1866
In New Zealand, British regulars, white settlers and Maori loyalists defeat another Maori rebellion • In the Hawaiian Islands the first plantation workers have arrived, eighty-five percent of them are from China (470 males and 52 females). From Japan, 148 laborers have arrived • The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is founded • A Russian student, acting alone, tries to assassinate Tsar Alexander II. The government becomes hostile to all students. A new minister of education takes charge of the universities and applies stricter controls
1867
One in five adult males in England and Wales can vote. Demonstrations erupt across Britain. A demonstration in London's Hyde Park is banned by the government, but the crowd is so huge that the government does not attack. The Reform Act of 1867 is passed, extending the vote to those individuals in whose name homes are owned or rented. This doubles the number of males in Wales and England who can vote. Politicians must account themselves to the increased electorate, but the upper classes can better afford the increased campaigning, which helps conservative candidates • The government of Tsar Alexander II is seeking consolidation of its frontier. It sells Alaska to the United States • The United States Congress abolishes peonage in the territory of New Mexico • In the United States, the Republican Party has gained more seats in Congress, and Congress overrides President Andrew Johnson's veto of the "Reconstruction Act." An army, including a black militia, is sent to the South to enforce the law • In Vienna, the Blue Danube Waltz, by Johann Strauss, premiers • In the US, five all-black colleges are founded: Howard University in Washington D.C., Morgan State College in Maryland, Talladega College in Alabama, St. Augustine's College and Johnson C. Smith College in North Carolina • The Jesse James gang robs a bank in Savannah, Missouri, killing one person • Dating trees by their annual rings begins • In Sweden, Alfred Nobel finds that when nitroglycerin is combined with an absorbent substance it becomes safer and more convenient to manipulate. His mixture is patented as dynamite • E. Remington and Sons, manufacturers of guns and sewing machines, develop and manufacture the first commercial typewriter • Crown Prince Mutsuhito, age 14, ascends the throne as Emperor Meiji
1868
Feudal lords and others have been conspiring against the Tokugawa rule. A rallying cry is, "Honor the Emperor; expel the barbarian." Despite the anti-barbarian slogan, US, British, French and Dutch forces join against the shogunate, shelling coastal fortresses and sinking the shogun's ships. Tokugawa rule is declared over. The capital, Edo, is renamed Tokyo. The emperor rules nominally while civil war continues. Attacks on foreigners continue, but people with influence and power do not want to provoke intervention by the Western Powers and move to end such attacks • In the United States, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. This overturns the Dred Scott case. It entitles all persons born or naturalized in the United States to citizenship and equal protection under the law. Civil rights are not extended to Indians or anyone who has held office in the Confederacy • George Custer and his Seventh Cavalry follow tracts of a small raiding party to a Cheyenne village on the Washita River, in western Oklahoma, within the borders of the Cheyenne reservation. There they slaughter Black Kettle, his family and others of the Cheyenne tribe • Reconstructed governments had been set up in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina • Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Pia de Tolomei
1869
Tokugawa forces that have attempted to establish rule in Hokkaido are defeated. Leaders of the military victory over the Tokugawa begin associating Emperor Meiji with Shinto ideology. Shinto shrines are common on Buddhist temple grounds, and, in an effort to free Shinto from Buddhist domination, violence and the breaking of images is committed against Buddhism. Buddhist temple lands are confiscated • The transcontinental railroad is completed, ending six years of work. Track from west and east meet in Utah • The Suez Canal opens. It is largely French owned but eager for international business. Access is promised ships from all nations, for a fee. The canal is to reduce travel time between Europe and Asia. Giuseppe Verdi has written an opera for the opening celebration -- Aida • One-third of the population of Savu (in the Indonesian Archipelago) die from smallpox • The Territory of Wyoming allows women to vote • Tolstoy (Russia) - War and Peace
1870
The Territory of Utah allows women to vote • Pius IX convenes the First Vatican Council at which papal infallibility is proclaimed on matters of faith and morals • Diamond deposits have been discovered in southern Africa, at Kimberley in the land of the Griqua, or Griqualand, on the northern frontier of the British colony. Diamond diggers are rushing there – Africans, whites from Europe, Australia and the Americas • Australia now has a substantial number of Germans and Catholic Irish who worshiped freely. The Irish have found Australia to be without the oppressions they had known in Ireland • In Pennsylvania a coal mine fire suffocates 179 men. The state responds by passing mine safety laws • Joseph Lister believes that microorganisms transmit disease. He reports success in sterilizing tools used in surgery • Bismarck believes that war will arouse nationalist fervor and serve to unite the independent German states with Prussia. France opposes such unity. Bismarck wants a showdown with France and tricks the French into starting war. The Franco-Prussian War begins in July. In September the Prussians defeat the French decisively at Sedan and capture the French emperor, Napoleon III. The emperor is deposed. France's Second Empire ends and Third Republic begins • In Britain, France, Germany, Austria and in Scandinavian countries, trade relative to population size has increased four to five times what it was in 1830. In Belgium and the Netherlands the increase is about three times
Count Lyov (also Lev) Nikolayevich Tolstoy (9 September [O.S. 28 August] 1828 – 20 November [O.S. 7 November] 1910), was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, he is best known for the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877), often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. He first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), and Sevastopol Sketches (1855), based upon his experiences in the Crimean War. Tolstoy's fiction includes dozens of short stories and several novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Family Happiness (1859), and Hadji Murad (1912). He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays.
1866
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky writes his Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Winter Daydreams (or Winter Dreams) (Russian: Зимние грёзы, Zimniye gryozy), Op. 13.
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Winter Dreams, Op.13
Nikolai Semyonovich Golovanov
1 April
Ferruccio Busoni, pianist, composer, born.
17 May
Erik Satie, composer, born.
Amilcare Ponchielli – Concerto for Trumpet in F major
Ponchielli - Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in F Major
Armando Ghitalla
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, William Perry
30 May
Bedřich Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride (Prodana Nevesta) debuts at the Provisional Theatre (Prague).
Arthur Sullivan – Irish Symphony
Sir Arthur Sullivan - Symphony in E Major "Irish"
I. Andante - Allegro Ma Non Troppo Vivace - 00:00
II. Andante Espressivo - 13:24
III. Allegretto - Moderato - Tempo Primo - 20:42
IV. Allegro Vivace e con brio - 26:59
Richard Hickox
Mily Balakirev publishes his Collection of Russian Folksongs, including "The Song of the Volga Boatmen".
Boris Shtokolov - Song of the volga boatmen
5 February
Jacques Offenbach - Barbe-bleue
Barbe-bleue (Bluebeard) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, in three acts (four scenes) by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on Charles Perrault's 1697 story.
Offenbach - Barbe Bleue
Michel Sénéchal (Barbe-Bleue),
Duvaleix (Bobèche),
André Balbon (Oscar),
Charles Daguerssard (Popolani),
Joseph Peyron (Saphir),
Marcel Génio (Alvarez),
Fanély Revoil (Boulotte),
Déva Dassy (Clémentine),
Claudine Collart (Hermia),
Jeannette Levasseur (Héloïse),
Huguette Hennetier (Eléonore),
Jacqueline Meyer (Isaure),
Raymonde Note-Pagès (Blanche).
Orchestre radio-lyrique Dir. : Marcel Cariven, 1958
21 March
Franz von Suppé – Leichte Kavallerie
Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry) is an operetta in two acts by Franz von Suppé, with a libretto by Karl Costa (de). It was first performed in the Carltheater, Vienna, on 21 March 1866.
The original work is set in a 19th-century Austrian village where several love intrigues and the discovery of a father-daughter relationship are accompanied by the arrival of a regiment of hussars. In 1934, Hans Bodenstedt (de) completely rewrote the operetta. It was set in the 18th century amid the court intrigues of a Baron and his Hungarian Countess lover, whose ballet company is referred to as the "light cavalry".
Franz von Suppe - Ouverture Leichte Kavallerie
Cincinnati Pops conducted by Erich Kunzel
23 July
Francesco Cilea, composer, born.
31 October
Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Vie parisienne debuts in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais Royale.
La vie parisienne (Parisian life) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
La Vie Parisienne
17 November
Ambroise Thomas's opera Mignon debuts in Paris at the Opéra-Comique.
Mignon is an opéra in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's "The Dead" (Dubliners) and Willa Cather's The Professor's House.
