Chopin's Heart Exhumed in Secret Ceremony at Warsaw Church

Scientists, politicians and the Archbishop of Warsaw have exhumed the preserved heart of Frederic Chopin in a midnight ceremony. 

The official inspection of the Romantic composer's heart was organised following warnings that the organ might have started to deteriorate.

When Chopin died in 1849 his body was buried in Paris but his heart was taken to Warsaw, as requested by the composer on his deathbed. The heart was sealed in what is believed to have been a jar of cognac and smuggled into the Polish city before being interred in a pillar at the Holy Cross Church (pictured above ).

A team of experts, including scientists, officials and the Archbishop of Warsaw, went to the church just before midnight on 14 April this year to remove the heart for an inspection.

The 13 people present at the exhumation were sworn to secrecy and details of the unusual gathering were only released in September.

Tadeusz Dobosz, a forensic scientist present at the inspection, said: “The spirit of this night was very sublime.”

The team took hundreds of photographs, carried out an inspection of the composer’s heart and added hot wax to the jar’s seal to prevent further evaporation of the original preservative liquid. The Archbishop said prayers over the heart before it was returned to its resting place in the pillar.

Chopin experts have long been keen to carry out tests on the composer’s heart to try and find out whether he died of tuberculosis, as is generally believed. But the Polish church and government have been reluctant to give permission. This inspection was only sanctioned after a scientist warned that the alcohol containing the organ might have evaporated after all these years.
None of the photos taken at the exhumation have been released, however. “We don’t want this to be a media sensation with photos of the heart in the newspapers,” explained Artur Szklener, director of the Frederic Chopin Institute. But a reporter for Associated Press was shown the photos which they described as showing the organ: "an enlarged white lump submerged in an amber-coloured fluid in a crystal jar”.

Some experts have been critical of the lack of transparency surrounding the exhumation. Steven Lagerberg, who has written a book on the composer, told Associated Press he wished genetic tests had been carried out on the heart. “The mystery of this man's illness lingers on — how he could survive for so long with such a chronic illness and how he could write pieces of such extraordinary beauty,” Lagerberg said. “It's an intellectual puzzle, it's a medical mystery and it's an issue of great scientific curiosity.”

But the culture minister present on 14 April, Bogdan Zdrojewski said: “We in Poland often say that Chopin died longing for his homeland. Additional information which could possibly be gained about his death would not be enough of a reason to disturb Chopin's heart.”

Curious scientists will now have to wait until the next inspection - due in 50 years' time. 

(C) 2014 by ClassicFM London.

Georg Friedrich Händel - His Music and His Life

Born February. 23, 1685 in Halle, Germany. Died April 14, 1759 in London, United Kingdom. 

 

The king of opera, Handel’s exceptional disposition for music was evident from a very early age. A barber-surgeon and chamberlain for the Duke of Saxe, Handel’s father was opposed to the solid musical tuition the young musician received in Halle from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, (1663-1712). Handel consolidated his reputation from city to city, from the harpsichord to the organ and through his encounters with Telemann and Buxtehude before settling in Hamburg.

After composing two operas, the young composer decided to leave for Italy to perfect his style and meet Domenico Scarlatti, Corelli and Pasquini. The composer had his operas performed in Florence, Rome and Venice. A great traveller, Handel went to Hanover and London where his opera Rinaldo was a triumph. He took English nationality in 1726 and composed for the British numerous Italian operas, which were very in vogue. A victim of plots and conspiracies, Handel skilfully managed to remain venerated by the British public who made him rich and renowned. Berlioz noted, “The heavy wigged head of this barrel of pork and bear named Handel”. 

Although Handel composed over forty operas, sometimes conventional with mediocre librettos, his genius was particularly evident in his oratorios and keyboard pieces. His sense of the melodic line was unequalled and thanks to the company of the great singers and castratos of the time, Handel wrote eminently vocal music with natural curves and refined, elegant eloquence. His pieces for keyboard displayed this same art with a sharp sense of counterpoint. A clever man, Handel ingeniously drew from German, Italian and English styles. He is no doubt the first great European composer.

Werner Egk - His Music and His Life

Werner Egk, a prominent German composer, died of heart disease Sunday in Inning, West Germany, his family said. He was 82 years old. 

Mr. Egk's music, cast in a personal, essentially conservative fusion of 20th-century influences, Stravinsky chief among them, was full of translucent textures, lively rhythms and a mordant sense of irony. He was chiefly a composer for the theater, principally opera and ballet, but his catalogue includes orchestral and chamber works, as well. 

Among his better-known operas were ''Die Zaubergeige,'' ''Peer Gynt,'' ''Der Revisor'' and ''Die Verlobung in San Domingo.'' ''Der Revisor,'' based on Gogol, was given its American premiere under the title ''The Inspector General'' by the New York City Opera in 1960, with the composer conducting. Ross Parmenter, writing in The New York Times, admired its ''wry cleverness'' and ''meticulous craftsmanship,' but dismissed it as ''thin gruel.'' 

