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Salle Gaveau
The Salle Gaveau, named after the French piano maker Gaveau, is a classical concert hall in Paris, located at 45-47 rue La Boétie, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It is particularly intended for chamber music. Construction The plans for the hall were drawn up by Jacques Hermant in 1905, the year the land was acquired. The construction of the Gaveau building took place from 1906 to 1907. The vocation of this hall was chamber music from the beginning, and its seating capacity was a thousand, just as it is today. The hall was home to a large organ built in 1900 by the Cavaillé-Coll, Mutin-Cavaillé-Coll firm. This instrument with 39 stops (8 on the positive, 12 on the recitative, 12 on the grand organ and 7 on the pedal) was subsequently installed in 1957 in the commune of Saint-Saëns in Normandy. The hall is a concert venue renowned for its exceptional acoustics. Beginnings The hall opened its doors on 3 October 1907 for the concert of the Lehrergesangverein (Teachers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Hermant
__NOTOC__ Jacques-René Hermant (7 May 1855 in Paris, France – 5 June 1930 in France) was a French architect, one of the most renowned architects of fin-de-siècle Paris. Biography Jacques-René Hermant was born in Paris on 7 May 1855, the son of the architect Achille Hermant (1823–1903). Hermant attended secondary school at Lycée Bonaparte (now Lycée Condorcet). He was educated at the École des Beaux-Arts, under Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer. He was a rationalist architect, but was a strong advocate for the neoromanticism style of the time, preferably the style of ''Louis XIII''. Hermant advocated for concrete construction and erected two of the first reinforced concrete buildings in Paris, collaborating with the French engineer Edmond Coignet (1856–1915), who patented his system in 1892. Hermant was a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and served as chief architect for the city. He employed the Danish architect Hack Kampmann during Kampmann's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals, ''The New York Times'', 1911-04-09, retrieved 1 August 2009 was a Spanish and Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican cellist, composer, and conductor. He made many recordings throughout his career of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, including some as conductor, but he is perhaps best remembered for the recordings he made of the Cello Suites (Bach), Cello Suites by Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy (though the ceremony was presided over by Lyndon B. Johnson). Biography Childhood and early years Casals was born in El Vendrell, Catalonia, Spain. His f ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century. Early life, childhood debut, and education Serkin was born in then Eger, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Czech Republic), to a Russian Jewish family. His father, Mordko Serkin, "had been a Russian basso, and taught him to read music before he could read words." Hailed as a child prodigy, he was sent to Vienna at the age of 9, where he studied piano with Richard Robert and, later, composition with Joseph Marx, making his public debut with the Vienna Philharmonic at 12. From 1918 to 1920 he studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg and participated actively in Schoenberg's Society for the Private Performance of Music. Career Serkin began a regular concert career in 1920, living in Berlin with the German violinist Adolf Busch and his family, which included a then-3-year-old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wanda Landowska
Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century. She was the first person to record Johann Sebastian Bach's ''Goldberg Variations'' on the harpsichord in 1933. She became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. Life and career Life in Europe Landowska was born in Warsaw to Jewish parents. Her father was a lawyer, and her mother was a linguist who translated Mark Twain into Polish. She began playing piano at the age of four, and studied at the Warsaw Conservatory with the senior Jan Kleczyński and Aleksander Michałowski. She was considered a child prodigy.Kottick, Edward L. ''A History of the Harpsichord, Volume 1''. Indiana University Press, 2003. pg. 425 She studied composition and counterpoint under Heinrich Urban in Berlin, and had lessons in Paris with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Munch (conductor)
Charles Munch (; born Karl Münch; 26 September 1891 – 6 November 1968) was an Alsacian French symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Life and career Munch was born in 1891 in Strasbourg, Alsace. The son of organist and choir director Ernst Münch, he was the fifth of six children. He was the brother of conductor Fritz Münch and the cousin of conductor and composer Hans Münch. Although his first ambition was to be a locomotive engineer, he studied violin at the Strasbourg Conservatory. His father, Ernst, was a professor of organ at the conservatory and performed at the cathedral; he also directed an orchestra with his son Charles in the second violins. After receiving his diploma in 1912, Charles studied with Carl Flesch in Berlin and Lucien Capet at the Conservatoire de Paris. He was conscripted into the German army in World War I, serving as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interwar Period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II (WWII). It was relatively short, yet featured many social, political, military, and economic changes throughout the world. Petroleum-based energy production and associated mechanisation led to the prosperous Roaring Twenties, a time of social mobility, social and economic mobility for the middle class. Automobiles, electric lighting, radio, and more became common among populations in the developed world, first world. The