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Adrian Beers
Adrian Simon Beers MBE (6 January 1916 – 8 April 2004) was a British double bass player and teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. He was a principal player in the Philharmonia Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra, and a chamber musician, notably in the Melos Ensemble that he helped found. Career Beers was born in Glasgow on 6 January 1916, the son of double bass player Aloysius "Wishy" Beers. He attended Bellahouston Academy and studied the cello, piano and double bass with his father. Deputising for him as a player in music halls, then the dominant form of popular entertainment in Britain, he gained early experience and repertoire. He won a ''Caird Scholarship'' to study at the Royal College of Music in London with Claude Hobday, where he also studied composition with Herbert Howells. He made a living by playing in the Gaiety Theatre and later the London Casino. After the war he was a member of the newly formed Philha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Member Of The Order Of The British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or a dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with the order, but are not members of it. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V, who created the order to recognise 'such persons, male or female, as may have rendered or shall hereafter render important services to Our Empire'. Equal recognition was to be given for services rendered in the UK and overseas. Today, the majority of recipients are UK citizens, though a number of Commonwealth realms outside the UK continue to make appointments to the order. Honorary awards may be made to citizens of other nations of which the order's sovereign is not the head of state. Cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Leppard
Raymond John Leppard (11 August 1927 – 22 October 2019) was a British-American conductor, harpsichordist, composer and editor. In the 1960s, he played a prime role in the rebirth of interest in Baroque music; in particular, he was one of the first major conductors to perform Baroque opera, reviving works by Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli. He conducted operas at major international opera houses and festivals, including the Glyndebourne Festival where he led the world premiere of Nicholas Maw's '' The Rising of the Moon'', the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House. He composed film scores such as ''Lord of the Flies'' and ''Alfred the Great''. Life and career Leppard (pronounced LEPP-ard) was born in London and grew up in Bath, Somerset, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School. He studied harpsichord and viola at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became interested in choral conducting. In 1952, he made his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dido And Aeneas
''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque music, Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was composed no later than July 1688, and had been performed at Josias Priest's girls' school in London by the end of 1689. Some scholars argue for a date of composition as early as 1683. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's ''Aeneid''. It recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Troy, Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in Baroque opera, ''Dido and Aeneas'' is remembered as one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works. It was also Purcell's only true opera, as well as his only all-sung dramatic work. One of the earliest known English operas, it owes much to John Blow's ''Venus and Adonis (opera), Venus and Adonis'', both in structure and in overall effect. The influence of F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer in the Origins of opera, development of opera, he is considered a crucial Transition from Renaissance to Baroque in instrumental music, transitional figure between the Renaissance music, Renaissance and Baroque music, Baroque periods of music history. Born in Cremona, where he undertook his first musical studies and compositions, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua () and then until his death in the Republic of Venice where he was ''maestro di cappella'' at the basilica of St Mark's Basilica, San Marco. His surviving letters give insight into the life of a professional musician in Italy of the period, including problems of income, patronage and politics. Much of List of compositions by Claudio Monteverdi, Monteve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this day in this way. The awards are presented by or in the name of the reigning monarch, currently King Charles III or his vice-regal representative. British honours are published in supplements to the ''London Gazette''. Honours have been awarded at New Year since at least 1890, in which year a list of Queen Victoria's awards was published by the ''London Gazette'' on 2 January. There was no honours list at New Year 1902, as a list had been published on the new King's birthday the previous November, but in January 1903 a list was again published, though including only Indian orders until 1909 (while the other orders were announced on the King's birthday in November). There were also no honours issued in 1940, due to the outbreak of the Seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodney Slatford
Rodney Slatford OBE (born 18 July 1944) is an English contemporary double bass player and teacher. He was the principal bass player of the Midland Sinfonia, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and English Chamber Orchestra, a founder of the Nash Ensemble, and has been a principal player in other early music ensembles. He is also a publisher of sheet music for double bass.International who's who in music and musicians' directory p. 599 He had studied with and wrote his obituary in '' |
