. It gives its name to the Quartier Saint-Vincent-de-Paul around it, the church was built during 1824–44, on the site of the ancient Saint-Lazare prison enclosure. In that enclosure had been sited the Maison Saint-Lazare, occupied by Vincent de Paul— it was here that he lived and worked— and afterwards by the Congrégation de la Mission, from 1632 to 1793. The churchs design and the phases of its construction were entrusted to Jean-Baptiste Lepère. The first stone was laid in August 1824 in the presence of the de la Seine Gaspard de Chabrol. Work proceeded slowly, and was abandoned, being especially delayed thanks to a lack of credit as a result of the 1830 Revolution. Thus it was Lepères son-in-law, Jacques Hittorff, who followed the project through from 1831 to 1844. The building opened for worship on 25 October 1844, Hittorff massively modified the initial plans, with his church opening onto the Place Franz-Liszt, giving the building a church square. He also added a system of ramps, laid out today in gardens, the churchs basilical plan evokes several grand schemes of religious architecture without specifically copying one in particular. Inside, the frieze of 1848–53 around the nave is by Hippolyte Flandrin. The decoration of the Lady Chapel, in the added later at the back, is by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. The Calvary shown on the altar is by François Rude. The building suffered during the Paris Commune, the towers were hit by seven shells. The Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul is close to the Eurostar and mainline station Gare du Nord and this twinning was inaugurated on 11 December 2007 with a bilingual service at St Pancras Old Church. The church has two organs, an organ and an orgue du choeur. The churchs titular organists have included Louis Braille, better known for the Braille tactile writing system for the blind, Léon Boëllmann, Henri OKelly, the current organist is Pierre Cambourian. Originally it was made up of 47 stops over 3 keyboards and 2,669 pipes. This page is a translation of Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul de Paris on French Wikipedia, the Cambridge History of Christianity, p105 LInternaute Magazine, Diaporama Structurae, see in particular a view of the churchs interior
8.
10th arrondissement of Paris
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The 10th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated on the bank of the River Seine, the arrondissement contains two of Pariss six main railway stations, the Gare du Nord and the Gare de lEst. Built during the 19th century, these two termini are among the busiest in Europe, the 10th arrondissement also contains a large portion of the Canal Saint-Martin, linking the northeastern parts of Paris with the River Seine. The land area of the arrondissement is 2.892 km2, the 10th arrondissement is often referred to as lEntrepôt. Today, the arrondissement remains dense in both population and business activity, with 89,612 inhabitants and 71,962 jobs at last census in 1999. Due to its large Turkish minority, the 10th arrondissement is often called La Petite Turquie
9.
Pleyel et Cie
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Pleyel et Cie was a French piano manufacturing firm founded by the composer Ignace Pleyel in 1807. In 1815, Pleyels son Camille joined him as a business partner, the firm provided pianos to Frédéric Chopin, and also ran a concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, where Chopin performed his first – and last – Paris concerts. Pleyels major contribution to development was the first use of a metal frame in a piano. Pleyel pianos were the choice of such as Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, de Falla and Stravinsky and of pianists and teachers Alfred Cortot, Philip Manuel. Pleyel pioneered the player piano with the Pleyela line of pianos and these were often very small pianos of a very unusual design. Around 1815, Pleyel was the first to introduce the short, vertically strung cottage upright piano, or pianino to France and their pianos were such a success that in 1834 the company employed 250 workers and produced 1000 pianos annually. The companys success led them to invest in experiments, resulting in the Double Piano in 1890, the company manufactured a very small number of Double Pianos in the 1890s and continued to make them until the 1920s. CDs can be bought today of performances on some of these pianos, in 1913, Pleyel built the Jungle Piano for use by Albert Schweitzer in his hospital in Lambaréné. It was fitted with pedal attachments and built with tropical woods that would acclimate to conditions there, toward the end of the 19th century, the Pleyel firm produced the first chromatic harp. In the early 20th century, at the behest of Wanda Landowska, Pleyel continued to manufacture pianos through 2013, under the corporate auspices of the Manufacture Française de Pianos company. In the 1980s, the Pleyel company bought out the Erard, the Pleyel pianos of today incorporated improvements of these companies and others. In the last two decades, Pleyel Piano was bought by the family which had bought the Salle Pleyel concert hall in order to revive the name. They built a new factory in the south of France and started making a line of designed and improved pianos. Then, in 2008, they decided to downsize the factory and they moved the factory back to Paris and opened a new factory where they began introducing new pianos designed by famous designers. The red spruce used by Pleyel comes from the Fiemme Valley in Trentino, after full assembly of a piano, the instrument receives a further 30–40 hours of fine-tuning. The company announced it would cease manufacturing pianos in France at the end of 2013. In 2006, Hong Kong singer Edmond Leung performed in his concert on one of the only two Pleyel pianos made for Chopin, along with 6 other pianos, ranging from 1844 to more contemporary pianos. Another one of which was a version of a Pleyel piano. v
10.
