1901
William McKinley is assassinated; is succeeded by Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt as 26th President of the USA • Panama becomes independent from Colombia • Queen Victoria of Britain dies; is succeeded by Edward VII • China agrees to pay reparations to European countries • Guglielmo Marconi (It) transmits messages acrossthe Atlantic by wireless telegraphy • The Trans-Siberiai railroad begins operating • Hans Baluschek (Ger) paint Kohlenfuhren • Pablo Picasso (Sp) paints Leaning Harlequin • Rudyard Kipling (Eng): Kim • Anton Chekhov (Russ): pla Three Sisters • G. B. Shaw (Ire): play Caesar and Cleopatra • Sigmund Freud (Aus): The Psychology of Everyday Life
1902
The Boer War ends with Treaty of Vereeniging; the Boers recognise British sovereignty • Germany, Italy and Austria renew their Triple Alliance • President Theodore Roosevelt is empowered to purchase French shares in the Panama Canal and so gain control of the Canal Zone for the USA • Russia agrees with China to evacuate Manchuria • Egypt’s Aswan Dam is completed • Gustav Klimt (Aus) paints Buchenhain • Camille Pissarro paints Le Pont-Neuf • Arthur Conan Doyle (Scot): The Hound of the Baskervilles • Rudyard Kipling (Eng): Just So Stories • Beatrix Potter (Eng) writes and illustrates Peter Rabbit • Henry James (US): Wings of the Dove
1903
Serbia’s Alexander I and Queen Draga are assassinated • USA secures control of the Panama Canal Zone • Canada and the USA agree Alaska’s frontier • The Russian Social Democratic Party divides into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks • Pope Leo XIII dies; succeeded by Pope Pius X (until 1914) • Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women’s Social and Political Union, beginning Britain’s suffragette movement • First flights by Orville and Wilber Wright (US); Wilber manages continuous flight for nearly one minute • Claude Monet (Fr) paints Waterloo Bridge • Joaquin Sorolla (Sp) paints Children on the Seashore • Jack London (US): Call of the Wild
1904
Russia and Japan war over rival interests in China; Russian warships on the way to Japan fire on British trawlers in the North Sea • An Entente Cordiale between Britain and France settles their differences over Egypt; Britain recognises the Suez Canal Convention • Tibet’s independence is established by a treaty with Britain • France’s possessions in west Africa are reorganised as French West Africa, with Dakar as the capital • Herero tribesmen revolt against German rule in south-west Africa • Ilya Repin (Russ) paints State Council • James M. Barrie (Scot): play Peter Pan • Anton Chekov (Russ): The Cherry Orchard
1905
Russo-Japanese War continues • Revolution in Russia: sailors mutiny on the warship Potemkin; a general strike is called; Tsar Nikolai II agrees to an elected parliament • Union of Sweden and Norway dissolved • Moroccan crisis: secret agreements by Britain, France and Spain to divide Morocco upset by visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Tangier, where he declares support for the Moroccans • Bengal partitioned
• Albert Einstein (Ger) publishes his special theory of relativity, with mass-energy formula E = me2 • Bertrand Russell (Wal): essay ‘On Denoting' • Paul Cezanne (Fr) paints The Bathers • Gustav Klimt (Aus) paints The Three Ages of Woman • Baroness Orczy (Hung/UK): The Scarlet Pimpernel
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.
1901
Edvard Grieg completes his tenth and final collection of Lyric Pieces for piano (Op. 71).
Edvard Grieg - Lyriske stykker, op.71
Halvor Martins: Piano
Recorded in Arendal, Norway 2018
1. Der var en gang - Once upon a Time 0:05
2. Sommeraften - Summer's Eve 4:05
3. Småtrold - Puck 6:21
4. Skovstilhed - Peace of the Woods 8:17
5. Halling - Norwegian Peasant Dance 14:22
6. Forbi - Gone 17:51
7. Efterklang - Remembrances 20:25
Sergei Rachmaninov composes his Cello Sonata, Op. 19.
