August 18, 2014. Salieri, Enesco and Debussy. Antonio Salieri was born on this date in 1750 in Legnago, Veneto. His brother, a student of Giuseppe Tartini, was Antonio’s first music teacher. Their parents died when Salieri was 14 and he ended up in Venice, the ward of a local nobleman. He continued his musical studied in Venice and soon was noticed by Florian Leopold Gassmann, a chamber composer to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. In 1766, Gassmann brought Salieri to Vienna. Gassmann gave the youngster composition lessons and, more importantly, brought him to the court to attend the evening chamber concerts. The Emperor noticed the young man; that started a relationship, which lasted till the Emperor’s death in 1790. Salieri also made several important acquaintances: one with Metastasio, probably the most famous librettist of opera seria, another with the great composer, Christoph Willibald Gluck. Armida, Salieri’s 6th opera, was composed in 1771 when Salieri was just 21. His first big success, it was strongly influenced by Gluck. The libretto was based on a story from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberate; it followed several illustrious operas on the same subject, such as Armide by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1686), George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo (1711) and Armida al campo d'Egitto (1718) by Antonio Vivaldi (1718). Upon completion of Armida, Salieri wrote an even more popular La fiera di Venezia (The Fair of Venice). Everything was looking up in Salieri’s life; the first encounter with Mozart would have to wait for another 10 years… Here’s the Overture to Armida; the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Michael Dittrich.
George Enescu was born on August 19th of 1881, the same year as Béla Bartók. The greatest Romanian composer (probably the only great Romanian composer), he was born in a small village in the historical Moldavia, on the border with Bukovina. A child prodigy, he started composing at the age of five. At the age of seven, he was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory, the youngest person ever. There he studied the violin, the piano and composition. At the age of 10 he was presented to the court and played to the Emperor Franz Joseph. At the age of 13 he moved to Paris and went to the Paris Conservatory where he studied with André Gedalge, the teacher of Ravel, Honegger and many other soon to be famous composers. Like Bartók who was so influenced by the folk music of Hungary and Romania, Enescu liberally borrow from the tunes of his native country. In 1901, at just twenty years old, he wrote two Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11, which remained his most popular compositions (quite to his chagrin, as he thought they overshadowed his more mature compositions). Here’s the first of the two, Romanian Rhapsody no.1, played by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Antal Dorati. Enescu traveled to the US for the first time in 1923 and many times thereafter, performing as a conductor and a violinist. He lived mostly in Paris and Bucharest. During World War II he stayed in Romania, and made several recording with the great pianist Dinu Lipatti. When the Soviets took over, he moved back to Paris. He died there on May 4th, 1955.
We love Claude Debussy, which of course is a truism: who doesn’t? Somehow, no matter how overplayed his music is, it manages to stay fresh. He was born on August 22nd, 1862. We wrote about him many times, so on this occasion we’ll just play some of his music. Robert Casadesus was one of the great interpreters of the music of Debussy. He often played with his wife, also a pianist, Gaby. Here they are in the Petite Suite for piano four hands, composed in 1886-1889. The recording was made in 1962.
Salieri, Enescu and Debussy, 2014
August 18, 2014. Salieri, Enesco and Debussy. Antonio Salieri was born on this date in 1750 in Legnago, Veneto. His brother, a student of Giuseppe Tartini, was Antonio’s first music teacher. Their parents died when Salieri was 14 and he ended up in
Venice, the ward of a local nobleman. He continued his musical studied in Venice and soon was noticed by Florian Leopold Gassmann, a chamber composer to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. In 1766, Gassmann brought Salieri to Vienna. Gassmann gave the youngster composition lessons and, more importantly, brought him to the court to attend the evening chamber concerts. The Emperor noticed the young man; that started a relationship, which lasted till the Emperor’s death in 1790. Salieri also made several important acquaintances: one with Metastasio, probably the most famous librettist of opera seria, another with the great composer, Christoph Willibald Gluck. Armida, Salieri’s 6th opera, was composed in 1771 when Salieri was just 21. His first big success, it was strongly influenced by Gluck. The libretto was based on a story from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberate; it followed several illustrious operas on the same subject, such as Armide by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1686), George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo (1711) and Armida al campo d'Egitto (1718) by Antonio Vivaldi (1718). Upon completion of Armida, Salieri wrote an even more popular La fiera di Venezia (The Fair of Venice). Everything was looking up in Salieri’s life; the first encounter with Mozart would have to wait for another 10 years… Here’s the Overture to Armida; the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Michael Dittrich.
George Enescu was born on August 19th of 1881, the same year as Béla Bartók. The greatest Romanian composer (probably the only great Romanian composer), he was born in a small village in the historical Moldavia, on the border with Bukovina. A child prodigy, he started composing at the age of five. At the age of seven, he was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory, the youngest person ever. There he studied the violin, the piano and composition. At the age of 10 he was presented to the court and played to the Emperor Franz Joseph. At the age of 13 he moved to Paris and went to the Paris Conservatory where he studied with André Gedalge, the teacher of Ravel, Honegger and many other soon to be famous composers. Like Bartók who was so influenced by the folk music of Hungary and Romania, Enescu liberally borrow from the tunes of his native country. In 1901, at just twenty years old, he wrote two Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11, which remained his most popular compositions (quite to his chagrin, as he thought they overshadowed his more mature compositions). Here’s the first of the two, Romanian Rhapsody no.1, played by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Antal Dorati. Enescu traveled to the US for the first time in 1923 and many times thereafter, performing as a conductor and a violinist. He lived mostly in Paris and Bucharest. During World War II he stayed in Romania, and made several recording with the great pianist Dinu Lipatti. When the Soviets took over, he moved back to Paris. He died there on May 4th, 1955.
We love Claude Debussy, which of course is a truism: who doesn’t? Somehow, no matter how overplayed his music is, it manages to stay fresh. He was born on August 22nd, 1862. We wrote about him many times, so on this occasion we’ll just play some of his music. Robert Casadesus was one of the great interpreters of the music of Debussy. He often played with his wife, also a pianist, Gaby. Here they are in the Petite Suite for piano four hands, composed in 1886-1889. The recording was made in 1962.