and radio-friendly. Formed in Cornwall, but building their sound through American influences such as Soundgarden and Nirvana rather than the British ones bands of the time jumped on, Muse were very much outsiders from the start. Albums Showbiz (1999) and Origin Of Symmetry (2001) saw them stretch rock’s confines further, and 2006’s UK chart-topping Black Holes And Revelations ...
Composed: 1959–61 Premiered: 1961, Schwetzingen Libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman Act I Hilda Mack recalls how her husband set out to climb the Hammerhorn 40 years ago. Dr Reischmann and Carolina, physician and secretary to the poet Gregor Mittenhofer, agree that no one thanks ‘the Servants of the Servant of the Muse’. Reischmann’s son Toni ...
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 ...
of Hoffmann’ Premiered: 1881, Paris Libretto by Jules Barbier after the play by Barbier and Michel Carré Act I Hoffmann has neglected poetry in his search for love. His muse is transformed into a companion named Nicklausse in order to protect him. Hoffmann’s latest love, Stella, an opera singer, is also admired by Counsellor Lindorf. Luther’s tavern ...
Composed: 1889–96 Premiered: 1900, Paris Libretto by the composer or Saint-Pol-Roux Act I From the balcony of her parents’ house in Montmartre, Louise can see Julien, a poet. He has written two letters to her father, asking to marry her, although she says she loves her parents too much to elope. Her mother drags her away ...
was prominently featured in the film Last of the Blue Devils (1979), a reunion of Kansas City musicians from the 1930s and 1940s. He earned a Grammy nomination for his Muse album Blues Train (1982), recorded with the young New England-based band, Roomful of Blues. ‘I was sitting up there thinking, “now when is he gonna run out of ...
her music. Despite media intrusion into her personal life – Tricky and Goldie had both been lovers – Björk began producing her own albums and success continued. Following her own muse at all times, she even recorded a vocals only-album, Medulla (2004). Styles & Forms | Nineties | Rock Personalities | The Black Crowes | Nineties | Rock ...
(Vocals, b. 1940) Discovered by Burt Bacharach in 1962 singing backing vocals in a New York studio, Warwick became the muse of the Bacharach-David writing team that made the reputations of both parties. Her first hit that year was their ‘Don’t Make Me Over’, and from then until 1972 when the writers fell out she charted 30 times with ...
to have treated the composer as a distinguished foreign virtuoso, rather than giving him the sort of servant status most musicians would have been accorded at the time. The Muse of Rome Although Handel clearly profited financially from his Italian trip, the fact that he could afford to undertake it in the first place points to a social and ...
Alternative guitarist and singer Jeff Buckley (1966–97) was born in Anaheim, California. Jeff barely knew his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, who died when he was eight. His mother, Mary Guibert, was a classically trained pianist and cellist, which meant that music was all around when Buckley was growing up. He started playing acoustic guitar at ...
his yardstick. Hiller joined forces with the librettist Daniel Schiebeler (1741–71) and together they produced a romantic comedy-opera Lisuart und Dariolette (‘Lisart and Darioletta’, 1766). A second opera, Die Muse (‘The Muse’, 1767), followed a year later, but neither was much of a success. Subsequently Hiller reverted to the rustic, sentimental pieces he had previously produced with another ...
(La’-osh Ya’-na-chek) 1854–1928 Czech composer Janáček came from a teaching family and initially followed that calling, though he later studied music in Prague, Leipzig and Vienna. He made his mark by fostering musical life in the Moravian capital Brno as teacher and conductor, and by collecting and publishing folksong. His musical voice crystallized in the realist opera Jenůfa ...
The most important of these involved Kamila Stösslová, 36 years his junior. She was relentlessly pursued by Janáček, but the relationship was never consummated. Nevertheless, she remained his muse throughout the final 10 years of his compositional career, which accounted for the operas Kátya Kabanová (1921), The Cunning Little Vixen (1923) and The Makropulos Affair (1925). He died ...
took piano lessons as a boy, equally inspired by Ray Charles and classical music. In the mid-1980s, the family moved to Teignmouth, Devon, where Bellamy formed Muse with Chris Wolstenholme (bass) and Dominic Howard (drums). The band served their apprenticeship through constant gigging while soaking up more influences, notably Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, to whom ...
and their second album Babel (2012) further consolidated their success by topping the charts both in the UK and US. Styles & Forms | Twenty-First Century | Rock Personalities | Muse | Twenty-First Century | Rock ...
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