Sergei Rachmaninov - Cello Sonata in G minor Op.19
Natalia Gutman (cello), Elisso Virsaladze (piano), 2006
00:00 - I. Lento -- Allegro moderato (G minor)
12:50 - II. Allegro scherzando (C minor)
19:03 - III. Andante (E flat major)
25:19 - IV. Allegro mosso (G major)
Maurice Ravel composes his impressionistic piano piece Jeux d’eau (Water Games), inspired by Liszts Jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este.
Maurice Ravel - Jeux d'eau
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
17 January
Pietro Mascagni's opera Le Maschere (The Masks) opens to high expectations in six Italian opera houses simultaneously. Five out of the six productions are dismal failures, with the Genoa performance booed off the stage before the finish.
Pietro Mascagni - LE MASCHERE - 1
Direttore - Petre Sbarcea
Orchestra dell'Opera Romena di Cluj Napoca
Bucarest - Teatro Nazionale - 18 aprile 1988
Rosaura: Elena Baggiore
Colombina: Anna Baldasserini
Florindo: Tamas Doroczi
Arlecchino: Viorel Baciu
Brighella: Vincenzo Manno
Capitan Spavento: Dan Serbac
Tartaglia: Ettore Cresci
Pietro Mascagni - LE MASCHERE - 3
Pietro Mascagni - LE MASCHERE - 4
Pietro Mascagni - LE MASCHERE - 6
Pietro Mascagni - LE MASCHERE - 9
27 January
Following a stroke, Giuseppe Verdi dies in Milan, aged 87. One month after burial his coffin is exhumed, together with that of his wife, and conveyed past tens of thousands of mourners lining the streets of Milan to the Casa di Riposo, a retirement home for musicians founded by Verdi. Toscarmini conducts a choir of 800 singing ‘Va, pensiero’ (from Nabucco) during the ceremony.
31 March
Antonin Dvorak's lyric fairytale Rusalka, completed the previous year, opens at the National Theatre in Prague. It becomes the composer s most popular opera.
April
Arnold Schoenberg completes the short score of his Gurrelieder cantata. The full score (1911) will incorporate a narrator, five solo voices, three male choirs, an eight-part mixed choir and a 140-piece orchestra.
Arnold Schoenberg - Gurre Lieder
for soloists, Chorus and Orchestra
Text Jens Peter Jacobsen
Part 1
1. Orchestervorspiel (00 to 6:55)
2. Nun dämpft die Dämm'rung (Waldemar) (6:55 to 11:20)
3. O, wenn des mondes Strahlen leise gleiten (Tove) (11:20 to 14:20)
4. Ross! Mein Ross! (Waldemar) (14:20 to 18:17)
5. Sterne jubeln (Tove) (18:17 to 21:06)
6. So tanzen die Engel vor Gottes Thron nicht (Waldemar) (18:17 to 23:50)
7. Nun sag ich dir zum ersten Mal (Tove) (23:50 to 27:37)
8. Es ist Mitternachtszeit (Waldemar) (27:37 to 33:50)
9. Du sendest mir einen Liebesblick (Tove) (33:50 to 39:55)
10. Du wunderliche Tove! (Waldemar) (39:55 to 47:16)
11. Orchesterzwischenspiel (47:16 to 49:56
12. Tauben von Gurre! Stimme der Waldtaube) (49:56 to 1:04:05)
(00 to 1:04:05)
Part 2
Herrgott, weisst du, was du tatest. (Waldemar) (1:04:05 to 1:09:36
Part 3
1. Erwacht, König Waldemars Mannen wert! (Waldemar) (1:09:36 to 1:12:09)
2. Deckel des Sarges klappert (Bauer) (1:12:09 to 1:15:28)
3. Gegrüsst, O, König (Waldemars Mannen) (1:15:28 to 1:19:22)
4. Mit Toves Stimme flüstert der Wald (Waldemar) (1:19:22 to 1:24:17)
5. Ein seltsamer Vogel ist so’n Aal (Klaus-Narr) (1:24:17 to 1:31:01)
6. Du strenger Richter droben (Waldemar) (1:31:01 to 1:34:04)
7. Der Hahn erhebt den Kopf zur Kraht (Waldemars Mannen) (1:34:04 to 1:39:56)
Des Sommerwindes wilde Jagd
1. Prelude (1:39:56 to 1:42:50)
