Music
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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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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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Robert Plant *VIII 20 1948 / The Life You Give
Robert Plant, born Robert Anthony Plant, on August 20, 1948, in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, is the singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Plant’s dynamic vocal range and flamboyant stage presence has distinguished him as a popular and influential rock and roll front man. Since the dissolution of…
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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…
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Kaikhosru Sorabji: Gulistān & Opus Clavicembalisticum MCMXXX
Gulistān, KSS 63 Piece detailsWritten for: PianoDate composed: 1940Dedicatee: Harold MorlandApproximate duration (minutes): 35Manuscript pages: 28Manuscript location: Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel Sorabji wrote a number of nocturnes, from the earliest stages in his development until his final years. These include some of his better-known works such as Le jardin parfumé and Djâmi. Several works —…
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Bake your blueberry basil cornbread, and eat it, too!
That is what one may do when listening to the piano marathon by Kaikhosru Sorabji, “Sequentia cyclica super Dies Iræ ex missa pro defunctis”. We are listening to it right now — just entered the third hour — on Clubhouse.
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Kaikhosru Sorabji: Sequentia Cyclica super Dies Iræ Missa pro defunctis
This week we celebrate the achievements of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, born on the 14th of August of 1892. He is one of the most enigmatic and controversial 20th century composers. Largely self-taught he chose his own way, never fitting into any school or movement. His style is highly idiosyncratic, inspired by late-romantics like Busoni and…
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Kaikhosru Sorabji: Toccata Seconda per Pianoforte & Songs for Soprano
Toccata Seconda per Pianoforte KSS57 Written for: PianoDate composed: 1933–34Dedicatee: Norman PeterkinApproximate duration (minutes): 150 (2h25)Manuscript pages: 111Manuscript location: Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University Structure/Movements:I Preludio-ToccataII Preludio-CoraleIII ScherzoIV AriaV Ostinato (theme with 49 variations)VI NotturnoVII InterludioVIII CadenzaIX Fuga libera a cinque voci Toccata Seconda per Pianoforte KSS57 Sorabji wrote four piano works entitled toccatas –…
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Enrique Granados *VII 27 1867 / La Vida Que Das
See the biography in English below Enrique o Enric Granados y Campiña nacido en Lérida, 1867, en el canal de la Mancha, fue pianista y compositor español, hijo de padre cubano y de madre gallega. Su disposición para la música se reveló ya en su niñez; estudió los primeros elementos de solfeo y teoría, en…
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“Parsifal” (Wagner) premiered today in 1882
The Poem Parzival, an epic poem, is one of the masterpieces of the Middle Ages, written between 1200 and 1210 in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach. This 16-book, 25,000-line poem is in part a religious allegory describing Parzival’s painful journey from utter ignorance and naïveté to spiritual awareness. The poem introduced the theme…
Sila Blume 