December 2008

Street Date (new releases)

Does classical music have sense of humor?
Stravinsky arrested in Boston!
Dohnányi - a closet rapper?
Schoenberg sent to hell?
Beecham meets Hitler.

December Composers
Biographical Profiles
December 3 Soler
December 5 Geminiani
December 7 Mascangni
December 8 Sibelius
December 10 Franck
December 11 Berlioz
December 14 Seeger
December 16 Beethoven
December 18 MacDowell
December 22 Puccini
December 25 Gibbons
December 28 Palestrina
December 30 Kabalevsky

Street Date (Cecilia Picks)

Jazz Innovators

Film Reviews

Qunatum of Solace- Gary Chew

Appaloosa- Richard Figge

What Just Happened? - Gary Chew

W - Richard Figge

W - - Gary Chew

Religulous - Gary Chew

Tell No One - Richard Figge

Burn After Reading - Gary Chew

Public Radio Research
How it has destroyed public radio
as we knew it.

Why Cecilia?
"Visions . . . " by Art Historian Judith Anne Testa,PhD.
"Purcell & Cecilia" by Marielle D. Khoury
"Ode to St. Cecilia's Day- Handel" by Anthony Sargent
"Vespers of . . ." - Alessandro Scarlatti

Beethoven, Ludwig von December 16, 1770 He was born in Bonn of Flemish descent. (See the 3rd paragraph of this entry.) His grandfather and father (a tenor) were musicians in the employment of Elector of Cologne at Bonn. He studied violin, viola, harpsichord and organ. I783 found him playing harpsichord in the court orchestra which also carried with it some conducting, both unpaid. He was 13 years old. By the next year he was second court organist. At 17 his Elector sent him for a visit to Vienna and there he received a little training from Mozart, who recognized him as a genius. At 23 (1792) he settled in Vienna where he studied with Haydn and Albrectsberger. He spent the rest of his life there. 1795 marked his first public appearance in Vienna as pianist and composer.   For more see December Composers

Ludwig Van Beethoven 1770 - 1827

Jean Sibelius 1865 - 1957

Sibelius, Jean December 8, 1865 Named after a seafaring uncle, Jean Sibelius was born in Hämeenlinna (Tavastehus in Swedish) He is closely identified with Finnish nationalism. Throughout his life he was absorbed with Norse mythology, folk music and culture and nature poetry. He almost single handedly created a national symphonic language for Finland. His training included study at Helsinki Conservatory under Wegelius, Albert Becker in Berlin, and Robert Fuchs & Carl Goldmark in Vienna. Sibelius was an accomplished violinist in his late teens when he turned to composition It was between 1890 and 1900 that he developed a national idiom for Finland, his music the expressed the aspirations of Finland toward a national musical culture (Finland had been part of Sweden and during his lifetime the people defended their homeland against Soviet aggression). Since the Finnish people span Northern Eurasia as far east as Moscow it was natural that Russian art music would contribute to the new national musical language developed by Sibelius. In 1892 he finished his Kullervo Symphony. This nationalistic large scale symphonic tone poem was the first major work written by a Finnish composer. There's more at December Composers

The Sibelius home:
Ainola in 1915

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Gibbons, Orlando December 25, 1583 Orlando Gibbons was born in Oxford where his father was a city wait (musician). His older brothers were both composers: Edward, composer of church and other music and Ellis, composer of two of the madrigals used in The Triumphs of Oriana (1601). Orlando was a chorister (and sang under his brother Edward then Master of the Choristers) and at 21 a composer and organist for King's College, Cambridge. He matriculated in 1598. He wrote "O clap your hands" for his Doctor of Music at Oxford in 1622. From 1605 to 1619 he was organist for Chapel Royal and from 1623 to 25 organist (at age 40) at Westminster Abbey. He was thought to be the best keyboard artist in England during his time. He died when attending Charles I on the occasion of the arrival of Henrietta Maria. He was survived by his eldest son who was also an organist and composer. There's more at December Composers

Orlando Gibbons 1583 - 1625

Franck, Cesar Auguste
December 10, 1822

Franck was a Walloon: the French-speaking Celtic people who lived under Dutch Protestant rule. They were generally Catholic and owed their allegiance to France but became Belgians in 1830. Franck's family can be traced to Wallon and German background. His mother was German and his father was from Gemmenich near the German border.

His musical roots can be traced to Gounod and Berlioz but primarily to Beethoven, Schumann and Liszt. So where Saint-Saens' music through his student Faure and through Faure to Debussy and then to Ravel took on an elegant intelligence that was profound and sensitive but never strained Franck's music followed the Romantic model more as we hear in Grieg or Rachmaninoff.

There's more at December Composers

Cesar Franck at the organ

Puccini, Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria
December 22, 1859

 This opera composer representing the fifth generation of professional musicians was born in Lucca, Italy. He was expected to take the post of organist and choirmaster, being held by his uncle Fortunato Magi, when he was old enough.

He studied organ and sang in the choir in Lucca. Later he started his career as organist in Lucca then Mutigliano, Celle and Pascaglia. At 17 he began writing organ music based on his own improvisations, Tuscan fixings and from the Verdi operas Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata.

There is more on Puccini at December Composers