This Week in Classical Music: October 28, 2019.Opera Composers.Vincenzo Bellini, one of the greatest composers of the bel canto opera, was born on November 3rd of 1801 in Catania.The creator of such masterpieces as Norma, I Puritani, La sonnambula, he died at the age of 33.We’ve written about him on a number of occasions, and just this past week we mentioned that Giuditta Pasta premiered two of his operas, singing Amina in La sonnambula and the title role in Norma.But Bellini wasn’t the only opera composer to be born this week: quite an unexpected name shows up on the calendar, that of Ezra Pound.Yes, that very Ezra Pound, one of the finest poets of the 20th century, and, politically, a very controversial figure.He was born onOctober 30th of 1885 in Hailey, ID, but spent much of his life in Europe.Pound, who had no musical education, was a big lover of classical music.In his youth, he wrote musical criticism for several publications; one of his articles was about a concert given by the violinist Olga Rudge; they became friends and eventually lovers.They stayed together for the rest of Pound’s life (Rudge outlived him by 24 years – she died at the age of 100).Pound and Rudge (and also the Italian composer Alfredo Casella) were key figures in the Vivaldi revival, discovering manuscripts in the Turin library: it’s hard to imagine but in the early 20th century Vivaldi’s works were practically unknown to the general public.In the early 1920s, while living in Paris, Pound became friends with the American composer George Antheil.Pound was very interested in the music of troubadours, composers and performers from the medieval Occitan, – he felt that their art represented the ideal union of music and word.The poetry of troubadours influenced his own, especially his Cantos.Then, in 1923, he decided to write an opera which he called The Testament of François Villon, after a poem by the famous French 15th century poet. As Pound had no formal knowledge of compositional technique, he asked Antheil to consult him (on the front page of the score Pound mentioned Antheil as an “editor”).The Testament is an unusual creation, not quite an opera but a curious piece of music with a very unorthodox rythm (here are the first five minutes of it, performed by the ASKO-Ensemble under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw, recorded at the Holland Festival in 1980).The Testament was performed in concert in 1926 and was praised by Virgil Thompson, the American composer of another unusual opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, on the libretto by Gertrude Stein.In 1932 Pound wrote his second opera, Cavalcanti, based on the life of the famous Italian poet and troubadour Guido Cavalcanti, whose poems influenced his friend Dante.That was his last known musical effort.
Two prominent conductors, the German Eugen Jochum and the Italian Giuseppe Sinopoli were also born this week, Jochum on November 1st of 1902, Sinopoli – on November 2nd of 1946.
Ezra Pound, 2019
This Week in Classical Music: October 28, 2019. Opera Composers. Vincenzo Bellini, one of the greatest composers of the bel canto opera, was born on November 3rd of 1801 in Catania. The creator of such masterpieces as Norma, I Puritani, La sonnambula, he died at the age of 33. We’ve written about him on a number of occasions, and just this past week we mentioned that Giuditta Pasta premiered two of his operas, singing Amina in La sonnambula and the title role in Norma. But Bellini wasn’t the only opera composer to be born this week: quite an unexpected
name shows up on the calendar, that of Ezra Pound. Yes, that very Ezra Pound, one of the finest poets of the 20th century, and, politically, a very controversial figure. He was born onOctober 30th of 1885 in Hailey, ID, but spent much of his life in Europe. Pound, who had no musical education, was a big lover of classical music. In his youth, he wrote musical criticism for several publications; one of his articles was about a concert given by the violinist Olga Rudge; they became friends and eventually lovers. They stayed together for the rest of Pound’s life (Rudge outlived him by 24 years – she died at the age of 100). Pound and Rudge (and also the Italian composer Alfredo Casella) were key figures in the Vivaldi revival, discovering manuscripts in the Turin library: it’s hard to imagine but in the early 20th century Vivaldi’s works were practically unknown to the general public. In the early 1920s, while living in Paris, Pound became friends with the American composer George Antheil. Pound was very interested in the music of troubadours, composers and performers from the medieval Occitan, – he felt that their art represented the ideal union of music and word. The poetry of troubadours influenced his own, especially his Cantos. Then, in 1923, he decided to write an opera which he called The Testament of François Villon, after a poem by the famous French 15th century poet. As Pound had no formal knowledge of compositional technique, he asked Antheil to consult him (on the front page of the score Pound mentioned Antheil as an “editor”). The Testament is an unusual creation, not quite an opera but a curious piece of music with a very unorthodox rythm (here are the first five minutes of it, performed by the ASKO-Ensemble under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw, recorded at the Holland Festival in 1980). The Testament was performed in concert in 1926 and was praised by Virgil Thompson, the American composer of another unusual opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, on the libretto by Gertrude Stein. In 1932 Pound wrote his second opera, Cavalcanti, based on the life of the famous Italian poet and troubadour Guido Cavalcanti, whose poems influenced his friend Dante. That was his last known musical effort.
Two prominent conductors, the German Eugen Jochum and the Italian Giuseppe Sinopoli were also born this week, Jochum on November 1st of 1902, Sinopoli – on November 2nd of 1946.