May 27, 2019.An “unknown” Italian.Well, we know that Marin Marais was born this week (on May 31st of 1656), but despite the popularity brought by the film Tous les matins du mondewe find his music repetitive and not very interesting.If somebody disagrees, please send us a reference to a good piece.We’re not big fans of Sir Edward Elgar either (he was born on June 2nd of 1857) and will postpone, yet again, a more elaborate entry on this popular British composer.Erich Wolfgang Korngold, born on May 29th of 1897, started brilliantly, and in his early years was considered the greatest child prodigy since Mozart.He did write several pieces that remain in the contemporary repertoire, the Violin concerto being probably the best known (and the most interesting) but his life was changed by the rise of the Nazis; he moved to the US and became a Hollywood composer.His film scores were wonderful but not in the same league as what his youthful talent had promised.Then there was Mikhail Glinka (born on June 1st of 1804): he was extremely important as one of the founders of the Russian musical tradition, but it’s hard to compare his relatively minor talent with that of several composer born within a decade surrounding his birth: Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Wagner.We love the music of Isaac Albéniz, but we’ve written about him numerous times.And then there are two interesting pianists, Grigory Ginzburg and Zoltán Kocsis, but we did already mention them last year.
All composers that we cited above are very well known.This is not the case with Giovanni de Macque.Not only do we not know his date of birth, even the spelling of his name is inconsistent: some spell it as Giovanni de Maque, or even Jean de Macque, in a Frenchified manner.Macque was born in Valenciennes, a Flemish town now in France, sometime between 1548 and 1550 (Valenciennes is about 20 miles from Mons, where Gilles Binchois and Orlando Lasso were born).As a boy he sung in Vienna, and later moved to Rome; he lived in Italy for the rest of his life.In Rome he met Luca Marenzio; some of Macque’s madrigals show Marenzio’s influence (here is Macque’s madrigal Cantan gl'augelli, performed by the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam under the direction of Henry van de Kamp).For a while Macque worked as the organist at the church of San Luigi dei Francesi; he was a founding member of the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma.In 1585 he moved to Naples where he was employed in the household of Prince Carlo Gesualdo.It seems that Macque left the Gesualdo employ before the prince murdered his wife and her lover.Macque had a successful career in Naples, eventually reaching the position of maestro di cappella of the Spanish Viceroy.Gesualdo, to whom Macque dedicated several works, influenced his harpsichord compositions.Here are three short keyboard pieces by Giovanni de Macque: Gagliarda Prima, and Gagliarda Seconda.Rinaldo Alessandrini plays a 1678 Franciscus Debbonis harpsichord.
Giovanni de Macque, 2019
May 27, 2019. An “unknown” Italian. Well, we know that Marin Marais was born this week (on May 31st of 1656), but despite the popularity brought by the film Tous les matins du monde
we find his music repetitive and not very interesting. If somebody disagrees, please send us a reference to a good piece. We’re not big fans of Sir Edward Elgar either (he was born on June 2nd of 1857) and will postpone, yet again, a more elaborate entry on this popular British composer. Erich Wolfgang Korngold, born on May 29th of 1897, started brilliantly, and in his early years was considered the greatest child prodigy since Mozart. He did write several pieces that remain in the contemporary repertoire, the Violin concerto being probably the best known (and the most interesting) but his life was changed by the rise of the Nazis; he moved to the US and became a Hollywood composer. His film scores were wonderful but not in the same league as what his youthful talent had promised. Then there was Mikhail Glinka (born on June 1st of 1804): he was extremely important as one of the founders of the Russian musical tradition, but it’s hard to compare his relatively minor talent with that of several composer born within a decade surrounding his birth: Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Wagner. We love the music of Isaac Albéniz, but we’ve written about him numerous times. And then there are two interesting pianists, Grigory Ginzburg and Zoltán Kocsis, but we did already mention them last year.
All composers that we cited above are very well known. This is not the case with Giovanni de Macque. Not only do we not know his date of birth, even the spelling of his name is inconsistent: some spell it as Giovanni de Maque, or even Jean de Macque, in a Frenchified manner. Macque was born in Valenciennes, a Flemish town now in France, sometime between 1548 and 1550 (Valenciennes is about 20 miles from Mons, where Gilles Binchois and Orlando Lasso were born). As a boy he sung in Vienna, and later moved to Rome; he lived in Italy for the rest of his life. In Rome he met Luca Marenzio; some of Macque’s madrigals show Marenzio’s influence (here is Macque’s madrigal Cantan gl'augelli, performed by the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam under the direction of Henry van de Kamp). For a while Macque worked as the organist at the church of San Luigi dei Francesi; he was a founding member of the Compagnia dei Musici di Roma. In 1585 he moved to Naples where he was employed in the household of Prince Carlo Gesualdo. It seems that Macque left the Gesualdo employ before the prince murdered his wife and her lover. Macque had a successful career in Naples, eventually reaching the position of maestro di cappella of the Spanish Viceroy. Gesualdo, to whom Macque dedicated several works, influenced his harpsichord compositions. Here are three short keyboard pieces by Giovanni de Macque: Gagliarda Prima, and Gagliarda Seconda. Rinaldo Alessandrini plays a 1678 Franciscus Debbonis harpsichord.