Verdi’s five-act opera Don Carlos was taken from a drama written in 1787 by the German playwright Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). Written for the Paris Opéra, Don Carlos was first performed there on 11 March 1867. Schiller’s play was translated and the libretto written by Joseph Méry, who unfortunately died before it was completed, and Camille du Locle ...
Composed in 1787 and triumphantly premiered in Prague on 29 October that year, Don Giovanni reworks the old legend of the serial seducer, drawing on the Spanish play by Tirso de Molina (1630) and Molière’s Don Juan (1665). The opera revolves around the tensions of class and sex that were so central to Figaro. Ensembles and propulsive ‘chain’ finales ...
Donizetti’s three-act comic opera, Don Pasquale, full of fun and infectious humour, was first performed at the Théâtre Italien in Paris on 3 January 1843. There was no hint here of Donizetti’s failing health, but as time proved, Don Pasquale was among the last of his remarkable total of 67 operas. The first performance was a ...
(Cornet, 1936–95) Besides serving as the perfect complement for Ornette Coleman in the saxophonist’s early quartet, cornettist Don Cherry was a pioneer of the now-popular ‘world music’ movement. His musician father brought the family to Los Angeles from Cherry’s birthplace in Oklahoma, where Cherry played in the Jazz Messiahs before meeting Coleman. After leaving the Coleman group and ...
(Songwriter, vocals, 1928–2003) This Shelby, North Carolina-born singer and songwriter not only penned hits for others – Patsy Cline’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ (recorded by Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and dozens of other artists) – but also had hits of his own, with such original classics as ‘Oh Lonesome Me’, ‘I Can’t ...
(Producer, executive, 1902–82) London, England-born Don Law was one of the most influential producers in modern country music. As head of Columbia Records’ country division in the 1950s and 1960s, he produced cornerstone artists such as Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Ray Price and Johnny Horton. Columbia Records, under Law’s tenure, was also at ...
(Alto saxophone, clarinet, vocals, composer, arranger, 1900–64) Renowned for crafting the polished sound of the mid-1920s Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, Redman’s innovative arrangements pre-dated the swing era by a decade. His sophisticated compositions were significantly affected by the driving, swinging trumpet work of Louis Armstrong, who played in Henderson’s orchestra throughout 1924. The conservatory-trained ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1939) Texas-born Williams worked in 1964 with folk trio The Pozo-Seco Singers. Encouraged by producer Cowboy Jack Clement, his solo career began in 1971, and resulted in gentle hits like ‘Amanda’ (1973), ‘You’re My Best Friend’ (1976) and ‘Tulsa Time’ (1978). He enjoyed immense popularity in the UK, where he had success with ...
As part of the Renaissance (literally ‘rebirth’), which began in Italy in around 1450, the Baroque era was a revolution within a revolution. It saw a break from the Medieval view of humanity as innately sinful. Instead, Renaissance thinking cast individuals as a dynamic force in their own right and gave free rein to human imagination, ingenuity and ...
The word ‘Baroque’ is derived from the Portuguese barrocco, a term for a misshapen pearl, and it was still with this sense of something twisted that it was first applied – to the period between about 1600 and 1750 – in the nineteenth century. In 1768, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote: ‘a Baroque music is that in which the harmony ...
In 1891, when the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) wrote his famous words ‘Life imitates art far more than art imitates life’, he had somehow managed to overlook the artistic realities of the late nineteenth century. By that time, after some 50 years of the High Romantic era, music and opera had brought real life on stage and ...
Sturm und Drang (‘Storm and Stress’), a name taken from a play of the time, began as a literary movement that flourished in Germany and Austria in the second half of the eighteenth century. Easier to recognize than to define, its manifestations included the ‘horrid’ world of the Gothic novel and, in the visual arts, the paintings ...
The Académie Royale de Musique (now known as the Paris Académie de Musique or the Paris Opéra), has had many homes. The Académie opened in 1671, and from 1672–87 was largely controlled by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87). In 1763, the building was destroyed by fire, as was the next building in 1781. The Opéra moved to rue de Richelieu ...
When Vassar Clements formed a band called Hillbilly Jazz in 1975, Bill Monroe’s former fiddler pulled the cover off the hidden connection between country music and jazz. The two genres had more in common than most people thought. After all, Jimmie Rodgers recorded with Louis Armstrong early in their careers; jazz legend Charlie Christian debuted on Bob Wills’ radio ...
The most influential country act of 2001 was a band that didn’t even exist. The Soggy Bottom Boys were the prime attraction on O Brother, Where Art Thou ? the soundtrack album that topped the country and pop charts and sold more than four million copies. The group revived the late 1930s and early 1940s sound when old-time string-band music ...
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David Bowie
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