AUTHORITATIVE | CURATED | First 500 words Free

• Personalities
• Classical
• Conductor
• Modern Era

1914–96 Czech conductor Kubelík left his native country, where he had been conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, in 1948. He was granted the position of music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1950–53, and Covent Garden Opera 1955–58, and principal conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra 1961–79, making many recordings, including the complete ...

• Major Operas
• High Romantic
• Opera

‘The Mastersingers of Nuremberg’ Die Meistersinger has often been described as a comedy. This, though, is not ‘comedy’ as found in the operas of Rossini or in Verdi’s Falstaff: what ‘comedy’ means in this context is the bitter ‘human comedy’. The premiere of Die Meistersinger took place in Munich on 21 June 1868. Wagner based his opera on the real-life ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

(An’-to-nyen Dvôr’zhak) 1841–1904 Czech composer Dvořák was the pre-eminent composer of the Czech national revival. Arguably his achievement was less fundamental than Smetana’s, but he developed a strong international profile and for millions his style epitomizes ‘Czechness’ in music. The Czech influence in his work is hard to demonstrate and he almost never quoted folksong, but the appeal of his ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Modern Era

(Hanz Fits’-ner) 1869–1949 German composer An opponent of all forms of modernism, Pfitzner composed his own music in a late-Romantic but highly individual style. His opera Palestrina (1917) – his confession of faith and his masterpiece – is about the cumulative wisdom of tradition, but also its renewal. His German nationalism was more idealistic than political, but his ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Early Romantic

(O’-to Ne’-ko-li) 1810–49 German composer Nicolai studied in Berlin with Zelter, and in 1833 became organist at the embassy chapel in Rome, but he resigned in 1836 to pursue a career as an opera composer. He quickly found fame with Enrico II (‘Henry II’, 1839) and Il templario (The Templar’, 1840), and also made an impression as a conductor in ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Conductor
• Modern Era

1874–1951 American conductor Born in Russia, Koussevitzky started out as a double bass recitalist, turning to conducting in 1908. He left Russia in 1917, and was conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1924–49. His commissioning of many new works for Boston eventually led to the establishment of the Koussevitzky Music Foundation. Introduction | Modern Era | Classical ...