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On May 16, 1868, in Prague, the first performance of Bedřich Smetana's Dalibor took place.
DUBedrich Smetana : Dalibor (Overture)
http://youtu.be/rUBcMr11x
Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) Dalibor : Opera in Three Acts Libretto: Josef Wenzig & Ervin Spindler Vl...
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Friedrich Gulda
(Vienna, May 16, 1930 - Weissenbach, January 27, 2000)
Gulda is a pianist from my adolescence. I pay him this tribute which allows me to listen to the Emperor. I often wonder between the Fourth and the Fifth which is my favorite among the Beethovenian ones, but I don't think I will ever get to the bottom of it!
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Erik Satie was born in Honfleur on May 17, 1866 (Honfleur, May 17, 1866 – Paris, July 1, 1925).
Erik Satie: "Je te veux" - Valse chantée (original)
http://youtu.be/bQPGeJch3TE
Text: Henry Pacory Soprano: Sigune von Osten Piano: Armin Fuchs
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Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria Rusticana
Pietro Mascagni
first performance: Rome, Teatro Costanzi, 17 May 1890
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeQBY_ZpejI
How much I loved and still love this opera.
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danielescarpetti wrote:Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria Rusticana
Pietro Mascagni
first performance: Rome, Teatro Costanzi, May 17, 1890
How much I have loved and still love this opera.
...for those interested, a possible in-depth study
www.pianoconcerto.it/forum/index.php?/topic/957-cavalleria-rusticana
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Johann Jakob Froberger
(Stuttgart, 18 May 1616 - Héricourt, 7 May 1667)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fRZ0tX1TS0&list=PLbUiga6f6typvkVYZXUh39-T5Z56JmQPY
Froberger was an important harpsichord composer and, among other things, contributed to transmitting the technique of our great Girolamo Frescobaldi into southern Germany, combining it all with elements from the French tradition.
ps: Frank, I arrived before you today, but don't worry, there is only the embarrassment of choice on this day.
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On May 18, 1897, in Paris, the first performance of Paul Dukas's L'apprenti sorcier took place.
Ferenc Fricsay - Paul Dukas "L'Apprenti Sorcier"
Ferenc Friscay conducts "L'Apprenti Sorcier" (Sorcerer's Apprentice) by Paul Dukas. Berliner Philhar...
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Gustav Mahler
(Kalischt, July 7, 1860 - Vienna, May 19, 1911)
Mahler and his symphonic cycle are among the most beautiful and important ever. Everyone may prefer whichever symphony they believe; they are all masterpieces. My favorite is this one!
Gustav Mahler's Eighth Symphony, called the “Symphony of a Thousand,” composed in only eight weeks in the summer of 1906, and so named for the enormous number of people involved, between choruses and orchestras, concludes—as in the Lisztian symphony—with the text from Goethe's Faust II, such is the greatness and moving nature of its beauty:
Everything that passes
is only a figure.
That which is unattainable
here becomes evident.
That which is unspeakable
here is fulfilled
The eternal Feminine Element
drives us upward.
« (...) I have just finished my Eighth. It is the greatest thing I have done so far (…) Try to imagine that the universe begins to produce music and resonate. They are no longer human voices, but planets and suns rotating. (...)
It is a gift to the Nation (…). My other works are tragic and subjective. This one is a great dispenser of joy (…). It was like a lightning vision: suddenly everything stood before my eyes (…). By chance, an old book recently fell into my hands, and I opened it to the hymn “Veni creator spiritus,” and suddenly everything stands before me: not just the first theme, but the entire first movement.»
It can be said, with good reason, that the great German symphonic corpora opened with Beethoven's nine symphonies and concluded with Mahler's nine—the tenth remained incomplete. By a historical-cultural coincidence, these two great composers find themselves at opposite ends of a musical process that lasted practically a century and, very significantly, their work was characterized by a clear and unmistakable will to express a message that transcended music itself.
In Beethoven, a man living between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, detached from Enlightenment ideas, the message was of a universal character. “From the heart, may it reach other hearts,” this phrase which the composer wrote at the beginning of the score of his “Missa Solemnis,” can well summarize the message and the spirit of much of his art, and of the symphonies in particular.
In Mahler, living between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th—a historical period where great illusions had already irremediably set and where a certain, increasingly markedly creeping “mal di vivere” [weariness of life] emerged, tragically marking the end of an era—it was the most intimate, most personal pain that was set to music through his Symphonies.
An exception is this Eighth Symphony which, it can be said with good reason, returned fully to that typically Beethovenian spirit of universality and brotherhood. In it, in fact, Mahler succeeded in stepping out of the realm of his own personal sufferings to pronounce an impulse of love, to call peoples to a universal embrace. History, during that period, was already beyond appeal, headed in a catastrophic direction, but the composer wanted, at least for an instant of his tormented life, not to resign himself, and in an extreme act he turned to the entire human race to try to make them understand: « great things » as an alternative to the individualistic crisis. His Symphony unfolds in two parts: the first centered on the medieval text of “Veni creator spiritus,” the second on the final scene of Goethe's “Faust II.” The great composer did not so much invoke the Holy Spirit of religious orthodoxy, but saw in the link that joins the two texts « a loving driving principle of the universe » which is invoked in a crucial passage of the first movement:
It kindles light for the senses
infuses love into hearts
and which made him trace back—as can be seen in a letter addressed to his wife Alma—to Plato, only to recognize it again in Goethe.
