Max Fiedler - His Music and His Life

The German Max Fiedler was born in Zittau on December 31, 1859. He studied at the College of Music in Leipzig, Eastern Germany and became later an oustanding conductor in Hamburg, then, from 1908 until 1912 in Boston, and 1916 as Urban Music Director in Essen/Germany.

Especially his chamber music compositions and his wonderful and impressive "Symphony d-minor" from 1885 remained as classical music highlights forever.

Max Fiedler felt very much connected and obliged to Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).

Fiedler passed away on December 1, 1939 in Stockholm/Sweden.

Manuel de Falla - His Music and His Life

Manuel de Falla, also known as Manuel María de los

Dolores Falla y Matheu, is a renowned Spanish composer of international acclaim. The Spanish composer infused his compositions with unique idioms from native folk songs and dance to create his music on nationalistic lines. His fusion of poetry, simplicity, and passion represented the spirit of Spain in its purest form. Just like Isaac Albeniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina, Falla is deemed as one of Spain's most important musicians who contributed humongously the classical music of the first half of the 20th century. Manuel wrote several kinds of compositions including music for ballet, opera, chamber music, Spanish songs, piano music and zarzuelas. One of the most celebrated figures of Spanish music, Manuel de Falla has composed many pieces, which are considered as masterpieces of sorts. Noches en los jardines de Espana" ("Nights in the Gardens of Spain") is one of his major works of art. Also known for his ballet "El Amor brujo" (Love, the Magician) and opera "La vida breve" (The Short Life), Manuel de Falla really stands as a distinguished composer.

Manuel de Falla’s Childhood and Early Life

Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu was born on 23 November 1876 in the family home (3, Plaza de Mina) to José María Falla y Franco and María Jesús Matheu y Zabala. His early music teachers were his mother and grandfather. At the age of nine, he began his first piano lessons with Eloísa Galluzo. His relationship with Eloísa Galluzo soon ended after she chose to become a nun at the convent, Sisters of Charity. Then in 1889, Manuel went on to learn piano with Alejandro Odero, and harmony and counterpoint with Enrique Broca. He became interested in music and journalism and along with his friends, he created the literary magazine, “El Burlón”. At the age of 14, he displayed an aptitude for theatre, literature and painting and went about to create another magazine, “El Cascabel”, for which he was the "contributor" and, later, the "editor". At the age of 17, Manuel channeled his artistic tendencies towards music. He had frequent trips to Madrid in 1896, where he studied piano with José Tragó at the Escuela Nacional de Música y Declamación.

Beginning Of A Musical Career

In 1897, Falla composed “melodía” for cello and piano. His work was dedicated to Salvador Viniegra, in whose house Falla participated in performances of chamber music. As an external pupil of the Escuela Nacional de Música y Declamacíon in 1898, Falla passed with a distinction the first three years of music theory and the first five years of the piano course. He composed the Scherzo in C minor. By unanimous agreement, he won the first prize in piano at his institute “Escuela Nacional de Música y Declamación”, and he concluded his official studies in 1899. That same year he premiered his first works “Romanza para violonchelo y piano”, “Nocturno para piano, Melodía para violonchelo y piano”, “Serenata andaluza para violín y piano”, and “Cuarteto en Sol y Mireya”. In 1900, he composed Canción for the piano and some other pieces for voice and for piano. He also premiered “Serenata andaluza” and “Vals-Capricho” for piano and because of his family's unstable financial situation; he began to give piano lessons. Fallas’ first attempts at zarzuela, which include “La Juana y la Petra o La casa de tócame Roque”, date from this period. In 1901, he met Felipe Pedrell and composed “Cortejo de gnomos” and “Serenata”, both for piano. At the same time, he was working on the zarzuelas “Los amores de la Inés” and “Limosna de amor”. He then met the composer Joaquín Turina and saw his pieces “Vals-Capricho” and “Serenata andaluza” being published by the Society of Authors.

The composition of the “Allegro de concierto” was started in 1903 and was submitted to a competition organized by the Madrid Conservatoire. Enrique Granados eventually won the first prize, but the Society of Authors published “Tus ojillos negros” and “Nocturno”. Falla collaborated with Amadeo Vives on three zarzuelas of which only fragments survive. In 1904, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando announced a competition for a new "Spanish opera in one act". Falla decided to enter the competition and hence began to work on “La vida breve”. He won the first prize for this composition. In April 1905, he won another piano competition organized by the Ortiz y Cussó Company. His “Allegro de concierto” was premiered at the Ateneo in Madrid. Manuel was encouraged by the composer Joaquín Turina to move to Paris and showcase his talents.

