The Best of Gioacchino Rossini

Carl Orff - His Music and His Life

Biographical details 1895 Born on 10 July in Munich 1898 Birth of his sister Maria (Mia) 1900 First piano tuition and first recording of compositions on a slate 1905 Music composed for his own puppet theatre 1912-14 Studies at the Academy of Music in Munich 1914 Further studies with Hermann Zilcher 1916 Musical director of Munich Chamber Theatre 1917 Military service, trapped on the Eastern front 1918 Musical director in Mannheim and Darmstadt 1919 Study of old masters of the 16th and 17th century; private circle of students in Munich 1920-27 Married to Alice Solscher 1920 Studies with Heinrich Kaminski 1921 Birth of daughter Godela  (Carl Orff 1921 with his daughter Godela) 1924 Foundation of Günther School in Munich 1925 First performance of new arrangement of ›L'Orfeo‹ by Monteverdi 1926 Begins cooperation with Gunild Keetman 1930 Performance of ›Entrata‹ originally by William Byrd 1931 First editions of Schulwerk 1932 Arrangement and adaptation of the St Lukas Passion attributed to Bach 1932-33 Musical director of Munich Bach Society 1936 Music for ›Olympic Festival‹: “Einzug und Reigen” 1937 First performance of ›Carmina Burana‹ 1939-53 Married to Gertrud Willert 1939 First performance of ›Der Mond‹ and first performance of ›Ein Sommernachtstraum‹ (3rd version) 1943 First performance of ›Die Kluge‹ und ›Catulli Carmina‹ 1944 Günther school closed down by the Nazis   1947 Receives music prize from the city of Munich; first performance of ›Bernauerin‹ 1948 First school radio broadcasts ›Orff Schulwerk. Musik für Kinder‹ 1949 First performance of ›Antigonae‹ 1950-54 Schott Music publishes ›Orff Schulwerk. Musik für Kinder‹ 1950-60 Director of master class for composition at the Music College in Munich 1953 First performance of ›Trionfo di Afrodite‹ 1954-59 Married to Luise Rinser 1956 Member of the fraternity ›pour le mérite‹ for arts and sciences 1959 First performance of ›Oedipus der Tyrann‹; honorary professor of the University of Tübingen 1960 Married Liselotte Schmitz 1962, 1963 und 1966 Gives lectures on ›Schulwerk‹ abroad 1968 First performance of ›Prometheus‹ 1972 Honorary professor of the University of Munich, awarded Great Cross of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany 1973 First performance of ›De temporum fine comoedia‹ 1975-81 Work on the documentation ›Carl Orff und sein Werk‹ in eight volumes 1982 Died on 29 March in Munich, buried in the Chapel of sorrow in the monastery church of Andechs

Carl Orff - O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana

Baroque Christmas Concert-1991 (Freiburg Cathedral) - Part 2

27 Amazing Musical Moments From 2014

This has been a stellar year for classical music – and we've collected some of our favourite moments in this gallery of the year.

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(C) 2014 by ClassicsFM London.

Andre Rieu Plays Live at Wembley Arena

The King of The Waltz made a triumphant return to London to bring his show to Wembley Arena.

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André Rieu live at Wembley Arena

Andre Rieu takes the applause during his festive show at Wembley Arena. 

(C) 2014 ClassicFM London.

Cole Porter - His Music and His Life

Cole Porter was born June 9, 1891, at Peru, Indiana, the son of pharmacist Samuel Fenwick Porter and Kate Cole. Cole was raised on a 750-acre fruit ranch. Kate Cole married Samuel Porter in 1884 and had two children, Louis and Rachel, who both died in infancy. Porter's grandfather, J.G. Cole, was a multi-millionaire who made his fortune in the coal and western timber business. His mother introduced him to the violin and the piano. Cole started riding horses at age six and began to studying piano at eight at Indiana's Marion Conservatory. By age ten, he had begun to compose songs, and his first song was entitled "Song of the Birds".

He attended Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1905, an elite private school from which he graduated in 1909 as class valedictorian. That summer he toured Europe as a graduation present from his grandfather. That fall, he entered Yale University and lived in a single room at Garland's Lodging House at 242 York Street in New Haven, CT, and became a member of the Freshman Glee Club. In 1910, he published his first song, "Bridget McGuire". While at Yale, he wrote football fight songs including the "Yale Bulldog Song" and "Bingo Eli Yale," which was introduced at a Yale dining hall dinner concert. Classmates include poet Archibald Macleish, Bill Crocker of San Francisco banking family and actor Monty Woolley. Dean Acheson, later to be U.S. Secretary of State, lived in the same dorm with Porter and was a good friend of Porter. In his senior year he was president of the University Glee club and a football cheerleader.

Porter graduated from Yale in 1913 with a BA degree. He attended Harvard Law school from 1913 to 1914 and the Harvard School of Music from 1915 to 1916. In 1917 he went to France and distributed foodstuffs to war-ravaged villages. In April 1918 he joined the 32nd Field Artillery Regiment and worked with the Bureau of the Military Attache of the US. During this time he met the woman who would become his wife, Linda Lee Thomas, a wealthy Kentucky divorcée, at a breakfast reception at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. He did not, as is often rumored, join the French Foreign Legion at this time, nor receive a commission in the French army and see combat as an officer.

In 1919 he rented an apartment in Paris, enrolled in a school specializing in music composition and studied with Vincent D'indy. On December 18, 1919, married Linda Lee Thomas, honeymooning in the south of France. This was a "professional" marriage, as Cole was, in fact, gay. Linda had been previously married to a newspaper publisher and was described as a beautiful woman who was one of the most celebrated hostesses in Europe. The Porters made their home on the Rue Monsieur in Paris, where their parties were renowned as long and brilliant. They hired the Monte Carlo Ballet for one of their affairs; once, on a whim, they transported all of their guests to the French Riviera.

In 1923 they moved to Venice, Italy, where they lived in the Rezzonico Palace, the former home of poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. They built an extravagant floating night club that would accommodate up to 100 guests. They conducted elaborate games including treasure hunts through the canals and arranged spectacular balls.

Porter's first play on Broadway featured a former ballet dancer, actor Clifton Webb. He collaborated with E. Ray Goetz, the brother-in-law of Irving Berlin, on several Broadway plays, as Goetz was an established producer and lyricist.

His ballad "Love For Sale" was introduced on December 8, 1930, in a revue that starred Jimmy Durante and was introduced by Kathryn Crawford. Walter Winchell, the newspaper columnist and radio personality, promoted the song, which was later banned by many radio stations because of its content. In 1934, his hit "Anything Goes" appeared on Broadway. During the show's hectic rehearsal Porter once asked the stage doorman what he thought the show should be called. The doorman responded that nothing seemed to go right, with so many things being taken out and then put back in, that "Anything Goes" might be a good title. Porter liked it, and kept it. In 1936, while preparing for "Red, Hot and Blue" with Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman was hired to do stenographic work to help Porter in rewriting scripts of the show. He later said she was the best stenographers he ever had.

Porter wrote such classic songs as "Let's Do It" in 1928, "You Do Something To Me" in 1929, "Love For Sale" in 1930, "What Is This Thing Called Love?" in 1929, "Night and Day" in 1932, "I Get A Kick Out Of You" in 1934, "Begin the Beguine" in 1935, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in 1938, "Don't Fence Me In" in 1944, "I Love Paris" in 1953, "I've Got You Under My Skin", In the Still of The Night", "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To", "True Love", "Just One Of Those Things", "Anything Goes", "From This Moment On", "You're The Top", "Easy to Love" and many, many more.