Ambroise Thomas "Mignon"
Hertha Töpper/Irmgard Först (Mignon)
Mimi Coertse/Brigitte Schubert (Philine)
Rudolf Schock/Wolfgang Arps (Wilhelm Meister)
Gottlob Frick/Kaspar Brüninghaus (Lothario)
André Peysang/Paul Bürks (Baron Friedrich v. Tiefenbach)
Walter Jenkel (Laertes)
Kölner Rundfunkchor
Einstudierung: Berhard Zimmermann
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester
Dirigent: Peter Maag, 1956
Ferruccio Busoni
(b. Empoli, April 1, 1866; d. Berlin, July 27, 1924)
PIANIST, COMPOSER, AND TEACHER of German-Italian descent, one of the fathers of 20th-century modernism. Born into a family of musicians, he gave his first concert at the age of seven, and made his Viennese debut, which was acclaimed by no less a critic than Eduard Hanslick, at ten.
That year the family settled in Graz, where the youth busied himself with composition and the further development of his piano technique. In 1885, on the advice of Brahms, he went to Leipzig to study composition with Carl Reinecke. The first of his virtuoso arrangements of the music of Bach appeared in 1888, and in 1890 he won the Rubinstein Prize for his Konzertstuck, Op. 31a. Following a period of teaching in New York and Boston (1891-94), he took up permanent residence in Berlin, remaining there for the rest of his life except for a brief sojourn in Switzerland during World War I. He became a central figure in the musical life of the German capital and in the development of modernism, both in his teaching (his composition students included Kurt Weill and Edgard Varese) and his promotion of the music of such contemporaries as Bartok, Delius, Debussy, and Sibelius. His 1907 essay Entwurf einer neuen Asthetik der Tonkunst “Sketch of a New Musical Esthetic” sparked a controversy with the conservative Hans Pfitzner, who saw him as an example of the “futurist peril.”
In fact, Busoni was a bridge, connecting the Latin and Germanic temperaments, the 19th and 20th centuries, and the cultural values of Romanticism and modernism, both in his music and in his personality. A remarkably innovative composer—his hourlong Piano Concerto of 1904, for example, calls for a male chorus in its final movement—he made interesting contributions to a variety of genres including chamber music, orchestral music, and opera (his unfinished Doktor Faust, completed in 1925 by Philipp Jarnach, is one of the most imaginative and engrossing stage works of the 20th century). The core of his output was music for the piano, comprising several dozen characteristic pieces, six sonatinas, and seven volumes of transcriptions of the music of Bach (mostcelebrated, his knuckle-busting arrangement of the D minor Chaconne). The orchestral sonority he achieved in writing for the instrument is among his most important legacies.
Busoni - Piano Concerto in C Major, op 39 with Male Chorus
I. Prologo e Introito: Allegro, dolce e solenne
II. Pezzo giocoso: Vivacemente, ma senza fretta
III. Pezzo serioso: Andante sostenuto pensoso
IV. All'Italiana: Vivace
V. Cantico: Largamente, più moderato
Garrick Ohlsson, Piano
The Cleveland Orchestra & Men's Chorus
Robert Page, Choral Director
Christoph von Dohnányi, Conductor
Ferruccio Busoni: 24 Préludes, op.37 (Kind. 181) (1880/1881) 1/2
Geoffrey Douglas Madge, pianoforte.
Ferruccio Busoni: 24 Préludes, op.37 (Kind. 181) (1880/1881) 2/2
Geoffrey Douglas Madge, pianoforte.
Ferruccio Busoni: Elegien. 7 neue klavierstücke (Kind. 249) (1907/1909)
Geoffrey Douglas Madge, pianoforte.
Ferruccio Busoni - Fantasia Contrappuntistica, per pianoforte (Kind. 256) (1910)
Geoffrey Douglas Madge, pianoforte.
Erik Satie
(b. Honfleur, May 17, 1866; d. Paris, July 1, 1925)
French composer. He had a difficult childhood: his mother died when he was six, and he was raised for a while by his paternal grandparents, then his grandmother died, then his father remarried.
Satie’s stepmother, a headstrong woman with musical interests, enrolled him in the Paris Conservatoire in 1879. He spent seven miserable years there, was a mediocre student, and eventually flunked out. In 1887 he left home and began living a bohemian life in Montmartre, hanging out in cabarets and styling himself an artiste. In 1898 he moved to Arcueil, on the southern outskirts of Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life in a sparsely furnished apartment. During the early 1900s he worked as a cafe pianist, walking the six miles into Paris every day and returning in the early-morning hours by train.
In 1905, hoping to improve his technique as a composer, Satie went back to “school”—this time the Schola Cantorum— to study counterpoint with Albert Roussel (his junior by three years) and composition and orchestration with Vincent d’lndy. He emerged from artistic obscurity in 1911 when Maurice Ravel played his three Sarabandes (1887) at a concert of the Societe Musicale Independente; he came to be seen as a “precursor” of Ravel and Claude Debussy—who by then were ruling the roost in French musical life. With the public awakened, Satie produced between 1912 and 1917a series of humorous piano works with strange names, e.g., Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses (Old Coins and Old Armor; 1914), continuing a conceit he had inaugurated with his three Gymnopedies (1888), six Gnossiennes (1889-97), and Trois morceaux en forme de poire (Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear, consisting of seven pieces; 1903). After 1915 Satie received a major push from Jean Cocteau, who arranged for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes to commission Parade (1917), with story line by Cocteau, sets by Pablo Picasso, and choreography by Leonide Massine. The ballet, with its cafe-style music, was a succes de scandale. Out of this emerged, circa 1920 (with Cocteau serving as godfather), Les Six, a Satie fan club of young composers. In the years that followed, Satie attempted unsuccessfully to come up with another ballet hit, joined the Communist Party, and had a fling with the Dada movement. He died of cirrhosis of the liver.
Until the 1960s, when his piano music made a comeback, Satie was viewed as the court jester of the early-20th-century Parisian musical scene—impoverished, barely professional, meriting little more than a dismissive smirk. Even Debussy treated him more like a lapdog than a friend. In some ways Satie was naive (in his basic ideas and their excessive repetition, and certainly in his grasp of musical structure), but he was insistent in a characteristically modern manner, and original in a way that, while not shocking, got under people’s skin. It is clear that his Sarahandes had an influence on Debussy’s much later La cathedrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral; 1910) as well as on pieces such as the sarabande from Pour le piano (1901); also clear is the debt Ravel’s piano music owes to his. Satie’s appropriation of music-hall elements anticipated Poulenc and others, and the sarcastic, cryptic, epigrammatic, and quasi-ecclesiastical trappings of his style found many echoes later in the 20th century.
Erik Satie: Gymnopédies & Gnossiennes
00:00:00 3 Sarabandes (1887): No. 1
00:05:33 3 Sarabandes (1887): No. 2
00:10:33 3 Sarabandes (1887): No. 3
00:14:47 3 Gymnopédies (1889): No. 1: Lent et douloureux
00:18:27 3 Gymnopédies (1889): No. 2: Lent et triste
00:21:45 3 Gymnopédies (1889): No. 3: Lent et grave
00:24:38 Gnossiennes 1-3 (1890): No. 1
00:28:45 Gnossiennes 1-3 (1890): No. 2
00:30:45 Gnossiennes 1-3 (1890): No. 3
00:34:11 Gnossiennes 4-6 (1889-1897): No. 4
00:37:02 Gnossiennes 4-6 (1889-1897): No. 5
00:39:53 Gnossiennes 4-6 (1889-1897): No. 6
00:41:27 2 Préludes du nazaréen (1892): No. 1, assez lent
00:46:09 2 Préludes du nazaréen (1892): No. 2, assez lent
00:49:15 2 Prélude de la porte Héroique du ciel (1894)
00:53:00 2 Pièces froides (1897), No. 1: Airs a faire fuir: D’une manière très particulaire
00:55:59 2 Pièces froides (1897), No. 1: Airs a faire fuir: Modestemente
00:57:42 2 Pièces froides (1897), No. 1: Airs a faire fuir: S’inviter
01:00:45 No 2: Danses de travers: En y regardent à deux fois
01:01:39 No 2: Danses de travers: Passer
01:02:25 No 2: Danses de travers: Encore
01:03:47 Petite ouverture à danser (1900)
Håkon Austbö (piano)
Erik Satie - Socrate
»Socrate« (1918), drame symphonique en trois parties avec voix sur des dialogues de Platon traduit par Victor Cousin.
