Composed: 1974–75 Premiered: 1976, Avignon Libretto by Christopher Knowles, Lucinda Childs and Samuel M. Johnson Einstein on the Beach is divided into four acts, separated by five intermezzi, which allow for set changes. The performance is continuous and the audience are at liberty to leave and return as they wish. There is no plot, but there ...
1867–1944 American composer Beach (née Cheney) made her debut as a pianist in 1883, the year in which her first composition was published. In 1885 she married, and retired from a professional performing career. She did, however, continue to compose, writing large-scale works such as the ‘Gaelic’ Symphony in E minor op. 32 (1896) and the ...
America’s most successful pop group, graduating from fun-in-the-California-sun surf and hot-rod songs to multi-textured, intricately arranged numbers of exquisite harmonic structure, The Beach Boys initially achieved fame with a line-up consisting of the Wilson brothers, Brian (born 20 June 1942), Dennis (1944–83) and Carl (1946–98), together with their cousin Mike Love (born 15 March 1941) and Brian’s ...
The theremin (or ‘thereminvox’) is one of the earliest examples of a purely electronic instrument, and enjoys the distinction of being the first instrument designed to be played with no physical contact. The theremin was invented in 1919 by Russian cellist and physicist Lev Sergeivitch Termen (Leon Theremin). Growing out of research into proximity sensors, the theremin exploits the ...
Across the centuries and around the globe, many different forms of music have enjoyed mass appeal for a limited period of time. None, however, have been able to match the widespread influence of the popular music that erupted in America during the mid-1950s and, by the second half of the decade, was exerting its grip over ...
Composed in 1944–45 and first performed on 7 June 1945, Peter Grimes reopened London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre following the Second World War – at the request of managing director, soprano Joan Cross. This opera, and its success, provided the momentum that the post-war arts environment needed. From the moment Britten read ‘The Borough’ he began making plans ...
In 2009, London-born soul sensation Adele said that to be nominated for a Grammy Award was ‘a dream come true’ and to win two ‘blew my mind.’ Fast-forward to the 54th Grammy Awards in February 2012 and the singer was practically staggering as she posed for pictures with six further gongs. She won Record of the Year, Album ...
Alabama, who appropriately came from Fort Payne, in Alabama, emerged into the spotlight in 1980, when ‘Tennessee River’ topped the Billboard country charts. Three group members – Randy Owen (guitar, lead vocals, b. 1949), Teddy Gentry (bass, vocals, b. 1952) and Jeff Cook (keyboards, fiddle, vocals, b. 1949) – were ...
One of the founding fathers of rock’n’roll, Charles Edward (Chuck) Berry was born in 1926 in St Louis, Missouri, to a middle-class family. His interest in the blues began in high school, where he gave his first public performance. In 1944, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to three years in an Intermediate Reformatory ...
Bowie’s mega-success with his artistic low point was followed by what can only be described as a lost decade. A Homeland No. 1 At Last In 1979 Bowie had a non-album UK Top 10 hit with ‘John I’m Only Dancing (Again)’, a song that – the old rascal – bore no relation to his 1972 non-album No. 12 hit ‘John I’m ...
Many were those in 1972 who would have snorted at the idea that an artist so obsessed with superficiality and chart success would sustain a multi-decade career characterized by career-jeopardising innovation. Hours… (1999) saw Bowie co-writing with Tin Machine guitarist and subsequent frequent collaborator Reeves Gabrels. The album had originated in a commission to score a computer game called Omikron: The ...
(Guitar, b. 1937) Backed by The Del-Tones, California’s ‘King of the Surf Guitar’ dented 1962’s Hot 100 with ‘Let’s Go Trippin’’. Its immediate follow-ups – also instrumentals – were less successful, but an album, Surfer’s Choice and its ‘Miserlou’ single sold moderately well, and he appeared in associated assembly line movies such as 1963’s Beach Party. ...
Southern blues-rock guitarist Dickey Betts was born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1943. Betts was leading a group called The Second Coming when he met and jammed with the other members of what soon became The Allman Brothers Band. His role as second lead guitarist and his partnership with Duane Allman gave the band their trademark dual-lead sound, ...
(Trumpet, vocals, b. 1939) As rock’n’roll lost its way in the late 1950s, good looks replaced musical ability and Philadelphia-born Francis Avalon became a teen idol via a series of forgettable pop hits like 1959’s million-selling US No. 1, ‘Venus’. Frequent exposure on the American Bandstand TV show produced two dozen US hits by 1962, and ...
(Vocal group, 1955–65) New Yorker Lymon (1942–68) was invited to join a school vocal group with Sherman Gaines (1940–78), Jimmy Merchant, Joe Negroni and Herman Santiago. Before finding Lymon, the others, who were known as The Premiers, were working on a song they had written, but needed a soprano lead voice, a vacancy Lymon ...
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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.