2. Herr Gänsefuss, Frau Gänsekraut (Sprecher) (1:42:50 to
3. Seht die Sonne (gemischter Chor)! (1:48:02 to 1:53:14 End)
Thomas Moser (Waldemar)
Deborah Voigt (Tove)
Jennifer Larmore (Waldtaube)
Bernd Weikl (Bauer)
Kenneth Riegel (Klaus Narr)
Klaus Maria Brandauer (Sprecher)
Chor des Sachsischen Staatsoper Dresden
Chor des Mitteldeutschen Rundfunks Leipzig
Prager Männerchor
Staatskapelle Dresden
Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor
20 June
Edward Elgar introduces his Cockaigne (In London Town) Overture at the Queens Hall in London. This year also marks the premiere of his orchestrated Chanson de nuit and Chanson de matin, written for violin and piano in 1899.
Elgar: Cockaigne Overture (In London Town)
The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
9 November
Sergei Rachmaninov premieres his symphonic Piano Concerto No. 2 to great acclaim in Moscow. The work is dedicated to the psychologist Dr Nikolay Dahl, who revitalised Rachmaninov's creativity in the wake of the catastrophic First Symphony premiere'. Passionate, dreamy, effervescent, it becomes the most popular concerto of the 20th century.
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Piano: Hélène Grimaud
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
20 November
Jules Massenet - Griselidis.
Grisélidis is an opera in three acts and a prologue by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand.
Griselidis - Massenet
Michelle Command - J.LViala - J.F Courtis
Conductor: Patick Fourmillier
21 November
Richard Strauss’s one-act opera Feuersnot (Fire Famine) is premiered in Dresden.
Richard Strauss - "Feuersnot"
Aspeck: Willi Brokmeier
Diemut: Julia Varady
Elsbeth: Ruthild Engert-Ely
Hämerlein: Raimund Grumbach
Jörg Pöschel: Manfred Schenk
Kofel: Waldemar Wild
Kunrad: Bernd Weikl
Kunz Gilgenstock: Kieth Engen
Mädchen: Carmen Anhorn
Margret: Elisabeth Wachutka
Ortlof Sentlinger: Helmut Berger-Tuna
Schweiker: Hans-Dieter Bader
Tulbeck: Friedrich Lenz
Ursula: Marga Schiml
Walpurg: Andrea Trauboth
Wigelis: Kaja Borris
Heinz Fricke; Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, 1983
22 November
Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo is born in Sagunto, Valencia. He loses his sight at the age of three.
25 November
Gustav Mahler's Fourth Symphony (1900) is heard for the first time, in Munich. Based on his song ‘Das himmlische Leben’ (Heavenly Life), the work is a journey of innocence, culminating with a direct quotation of the song (sung by solo soprano) in the final movement.
Mahler - Symphony No 4 G major
Leonard Bernstein - Wiener Philharmoniker
Joaquin Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo, (born Nov. 22, 1901, Sagunto, Spain—died July 6, 1999, Madrid), one of the leading Spanish composers of the 20th century.
Although blind from age three, Rodrigo began music studies at an early age and later became a pupil of Paul Dukas. While in France he made the acquaintance of composer Manuel de Falla, who became his mentor. In 1939 Rodrigo returned to Spain. After the first performance of his highly successful Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra (1940), in Barcelona, he was widely regarded as the leading post-Civil War Spanish composer. He later became a musical adviser for Spain’s national radio and, from 1947 to 1977, held the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music at the Complutense University of Madrid.
