|
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera ''Peter Grimes'' (1945), the ''War Requiem'' (1962) and the orchestral showpiece ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'' (1945). Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist. He showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the ''a cappella'' choral work ''A Boy Was Born'' in 1934. With the premiere of ''Peter Grimes'' in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Britten/Archive 1
Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right")blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twelfth and youngest son overall in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He was also considered the progenitor of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. Unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph (Genesis), Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan according to biblical narrative. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, Benjamin's name appears as "" (Samaritan Hebrew: , "son of days"). In the Quran, Benjamin is referred to as a righteous young child, who remained with Jacob when the older brothers plotted against Joseph. Later rabbinic traditions name him as one of four ancient Israelites who died without sin, the other three being Chileab, Jesse (biblical figure), Jesse and Amram. Name The name is first mentioned in letters from King Sîn-kāšid of Uruk (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friday Afternoons
''Friday Afternoons'' is a collection of twelve song settings by Benjamin Britten, composed 1933–35 for the pupils of Clive House School, Prestatyn, Wales where his brother, Robert, was headmaster. Two of the songs, "Cuckoo" and "Old Abram Brown", were featured in the film '' Moonrise Kingdom''. "A New Year Carol" was included in the soundtrack of the film ''Challengers''. Composition Not long after graduating from the Royal College of Music, Britten started composing his collection of mostly unison songs (the last song, "Old Abram Brown", being in canon) to texts he selected from Walter de la Mare's anthology ''Come Hither''. Britten noted in his diary on 2 November 1933 (just over a month before his twentieth birthday) that he had composed that afternoon "a song, for R.H.M.B. & Clive House, very light & bad – 'I mun be married a Sunday'". "Ee-Oh!" followed on 19 December. There was no further mention in Britten’s diary of composing school songs until May 1934, whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions by Franz Schubert, vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 ''Lieder'' (art songs in German) and other vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. His major works include "Erlkönig (Schubert), Erlkönig", "Gretchen am Spinnrade", and "Ave Maria (Schubert), Ave Maria"; the Trout Quintet, ''Trout'' Quintet; the Symphony No. 8 (Schubert), Symphony No. 8 in B minor (''Unfinished''); the Symphony No. 9 (Schubert), Symphony No. 9 in C major (''Great''); the String Quartet No. 14 (Schubert), String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (''Death and the Maiden''); the String Quintet (Schubert), String Quintet in C major; the Impromptus (Schubert), Impromptus for solo piano; the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphony, symphonic, concerto, concertante, chamber music, chamber, operatic, and choir, choral repertoires. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Classical music, Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed Child prodigy, prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brandenburg Concertos
The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' ( BWV 1046–1051) by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). The original French title is ''Six Concerts Avec plusieurs instruments'', meaning "Six Concertos for several instruments". Some of the pieces feature several solo instruments in combination. They are widely regarded as some of the greatest orchestral compositions of the Baroque era. History It is uncertain when most of the material for the Brandenburg Concertos was written. It is clear that the first movement of Concerto No. 1 (BWV 1046) was based on an introduction to Bach's 1713 cantata '' Was mir behagt'', and the second and last may have been as well. It also seems likely that Concerto No. 5 was the last to be written; it features a prominent harpsichord part, which is presumed to be for a new instrument ordered for Prince Leopold from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, [ˈjoːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ]) ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral ''Brandenburg Concertos''; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites (Bach), cello suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Bach), sonatas and partitas for solo violin; keyboard works such as the ''Goldberg Variations'' and ''The Well-Tempered Clavier''; organ works such as the ' and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the ''St Matthew Passion'' and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Reception of Johann Sebastian Bach's music, Bach Revival, he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. The Bach family had already produced several composers when Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian Cello, cellist and conducting, conductor. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He List of compositions dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, inspired and premiered over 100 pieces, forming long-standing friendships and artistic partnerships with composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutosławski, Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Norbert Moret, Andreas Makris, Herbert Von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Aram Khachaturian, and Benjamin Britten. Rostropovich was internationally recognized as a staunch advocate of human rights, and was awarded the 1974 Award of the International League of Human Rights. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and had two daughters, Olga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osian Ellis
Osian Gwynn Ellis (8 February 1928 – 5 January 2021) was a Welsh harpist, composer and teacher. He was principal harpist of the London Symphony Orchestra, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble and a Professor of harp at the Royal Academy of Music. Many composers wrote music for him. From 1959 onwards, Ellis had a close professional partnership with Benjamin Britten that lasted to the latter's death. He was often first to perform and record Britten's works. Career Osian Gwynn Ellis was born in Ffynnongroew, Flintshire, in 1928, the son of the Rev. Tomos Ellis, a Welsh Methodist minister, and his wife Jenny (née Lewis), a harpist, and spent the first four years of his life at Llys Myfr on Llinegr Hill. As a boy Ellis was obsessed with playing the harp and playing football. In 2018 he recalled: "I chose the harp because we had one at home. My mother, Jennie, was a good amateur harpist. We did spend some years living in Denbigh and I was the goalkeeper for Denbigh Coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, particularly ''"Winterreise"'' of which his recordings with accompanists Gerald Moore and Jörg Demus are still critically acclaimed half a century after their release. Because he recorded an array of repertoire (spanning centuries), musicologist Alan Blyth asserted, "No singer in our time, or probably any other has managed the range and versatility of repertory achieved by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Opera, Lieder and oratorio in German, Italian or English came alike to him, yet he brought to each a precision and individuality that bespoke his perceptive insights into the idiom at hand." In addition, he recorded in French, Russian, Hebrew, Latin and Hungarian. He was described as "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian Bream
Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perception of the classical guitar as a respectable instrument. Over the course of a career that spanned more than half a century, Bream also helped revive interest in the lute. Early years Bream was born in Battersea, London, to Henry and Violet Jessie (née Wright) Bream. At the age of two he moved with his family to Hampton in London, where he was brought up in a musical environment. His father was a commercial artist and an amateur jazz guitarist, who was unable to read music but had a finely attuned ear and could play a lot of popular music. His mother, of Scottish descent, had a warm and loving personality, but no interest in music. His parents divorced when he was 14. His grandmother owned a pub in Battersea, and Bream spent much time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Brain
Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British French horn, horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force, playing in its Central Band of the Royal Air Force, band and orchestra. After the war, he was the principal horn of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic orchestras, and played in chamber ensembles. Among the works written for Brain is Benjamin Britten's ''Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings'' (1944). Other composers who wrote for him include Malcolm Arnold, Lennox Berkeley, Alan Bush, Gordon Jacob, Humphrey Searle and Mátyás Seiber. Brain was killed in a car crash at the age of 36. Life and career Early years Brain was born in Hammersmith, London on 17 May 1921 to a musical family. His mother, Marion, ''née'' Beeley (1887–1954), was a singer at Roy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janet Baker
Dame Janet Abbott Baker (born 21 August 1933) is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.Blyth, Alan, "Baker, Dame Janet (Abbott)" in Sadie, Stanley, ed.; John Tyrell; exec. ed. (2001). ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 2nd ed. London: Macmillan; (hardcover) (eBook). Baker is particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten. During her career, which lasted from the 1950s to the 1980s, she was considered an outstanding singing actress and widely admired for her dramatic intensity, perhaps best represented in her famous portrayal as Dido, the tragic heroine of Berlioz's magnum opus, '' Les Troyens''. As a concert performer, Baker was noted for her interpretations of the music of Gustav Mahler and Edward Elgar. David Gutman, writing in '' Gramophone'', described her performance of Mahler's '' Kindertotenlieder'' as "intimate, almost self-communing". Biography and career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
