This Week in Classical Music: October 14, 2024. Liszt and much more. Even though this week overflows with talent, we’ll be brief. First and foremost, Franz Liszt was born on October 22nd of 1811 in Doborján, a small village in the Kingdom of Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Now it’s a town called Raiding which lies in Austria. Liszt is considered Hungary’s national composer, though he never spoke Hungarian. His first language was German, he moved to Paris at the age of 12 and preferred to speak French for the rest of his life. But Hungarians have lived in Doborján for centuries, and Liszt was exposed to Hungarian music as a child. Even though Liszt was a thoroughly German composer heavily involved in German musical life, he used Hungarian (and Gipsy) tunes in many compositions, starting with many versions of Rákóczi-Marsch, the Hungarian national anthem at the time, to Hungarian Rhapsodies, nineteen of them for the piano, of which he later orchestrated six (or eight, but there are doubts about two of the orchestrations), to the symphonic poem Hungaria, and other pieces. Here is Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no. 1, performed by Gyrgy (Georges) Cziffra, the great Hungarian pianist of Romani descent. The recording, later remastered, was originally made in 1957.
Alexander von Zemlinsky, a very interesting Austrian composer whose music is rarely performed these days, was born on October 14th of 1871 in Vienna. Zemlinsky was central to the musical life of Vienna at the end of the 19th – early 20th century. He knew “everybody,” from Brahms and Mahler to Schoenberg; you can read more in one of our earlier posts here.
Luca Marenzio, an Italian composer of the Renaissance famous for his madrigals, was born in Northern Italy on October 18th, 1553. A century and a quarter later, on October 16th of 1679, the Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka was born near Prague. From 1709 to 1716 he worked in Dresden, first for Baron von Hartig and then for the royal court. He then moved to Vienna, later returning to the Dresden court. Zelenka knew Johann Sebastian Bach, who highly valued his music. Here are Lamentations for Maundy Thursday, from Zelenka’s The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet. Jana Semerádová conducts Collegium Marianum.
A quarter of a century later, on October 18th of 1706, Baldassare Galuppi, was born on the island of Burano, next to Venice. He authored many operas, both comical, written to librettos of the playwright Carlo Goldoni, and “serious” (seria), often collaborating with Metastasio, one of the most famous librettists of the 18th century.
Finally, two Americans: Charles Ives, the most original American composer of the early 20th century, on October 20th of 1874, and Ned Rorem, on October 23rd of 1923. Ives’s 150th anniversary calls for a separate entry and we’ll do it soon.
Liszt and more, 2024
This Week in Classical Music: October 14, 2024. Liszt and much more. Even though this week overflows with talent, we’ll be brief. First and foremost, Franz Liszt was born on October
22nd of 1811 in Doborján, a small village in the Kingdom of Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Now it’s a town called Raiding which lies in Austria. Liszt is considered Hungary’s national composer, though he never spoke Hungarian. His first language was German, he moved to Paris at the age of 12 and preferred to speak French for the rest of his life. But Hungarians have lived in Doborján for centuries, and Liszt was exposed to Hungarian music as a child. Even though Liszt was a thoroughly German composer heavily involved in German musical life, he used Hungarian (and Gipsy) tunes in many compositions, starting with many versions of Rákóczi-Marsch, the Hungarian national anthem at the time, to Hungarian Rhapsodies, nineteen of them for the piano, of which he later orchestrated six (or eight, but there are doubts about two of the orchestrations), to the symphonic poem Hungaria, and other pieces. Here is Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no. 1, performed by Gyrgy (Georges) Cziffra, the great Hungarian pianist of Romani descent. The recording, later remastered, was originally made in 1957.
Alexander von Zemlinsky, a very interesting Austrian composer whose music is rarely performed these days, was born on October 14th of 1871 in Vienna. Zemlinsky was central to the musical life of Vienna at the end of the 19th – early 20th century. He knew “everybody,” from Brahms and Mahler to Schoenberg; you can read more in one of our earlier posts here.
Luca Marenzio, an Italian composer of the Renaissance famous for his madrigals, was born in Northern Italy on October 18th, 1553. A century and a quarter later, on October 16th of 1679, the Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka was born near Prague. From 1709 to 1716 he worked in Dresden, first for Baron von Hartig and then for the royal court. He then moved to Vienna, later returning to the Dresden court. Zelenka knew Johann Sebastian Bach, who highly valued his music. Here are Lamentations for Maundy Thursday, from Zelenka’s The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet. Jana Semerádová conducts Collegium Marianum.
A quarter of a century later, on October 18th of 1706, Baldassare Galuppi, was born on the island of Burano, next to Venice. He authored many operas, both comical, written to librettos of the playwright Carlo Goldoni, and “serious” (seria), often collaborating with Metastasio, one of the most famous librettists of the 18th century.
Finally, two Americans: Charles Ives, the most original American composer of the early 20th century, on October 20th of 1874, and Ned Rorem, on October 23rd of 1923. Ives’s 150th anniversary calls for a separate entry and we’ll do it soon.