1927–2013 English conductor Davis came to public notice as the conductor of early performances by the Chelsea Opera Group. He made his debut at Sadler’s Wells Opera in 1958, and was music director 1961–65. He was principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra 1967–71, music director of the Royal Opera 1971–86 and of the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra 1983–92 ...
(Guitar, harmonica, banjo, vocals, 1896–1972) Gary D. Davis was born in Laurens, South Carolina and was completely blind by the age of 30. He taught himself harmonica, banjo and guitar and played in string bands throughout the teens, going on to work the Carolinas as a street singer in the 1920s. Ordained as a ...
The history of post-war jazz tracked the musical development of Miles Dewey Davis III so closely that it is tempting to see the trumpeter as the orchestrator of each of the most significant stylistic shifts of the era. With the notable exception of free jazz, Miles seemed to trigger a new seismic shift in the music with each passing decade. ...
(Vocals, 1899–2000) Born in rural Louisiana, Davis first made his name singing on radio station KWKH in Shreveport. From 1928 onwards, he was a popular recording artist, initially with sentimental and cowboy songs, then with raunchy blue yodels in the manner of Jimmie Rodgers. These included ‘She’s A Hum Dum Dinger From Dingersville’ and ‘Bear Cat ...
(Vocals, 1931–2004) Davis (real name Mary Frances Penick) began her career in a duo called The Davis Sisters, along with her friend Betty Jack Davis. They had a No. 1 hit for RCA with ‘I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know’ in 1953 before Betty Jack was killed in a car crash later that year. On her own, ...
(Vocals, songwriter, actor, b. 1942) Also a television host, composer and one-time representative for Vee-Jay records, Texas-born Davis is responsible for several bestselling songs, including ‘In The Ghetto’ and ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’, both 1969 US Top 10 hits for Elvis Presley. Davis himself topped the US pop chart in 1972 with the million-selling ‘Baby Don’t ...
1673–1732, Italian Nicolo Grimaldi, known as ‘Nicolini’, studied singing in Naples with the composer Francesco Provenzale (1624–1704), and made his debut at the age of 12. Nicolini sang in the cathedral and royal chapel as a soprano, but soon became associated with operas by Scarlatti. He also sang for Bononcini, Lotti, Leo, Porpora and Vinci. ...
‘The Trojans’ Composed: 1856–58 Premiered: 1890, Karlsruhe Libretto by the composer, after the Aeneid by Virgil Act I The Trojans celebrate peace and admire the wooden horse left by the Greeks after the siege. Cassandre (Cassandra), King Priam’s daughter, forsees the fall of Troy. Her husband Chorèbe (Coroebus) urges her to join the celebrations, but she begs ...
1905–98 English composer Tippett’s open receptivity to a myriad of cultures and musical styles made him one of the most profoundly communicative composers of the twentieth century. His left-wing politics were to surface many times in his music and were of central importance in his life. His first acknowledged works were Piano Sonata No. 1 (1936–37) and Concerto for Double String ...
b. 1959 Scottish composer Widely considered Scotland’s leading living composer, Macmillan achieved almost overnight recognition with his orchestral piece The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (1990), which commemorates a victim of the seventeenth-century Scottish witch-hunts. The work embodied three themes that would establish themselves in his later output: an interest in Scottish subject-matter and folk traditions (Tuireadh, 1991; From Ayrshire ...
b. 1945 American soprano Norman made her operatic debut in 1969 in Berlin as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, followed by Mozart’s Countess (The Marriage of Figaro), which she recorded under Colin Davis. Debuts followed in 1972 at La Scala (Aida) and Covent Garden (Berlioz’s Cassandra in The Trojans), and in 1983 she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera (Cassandra, then Dido). ...
(Loo-e’ Ek-tôr’ Ber-lyoz’) 1803–69 French composer and critic Berlioz was the leading French musician of his age. His greatest achievements, and those for which he is best remembered, were with large-scale orchestral and vocal works, although he also wrote in other genres. He was rooted in classical traditions – his earliest influences included Gluck and the music of the ...
b. 1944 American conductor Christie moved to France in 1971, where he founded Les Arts Florissants, a flexible vocal and instrumental group, in 1979. With them he has staged and recorded many French works, including operas by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87) and Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764). Their production of King Arthur by Henry Purcell (1659–95) was seen at Covent ...
Gamelan is an orchestral tradition in Java and Bali, where every instrument – various gongs and drums – is a member of the percussion family. The tradition emphasizes respect for the instruments and cooperation between the players. In 1887, the Paris Conservatoire acquired a gamelan. In 1889, Debussy went to the Paris Exhibition, where he heard the ...
When Vassar Clements formed a band called Hillbilly Jazz in 1975, Bill Monroe’s former fiddler pulled the cover off the hidden connection between country music and jazz. The two genres had more in common than most people thought. After all, Jimmie Rodgers recorded with Louis Armstrong early in their careers; jazz legend Charlie Christian debuted on Bob Wills’ radio ...
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