Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Thomas Augustine Arne

Biography

Arne was born in the Covent Garden area of London; his father and grandfather were upholsterers. He was educated at Eton College. A chance meeting with composer Michael Christian Festing would become key as Festing would persuade the elder Arne to allow his son to pursue a career in music. Arne's sister, Susannah Maria Arne, was a famous contralto, who performed in some of his works, including his first opera, Rosamund. (She would later become known professionally as "Mrs Cibber".) They and their brother Richard would often perform Arne's works together. Between 1733 and 1776, Arne wrote music for about 90 stage works, including plays, masques, pantomimes, and opera. Many of his dramatic scores are now lost, probably in the disastrous fire at Covent Garden in 1808.[1]

Arne was a Freemason[2] and active in the organisation which has long been centred around the Covent Garden area of London, of which Arne was a native.

On 15 March 1737 [1], Arne married singer Cecilia Young, whose sister, Isabella was the wife of John Frederick Lampe. Arne's operas and masques became very popular, and he received the patronage of Frederick, Prince of Wales, at whose country home, Cliveden, the Masque of Alfred, featuring "Rule Britannia", was debuted.

In 1741 Arne filed a complaint in Chancery pertaining to a breach of musical copyright and claimed that some of his theatrical songs had been printed and sold by Henry Roberts and John Johnson, the London booksellers and music distributors. The matter was settled out of court. Thomas Arne subsequently wrote:
"As Mr. Arne has His Majesty's royal Patent for the sole printing and publishing of his works, he humbly hopes no Gentlemen or Ladies will give any Encouragement to pirated copies, written or printed, such persons who deliver them acting in open contempt of His Majesty's Authority and greatly injuring the Author in his Property. And as Mr. Arne can offend no honest Shopkeeper in maintaining his Right; he gives the Public Notice, that whosoever shall offer to write or print any of his works shall be prosecuted according to law."[cite this quote]
Arne was certainly one of the very first composers to have appealed to the law over copyright issues. [3]

In 1750, after an argument with David Garrick, Susannah left Drury Lane for Covent Garden Theatre, and Thomas followed. In 1755, he separated from Cecilia, who, he alleged, was mentally ill. He began a relationship with one of his pupils, Charlotte Brent, a soprano and former child prodigy. Brent performed in several of Arne's works including the role of Sally in his 1760 opera Thomas and Sally and Mandane in his 1762 opera Artaxerxes. Thomas and Sally was the first English comic opera to be sung throughout (it contained no dialogue).[1] Artaxerxes was one of the most successful and influential English operas of the eighteenth century and is the only known attempt to write an Italianate, Metastasian opera seria, in the English language.[4] Eventually Brent and Arne went their separate ways and Brent married a violinist. In 1777, shortly before his death, Arne and his wife were reconciled. They had one son, Michael Arne. Thomas Arne is buried at St Paul's, Covent Garden, London.

21st century

http://www.thing.net/~grist/golpub/fowler/berio/beriohea.jpg


Biography

Berio was born on Oneglia (now Borgo d'Oneglia, a small village 3 km N of Imperia). He was taught the piano by his father and grandfather who were both organists. During World War II he was conscripted into the army, but on his first day he injured his hand while learning how a gun worked. He spent time in a military hospital, before fleeing to fight in anti-Nazi groups. Following the war, Berio studied at the Milan Conservatory under Giulio Cesare Paribeni and Giorgio Federico Ghedini. He was unable to continue studying the piano because of his injured hand, so instead concentrated on composition. In 1947 came the first public performance of one of his works, a suite for piano.Berio made a living at this time accompanying singing classes, and it was in doing this that he met American mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian, whom he married shortly after graduating (they divorced in 1964). Berio would write many pieces exploiting her versatile and unique voice.

In 1951, Berio went to the United States to study with Luigi Dallapiccola at Tanglewood, from whom he gained an interest in serialism. He later attended the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik at Darmstadt, meeting Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti and Mauricio Kagel there. He became interested in electronic music, co-founding the Studio di Fonologia, an electronic music studio in Milan, with Bruno Maderna in 1955. He invited a number of significant composers to work there, among them Henri Pousseur and John Cage. He also produced an electronic music periodical, Incontri Musicali.

In 1960, Berio returned to Tanglewood, this time as Composer in Residence, and in 1962, on an invitation from Darius Milhaud, took a teaching post at Mills College in Oakland, California. In 1965 he began to teach at the Juilliard School, and there he founded the Juilliard Ensemble, a group dedicated to performances of contemporary music. In 1966, he again married, this time to the noted philosopher of science Susan Oyama (they divorced in 1972). His students include Louis Andriessen, Steve Reich, Luca Francesconi and, perhaps most surprisingly, Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead.

