Artists
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The Life You Give: Henry Cowell *1897
Of all the early twentieth century American musical revolutionaries, perhaps composer Henry Cowell wielded the most vivid and far-reaching influence. Born in 1897 to a rural California family, Cowell began to study the violin at age five, though his parents’ hopes of creating a prodigy on the instrument remained unfulfilled when the lessons had to…
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The Life You Give: Arthur Honegger *1892
Born in France to Swiss parents, Arthur Honegger was a major twentieth century composer whose musical style was more cosmopolitan than either French or Swiss. An almost exact contemporary of Prokofiev (1891-1953), he rivaled Poulenc as the most successful member of Les Six and was without doubt among the greatest French composers of his day.…
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La Vida Que Das / The Life You Give: Gabriel García Márquez *1927
Gabriel José García Márquez nació en Aracataca (Colombia) en 1928. Cursó estudios secundarios en San José a partir de 1940 y finalizó su bachillerato en el Colegio Liceo de Zipaquirá, el 12 de diciembre de 1946. Se matriculó en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Nacional de Cartagena el 25 de febrero de 1947,…
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The Life You Give: Antonio Vivaldi *1678
Antonio Vivaldi, born Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, on March 4 1678, in Venice, Republic of Venice [Italy], is the composer and violinist who left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music. Vivaldi’s main teacher was probably his father, Giovanni Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as…
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The Life You Give: Simon Estes *March 2 1938
One of just a few African-American male singers who has had a top-rank international operatic career, bass-baritone Simon Estes grew up in Iowa in a house without heat or indoor plumbing. He sang in church as a youth, but when he enrolled at the University of Iowa in the late ’50s he had never heard…
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The Life You Give: Roger Daltrey *March 1 1944
The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey forged a parallel solo career beginning in 1973, when the group had begun to fall apart in the aftermath of Quadrophenia. Born March 1, 1944 in London, Daltrey grew up in the same Shepherd’s Bush neighborhood as future Who bandmates Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, performing with them as…
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The Virtuous Black XXVIII: Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman, born Jessye Mae Norman, on September 15 1945 in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., was operatic soprano, one of the finest of her day, who also enjoyed a successful concert career. After winning the Bavarian Radio Corp. International Music Competition in 1968, Norman made her operatic debut as Elisabeth in Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser in 1969…
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The Life You Give: Victor Hugo *1802
Victor Hugo, born Victor-Marie Hugo, on February 26 1802, in Besançon, France, is the poet, novelist, and dramatist who was the most important of the French Romantic writers. Though regarded in France as one of that country’s greatest poets, he is better known abroad for such novels as Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables…
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The Life You Give / Virtuous Black XXVII — Marian Anderson *1897
Marian Anderson, born on February 27 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., was one of the finest contraltos of her time. Anderson displayed vocal talent as a child, but her family could not afford to pay for formal training. From the age of six, she was tutored in the choir of the Union Baptist Church, where…
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The Virtuous Black XXVI: Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald, born Ella Jane Fitzgerald, on April 25 1917 in Newport News, Virginia, U.S.A., is the jazz singer who became world famous for the wide range and rare sweetness of her voice. She became an international legend during a career that spanned some six decades. As a child, Fitzgerald wanted to be a dancer,…
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The Virtuous Black XXV: Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong, born August 4 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., was leading trumpeter and one of the most influential artists in jazz history. He grew up in dire poverty in New Orleans, Louisiana, when jazz was very young. As a child he worked at odd jobs and sang in a boys’ quartet. In 1913…
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The Life You Give: Renata Scotto *1934
Renata Scotto’s long and successful operatic career was marked by a rare combination of dramatic intensity and vocal flexibility, which allowed her to traverse a wide variety of styles. She believed strongly in the theatrical elements of performing and always focused her energies on the meaning of a text. She also felt much of the…
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The Virtuous Black XXIII: Wynton Marsalis
The most famous musician in contemporary jazz, Wynton Marsalis had a major impact almost from the start. In the early ’80s, it was major news that a young and talented Black musician would choose to make a living playing acoustic jazz rather than fusion, funk, or R&B. Marsalis’ arrival on the scene started the “Young…
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The Virtuous Black XXI: Nina Simone
Nina Simone, born Eunice Waymon on February 21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina, U.S.A., is the singer who created urgent emotional intensity by singing songs of love, protest, and Black empowerment in a dramatic style, with a rough-edged voice. A precocious child, Simone played piano and organ in girlhood. She became sensitive to racism when…
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The Virtuous Black XX: Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk, born Thelonious Sphere Monk, on October 10 1917, in Rocky Mount, N.C., U.S.A., is the pianist and composer who was among the first creators of modern jazz. As the pianist in the band at Minton’s Playhouse, a nightclub in New York City, in the early 1940s, Monk had great influence on the other…
Sila Blume 