‘Fidelity Rewarded’ Composed: 1780 Premiered: 1781, Eszterháza Libretto by Giambattista Lorenzi Act I Amaranta reads an inscription in the Temple of Diana describing how two lovers are to be offered to a sea monster every year until a hero sacrifices himself. Melibeo, the High Priest, chooses the victims and everyone has to be careful not to cross him. ...
(Fränts Yo’-sef Hi’-dan) 1732–1809 Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was the most celebrated musician of the late-eighteenth century and the first of the great triumvirate (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven) of Viennese classical composers. A tireless explorer and innovator, he did more than anyone to develop the dramatic potential of the sonata style. When he composed his cheerful F major Missa brevis ...
1732–1809, Austrian The operatic career of Joseph Haydn spanned four decades, from his lost German Singspiel Der krumme Teufel (‘The Crooked Devil’, 1753) to his Orpheus opera L’anima del filosofo (‘The Philosopher’s Soul’), composed for London in 1791 but not performed there (or anywhere else) during the composer’s lifetime. In between, he composed some 20 operas (several lost) ...
(Yo’-han Yo’-sef Fooks) 1660–1741 German composer, organist and theorist There are large gaps in the biographical knowledge of Fux. It is almost certain that he was born into a peasant family somewhere in Germany, but precisely where he acquired his musical skills remains a mystery. Real knowledge of the composer begins from 1698, when Emperor Leopold I appointed Fux ...
(Fran-swa Zho-zef’ Gu-sek’) 1734–1829 Belgian (French) composer Born in what is now the French-speaking part of Belgium, Gossec spent most of his career in Paris working in the different roles of theatre composer, violinist and director of musical organizations. These organizations included the Concert Spirituel, the Ecole Royale de Chant and (after the Revolution) the band of the Garde ...
(Yo’-zef Yo’-a-khem) 1831–1907 German violinist Joachim studied with Ferdinand David, leader of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, where he made his debut in 1843. After a spell as leader of the Court Orchestra in Weimar under Liszt (1850–51), he distanced himself from Liszt’s ‘New German School’ in favour of Brahms’ classicism. Appointed violinist to the king in Hanover (1852), he ...
(Vocals, dancer, 1906–75) Born Freda Josephine McDonald, the St. Louis-born entertainer danced in the 1921 Sissle/Blake musical Shuffle Along before gaining a bigger role in their Chocolate Dandies in 1924, leading to appearances at the Cotton Club. The following year, she introduced ‘le jazz hot’ to Paris in La Revue Négre (also featuring Sidney Bechet) with ...
1660–1741, German Fux studied music at Graz, and became a talented organist and church musician. He probably travelled to Italy during the 1680s, and his a capella Masses influenced by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–94) attracted the admiring attention of Emperor Leopold I in 1698. Based in Vienna for the remainder of his life, Fux was ...
1663–1745, French Simon-Joseph Pellegrin was a monk who sailed twice with the French fleet to the Orient, and who put into verse Biblical texts that were sung to music by Lully and Campra at the royal convent at St Cyr. Pellegrin provided libretti for many composers, including Campra and Desmarets, but his best-known works are Jephté, set ...
1739–93, French The French tenor and composer Joseph Legros made his debut at the Opéra in Paris, singing Titon in Titon et Aurore by Jean-Joseph Mondonville (1711–72). Subsequently he built up a considerable repertoire of roles in operas by Lully, Rameau, Grétry and Gluck, among others. One of his greatest roles was as Gluck’s Orpheus – ...
1807–86, Bohemian The Bohemian tenor Joseph Tichatschek made his debut at the Kärntnertor Theatre in Vienna in 1833, as the farmer, Raimbaut, in Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable. After a year, 1837, at Graz, Tichatschek found a regular berth at Dresden, where he sang between 1838 and 1870. He also performed at the Drury ...
1892–1973 American violinist Born in Hungary, Szigeti made his Berlin debut in 1905. He lived in England 1907–13, where he gave many concerts. In the 1920s he toured the Soviet Union, and made his US debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1925. He was a keen advocate of contemporary music: Bartók, Bloch and Prokofiev wrote works for ...
A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who have come together to play music. In theory, an ensemble could contain any number of instruments in any combination, but in practice, certain combinations just don’t work very well, either for musical reasons or because of the sheer practicality of getting particular instruments and players ...
The trumpet is one of the most ancient instruments still played today. Clear depictions of trumpets survive in Egyptian paintings and two trumpets – one of silver, the other of gold and brass – found in the tomb of Tutankhamun date back to at least 1350 BC. There are many examples of Roman and Greek trumpets which, like the ...
In the history of musical instruments, the keyboard is something of a Johnny-come-lately, having first appeared some 2,250 years ago. The earliest instrument of all is the human voice, and some form of rudimentary percussion probably came next. The plucked string – ancestor of the harpsichord family – is likely to have arrived with the firing of ...
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