All this time Berio had been steadily composing and building a reputation, winning the Italian Prize in 1966 for Laborintus II. His reputation was cemented when his Sinfonia was premiered in 1968. In 1972, Berio returned to Italy. From 1974–80 he acted as director of the electro-acoustic division of IRCAM in Paris, and in 1977 he married for the third time with musicologist Talia Pecker. In 1987 he opened Tempo Reale in Florence, a centre similar in intent to IRCAM. In 1994 he became Distinguished Composer in Residence at Harvard University, remaining there until 2000. He was also active as a conductor and continued to compose to the end of his life. In 2000, he became Presidente and Sovrintendente at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Luciano Berio died in 2003 in a hospital in Rome.

Iannis Xenakis in 1975.


Biography

Xenakis was born in Brăila, Romania to Clearchos Xenakis and Fotini Pavlou, and was educated as a child by a series of governesses. At the age of ten he was sent to a boarding school on the Aegean island of Spetsai, Greece and later studied architecture and engineering in Athens. Xenakis participated in the Greek Resistance during World War II and during the period of British martial law,[8][9] in the first phase of the Greek Civil War as a member of the communist students' company Lord Byron of the leftwing ELAS (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos, Greek People's Liberation Army). He received a severe face wound from a British shell which resulted in the loss of eyesight in one eye.[10] In 1947 he fled under a false passport to Paris. In the meantime, in Greece he was sentenced in absentia to death by the right-wing administration. In Paris he worked with Le Corbusier; while his assistant, Xenakis designed the Philips Pavilion for the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels.[11] The Pavilion's hyperbolic structure was, in fact, based on the formative structure of one of his most famous pieces, Metastaseis, composed some four years earlier. The dual nature of "Metastaseis" and the Pavilion are an example of Xenakis' theory of meta-art – the concept that an artistic expression can be realized mathematically in any artistic medium.[12] Xenakis performed at many world expositions and fairs, and played annually in the Shiraz Art Festival in Iran.

Xenakis's primary teachers of composition were Aristotelis Koundouroff, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Olivier Messiaen.[13]. His first meeting with Honegger exemplifies his attitude toward formal instruction: asked to play one of his compositions on the piano, Xenakis was stopped promptly as Honegger pointed out parallel fifths and octaves. Xenakis had written them intentionally and refused to "correct" the piece. Honegger attempted to humiliate Xenakis, who simply left to study with Milhaud. However, he believed Milhaud's teaching also imposed restrictions he found arbitrary and inessential.[verification needed]

Meanwhile, he continued to work full-time as an architect in Le Corbusier's employ, composing only as a hobby. Xenakis was a creative architect, exploring the possibilities of new materials and shapes in construction, and was frequently entrusted with important projects that called on his technical and artistic skills. Le Corbusier, who came from a musical family (and pretended to hate music) also mentored Xenakis as a composer; he regarded Xenakis and Varèse as two of France's most innovative and promising.[verification needed]

Later, Xenakis approached Olivier Messiaen for compositional advice, expecting to have to start his musical studies again from the beginning, but was told "No, you are almost thirty, you have the good fortune of being Greek, of being an architect and having studied special mathematics. Take advantage of these things. Do them in your music." Messiaen, whose own compositional style did not follow established precedents, did not try to impose the limitations of baroque counterpoint or serialism as previous teachers had, but rather let Xenakis find his own musical ideas and guided them along. Xenakis attended Messiaen's Paris Conservatoire classes regularly, and his confidence grew along with his compositional skill; he would shortly thereafter combine the mathematical ideas he had been developing in Corbusier's studio with the musical tools he had been honing with Messiaen to produce his first major work.

Notable students include Pascal Dusapin and Robert Carl.

He was married to writer Françoise Xenakis, née Gargouïl. They had a daughter, painter and sculptor Mâkhi Xenakis.

He died in Paris in 2001.

20th century



Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English Romantic composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies, instrumental concertos, and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.

Edward Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester, England to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Anne (née Greening). The fourth of seven children, Elgar's siblings were Henry John (Harry) (15 October 1848– 5 May 1864), Lucy Ann (Loo)[1] (born 29 May 1852), Susannah Mary (Pollie) (born 28 December 1854), Frederick Joseph (Jo) (born 28 August 1859), Francis Thomas (Frank) (born 1 October 1861), and Helen Agnes (Dott or Dot) (born 1 January 1864).[2] His mother, Anne, had converted to Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic.

