(Me’-le Al-yek-sa’-ye-vich Ba-la’-ke-ref) 1837–1910 Russian composer Balakirev’s early piano fantasy on Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar won Glinka’s approval in 1855 and in appreciation Glinka gave Balakirev two Spanish melodies, later reworked in the Spanish Serenade. Balakirev performed Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto before the Tsar, a highlight of a virtuoso career that culminated with his Chopin Anniversary recital in Warsaw ...
The term ‘horn’ is generally used to refer to the orchestral horn, also known as the French horn. Although it is used in jazz slang to indicate any wind instrument played by a soloist, the name here refers to the orchestral horn. History The early history of the horn is bound intimately to that of the trumpet. Both instruments ...
The Carters (A. P. 1891–1960, Sara 1899–1979 and Maybelle 1909–78) are the most extensive clan in country music, encompassing three generations of performers and connections by marriage to other artists. This is fitting, for their musical influence is pervasive, too. Near the dawn of country music as a commercial entity, they were its first successful family ...
The writing and performance of Baroque music and opera relied heavily on wealthy patrons, who often employed musicians in their private orchestras and opera houses. Among these patrons were the aristocratic Barberini family, who made their fortune in the Florentine cloth business. Moving to Rome, the Barberini became one of the city’s most powerful family dynasties. Maffeo Barberini ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1915–56) The Carter Family was the first vocal group to become country music stars. Consisting of A.P. Carter, his wife Sara and their sister-in-law Maybelle, The Carter Family’s simple harmonies and unique guitar-based arrangements supplanted the bluegrass-oriented ‘hillbilly’ music of rural America. The family’s sound gave new life to British and Appalachian traditionals and made ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1966–73) In 1967, Family became popular on London’s ‘underground’ circuit. Not the least of their distinctions was singer Roger Chapman’s nanny-goat vibrato (which you either liked or you did not) other stalwarts were Charlie Whitney (guitar) and Rob Townsend (drums). UK Top 30 singles ‘No Mule’s Fool’, ‘Strange Band’, ‘In My Own Time’ and ‘Burlesque’ were but ...
The story of Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart in Dallas on 15 March 1944) is a classic rock’n’roll tale of ground-breaking success followed by a drug-fuelled downward spiral into unreliability and dissipation. In the 1960s and early 1970s he pioneered a fusion of funk, rock and soul that changed the course of R&B, pop and even jazz. Yet on ...
(An’-ton Stya-pa-no’-vech A-ren’-shke) 1861–1906 Russian composer and pianist Arensky studied with Rimsky-Korsakov at the St Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, but was also heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky whom he met, along with Taneyev, while he was working as professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his pupils were Rachmaninov, Glière and Alexander Scriabin. During a virtuoso career he held the ...
(Mekh’-a-il E-va-no’-vich Glin’-ka) 1804–57 Russian composer Known as the ‘father of Russian music’, Glinka was the initial force behind nineteenth-century Russian nationalism. He grew up in a cosseted environment, and his early exposure to music was confined largely to the folksongs sung by his nurse, the traits of which were later absorbed into his melodic style. After a couple of ...
1839–81, Russian Modest Mussorgsky was born in to a family of aristocratic landowners – a status in life that afforded him both luxury and leisure. His musical talent was evident from an early age. Taught at first by his mother and his governess, Mussorgsky could play concertos by John Field (1782–1837) at the age of nine. At age 10 ...
1844–1908, Russian In spite of being the most prolific of contributors to Russian opera, Rimsky-Korsakov’s stage works have never found a solid place in the mainstream international repertoire. As a youth, Rimsky-Korsakov was encouraged and taught by Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (1837–1910). The young composer displayed an undoubted mastery of orchestration and a keen ear for evocative harmony, ...
Glinka, the ‘father of Russian music’, was the first composer to forge a distinctively Russian style. Previously, during the reigns of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, music at the Imperial court had been directed by leading Italian opera composers such as Baldassare Galuppi (1706–85), Giovanni Paisiello (1740–1816) and Domenico ...
(A-lex-an’-der Bô-ro-den’) 1833–87 Russian composer Borodin joined Balakirev’s circle known as ‘The Five’ while an army doctor in 1861. He later became a professor of chemistry and founded a school of medicine for women in St Petersburg, yet in his spare time composed a highly polished, if small, output. His melodic style draws on folk music reworked into compelling ...
(An’-ton Roo’-ben-stin) 1829–94 Russian pianist and composer Rubinstein’s younger brother Nikolai (1835–81) founded the Moscow Conservatory. As a child prodigy Anton played to Liszt. His legendary virtuosity was acclaimed across Europe and the US, where he toured with Wieniawski in 1872. He espoused German Romanticism and thus, as founder-director of the St Petersburg Conservatory (1862), represented the ‘conservative’ opposition to ...
(Mod-yest’ Moo-zôrk’-ske) 1839–81 Russian composer Mussorgsky was the most radical of the Russian composers known as ‘The Five’. Born to a land-owning family, he joined the army in 1856, where he encountered Borodin, then a military doctor, and Cui, who introduced him to Balakirev, with whom he studied. In 1858 he resigned to pursue a ...
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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...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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