Premiered at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater on 23 May 1814, the final version of Fidelio is a fundamentally different opera from the 1805 original. There is now much less emphasis on the gaoler’s daughter Marzelline and her world of Singspiel domesticity. Although the fate of Florestan and Leonore remains central, the individual characterization becomes more idealized and stereotyped. The human ...
Eddie Van Halen redefined the sound of heavy metal at the end of the 1970s. His high-velocity solos, distinguished by his finger-tapping technique and tremolo-bar effects, on Van Halen’s 1978 debut album heralded a new era in hard-rock guitar that rejected the clichés of a jaded genre. His solo on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ in 1982, which effectively ...
(Lood’-wig van Bat’-ho-fan) 1770–1827 German composer Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the greatest composers in history – perhaps the greatest. Standing at the crossroads between the classical and Romantic eras, he created music that belongs not just to its period but to all time. He excelled in virtually every genre of his day, and had enormous influence on the ...
1770–1827, German Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn to a musical family, on 16 December 1770. He started composing at the age of 11 and experienced opera from the inside when he joined the Bonn court orchestra as a viola player in 1789. His letters reveal that from his early years in Vienna, where he moved in ...
(Vocals, b. 1952) Virginia-born Shelton earned a dozen chart-topping hits from 1987 via his blending of country, rock’n’roll and gospel strains, often covering well-chosen older material, like his second No. 1, ‘Life Turned Her That Way’. He won CMA Male Vocalist Of The Year in 1989. During the early 1990s he combined writing children’s books, ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1944–97) Van Zandt, the bohemian son of Texas aristocracy, spent much of his life drifting from place to place and battling alcoholism, but he became a songwriting mentor for Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Susanna Clark, Nanci Griffith, Rodney Crowell and The Flatlanders. His small, roughened voice limited the appeal ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1972–present) Van Halen stepped out of California to define the US heavy metal scene for a decade. They boasted a dashing, tuneful frontman, Dave Lee Roth (vocals), a wizard guitarist in Eddie Van Halen and poppy but rocking tunes, as 1978’s debut Van Halen I proved. Eddie’s brother Alex (drums) and Michael Anthony (bass) completed ...
(Vocals, b. 1945) After leaving Irish beat group Them, Van Morrison relocated to the States in 1967 to launch a solo career. His debut single ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ was a hit in America but not Britain. His second album Astral Weeks (1968) was a massively influential work, which added Celtic and jazz influences to his R&B and soul ...
The very name, ‘Classical Era’, speaks for itself: it proclaims a period that is regarded as ‘Standard, first-class, of allowed excellence’, with manifestations that are ‘simple, harmonious, proportioned, finished’, to quote a dictionary definition. The period from 1750 to roughly 1820 is widely recognized as one of exceptional achievement in music – it is the ...
The early nineteenth century was a period of insurgence in Europe, beginning with the French Revolution in 1789 to the uprisings in 1848. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain before spreading south to the rest of Europe, was also making its mark. These two strands of revolution caused transformations in society: growing awareness of national identity, ...
Between 1860 and 1918 Wagner became the most influential intellectual figure in Europe. For his Gesamtkunstwerk (‘Complete Art-Work’) he drew on a wide range of inspirations, including Greek tragedy, the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) and his own historicist ideas of realizing the latent tendencies of all arts. This ensured that his music-dramas reached into almost every area ...
Almost no Texan musicians have ever herded cattle, but most like to think of themselves as cowboys nonetheless. They imagine themselves pulling out an acoustic guitar after dinner and singing a song about the adventures and frustrations they have known. And not just any old song – it has to be one they wrote and it has to be more ...
As ensemble music became more popular during the sixteenth century there was increased demand for wind instruments that could elegantly negotiate the lower ranges. Large versions of wind instruments intended for the higher registers lacked volume and agility and were often difficult to play. Various elements of existing instruments – the bass recorder’s crook and the shawm’s double reed, for ...
The history of musical instruments has always been very closely linked to the history of music itself. New musical styles often come about because new instruments become available, or improvements to existing ones are made. Improvements to the design of the piano in the 1770s, for instance, led to its adoption by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ...
A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who have come together to play music. In theory, an ensemble could contain any number of instruments in any combination, but in practice, certain combinations just don’t work very well, either for musical reasons or because of the sheer practicality of getting particular instruments and players ...
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...
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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.