Musical Stint in Paris

Manuel de Falla travelled around France,Belgium, Switzerland and Germany as a pianist to a touring theatre company performing André Wormser's L'Enfant prodigue. He met a number of composers who had an influence on his style, including the impressionists Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Paul Dukas. In 1908, he obtained a grant from the Spanish King Alfonso XIII to remain in Paris and finish “Pièces espagnoles”. He toured the north of Spain as the third member of a trio with violinist Antonio Fernández Bordas and cellist Víctor Mirecki and completed “Con afectos de júbilo y gozo”. The dramatist Paul Milliet translated the libretto of “La vida breve” into French, to have it performed in France. In 1910, Falla had his first encounter with Igor Stravinsky and he met Georges Jean-Aubry, Ignacio Zuloaga, Joaquín Nin and Wanda Landowska. On his first visit to London in 1911, he gave a recital in March. Then in 1912, he travelled to Switzerland and Italy and in Milan, Tito Ricordi negotiated him for his publication of La vida breve. In 1913, La vida breve was premiered at the Municipal Casino in Nice and later that year, his work was given “répétition générale” before the press and the public, at the Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique in Paris. Max Eschig published the score and became Falla's publisher. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Falla returned to Spain and settled in Madrid. It was at this stage that Falla entered into his mature creative period.

Return to Madrid

Manuel de Falla returned to Madrid at the outbreak of the World War 1. The Ateneo de Madrid, a private cultural association, paid homage to Joaquín Turina and Manuel de Falla in 1915. In the same year, he joined María Lejárraga (wife of Gregorio Martínez Sierra) on a trip to Granada Ronda, Algeciras and Cádiz. On his brief trip to Cau Ferrat in Sitges, he worked intensively on his well-known nocturne for piano and orchestra “Noches en los jardines de España”. In 1916, The Revista Musical Hispano-Americana published Falla's article "Enrique Granados: Evocación de su obra", and the newspaper La Tribuna published his "El gran músico de nuestro tiempo: Igor Stravinsky". During the spring and summer of this year, he gave concerts in Seville, Cádiz and Granada. The Revista Musical Hispano-Americana published a further article by Falla in its December issue: "Introducción al estudio de la música nueva". Fallas first performance of a version of “El amor brujo” for small orchestra was given in 1917. During this year he also wrote the prologue to Joaquín Turina's “Enciclopedia abreviada de Música”, and published "Nuesta música" in the June issue. In 1918, he worked on the comic opera Fuego fatuo, to a libretto by María Lejárraga. In April that year, he delivered a speech at a function at the Ateneo de Madrid to pay tribute to a French composer. The Princess de Polignac commissioned him to write a work for her salon in Paris, and Falla visioned the idea for El retablo de maese Pedro. In 1919, Manuel’s parents died. This really shook him. However, in the same year, his concert version of El sombrero de tres picos, a ballet, was premiered in London with choreography by Léonide Massine and sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso. This was amongst one of his most renowned works. In 1919 itself, Manuel visited Granada with his sister María del Carmen and Vázquez Díaz and his wife, to attend a tribute being paid in his honour by the Centro Artístico.

Stay at Granada

From 1921 to 1939, Manuel lived in Granada. Falla became closely involved with the cultural life of Granada, associating with personalities such as Miguel Cerón, Fernando de los Ríos, Hermenegildo Lanz, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz and, above all, Federico García Lorca. Here he organized the “Concurso de cante Jondo” in 1922. He wrote the puppet opera “El Retable De Maese Pedro” and a concerto titled Harpsichord Concerto. Both of these works were written with Wanda Landowska in mind. In Granada, Falla began work on the large-scale orchestral cantata “Atlàntida”. He considered Atlàntida to be the most important of his works. In 1924, Falla along with Ángel Barrios was unanimously elected permanent member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Granada. He also completed ‘Psyché’, a setting of a poem by Georges Jean-Aubry. In the same year, he was named an honorary member of the Real Academia Hispano-Americana de Ciencias y Artes de Cádiz. On Falla's initiative, the Orquesta Bética de Cámara was founded in Seville too. In 1927, on Fallas fiftieth birthday tributes continued and the Orquesta Bética de Cámara hosted concerts at the Coliseo Olympia in Granada. While in Granada, Falla received a lot of recognition for his work. However, by 1937, due to his fragile state of health, he was confined to his house. In 1939, he moved from Granada to Barcelona with his sister and then from Barcelona he embarked to Argentina to conduct a series of four concerts in the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