Elgar was an early riser, and would often turn to reading Voltaire, Drayton historical classics, Longfellow and other works encouraged by his mother. By the age of eight, he was taking piano and violin lessons, and would often listen to his father playing organ at St. George's church, and soon took it up also. His prime interest, however, was the violin, and his first written music was for that instrument.

Surrounded by sheet music, instruments, and music textbooks in his father's shop in Worcester's High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in music theory. On warm summer days, he would take manuscripts into the countryside to study them (he was a passionate and adventurous early cyclist from the age of 5). Thus there began for him a strong association between music and nature. As he was later to say, "There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require."

At the age of 15, Elgar had hoped to go to Leipzig, Germany to study music, but lacking the funds he instead left school and began working for a local solicitor. Around this time he made his first public appearances as a violinist and organist. After a few months, he left the solicitor and embarked on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons, and working occasionally in his father's shop. Elgar was an active member of the Worcester Glee Club, along with his father, and he accompanied singers, played violin, composed and arranged works, and even conducted for the first time. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester, a progressive institution which believed in the recuperative powers of music. He composed here too; some of the pieces for the asylum orchestra (music in dance forms) were rediscovered and performed locally in 1996.

In many ways, his years as a young Worcestershire violinist were his happiest. He played in the first violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 6 and Stabat Mater under the composer's baton. As part of a wind quintet and for his musical friends, he arranged dozens of pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and other masters, honing his arranging and compositional skills, and applying them to his earliest pieces. Although somewhat solitary and introspective by nature, Elgar thrived in Worcester's musical circles.



Elgar's Salut d'Amour is one of his most well-known works.

In his first trips abroad in 1880-82, Elgar visited Paris and Leipzig, attended concerts by first rate orchestras, and was exposed to the music of Richard Wagner, then the rage. Returning to his more provincial milieu increased his desire for a wider fame. He often went to London in an attempt to get his works published, but this period in his life found him frequently despondent and low on money. He wrote to a friend in April 1884, "My prospects are about as hopeless as ever ... I am not wanting in energy I think, so sometimes I conclude that 'tis want of ability...I have no money--not a cent." [3]

At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline) Alice Roberts, daughter of the late Major-General Sir Henry Roberts and a published author of verse and prose fiction. Eight years older than Elgar, she became his wife three years later, against the wishes of her family. They were married on 8 May 1889, at Brompton Oratory. Alice's faith in him and her courage in marrying 'beneath her class' were strongly supportive to his career. She dealt with his mood swings and was a generous musical critic. She was also his business manager and social secretary. She did her best to gain him the attention of influential society, though with limited success. In time he would learn to accept the honours given him, realizing that they mattered more to her and her social class. She also gave up some of her personal aspirations to further his career. In her diary she later admitted, "The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman." [4] As an engagement present, Elgar presented her with the short violin and piano piece Salut d'Amour. With Alice's encouragement, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the centre of British musical life, and Edward started composing in earnest. The stay was unsuccessful, however, and they were obliged to return to Great Malvern, where Edward could earn a living teaching and conducting local musical ensembles. Though disappointed at the London episode, the return to the country proved better for Elgar's health and as a base of musical inspiration, bringing him closer to nature and to his friends.


Carl August Nielsen (9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a conductor, violinist, and composer from Denmark. His works have long been well known in Denmark and they have been "a mainstay throughout the Nordic countries and, to a lesser extent, in Britain," noted the critic Alex Ross in 2008 in The New Yorker, and rising young conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel and Alan Gilbert are now playing Nielsen's music in the United States.

Carl Nielsen is especially admired for his six symphonies and his concertos for violin, flute and clarinet.

Carl Nielsen appears on the Danish hundred-kroner bill.



Nielsen was the seventh of twelve children in a poor peasant family in Sortelung (Nørre Lyndelse), south of the city of Odense, Denmark. His father was a house painter and amateur musician. Carl first discovered music by experimenting with the sounds and pitches he heard when striking logs in a pile of firewood behind his home. He managed to learn the violin and piano as a child.

He also learned how to play brass instruments, which led to a job as a bugler in the 16th Battalion at nearby Odense. He later studied violin and music theory at the Copenhagen Music Conservatory, but never took formal lessons in composition. Nonetheless, he began to compose. At first, he did not gain enough recognition for his works to support him. During the concert which saw the premiere of his first symphony on 14 March 1894 conducted by Johan Svendsen, Nielsen played in the second violin section. However, the same symphony was a great success when played in Berlin in 1896, and from then his fame grew.

