This Week in Classical Music: May 11, 2020.Bits and pieces. Claudio Monteverdi, a great Italian composer, was born this week, on May 15th of 1567, but we’ve written about him so many times (here, here, here and more) that we will skip the event this time around.Otherwise, several very good but hardly great Frenchmen: Massenet, Fauré and Satie (born on May 12th of 1842, on the same day of 1845 and on May 17th of 1866 respectively), a very nice but underappreciated Czech composer Jan Václav Voříšek was born on May 11th of 1791; he died of tuberculosis at the age of 34, who knows how far his talent would’ve carried him had he lived longer.Then, to quote one of our earlier entries,, “Anatol Liadov, a minor but pleasant composer of short piano pieces.Were it not for his laziness and lack for self-assurance, he might’ve developed into a major talent (Liadov was born on May 12th of 1855).”And we cannot seriously celebrate the birthday of Maria Theresia von Paradis any longer (she was born on May 15th of 1759) because, as it turns out, the only piece of interest, Sicilienne, was written not by her but by the violinist Samuel Dushkin, who arranged the music from the second movement of Carl Maria von Weber’s Violin Sonata op. 10 no. 1 and presented it as her piece.
Two prominent conductors were born this week, Carlo Maria Giulini and Otto Klemperer.We wrote about Klemperer not that long ago (here), but never about Giulini.Carlo Maria Giulini was born on May 9th of 1914 in Barletta, in southern Italy.He studied the viola and conducting at the Academy of Santa Cecilia and then played in the Academy’s orchestra.In 1944 he became the orchestra’s conductor, then was hired to lead the orchestra of the Italian Radio.In 1964 he was appointed the principal conductor at La Scala.There he worked closely with Maria Callas and with the directors Luchino Visconti and Franco Zeffirelli.Later he worked with Visconti at Covent Garden, London, where he conducted several operas.During the late 1950s and 1960s Giulini was closely associated with the Philharmonia Orchestra, London.In 1969 he became Principal guest conductor at the Chicago Symphony, and in 1978 – the Chief conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.His performances of Verdi’s Requiem were famous, and so were his staging of Mozart and Verdi operas in Los Angeles and Milan.Giulini died in Brescia (recently an epicenter of one of the major coronavirus outbreaks in Italy) on June 14th of 2005.
Bits and pieces, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: May 11, 2020. Bits and pieces. Claudio Monteverdi, a great Italian composer, was born this week, on May 15th of 1567, but we’ve written about him so many
times (here, here, here and more) that we will skip the event this time around. Otherwise, several very good but hardly great Frenchmen: Massenet, Fauré and Satie (born on May 12th of 1842, on the same day of 1845 and on May 17th of 1866 respectively), a very nice but underappreciated Czech composer Jan Václav Voříšek was born on May 11th of 1791; he died of tuberculosis at the age of 34, who knows how far his talent would’ve carried him had he lived longer. Then, to quote one of our earlier entries,, “Anatol Liadov, a minor but pleasant composer of short piano pieces. Were it not for his laziness and lack for self-assurance, he might’ve developed into a major talent (Liadov was born on May 12th of 1855).” And we cannot seriously celebrate the birthday of Maria Theresia von Paradis any longer (she was born on May 15th of 1759) because, as it turns out, the only piece of interest, Sicilienne, was written not by her but by the violinist Samuel Dushkin, who arranged the music from the second movement of Carl Maria von Weber’s Violin Sonata op. 10 no. 1 and presented it as her piece.
Two prominent conductors were born this week, Carlo Maria Giulini and Otto Klemperer. We wrote about Klemperer not that long ago (here), but never about Giulini. Carlo Maria Giulini was born on May 9th of 1914 in Barletta, in southern Italy. He studied the viola and conducting at the Academy of Santa Cecilia and then played in the Academy’s orchestra. In 1944 he became the orchestra’s conductor, then was hired to lead the orchestra of the Italian Radio. In 1964 he was appointed the principal conductor at La Scala. There he worked closely with Maria Callas and with the directors Luchino Visconti and Franco Zeffirelli. Later he worked with Visconti at Covent Garden, London, where he conducted several operas. During the late 1950s and 1960s Giulini was closely associated with the Philharmonia Orchestra, London. In 1969 he became Principal guest conductor at the Chicago Symphony, and in 1978 – the Chief conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His performances of Verdi’s Requiem were famous, and so were his staging of Mozart and Verdi operas in Los Angeles and Milan. Giulini died in Brescia (recently an epicenter of one of the major coronavirus outbreaks in Italy) on June 14th of 2005.