00:00 I. Portrait de Socrate (Le Banquet)
05:57 II. Bords de l'Ilissus (Phèdre)
13:05 III. Mort de Socrate (Phédon)
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt – ténor
Ensemble Erwartung
Bernard Desgraupes, 1993
"Parade" by Erik Satie
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra cond - Antal Doráti
Erik Satie: Pièces Froides - (Airs À Faire Fuir; Danses De Travers)
Reinbert De Leeuw
Francesco Cilea
Francesco Cilea (23 July 1866 – Varazze, 20 November 1950) was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.
Born in Palmi near Reggio di Calabria, Cilea gave early indication of an aptitude for music when at the age of four he heard a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma and was greatly affected by it. He was sent to study music at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples, where he quickly demonstrated his diligence and precocious talent, earning a gold medal from the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Department of Education).
In 1889, for his final examination at the end of his course of study, he submitted his opera Gina, with a libretto by Enrico Golisciani which was adapted from the old French play Catherine, ou La Croix d'or by Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville (1787—1865).
Sonzogno also then commissioned from Cilea La Tilda, a verismo opera in three short acts along the lines of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. With a libretto by Angelo Zanardini, La Tilda had a successful first performance in April 1892 at the Teatro Pagliano in Florence, and after performances in a number of Italian theatres, it arrived at the Vienna Exhibition on 24 September 1892, alongside other works from the firm of Sonzogno.
In 1897 (27 November), the Teatro Lirico in Milan saw the première of Cilea's third opera L'Arlesiana, based on the play by Alphonse Daudet, with a libretto by Leopoldo Marenco. Among the cast was the young Enrico Caruso, who performed with great success the Lamento di Federico: È la solita storia del pastore, the romance which was to keep alive the memory of the opera even to the present day.
Again at the Teatro Lirico in Milan, in 1902 (6 November) and again with Enrico Caruso, the composer won an enthusiastic reception for Adriana Lecouvreur, a 4-act opera with a libretto by Arturo Colautti, set in 18th century Paris and based upon a play by Eugène Scribe. Adriana Lecouvreur is the opera of Cilea which is best known to international audiences today, and it reveals the spontaneity of a melodic style drawn from the Neapolitan school combined with harmonic and tonal shading influenced by French composers such as Massenet.
Cilea's last opera, premièred at La Scala in Milan on 15 April 1907 under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, was the 3-act tragedy Gloria, again with a libretto by Colautti, based on a play by Victorien Sardou. The opera was withdrawn after only two performances; and the failure of this work, even though the composer attempted a later revision, was enough to drive him to abandon the operatic stage for good.
Nevertheless, he continued to compose chamber music, and some orchestral music. In 1913 he produced a symphonic poem in honour of Giuseppe Verdi with verses by Sem Benelli, which was first performed at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.
Cilea died on 20 November 1950 in Varazze, a town near Savona in Liguria which offered him honorary citizenship and where he spent the last years of his life.
Francesco Cilea- Sonata per violoncello e pianoforte in re maggiore op.38 (1888).
I. Allegro moderato
II. Alla romanza [05:43]
III. Allegro animato [11:32]
Massimo Macrì, violoncello
Sandro Fuga, pianoforte.
Cilea - Romanza in la maggiore
Riccardo Caramella, piano
L'arlesiana is an opera in three acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Leopoldo Marenco. It was originally written in four acts, and was first performed on 27 November 1897 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan.
Cilea - " L'Arlesiana"
Rosa Mamai - Pia Tassinari
Federico - Ferruccio Tagliavini
Vivetta - Gianna Galli
Baldessare - Paolo Silveri
Metifio - Bruno Carmassi
Marco - Antonio Zerbini
L'Innocente - Loretta di Lelio
Direttore - Arturo Basile
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Torino della RAI
Torino 1955
1867
Modest Mussorgsky – Night on Bare Mountain
Mussorgsky - Night on the bare mountain
New York Philharmonic Orchestra,
conductor Leonard Bernstein, 1987
11 March
Giuseppe Verdi – Don Carlos
(11 March, Paris Opéra's Salle Le Peletier)
Joachim Raff - Festival March, Op. 139, for orchestra
Joseph Raff - Festival March for Orchestra op.139
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:
Souvenir de Hapsal, suite of three pieces for piano;
Two Pieces for Piano, Op. 1.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Souvenir de Hapsal, Op 2
1 Ruines d'un chateau
2 Scherzo
3 Chant sans paroles
Igor Zhukov, piano
Tchaikovsky: 2 PIANO PIECES - OP. 1
25 March
Arturo Toscanini, noted conductor, born.
Arturo Toscanini, (born March 25, 1867, Parma, Italy—died Jan. 16, 1957, New York City, N.Y., U.S.), Italian conductor, considered one of the great virtuoso conductors of the first half of the 20th century.
Toscanini studied at the conservatories of Parma and Milan, intending to become a cellist. At the age of 19, when playing at the opera house at Rio de Janeiro, he was called upon to fill in for the conductor and performed Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida from memory. He came into prominence as a conductor in Italy and elsewhere and was appointed musical director of La Scala, Milan, in 1898, and of the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in 1908. He conducted the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra from 1928 to 1936 and appeared with orchestras all over the world, except those of Italy and Germany during the Fascist regimes. From 1937 to 1954 he directed the NBC Symphony, an orchestra sponsored by the U.S. radio network.
Toscanini became principally known for his readings of the operas of Verdi and the symphonies of Beethoven, and he gave remarkable performances of the music of Wagner. His interpretations were notable for detail of phrasing, dynamic intensity, and an essentially classical conception of form. His phenomenal memory stood him in good stead when, suffering from poor eyesight, he was obliged always to conduct from memory. He commanded from the artists who worked under him a devotion that often made them reach something like his own fervour.
Edvard Grieg – Book 1 (Op. 12) of the Lyric Pieces for piano.
Lyric Pieces (Lyriske stykker) is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 (Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The collection includes several of his best known pieces, such as Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen), To Spring (Til våren), March of the Trolls (Trolltog), and Butterfly (Sommerfugl).
Edvard Grieg - Lyric Pieces
Book I - 8 Lyric Pieces, Op.12 (1864-67)
Fräulein Betty Egeberg gewidmet
0:00:20 Arietta
0:01:46 Waltz
0:03:38 Watchman's Song
0:06:17 Elfin Dance
0:07:16 Folk Song
0:08:32 Norwegian Melody
0:09:52 Album Leaf
0:11:45 National Song
Book II - 8 Lyric Pieces, Op.38 (1883-88)
0:13:20 Berceuse
0:16:21 Popular Melody
0:18:23 Melodie
0:19:36 Halling (Norwegian Dance)
0:20:53 Jump Dance (Norwegian Dance)
0:21:48 Elegie
0:25:48 Waltz
0:26:54 Kanon
Book III - 6 Lyric Pieces, Op.43 (1886)
Herrn Professor Isidor Seiss gewidmet
0:31:42 Butterfly
0:33:40 Solitary traveller
0:35:40 In my native country
0:37:37 Little bird
0:39:28 Erotikon
0:41:59 To the Spring
Book IV - 7 Lyric Pieces, Op.47 (1886-88)
Fräulein Elisabet Hernemann gewidmet
0:45:14 Valse-Impromptu
0:48:22 Album-leaf
0:52:09 Melodie
0:55:32 Halling (Norwegian Dance)
0:57:09 Melancholie
1:00:42 Norwegian Dance
1:02:17 Elegie
Book V - 6 Lyric Pieces, Op.54 (1889-91)
Herrn Julius Röntgen gewidmet
1:04:58 Shepherd's boy
1:09:00 Norwegian Peasant March
1:12:52 March of the dwarfs
1:16:08 Notturno
1:20:09 Scherzo
1:23:39 Bell ringing
Book VI - 6 Lyric Pieces, Op.57 (1890-93)
Herrn Hermann Scholtz gewidmet
1:27:25 Vanished days
1:33:26 Gade
1:37:31 Illusion
1:41:09 Secret
1:46:20 She dances
1:49:36 Home-sickness
Book VII - 6 Lyric Pieces, Op.62 (1893-95)
1:53:25 Sylphide
1:55:15 Gratitude
1:58:56 French Serenade
2:01:38 Brooklet
2:03:41 Phantom
2:06:55 Homeward
Book VIII - 6 Lyric Pieces, Op.65 (1896)
2:09:49 From early years
2:15:22 Peasant's Song
2:17:06 Melancholy
2:21:07 Salon
2:23:51 Ballad
2:26:29 Wedding day at Troldhaugen
Book IX - 6 Lyric Pieces, Op.68 (1897-99)
2:33:45 Sailor's song
2:35:20 Grandmother's minuet
2:37:38 At your feet
2:41:00 Evening in the mountains
2:43:56 At the cradle
2:46:21 Valse mélancholique
Book X - 7 Lyric Pieces, Op.71 (1901)
Frau Mien Röntgen gewidmet
2:50:26 Once upon a time
2:54:25 Summer's eve
2:57:08 Puck
2:59:18 Peace of the woods
3:05:01 Halling (Norwegian Dance)
3:08:45 Gone
3:11:05 Remembrances
3 April
Jules Massenet – La Grand'Tante
La grand'tante (The great-aunt) is an opéra comique in one act by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Jules Adenis and Charles Grandvallet. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 April 1867.
