Daily Archives: January 26, 2024

January 26: On This Day in Music

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today

 

. 1795 ~ Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, harpsichordist and composer, the fifth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, died at the age of 62

. 1905 ~ Maria von Trapp, singer

. 1908 ~ Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist

. 1913 ~ Jimmy Van Heusen (Edward Chester Babcock), American songwriter and Academy Award-winning composer. He wrote Swinging on a Star in 1944, All the Way in 1957, High Hopes in 1959 and Call Me Irresponsible in 1963. He also wrote the music to over 75 songs for Frank Sinatra with lyricists Johnny Burke and Sammy Cahn … My Kind of Town and Second Time Around

. 1934 ~ Huey “Piano” Smith, American rhythm and blues pianist (Rockin’ Pneumonia & Boogie Woogie Flu, Having a Good Time), born in New Orleans, Louisiana

. 1934 ~ The Apollo Theatre opened in New York City as a ‘Negro vaudeville theatre’. It became the showplace for many of the great black entertainers, singers, groups and instrumentalists in the country.

. 1945 ~ Jacqueline DuPré, British cellist

. 1956 ~ Buddy Holly had his first of three 1956 recording sessions for Decca Records and producer, Owen Bradley, in Nashville. Nothing much came out of those sessions. He formed the group, The Three Tunes (changed later to The Crickets), and went on to find fame and fortune when he hooked up with producer Norman Petty in New Mexico. Holly died in a plane crash near Mason City, IA, February 3, 1959 (“the day the music died”). He was 22. Holly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

. 1979 ~ The Gizmo guitar synthesizer was first demonstrated.

. 1988 ~ “Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber opened at Majestic Theater in New York City for 4,000+ performances. It is now the longest running Broadway show in history.

. 1992 ~ Jose Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor, theater, and film director, died.

. 1995 ~ Geoffrey Penwill Parsons, piano accompanist, died at the age of 65

. 1998 ~ Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese music teacher (Suzuki Method), died at the age of 99

. 2003 ~ John Browning, American pianist (Leventritt Award-1956), died at the age of 69

. 2019 ~ Michel Legrand, French composer, film arranger and jazz musician (Summer of ’42, Windmills of Your Mind), died at the age of 86

In Memory: Howard Lebow

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Time Magazine Milestones: Jan. 26, 1968

Died. Howard Lebow, 32, U.S. concert pianist; of injuries suffered in an automobile accident; in Amherst, Mass. One of the youngest and most promising of U.S. pianists, Lebow toured 15 countries after his 1963 Manhattan solo debut, played the works of such modern composers as Edward Levy and Erich Kahn with an adventurousness that sometimes startled the critics but more often won their applause.

Howard Lebow The University of Massachusetts Department of Music has established a trust fund for scholarships to assist both graduate and undergraduate music students in memory of the late Howard M. Lebow, professor of piano and concert artist whose untimely death in an automobile accident in January cut short a brilliant musical career. The scholarships will be awarded to students, selected by a special music committee, who demonstrate musical potential according to the ideals and standards of excellence that Lebow set for himself and for his students.

Lebow was graduated from the Juilliard School of Music in 1957, received his master’s degree in 1959, and was the winner of the school ‘ s highest pianistic honor, the Morris Loeb Memorial Prize. He studied at the State Academy of Music in Hamburg, Germany; the International Institute for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany; and the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria.

