While composing for the Earl of Carnarvon at Cannons, Handel was the musical contributor to a distinguished literary circle including the poets John Gay, Alexander Pope (1688–1744) and John Hughes (1677–1720). It is believed that all three authors contributed to the libretto of Acis and Galatea, which was given a private staged performance that probably required only a ...
(Fran-cha’-sko Lan-de’-ne) c. 1325–97 Italian composer Blind as the result of an attack of smallpox as a young child, Landini turned to music, learning to play the organ and several other instruments. He also sang and wrote poetry. Over 150 musical works by him survive, forming over one quarter of the known repertory of the fourteenth century. Most of ...
1563–1626 English composer and lutenist Dowland was the greatest lute-song composer of the early seventeenth century. His conversion to Catholicism in the early 1580s may have contributed to his lack of professional success. Twice disappointed in applications for a post at court, he travelled and then worked on the continent. By November 1598 he was employed at the court of ...
(An-dra’-a Gab-re-a’-le) c. 1510–86 Italian composer After spending some time in Munich as a colleague of Lassus, Gabrieli became maestro di cappella at St Mark’s, Venice in 1566. There, with the resources of its great choir at his disposal, he composed an impressive repertory of music for various combinations of voices and instruments. His style – in sacred ...
1583–1625 English composer Although he made his living as a keyboard player, it is for his vocal music that Gibbons is best remembered. His anthems, for combinations of soloist, choir and instruments, are still heard in churches and concert halls. In the simple but deeply moving This is the Record of John, a five-part chorus echoes ...
(Or-land’ de Las’soos) 1532–94 Franco-Flemish composer Lassus went to Italy at the age of 12 as a singer in the choir of Ferrante Gonzaga, a minor member of the important family of music patrons who ruled the duchy of Mantua. He spent the next 10 years in Italy, travelling to Naples and then Rome, where for a time he ...
A blues guitarist best known for his slide-guitar work, Sonny Landreth (b. 1951) was born in Canton, Mississippi. The family relocated to Lafayette, Louisiana, where Sonny was immersed in the area’s swamp-pop and Zydeco music. Beginning as a trumpeter, he was already a virtuoso guitarist in his teens. His earliest role model was Scotty Moore, ...
Classical-guitar legend Andrés Segovia (1894–1987) was born in the city of Linares, Spain and reared in Granada. He received musical instruction at an early age and was tutored in piano and violin but warmed to neither. When he heard the guitar in the home of a friend, however, he was hooked. Disregarding the objections of his family and ...
Jazz and fusion guitarist Stanley Jordan (b. 1959) caught listeners’ attention with his touch technique, an advanced form of two-handed tapping, for playing guitar. By quickly tapping (or ‘hammering’) his finger down behind the appropriate fret with varying force, Jordan produced a unique legato sound not usually associated with tapping. Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois. He ...
Johnny Hiland (b. 1975) is one of the top guitarists to emerge from the Nashville music scene in recent years. His playing combines country chicken pickin’ with elements of blues, metal and jazz. Often compared to Danny Gatton, Hiland displays an amazing vocabulary as he plays seemingly effortlessly onstage. His skill is also noteworthy because he is legally blind ...
Randy Rhoads (1956–82) had a career that lasted only six years. He played with Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne before dying in a plane crash in 1982. But his guitar style, which included classical influences, opened up new directions in heavy metal, and he was an acknowledged influence on a subsequent generation of guitarists, including Zakk Wylde. ...
Jakey Lou Williams (b. 1957) was born in Norfolk, Virginia. His father was a member of the US Navy, which meant frequent relocation. Finally, however, the Williams family settled down in San Diego, California, where Jake began taking classical piano lessons. But, upon hearing his older sister’s Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Black ...
Davey Johnstone (b. 1951) rocketed to fame with the Rocket Man himself, Elton John, as the former Reg Dwight exploded on to the music scene in the early 1970s, rising from thoughtful love balladeer to raucous glam rocker/showman to international pop-music institution and legend. Except for a short period from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, ...
One of the greatest achievements any guitar player can attain is an immediately recognizable signature tone and style. And though many guitarists have realized this goal, few have done it as emphatically as Police guitarist Andy Summers (b. 1942). From the chord stabs of ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ to the arpeggios of ‘Message In A Bottle’ ...
(Yo’-han Kas’-pâr Far’-de-nant Fish’-er) 1656–1746 German composer Fischer, who was Hofkapellmeister at the court of Baden, contributed to the dissemination of Lully’s French orchestral style with his eight suites published as Le journal du printemps (‘Spring Diary’, 1685). These follow the seventeenth-century French practice of five-part string writing, with the addition of two trumpets. Fischer was an imaginative keyboard composer ...
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