Donal Henahan, reviewing ''Die Verlobung in San Domingo'' in 1974, thought Mr. Egk ''a skilled workman in the genre'' and felt that the St. Paul Opera production ''lighted considerable dramatic fire.'

Mr. Egk was born in Auchsesheim on May 17, 1901. His original last name was Mayer. Some said his adopted acronym stood for ''ein grosser Komponist'' or even ''ein genialer Komponist'' - ''a great composer,'' or ''a great genius of a composer.'' But he always explained the name as a tribute to his wife, Elisabeth Karl, with the g added ''for euphony.'' 

The composer studied music in Munich, where his teachers included Carl Orff. Mr. Egk participated in avant-garde festivals before 1933, but afterward he played an active role in German musical life during the Nazi period. He was commissioned to write a piece for the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936, conducted at the Berlin State Opera between 1938 and 1941, and served as head of the German Union of Composers from 1941 to 1945. He was permitted to return to public life after a de-Nazification trial in 1947. 

In 1948, a ballet on the ''Faust'' theme, ''Abraxas,'' with a text based on Heinrich Heine, was banned by the Bavarian Ministry of Culture as obscene. Mr. Egk served as director of the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik from 1950 to 1953, and in 1968 he became president of the German Music Council.

Francois Couperin - His Music and His Life

François Couperin, known as le grand to distinguish him from an uncle of the same name, was the most distinguished of a numerous family of French musicians, officially succeeding his uncle and father as organist of the Paris church of St Gervais when he was 18. He enjoyed royal patronage under Louis XIV and in 1693 was appointed royal organist and, belatedly, royal harpsichordist. As a keyboard player and composer he was pre-eminent in France at the height of his career. He died in Paris in 1733.

Church Music

Couperin composed church music for the Royal Chapel under Louis XIV. The surviving Leçons de ténèbres are possibly the best example of this form of composition—settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah for the Holy Week liturgy. The first two of the three are for soprano solo and continuo (the vocal part of the second pitched slightly lower than that of the first), and the third is for two sopranos and continuo.

Chamber Music

Couperin’s chamber music includes L’Apothéose de Lully (‘The Apotheosis of Lully’), a tribute to the leading composer in France in the second half of the 17th century, Jean-Baptiste Lully. A tribute to the Italian composer Corelli, L’Apothéose de Corelli, is part of a larger collection of ensemble pieces under the title Les Goûts réunis (‘Tastes United’). It was an exploration of the rival French and Italian tastes in music, a quarrel in which Couperin remained neutral. The Concerts royaux represent another important element in Couperin’s music for instrumental ensemble.

Harpsichord Music

Couperin’s compositions for the harpsichord occupy a very important position in French music. His 27 suites, most of them published between 1713 and 1730, contain many pieces that are descriptive in one way or another. These richly varied suites, or ordres, represent the height of Couperin’s achievement as a composer and arguably that of the French harpsichord composers.

Benjamin Britten - His Music and His Life

Benjamin Britten was an English composer, conductor and pianist whose name has gone down in history as one of the best musicians of the past century. Dissatisfaction with the music of contemporary England led Britten to model himself on the works of other musicians from the continent. It must have been this dissatisfaction that must have enabled Britten to transcend genres of music like very few others. Even when the inspiration to his music lied elsewhere, his music had a freshness and identity that separated him from contemporary musicians and pushed him in to a league of his own. His works are also considered a refreshing change from the dullness that had seemed to dominate orchestral music of England in late 19th and early 20th century. Explore more about the life and work of this legendary musician in this biography that encapsulates everything from his childhood to death in detail.

Benjamin Britten’s Childhood and Early Life 

 

Benjamin Britten was born Edward Benjamin Britten in Lowestoft, Suffolk County, England on November 22, 1913, on St. Cecilia’s Day, to Robert and Edith Britten, as the youngest of four children. Robert was a dentist while Edith was an amateur musician. She was Benjamin’s first teacher and gave him his first piano lessons. Even when a child Britten showed prodigious talents and composed at a rate that was astounding. His juvenile compositions were more than 800. His first piano lessons with a teacher were at the age of seven. He started viola lessons with Audrey Alston at the age of 10. He later dedicated one of his works to her. It was through her that Britten came to the notice of Frank Bridge, eminent composer and violist. Impressed by his talents, Bridge agreed to tutor him in composition. Bridge remained an influential figure in the life of Britten who went on to champion his teacher’s works. Britten even wrote a work titled ‘Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge’ dedicated to his teacher.

 

Education: From a Child Prodigy to Master

 

In 1930, Britten joined the Royal College of Music where he studied composition under John Ireland and piano under Arthur Benjamin. He studied there until 1933. It was during this period that he met composers from the continent like Stravinsky, Gustav Mahler, and Dmitry Shostakovich. Stravinsky would also become a major influence on Britten. Britten had commented that Stravinsky was the first musician since the era of Beethoven who freed himself from the creation of self–centered music. The compositions of note from this period were ‘A Hymn to the Virgin’ and ‘A Boy was Born’, the former an opera and the latter choral variations.

