Music
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Leonard Cohen *IX 21 1934 — The Life You Give
Leonard Cohen, born Leonard Norman Cohen, September 21, 1934, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the singer-songwriter whose spare songs carried an existential bite and established him as one of the most distinctive voices of 1970s pop music. Already established as a poet and novelist (his first book of poems, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published…
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Vladimir Horowitz *IX 18 1903 / The Life You Give
Vladimir Horowitz, born September 18 [Old Style], 1903, in Berdichev, Russia [now in Ukraine], is the virtuoso pianist in the Romantic tradition who was celebrated for his flawless technique and an almost orchestral quality of tone. Horowitz’s performances of works by Franz Liszt, Sergey Rachmaninoff, Frédéric Chopin, Aleksandr Scriabin, Domenico Scarlatti, and Sergey Prokofiev were…
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Jessye Norman *IX 15 1945 — The Life You Give
Jessye Norman, born Jessye Mae Norman on September 15, 1945, in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., is the operatic soprano, one of the finest of her day, who also enjoyed a successful concert career. Norman was reared in a musical family. Both her mother and grandmother were pianists and her father sang in church, as did the…
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Arnold Schönberg *IX 13 1874 — The Life You Give
Arnold Schoenberg, born Arnold Franz Walter Schönberg, September 13, 1874 in Vienna, Austria, is the composer who created new methods of musical composition involving atonality, namely serialism and the 12-tone row. He was also one of the most-influential teachers of the 20th century; among his most-significant pupils were Alban Berg and Anton Webern. Schoenberg’s father,…
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Anton Bruckner *IX 4 1824 / The Life You Give
Anton Bruckner, born Josef Anton Bruckner, Sept. 4, 1824, in Ansfelden, Austria, is the composer of a number of highly original and monumental symphonies. He was also an organist and teacher who composed much sacred and secular choral music. Bruckner was the son of a village schoolmaster and organist in Upper Austria. He showed talent…
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Leonard Bernstein *VIII 25 1918 / The Life You Give
Leonard Bernstein, born August 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, is the conductor, composer, and pianist noted for his accomplishments in both classical and popular music, for his flamboyant conducting style, and for his pedagogic flair, especially in concerts for young people. Bernstein played piano from age 10. He attended Boston Latin School; Harvard University (A.B.,…
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Karlheinz Stockhausen *VIII 22 1928 / The Life You Give
Karlheinz Stockhausen, born Aug. 22, 1928, in Mödrath, near Cologne, Germany, is the composer, and important creator and theoretician of electronic and serial music who strongly influenced avant-garde composers from the 1950s through the ’80s. Stockhausen studied at the State Academy for Music in Cologne and the University of Cologne from 1947 to 1951. In…
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Claude Debussy *VIII 22 1862 / The Life You Give
Claude Debussy, born Achille-Claude Debussy, on August 22, 1862, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, is the composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers…
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Jacopo Peri *VIII 20 1561 / Composer of the first opera
Jacopo Peri, byname Il Zazzerino, born August 20, 1561, in Rome or Florence, is the composer noted for his contribution to the development of dramatic vocal style in early Baroque opera. Under the early sponsorship of the Florentine Cristofano Malvezzi, Peri had published by 1583 both an instrumental work and a madrigal. After early posts…
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Götterdämmerung (Wagner) premiered on this day in 1876
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) is the last in the music drama set of four, entitled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) or The Ring Cycle or The Ring for short) which premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876, concluding the first performance of the complete cycle. The title is…
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Kaikhosru Sorabji: Organ Symphony No 1
Organ Symphony No. 1, KSS 39 Piece detailsWritten for: OrganDate composed: 1924Dedicatee: Emily Edroff-SmithApproximate duration (minutes): 120Manuscript pages: 81Manuscript location: Library of Congress Structure: IPrelude. ModéréPassacaglia (theme with 81 variations)PostludeIIIntroduction. LentoAndante (quasi fugue)CodaIIIModeratoCadenza de’ pedali. Con bravuraModeratoCadenza-ToccataCoda-Stretto
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Kaikhosru Sorabji: Concerto per suonare da me solo & Symphonia Brevis
Concerto Per Suonare Da Me Solo / Jonathan Powell Concerto per suonare da me solo, KSS 69 (Concert to play by myself)Piece detailsWritten for: PianoDate composed: 1946Dedicatee: Norman PeterkinApproximate duration (minutes): 50Manuscript pages: 70Manuscript location: Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel Structure:I Incomincia l’orchestra arrogante e pomposa / Brioso FocosamenteII AdagioIII Scherzo diabolico Symphonia Brevis / Donna…
Sila Blume 