This Week in Classical Music: February 10, 2020.Praetorius, Price, Godowsky. A couple ofweeks ago we celebrated a relatively unknown German Renaissance composer, Johann Hermann Schein (for those who missed that week’s entry, here’s his sacred madrigal Da Jakob vollendet hatte from the collection Israelis Brünnlein, “The Fountains of Israel.”We think it’s absolutely first rate).Michael Praetorius was 15 years older than Schein: he was born on February 15th of 1571.Those 15 years make a big difference: Praetorius was probably the first German composer of significance, as at that time the music centers were concentrated in Italy; not long after, it was not just Schein, but also Heinrich Schütz that wrote fine music in Germany, and development was moving toward the Baroque.Praetorius lived much of his adult life in Dresden, at the court of Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxony.There he met a number of Italian musicians and through them encountered the polychoral music of Giovanni Gabrieli, which impressed him very much.Here’s an example, Vom Himmel Hoch, from the collection of choral music, Polyhymnia Caduceatrix et Panegyrica, published in 1619.Musica Fiata and La Capella Ducale are conducted by their founder, Roland Wilson.
Today is also the birthday of the great American soprano Leontyne Price: she just turned 93!Price was born in Laurel, a small town in the state of Mississippi.She studied at the Juilliard and in late 1950’s sung in Europe to great acclaim,In 1960s she became the first African American soloist at the Metropolitan opera – the phenomenal Marian Anderson sang only one role at the Met, that of Ulrica in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Mschera, a shame and a great loss to all opera lovers.Leontyne Price’s repertoire was very broad, but it was in Verdi that she was at her best – and internationally famous.Aida, Leonora in Il trovatore, Leonora in La forza del destino, Amelia in Un ballo in Maschera – few sopranos could rival Price in these roles.Here’s Pace, Mio dio, from Verdi’s La Forza del Destino in a 1984 live Metropolitan recording.James Levine conducts the Met orchestra.
One of the greatest pianists of the early 20th century, Leopold Godowsky was born 150 years ago, on February 13th of 1870.Of Jewish descent, he was born in Žasliai, a village halfway between Vilnius and Kanunas in what is now Lithuania but in 1870 was part of Russia’s Poland.Godowsky was one of the very rare self-taught pianists: he studied briefly in Berlin and that was the extent of his formal musical education.In 1884 he made his American debut in Boston; in the following years he toured across the country.From 1887 to 1890 he lived in Paris: a protégé of Camille Saint-Saëns, he played in all the fashionable salons.After a series of extraordinarily successful Berlin concerts in December of 1900 he moved to the city and lived there and in Vienna till the outbreak of WWI, when he moved back to the US.Godowsky was also a composer, writing a number of original works and paraphrases for the piano (those of the Schubert songs are famous).He made several recordings in the late 1920s but suffered a stroke in 1930.Godowsky died in New York on November 21st of 1938.
Praetorius, Price, Godowsky, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: February 10, 2020. Praetorius, Price, Godowsky. A couple of weeks ago we celebrated a relatively unknown German Renaissance composer, Johann Hermann Schein (for those who missed that week’s entry, here’s his sacred madrigal Da Jakob vollendet hatte from the collection Israelis Brünnlein, “The Fountains of Israel.” We think it’s
absolutely first rate). Michael Praetorius was 15 years older than Schein: he was born on February 15th of 1571. Those 15 years make a big difference: Praetorius was probably the first German composer of significance, as at that time the music centers were concentrated in Italy; not long after, it was not just Schein, but also Heinrich Schütz that wrote fine music in Germany, and development was moving toward the Baroque. Praetorius lived much of his adult life in Dresden, at the court of Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxony. There he met a number of Italian musicians and through them encountered the polychoral music of Giovanni Gabrieli, which impressed him very much. Here’s an example, Vom Himmel Hoch, from the collection of choral music, Polyhymnia Caduceatrix et Panegyrica, published in 1619. Musica Fiata and La Capella Ducale are conducted by their founder, Roland Wilson.
Today is also the birthday of the great American soprano Leontyne Price: she just turned 93! Price was born in Laurel, a small town in the state of Mississippi. She studied at the Juilliard and in late 1950’s sung in Europe to great acclaim, In 1960s she became the first African American soloist at the Metropolitan opera – the phenomenal Marian Anderson sang only one role at the Met, that of Ulrica in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Mschera, a shame and a great loss to all opera lovers. Leontyne Price’s repertoire was very broad, but it was in Verdi that she was at her best – and internationally famous. Aida, Leonora in Il trovatore, Leonora in La forza del destino, Amelia in Un ballo in Maschera – few sopranos could rival Price in these roles. Here’s Pace, Mio dio, from Verdi’s La Forza del Destino in a 1984 live Metropolitan recording. James Levine conducts the Met orchestra.
One of the greatest pianists of the early 20th century, Leopold Godowsky was born 150 years ago, on February 13th of 1870. Of Jewish descent, he was born in Žasliai, a village halfway between Vilnius and Kanunas in what is now Lithuania but in 1870 was part of Russia’s Poland. Godowsky was one of the very rare self-taught pianists: he studied briefly in Berlin and that was the extent of his formal musical education. In 1884 he made his American debut in Boston; in the following years he toured across the country. From 1887 to 1890 he lived in Paris: a protégé of Camille Saint-Saëns, he played in all the fashionable salons. After a series of extraordinarily successful Berlin concerts in December of 1900 he moved to the city and lived there and in Vienna till the outbreak of WWI, when he moved back to the US. Godowsky was also a composer, writing a number of original works and paraphrases for the piano (those of the Schubert songs are famous). He made several recordings in the late 1920s but suffered a stroke in 1930. Godowsky died in New York on November 21st of 1938.