(Kle’-menz nôn Pa’-pa) c. 1510–55 Franco-Flemish composer His given name was Jacob Clemens, and it is not known how he came to be called Clemens non Papa (one translation of ‘non papa’ is ‘not the pope’ – a rather unlikely mistake). He composed some works in his native Dutch, the best-known of which are the souterliedekens. These three-voice, ...
(To-ma’-zo Al-be-no’-ne) 1671–1751 Italian composer Albinoni considered himself a dilettante, depending for a living neither on the success of his compositions nor on his ability as a performer. Although he was a prolific composer of operas, several of which were performed outside Italy, Albinoni is recognized chiefly for his concertos, the first of which (op. 2, 1700) ...
(Jo-van’-e Bo-non-che’ne) 1670–1747 Italian composer Bononcini came from a musical family in Modena; his father Giovanni Maria was the maestro di cappella of Modena Cathedral and his younger brother, Antonio Maria, was a talented cellist and composer. The younger Giovanni was also a cellist and studied music in Bologna. He worked in Milan, then Rome – where he wrote ...
(Vocals, banjo, jug, kazoo, guitar, fiddle, piano, 1885–1979) A pioneering bluesman who became a central figure in the Memphis jug band scene, Gus Cannon may have been the first blues recording artist, if tales of music he recorded as early as 1898 are true. However, no documentary evidence of Cannon recordings ...
(Trumpet, vocals, 1884–1954) Oscar ‘Papa’ Celestin was a much-loved New Orleans fixture, who started out with the Algiers Brass Band, under Henry Allen Sr. at the turn of the century. In 1910 he founded the Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra with trombonist William ‘Baba’ Ridgley. Celestin recorded with OKeh and Columbia in the mid-1920s, and his recordings ...
(Vocals, banjo, c. 1890–1938) New Orleans-born Charlie Jackson brought a jazzman’s sophistication to an instrument still too often overlooked by blues historians. He alternated single-string solos with percussive chording and dexterous fingerpicking, allowing him to bridge styles and genres with rare facility. He released more than 60 sides of his own, and he also recorded with Freddie ...
(Trumpet, vocals, 1900–82) Born in New Orleans, Joseph ‘Wingy’ Manone’s rousing trumpet and gravelly vocals were (as with his fellow Italian-American, Louis Prima) confidently cast from the Armstrong matrix. After scoring a hit with ‘Isle Of Capri’ in 1935, he became a fixture on New York’s 52nd Street before moving to California in 1940 to join ...
(Vocals, 1913–69) Raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Wynonie Harris first came to prominence in the Lucky Millinder Orchestra of 1944, where he had a number-one Race Chart hit, ‘Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well’. A leather-lunged shouter in the Big Joe Turner tradition, Harris had a long successful run on King records (1947–57), which produced ...
(Alto saxophone, 1928–75) Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley and his brother, trumpeter Nat, presided over one of the 1960s’ hippest hard-bop outfits with pianist Joe Zawinul; ‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy’ was one of their crossover hits. Adderley had been employed as a Florida school band director when he was overheard at a New York gig and was encouraged by ...
(Vocals, harmonica, 1883–1948) Although a trained singer with experience in opera – and from 1917 a full-time recording artist in the popular field – the Texas-born Dalhart is best known for his vast catalogue of recordings in the hillbilly idiom, beginning with ‘The Wreck Of The Old ’97’ and ‘The Prisoner’s Song’ in 1924. In all, he ...
1670–1747, Italian Bononcini was orphaned at the age of eight, and moved to Bologna, where he studied music and was accepted into the Accademia Filarmonica in 1686. By 1692, Bononcini had moved to Rome, where he met Silvio Stampiglia. They collaborated on several operas, including Il trionfo di Camilla (‘The Triumph of Camilla’, 1696), which ...
Manon and Werther have become Massenet’s most frequently performed operas, but several others are gaining ground, among them Hérodiade, Thaïs, Sapho, Cendrillon, Grisélidis, Chérubin and Don Quichotte, all recently revived. Both Manon and Werther – and the other operas as well – are about relationships. The tale of Manon explores a theme that ...
With Manon Lescaut, Puccini took his place at the head of the Italian operatic table. Ricordi worked hard to persuade Puccini of the dangers inherent in setting a story that had already received successful treatment by Massenet, but the young composer was not to be swayed. Puccini’s determination proved well-founded, for the opera received an ecstatic reception after ...
The twentieth century was replete with the names of composers hailing from every part of the western world, each boasting their own personal style. The conductor Sir Charles Mackerras was studying in Czechoslovakia in 1947 when he first heard Janáček’s music being played in rehearsal. Mackerras was immediately drawn to the music, as well as to the challenge of ...
(Loo-e’-je No’-no) 1924–90 Italian composer Nono studied with Hermann Scherchen (1891–1966) and through him attended Darmstadt, where met Stockhausen and embraced the principles of integral serialism, exploiting them idiosyncratically but powerfully and expressively in Il canto sospeso (‘The Song Unsung’, 1955–6), which sets the words of Resistance fighters killed by the Nazis. Nono’s political commitment was as strongly evident ...
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