This Week in Classical Music: August 14, 2023.Lukas Foss and Emilio de' Cavalieri. The richness and diversity of classical music is almost infinite.Of course, we’re not talking about the false, woke diversity of race and gender.We mean the diversity of sound, organized by composers of different eras into amazing combinations that we call “music,” combinations of the aural entities so different that composers of yesteryears would not even recognize the work of their followers as belonging to the same art (if they would consider it art at all).We, on the other hand, are lucky to have access to this enormous body of work and can enjoy music composed in the 15th century as much as music from half a millennium later.We have two composers this week, one born in the first half of the 20th century, and another – in the middle of the 15th.
Lukas Foss was born in Berlin on August 15th of 1922 as Lukas Fuchs.His family was Jewish, and as soon as Nazis came to power, the Fuchses emigrated to France and four years later to the US where they changed their name to Foss.In the US, Lukas, who studied music while in Paris, went to the Curtis Institute where he took piano classes, composition, and conducting (his teacher at the Curtis was Fritz Reiner).Lukas started composing at seven, and in 1945, at 23, he became the youngest composer ever to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship.In 1953 Foss was appointed Professor of Music at UCLA, a position previously occupied by Arnold Schoenberg.While in California, Foss founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble and became the music director of the Ojai Festival.Later he served as the music director of several orchestras: the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Milwaukee Symphony.He also guest-conducted many European and American orchestras.
Musicologists divide the development of Foss’s art into three phases: neo-classical; transitional, which was dominated by what he called “controlled improvisation,” and the third, experimental, even more improvisational, with more freedom given to the performer, and the forays into serialism.Let’s listen to two pieces, Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird for voice (mezzo-soprano RoseMarie Freni) and small ensemble from 1978, here; and, from 1967, unfortunately in a rather low-quality recording, his great Baroque Variations for Orchestra: I. On a Handel Larghetto, II. On a Scarlatti Sonata, III. On a Bach Prelude "Phorion" (here).The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is led by the composer Lukas Foss, was one of the most interesting American composers, and we’ll come back to his art another time
Italian composer Emilio de' Cavalieri was born in Rome in 1550 into an illustrious family.His father, a nobleman Tommaso Cavalieri, was the great love of Michelangelo’s life (Michelangelo dedicated 30 of his sonnets to Emilio and called him "light of our century, paragon of all the world"). When they met, Tommaso was 23 and very handsome, Michelangelo – 57 years old; whether the relationship was platonic or not, we don’t know.Emilio’s mother was a cousin of Cardinal Andrea della Valle.The cardinal was one of the first collectors of Roman art; the sculptures in the courtyard of his palace across the street from the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle were restored in one of the first efforts of its kind, and his antiquities were described by Vasari.We will continue with the story of Emilio de' Cavalier next week.In the meantime, let’s listen to Cavalieri’s wonderful Viae Sion Lugent from Lamentations.
Lukas Foss and Emilio de' Cavalieri, 2023
This Week in Classical Music: August 14, 2023. Lukas Foss and Emilio de' Cavalieri. The richness and diversity of classical music is almost infinite. Of course, we’re not talking about the false, woke diversity of race and gender. We mean the diversity of sound, organized by composers of different eras into amazing combinations that we call “music,” combinations of the aural entities so different that composers of yesteryears would not even recognize the work of their
followers as belonging to the same art (if they would consider it art at all). We, on the other hand, are lucky to have access to this enormous body of work and can enjoy music composed in the 15th century as much as music from half a millennium later. We have two composers this week, one born in the first half of the 20th century, and another – in the middle of the 15th.
Lukas Foss was born in Berlin on August 15th of 1922 as Lukas Fuchs. His family was Jewish, and as soon as Nazis came to power, the Fuchses emigrated to France and four years later to the US where they changed their name to Foss. In the US, Lukas, who studied music while in Paris, went to the Curtis Institute where he took piano classes, composition, and conducting (his teacher at the Curtis was Fritz Reiner). Lukas started composing at seven, and in 1945, at 23, he became the youngest composer ever to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1953 Foss was appointed Professor of Music at UCLA, a position previously occupied by Arnold Schoenberg. While in California, Foss founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble and became the music director of the Ojai Festival. Later he served as the music director of several orchestras: the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Milwaukee Symphony. He also guest-conducted many European and American orchestras.
Musicologists divide the development of Foss’s art into three phases: neo-classical; transitional, which was dominated by what he called “controlled improvisation,” and the third, experimental, even more improvisational, with more freedom given to the performer, and the forays into serialism. Let’s listen to two pieces, Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird for voice (mezzo-soprano RoseMarie Freni) and small ensemble from 1978, here; and, from 1967, unfortunately in a rather low-quality recording, his great Baroque Variations for Orchestra: I. On a Handel Larghetto, II. On a Scarlatti Sonata, III. On a Bach Prelude "Phorion" (here). The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is led by the composer Lukas Foss, was one of the most interesting American composers, and we’ll come back to his art another time
Italian composer Emilio de' Cavalieri was born in Rome in 1550 into an illustrious family. His father, a nobleman Tommaso Cavalieri, was the great love of Michelangelo’s life (Michelangelo dedicated 30 of his sonnets to Emilio and called him "light of our century, paragon of all the world"). When they met, Tommaso was 23 and very handsome, Michelangelo – 57 years old; whether the relationship was platonic or not, we don’t know. Emilio’s mother was a cousin of Cardinal Andrea della Valle. The cardinal was one of the first collectors of Roman art; the sculptures in the courtyard of his palace across the street from the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle were restored in one of the first efforts of its kind, and his antiquities were described by Vasari. We will continue with the story of Emilio de' Cavalier next week. In the meantime, let’s listen to Cavalieri’s wonderful Viae Sion Lugent from Lamentations.