(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 ...
(Instrumental group, 1926–34) Formed in 1926 by drummer Bill McKinney (1895–1969), this Ohio-based big band improved significantly after hiring arranger Don Redman from Fletcher Henderson’s band in the summer of 1927. For the next four years, until Redman left in 1931, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers rivalled both Henderson’s and Duke Ellington’s orchestras for ensemble precision. The band’s trumpeter and ...
(Harmonica, vocals, b. 1935) James Henry Cotton was born in Tunica, Mississippi and was inspired by hearing Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) on the radio. He worked with his mentor from the late 1940s until 1953, when he made his recording debut for Sun Records. He joined Muddy Waters in 1954 and played with him, ...
(Bandleader, 1884–1967) Otto Gray, leader of the first truly professional western band The Oklahoma Cowboys, is often given only perfunctory attention in country-music histories. But his group was both popular and significant – and introduced hundreds of future musicians, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast, to country music. Gray, an astute businessman from Stillwater, ...
(Vocals, yodels, 1925–97) Although she might only be a footnote in country-music history, Arkansas-born Carolina Cotton was a prolific entertainer in the West Coast’s post-war era. Known as the ‘Yodelling Blonde Bombshell’, she first gained attention working with Spade Cooley’s Orchestra, then furthered her western-swing association by touring with both Hank Penny’s and Bob Wills’ bands. She ...
1810–49, German Although Otto Nicolai was born in Kaliningrad, northwest of Moscow, he is classed as a German composer. Between 1833 and 1836, Nicolai was organist at the Prussian Chapel in Rome where he became fascinated with opera. His first work for the opera stage, Enrico II (‘Henry II’, 1839) was enthusiastically received in Trieste. Best ...
b. 1925, Swedish A lyric tenor whose live and recorded performances attest to his refinement and intelligence, Gedda was not only fluent in Russian but also well-versed in Italian, French, Latin and Hebrew. In 1954, he made his Paris Opéra debut and remained there to specialize in French repertoire. Although adept at singing in a variety ...
(Ot-to-re’-no Res-pe’-ge) 1879–1936 Italian composer As a young man, making his living as a violinist, Respighi studied briefly with Rimsky-Korsakov. This, and a remarkable ear, made him a master orchestrator, and his three sets of Roman Pictures (Pines, Fountains and Festivals of Rome) are vividly colourful and dramatic. His popular suites of Ancient Airs and ...
1885–1973 German conductor On Mahler’s recommendation, Klemperer was appointed chorus-master at the German opera house in Prague in 1907. Subsequent conducting posts included Hamburg, Strasbourg and Cologne. He was music director of the Kroll Opera, Berlin 1927–31. He emigrated to the US where he became conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra 1933–39. He was at the Budapest ...
1929–2004 Bulgarian bass He studied at the Bulgarian State and Moscow conservatories, making his stage debut in Sofia in 1955 as Don Basilio (Rossini’s Barber of Seville). To this he added many of the other great bass roles: Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust (his Italian debut in Rome), Philip II in Verdi’s Don Carlos, and the title roles in Verdi’s ...
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 ...
(Sta’-ne-slwaf Mon-yoosh’-ko) 1819–72 Polish composer Moniuszko was the foremost composer of operas in nineteenth-century Poland, and his national importance is equivalent to that of Bedřich Smetana(1824–84) in the Czech lands and Glinka in Russia. He studied in Minsk (1830–37) and Berlin (1837–40) and began to write stage works in the mid-1840s. His opera Halka was staged in Warsaw in 1858 to ...
If any city could be cited as epitomizing the sense of decline and despair in the late nineteenth century it would be Vienna. Heartland of the oldest existing European empire, its shift from the liberalism of the 1840s towards the political conservatism of the 1890s onwards was typical, as was the inability of its emperor and ruling aristocracy to ...
This unlikely opera house was the first avant-garde public arena and was funded by the Prussian Ministry of Culture. Built in 1844 by entrepreneur Josef Kroll, the theatre, with its large stage and fine acoustics, became the centrepiece for new music and production values that embraced modernity. When Otto Klemperer was appointed musical director, he approached the ...
From the 1950s, several composers began to discover the compositional possibilities in the technology of radio stations and specialized studios. Important centres were: Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, New York, founded in 1951 by Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening; Studio für Elektronische Musik, Cologne, established by Herbert Eimert in 1951; Studio di Fonologia, Milan, established ...
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