Legion of Honour
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The Legion of Honour, full name National Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction, Chevalier, Officier, Commandeur, Grand Officier and Grand-Croix. The orders motto is Honneur et Patrie and its seat is the Palais de la Légion dHonneur next to the Musée dOrsay, in the French Revolution, all French orders of chivalry were abolished, and replaced with Weapons of Honour. The Légion however did use the organization of old French orders of chivalry, the badges of the legion also bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint-Louis, which also used a red ribbon. Napoleon originally created this to ensure political loyalty, the organization would be used as a facade to give political favours, gifts, and concessions. The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional cohorts, the highest rank was not a grand cross but a Grand Aigle, a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously,5,000 francs to an officier,2,000 francs to a commandeur,1,000 francs to an officier,250 francs to a légionnaire. Napoleon famously declared, You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led, do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning. That is good only for the scholar in his study, the soldier needs glory, distinctions, rewards. This has been quoted as It is with such baubles that men are led. The order was the first modern order of merit, under the monarchy, such orders were often limited to Roman Catholics, and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers, the Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions—only merit or bravery counted. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion and it is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The jewel of the Légion has five arms, in a decree issued on the 10 Pluviôse XIII, a grand decoration was instituted. This decoration, a cross on a sash and a silver star with an eagle, symbol of the Napoleonic Empire, became known as the Grand Aigle. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, the title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his family and this collar was abolished in 1815. The Légion dhonneur was prominent and visible in the French Empire, the Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time
11.
Order of St. Gregory the Great
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The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election to that seat by the College of Cardinals. The Order of St. Gregory the Great is one of the five Orders of Knighthood of the Holy See, the Order of St. Gregory the Great is Pro Deo et Principe. The awarding of the Order of St. Gregory the Great presents no particular obligations on the recipients toward the Roman Catholic Church – except for the ones stated above. An eight-pointed cross, the insignia of the Order, bears a representation of St. Gregory on the obverse, the cross is suspended from a red and gold ribbon. A green uniform was later prescribed by Pope Pius IX, the uniform contains a black beaver-felt hat decorated with black silk ribbons, silver metallic twisted rope, buttons and black ostrich feathers. The jacket, made of wool, is trimmed with silver metallic thread. Finally, the costume contains suspenders, several yellow and red rosettes, white gloves. Charles von Hügel, Knight Grand Cross Count Christopher de Paus Duke Carl Ludvig Fouché dOtrante Dina Kawar, henry Delvaux de Fenffe, Governor of G. K. Viscount Gaston Eyskens, Prime minister. Roy E. Raskob, financial executive and businessman, built the Empire State Building Carlo Emanuele Ruspoli, john A. Creighton,1898, businessman and philanthropist in Omaha. Papal Orders of Knighthood Association of Papal Orders in Great Britain Photograph Catholic Knighthood article from Time Magazine,25 Jun 1928, reporting an award of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
12.
