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Edmund Kurtz
Edmund Kurtz (29 December 190819 August 2004) was a Russian-born cellist and music editor. He was renowned for his "impeccable technique", "innate musicality", and his "rich tone", with a "warm, sensuous quality that seldom loses its luster". In a career spanning 60 years, he performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. His edition of Bach's Suites for solo cello, drawn upon facsimiles of the manuscript of Anna Magdalena Bach and showing them opposite each page, is recognized as one of his greatest achievements, and was described as "the most important edition of the greatest music ever written for the instrument". Early life and education Edmund Kurtz was born to a musical family in Saint Petersburg on 29 December 1908. In 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, his family moved to Germany. That same year, Kurtz, aged 9, began to learn the cello. When he was 13, he began studies with Julius Klengel. Klengel later wrote about his pupil: "In spite of his youth, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the Saint Petersburg metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Saint Petersburg is the List of European cities by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in Europe, the List of cities and towns around the Baltic Sea, most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's List of northernmost items#Cities and settlements, northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As the former capital of the Russian Empire, and a Ports of the Baltic Sea, historically strategic port, it is governed as a Federal cities of Russia, federal city. The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cello Concerto (Dvořák)
The Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, is the last solo concerto by Antonín Dvořák. It was written in 1894 for his friend, the cellist Hanuš Wihan, but was premiered in London on March 19, 1896, by the English cellist Leo Stern. Structure The piece is scored for a full romantic orchestra (with the exception of a fourth horn), containing two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle (last movement only), and strings, and is in the standard three-movement concerto format: Total duration: approximately 40 minutes. History In 1865, early in his career, Dvořák started a Cello Concerto in A major (B. 10). The piece was written for Ludevít Peer, whom he knew well from the Provisional Theatre Orchestra in which they both played. He handed the cello score (with piano accompaniment) over to Peer for review but neither bothered to finish the pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study of Johannes Ockeghem (1953), and ''Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music'' (1974). Krenek wrote two pieces using the pseudonym Thornton Winsloe. Life Born Ernst Heinrich Křenek in Vienna (then in Austria-Hungary), he was the son of a Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army. He studied there and in Berlin with Franz Schreker before working in a number of German opera houses as conductor. During World War I, Krenek was drafted into the Austrian army, but he was stationed in Vienna, allowing him to go on with his musical studies. In 1922 he met Alma Mahler, widow of Gustav Mahler, and her daughter, Anna, to whom he dedicated his Symphony No. 2, and whom he married in January 1924. That marriage ended in divorce before its first anniversary. At ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian Violin, violinist, Conducting, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century. Joachim studied violin early, beginning in Buda at age five, then in Vienna and Leipzig. He made his debut in London in 1844, playing Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto (Beethoven), Violin Concerto, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting. He returned to London many times throughout life. After years of teaching at the Leipzig Conservatory and playing as principal violinist of the Gewandhausorchester, he moved to Weimar in 1848, where Franz Liszt established cultural life. From 1852, Joachim served at the court of Hanover, playing principal violin in the opera and conducting concerts, with months of free time in summer for concert tours. In 1853, he was invited by Robert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Hausmann
Robert Hausmann (13 August 185218 January 1909) was a notable 19th-century German cellist who premiered important works by Johannes Brahms (including the Double Concerto) and Max Bruch (including ''Kol Nidrei''). He was the cellist for the Joachim Quartet and taught at the Berlin Königliche Hochschule für Müsik. Biography Robert Hausmann was born in Rottleberode, Harz, in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. His paternal grandfather, Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1782-1859) was a Professor of Mineralogy at the University of Göttingen, and his father Friedrich Ludolf Hausmann (1810-1880) was also involved in mining in the mineral-rich Harz mountains. The Hausmann family had played a prominent role in civic and cultural life of the city of Hanover since the eighteenth century. Robert's great-uncle Bernhard (1784-1873) was an important art collector and amateur violinist whose memoirs''Erinnerungen aus dem 80 jährigen Leben eines hannoverschen Burgers Hannover''(1873) provide a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', as well as the colloquial ''Strad'' are terms often used to refer to his instruments. It is estimated that Stradivari produced 1,116 instruments, of which 960 were violins. Around 650 instruments survive, including 450 to 512 violins. His instruments are considered some of the finest ever made, and are extremely valuable collector's items. Biography Family and early life Antonio Stradivari's birthdate, presumably between 1644 and 1649, has been debated amongst historians due to the numerous inconsistencies in the evidence of the latter. The 1668 and 1678 censuses report him actually growing younger, a fact explained by the probable loss of statistics from 1647 to 1649, when renewed belligerency between France's Modenese and Spain's Milanese proxies led to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artur Balsam
