(Vocal group, 1960–present) In 1962, after performing as The Four Lovers, New Jersey session singers Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi plus songwriter Bob Gaudio issued a single, ‘Sherry’, as The Four Seasons. With Valli’s shrill falsetto to the fore, it was an international million-seller. Other such triumphs of the same persuasion included ‘Big ...
Composed: 1927–28 Premiered: 1934, Hartford, Connecticut Libretto by Gertrude Stein with scenario by Maurice Grosser Background The saints are introduced. Note that St Teresa of Avila is sung by two performers (soprano and contralto). Act I Seven tableaux involving St Teresa II, described as a ‘Pageant, or Sunday School Entertainment’, are revealed behind a curtain on the ...
1906–86 French cellist Fournier studied the piano, but turned to the cello after an attack of polio. He was a student and a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, and in 1943 replaced Casals in the Cortot-Thibaud-Casals piano trio. His elegant and refined playing can be heard in recordings of the Bach suites and the Dvořák Cello Concerto. Introduction | ...
(Vocal group, 1953–present) The Detroiters line-up (Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton, Renaldo Benson, Abdul Fakir) remained unchanged for 44 years. The 1960s signalled their heyday with a run of Top 10s, including No. 1s ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)’ and ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’. During the late 1960s and early 1970s their ...
(Vocal group, 1978–84, 1991–95, 2005–present) A post-punk Leeds quartet acclaimed as a major influence on twenty-first century music (e.g. Franz Ferdinand), The Gang Of Four’s often jarring sound embraced funk and reggae with lyrics concerning political and social realities. Jon King (vocals), Andy Gill (guitar), Dave Allen (bass) and Hugo Burnham (drums) made two albums before Gill ...
(An-ton’-yo Ve-val’-de) 1678–1741 Italian composer and violinist Vivaldi was born in Venice. After learning the violin with his father, and possibly other teachers too, he joined the orchestra of St Mark’s. He was ordained in 1703, later acquiring the nickname Il prete rosso (‘the Red Priest’), because of his red hair. Partly because of fragile health and partly perhaps ...
1895–1962, Norwegian Flagstad began her career singing at Stockholm Opera. She was considering retirement in 1932 when singing the role of Isolde in Oslo, but after her appearance at Bayreuth the following year, her success was immediate; she made her Met debut in 1935 at the age of 40. Following a series of triumphs, Flagstad returned to ...
(Vocal group, 1965–75) Modelled on The Beach Boys and Four Seasons, and planting feet in both the easy-listening and hippy camps, this Californian sextet’s domestic chart career began with 1966’s ‘Along Comes Mary’. Next up were ‘Cherish’ and ‘Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies’. After ‘Windy’ reached No. 1 and ‘Never My Love’ did nearly the same, The Association ...
‘Rhythm Of The Rain’, 1963 The Cascades were a white R&B/vocal group that, despite never matching the success of their first hit, ‘Rhythm Of The Rain’, continued recording until the early 1970s. It reached No. 1 in many countries, but was anchored at the No. 2 spot in the US by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons’ ‘Walk ...
Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Ulrich ‘Uli’ Jon Roth (b. 1954) began his lifelong musical journey on the trumpet, before switching to the classical guitar at the age of 13. This training, combined with his passion for classical music, would help Roth become one of the main protagonists of the neo-classical shred guitar style, later brought ...
(Vocal group, 1963–68) This Manchester group’s fifth single, ‘Um Um Um Um Um Um’, in the domestic Top 10 was harbinger of a US breakthrough with 1965’s million-selling ‘Game Of Love’. With the comparative failure of subsequent releases came a rancorous parting of singer and backing combo. The Mindbenders (with future 10cc mainstay Eric Stewart on lead vocal) made ...
The seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were infused with a spirit of scientific and philosophical enquiry. In 1722’s Traité de l’harmonie (‘Treatise on Harmony’), Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–64), who dominated French opera in the 1730s – Castor et Pollux (1737) – set out the rules of the tonal method that composers had long been developing in practice. At the same time, ...
As the 1960s approached, the controversy associated with rock’n’roll was superseded by an array of inoffensive smoothies on both sides of the atlantic. However, the ongoing popularity of artists such as Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Sam Cooke, and, in the UK, Lonnie Donegan, Billy Fury and Cliff Richard, ensured ...
The 1950s was the decade when the straitjacket imposed by the recent world war was loosened a little – and rock took full advantage. The Sun studios in Memphis and Chess Records in Chicago were the places to be as the likes of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry turned the existing generation gap into a chasm. Though he ...
In the late Baroque era music both consolidated earlier developments and looked forward to the new styles of the classical era. The output of the two greatest composers of the time, J. S. Bach and Handel, reflects the general trends in music. The main forms – notably the sonata, concerto and opera – became longer and more complex ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.