His Last Years

Falla continued to work on Atlàntida after moving to Argentina in 1939. He settled initially in Villa Carlos Paz, then, later, in Villa del Lago. He conducted a concert—Orquesta Sinfónica de Córdoba in aid of the victims of floods in the capital and received the Gran Cruz de la Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio. Later in 1940, he conducted two concerts on Radio "El Mundo". Manuel’s health had seriously started deteriorating and at the beginning of 1942, he moved to the chalet "Los Espinillos", near Alta Gracia in the province of Cordoba. This became his final residence. He rejected an invitation from the Spanish government to return to Spain. In spite of ill health, he continued to work on Atlántida and by 1945, he began to transcribe final versions of some sections of the work.

Personal Life

Manuel de Falla never married and had no children. His relationship with women did not last long and there were even rumors of homosexuality and misogynistic tendencies. His public image was ascetic and saint like. 

 

Death

On 14 November 1946, nine days before his seventieth birthday, Falla suffered a heart attack and died in his sleep at "Los Espinillos". The funeral took place in Córdoba Cathedral and in December, his sister María del Carmen embarked for Spain, with his remains. His body was finally entombed in the cathedral crypt of his native city.

24 Weird and Wonderful Classical Music Tattoos

From inexplicably burning Beethovens to awkward singing hamburgers, here's a selection of the most musical tats of all time.

Next image Picture 1 of 24

Anton Dvorak - His Music and His Life

 

Born:

September 8, 1841 - Nelahozeves, nr Kralupy

Died:

May 1, 1904 – Prague

Dvorak Quick Facts:

• Johannes Brahms once wrote a letter praising and exulting Dvorak’s music; they later became great friends.
• After moving to America in 1892, Dvorak spent his summer vacation in the small town of Spillville, Iowa in 1893, because of it’s mainly Czech population.
• Dvorak’s greatest musical success was achieved by the world premier of his New World Symphony in Carnegie Hall on December 3, 1893.

Dvorak's Family Background:

Dvorak’s father, Frantisek was a butcher and an innkeeper. He played the zither for fun and entertainment, but later played it professionally. His mother, Anna, came from Uhy. Antonin Dvorak was the oldest of eight children.

Childhood Years:

In 1847, Dvorak began taking voice and violin lessons from Joseph Spitz. Dvorak took to the violin quickly and soon began playing in church and village bands. In 1853, Dvorak’s parents sent him to Zlonice to continue his education in learning German as well as music. Joseph Toman and Antonin Leihmann continued to teach Dvorak violin, voice, organ, piano, and music theory.

Teenage Years:

In 1857, Dvorak moved to the Prague Organ School where he continued to study music theory, harmonization, modulation, improvisation, and counterpoint and fugue. During this time, Dvorak played the viola in the Cecilia Society. He played works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Wagner. While in Prague, Dvorak was able to attend concerts playing works by Liszt conducted by Liszt himself. Dvorak left the school in 1859. He was second in his class.

Early Adult Years:

In the later summer months of 1859, Dvorak was hired to play viola in a small band, which later became the building blocks of the Provisional Theater Orchestra. When the orchestra formed, Dvorak became the principal violinist. In 1865, Dvorak taught piano to the daughters of a goldsmith; one of whom later became his wife (Anna Cermakova). It wasn’t until 1871 when Dvorak left the theater. During these years, Dvorak was privately composing.

Mid Adult Years:

Because his early works were too demanding on the artists who performed them, Dvorak evaluated and revamped his work. He turned away from his heavy Germanic style to a more classic Slavonic, stream-line form. Besides teaching piano, Dvorak applied to the Austrian State Stipendium as a mean for income. In 1877, Brahms, very much impressed by Dvorak’s works, was on the panel of judges who awarded him 400 guldens. A letter written by Brahms about Dvorak’s music brought Dvorak much fame.