era's indulgences were followed by the Great Depression, an unprecedented worldwide economic downturn that severely damaged many of the world's largest economies. Politically, the era coincided with the rise of communism, starting in Russia with the October Revolution and Russian Civil War, at the end of WWI, and ended with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claude Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born to a family of modest means and little cultural involvement, Debussy showed enough musical talent to be admitted at the age of ten to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris. He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 when he achieved international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, ''Pelléas et Mélisande (opera), Pelléas et Mélisande''. Debussy's orchestral works include ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (1894), ''Nocturnes (Debussy), Nocturnes'' (1897–1899 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Backhaus
Wilhelm Backhaus ('Bachaus' on some record labels) (26 March 1884 – 5 July 1969) was a German pianist and pedagogue. He was particularly well known for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. He was also much admired as a chamber musician. Musical biography Born in Leipzig, Backhaus was the son of a well-known architect. He began learning piano at the age of four with his mother, an amateur pianist. The boy's talent was soon recognized by Arthur Nikisch, at whose recommendation Backhaus studied under Alois Reckendorf at the Leipzig Conservatory between 1891 and 1899, then took private piano lessons with Eugen d'Albert in Frankfurt. As a boy of 9 or 10 he was taken to hear both of the Brahms piano concertos performed by d'Albert — and conducted by Brahms himself. He made his first concert tour at the age of sixteen. In 1900 he went to England and in 1901 played for the first time in Manchester at the Gentleman's Concerts. In 1902 he performed a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritz Kreisler
Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing, with marked portamento and rubato. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately recognizable as his own. Although it derived in many respects from the Franco-Belgian school, his style is nonetheless reminiscent of the '' gemütlich'' (cozy) lifestyle of pre-war Vienna. Biography Kreisler was born in Vienna, the son of Anna (née Reches) and Samuel Kreisler, a doctor. Of Jewish descent, he was however baptised at the age of 12. At age seven, Kreisler entered the Vienna Conservatory where he studied under Anton Bruckner, Jakob Dont and Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., and studied composition and violin at the Paris Conservatory between 1885 and 1887, where his teachers included Léo Delibes, Lambert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Enesco
George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, teacher and statesman. He is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history. Biography Enescu was born in Romania, in the village of Liveni (later renamed "George Enescu" in his honor), then in Dorohoi County, today Botoșani County. His father was Costache Enescu, a landholder, and his mother was Maria Enescu (née Cosmovici), the daughter of an Orthodox priest. Their eighth child, he was born after all the previous siblings had died in infancy. His father later separated from Maria Enescu and had another son with Maria Ferdinand-Suschi: the painter Dumitru Bâșcu. A child prodigy, Enescu began experimenting with composing at an early age. Several, mostly very short, pieces survive, all for violin and piano. The earliest work of significant length bears the title ''Pămînt românesc'' ("Romanian Land"), and is inscribed "opus for p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encyclopædia Universalis
The ''Encyclopædia Universalis'' is a French-language general encyclopedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company. The articles of the ''Encyclopædia Universalis'' are aimed at educated adult readers, and written by a staff of full-time editors and expert contributors. History The Encyclopædia Universalis was originally published by the publishing company Encyclopædia Universalis SA. This company was created in 1966 by a specialist in publishing and selling books and collections by mail order, the French Book Club (CFL), owned by the Aubry family, as well as Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. (publisher of the Encyclopædia Britannica), the most famous English-language encyclopedia, owned at the time by the Foundation of the University of Chicago. This joint ventureà 50/50 was intended to combine the skills of the two shareholders in each of the two forms of distribution then essential for encyclopedias: mail order on the one hand and door- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marguerite Long
Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long (13 November 1874 – 13 February 1966) was a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music. Life Early life: 1874–1900 Marguerite Long was born to Pierre Long and Anne Marie Antoinette on November 13, 1874, in Nîmes, an old Roman town in the south of France. Long's parents were not musicians, but her mother highly emphasized the importance of music and "little Marguerite was not allowed to play wrong notes." Her sister, Claire Long, eight years older, was actually the person who influenced her in the pursuit of music. In 1883, when Marguerite was seventeen, Claire was appointed Professor of Piano at the Nîmes conservatory and Marguerite entered her sister's class for academic and musical studies. In 1886, shortly after receiving a Prix d’Honneur at the Nîmes Conservatory, Marguerite gave her first public performance at the age of eleven, performing Mozart's D Minor Concerto with orchestra. After her debut, comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
