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A Fugal Overture
''A Fugal Overture'', Op. 40/1, H 151, is a short (approximately 5 minutes) concert overture for full orchestra by the English composer Gustav Holst. It was written in 1922 and first performed in 1923, and is a very early example of musical neoclassicism. Though there were conflicting opinions from Holst's contemporaries about the work's merits, it has since come to be considered an attractive and exciting, if slight, example of Holst's later style. Scoring The ''Fugal Overture'' is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets in B♭, bass clarinet, two bassoons, double bassoon, four horns in F, three trumpets in C, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (one or two players), and strings. There is an arrangement for piccolo, flute, oboe, cor anglais, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, and strings; also a two-piano reduction. Composition and early performances Holst began to write the ''Fugal Overture'' in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overture
Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which were independent, self-existing, instrumental, programmatic works that foreshadowed genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme". The idea of an instrumental opening to opera existed during the 17th century. Peri's '' Euridice'' opens with a brief instrumental ritornello, and Monteverdi's '' L'Orfeo'' (1607) opens with a toccata, in this case a fanfare for muted trumpets. More important was the prologue, consisting of sung dialogue between allegorical characters which introduced the overarching themes of the stories depicted. French overture As a musical form, the French overture first appears in the court ballet and operatic overtures of Jean-Baptist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyrita
Lyrita is a British classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.Lewis Foreman. ''Recording British Music'' (2024), ch. 17, pp. 223-233 Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard Itter (5 April 1928 – 1 March 2014) of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, was a businessman and record collector. Having heard many poor records, he determined to make only good ones. Lyrita concentrated on the work of United Kingdom composers. At first, this consisted of the piano music of Arnold Bax, Gordon Jacob, E.J. Moeran, and Michael Tippett amongst others. The earliest recordings were made in the music room of Itter's home. Itter was responsible for the engineering, production, and editing of the recordings. If he managed to sell 100 copies Itter would have been able to break even. RCS.2 was the first catalog number, and Gordon Jacob wrote a composition specifically fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Ottaway
Hugh Ottaway (27 July 1925 – 6 November 1979) was a prominent British writer and lecturer on classical music. Ottaway studied history at Exeter University (then the University of the South-West) from 1944. His career began as a teacher, freelance writer and from the 1950s as a presenter of musical talks on BBC Radio. His most significant contributions to music criticism were as a commentator on that portion of twentieth-century music which retained an allegiance to tonality; thus Nielsen, Shostakovich, Sibelius and William Walton featured largely in his output. Ottaway was especially associated with British composers such as Edmund Rubbra and Robert Simpson, and a staunch supporter of the politically active Alan Bush. But David Scott has pointed out that he "was not limited by a nationalist outlook. His ability to view English composition in a broader context also made his reviews valuable".Scott, David. 'Ottaway, Hugh', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001) He died in M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Mann (critic)
William Somervell Mann (14 February 19245 September 1989) was an English music critic. Born in India, he was educated at Winchester College, Winchester and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, studying music with several prominent composers, before taking up a career as a critic. For most of his career he was on the staff of ''The Times'' in London, where his radical views were in contrast with the paper's traditional outlook. He published many books and articles in musical journals. After leaving ''The Times'' Mann was director of the Bath International Music Festival, Bath Festival for a year. Life and career Mann was born in Madras, India,Sadie, Stanley"Mann, William S." ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 2 March 2012 the son of Gerald and Joyce Mann."Mann, William Somervell" ''Who Was Who'', A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German classical music, German-dominated style of the 19th century. Vaughan Williams was born to a well-to-do family with strong moral views and a progressive social outlook. Throughout his life he sought to be of service to his fellow citizens, and believed in making music as available as possible to everybody. He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–1908 with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music and free it from Music of Germany, Teutonic inf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imogen Holst
Imogen Clare Holst (; 12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and festival administrator. The only child of the composer Gustav Holst, she is particularly known for her educational work at Dartington Hall in the 1940s, and for her 20 years as joint artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival. In addition to composing music, she wrote composer biographies, much educational material, and several books on the life and works of her father. From a young age, Holst showed precocious talent in composing and performance. After attending Eothen School and St Paul's Girls' School, she entered the Royal College of Music, where she developed her skills as a conductor and won several prizes for composing. Unable to follow her initial ambitions to be a pianist or a dancer for health reasons, Holst spent most of the 1930s teaching, and as a full-time organiser for the English Folk Dance and Song Society. These duties reduced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dyneley Hussey