Cannes
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Cannes is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune of France located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, the city is known for its association with the rich and famous, its luxury hotels and restaurants, and for several conferences. On 3 November 2011 it also played host to the G20 organisation of industrialised nations, by the 2nd century BC, the Ligurian Oxybii established a settlement here known as Aegitna. Historians are unsure what the name means, the area was a fishing village used as a port of call between the Lérins Islands. In 69 AD, it became the scene of violent conflict between the troops of Otho and Vitellius, in the 10th century, the town was known as Canua. The name may derive from canna, a reed, Canua was probably the site of a small Ligurian port, and later a Roman outpost on Le Suquet hill, suggested by Roman tombs discovered here. Le Suquet housed an 11th-century tower which overlooked swamps where the city now stands, most of the ancient activity, especially protection, was on the Lérins Islands and the history of Cannes is closely tied to the history of the islands. An attack by the Saracens in 891, who remained until the end of the 10th century, the insecurity of the Lérins islands forced the monks to settle on the mainland, at the Suquet. Construction of a castle in 1035 fortified the city by then known as Cannes, one took a century to build. Around 1530, Cannes detached from the monks who had controlled the city for hundreds of years, during the 18th century, both the Spanish and British tried to gain control of the Lérins Islands but were chased away by the French. The islands were controlled by many, such as Jean-Honoré Alziary. They had many different purposes, at the end of the 19th century, henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux bought land at the Croix des Gardes and constructed the villa Eleonore-Louise. His work to improve living conditions attracted the English aristocracy, who built winter residences. At the end of the 19th century, several railways were completed, in Cannes, projects such as the Boulevard Carnot and the rue dAntibes were carried out. After the closure of the Casino des Fleurs, an establishment was built for the rich winter clientele. This casino was demolished and replaced by the new Palace in 1979, in the 20th century, new luxury hotels such as the Carlton, Majestic, Martinez, and JW Marriott Cannes were built. The city was modernised with a centre, a post office. There were fewer British and German tourists after the First World War, winter tourism gave way to summer tourism and the summer casino at the Palm Beach was constructed
13.
Passy Cemetery
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Passy Cemetery is a cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery, which was closed in 1802, in the early 19th century, on the orders of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, all the cemeteries in Paris were replaced by several large new ones outside the precincts of the capital. Montmartre Cemetery was built in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, Passy Cemetery was a later addition, but has its origins in the same edict. The current entrance was built in 1934, the retaining wall of the cemetery is adorned with a bas relief commemorating the soldiers who fell in World War I. Opened in 1820 in the residential and commercial districts of the Right Bank near the Champs-Élysées. It is the cemetery in Paris to have a heated waiting-room. Sheltered by a bower of trees, the cemetery is in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The cemetery was once the home of a statue by Dunikowski titled The Soul Escaping the Body and it was on top of the ceremonial grave of Antoni Cierplikowski. The statue was known by many but was removed when the grave was cleared in 2004 and it is known as a small but well visited cemetery. Natalie Clifford Barney, Notable author, salonist and lesbian socialite of the Belle Époque, the entrance of the cemetery is located at 2, Rue du Commandant Schlœsing. The street in which it is situated is named for a Free French pilot, Squadron Leader Jacques-Henri Schlœsing, who flew with the wartime RAF until killed in action, the cemetery is behind the Trocadéro. Passy Cemetery on the Mairie de Paris website Passy Cemetery on the Cimetiéres de France et dAilleurs website Information, photographs of Passy cemetery Documenting funerary statuary in Paris cemeteries, on pariscemeteries. com
14.
