November 26, 2012.  Jean-Baptiste Lully.  The great French Baroque composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully was actually born an Italian on November 28, 1632 in Florence. As a young child, he received little education and learned only the basics of playing the guitar, probably from a Franciscan friar. Apparently, he was pretty good because in 1646 Roger de Lorraine, the chevalier de Guise, took the lucky boy to France where he entered into the service of one of the noblest houses of the kingdom, that of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, the eldest daughter of Gaston, the Duke of Orléans and a brother of Louis XIII.  Lully was taught to dance and studied music with Nicolas Métru, an organist and viol player who also taught Couperin.

In 1652, Mlle de Montpensier was exiled (she was one of the key leaders of the Fronde) and Lully left her court.  A talented dancer and musician, his skills brought him to the attention of the young King Louis XIV and he became a dancer in the king’s service. After composing some music for the Ballet de la nuit, Louis XIV appointed him leader of the Petits Violons, the king’s own private violin band. Lully’s favor in the king’s court continued to grow and in 1671, he was appointed the Superintendent of Music. Eventually, he was even given complete control over all music performed in France by the king.

The king liked to dance, and Lully composed many ballets for the court. His music changed the genre, introducing much livelier ballets in place of the slow, stately older dances.  With the aid of Molière, Lully also created the genre of comédie-ballet, which mixed spoken plays with dance and music numbers.  As Louis XIV aged, however, his interest in ballet, as well as his ability to dance, waned and in response Lully turned his attention on operas.  At that time the Italian opera, that of Monteverdi, Cavalli, and even lesser composers, reigned supreme throughout Europe (the first public opera house was opened in Venice in 1637).  Still, Lully found it unsuitable for the French language.  In his operas Lully removed the divisions between recitative and aria and, using good librettos by the dramatist Philippe Quinault, made the story move faster.  It is his operas that made Lully the foremost composer in France.

In January of 1687, while conducting a performance, Lully struck his toe with a long staff that he was using to beat time.  The wound became gangrenous, yet he refused to have the toe amputated.  The gangrene inevitably spread and on March 22, Lully died from the injury.

We’ll hear the aria Belle Hermione, hélas, hélas from Cadmus et Hermione, a "musical tragedy" on the libretto by Philippe Quinault.  It is sung by the wonderful French baritone Gérard Souzay, with Orchestre de la Société du Conservatoire Paris (courtesy of YouTube, here).

November 19, 2012.  Last week we celebrated the anniversary of Alexander Borodin but left out two major composers of the 20^th century, Aaron Copland and Paul Hindemith.  This week is even more prodigious, from Manuel de Falla to Benjamen Britten, Virgil Thomson, and Alfred Schnittke.  We’ll start with last week’s birthdays.   Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900 into a family of recent Russian-Jewish émigrés (his father changed his name from Kaplan), studied in Paris, but became the most "American" of all American composers.  His use of hymns and songs, such as the famous rendition of Shakers’ "Simple Gifts" in Appalachian Spring harkens back to the Russian and Czech Nationalist composers, but his musical idiom was very much of the 20^th century.  Here is At the River, from Old American Songs.  It’s performed by the baritone Jonathan Beyer with Jonathan Ware at the piano.

Compared to the lyrical Copland, few composers are more different than the cerebral Paul Hindemith, even though both wrote tonal music and never ventured into the twelve-tone world.  Hindemith was born on November 16, 1895 near Frankfurt am Main.  He played violin and viola, and started composing at the age of 21.  Hindemith’s compositional career blossomed during the time Nazis were in power, and their relationship was complex.  Some Nazis despised Hindemith’s music, but other wanted to make him into a model German composer and ambassador of German culture.  Hindemith emigrated to Switzerland and then to the US in 1940.  In the US he taught at Yale; among his students were Lucas Foss, Normal Dello Joio, and many other.  Here is Hindemith’s Viola Sonata Op. 11 No. 4.  It is performed by Yura Lee and Timothy Lovelace. 

Benjamin Britten was the greatest British composer of the 20^th century and probably the first great British composer since Henry Purcell, or Handel, depending on whether the latter is counted as a German composer or an English one (our apologies to the devotees of Elgar, Delius and Vaughan Williams!).  He was born on November 22, 1913.  When he was 17 he entered the Royal College of Music, where he studied with composers John Ireland and Arthur Benjamin.  He started composing around that time.  In 1936 he met the tenor Peter Piers who strongly affected Britten’s musical development and also became his lifelong partner.  Britten and Pears moved to the US in 1939 (both were conscientious objectors), but returned to Britain in 1942.  Britten’s greatest work was in opera: Peter Grimes (1945) made him a star, and altogether he wrote 13 operas, Billy Bud, The Beggar’s Opera and The Turn of the Screw being among the most popular.  We don’t have Britten’s operas, but we do have a wonderful song cycle, A Charm of Lullabies, Op. 41 (here).  It is sung by the mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson with Scott Gilmore at the piano.  On a much lighter note, the late Dudley Moore’s parody of Pears singing the supposedly Britten’s rendition of Little Miss Muffet is hilarious and absolutely ingenious (you can find it on YouTube).