Although best known for his music for guitar, such as his Fantasía para un gentilhombre (1954; composed for guitarist Andrés Segovia and orchestra) and Concierto Andaluz (1967; written for the Romero family), he also wrote concerti for other instruments (such as Concierto heróico for piano and orchestra, 1942, and Sones en la Giralda for harp and orchestra, 1963), an opera (La azuzena de Quito, 1965), a ballet (Pavana real, 1955), solo guitar and piano pieces, and 60 songs.
Concierto de Aranjuez - Joaquin Rodrigo
Recuerdos de la Alhambra ( Francisco Tarrega)
Pepe Romero
Joaquín Rodrigo - Fantasia para un gentilhombre
John Williams
Joaquín Rodrigo - Por los campos de España
Guitarra: Jérémy Jouve
1902
Carl Nielsen completes his Second Symphony, De fire temperamenter (The Four Temperaments). His collection of symphonic portraits has been inspired by a woodcut depicting the four medieval 'humours’: choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine.
Nielsen : Symphony No. 2 "The Four Temperaments"
San Francisco Symphony - Herbert Blomstedt
9 June
Gustav Mahler triumphs with the first complete performance of his Third Symphony, in Krefeld. During the summer he completes his Fifth Symphony, whose beguiling fourth-movement Adagietto will become his most famous piece of music.
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No 5 in C-sharp minor
Wiener Philharmoniker - Leonard Bernstein, 1972
18 February
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame is a three-act opera by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Maurice Léna.
LE JONGLEUR DE NOTRE DAME - Massenet
Jean : Roberto Alagna
Boniface : Stefano Antonucci,
Le Prieur : Francesco Ellero d'Artegna
Un moine sculpteur : Evgueniy Alexiev
Un moine peintre : Richard Rittelmann
Un moine musicien : Marco Di Sapia
Un moine poète : Marc Larcher
Direction : Enrique Diemecke - Orchestre National de Montpellier, 2007
29 March
Composer William Turner Walton is
born in Oldham, Lancashire.
12 April
Los amores de la Inés (The Loves of Inés) is a zarzuela in one act, two scenes, composed by Manuel de Falla in collaboration with Amadeu Vives.
Manuel de Falla Los amores de la Inés
30 April
Based on Maeterlinck's play, the symbolist opera Pelleas et Melisande by Claude Debussy premieres under Andre Messager at the Opera-Comique, Paris. Maeterlinck, disgruntled that his mistress has not been granted the lead part, writes in the Figaro: 'I am compelled to wish that it fails resoundingly and instantly.’ Critical reaction is mixed, but the Parisian public demonstrate sufficient interest to launch the opera into the repertory.
Claude Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande
Opéra de Lyon Conductor: John Elliot Gardiner, 2016
Stage direction and design: Pierre Strosser
Mélisande: Colette-Alliot Lugaz
Pelléas: François Le roux
Golaud: José van Dam
Arkel: Roger Soyer
Geneviève: Jocelyne Taillon
Yniold Françoise Golfier
A Physician: René Schirrer
6 November
The debut of Francesco Cilea’s opera Adriana Lecouvreur rouses great excitement at Milan’s Teatro Lirico. Tenor Enrico Caruso sings the part of Maurizio, Count of Saxony.
Francesco Cilea’ - Adriana Lecouvreur
TEATRO ALLS SCALA DI E SCRIBE & E LEGOUVE
28 November
Saul og David (Saul and David) is the first of the two operas by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen. The four-act libretto, by Einar Christiansen, tells the Biblical story of Saul's jealousy of the young David, taken from the Book of Samuel.
Carl Nielsen - Saul and David
with English subtitles (1986)
Saul: Leif Roar
David: Kjell Magnus Sandve
Mikal: Eva Johansson
Jonathan: Stig Fogh Andersen
Samuel: Jorgen Klint
Abner: Christian Christiansen
Fortune-teller in Endor: Minna Nyhus
Abisay: Elsebeth Lund
a guard: Anders Jakobsson
a girl: Antje Jansen
12 December
Kashchey the Deathless (Kashchey bessmertnïy), a.k.a. Kashchey the Immortal, is a one-act opera in three scenes (styled a "little autumnal fairy tale") by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by the composer, and is based on a Russian fairy tale about Koschei the Deathless, an evil, ugly old wizard, who menaced principally young women.