12 April
Jacques Offenbach – La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein) is an opéra bouffe (a form of operetta), in three acts and four tableaux by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
Offenbach - La grande duchesse du gerolstein
27 April
Charles Gounod – Roméo et Juliette (27 April, Théâtre Lyrique, Paris)
11 May
The first comic opera with a score by Arthur Sullivan to be publicly performed, the one-act Cox and Box with libretto by F. C. Burnand, opens at the Adelphi Theatre in London and runs for 300 performances. It is followed by the two-act The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones by the same partnership which opens on December 18 at St. George's Hall, London.
Burnand and Sullivan - Cox And Box
Cox--Alan Styler
Box--Joseph Riordan
Bouncer--Donald Adams
The New Symphony Orchestra Of London is conducted by Isidore Godfrey.
27 July
Enrique Granados, composer, born.
28 August
Umberto Giordano, composer, born.
Franz Liszt – Marche funèbre, En mémoire de Maximilian I, Empereur du Mexique
Franz Liszt - Années de pèlerinage, troisième année, S163
Performed by Jeno Jando
00:00 - No. 1 Angelus! – Prière aux anges gardiens
07:03 - No. 2 Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este – Thrénodie I
13:22 - No. 3 Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este – Thrénodie II
22:41 - No. 4 Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este
30:03 - No. 5 Sunt lacrymae rerum – en mode hongrois
37:18 - No. 6 Marche funèbre – en mémoire de Maximilien I, Empereur du Mexique, d. 19 juin 1867
42:56 - No. 7 Sursum corda – Erhebet eure Herzen
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Sadko (musical tableau)
Rimsky Korsakov - Sadko (musical tableau), Op.5 (1867 rev. 1891-92)
Evgeny Svetlanov conducting the USSR Symphony Orchestra
Édouard Lalo – Fiesque
Fiesque (The Genoese Conspiracy) is an opera by the French composer Édouard Lalo. The libretto, by Charles Beauquier, is based on Schiller's 1784 play, Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua, an account of the conspiracy in 1547 led by Fiesque against the ruling Doria family.
It had its first staged performance at the Nationaltheater, Mannheim on 16 June 2007.
Edouard Lalo - Fiesque
Michelle Canniccioni : Léonore
Béatrice Uria-Monzon : Julie
Roberto Alagna : Fiesque
Franck Ferrari : Verrina
Jean-Sébastien Bou : Hassan
Armando Gabba : Borgonino
Vladimir Stojanovic : Gianettino
Ronan Nédélec : Romano
Alexandre Swan : Sacco
Chœur de la Radio Lettone
Orchestre National de Montpellier Alain Altinoglu, Montpellier, 2006,
15 February
First performance of Johann Strauss II's waltz "The Blue Danube" (An der schönen blauen Donau, composed 1866) at a concert of the Vienna Men's Choral Association (Wiener Männergesangsverein). Strauss adapts it into its popular purely orchestral version for the International Exposition in Paris later this year.
Johann Strauss II -"The Blue Danube"
Herbert von Karajan
5 September
Amy Beach, composer, born.
24 November
Scott Joplin, ragtime composer, born.
26 December
Georges Bizet – La jolie fille de Perth
La jolie fille de Perth (The Fair Maid of Perth) is an opera in four acts by Georges Bizet, from a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jules Adenis, after the novel by Sir Walter Scott.
Georges Bizet - La jolie fille de Perth
Catherine Glover Inva Mula
Henry Smith Charles Workman
Le Duc de Rothsay Jean-Frangois Lapointe
Mab Sonia de Beaufort
Ralph Armand Arapian
Simon Glover Christian Tréguier
Un artisan Paul Kirby
Un Seigneur au service du Duc Florian Westphal
L'homme sans visage, Un artisan, Majordome du Duc
Figurants: Caroline Bouet, lsabelle Bumod, Sylvie Charmille, Agnès Magnier, lsabelle Malgat, Anne Regnier, Damien Bumod, Nicolas Flamini, Pierre
Vandendriessche, Olivier Latour
Chefs de chant: Hélène Blanic, Sandra Jacqueline-Westphal
Orchestre de chambre de l'opéra d'État Hongrois Failoni
Choeurs: Cori spezzati - Olivier Opdebeeck
6 December
Giovanni Pacini, composer, dies.
18 December
Arthur Sullivan - The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones, is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 72 performances.
Arthur Sullivan - The Contrabandista
I. Hush! Not a Step
II. Hand of Fate (00:04:56)
III. Only the Night Wind sighs alone (00:07:32)
IV. From Rock to Rock (00:09:52)
V. Hullo! What's that? (00:12:53)
VI. Hail to the ancient Hat! (00:19:17)
VII. Wake, gentle Maiden (00:24:58)
VIII. My Love, We'll meet again (00:27:26)
IX. Have Pity, sir! (00:29:50)
Enrique Granados
(b. Lerida, July 27, 1867; d. at sea aboard the Sussex, March 24, 1916)
CATALAN COMPOSER AND PIANIST. Like his elder colleague Isaac Albeniz, he composed in a variety of genres but achieved his most effective expression at the piano. Also like Albeniz, he was influenced by the musicologist Felipe Pedrell to seek a Spanish direction in his art. He studied piano as a child in Barcelona, and at the age of 13 became a student of Joan Pujol, who had been Albeniz’s teacher. He later audited classes at the Paris Conservatoire (1887-89), and in 1890 made his recital debut at Barcelona’s Teatro Lirico. He won short-term success with an early opera, Maria del Carmen, premiered in Madrid in 1898, and in 1901 he founded his own music school, the Academia Granados.
Granados’s music is sophisticated, intimate, suffused with a gentle ardor—as the man himself was. His most important work was the piano suite in two books Goyescas, o Los majos enamorados (Young Men in Love; 1909-12), inspired by the tapestry cartoons of Francisco Jose de Goya on display at the Prado in Madrid. He subsequently created an opera, also titled Goyescas (based on the music of the piano suite), which received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera on January 28, 1916. Following the work’s premiere, Granados accepted an invitation to the White House from President Woodrow Wilson, a gesture that turned out to have fatal consequences. In order to make the journey to Washington, he had to cancel his planned return to Europe and book passage at a later date. Following an uneventful Atlantic crossing, Granados and his wife were aboard the SS Swss&Kwhen it was torpedoed in the English Channel by a German U-boat. Granados survived the attack, but jumped out of his lifeboat in a desperate attempt to save his wife, and drowned with her. On May 7, 1916, the Met presented a benefit concert for the six orphaned children the couple left behind.
