Verdi’s dark, brooding opera Simon Boccanegra had a tortuous history before 24 March 1881, when its final version premiered at La Scala, Milan. Verdi composed Boccanegra in 1857, but the Venetian audience reacted coolly; an anti-Verdi claque sabotaged the performance and a false rumour spread, claiming that Verdi had written the libretto and made a mess of ...
b. 1955 English conductor Rattle won the John Player International Conductors’ Competition in 1974. After posts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, he was principal conductor and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, 1980–97. In 1999 he was appointed Abbado’s successor, from 2002, at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. ...
1710–92, French Charles Favart became director of the Comédie-Italienne in Paris in 1758. His 11-year term as director was evidently important in the theatre’s history, for in 1871 it was renamed Salle Favart. As a librettist, Favart’s output was prodigious: he wrote 150 libretti for composers such as Gluck, Philidor and Grétry. Favart’s forte was the comic ...
(Guitar, vocals, b. 1941) Paul Simon (1972) was an eclectic affair followed a year later by the more straightforward There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. His third solo album Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) featured a reunion with Art Garfunkel on the duet ‘My Little Town’. The singer’s most popular and influential work was Graceland (1986), which utilized African ...
(Vocal duo, 1957–71, 1981–83, 2003–04, 2009–10) As ‘Tom and Jerry’, Paul Simon (vocals, guitar) and Art Garfunkel (vocals) had a minor US Hot 100 success as teenagers in 1957 with ‘Hey Schoolgirl’. Both attempted to forge solo careers, which took Simon to the UK where he became a reliable draw in the country’s folk clubs. ...
b. 1959 English baritone Following a period with Scottish Opera (1988–94), he made his debuts at Glyndebourne and La Scala in 1995, and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1996. Much in demand in for the Mozart baritone roles (recording Don Giovanni for Abbado), he was also praised as Britten’s Billy Budd at Covent Garden (in 2000) and on record (under ...
(Se’-mon Mi’-er) 1763–1845 German composer Mayr grew up in Bavaria and taught himself to play most string and wind instruments, before moving to Venice, where he studied composition with Ferdinando Bertoni. Mayr composed numerous operas, many for La Scala, Milan. Although his works exhibit diverse stylistic elements, his melodic and harmonic expression was rooted in late Neapolitan ...
1763–1845, German The German-born composer Simon Mayr was studying in Italy when the patron who supported him died and he faced an uncertain future. Piccinni encouraged him to write opera and Mayr took his advice. Mayr’s first opera, Saffo (1794), attracted several commissions, but his great breakthrough came when Ginevra di Scozia (‘Ginevra of Scotland’, 1801) was performed ...
1663–1745, French Simon-Joseph Pellegrin was a monk who sailed twice with the French fleet to the Orient, and who put into verse Biblical texts that were sung to music by Lully and Campra at the royal convent at St Cyr. Pellegrin provided libretti for many composers, including Campra and Desmarets, but his best-known works are Jephté, set ...
Steel pans or steel drums are a Caribbean instrument, originally made from oil drums beaten into shape and tuned. They originate from Port of Spain, Trinidad. The Origins of Steel Pans In the late 1930s, local people took to playing discarded metal objects like food tins and engine parts at carnivals and other celebrations, after the British ...
Puccini spent the last five years of his life working on Turandot. He patched up his differences with Adami who, together with Renato Simoni, got to work on creating a libretto from Carlo Gozzi’s fairy-tale. Through the usual prevarications, doubts and rows, Puccini slowly worked on the score. At the beginning of 1924, he began to ...
Master of guitar-generated sound effects, Adrian Belew (b. 1949) makes his Parker Deluxe guitar not only sing but also scream, squawk, roar, tweet and talk in elephant tongue. Best known for his time in King Crimson during the early Eighties as comic foil to Robert Fripp’s relatively nerdy straight man, Belew is one of the most ...
(Dance group, 1994–present) Producers, DJs and remixers Basement Jaxx (duo Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe) rose to prominence in the mid-1990s, on the back of initial success at various south London club nights – most notably their highly eclectic but always uplifting Rooty evenings. On record, their sound lies somewhere between a carnival sound system and more ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1995–present) Belligerent Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro – Simon Neil (vocals and guitar), James Johnston (bass) and his twin brother Ben (drums) – issued breakthrough album Puzzle, which reached No. 2 in the UK, in 2007 after their first three LPs failed to reach the Top 40. Follow-up Only Revolutions (2009) also hit the Top 10 ...
Coldplay were formed in London in 1996 by four college friends – Chris Martin (born 2 March 1977, vocals), Jonny Buckland (born 11 September 1977, guitar), Will Champion (born 31 July 1978, drums) and Guy Berryman (born 12 April 1978, bass). Their early years were similar to thousands of other struggling young bands in the UK’s capital ...
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David Bowie
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