Late Adult Years:

During the last 20 years of Dvorak’s life, his music and name became internationally known. Dvorak earned many honors, awards, and honorary doctorates. In 1892, Dvorak moved to America to work as the artistic director for the National Conservatory of Music in New York for $15,000 (nearly 25 times what he was earning in Prague). His first performance was given in Carnegie Hall (the premiere of Te Deum). Dvorak’s New World Symphony was written in America. On May 1, 1904, Dvorak died of illness.

Selected Works by Dvorak:

Symphony

• Symphony No. 1, c minor - 1865
• Symphony No. 2, B flat Major - 1865
• Symphony No. 3, E flat Major - 1873
• Symphony No. 4, d minor - 1874
• Symphony No. 5, F Major - 1875
• Symphony No. 6, D Major - 1880
• Symphony No. 7, d minor - 1885
• Symphony No. 8, G Major - 1889
• Symphony No. 9, New World Symphony, e minor - 1893

Choral Works

• Mass in D Major - 1887
• Te Deum - 1892
• Requiem - 1890

Gaetano Donizetti - His Music and his Life

A native of Bergamo (born November 29, 1797), Donizetti was, for nearly a decade after the early death of Bellini in 1835, the leading composer of Italian opera. He had his first success with Zoraida di Granata in 1822. There followed a series of nearly sixty more operas and removal to Paris, where Rossini had been induced to settle to his profit. His final illness confined him to a hospital in France for some 17 months, before his return to Bergamo, where he died in 1848. Donizetti was not exclusively a composer of opera, but wrote music of all kinds, songs, chamber music, piano music and a quantity of music for the church.

The opera Anna Bolena, which won considerable success when it was first staged in Milan in 1830, provides a popular soprano aria in its final Piangete voi? Deserto in terra, from the last opera, Dom Sébastien, staged in Paris in 1843, has been a favourite with operatic tenors from Caruso to Pavarotti. The comedy Don Pasquale, staged in Paris in 1843, is a well-loved part of standard operatic repertoire, as is L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), from which the tenor aria Una furtiva lagrima (A hidden tear) is all too well known. Mention should be made of La Favorita and La Fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment), both first staged in Paris in 1840 and sources of further operatic recital arias. Lucia di Lammermoor, based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott, provides intense musical drama for tenors in the last act Tomba degl’avei miei (Tomb of My Forebears).

Donizetti passed away on April 8, 1848 also in Bergamo.

Claude Debussy - His Music and His Life

Claude Debussy was born into a poor family in France  on August 22, 1862, but his obvious gift at the piano sent him to the Paris Conservatory at age 11. At age 22, he won the Prix de Rome, which financed two years of further musical study in the Italian capital. After the turn of the century, Debussy established himself as the leading figure of French music. During World War I, while Paris was being bombed by the German air force, he succumbed to colon cancer at the age of 55.

Quotes

"Music is the space between the notes."

– Claude Debussy-

Achille-Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the oldest of five children. While his family had little money, Debussy showed an early affinity for the piano, and he began taking lessons at the age of 7. By age 10 or 11, he had entered the Paris Conservatory, where his instructors and fellow students recognized his talent, but often found his attempts at musical innovation strange.

In 1880, Nadezhda von Meck, who had previously supported Russian composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, hired Claude Debussy to teach piano to her children. With her and her children, Debussy traveled Europe and began accumulating musical and cultural experiences in Russia that he would soon turn toward his compositions, most notably gaining exposure to Russian composers who would greatly influence his work.

In 1884, when he was just 22 years old, Debussy entered his cantata L'Enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son) in the Prix de Rome, a competition for composers. He took home the top prize, which allowed him to study for two years in the Italian capital. While there, he studied the music of German composer Richard Wagner, specifically his opera Tristan und Isolde. Wagner’s influence on Debussy was profound and lasting, but despite this, Debussy generally shied away from the ostentation of Wagner’s opera in his own works.

Debussy returned to Paris in 1887 and attended the Paris World Exhibition two years later. There he heard a Javanese gamelan—a musical ensemble composed of a variety of bells, gongs and xylophones, sometimes accompanied by vocals—and the subsequent years found Debussy incorporating the elements of the gamelan into his existing style to produce a wholly new kind of sound.