Rimsky-Korsakov - Kashchei the Immortal (Кащей Бессмертный)
Kashchei: Pavel Pontryagin
Princess: Vera Gradova
Ivan Koralevich: Pavel Lisitsian
Kashcheievna: A. Kleshcheva
Storm-Bogatyr: K. Poliaev
Moscow Radio Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Samuil Samosud, 1948
William Turner Walton
Sir William Walton, in full Sir William Turner Walton, (born March 29, 1902, Oldham, Lancashire, Eng.—died March 8, 1983, Ischia, Italy), English composer especially known for his orchestral music. His early work made him one of England’s most important composers between the time of Vaughan Williams and that of Benjamin Britten.
Walton, the son of a choirmaster father and a vocalist mother, studied violin and piano desultorily as a boy and also sang, with somewhat better results, in his father’s choir. He taught himself composition, although he received advice from both Ernest Ansermet and Ferruccio Busoni. In 1912 he entered the University of Oxford, where he sang in the choir of Christ Church. He put in the requisite four years of study but failed by one examination (Responsonions) to win a bachelor of music degree. At Oxford he had met the Sitwell brothers, Osbert and Sacheverell, by whom he was virtually adopted, and he spent most of the next decade traveling with them or living with them at Chelsea. During this period he composed Façade (1923)—a set of pieces for chamber ensemble, to accompany the Sitwells’ sister Edith in a recitation of her poetry—as well as Sinfonia Concertante for piano and orchestra (1928; revised 1943) and Portsmouth Point (1926), which established his reputation as an orchestral composer.
Walton was influenced by some of his older contemporaries, notably Edward Elgar, Igor Stravinsky, and Paul Hindemith. Hindemith was soloist in the first performance of one of Walton’s finest works, his Viola Concerto (1929). Walton also composed a number of scores for motion pictures, including Major Barbara (1941), Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1947), and Richard III (1954). His vocal music includes the oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast (1931) and the operas Troilus and Cressida (1954) and The Bear (one act; 1967). The composer received a knighthood in 1951.
W. T. Walton - Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor
Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Michael Seal
William Walton - Viola Concerto
Orchestra: Sofia Symphonic Orchestra
Conductor: Ljubka Biagioni
Viola: Simonide Braconi
William Walton - Façade
Arizona State University, 2011, conducted by Wayne Bailey
Reciter: David Schildkret
Cello: Ruth Wenger
Saxophone: Greg Mills
Trumpet: Antonio Villanueva
Flute/piccolo: Joshua Stockam
Clarinet: Or Sidi
William Walton - The Bear
"Extravaganza in one Act" su libretto di Paul Dehn basato sull'opera omonima di Anton Ceckhov (1967).
Popova: Della Jones
Smirnov: Alan Opie
Luka: John Shirley-Quirk
Northern Sinfonia diretta da Richard Hickox.
1903
Claude Debussy composes his evocative Estampes (Engravings) for piano, comprising Pagodes (Pagodas), Soiree dans Grenade (Evening in Granada) and Jardin sous la pluie (Gardens in the rain).
Claude Debussy - Estampes
No. 1 Pagodes (Pagodas)
No. 2 La soirée dans Grenade (The Evening in Granada)
No. 3 Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain)
Nelson Freire (Munich, 1982)
Sweden’s Hugo Alfven charms national folk tunes into his Swedish Rhapsody No. 1 (Midsummer Vigil) for orchestra.
Hugo Alfvén - Swedish Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 19: "Midsommarvaka"
Iceland Symphony Orchestra - Petri Sakari
Sergei Rachmaninov completes his ten Preludes, Op. 23, for solo piano. The set includes the popular No. 5 in G minor ('Alla Marcia’), whose opening percussive theme is blissfully contrasted with the Russian languor of the work’s central section.