Player piano
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The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sales peaked in 1924, then declined as the improvement in phonograph recordings due to electrical recording methods developed in the mid-1920s. The idea of musical devices can be traced back many centuries. These devices were later extended to operate musical boxes, which contain a set of tuned metal teeth plucked by the player mechanism, an early musical instrument to be automated was the organ, which is comparatively easy to operate automatically. The power for the notes is provided by air from a system. The playing task is performed by a pinned barrel. The piano is an instrument, requiring each note to be struck with a different force to control the dynamics of the performance. The entire force required to sound the note must be given by the hitting the keys. It proved to be difficult for a device to combine a variable percussive force. Barrels do not provide a force, but a relatively gentle switching motion. Early barrel pianos moved the back and forwards continuously as the operator turned the handle. The hammers hit repeatedly until the pin was removed and this played the note, but at a fixed dynamic and with a tremolo action quite unlike a pianist. The development of the piano was the gradual overcoming of the various difficulties of controlled percussive striking. The earliest practical piano playing device was probably the Forneaux Pianista and this bellows struck the piano key and so played the note. The acceleration of developments leading to the player device started in the 1840s. The start of the period can probably be seen as the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia. At this exhibition were a number of automatic devices, including the Pianista. The earliest description of a piano playing device using perforated paper rolls was Claude Seytres French patent of 1842, the concept was sound, but the device described was impractical in the way it read the roll and operated the piano
15.
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he one of the most famous. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies,5 piano concertos,1 violin concerto,32 piano sonatas,16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and he lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose, many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life. Beethoven was the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician from the town of Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant in the Flemish region of what is now Belgium, who at the age of twenty moved to Bonn. Ludwig was employed as a singer at the court of the Elector of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761. The portrait he commissioned of himself towards the end of his life remained proudly displayed in his grandsons rooms as a talisman of his musical heritage. Ludwig had one son, Johann, who worked as a tenor in the musical establishment and gave keyboard. Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767, she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn. There is no record of the date of his birth, however. Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only Ludwig, the second-born, caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776. Beethovens first music teacher was his father and he later had other local teachers, the court organist Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini. Beethovens musical talent was obvious at a young age, some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Courts Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition, Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, at first unpaid, and then as a paid employee of the court chapel conducted by the Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. His first three piano sonatas, named Kurfürst for their dedication to the Elector Maximilian Friedrich, were published in 1783, Maximilian Frederick noticed Beethovens talent early, and subsidised and encouraged the young mans musical studies. Maximilian Fredericks successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Francis, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts
16.
Felix Mendelssohn
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Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prominent Jewish family and he was brought up without religion until the age of seven, when he was baptised as a Reformed Christian. Mendelssohn was recognised early as a prodigy, but his parents were cautious. Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, where he revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Leipzig Conservatoire, which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook, Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions and he is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era. Mendelssohns father was the banker Abraham Mendelssohn, the son of the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and his mother was Lea Salomon, a member of the Itzig family and a sister of Jakob Salomon Bartholdy. Mendelssohn was the second of four children, his older sister Fanny also displayed exceptional, the family moved to Berlin in 1811, leaving Hamburg in disguise fearing French revenge for the Mendelssohn banks role in breaking Napoleons Continental System blockade. Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn sought to give their children – Fanny, Felix, Paul, Fanny became a well-known pianist and amateur composer, originally Abraham had thought that she, rather than Felix, would be the more musical. However, at time, it was not considered proper, by either Abraham or Felix, for a woman to have a career in music, so Fanny remained an active. Abraham was also disinclined to allow Felix to follow a career until it became clear that he seriously intended to dedicate himself to it. Mendelssohn grew up in an intellectual environment, Sarah Rothenburg wrote of the household that Europe came to their living room. Abraham Mendelssohn renounced the Jewish religion, he and his wife decided not to have Felix circumcised. Felix and his siblings were first brought up without religious education, Abraham and his wife Lea were themselves baptised in 1822, formally adopting the surname Mendelssohn Bartholdy for themselves and their children. The name Bartholdy was added at the suggestion of Leas brother, Jakob Salomon Bartholdy, in 1829, his sister Fanny wrote to him of Bartholdy this name that we all dislike. Like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart before him, Mendelssohn was regarded as a child prodigy and he began taking piano lessons from his mother when he was six, and at seven was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris. After the family moved to Berlin, all four Mendelssohn children studied piano with Ludwig Berger, from at least May 1819 Felix studied counterpoint and composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. This was an important influence on his future career, Zelter had almost certainly been recommended as a teacher by his aunt Sarah Levy, who had been a pupil of W. F. Bach and a patron of C. P. E. Bach