Enrique Granados - Goyescas
Alicia De Larrocha, Piano
1. Book 1: Los Requiebros
2. Book 1: Coloquio En La Reja
3. Book 1: El Fandango De Candil
4. Book 1: Quejas O La Maja Y El Ruiseñor
5. Book 2: El Amor Y La Muerte (Balada)
6. Book 2: Epilogo: La Serenada Del Espectro
7. Book 2: El Pelele
Enrique Granados - Twelve Spanish Dances, Op 37
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 1 : 0:00-3:16
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 2 : 3:16-8:06
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 3 : 8:06-12:30
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 4 : 13:30-19:26
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 5 : 19:26-23:04
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 6 : 23:04-28:46
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 7 : 28:46-33:40
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 8 : 33:40-38:48
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 9 : 38:48-44:57
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 10: 44:57-49:09
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 11: 49:09-55:16
Twelve Spanish Dances, Op.37 - no 12: 55:16-60:09
Performer: Monica Alianello
Enrique Granados - Piano Works Pt.1
01 - Book I 00:01
02 - Book II 37:03
03 - El Pelele 01:00:55
Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 1867 – 12 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.
He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, Marina, was written for a competition promoted by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno for the best one-act opera, remembered today because it marked the beginning of Italian verismo. The winner was Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. Giordano, the youngest contestant, was placed sixth among seventy-three entries with his Marina, a work which generated enough interest for Sonzogno to commission the staging of an opera based on it in the 1891–92 season.
The result was Mala Vita, a gritty verismo opera about a labourer who vows to reform a prostitute if he is cured of his tuberculosis. This work caused something of a scandal when performed at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, in February 1892. It played successfully in Vienna, Prague and Berlin and was re-written as Il Voto a few years later, in an attempt to raise interest in the work again.
Giordano tried a more romantic topic with his next opera, Regina Diaz, with a libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci (1894), but this was a failure, taken off the stage after just two performances.
Giordano then moved to Milan and returned to verismo with his best-known work, Andrea Chénier (1896), based on the life of the French poet André Chénier. Fedora (1898), based on Victorien Sardou's play, featured a rising young tenor named Enrico Caruso. It was also a success and is still performed today. His later works are much less known, but occasionally revived and in the case of La cena delle beffe (based on the play of the same title by Sem Benelli) recognised by musicologists and critics with some respect. He died in Milan at the age of 81.
Umberto Giordano - “Andrea Chénier” (1896)
José Carreras - Giuseppe Patanè - Hungarian State Opera
Umberto Giordano - FEDORA (1898)
Fedora Romazoff: Antonietta Stella -
Loris Ipanoff: Aldo Bottion-
De Siriex: Giulio Fioravanti -
Olga Sukarev: Giuliana Tavolaccini-
Lorek / Nicola: Paolo Mazzotta -
Boroff / Michele: Giovanni Amodeo -
Gretch: Alfredo Colella -
Il Barone Rouvel: Piero De Palma -
Desiré / Cirillo: Giovanni Antonini -
Sergio: Mario Carlin -
Dimitri / Un savoiado: Sergio Gaspari -
Boleslao Lasinski: Antonio Beltrami
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro della RAI di Milano
Direttore Franco Mannino, 1968
Umberto Giordano - SIBERIA - 1903
Stephana: Luisa Maragliano,
Vassili: Amedeo Zambon
Gleby: Walter Monachesi,
Nikona: Laura Londi
Spica, Calò, Pugliese, Viaro Rossini, Porzano, Clabassi, Mazzini
Direttore Danilo Bernardinelli - Rai Milano, 1974
Umberto Giordano - MADAME SANS-GENE - (1915)
Caterina: Magda Laszlo, Lefebvre: Danilo Vega, Conte di Neipperg-Vinaigre: Danilo Cestari, Napoleone : Carlo Tagliabue, Fouché:
Carlo Perucci, Toniotta/La Regina Carolina: Irene Callaway
Giulia/La principessa Elisa : Maria Montereale, La Rossa/La signora De Bülow/una voce: Maria Luisa Malacchi, Despréaux:
Renato Berti, Gelsomino/De Brigode-Roustan : Enzo Viaro
Leroy : Arrigo Cattelani
Orchestra Sinfonica e coro della Rai di Milano
Direttore ARTURO BASILE, 1957
Amy Beach
Amy Marcy Beach, née Amy Marcy Cheney, married name Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, (born Sept. 5, 1867, Henniker, N.H., U.S.—died Dec. 27, 1944, New York, N.Y.), American pianist and composer known for her Piano Concerto (1900) and her Gaelic Symphony (1894), the first symphony by an American woman composer.
Amy Cheney had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She began taking piano lessons at age six, although she had been composing simple melodies on the keyboard since age four. In October 1883, at the age of 16, she gave her first public recital at Boston Music Hall. Several more successful recitals followed, and in March 1885 she played the Chopin Piano Concerto in F Minor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In December 1885 she married Henry H.A. Beach, an eminent surgeon, Harvard University professor, and devoted amateur musician. He encouraged his wife to concentrate on composition, and, curtailing her public performing, she undertook a rigorous course of self-instruction in musical theory and composition. Her first efforts were in smaller forms—musical settings of favourite poems and other pieces—but in February 1892 she heard the Boston Symphony and the Handel and Haydn Society perform her Mass in E-flat (written 1890), her first major work (numbered Opus 5) and the first by a woman to be performed by those organizations. Her subsequent important compositions include "Eilende Wolken" (1892), an aria based on text by Friedrich von Schiller; Festival Jubilate (1891) for the dedication of the Woman’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893; the Gaelic Symphony; Sonata in A Minor (1896); and Piano Concerto in C-sharp Minor (1899).
Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, as she was known, was by far the preeminent woman composer in the United States, and her more than 150 numbered works, nearly all of which were published, also included choral works, church music, chamber works, cantatas, and songs to words of Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and Robert Browning. After the death of her husband in 1910, she spent the years 1911–14 in Europe, where her performances and compositions were widely acclaimed.
Amy Beach - Symphony in E-minor, Op.32 "Gaelic" (1896)
Mov.I: Allegro con fuoco 00:00
Mov.II: Alla siciliana - Allegro vivace 11:06
Mov.III: Lento con molto espressione 18:51
Mov.IV: Allegro di molto 31:33
Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Neeme Järvi
Amy Beach - Piano Concerto "Empress of Night"
Joanne Polk, Pianist
English Chamber Orchestra
Paul Goodwin, Conductor
0:00 1. Allegro moderato
19:26 2. Scherzo (Perpetuum mobile)
25:18 3. Largo
30:05 4. Allegro con scioltezza
Amy Beach - Variations on Balkan Themes Op.60
Performer: Joanne Polk
0:00 - Theme: Adagio malincolico
1:38 - I. Più mosso
2:50 - II. Maestoso
4:12 - III. Allegro ma non troppo
5:18 - IV. Andante alla Barcarola
7:18 - V. Largo con molta espressione /Poco più mosso
10:32 - VI. Quasi Fantasia/Allegro all' 'Ongarese
13:12 - VII. Vivace/Valse lento
15:34 - VIII. Con vigore/Lento calmato
17:54 - Marcia funerale
22:58 - Cadenza. Grave/Quasi fantasia/Maestoso come Var.IIdo/Adagio come prima
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin, (born 1867/68, Texas, U.S.—died April 1, 1917, New York, New York), American composer and pianist known as the “king of ragtime” at the turn of the 20th century.
Joplin spent his childhood in northeastern Texas, though the exact date and place of his birth are unknown. By 1880 his family had moved to Texarkana, where he studied piano with local teachers. Joplin traveled through the Midwest from the mid-1880s, performing at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Settling in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1895, he studied music at the George R. Smith College for Negroes and hoped for a career as a concert pianist and classical composer. His first published songs brought him fame, and in 1900 he moved to St. Louis to work more closely with the music publisher John Stark.
Joplin published his first extended work, a ballet suite using the rhythmic devices of ragtime, with his own choreographical directions, in 1902. His first opera, A Guest of Honor (1903), is no longer extant and may have been lost by the copyright office. Moving to New York City in 1907, Joplin wrote an instruction book, The School of Ragtime, outlining his complex bass patterns, sporadic syncopation, stop-time breaks, and harmonic ideas, which were widely imitated. Joplin’s contract with Stark ended in 1909, and, though he made piano rolls in his final years, most of Joplin’s efforts involved Treemonisha, which synthesized his musical ideas into a conventional, three-act opera. He also wrote the libretto, about a mythical black leader, and choreographed it. Treemonisha had only one semipublic performance during Joplin’s lifetime; he became obsessed with its success, suffered a nervous breakdown and collapse in 1911, and was institutionalized in 1916.