 

As a Professional

 

Britten’s father’s death meant that he had to come up with his own source of income. To this purpose, he started composing music for television documentaries and films. This stood him in good stead as he could easily incorporate elements from film music into works classical in nature. During his earliest works for the BBC, he came in contact with W.H. Auden with whom he worked a few more times. It was also during one such project with the BBC in 1937 that he came in contact with Peter Pears. Pears, who went on to become his music collaborator and life partner, was a tenor for whom Britten wrote most of his solo music. In the same year, he composed his ‘Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge’. This work brought him international acclaim.

 

Britten was against war of all kinds. Following his role as a pacifist during the Second World War and his general disillusionment with war, he decided to move to America with Auden and Pears in 1939. While in America, he composed ‘The Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo’, his first song cycle for Pears. He also wrote his first music drama, ‘Paul Bunyan’. A growing disillusionment at not having what he hoped for in America forced Britten to rethink about his settlement there. He and Pears moved back to England in 1942.

 

Back in England, Britten’s reputation started burgeoning with works like ‘Hymns to St. Cecilia’, ‘Peter Grimes’ being huge successes from the 1940’s. Towards the end of this decade, due to the uneasy relationships at the musical scene in London, he created the English Opera Group in 1947. He established the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948 where he performed his works. The festival went on to become so huge that it attracted performers from all over the world.

 

Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, Britten came up with many works that were huge successes. The operas ‘Billy Budd’ and ‘The Turn of the Screw’, the ballet ‘The Prince of the Pagodas’ were notable works of the 1950’s. In 1953, Britten was appointed a Companion of Honor. He continued to produce works of greatness in the 1960’s including ‘War Requiem’ in 1962. Other notable works of this period include ‘The Prodigal Son’ and ‘The Burning Fiery Furnace’ among others. It was also in this decade, in 1965, that he was honored by his appointment to the Order of Merit.

 

Death

 

The last decade of his life, the 1970’s, saw his health deteriorating. The frequency of the works came down, though he did manage to produce work with enough recall value. ‘Owen Wingrave’, ‘Death in Venice’, ‘A Time there Was’ were among his works from this period. He accepted Life Peerage in 1976, and became Baron Britten. Only months later, he died of heart failure at his home in Aldeburgh. He is buried next to his partner Peter Pears in St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church cemetery in Aldeburgh.

15 Incredible Classic Music Facts

How many pieces of wood in a violin? What's the most expensive opera costume of all time? Which orchestra was booked to sail on the Titanic? Discover these random, bizarre and thoroughly interesting facts from the world of classical music.

Next image

  Picture 1 of 15

Previous Image Next image

Titanic

The London Symphony Orchestra was booked to travel on the Titanic's maiden voyage, but they changed boats at the last minute.

(C) ClassicFM London

Learning a Musical Instrument?

12 things they didn't tell you about learning a musical instrument

Thinking of taking up an instrument? Great! But be warned - it's not as easy as you might think... 

1. You will not be able to play perfectly immediately
You're better off starting with the basics, one step at a time. Like this guy.


2. Everyone will expect you to be able to play perfectly immediately
No matter how much you protest, everyone you know will assume that just because you've started learning you'll be a prodigy from the start. In the eyes of everyone else, you are one of the Von Trapp children.



        3. No matter how young you start, there's always someone more prodigious than you
You really think you're making progress, you're mastering the scales and arpeggios, maybe even a few little Grade 1 pieces under your belt... and then you see something like this:

4. There are lots of rules to learn
Just because Jimmy Page uses a violin bow on a guitar doesn't mean you can too. And don't think you can get away with a bare chest on stage either.




  
5.  Your practising will sound terrible at first Everyone wants to sound amazing from the moment they pick up a new instrument, but don't get too excited. Practise is hard. It takes a lot of effort and dedication. Most of the time, especially at the beginning, it sounds bad. It makes Britney Spears do this:

(via reactiongifs.com)

6. Learning the guitar? Maybe the violin? Strings in general?
Your fingertips will never be able to feel anything ever again. Except pain.

(via Reddit)

7. Oh, you've taken up the trombone?
What a chance to show your friends just how versatile an instrument the trombone is! It's not all about comedy noises and the theme tune from Jonny Briggs, right? Wrong. All people want from you is this sound:

8. Learning an instrument can alter your appearance
Is that a love-bite on your neck? No, you've started learning the violin.


            
9. You will never be able to do this:
No matter how much you want it to happen, MI5 have absolutely no use for your cello case. See also: tommy guns in violin cases. Never happens.

10. You will suddenly find yourself with extra luggage
Any dreams of cycling home or taking the scenic walking route will be quashed the moment you strap that tuba or double bass to your back. Oh, and if you're of schooling age, you might want to think about preparing some witty answers to the question, "What's THAT?"




             
11. Eventually you will join an ensemble of some kind, and that's when the fun really starts

"Want to come for a drink tonight?"
"Can't. Rehearsal."


12. It's easy to give up
But really, you shouldn't. Harness your sticktoitiveness. Keep going up and down those scales and doing those exercises. Like anything, practise makes perfect, and the joy you give to others with your playing will ultimately make the whole endeavour completely worthwhile.