He studied under Edward Steuermann, a pupil of composer Ferruccio Busoni, and became well-known for his performances of Busoni ‘ s works. Lebow came to the University of Massachusetts in 1965 to assume his position as Assistant Professor of Piano. Internationally acclaimed as a remarkable pianist by music critics, Lebow was widely recognized as having a faultless technique, a richly varied touch, and a distinctive feeling for style. ” It is only Lebow, ” said the Darmstaedter Echo, ” who puts every fiber of his body and soul into the keys and truly performs with the utmost clarity, transparentness and plasticity. ” Dr. Philip Bezanson, head of the department said, ” The music department feels this memorial fund is a most fitting way to perpetuate the memory of Howard Lebow. He was actively interested in trying to develop scholarships for the music department. Because of his genuine interest in talented students it is most fitting that talented students should continue to receive help in his name. ”

~~~~~~~~

Howard Miles Lebow was an accomplished concert pianist and composer who was first celebrated during his tenure as a student at Julliard School of Music where he earned both his BA and MFA. While at Julliard, Lebow studied under Edward Steuermann, a pupil of composer Ferruccio Busoni, and was acclaimed for his performances of Busoni’s works. Lebow exceled as a pianist, performing in fifteen countries across Europe and the Americas. Appointed to the post of Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Massachusetts in September 1965, Lebow lectured and performed until his untimely death in 1968 at age 32. Although known for his interpretations of contemporary music, Lebow was equally at home in the entire piano literature; one of his last and most memorable recitals was devoted to the music of Franz Liszt, another artist whom he had studied and whom he greatly admired. After his death, the Howard M. Lebow Scholarship Fund was established (1968).

http://www.nyyouthsymphony.org/concerts/1964-1965/orchestra/spring-concert

Howard Lebow

The University of Massachusetts Department of
Music has established a trust fund for
scholarships to assist both graduate and
undergraduate music students in memory of
the late Howard M. Lebow, professor of piano
and concert artist whose untimely death in an
automobile accident in January cut short a
brilliant musical career. The scholarships
will be awarded to students, selected by a
special music committee, who demonstrate
musical potential according to the ideals
and standards of excellence that Lebow set
for himself and for his students.

Lebow was graduated from the Juilliard School
of Music in 1957, received his master’s
degree in 1959, and was the winner of the
school’s highest pianistic honor, the
Morris Loeb Memorial Prize. He studied at
the State Academy of Music in Hamburg,
Germany; the International Institute for New
Music in Darmstadt, Germany; and the
Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria.
He studied under Edward Steuermann, a pupil
of composer Ferruccio Busoni, and became
well-known for his performances of Busoni’s
works.

Lebow came to the University of Massachusetts
in 1965 to assume his position as Assistant
Professor of Piano.

Internationally acclaimed as a remarkable
pianist by music critics, Lebow was widely
recognized as having a faultless technique,
a richly varied touch, and a distinctive
feeling for style. “It is only Lebow,” said
the Darmstaedter Echo, “who puts every fiber
of his body and soul into the keys and truly
performs with the utmost clarity,
transparentness and plasticity.”

Dr. Philip Bezanson, head of the department said, “The music department feels this memorial fund is a most fitting way to perpetuate the memory of Howard Lebow. He was actively interested in trying to develop scholarships for the music department. Because of his genuine interest in talented students it is most fitting that talented students should continue to receive help in his name.”

https://archive.org/stream/index1968univ/index1968univ_djvu.txt

 

http://scua.library.umass.edu/umarmot/lebow-howard/

 

 

Howard Lebow was my piano teacher my freshman year at UMass.  I was devastated over Christmas break to learn that he had died in a car crash.  He had been walking on campus and was hit by a driver. 😦

Composers – V

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Varèse

Edgard Varèse was born in Paris, December 22, 1885 and died in New York, November 6, 1965. Although born in France, Varèse lived and worked most of his life in the United States. A pioneer of the avant-garde movement in music, Varèse experimented with electronic music, musique concréte;, and some highly original experimentation in the uses and organization of rhythm. The works for which he is best known are those in which he completely rejects traditional melody and harmony, instead building these compositions from blocks of sounds, relying on tone color, texture and rhythm. Varèse’s most original work exemplifying this technique is probably Ionisation, which is scored for a huge percussion ensemble, piano, and sirens.

Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams lived between 1872 and 1958. He is considered to be a romantic composer. His works include Fantasia on Greensleeves, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Fantasia on a Theme of Tallis and Mass in G Minor.

Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi lived between 1813 and 1901. He is considered to be a romantic composer. He was an Italian operatic composer who achieved his first major success with Nabucco (1842). He was the leading figure of Italian music in the nineteenth century and made important contributions to the development of opera.

The singing melodies of his popular operas, like Rigoletto, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Aida, have come to represent Italian opera to much of the world. The late operas Otello and Falstaff crowned his achievement.

de Victoria

One of the works of Tomás Luis de Victoria was chosen in Best 100 Classical Pieces of the Millenium.

Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi lived from 1678 until 1741 and was considered to be a baroque composer. He was an Italian composer of instrumental music and opera. He was important in the development of the concerto. Vivaldi was ordained as a priest in 1703, but gave up saying Mass due to a chest illness. From 1704 until 1740, he taught violin at an orphanage, gave recitals, played the violin in operatic performances and produced some operas of his own.

The concertos that Vivaldi wrote helped define the genre in the Baroque and into the Classical era. These normally comprised three movements (fast, slow, fast); the fast movement regularly employed a ritornello form. In this form, an orchestral melody alternates with the freer sections that feature the soloist or soloists. The repetition of the ritornello provides a point of reference for the listener, allowing the soloist to stand out. It also allows the composer a greater degree of freedom in how the soloist’s material is treated.

Vivaldi’s concertos also stand out for the degree of inventiveness that he brought to them. While challenging the player, they also engage the listener. One of his most famous groups of concertos, The Four Seasons, demonstrates this well, and shows the more dramatic and colorful potential of the genre. Each concerto represents a different season, and the music illustrates in sound a picture created by an accompanying poem. Vivaldi uses his ingenuity to take the mundane sounds of daily life (the barking of a dog, the buzzing of flies), along with more dramatic sounds (a violent spring storm), and portray them in purely musical language that stands on its own merit. These early examples of program music well deserve their place in the popular canon of classical music.

Works:
Orchestral music, including over 239 violin concertos, including Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op.8, Nos.1-4, c.1725), other solo concertos (bassoon, cello, oboe, flute, recorder), double concertos, ensemble concertos, sinfonias

Chamber music, including sonatas for violin, cello and flute, trio sonatas
Vocal music, including oratorios (Juditha triumphans, 1716), Mass movements (Gloria), Magnificat, psalms, hymns and motets
Secular vocal music, including solo cantatas and operas

His most famous work, The Four Seasons, was written in 1725.

Vivaldi was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach.