Music
-
Frank Zappa *XII 21 1940 — The Life You Give
Frank Zappa, born Frank Vincent Zappa on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., was composer, guitarist, and satirist of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. One of the great polymaths of the rock era who, arguably, possessed a broader range of skills and interests than any of his peers, Zappa was an instinctive postmodernist who demolished the…
-
Paco de LucĂa *XII 21 1947 — The Life You Give
The role of the flamenco guitar evolved considerably through the playing of Paco de Lucia (born Francisco Sanchez Gomez). The son of flamenco guitarist Antonio Sanchez and the brother of a flamenco guitarist, RamĂłn de Algeciras, and flamenco singer, Pepe de Lucia, Paco de Lucia extended the former accompaniment-only tradition of flamenco guitar to include…
-
Step two shall come
For a long time I have thought of the millions of musicians with the magnificent privilege of playing something other than a pipe organ, a piano, a harp, drums. There is something beyond beautiful, and beyond simple, and extremely warming, in being able to climb a mountain, walk along the shore of an ocean, or…
-
Édith Piaf *XII 19 1915 — The Life You Give
Edith Piaf, born Edith Giovanna Gassion, on December 19, 1915, in Paris, France, is the singer and actress whose interpretation of the chanson, or French ballad, made her internationally famous. Among her trademark songs were “Non, je ne regrette rien” (“No, I Don’t Regret Anything”) and “La Vie en rose” (literally “Life in Pink”. Piaf’s…
-
Antonio Stradivari *1644 — The Life You Give
Antonio Stradivari, born in 1644, in Cremona, Duchy of Milan, is the violin maker who brought the craft of violin-making to its highest pitch of perfection. Stradivari was still a pupil of Nicolò Amati in 1666 when he began to place his own label on violins of his making. These at first followed the smaller…
-
Ludwig van Beethoven *XII 17 1770 — The Life You Give
Ludwig van Beethoven, born on December 17, 1770, in Bonn, Germany, is the composer, and predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. Widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived, Ludwig van Beethoven dominates a period of musical history as no one else before or since. Rooted in…
-
Hector Berlioz *XII 11 1803 — The Life You Give
Hector Berlioz, born Louis-Hector Berlioz on December 11, 1803, in La CĂ´te-Saint-AndrĂ©, France, is the composer, critic, and conductor of the Romantic period, known largely for his Symphonie fantastique (1830), the choral symphony RomĂ©o et Juliette (1839), and the dramatic piece La Damnation de Faust (1846). His last years were marked by fame abroad and…
-
Olivier Messiaen *XII 10 1908 — The Life You Give
Olivier Messiaen, born Olivier-Eugène-Prosper-Charles Messiaen, December 10, 1908, in Avignon, France, is the influential composer, organist, and teacher noted for his use of mystical and religious themes. As a composer he developed a highly personal style noted for its rhythmic complexity, rich tonal colour, and unique harmonic language. Messiaen was the son of Pierre Messiaen,…
-
Ozzy Osborne *XII 3 1948 — The Life You Give
Ozzy Osbourne, born John Michael Osbourne, December 3, 1948, in Birmingham, England, is the musician who gained a loyal following as the vocalist for the heavy metal group Black Sabbath before embarking on a successful solo career. Raised in a working-class family, Osbourne dropped out of school at age 15 and held several low-paying jobs.…
-
MarĂa Callas *XII 2 1923 — The Life You Give
Maria Callas, born Maria Cecilia Sophia Anna Kalogeropoulos, on December 2, 1923, in New York, New York, U.S.A., is the operatic soprano who revived classical coloratura roles in the mid-20th century with her lyrical and dramatic versatility. Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants and early developed an interest in singing. Accompanied by her mother,…
-
Gaetano Donizetti *XI 29 1797 — The Life You Give
Gaetano Donizetti, born on Nov. 29, 1797, in Bergamo, Cisalpine Republic, was an Italian opera composer whose numerous operas in both Italian and French represent a transitional stage in operatic development between Rossini and Verdi. Among his major works are Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), La fille du rĂ©giment (1840), and La favorite (1840). In his…
-
Stefan Zweig *XI 28 1881 — The Life You Give
Stefan Zweig, born November 28, 1881, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire [now in Austria], is the writer who achieved distinction in several genres—poetry, essays, short stories, and dramas—most notably in his interpretations of imaginary and historical characters. Zweig was raised in Vienna. His first book, a volume of poetry, was published in 1901. He received a doctorate…
-
Helmut Lachenmann *XI 27 1935 — The Life You Give
“Expression is created on the reverse face of that on which the composer is working…destruction, deflation, and disintegration. But during this process expressive energy radiates out in the first instance like a creative serenity — freedom even.” Helmut Lachenmann To scratch the grain of one’s own voice, to perpetually resist and violate the habitual, to…
-
Jimi Hendrix *Nov 27 1942 — The Life You Give
Though his active career as a featured artist lasted a mere four years, Hendrix altered the course of popular music and became one of the most successful and influential musicians of his era. An instrumentalist who radically redefined the expressive potential and sonic palette of the electric guitar, he was the composer of a classic…
-
Tina Turner *XI 26 1939 — The Life You Give
Tina Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock, November 26, 1939, in Brownsville, Tennessee, U.S.A., is the singer who found success in the rhythm-and-blues, soul, and rock genres in a career that spanned five decades. Turner was born into a sharecropping family in rural Tennessee. She began singing as a teenager and, after moving to St. Louis,…
Sila Blume 