Nielsen continued to play the violin at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen until 1905, when he became 2nd conductor at the Theatre (till 1914). From 1914-26, he conducted the orchestra of "Musikforeningen". In 1916 he took a post teaching at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, and continued to work there until his death, in his last year as director of the institute.

On 10 April 1891 Nielsen married the Danish sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen, after having met just a month before in Paris, and the couple honeymooned in Italy. Despite a long period of marital strife including a lengthy separation and mutual accusations of infidelity, they remained married until Nielsen's death. They had three children: Irmelin, Anne Marie, and Børge.

For his son-in-law, the Hungarian violinist Dr. Emil Telmanyi, Nielsen wrote his Violin Concerto op. 33 (1911).

Nielsen suffered a serious heart attack in 1925 and from that time on he was forced to curtail much of his activity, although he continued to compose until his death. Also during this period he wrote a delightful memoir of his childhood called My Childhood on Funen (1927). He also produced a short book of essays entitled Living Music (1925). Both have been translated into English. He died in Copenhagen in 1931.


Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Make it Mine

Wake up everyone
How can you sleep at a time like this
Unless the dreamer is the real you
Listen to your voice
The one that tells you to taste past the tip of your tongue
Leap and the net will appear

I don't wanna wake before
The dream is over
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes I... I known it
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes I'll make it all mine

I keep my life on a heavy rotation
Requesting that it's lifting you up
Up up and away
And over to a table at the gratitude cafe

And I am finally there
And all the angels they'll be singing
Ah la la la ah la la ah Ia la la la la love this

Well I don't wanna break before
The tour is over
I'm gonna make it mine
Oh yes I... I will own it
I'm gonna make it mine
Yes I'll make it all mine...

Timing's everything
And this time there's plenty
I am balancing
Careful and steady
And reveling in energy that everyone's emitting

Well I don't wanna wait no more
Oh I wanna celebrate the whole world
I'm gonna make it mine
Oh yes I'm following your joy
I'm gonna make it mine
Because I... I am open
I'm gonna make it mine
That's why... I will show it
I'm gonna make it oh mine
Gotta make gotta make gotta make gotta make it make
It make it mine
Oh mine...
Yes I'll make it all
Mine

Monday, September 29, 2008

wHat aN oRdinArY dAY...

halo guys... mzta na??.. pasensya if ngayon lng ako nka blog ulit?.. ngayon lng ako nagkagana eh!.. ehehehe... hmmmm,,, ano nga pala ang mga nangyari sa mga nakalipasa na mga araw??.. hmmmmm.... hehehe... di ko na isulat rito ha??.. di ko na naaalala eh!...





"ANG MGA NANGYARI NGAYON!!"



well, as usual late nman ako ngayon sa klase ko pero isang himala na naka abot ako ng sakto.. nagrecite kami tungkol sa mga nangyari sa aming weekend kasi haba ng weekend namin.. 3 days .. sa akin ang sinabi ko ay ORDINARY and BAD.. kasi BAD, nagkasakit kasi ako nang dahil sa ulan.. grrrr... porbida na ulan!!!... dinamay pa ako...


sa math time namin, lumabas ako ng room kasi boring magturo si ma'am Blason.. kasama ko si Cags.. my bestfriend.. hhehe... pumunta kami sa CUBE nila sa dance troupe.. pagdating doon, as usual lonely again sa labas pero nakikinig ng radio ng CP ko..heheheh... wla kasing magawa eh.. natatamad rin akong magbasa..


sa time ng Filipino, wala kaming klase!!... hahahaha.. sobrang saya ko kasi wala kasi akong mairecite sa ma'am namin... harhar.. at si Chevy (my classmate) nagplano na mag half day kami at nagpauto naman lahat ng kaklase ko so, umuwi halos lahat.. hahahaha,,, love it!!..



LUNCH time!!,, hindi ako kumain kasi naiwan ko ang balon ko na kanin sa bahay kasi nagmamadali ako nun.. huhuhuhu.. pero ok lang kasi nakaipon ako ng P50.. hehehehe.. pangload ko.. at nangyari ang best part ng araw ko, nakita ko at nakausap ko ang crush ko.. hahaha.. ganda ng feeling.. hheheh.. naging magnda pa kasi napatawa ko sya.. cute niya talaga!!.. hmmmm....


after LUNCH, nakatanga lang ako sa labas ng CUBE nd dance troupe nag-iisa.. hahaha.. buti na lng dumating ang mga classmates ko at least naging masaya...







wala nang special ang nangyari pagkatapos ng 3pm kasi umuwi na ako.. hwheheh..




"TAPOS"
















salamat sa pagbasa!!!....

















to be continue.....

















+++ Mr. Lonely +++