1918–90 American composer and conductor Bernstein studied at Harvard and the Curtis Institute and became a protegé of Koussevitzky during summers spent at Tanglewood. His conducting break came in 1943, when the New York Philharmonic asked him to step in after its guest conductor was taken ill. The following year, still in his twenties, Bernstein wrote a successful Broadway ...
1918–90, American A hugely talented composer and conductor, Bernstein inspired the American music scene with his passion and flamboyance. Born in Massachusetts and essentially self-taught on the piano, he studied at Harvard and became an overnight sensation when stepping in for ailing New York Philharmonic conductor Bruno Walter in November 1943. Success as a composer followed, ranging ...
(Trumpet, composer, arranger, b. 1961) A member of several populist-experimental-fun jazz bands since the late 1980s (including Hieroglyphics Ensemble, Kamakazi Ground Crew, Lounge Lizards, Spanish Fly, Sex Mob and the Millennial Territory Orchestra), Bernstein continues to perform on slide trumpet (or soprano trombone), cornet and other standard brass instruments, and to compose and ...
1694–1744, Italian Leo was born near Brindisi, studied music in Naples at the Conservatorio San Maria della Pietà dei Turchini, and spent most of the rest of his life in the city. He held various organist and church music positions, and his first opera, Il pisistrato (1714), was staged before he was 20 years old. In ...
c. 1696–1730, Italian Vinci studied at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo in Naples between 1708 and 1718, and afterwards made his operatic debut with Lo cecato fauzo (‘The False Blind Man’, 1719). He proceeded to dominate operatic life in Naples, and his Li zite ’ngalera (‘The Lovers on the Galley’, 1722) is the earliest extant comic ...
1911–60, American Possessing a voice of exceptional ability, Warren was one of America’s greatest opera stars. His voice eclipsed his contemporaries; he was the only dramatic baritone able to sing an open high C. Among his best performances were those in Verdi’s Il trovatore, Rigoletto, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera and Macbeth. He collapsed onstage ...
(Guitar, singer-songwriter, b. 1934) Despite a humble vocal endowment, this acclaimed Canadian poet and novelist moved to the States in his mid-30s to make his first essay as a recording artist with 1968’s sparsely arranged and all-acoustic Songs Of Leonard Cohen, which included the much-covered ‘Bird On A Wire’. Reaching out to self-doubting adolescent diarists, it ...
Sound effects and instruments trouvés include found objects and specialist machines for making noises. Composers have made extensive use of both sound effects and found objects in orchestral music, especially in music for theatre, dance and opera. Sound Effects The wind machine was originally a theatrical sound effect, and is a cylinder of wooden slats with a canvas ...
1900–90 American composer Born in Brooklyn of Russian Jewish parents (his surname is an immigration officer’s mishearing of the family name, Kaplan), Copland became the archetypal composer of the American West, his style much imitated by the writers of Hollywood film scores. Trained in Paris by Nadia Boulanger, he was strongly influenced by Stravinsky and began using jazz ...
1924–2014, Italian Known as ‘the tenor of all tenors’, Bergonzi had a lyrical voice that was both refined and intense. Vocal lessons were interrupted when he was interred in a prisoner-of-war camp, but resumed upon his release and in 1947 he began to make a series of debuts as a baritone. Retraining his voice, he emerged four years ...
b. 1928 German mezzo-soprano Ludwig made her debut at Frankfurt in 1946, and from 1955 was based at the Vienna State Opera. She appeared all over the world in Wagner and Strauss mezzo roles, and occasionally sang soprano parts. Her many recordings include Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) under Karajan and the Marschallin (the same opera) under Bernstein. Introduction | Contemporary ...
b. 1924, German An outstanding mezzo-soprano recitalist and concert singer, Ludwig was the daughter of two singers: tenor Anton Ludwig, and contralto Eugenie Besalla-Ludwig, who sang under Herbert von Karajan. Forced into early retirement, Eugenie became her daughter’s voice coach. Making her debut at 18 as Prince Orlovsky in Frankfurt, Ludwig remained there until 1952 ...
(Där-yüs’ Me-yo’) 1892–1974 French composer One of the group known as ‘Les Six’, Milhaud was perhaps the most prolific composer of the twentieth century. Jazz was an important influence on him, as was the carnival music of South America, and he was famous for writing music in two or more keys at once (polytonality). He composed in most musical ...
1898–1937 American composer As a teenager, Gershwin played the latest hit songs to potential customers in a sheet-music store, and by the age of 21 (with his ‘Swanee’, made popular by Al Jolson) he had become a successful songwriter himself. After a visit to Europe, when he heard the latest musical shows and operettas that London, Berlin ...
(Hans Vâr’-ner Hent’-se) 1926–2012 German composer Henze’s musical education was interrupted by the Second World War, but after the conflict ended, he took composition lessons with Wolfgang Fortner and René Leibowitz. Those studies introduced him to Schoenberg’s 12-note technique, which he continued to employ to his own ends; but it was Stravinsky who exerted the strongest influence on ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.