(Yo’-zef Yo’-a-khem) 1831–1907 German violinist Joachim studied with Ferdinand David, leader of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, where he made his debut in 1843. After a spell as leader of the Court Orchestra in Weimar under Liszt (1850–51), he distanced himself from Liszt’s ‘New German School’ in favour of Brahms’ classicism. Appointed violinist to the king in Hanover (1852), he ...
(Yo’-han Yo’-sef Fooks) 1660–1741 German composer, organist and theorist There are large gaps in the biographical knowledge of Fux. It is almost certain that he was born into a peasant family somewhere in Germany, but precisely where he acquired his musical skills remains a mystery. Real knowledge of the composer begins from 1698, when Emperor Leopold I appointed Fux ...
(Yo’-han Yo-a’-khem Kvants) 1697–1773 German composer and flautist After training in Merseburg, Quantz went to Dresden and Vienna, where he studied with Fux and Zelenka (1716). Further travels took him to Prague, Rome, Paris and London, where he met Handel. In 1727 he became a member of the Dresden court. In the following year he gave flute ...
(Fran-swa Zho-zef’ Gu-sek’) 1734–1829 Belgian (French) composer Born in what is now the French-speaking part of Belgium, Gossec spent most of his career in Paris working in the different roles of theatre composer, violinist and director of musical organizations. These organizations included the Concert Spirituel, the Ecole Royale de Chant and (after the Revolution) the band of the Garde ...
(Fränts Yo’-sef Hi’-dan) 1732–1809 Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was the most celebrated musician of the late-eighteenth century and the first of the great triumvirate (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven) of Viennese classical composers. A tireless explorer and innovator, he did more than anyone to develop the dramatic potential of the sonata style. When he composed his cheerful F major Missa brevis ...
(Vocals, dancer, 1906–75) Born Freda Josephine McDonald, the St. Louis-born entertainer danced in the 1921 Sissle/Blake musical Shuffle Along before gaining a bigger role in their Chocolate Dandies in 1924, leading to appearances at the Cotton Club. The following year, she introduced ‘le jazz hot’ to Paris in La Revue Négre (also featuring Sidney Bechet) with ...
1660–1741, German Fux studied music at Graz, and became a talented organist and church musician. He probably travelled to Italy during the 1680s, and his a capella Masses influenced by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–94) attracted the admiring attention of Emperor Leopold I in 1698. Based in Vienna for the remainder of his life, Fux was ...
1663–1745, French Simon-Joseph Pellegrin was a monk who sailed twice with the French fleet to the Orient, and who put into verse Biblical texts that were sung to music by Lully and Campra at the royal convent at St Cyr. Pellegrin provided libretti for many composers, including Campra and Desmarets, but his best-known works are Jephté, set ...
1732–1809, Austrian The operatic career of Joseph Haydn spanned four decades, from his lost German Singspiel Der krumme Teufel (‘The Crooked Devil’, 1753) to his Orpheus opera L’anima del filosofo (‘The Philosopher’s Soul’), composed for London in 1791 but not performed there (or anywhere else) during the composer’s lifetime. In between, he composed some 20 operas (several lost) ...
‘Fidelity Rewarded’ Composed: 1780 Premiered: 1781, Eszterháza Libretto by Giambattista Lorenzi Act I Amaranta reads an inscription in the Temple of Diana describing how two lovers are to be offered to a sea monster every year until a hero sacrifices himself. Melibeo, the High Priest, chooses the victims and everyone has to be careful not to cross him. ...
1739–93, French The French tenor and composer Joseph Legros made his debut at the Opéra in Paris, singing Titon in Titon et Aurore by Jean-Joseph Mondonville (1711–72). Subsequently he built up a considerable repertoire of roles in operas by Lully, Rameau, Grétry and Gluck, among others. One of his greatest roles was as Gluck’s Orpheus – ...
1807–86, Bohemian The Bohemian tenor Joseph Tichatschek made his debut at the Kärntnertor Theatre in Vienna in 1833, as the farmer, Raimbaut, in Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable. After a year, 1837, at Graz, Tichatschek found a regular berth at Dresden, where he sang between 1838 and 1870. He also performed at the Drury ...
1892–1973 American violinist Born in Hungary, Szigeti made his Berlin debut in 1905. He lived in England 1907–13, where he gave many concerts. In the 1920s he toured the Soviet Union, and made his US debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1925. He was a keen advocate of contemporary music: Bartók, Bloch and Prokofiev wrote works for ...
(Eng’-el-bârt Hoom’-per-dink) 1854–1921 German composer Humperdinck studied in Cologne with Ferdinand Hiller and joined Wagner’s circle in Bayreuth. He assisted in the publication of Parsifal and was music tutor to Wagner’s son Siegfried, who later praised Hänsel und Gretel (1893) as ‘the most important opera since Parsifal’. Based on a tale by the brothers Grimm, the opera was composed while ...
(Composer, arranger, violin, 1869–1944) Will Marion Cook was a highly educated musician, studying at Oberlin Conservatory and the Berlin Hochschule für Musik with virtuoso Joseph Joachim (he also studied briefly with Antonín Dvořák). He worked as a composer with Bob Cole’s All-Star Stock Company, a seminal force in early African-American musical comedy production. (The group later ...
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