Rachmaninov - Preludes Op. 23
0:00 No. 1 in F-sharp minor (Largo)
3:18 No. 2 in B-flat major (Maestoso)
7:01 No. 3 in D minor (Tempo di minuetto)
10:23 No. 4 in D major (Andante cantabile)
14:55 No. 5 in G minor (Alla marcia)
18:37 No. 6 in E-flat major (Andante)
22:11 No. 7 in C minor (Allegro)
24:52 No. 8 in A-flat major (Allegro vivace)
28:15 No. 9 in E-flat minor (Presto)
30:07 No. 10 in G-flat major (Largo)
Santiago Rodriguez, 2008
Maurice Ravel dabbles in orientalism in the song cycle Sheherazade for mezzo soprano and orchestra.
Maurice Ravel - Shéhérazade, Three Poems of Tristan Klingsor
I Asie
II La Flûte enchantée
III L´indifférent
New York Philharmonic - Avery Fisher Hall, 2003
Renée Fleming, soprano
Sir Andrew Davis, conductor
Erik Satie completes his Trois morceaux en forme de poire (Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear) for piano duet.
Claude Debussy - Estampes
No. 1 Pagodes (Pagodas)
No. 2 La soirée dans Grenade (The Evening in Granada)
No. 3 Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain)
Nelson Freire (Munich, 1982)
22 February
Hugo Wolf dies syphilitically insane at an asylum in Vienna, aged 42. Melanie Kochert, his mistress, slips into depression, berating herself in the belief that she had failed him as a partner. Three years later she commits suicide by jumping from a fourth-floor window of her home in Vienna.
6 June
Armenian composer and conductor Aram Khachaturian is born in Tbilisi, Georgia.
17 June
Victor Herbert's operetta Babes in Toyland opens in Chicago. It begins a run of theatrical hits for the Dublin-born composer, making him one of the most famous names in American music.
Victor Herbert - Prologue - Part 1 - Babes in Toyland
London Sinfonietta - Conductor John McGlinn
Victor Herbert - Prologue - Part 2 - Babes in Toyland
London Sinfonietta - Conductor John McGlinn
Victor Herbert - Finale Act One - Babes in Toyland
London Sinfonietta - Conductor John McGlinn
8 October
The sun rises and sets over the Aegean Sea in Carl Nielsen’s Helios Overture, first performed in Copenhagen.
Carl Nielsen - "Helios" Overture
Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
William Schrickel, conductor
Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, 2012
14 October
Edward Elgar's oratorio The Apostles premieres before an appreciative audience at Birmingham’s Town Hall.
Sir Edward Elgar - The Apostles Op. 49
The Blessed Virgin, The Angel Gabriel : Alison Hargan, soprano
Mary Magdalene : Alfreda Hodgson, contralto
St John : David Rendall, tenor
St Peter : Bryn Terfel, bass
Jesus : Stephen Roberts, bass
Judas : Robert Lloyd, bass
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Roderick Elms, organ
Conducted by Richard Hickox, 1990
15 November
Eugen D’Albert's opera Tiefland (The Lowlands) opens in Prague. Libretto: Rudolf Lothar, after Àngel Guimerà's play Terra baixa.
Eugen d'Albert - Tiefland (The Lowlands), op. 34
8 March
George Enescu, aged 21, secures his status as a leading voice in Romanian music with his two orchestral Rhapsodies roumaines (1901), premiered in Bucharest.
ENESCU - Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 -
London Symphony Orchestra - Antal Dorati.
Enescu - Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 in D major, Op. 11
Romanian National Radio Orchestra - Horia Andreescu
19 December
Siberia is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano from a libretto by Luigi Illica. It premiered on 19 December 1903 at La Scala in Milan.
Umberto Giordano - SIBERIA
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
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian, in full Aram Ilich Khachaturian, (born May 24 [June 6, New Style], 1903, Tiflis, Georgia, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Georgia]—died May 1, 1978, Moscow), Soviet composer best known for his Piano Concerto (1936) and his ballet Gayane (1942), which includes the popular, rhythmically stirring Sabre Dance.