Dyneley Hussey (27 February 1893 – 6 September 1972) was an English war poet, journalist, art critic and music critic. Life Hussey was born in Deolali, India, the son of Colonel Charles Edward Hussey. He was educated at St Cyprian's School Eastbourne, The King's School Canterbury and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He served in World War I as a lieutenant in the Thirteenth Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, and published a book of war poems. Two of his most celebrated war poems are "An Oxford Retrospect" and "Courage". He then spent five years in the finance department at the Admiralty. After his time as a civil servant Hussey worked at the National Gallery and began to establish himself as an author and journalist. He was writing art criticism by 1923. However his main interest was music, especially Italian opera. He was music critic for ''The Times'' from 1923 to 1946 and also wrote successively for the '' Saturday Review'', '' Weekend Review'', and the ''Spectator''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Fugal Concerto
''A Fugal Concerto'' (Op. 40, no. 2; H 152) by the English composer Gustav Holst is a short concerto in three movements for flute, oboe and string orchestra. It was composed and first performed in 1923. Influenced by the counterpoint of J. S. Bach, it is an early example of neoclassicism. Early reviews of the concerto were mixed, but it has since come to be seen as an attractive, if slight, example of Holst's neoclassical style, and it has been recorded many times. Composition The ''Fugal Concerto'' was composed while Holst was convalescing from a serious fall in which he had struck his head, and from a subsequent nervous breakdown. Having previously committed himself to conduct his own works at the University of Michigan, he embarked for America on the RMS ''Aquitania'' in April 1923, two months after the accident, and began a draft of what he called "The World's Shortest Concerto" (it is about 8 minutes long) during the voyage. He completed the work in the university l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (founded in 1821), are published by Times Media, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, in turn wholly owned by News Corp. ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' were founded independently and have had common ownership only since 1966. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. ''The Times'' was the first newspaper to bear that name, inspiring numerous other papers around the world. In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as or , although the newspaper is of national scope and distribution. ''The Times'' had an average daily circulation of 365,880 in March 2020; in the same period, ''The Sunday Times'' had an average weekly circulation of 647,622. The two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Musical Times
''The Musical Times'' was an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular'', but in 1844 he sold it to Alfred Novello (who also founded '' The Musical World'' in 1836), and it was published monthly by Novello and Co. (also owned by Alfred Novello at the time). It first appeared as ''The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular'', a name which was retained until 1903. From the very beginning, every issue – initially just eight pages – contained a simple piece of choral music (alternating secular and sacred), which choral society members subscribed to collectively for the sake of the music. Its title was shortened to its present name from January 1904. Even during World War II it continued to be published regularly, making it the world's oldest continuously published periodical devoted to western classical music. In 1947 a two volume compila ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egdon Heath (Holst)
''Egdon Heath'', Op. 47, H. 172, subtitled "A Homage to Thomas Hardy", is a tone poem by Gustav Holst, written in 1927. Holst considered it his most perfectly realised composition. Composition Egdon Heath is a fictional place in the equally fictional Thomas Hardy's Wessex, region of Wessex in the south-west of England, where Thomas Hardy set all his major works. The novel ''The Return of the Native'' is entirely set on Egdon Heath, and it is also referred to in ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' and the short story ''The Withered Arm''. During the writing of the tone poem, Holst met and walked with Hardy on a real heath reminiscent of Egdon Heath, between Wool, Dorset, Wool and Bere Regis in Dorset. Hardy accepted Holst's dedication of the piece to him in August 1927. Holst included a quotation from ''The Return of the Native'' at the head of the score. He expressed the desire that the Hardy quote always appear in programme notes. Holst calls for a normal orchestra but with extra str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century classical music, composers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in modernism (music), modernist music. Born to a musical family in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Stravinsky grew up taking piano and music theory lessons. While studying law at the Saint Petersburg State University, University of Saint Petersburg, he met Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and studied music under him until the latter's death in 1908. Stravinsky met the impresario Sergei Diaghilev soon after, who commissioned the composer to write three ballets for the Ballets Russes's Paris seasons: ''The Firebird'' (1910), ''Petrushka (ballet), Petrushka'' (1911), and ''The Rite of Spring'' (1913), the last of which caused a List of classical music concerts with an unruly audience respons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