Joplin’s reputation as a composer rests on his classic rags for piano, including “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer,” published from 1899 through 1909, and his opera, Treemonisha, published at his own expense in 1911. Treemonisha was well received when produced by an Atlanta, Georgia, troupe on Broadway in 1972, and interest in Joplin and ragtime was stimulated in the 1970s by the use of his music in the Academy Award-winning score to the film The Sting.
Works
The combination of classical music, the musical atmosphere present around Texarkana (including work songs, gospel hymns, spirituals and dance music) and Joplin's natural ability have been cited as contributing significantly to the invention of a new style that blended African-American musical styles with European forms and melodies, and first became celebrated in the 1890s: ragtime.
When Joplin was learning the piano, serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs "...cranked out by the tune-smiths of Tin Pan Alley." As a composer Joplin refined ragtime, elevating it above the low and unrefined form played by the "...wandering honky-tonk pianists... playing mere dance music" of popular imagination. This new art form, the classic rag, combined Afro-American folk music's syncopation and 19th-century European romanticism, with its harmonic schemes and its march-like tempos. In the words of one critic, "Ragtime was basically... an Afro-American version of the polka, or its analog, the Sousa-style march." With this as a foundation, Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them – without improvisation. Joplin wrote his rags as "classical" music in miniature form in order to raise ragtime above its "cheap bordello" origins and produced work that opera historian Elise Kirk described as, "... more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era."
Some speculate that Joplin's achievements were influenced by his classically trained German music teacher Julius Weiss, who may have brought a polka rhythmic sensibility from the old country to the 11-year old Joplin. As Curtis put it, "The educated German could open up the door to a world of learning and music of which young Joplin was largely unaware."
Joplin's first and most significant hit, the "Maple Leaf Rag", was described as the archetype of the classic rag, and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years after its initial publication thanks to its rhythmic patterns, melody lines, and harmony, though with the exception of Joseph Lamb, they generally failed to enlarge upon it.
Performance skills
Joplin's skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a Sedalia newspaper in 1898, and fellow ragtime composers Arthur Marshall and Joe Jordan both said that he played the instrument well. However, the son of publisher John Stark stated that Joplin was a rather mediocre pianist and that he composed on paper, rather than at the piano. Artie Matthews recalled the "delight" the St. Louis players took in outplaying Joplin.
While Joplin never made an audio recording, his playing is preserved on seven piano rolls for use in mechanical player pianos. All seven were made in 1916. Of these, the six released under the Connorized label show evidence of significant editing to correct the performance to strict rhythm and add embellishments, probably by the staff musicians at Connorized. Berlin theorizes that by the time Joplin reached St. Louis, he may have experienced discoordination of the fingers, tremors, and an inability to speak clearly—all symptoms of the syphilis that took his life in 1917. Biographer Blesh described the second roll recording of "Maple Leaf Rag" on the UniRecord label from June 1916 as "...shocking... disorganized and completely distressing to hear." While there is disagreement among piano-roll experts as to how much of this is due to the relatively primitive recording and production techniques of the time, Berlin notes that the "Maple Leaf Rag" roll was likely to be the truest record of Joplin's playing at the time. The roll, however, may not reflect his abilities earlier in life.
Scott Joplin - Ragtime
[00:00] The Entertainer
[03:47] Maple Leaf Rag
[06:37] Elite Syncopations
[09:33] The Ragtime Dance
[12:20] The Easy Winners
[15:07] Weeping Willow
[18:22] The Cascades
[21:10] A Breeze From Alabama
[24:34] The Favorite
[27:29] Gladiolus Rag
[30:39] Cleopha
Scott Joplin - 1
Performer: Richard Zimmerman
00:00 1.Please Say You Will
02:04 2.A Picture Of Her Face
04:40 3.The Great Crush Collision March
07:56 4.Harmony Club Waltz
13:56 5.Combination March
17:07 6.Original Rags
22:01 7.Maple Leaf Rag
25:08 8.Swipesy - Cake Walk
28:25 9.Sunflower Slow Drag
32:27 10.Peacherine Rag
35:51 11.Augustan Club Waltz
40:24 12.The Easy Winners
44:17 13.Cleopha
47:48 14.The Strenuous Life
Scott Joplin -2
Performer: Richard Zimmerman
00:00 1.I Am Thinking Of My Pickanniny Days
01:54 2.The Ragtime Dance
06:45 3.A Breeze From Alabama
11:20 4.Elite Syncopations
15:05 5.March Majestic
17:52 6.The Entertainer
22:10 7.Something Doing
25:52 8.Weeping Willow
31:00 9.Little Black Baby
33:15 10.Palm Leaf Rag
37:03 11.The Favorite
40:46 12.The Sycamore
44:43 13.The Cascades
47:59 14.The Chrysanthemum
Scott Joplin - 3
Performer: Richard Zimmerman
00:00 1.Rosebud March
02:52 2.Bethena
08:40 3.Leola
13:04 4.Sarah Dear
15:10 5.Binks Waltz
18:50 6.Eugenia
23:41 7.Antoinette
26:07 8.Snoring Sampson
28:51 9.Gladiolus Rag
33:18 10.Searchlight Rag
37:15 11.The Nonpareil (Equal To None)
40:45 12.When Your Hair Is Like The Snow
42:38 13.Rose Leaf Rag
47:17 14.Heliotrope Bouquet
Scott Joplin - 4
Performer: Richard Zimmerman
00:00 01.School Of Ragtime
01:48 02.Fig Leaf Rag
06:18 03.Sugar Cane
10:32 04.Pine Apple Rag
14:26 05.Wall Street Rag
18:41 06.Solace
24:48 07.Pleasant Moments
27:45 08.Country Club
31:38 09.Paragon Rag
35:42 10.Euphonic Sounds
39:36 11.Stoptime Rag
42:15 12.Felicity Rag
45:35 13.Lovin' Babe
48:53 14.Scott Joplin's New Rag
Scott Joplin - 5
Performer: Richard Zimmerman
00:00 01.Highlights from 'Treemonisha'
16:49 02.A Real Slow Drag
22:00 03.Prelude To Act 3
25:45 04.Frolic Of The Bears
30:37 05.Kismet Rag
34:14 06.Magnetic Rag
38:36 07.Reflection Rag
43:35 08.Silver Swan Rag
47:35 09.Lily Queen
50:41 10.Joseph Lamb - Sensation
1868
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky:
Song Without Words;
Fatum
Tchaikovsky - Souvenir De Hapsal, Op.2 No.3 Song Without Words
Valery Boyev, Piano
Recorded in February 1993 at the Concert Hall of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, Moskow.
Tchaikovsky - Fatum, op. 77
Evgeny Svetlanov, 1990
Edvard Grieg writes his Piano Concerto while staying on Zealand.
Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16
1 Allegro molto moderato
2 Adagio
3 Allegro moderato molto e marcato
Arthur Rubinstein, piano
London Symphony Orchestra - André Previn, conductor
Georges Bizet – Variations chromatiques de concert for piano
Georges Bizet - Variations Chromatiques (De Concert)
Thème. Moderato Maestoso
Variation I. Un Pochissimo Più Allegretto
Variation II. A Tempo Rubato
Variation III. A Tempo Risoluto
Variation IV. Con Fuoco
Variation V.
Variation VI. Agitato
Variation VII.
Variation VIII. Con Espressione
Variation IX. Un Peu Plus Vite
Variation X. Alla Polacca
Variation XI. Andante
Variation XII. Plus Animé
Variation XIII. Mouvement Des Ires Variations
Variation XIV. Appassionato
Coda. Semplice - Un Peu Plus Lent - Quasi Recitativo - A Tempo
Piano – Glenn Gould recorded 1971
5 January
Max Bruch's Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor is first performed in its revised version by Joseph Joachim in Bremen with Karl Martin Rheinthaler conducting.
Max Bruch - Violin Concerto No. 1 In G Minor Op 26
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra & Herbert von Karajan, 1980
5 March
Arrigo Boito – Mefistofele
Mefistofele (Mephistopheles) is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he was librettist only). The opera was given its premiere on 5 March 1868 at La Scala, Milan, under the baton of the composer, despite his lack of experience and skill as a conductor.
3 April
Franz Berwald, composer, dies.