The music written during this period came to represent the composer's early masterpieces—Ariettes oubliées (1888), Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun; completed in 1892 and first performed in 1894) and the String Quartet (1893)—which were clearly delineated from the works of his coming mature period.

Debussy's seminal opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, was completed in 1895 and was a sensation when first performed in 1902, though it deeply divided listeners (audience members and critics either loved it or hated it). The attention gained with Pelléas, paired with the success of Prélude in 1892, earned Debussy extensive recognition. Over the following 10 years, he was the leading figure in French music, writing such lasting works as La Mer (The Sea; 1905) and Ibéria (1908), both for orchestra, and Images (1905) and Children's Corner Suite (1908), both for solo piano.

Claude Debussy passed away on March 25, 1918.He lost his battle with rectal cancer at his Paris home. Aged 55, Debussy was universally acknowledged as one of the most important musicians of his time. His harmonic innovations had a profound influence on subsequent generations of composers, and by creating new genres and revealing a range of timbre and color he developed a highly original musical aesthetic. 

Arcangelo Corelli - His Music and His Life

Arcangelo Corelli was born February 17, 1653, in Fusignano, Italy. He studied violin with Bassani at the Music school in Bologna. In Rome he studied composition under Matteo Simeoni, the singer of the pope's chapel. Corelli established himself as composer and violinist in the 1670s. In 1672 he made a sensational debut in Paris, then successfully toured Euripean capitals. In 1678-1680 Corelli was in the service of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had taken up residence in Rome after her abdication. In 1681 Corelli was the court musician for the Prince of Bavaria.

Back in Rome Corelli composed and dedicated music to his aristocratic patrons, such as, Queen Christina, Cardinal Pamphili, Francesco II the Prince of Modena, Cardinal Ottoboni, who was Pope Alexander VIII from 1689-1691. Corelli gained recognition for the nice tone of his playing and for his elegant presentation. He was very attractive, well-mannered, and known for his talent for creating a special ambiance. Corelli was well received in the highest circles of the aristocracy. He was the permanent leader of the famous Monday concerts at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni, where he also resided for the most part of his life.

His rivalry and partnership with Georg Friedrich Haendel was legendary. Corelli was a great musician, but not a virtuoso. As it may be seen from his writings he never wrote or played above D on the highest string. Once Corelli refused to play the melody to the high A in the Handel's oratorio. Then Handel himself played the melody to the highest A, making Corelli very upset. Handel made a visit of respect to the great Corelli, as they both resided at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni in 1708-1710. Handel also continued the tradition of Corelli's Concerti Grossi.

Corelli developed Concerto Grosso into a form of secular entertainment for the aristocracy. He used the idea of a musical competition between two groups of musicians during the Concerto. A smaller group has only two violins and a cello, while the larger group is the full orchestra. At the beginning of concerto each group presents their beautiful theme with arrangements. During the course of the concerto both groups develop musical interaction and their melody lines become intertwined until they reach mutual culmination in the climax of the grand finale.

Many of Corelli's Concerti Grossi were based on the beautiful flowing melodies from his own violin sonatas. Corelli composed violin sonatas for his solo performances before his high patrons. Corelli's dynamic markings in all of his written music show his use of traditional terrace method of forte and piano dynamics. While unmarked, crescendo and diminuendo were left to be played intuitively between the extremes of piano and forte. Corelli also liberated the accompanying parts from restrictions of the counterpoint rules.

Corelli was a highly reputable teacher of music and composition. Besides giving music lessons to his aristocratic patrons, he taught such composers as Francesco Geminiani and Pietro Locatelli. His strong influence was recognized by Antonio Vivaldi who became Corelli's successor at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni. Johann Sebastian Bach studied Corelli's compositions. A remarkable tribute to Corelli was made by Serge Rachmaninoff in his concerto for piano and orchestra titled 'Rhapsody on a theme of Corelli' (aka.. Corelli Variations, Opus 42,1931).

Arcangelo Corelli died on January 8, 1713, in Rome and was laid to rest in the Pantheon of Rome.

Corelli's Concerti Grossi may be heard in film soundtracks as well as in numerous recordings of the Baroque music and in live concert performances.