This Week in Classical Music: March 2, 2020.Composers and conductors.Seven talented composers were born this week.The oldest (and one of our favorites) is Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza; he was born in Venosa on March 8th, 1566.Many of us know the extraordinary story of Gesualdo killing his wife and her lover whom he found in flagrante in his home, Palazzo di Sangro in Naples.His music is not as well known, which is a unfortunate, as Gesualdo had an enormous talent.He spent two years in Ferrara, then a major musical center, meeting with and listening to the music of the best Italian composers of the time (while there, he also married the Duke’s niece, Leonora d'Este).And while in Ferrara, he published the first four books of madrigals (eventually he’d publish two more).Luzzasco Luzzaschi was one of the Ferrarese composers who probably affected Gesualdo the most.He returned to the Gesualdo castle at the end of 1595 and remain there, secluded most of the time, for the rest of his life.Existing accounts of his moods and “melancholy” suggest that he was clinically depressed, which didn’t prevent him from composing both religious and secular music.Here’s Gesualdo’s sacred vocal piece for five voices, Tribulationem et dolorem inveni, composed in 1603.It was recorded in 1992 by Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly conducting.
Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4th of 1678 in Venice, more than a century after Gesualdo.By then the Baroque style was all the rage.Famous during his lifetime (his influence on Bach, who made a number of transcriptions of Vivaldi’s works, is well known), Vivaldi was almost forgotten by mid-18th century and rediscovered only in the 20th century.His Four Seasons remain (excessively) popular, but thanks in large part to Cecilia Bartoli, we’re now familiar with his operas too.Out of almost 500 instrumental concertos (many for the violin) some are very good, other are routine.Here’s an example of Vivaldi’s church music, Sileant Zephyri from his motet Filiae maestae Jerusalem performed by Philippe Jaroussky and his Ensemble Artaserse.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the fifth child of Johann Sebastian, was also born this week, on March 8th of 1714 in Weimar.While his father loved Vivaldi’s music, Carl Philipp Emanuel, like most German composers of his generation, was quite critical of him.And here are other composers also born this week: Maurice Ravel, Bedřich Smetana, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Kurt Weill.
Bernard Haitink will celebrate his 91st birthday on March 4th, and the late Lorin Maazel would’ve been 90 on March 6th.
Gesualdo and more, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: March 2, 2020. Composers and conductors. Seven talented composers were born this week. The oldest (and one of our favorites) is Carlo Gesualdo, Prince
of Venosa and Count of Conza; he was born in Venosa on March 8th, 1566. Many of us know the extraordinary story of Gesualdo killing his wife and her lover whom he found in flagrante in his home, Palazzo di Sangro in Naples. His music is not as well known, which is a unfortunate, as Gesualdo had an enormous talent. He spent two years in Ferrara, then a major musical center, meeting with and listening to the music of the best Italian composers of the time (while there, he also married the Duke’s niece, Leonora d'Este). And while in Ferrara, he published the first four books of madrigals (eventually he’d publish two more). Luzzasco Luzzaschi was one of the Ferrarese composers who probably affected Gesualdo the most. He returned to the Gesualdo castle at the end of 1595 and remain there, secluded most of the time, for the rest of his life. Existing accounts of his moods and “melancholy” suggest that he was clinically depressed, which didn’t prevent him from composing both religious and secular music. Here’s Gesualdo’s sacred vocal piece for five voices, Tribulationem et dolorem inveni, composed in 1603. It was recorded in 1992 by Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly conducting.
Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4th of 1678 in Venice, more than a century after Gesualdo. By then the Baroque style was all the rage. Famous during his lifetime (his influence on Bach, who made a number of transcriptions of Vivaldi’s works, is well known), Vivaldi was almost forgotten by mid-18th century and rediscovered only in the 20th century. His Four Seasons remain (excessively) popular, but thanks in large part to Cecilia Bartoli, we’re now familiar with his operas too. Out of almost 500 instrumental concertos (many for the violin) some are very good, other are routine. Here’s an example of Vivaldi’s church music, Sileant Zephyri from his motet Filiae maestae Jerusalem performed by Philippe Jaroussky and his Ensemble Artaserse.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the fifth child of Johann Sebastian, was also born this week, on March 8th of 1714 in Weimar. While his father loved Vivaldi’s music, Carl Philipp Emanuel, like most German composers of his generation, was quite critical of him. And here are other composers also born this week: Maurice Ravel, Bedřich Smetana, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Kurt Weill.
Bernard Haitink will celebrate his 91st birthday on March 4th, and the late Lorin Maazel would’ve been 90 on March 6th.