10 April (Good Friday)
Johannes Brahms – Ein deutsches Requiem, op. 45 –The six movement version of Brahms' A German Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem) is premièred in Bremen Cathedral with Brahms conducting and Julius Stockhausen as the baritone soloist.
Brahms - "Ein deutsches Requiem"
Karen P. Thomas, conductor and artistic director
Charles Robert Austin, baritone
Alexandra Picard, soprano
Audio engineered by Via Audio
1. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen 0:34
2. Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras 10:43
3. Herr, lehre doch mich 24:13
4. Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen 33:47
5. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit 39:54
6. Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt 47:23
7. Selig sind die Toten 59:30
21 June
Richard Wagner – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg), premièred in the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich with Hans von Bülow conducting.
30 September
Jacques Offenbach - L'île de Tulipatan
L'île de Tulipatan (The Island of Tulipatan) is an opéra bouffe (a form of operetta), in one act by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru.
It was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris, on 30 September 1868
Offenbach – L'île de Tulipatan
Crested Butte Opera Studio
Crested Butte Festival Symphony Orchestra
David Stern, Director - 2017
6 October
Jacques Offenbach - La Périchole
La Périchole is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote the French-language libretto based on the 1829 one act play Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée, which was revived on 13 March 1850 at the Théâtre-Français.
La Perichole - Jacques Offenbach
12 November
Gioacchino Rossini,
composer, dies.
9 March
Ambroise Thomas - Hamlet
Hamlet is a grand opera in five acts of 1868 by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père, and Paul Meurice of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
HAMLET - Ambroise Thomas
Avec Thomas Hampson (Hamlet),
José van Dam (Claudius),
Natalie Dessay (Ophélie),
Michelle de Young (Gertrude)...
Théâtre du Châtelet, 2000
00:00:00 - Introduction par Eve Ruggieri
00:03:51 - Ouverture
00:05:37 - Acte I
00:50:05 - Acte II
01:33:25 - Acte III
02:12:00 - Acte IV
02:33:53 - Acte V
02:55:20 - Fin et saluts
1869
Johannes Brahms:
Hungarian Dances;
Johannes Brahms – Hungarian Dances
No.1 In G Minor 0:00
No. 2 In D Minor 3:09
No. 3 In F Major 6:22
No. 4 In F Sharp Minor 8:45
No. 5 In G Minor 14:02
No. 6 In D Minor 16:56
No. 7 In F Major 21:09
No. 8 In A Minor 23:19
No. 9 In E Minor 26:13
No. 10 In F Major 28:26
No. 11 In D Minor 30:19
No. 12 In D Minor 33:10
No. 13 In D Major 35:57
No. 14 In D Minor 37:29
No. 15 In B Flat Major 39:06
No. 16 In F Minor 42:13
No. 17 In F Sharp Minor 44:37
No. 18 In D Major 48:06
No. 19 In B Minor 49:45
No. 20 In E Minor 52:06
No. 21 In E Minor 55:09
London Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
Johannes Brahms - RINALDO
Cantata per tenore coro maschile ed orchestra op. 50
Nicolai Gedda, tenore
Orchestra sinfonica e coro della RAI di Milano
Direttore Wolfgang Scheidt
Maestro del coro Vittorio Rosetta
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Six Romances, Op. 6 including None but the lonely heart
Pyotor Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Six Romances for Voice and Piano, Op. 6
Kyubong Gerard Lee, Baritone
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - None but the lonely heart op.6 n°6
Galina Vishnevskaya
Mstislav Rostropovich
Studio recording, 1962
Balakirev - Islamey. Oriental Fantasy for Piano
(1869, 1902 version)
Pianist: Alexander Paley
Mili Balakirev – Islamey an "Oriental Fantasy" for piano.
17 January
Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer, dies.
8 March
Hector Berlioz, composer, dies.
5 May
Hans Pfitzner, composer, born.
6 June
Siegfried Wagner, composer, born.
22 September
Richard Wagner – Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold)
10 December
Jacques Offenbach - Les brigands
Les brigands (The Bandits) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
Jacques Offenbach - Les Brigands
Eric Huchet (Falsacappa)
Julie Boulianne (Fragoletto)
Daphné Touchais (Fiorella)
Martial Defontaine (Le Prince)
Fernand Bernadi (Le Chef des carabiniers)
Loïc Felix (Antonio, caissier du prince)
Leonard Pezzino (Carmagnola)
Thomas Morris (Domino)
Antoine Garcin (Barbavano)
Jean-Marc Martinez (Pipo)
Marc Molomot (Adolphe de Valladolid)
Michele Lagrange (Princesse de Grenade)
Christine Rigaud (Zerlina, La Duchesse)
Ronan Debois (Le Precepteur)
François-Xavier Roth (Musical direction)
Choir of the Toulon Opera
Les Siècles Orchestra, 2011
18 December
Louis Moreau Gottschalk, composer and pianist, dies.
Hans Pfitzner
(b. Moscow, May 5, 1869; d. Salzburg, May 22, 1949)
German composer and conductor.
Though he believed that he was the greatest German musician of his day, he was in fact overshadowed at every stage of his career by bolder, more talented figures who wielded pen and baton to greater effect, most notably Richard Strauss and Wilhelm Furtwangler. His towering ego, vituperative personality, and strident anti-Semitic views turned his life as both an artist and a man into a twisted tale of hand-wringing embitterment. Pfitzner’s father, an orchestral violinist of Saxon stock, was concertinas ter of the Frankfurt Stadttheater orchestra. Pfitzner attended Frankfurt’s Hoch Conservatory from 1886 to 1890, studying piano with James Kwast and composition with Iwan Knorr. His earliest stylistic beacons were Schumann and Wagner, which aligned him with the more idealistic, progressive wing of 19th-century German Romanticism. As time went by his aesthetic and political views became increasingly hidebound and reactionary.
Over the years Pfitzner supported himself by teaching and conducting. In 1908 he was appointed director of the conservatory and the symphony orchestra in Strasburg, then part of Germany. In 1910 he was put in charge of that city’s opera as well, where part of his job was to oversee the work of three younger conductors: Furtwangler, Otto Klemperer, and George Szell. Expelled from these posts at the end of World War I— when Alsace was ceded back to France—a humiliated and virtually penniless Pfitzner relocated to Munich, where he dwelt in a small house provided by admirers and wrote polemics attacking what he viewed as decadent modernist trends in contemporary composition and musicology.
The composer actively—and with a characteristic mix of indignation and obsequiousness—sought preferment from the Nazis once they came to power. While he was too much of an elitist ever to join the party, he was highly honored by the regime, though invariably shunned by its top dogs. After the end of World War II he had to ride out a denazification proceeding. He died still believing that “world Jewry” was responsible for most of Germany’s and the world’s ills.
Pfitzner composed assiduously in standard forms, which he approached in many cases with a turgid formality, but on occasion filled with music that was surprisingly soulful and at times quite modern, even dissonant, in its language. He bequeathed a single important work to the repertoire, the opera Palestrina (1912-15), premiered in Munich in 1917 under the baton of Bruno Walter. Its densely woven contrapuntal fabric and luminous scoring attest to Pfitzner’s mastery of his metier. Other pieces of interest include his incidental music (1905) to Kleisf s play Das Katchen von Heilbronn, and the nationalistic cantata Von deutscher Seelen (Of German Souls; 1921), based on Eichendorff. He also composed concertos for the piano, violin, and cello; sonatas for violin and cello; three string quartets; and a smattering of songs. Pfitzner’s music has few present-day champions outside Germany; even there, advocacy of his music tends to be seen as a coded acknowledgment of reactionary political views.