Khachaturian was trained at the Gnesin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute in Moscow and at the Moscow Conservatory and was a professor at both schools from 1951. As a young composer, he was influenced by contemporary Western music, particularly that of Maurice Ravel. In his Symphony No. 1 (1935) and later works, this influence was supplanted by a growing appreciation of folk traditions, not only those of his Armenian forebears but also those of Georgia, Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. His Symphony No. 2 (1943) was written for the 25th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. His other works include a symphonic suite, Masquerade (1944; from incidental music to a play by Mikhail Lermontov); the ballets Happiness (1939) and Spartak (1953; “Spartacus”); a Third Symphony; a violin concerto (1940); a cello concerto (1946); and numerous shorter works. He also composed the music for the Armenian national anthem, as well as film scores and incidental music.
In 1948, along with Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev, Khachaturian was accused by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of bourgeois tendencies in his music. He admitted his guilt and was restored to prominence. After Stalin’s death in 1953, however, he publicly condemned the Central Committee’s accusation, which was formally rescinded in 1958. He was named People’s Artist of the Soviet Union in 1954 and was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1959.
Khachaturian - Piano Concerto in D-flat major, Op.38
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Orchestre de Paris - Kazuki Yamada, conductor
Gayane - Aram Khachaturian
Ballet in three acts - Libretto by Vilen Galstyan
State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Armenia
Conductor: Karen Durgaryan
The Mariinsky Orchestra
Gayane: Syuzanna Pirumyan
Armen: Sevak Avetisyan
Giko: Armen Gevorgyan
Nuneh: Zhakelina Sarkhoshyan
Karen: Garik Babelyan
Musical Director and Principal Conductor: Karen Durgaryan - Choreographer: Vilen Galstyan
Aram Khachaturian - Spartacus
Choreography: Yuri Grigorovich
Spartacus: Carlos Acosta
Crassus: Alexander Volchkov
Phrygia: Nina Kaptsova
Aegina: María Allash
Soloists and body of the Ballet of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia - Orchestra of Cologne, directed by Pavel Klinichev
1904
Alexander Glazunov writes his Violin Concerto in A minor, dedicated to the Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer.
Alexander Glazunov - Violin Concerto in A minor, Op 82
Nathan Milstein, violin
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
William Steinberg, conductor, 1957
1 May
Leading Czech composer Antonin Dvorak dies (possibly from a heart attack) in Prague, aged 62. Four days later his body is laid to rest at the Vysehrad cemetery.
Charles Ives completes his Third Symphony.
Charles Ives - "Symphonie #3 The Camp Meeting"
Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields
dir : Neville Marriner
21 January
Leos Janacek's domestic tragedy Jenufa is staged for the first time, in Brno. The 50-year-old composer will later revise the opera substantially.
Summer
Gustav Mahler completes his Sixth Symphony (which he will revise several times) and begins his Seventh. This year also sees the completion of his orchestral song cycle Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Deaths of Children).
Mahler - 6th Symphony "Tragic"
pf: Leonard Bernstein cond
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
1988, Vienna, Musikverein, Große Saal
Gustav Mahler - Kindertotenlieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rückert
Poems by Friedrich Rückert
Christa Ludwig, Alt (Contralto)
BPO, Herbert von Karajan.
I. Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n
II. Nun seh' ich wahl, warum so dunkle Flammen
III. Wenn dein Mutterlein
IV. Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen
V. In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus
Jean Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, op 47
Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester. 24.11.11
Joshua Bell
Conductor: Vasily Petrenko
17 February
Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly opens and flops at La Scala, Milan. The raucous audience, shouting, whistling and laughing, mauls the production and Puccini is accused of plagiarism. He immediately withdraws the opera for revision, despite believing that rivals initiated the debacle. The new version, staged three months later in Brescia, is a resounding triumph.