(Yan Dez’-mas Ze-leng’-ka) 1679–1745 Bohemian composer Zelenka was born near Prague but worked for most of his life in Dresden, where he was double bass player in the court orchestra. He studied with Fux in Vienna and Antonio Lotti (1667– 1740) in Venice. Although he wrote three oratorios and at least 20 Masses, and was eventually appointed vice-Kapellmeister of church ...
(Kla-man’ Zhan-kan’) c. 1485–1558 French composer Janequin’s failure to procure a stable and lucrative job may have been due to the fact that he spent most of his career outside Paris, the centre of French culture. Nevertheless, he became the principal exponent of the narrative chanson, a form popular in the mid-sixteenth century. These songs are often relatively long ...
A founding member of the band Pentangle, Bert Jansch (b. 1943) was born in Glasgow. He was heavily influenced by the guitarist Davey Graham and folk singers such as Anne Briggs. He has recorded 25 albums and toured extensively, influencing artists like Jimmy Page, Ian Anderson, Nick Drake and Neil Young. Jansch earned a Lifetime Achievement Award ...
Django Reinhardt (1910–53) overcame physical disabilities to create a unique playing style and one of the most highly influential sounds in jazz. He was born in Belgium to gypsy parents. At the age of eight his mother’s tribe settled near Paris. The French Gypsies, or Manouches, were medieval in their beliefs, and distrustful of modern science. But Django ...
(Yän Pe’-ter-sun Sva’-lingk) 1562–1621 Netherlandish composer Sweelinck was a composer, organist and teacher, numbering Scheidt among his pupils. He was enormously influential in the development of north and mid-German organ music, later prompting the most important writer on music of the German Baroque, Johann Mattheson (1681– 1764), to describe him as the ‘creator of Hamburg organists’. He worked ...
(Yan La’-de-slaf Doo’-sek) 1760–1812 Bohemian pianist and composer Dussek’s fame as a pianist was widespread, and he made the acquaintance of Queen Marie Antoinette and Emperor Napoleon. Because of his connections with the aristocracy he was at risk at the time of the French Revolution, and escaped to London, where he set up a music publishing business with his ...
(Guitar, 1910–53) One of the reasons that Django Reinhardt dominated conversations about the guitar so completely in the 1930s was his fortunate timing. He arrived on the world jazz scene through the Quintet of the Hot Club of France in 1934 – a year after the death of Eddie Lang and five years before the arrival of Charlie Christian. Belgian ...
(Vocals, 1943–70) Influenced by Bessie Smith, Joplin became a rock star while in San Francisco’s Big Brother & the Holding Company, and enjoyed a meteoric solo career before her untimely death from a heroin overdose in Los Angeles. Nonetheless, she was perhaps the most commanding female blues singer of the modern era. Joplin’s raw emotional expression and ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1940) Born in Sutherlin, Virginia, Janis Martin toured extensively but was too raunchy for mass acceptance, despite a series of outstanding rockabilly recordings. She retired in 1959 to raise her family but re-emerged in the 1980s. Since then she has made numerous live appearances, mainly in Europe, where she has established ...
(Vocals, b. 1947) Indiana-born Janie Fricke (as her surname was spelt until the mid-1980s) moved to Nashville after spending time in Dallas, Memphis and Los Angeles. In country’s capital, however, she quickly became a much sought-after session and jingle singer, providing backup vocals on hits by Conway Twitty, Elvis Presley, Moe Bandy, Mel ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1951) Escovedo had played in the country-rock bands Rank And File and The True Believers, but his 1992 solo debut album Gravity unveiled an unexpected talent pursuing an unprecedented sound. Using acoustic guitar, steel guitar and cello to create the quiet intimacy of chamber music, his brooding original songs blended alt.-country, ...
b. 1933, English Known for her rich, expressive and intensely personal performances, Baker’s voice is equally at home with Handel, Mozart, Donizetti, Berlioz and Walton. Britten wrote the role of Kate Julian for her in Owen Wingrave, while William Walton (1902–83) adjusted the part of Cressida in Troilus and Cressida to suit her voice. ...
1854–1928, Czech Undoubtedly the greatest of all Czech opera composers, and perhaps one of the true geniuses of the opera world, Janáček utilized music and theatre to maximum effect. Born in Moravia, his national style was evident in all his scores, and he was particularly adept at listening and adapting. Having spent plenty of time in ...
First performed on 21 January 1904 in Brno, Jenůfa was later revised and in 1916 received its first performance in Prague under the direction of Karel Kovarovic. He only agreed to direct the opera after submitting to persuasive pressure from friends and colleagues, but he also insisted on making changes to the orchestration. Kovarovic’s revised Jenůfa became the accepted ...
Kátya belongs to the final decade of Janáček’s work and was inspired by his muse, Kamila Stösslova. She was the magnificent obsession who received a steady stream of letters from the composer up until his death, some of them confirming that Kátya was written for her. The opera was based on Ostrovsky’s drama The Storm, which concerns a ...
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