Jakey Lou Williams (b. 1957) was born in Norfolk, Virginia. His father was a member of the US Navy, which meant frequent relocation. Finally, however, the Williams family settled down in San Diego, California, where Jake began taking classical piano lessons. But, upon hearing his older sister’s Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Black ...
During the early seventeenth century a remarkable dynasty of musicians emerged, culminating in the genius of J. S. Bach. His musical forebears are too numerous to consider individually, but a handful of them were sufficiently accomplished and imaginative as composers to deserve a mention. Their music is increasingly finding a place in present-day concert programming. Their multifarious gifts and ...
(Yo’-han Sa-bäs’tyan Bakh) 1685–1750 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a closely knit musical family of which he was rightly proud. His father Johann Ambrosius Bach (1645–95) had an identical twin brother, Johann Christoph (1645–93), who was like a second father to the young Sebastian. Johann was such a common name that almost all boys called Johann were known ...
(Kärl Fe’-lip E-ma’-noo-el Bakh) 1714–88 German composer In the eighteenth century, ‘Bach’ usually meant C. P. E. Bach, not his father Johann Sebastian. Born in Weimar, he studied under his father, then read law at the university in Frankfurt an der Oder. He took up a post in Berlin at the court of Prince Frederick, later Frederick ...
(Yo’-han Krest’-yan Bakh) 1735–82 German composer J. S. Bach’s youngest son was known as the London Bach. Earlier he was the Milan Bach: after studying with his father and his half-brother Carl Philipp Emanuel in Berlin, he had gone to Italy, studying in Bologna, embracing Roman Catholicism and becoming organist at Milan Cathedral, and composing operas for theatres ...
(Vil’-helm Fre’-da-man Bakh) 1710–84 German composer The eldest son of J. S. Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann sadly did not have the opportunities to establish himself as a gifted musician that his brothers found. He studied with his father and at Leipzig University, was organist at the Dresden Sophienkirche and, from 1746, at the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. In the 1760s ...
(Arnst Ta’-o-dôr A-ma-da’-oos Hof’-man) 1776–1822 German writer and composer E.T.A. Hoffmann’s wide-ranging talents were the source of great inspiration throughout the nineteenth century, and composers who drew on his stories include Schumann (Kreisleriana) and Offenbach (Les contes d’Hoffmann). He was also an astute and perceptive critic, and his review in 1810 of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is justly famous. ...
(Zhak Of’-fen-bakh) 1819–80 French composer Offenbach’s tuneful, witty and often outrageous satires on Greek mythology and the Second Empire enthralled the French public, including the Emperor Louis-Napoleon. After only one year at the Paris Conservatoire, he joined the Opéra-Comique orchestra, studying with Halévy, and toured as a virtuoso cellist. After conducting at the Théâtre Français, he ...
(Piano, composer, 1894–1955) The seminal figure among the Harlem stride pianists, Johnson was a mentor to Fats Waller and composer of ‘The Charleston’, which launched a Jazz Age dance craze. Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum were also directly influenced by Johnson’s skilful stride and compositions, including ‘You’ve Got To Be Modernistic’ – an evolutionary ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1930s) In 1934 Joseph E. Mainer (1898–1971) and his brother Wade (b. 1907), playing fiddle and banjo respectively, secured a slot on WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina. The group they assembled – adding singer-guitarists Daddy John Love and Zeke Morris – was an immediate hit, not only on radio but also on Bluebird Records with ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1940) Born in High Point, Louisiana, Newman was one of the first Cajun artists to succeed in country music’s mainstream – though his earliest recordings bore few traces of the Cajun influence. In the early 1950s, Newman became a popular performer on the Louisiana Hayride before moving on to Nashville and the Grand ...
1735–82, German Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of J. S. Bach (1685–1750), acquired a more thorough training in opera than most contemporary composers, studying first in Germany and afterwards in Italy. Consequently, his operas combined both styles. As a composer, Johann Christian concentrated initially on church music, but he soon transferred his talents to ...
1776–1822, German E.T.A. Hoffmann, the German novelist, critic, composer and conductor was among the most influential literary figures of the Romantic movement. He was the first to suggest that Mozart’s Don Giovanni was a Romantic rather than a Classical opera because of its strong associations between love and death. Hoffmann wrote several operas with dialogue ...
1819–80, French Jacques Offenbach had an acute sense of theatre and an incisive understanding of how to cater for French tastes. He was 14 when his father sent him to Paris, where Jews were freer than they were in Germany. Offenbach became a cellist, performing in fashionable salons, and finally, in 1855, became famous. He ...
‘Fair Helen’ Composed: 1864 Premiered: 1864, Paris Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy Act I Since Pâris awarded Vénus the golden apple, her cult has become more popular than Jupiter’s. Hélène, wife of King Ménélas of Sparta, is waiting for Pâris to come and claim her. Disguised as a shepherd, Pâris enlists the help of ...
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