Artur Balsam (February 8, 1906 – September 1, 1994) was a Polish-born American classical pianist and pedagogue. Biography He was born in Warsaw, Poland, and studied in Łódź, making his debut there at the age of 12 then enrolled at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and studied with Artur Schnabel and Curt Boerner. In 1930 he won the Berlin International Piano Competition and obtained the prestigious Mendelssohn Prize in chamber music the following year with Roman Totenberg. In 1932 he made a tour of the United States with Yehudi Menuhin. With the rise of the Nazis, Balsam settled in New York City, where he became the accompanist of choice for international artists, including Henri Temianka, with whom he performed twice in 1945 at Carnegie Hall, Zino Francescatti, David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Oscar Shumsky, Isaac Stern, Zara Nelsova, Joseph Fuchs, Lillian Fuchs, Michael Rabin, Ida Haendel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Nathan Milstein, Roman Totenberg, among many others. He becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cello Sonata (Prokofiev)
The Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 119, was composed by Sergei Prokofiev in 1949. The year before, Prokofiev was accused of formalism by the Zhdanov Decree and much of his music was banned. However, he continued to compose music, though he was not sure if his new works would ever be performed in public. In 1949, Prokofiev attended a concert in which Mstislav Rostropovich performed Nikolai Miaskovsky's Cello Sonata No. 2 in A minor, Op. 81. Prokofiev was so impressed by Rostropovich's performance that he was determined to write a cello sonata for him. At the same time, Prokofiev wrote the symphonic suite ''Winter Bonfire'', Op. 122, the ballet '' The Tale of the Stone Flower'', Op. 118, and the '' Pushkin Waltzes'', Op. 120. The Cello Sonata was published in Moscow in 1951. Structure The sonata is structured in three movements: A typical performance lasts for about 25 minutes. Performance The work was premiered on 1 March 1950, in the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area and has a national audience. As of 2023, the ''Post'' had 130,000 print subscribers and 2.5 million digital subscribers, both of which were the List of newspapers in the United States, third-largest among U.S. newspapers after ''The New York Times'' and ''The Wall Street Journal''. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. In 1933, financier Eugene Meyer (financier), Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy and revived its health and reputation; this work was continued by his successors Katharine Graham, Katharine and Phil Graham, Meyer's daughter and son-in-law, respectively, who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Page (music Critic)
Tim Page (born ''Ellis Batten Page Jr.''; 11 October 1954) is an American writer, music critic, editor, producer and professor who won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for his music criticism for ''The Washington Post''. Anthony Tommasini, the chief music critic for ''The New York Times'', has praised Page's criticism for its "extensive knowledge of cultural history, especially literature; the instincts and news sense of a sharp beat reporter; the skills of a good storyteller; infectious inquisitiveness; immunity to dogma; and an always-running pomposity detector". Other notable writings by Page include his biography of the novelist Dawn Powell, which is credited for helping to spark the revival of Powell's work, and a memoir that chronicles growing up with undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder. Biography Early life and education Page was born in San Diego, California to Elizabeth Latimer Thaxton Page, a homemaker and former journalist, and Ellis Batten Page, a professor of educational ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Kapell
Oscar William Kapell (September 20, 1922 – October 29, 1953) was an American classical pianist. ''The Washington Post'' described him as "America's first great pianist", while ''The New York Times'' described him as "one of the last century's great geniuses of the keyboard" and ''Times'' critic and pianist Michael Kimmelman, writing in ''The New York Review of Books'', remarked: "Was there any greater American pianist born during the last century than Kapell? Perhaps not." In 1953, at age 31, Kapell died in the crash of BCPA Flight 304 while returning from a concert tour in Australia. Biography William Kapell was born in New York City on September 20, 1922, and grew up in the eastside neighborhood of Yorkville, Manhattan, where his parents owned a Lexington Avenue bookstore. His father was of Spanish-Russian Jewish ancestry and his mother of Polish descent.Tim Page"William Kapell's Piano Benchmark" ''The Washington Post'', September 27, 1998 (at williamkapell.com). Dorothea A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romantic music, Romanticism in Russian classical music. Early influences of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way to a thoroughly personal idiom notable for its song-like melody, melodicism, Music#Expression, expressiveness, dense Counterpoint, contrapuntal textures, and rich Orchestration, orchestral colours. The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output and he used his skills as a performer to fully explore the expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument. Born into a musical family, Rachmaninoff began learning the piano at the age of four. He studied piano and composition at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