The great conductor Bruno Walter, a close personal friend of the composer, said: « (…) Goethe shone like a sun in the sky of his spiritual world. »
The following year, in 1907, things for Mahler unfortunately took an irremediable turn for real: the death of his little daughter and shortly thereafter the discovery of heart failure that would lead to his death four years later; and, understandably, the composer returned with his great “Ninth,” with “Das Lied von der Erde” (The Song of the Earth), and with the Adagio of his unfinished Tenth to his most extreme pessimism.
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Not many know the Hungarian composer Karl Goldmark, born on May 18, 1830
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Goldmark
Karl Goldmark - Sakuntala Overture, Op. 13 (1865)
Sakuntala - Overture for Orchestra, Op. 13 (1865)
A concert overture by Hungarian composer Karl Goldmark (1830-1915), based on the story of Shakuntala from the Indian epic Mahabharata. In this episode of the tale, Shakuntala is the daughter of Vishwamitra and the apsara Menaka, but she is abandoned and reared by the wise sage Kanva, who lives in a secluded hermitage. She grows up to be a lovely, though naive young woman. One day, while Kanva is away on a pilgrimage with the sages of the hermitage, Dushyanta, king of Hastinapura, happens upon the hermitage while out hunting, and he falls in love with Shakuntala. He gives her a signet ring and asks her to come to see him at his court. When the irritable sage Durvasa returns with Kanva from the pilgrimage and discovers what had passed, he curses Shakuntala and casts a spell that causes Dushyanta to forget about her existence. The only way for Shakuntala to reverse the curse is to go directly to the King and show him the signet ring. On her way to the palace, Shakuntala loses the ring while crossing a river. When she arrives at the King's court, he has no recollection of her and orders her to leave. Alone and disconsolate, Shakuntala returns to the hermitage. Meanwhile, the ring had been swallowed by a fish, and by coincidence, a fisherman caught the fish and brought the ring to the King. He realizes his mistake, but it is too late - he must go to war with the Titans. Many years later, after returning from the war, Dushyanta passes through the same forest; he recognizes Shakuntala playing with their son.
Conductor: András Korodi
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra
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BackSpace wrote:
A concert overture by Hungarian composer Karl Goldmark (1830-1915), based on the story of Shakuntala from the Indian epic Mahabharata. In this episode of the tale, Shakuntala is the daughter of Vishwamitra and the apsara Menaka, but she is abandoned and reared by the wise sage Kanva, who lives in a secluded hermitage. She grows up to be a lovely, though naive young woman. One day, while Kanva is away on a pilgrimage with the sages of the hermitage, Dushyanta, king of Hastinapura, happens upon the hermitage while out hunting, and he falls in love with Shakuntala. He gives her a signet ring and asks her to come to see him at his court. When the irritable sage Durvasa returns with Kanva from the pilgrimage and discovers what had passed, he curses Shakuntala and casts a spell that causes Dushyanta to forget about her existence. The only way for Shakuntala to reverse the curse is to go directly to the King and show him the signet ring. On her way to the palace, Shakuntala loses the ring while crossing a river. When she arrives at the King's court, he has no recollection of her and orders her to leave. Alone and disconsolate, Shakuntala returns to the hermitage. Meanwhile, the ring had been swallowed by a fish, and by coincidence, a fisherman caught the fish and brought the ring to the King. He realizes his mistake, but it is too late - he must go to war with the Titans. Many years later, after returning from the war, Dushyanta passes through the same forest; he recognizes Shakuntala playing with their son.
Conductor: András Korodi
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra
Goodness, who would have ever thought! and....for those who don't know English? What happens? The composer continues to not be known!
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danielescarpetti wrote:Goodness, who would have ever thought! and....for those who don't know English? What happens? The composer continues to be unknown!
In fact, there is also very little on Wiki
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May 18, 1935
world premiere at the Philharmonic Auditorium (The Temple) in Hollywood of Arnold Schoenberg's Suite in G# for string orchestra, conducted by Otto Klemperer
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Juan de Cabezón
(Castrillo de Matajudìios 1510 - Madrid 18 May 1566)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sga35DZY2Yk
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May 18, 1918
the bass Boris Christoff is born in Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
Boris Christoff was one of the greatest basses in history.
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On May 19, 1886, in London, Camille Saint-Saëns conducted the first performance of his Symphony No. 3 op. 78.
Saint-Saëns - Symphony No.3 'Organ' - Martinon
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Symphony No.3 in C minor Op.78 'Organ' Orchestre National de....
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May 19, 1726
first absolute performance (for the feast of the Trinity) in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig of "Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott" BWV.129, sacred cantata in 5 numbers (1.chorus, 2.aria, 3.aria, 4.aria, 5.chorus) for soprano, alto, bass, 4-part choir and orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Sublime!
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Charles Ives
(Danbury, 20 October - 19 May 1954)
What can I say? I love it so much!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAJEkDIp01w
Dedicated to my son Mattia who turns 13 today.
Happy Birthday Mattia!
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On May 20, 1950, in Florence, the first performance of Il Prigioniero by Luigi Dallapiccola took place.
Luigi Dallapiccola - Il Prigioniero / Der Gefangene (Rosbaud, 1955)
LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA - IL PRIGIONIERO (DER GEFANGENE - GERMAN VERSION) Opera in a prologue and one act s...