Giovanni Grancino
Giovanni Grancino (1637–1709), son of Andrea Grancino, was one of the early Milanese luthiers, and may have worked with his brother, Francesco. Giovanni was the most prominent member of the family of luthiers . Other members included Andrea Grancino, Francesco Grancino, Gianbattista Grancino (or Giovanni Battista Grancino) and Paolo Grancino. Their instruments were played by Yehudi Menuhin (violin), Siegfried Palm (cello) and Adrian Beers (double bass), among others. Grancino's workshops were all located on ''Contrada Larga'', now ''Via Larga'' in Milan. His instruments bear the characteristic ''segno della corona'' (mark of the crown). Although the luthiers of Milan created instruments of varying quality, Grancino's violins, violas, cellos and double basses are considered superior. Grancino used a varnish which was a finely textured clear yellow to pale brown color. Grancino's early instrument patterns and designs were influenced by Niccolò Amati of Cremona, whose impressive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snape Maltings
Britten Pears Arts is a large music education organisation based in Suffolk, England. It aims to continue the legacy of composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, singer Peter Pears, and to promote the enjoyment and experience of music for all. It is a registered charity. The charity manages two historic locations on the Suffolk coast: Snape Maltings Concert Hall, a converted Victorian malting building on the edge of the River Alde in the village of Snape, Suffolk, and The Red House, the former home of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. The organisation was founded by Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier in 1947 as an organisation to present the first Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts in 1948. Each year Britten Pears Arts promotes the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts, the Snape Proms, concert series at Easter and October, together with a year-round performance programme at Snape Maltings Concert Hall and other venues on the Snape site. The Britt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amadeus Quartet
The Amadeus Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1947 and disbanded in 1987, having retained its founding members throughout its history. Noted for its smooth, sophisticated style, its seamless ensemble playing, and its sensitive interpretation, the quartet has often been seen as working within an Austrian tradition. However, it was formed and based in the United Kingdom. History Because of their Jewish origin, the violinists Norbert Brainin (12 March 1923 – 10 April 2005), Siegmund Nissel (3 January 1922 – 21 May 2008) and Peter Schidlof (9 July 1922 – 16 August 1987; later violist) were driven out of Vienna after Hitler's Anschluss of 1938. Brainin and Schidlof met in a British internment camp at Prees Heath before being transferred to the Isle of Man; many Jewish refugees were confined by the British as "enemy aliens" upon seeking refuge in the UK. Brainin was released after a few months, but Schidlof remained in the camp, where he met Nissel. Finally Schidlo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trout Quintet
The ''Trout Quintet'' (''Forellenquintett'') is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death. Rather than the usual piano quintet ensemble of piano and string quartet, the ''Trout Quintet'' is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass. According to Schubert's friend Albert Stadler, it was modelled on an arrangement of Johann Nepomuk Hummel's then-popular Septet in D Minor for Flute, Oboe, Horn, Viola, Cello, Bass and Piano, Op. 74. That arrangement, using the same, somewhat unusual instrumentation chosen by Schubert, had been published in Vienna in about 1817, only a few years before the composition of the ''Trout Quintet''. It may also have been influenced by Hummel's Quintet in E flat minor, Op. 87 . Nickname The piece is known as the ''Trout'' because the fourth movement is a set of variation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldeburgh Festival
The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival The Festival was founded in 1948 by the composer Benjamin Britten, the singer Peter Pears and the librettist/producer Eric Crozier.Aldeburgh Town Council . Retrieved 7 March 2019.Archives Hub . Retrieved 7 March 2019. Their work with the English Opera Group (which they had founded with designer John Piper (artist), John Piper in 1947) frequently took them away from home, and it was while they w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Weil
Terence Weil (9 December 1921 in London – 25 February 1995 in Figueras) was a British cellist, principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music. Career Herbert Walenn was Weil's cello teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. After the war he joined a string quartet formed by the violinist Emanuel Hurwitz, a friend and colleague. He was also principal cello of chamber orchestras such as the Goldsbrough Orchestra (later known as the English Chamber Orchestra, or ECO), and was an outstanding continuo cellist. Together with clarinettist Gervase de Peyer and violist Cecil Aronowitz, he helped found the Melos Ensemble in 1950. He was its principal cellist for decades, and Aronowitz its principal violist. Bassoonist William Waterhouse wrote in 1995: "It was the remarkable rapport between this pair of lower strings, which remained constant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
