Music History Monday: The Firebird
June
25th,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3779" align="alignright" width="216"] Stravinsky in 1910, at the time of the premiere of The Firebird[/caption] On June 25, 1910 – 108 years ago today – Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird received its premiere at the Paris Opera House, in a ballet performance produced by Serge Diaghilev, staged by the Ballets Russes, and conducted by Gabriel…
Music History Monday: There’s No Software Without the Hardware!
June
18th,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3766" align="alignright" width="261"] Ignaz Joseph Pleyel[/caption] Today we celebrate the birthday of the piano builder and composer Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, who was born in Ruppertsthal, Austria on June 18, 1757: 261 years ago today. It’s entirely understandable if you’ve never heard of Pleyel or his music, because his music – despite being extremely attractive…
Music History Monday: Richard Strauss
June
11th,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3747" align="alignright" width="263"] Richard Strauss in 1936[/caption] We celebrate the birth of the composer Richard Strauss, who was born on June 11, 1864, 154 years ago today. I will pull no punches here: in my humble (but happily expressed) opinion, Richard Strauss was one the greatest composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He…
Music History Monday: Serge Koussevitzky and What it Takes to Be a Special Person!
June
4th,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3733" align="alignright" width="210"] Serge Koussevitzky[/caption]If I were a rich man, yabba-dabba-dabba yabba-dabba-dabba-daba-doo… Now look, I will be the first to acknowledge how lucky I am: in a world filled with want and poverty, my family and I live in the greatest of comfort. (The old joke must be told. The flight attendant settles an…
Music History Monday: Leopold Mozart
May
28th,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3710" align="alignright" width="220"] Portrait of Leopold Mozart in 1765 at the age of 46, attributed to Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni.[/caption]On this day in 1787 – 231 years ago – Leopold Mozart, the father of Wolfgang Mozart, died in Salzburg at the age of 67. For all of his talents as a violinist, violin teacher, conductor…
Music History Monday: A One Hit Wonder?
May
21st,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3679" align="alignright" width="201"] Rugerro Leoncavallo in 1910[/caption] On May 21, 1892 – 126 years ago today – Ruggero Leoncavallo’s two-act opera I Pagliacci (“The Clowns”) received its premiere at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. It was a phenomenal hit from the first and remains an A-list opera…
Music History Monday: Leo Smit
May
14th,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3663" align="alignright" width="296"] Leo Smit circa 1918[/caption] Today we remember and honor the Dutch composer Leo Smit, who was born on May 14, 1900 – 118 years ago today – in Amsterdam. As regular readers of this blog are aware, while I opine (and even bloviate) with fair regularity, I rarely get personal in…
Music History Monday: Feast or Famine
May
7th,
2018
I have come to realize over the eighteen months I’ve been writing these Music History Mondays that a date-sensitive blog (like this one) is a metaphor for life itself. On some days you just can’t buy a break while on others there are so many different possibilities that choosing one becomes well nigh impossible, a…
Music History Monday: Microphones
April
30th,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3588" align="alignright" width="237"] Bing Crosby and microphone[/caption]On April 30th, 1977 – 41 years ago today – the English rock band Led Zeppelin set a new attendance record for a single-act, non-festival ticketed concert, when it played to an audience of 77,229 in Pontiac, Michigan at the Pontiac Silverdome, the capacity of which was a…
Music History Monday: One of a Kind!
April
23rd,
2018
[caption id="attachment_3542" align="alignright" width="243"] Prokofiev in New York in 1918[/caption]On April 23, 1891 – 127 years ago today – the composer and pianist Sergei Prokofiev was born in the village of Sontsovka, in Ukraine. He was, very simply, one of a kind: a brilliant, tungsten-steel-fingered pianist; a great composer; and one of the most irksome…