We’ll get back to Falla and Schnittke later, in the mean time enjoy the music.

November 12, 2012.  Borodin and more.   Alexander Borodin, a Russian composer and famous chemist, was born on this day in St-Petersburg in 1833.  He was an illegitimate son of a Georgian prince Luka Gedevanishvili, who had him registered as a son of one of his serfs, Porfiry Borodin.  Thus, Alexander Lukich Gedevanishvili was transformed into Alexander Porfirievich Borodin.  Alexander received a good education, and took some music lessons (that he was gifted became clear very early on – when he was nine he composed several small pieces), but at the age of 10 he fell in love with chemistry.  At 17 he entered the prestigious Medico-Surgical Academy and upon graduating pursued a career of surgeon and chemist, taking additional studies in Heidelberg and in Italy.  In 1862, Borodin became a professor of chemistry at the same Academy and taught chemistry there for the rest of his life.  His research in chemistry was significant and he became one of the most respected scientists in Russia; the famous Mendeleev, the inventor of the periodic table, was his good friend and colleague.  All along, music was a love and a hobby to Borodin, second in priority.  The same year he became a professor at the Academy, Borodin met the composer Mily Balakirev and stared taking composition lessons with him.  His First Symphony, written in 1867, is not performed often, but the Second one (“Bogatyr”), became very popular.  In 1879 he wrote the String Quartet no. 1, two years later, the Second String quartet.  Borodin worked on his main composition, the opera Prince Igor, for 18 years.  It still wasn’t finished at the time of his premature death on February 27, 1887, at the age of 53.  Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov completed the opera and the orchestration based on the materials left after Borodin’s death.  The opera was first performed in 1890 at the Mariinsky Theater in St-Petersburg to great acclaim.  It remains his masterpiece and one of the best known and loved Russian operas.

Borodin’s name was given to one of the most unique ensembles, the Borodin Quartet.  It is probably the oldest continuously performing quartet in modern history.  The quartet was formed in 1944 by the students of Moscow Conservatory.  Mstislav Rostorpovich was the first cellist, but very soon he withdrew and Valentin Berlinsky took his place.  Rudolf Barshai was the original viola player; he later founded the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.  The quartet first performed publicly in 1946 under the name of the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet.  It became known as the Borodin Quartet in 1955, Borodin of course being the founder of the Russian quartet tradition.  For many years the Quartet worked very closely with the composer Dmitry Shostakovich, whom they first met in 1946; all of Shostakovich’s quartets were in their repertory.  Also, they often performed with the great pianist Sviatoslav Richter.  Valentin Berlinsky, the cellist, performed continuously from 1944 to 2007, for an amazing 62 years; he died just one year later at the age of 83.

We’ll hear the 3^rd movement of Borodin’s quartet no. 2, Notturno, performed by the Borodin Quartet and recorded in 1965 (here, courtesy of YouTube).

Two prominent 20^th century composers were also born this week: Aaron Copland, on November 14, 1900, and Paul Hindemith on November 16, 1895.  We’ll present them at a later date.

November 5, 2012.  François Couperin, or Couperin le Grand, the great French Baroque composer, was born in Paris on November 10, 1668 during the reign of Louis XIV the Sun King.  François was born into a family of musicians (his uncle was a famous composer of his day).  His talents became apparent from a very early age.  His father was his first music teacher, and he inherited the position of the organist of the church of St-Gervais after his father’s death.  The church, not far from the Hôtel de Ville, is one of the oldest in Paris, and the organ that Couperins played is still there today.  In 1717 he entered the service of Louis XIV as an organist and composer.  Even though his major works were written for the harpsichord, he was never given the title of the harpsichordist to the King.  At the court, he gave weekly concerts, mostly of his own music: the “suites” for string and wind instruments and the harpsichord. 

As we mentioned, Couperin’s major works were written for the harpsichord.  In 1717 he published L'art de toucher le clavecin (The Art of Playing the Harpsichord).  He wrote it to instruct musicians in harpsichord playing so that they could perform, among other things, his own compositions.  Here is the famous Le Tic-Toc-Choc, from Book III of Pièces de clavecin, transcribed to the modern piano.  It is performed – insanely fast – by the Hungarian piano virtuosos Geroges Cziffra (a live recording from his recital in Strasbourg 19 June 1960, courtesy of YouTube).  Some listeners believe that he plays too fast but we think there’s enough music left to make it very interesting.  Altogether Couperin published four books of harpsichord music, 230 pieces altogether.  This music influenced Johann Sebastian Bach, and, much later, Richard Strauss, who in 1940 wrote a charming Divertimento for small orchestra (after François Couperin's keyboard works), Op. 86.  Le Tic-Toc-Choc is there, of course, as elegant in this chamber arrangement as it is in the original.  For Maurice Ravel Couperin was also a major figure, so much so that he wrote a piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin (Couperin's Memorial).  It’s performed here by the pianist Alon Goldstein.