Hans Pfitzner - Palestrina
Musical legend in three acts (text by the composer)
Act I : 00:00
Act II : 1:39:10
Act III : 2:52:00
Papst Pius IV: Karl Ridderbusch
4 Kardinäle - Cardinals:
Giovanni Morone: Bernd Weikl
Bernardo Novagerio: Heribert Steinbach
Christoph Madruscht: Karl Ridderbusch
Carlo Borromeo: Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau
Graf Luna: Hermann Prey
Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina: Nicolai Gedda
Ighino, sein Sohn (his son): Helen Donath
Silla, sein Schüler (his pupil): Brigitte Fassbaender
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks /Bavarian Radio Chorus - Chorus Master: Josef Schmidhuber
Tölzer Knabenchor (chorus master: Gerard Schmidt-Gaden)
Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Runfuks
Conducted by Rafael Kubelik, 1973
Hans Pfitzner - Piano Concerto in E-flat major, Op.31 (1922)
Mov.I: Pomphaft mit Kraft und Schwung - bedeutend langsamer, sehr empfindungsvoll, schwer und ernst-Tempo I 00:00
Mov.II: Heiterer Satz. Ziemlich schnell, in einheitlich atemlosem Zeitmass
Mov.III: Ausserst ruhig, versonnen, schwarmerisch 23:42
Mov.IV: Rasch, ungeschlacht launig
Pianist: Tzimon Barto
Orchestra: Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Conductor: Christian Thielemann
Hans Pfitzner - Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in A minor op. potsh (1888)
David Geringas, violoncello
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Werner Anreas Albert, conductor
Siegfried Wagner
Siegfried Wagner (6 June 1869 – 4 August 1930) was a German composer and conductor, the son of Richard Wagner. He was an opera composer and the artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival from 1908 to 1930.
Helferich Siegfried Richard Wagner, nicknamed "Fidi," was born in 1869 to Richard Wagner and his future wife Cosima (née Liszt), at Tribschen on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Through his mother, he was a grandson of Franz Liszt, from whom he received some instruction in harmony.
In 1892 he undertook a trip to Asia with a friend, the English composer Clement Harris. During the voyage he decided to abandon architecture and commit himself to music.
He made his conducting debut as an assistant conductor at Bayreuth in 1894; in 1896 he became associate conductor, sharing responsibility for conducting the Ring Cycle with Felix Mottl and Hans Richter, who had conducted its premiere 20 years earlier. In 1908 he took over as Artistic Director of the Bayreuth Festival in succession to his mother, Cosima.
Wagner died in Bayreuth in 1930, having outlived his mother by only four months.
Siegfried Wagner "Prelude to Sonnenflammen"
Rundfunk-Sinfonierorchester Frankfurt
Dmitri Kitajenko, conductor
Siegfried Wagner "Violin Concerto in one movement"
Jenny Abel, violin
Nürnberger Sinfoniker
Gilbert Graf Gravina, conductor
Siegfried Wagner - Die Heilige Linde - Prelude (1927)
1870
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet overture (first version)
Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet - Fantasy Overture
Conductor: Julian Kovatchev
Orchestra: Sofia Festival Orchestra
Max Bruch – Symphony No. 2 in F minor, Op. 36
Bruch - Symphony No. 2
Gewandhaus Orchester - Kurt Masur, conductor
Antonín Dvořák - Alfred, B. 16
Alfred is a heroic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. It was Dvořák's first opera and the only one he composed to a German text. The libretto, by Carl Theodor Körner, had already been set by Friedrich von Flotow (as Alfred der Große) and is based on the story of the English king Alfred the Great. Composed in 1870, Alfred was never performed during Dvořák's lifetime. It received its premiere (in Czech translation) at the City Theatre, Olomouc on 10 December 1938.
Antonín Dvořák - ALFRED - Dramatische Ouverture
Alvina - Petra Froese (soprano)
Harald - Ferdinand von Bothmer (tenor)
Alfred - Felix Rumpf (baritone)
Gothron - Jorg Sabrowski (baritone)
Sieward - Peter Mikulas (bass)
Dorset / Bote - Tilmann Unger (tenor)
Rowena - Jarmila Baxova (soprano)
The Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno (Petr Fiala - choirmaster)
The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Heiko Mathias Forster - conductor
Antonín Dvořák - Alfred - (Act II Scene 1 & 2)
Antonín Dvořák:
String Quartet no. 3 in D, B. 18;
String Quartet no. 4 in E minor, B. 19
A. Dvořák String Quartet No.3 in D major B.18, Prague String Quartet
1. Allegro con brio
2. Andantino
3. Allegro energico - Trio
4. Finale: Allegretto
A. Dvořák - String Quartets No.4 B.19 & No.5 B.37, Prague String Quartet
String Quartet Nr.4 in E minor B.19
1. (Assai con moto ed energico) 0:00
2. Andante religioso - attacca: 14:26
3. Allegro con brio 24:26
String Quartet No.5 in F minor, op.9 B.37
1. Moderato 35:46
2. Andante con moto quasi allegretto 51:14
3. Tempo di valse 59:27
4. Finale: Allegro molto 1:02:14
30 April
Franz Lehár, composer of operettas and waltzes, born.
25 May
Léo Delibes - ballet Coppélia
Coppélia (sometimes subtitled: The Girl With The Enamel Eyes) is a comic ballet originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter. Nuitter's libretto and mise-en-scène was based upon two stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann (The Sandman) and Die Puppe (The Doll). In Greek, κοπελιά means girl, young lady. Coppélia premiered on 25 May 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial l'Opéra
Coppélia - Léo Delibes ballet en deux actes
Grand Ballet Classique de Moscou de N.Kasatkina et V.Vasilev
Chef d'orchestre-Oleg Reshetkin
Orchestre Symphonique Royal du Maroc
Plot
Dr. Coppélius is a doctor who has made a life-size dancing doll. It is so lifelike that Franz, a village youth, becomes infatuated with it and sets aside his heart's true desire, Swanhilda. She shows him his folly by dressing as the doll, pretending to make it come to life and ultimately saving him from an untimely end at the hands of the inventor.
Act I
The story begins during a town festival to celebrate the arrival of a new bell. The town crier announces that, when it arrives, anyone who becomes married will be awarded a special gift of money. Swanhilda and Franz plan to marry during the festival. However, Swanhilda becomes unhappy with Franz because he seems to be paying more attention to a girl named Coppélia, who sits motionless on the balcony of a nearby house. The house belongs to a mysterious and faintly diabolical inventor, Doctor Coppélius. Although Coppélia spends all of her time sitting motionless and reading, Franz is mesmerized by her beauty and is determined to attract her attention. Still upset with Franz, Swanhilda shakes an ear of wheat to her head: if it rattles, then she will know that Franz loves her. Upon doing this, however, she hears nothing. When she shakes it by Franz's head, he also hears nothing; but then he tells her that it rattles. However, she does not believe him and runs away heartbroken.
Later on, Dr. Coppelius leaves his house and is heckled by a group of boys. After shooing them away, he continues on without realizing that he has dropped his keys in the melée. Swanhilda finds the keys, which gives her the idea of learning more about Coppélia. She and her friends decide to enter Dr. Coppelius' house. Meanwhile, Franz develops his own plan to meet Coppélia, climbing a ladder to her balcony.
Act II
Swanhilda and her friends find themselves in a large room filled with people. However, the occupants aren't moving. The girls discover that, rather than people, these are life-size mechanical dolls. They quickly wind them up and watch them move. Swanhilda also finds Coppélia behind a curtain and discovers that she, too, is a doll.
Dr. Coppelius returns home to find the girls. He becomes angry with them, not only for trespassing but for also disturbing his workroom. He kicks them out and begins cleaning up the mess. However, upon noticing Franz at the window, Coppélius invites him in. The inventor wants to bring Coppélia to life but, to do that, he needs a human sacrifice. With a magic spell, he will take Franz's spirit and transfer it to Coppélia. After Dr. Coppelius proffers him some wine laced with sleeping powder, Franz begins to fall asleep. The inventor then readies his magic spell.
However, Dr. Coppelius did not expel all the girls: Swanhilda is still there, hidden behind a curtain. She dresses up in Coppélia's clothes and pretends that the doll has come to life. She wakes Franz and then winds up all the mechanical dolls to aid their escape. Dr. Coppelius becomes confused and then saddened when he finds a lifeless Coppélia behind the curtain.
Act III
Swanhilda and Franz are about to make their wedding vows when the angry Dr. Coppelius appears, claiming damages. Dismayed at having caused such an upset, Swanhilda offers Dr. Coppelius her dowry in return for his forgiveness. However, Franz tells Swanhilda to keep her dowry and offers to pay Dr. Coppelius instead. At that point, the mayor intervenes and gives Dr. Coppelius a bag of money, which placates him. Swanhilda and Franz are married and the entire town celebrates by dancing.
26 June
Richard Wagner – Die Walküre
22 July
Josef Strauss, composer, dies.
10 March
Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer, dies.
20 October
Michael William Balfe, composer, dies.
17 December
Saverio Mercadante, composer, dies.
