This Week in Classical Music: July 31, 2023.Catching up. For the last three weeks we’ve been preoccupied with two German composers, Carl Orff and Hanns Eisler, and with that, we missed several notable anniversaries.We were going to write about Alfredo Casella who was born 140 years ago, on July 25th of 1883, in Turin.We’ll come back to him soon, in the meantime you can read our earlier entry.Eugène Ysaÿe was born 165 years ago, on July 16th of 1858.The wonderful Spanish composer Enrique Granados was born on July 27th of 1867.Hans Rott’s birthday is this week; he was born on August 1st of 1858. We have to admit our fascination with this underappreciated composer who predates Mahler in many ways.
Several outstanding pianists were born in the previous three weeks, all in July: Van Cliburn on the 12th in 1934, Leon Fleisher on the 23rd in 1928, also on the 23rd of July, but in 1944 – Maria João Pires, and Alexis Weissenberg, on the 26th, in 1929.The Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires is the only one still alive, and at the age of 79 is very active, performing about 50 concerts a year.
During this period we also could’ve celebrated three violinists: Pinchas Zukerman, born on the 16th, in 1948; Isaac Stern, on the 21st, in 1920, and Ruggiero Ricci, on the 24th, in 1918.Zukerman is alive and well, and, like Pires, is still very active.
We’ll turn to conductors: Igor Markevitch was born on July 27th of 1912.He was also a composer, but we’ve never had a chance to write about his creative (rather than interpretive) talents.Riccardo Muti just left, with great pomp and circumstance, the post of Music Director of the Chicago Symphony.He was born on July 28th of 1941.And Erich Kleiber, a wonderful conductor and the father of the even more famous Carlos Kleiber, will have his anniversary on August 5th; he was born in 1890.
And finally, the singers.They were especially bountiful, so we’ll list their names only.Every person in this unbelievable group had a birthday in the previous three weeks: Nicolai Gedda, Kirsten Flagstad, Carlo Bergonzi, Pauline Viardot, Susan Graham, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Sergei Lemeshev, Mario Del Monaco, and Peter Schreier.We’ve written about many of them, and if we’ve missed some, like Ms. Graham, we’ll get to it later.
Catching up, July 2023
This Week in Classical Music: July 31, 2023. Catching up. For the last three weeks we’ve been preoccupied with two German composers, Carl Orff and Hanns Eisler, and with that, we
missed several notable anniversaries. We were going to write about Alfredo Casella who was born 140 years ago, on July 25th of 1883, in Turin. We’ll come back to him soon, in the meantime you can read our earlier entry. Eugène Ysaÿe was born 165 years ago, on July 16th of 1858. The wonderful Spanish composer Enrique Granados was born on July 27th of 1867. Hans Rott’s birthday is this week; he was born on August 1st of 1858. We have to admit our fascination with this underappreciated composer who predates Mahler in many ways.
Several outstanding pianists were born in the previous three weeks, all in July: Van Cliburn on the 12th in 1934, Leon Fleisher on the 23rd in 1928, also on the 23rd of July, but in 1944 – Maria João Pires, and Alexis Weissenberg, on the 26th, in 1929. The Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires is the only one still alive, and at the age of 79 is very active, performing about 50 concerts a year.
During this period we also could’ve celebrated three violinists: Pinchas Zukerman, born on the 16th, in 1948; Isaac Stern, on the 21st, in 1920, and Ruggiero Ricci, on the 24th, in 1918. Zukerman is alive and well, and, like Pires, is still very active.
We’ll turn to conductors: Igor Markevitch was born on July 27th of 1912. He was also a composer, but we’ve never had a chance to write about his creative (rather than interpretive) talents. Riccardo Muti just left, with great pomp and circumstance, the post of Music Director of the Chicago Symphony. He was born on July 28th of 1941. And Erich Kleiber, a wonderful conductor and the father of the even more famous Carlos Kleiber, will have his anniversary on August 5th; he was born in 1890.
And finally, the singers. They were especially bountiful, so we’ll list their names only. Every person in this unbelievable group had a birthday in the previous three weeks: Nicolai Gedda, Kirsten Flagstad, Carlo Bergonzi, Pauline Viardot, Susan Graham, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Sergei Lemeshev, Mario Del Monaco, and Peter Schreier. We’ve written about many of them, and if we’ve missed some, like Ms. Graham, we’ll get to it later.