October 29, 2012.  Bellini and more.  Vincenzo Bellini was born on November 3, 1801 in Catania, Sicily.  It’s said that he was a child prodigy: started studying music at the age of two, playing piano at three, and composed his first pieces at the ago of six.   We do know that at the age of 18 he went to Naples to study at the conservatory.  He wrote his first opera while still a student there.  His second opera, Bianca e Gernando, was staged at Teatro San Carlo, the main opera theater of Naples.  It was good enough to lead to a commission from La Scala.  Bellini composed Il Pirata, which premiered to great success on October 27, 1827.  With his career launched, Bellini moved to Milan.  He wrote several operas that were met with muted enthusiasm but then in quick succession wrote La sonnambula, which premiered in 1831, Norma, premiered the same year, and I puritani, first staged in 1835.  All three represent the pinnacle of bel canto.  The greatest sopranos all prove their mettle singing the role of Norma, one of the most difficult in all of the opera repertoire, and opera lovers will forever continue arguing whose Casta Diva was the finest.  Joan Sutherland, Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballé are the top contenders, at least for this site.  Here’s a live recording of Casta Diva, made in 1974 with Montserrat Caballé as Norma (courtesy of YouTube).  Ms. Caballé in an absolutely top form.  Bellini’s life was tragically short.  He died just nine months after the premier of I puritani of a disease which back then was diagnosed as “stomach inflammation.”  He was just 34 years old.

We don’t have many recordings from the Bellini’s operas for the same reason we’re poor on Verdi or Donizetti.  But we do have a fantasy by Franz Liszt called Reminiscences of Norma by Bellini.  Liszt’s birthday was last week, and we’re glad to have a chance to acknowledge it.  Liszt wrote this paraphrase 10 years after the premier of Norma and used, in a very free form, seven themes from the opera.  It’s performed here by the Canadian pianist Janice Fehlauer.

October 22, 2012.  Bizet, Liszt, Scarlatti, Paganini.  This week yet again we commemorate the anniversaries of several extraordinary composers: Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811, Georges Bizet on October 25, 1838, Domenico Scarlatti on October 26, 1685 and Niccolò Paganini  on October 27, 1782.  Last year we celebrated Liszt’s 200^th anniversary with a detailed account of his life.  We’ve written about Paganini and Scarlatti on more than one occasion.  Now we’ll focus on Georges Bizet.  

Bizet was born in Paris.  His mother was a fine amateur pianist, and his father a singing teacher.  He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory before turning 10.  A brilliant student, in 1857 he won the prestigious Prix de Rome and in 1857 went to Rome.  He enjoyed his life at the French Academy in Rome as much as Debussy would come to hate it some years later.  He returned to Paris in 1860.  Throughout the 1860s, he had little success.  His opera Les pêcheurs de perles was performed 18 times at the Théâtre Lyrique and then withdrawn (the next time it was staged was  in 1886, after Bizet’s death).  The two principal opera houses, the Opéra and Opéra-Comique, catered mostly to conservative tastes.  However, a staging of his one-act opera Djamileh at the Opéra-Comique in 1872, though a disaster itself, led to a further commission for a full-length opera.  Partnered with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Bizet began discussions with the theater’s representative, Aldophe de Leuven, on the selection of an appropriate story.  After politely turning down suggestions made by De Leuven, Bizet suggested Carmen, a novella by Prosper Mérimée, which he possibly read during his trip to Rome. De Leuven, however, had several misgivings about it, particularly the risqué nature and amorality of Mérimée’s story.  Despite assurances from the librettists that the characters would be softened and even contrasted with morally upright counterparts, he still thought the planned opera to be unsuited for the Opéra-Comique.  Though he reluctantly agreed to go forward with the project, De Leuven eventually resigned from the theater in 1874 because of Carmen.  The premiere of Carmen took place on March 3, 1875. Despite promising final rehearsals and an enthusiastic response from the audience during the first act, by the end of the night the reception was poor.  Critics pounded Bizet for his “Wagnerian” score and the amoral nature of the title role, despite it being heavily toned down by the librettists from Mérimée’s original character.  Even the introduction of the virtuous Micaëla could not offset the seductive Carmen.  Furthermore, the audience was hard pressed to sympathize with the decline of Don José from upstanding soldier to a madman enslaved by his uncontrolled emotions.  Consequently, the opera was cancelled after its first year at the Opéra-Comique.

Bizet would not live to see the success that Carmen would eventually become.  After only its thirty-third performance, Bizet died suddenly from heart disease. Before his death, however, he had signed a contract to stage Carmen at the Vienna Court Opera.  The Vienna production became the impetus for Carmen’s success. The opera won praise from both Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Within three years, Carmen appeared in Brussels, London, New York and St. Petersburg.  After winning the international stage, Carmen triumphantly returned to Paris in 1883.

Here is Carmen Fantasy, a piece by Franz Waxman based on the themes from Carmen.   It’s performed by Irmina Trynkos, violin and Giorgi Latsabidze, piano.  And here is the final scene from Carmen, sung in Russia by the mezzo Lidiya Zakharenko and the tenor Zurab Andjaparidze.  Vladimir Fedoseev conducts the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.