Tag Archives: pianist

June 25 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

• 1522 ~ Franchinus Gaffurius, Composer, died at the age of 71

• 1709 ~ Francesco Araja, Composer

• 1735 ~ Benvenuto Robbio San Rafaele, Composer

• 1767 ~ Georg Philipp Telemann, German late-baroque Composer, died at the age of 86
More information about Telemann

• 1785 ~ Pierre Talon, Composer, died at the age of 63

• 1796 ~ Ferdinando Giorgetti, Composer

• 1860 ~ Gustave Charpentier, French composer

• 1862 ~ Vasily Georgiyevich Wrangell, Composer

• 1870 ~ Opera “Die Walküre” by Richard Wagner was produced in Munich

• 1876 ~ John Patton, Trumpeter, died at Little Bighorn

• 1878 ~ Jean Gallon, Composer

• 1884 ~ Hans Rott, Composer, died at the age of 25

• 1886 ~ Nineteen-year-old Arturo Toscanini moved from the cello section to the conductor’s stand of the Rio de Janeiro Orchestra. The maestro conducted Verdi’sopera, Aida, this day.

• 1887 ~ George Abbott, Director: Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game

• 1889 ~ Ethel Glenn Hier, Composer

• 1897 ~ Hans Barth, German pianist and composer

• 1901 ~ Adolf Brunner, Composer

• 1910 ~ The first performance of “The Firebird”, a ballet by Igor Stravinsky, took place in Paris.

• 1921 ~ Peter Charles Arthur Wishart, Composer

• 1922 ~ Johnny Smith, Jazz musician, guitarist

• 1925 ~ Clifton Chenier, American blues singer

• 1925 ~ Ziggy Talent, American singer

• 1928 ~ William Joseph Russo, Composer

• 1935 ~ Kurt Schwertsik, Composer

• 1935 ~ Eddie Floyd, Singer with Falcons

• 1936 ~ Harold Melvin, American singer

• 1938 ~ A Tisket A Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb hit #1

• 1940 ~ Clint Warwick (Eccles), Musician, bass with The Moody Blues

• 1945 ~ Carley Simon, American Grammy Award-winning singer – Best New Artist in 1971; Academy Award-winning song, Let the River Run, 1988

• 1946 ~ Allen Lanier, Musician, guitarist, keyboards with Blue Oyster Cult

• 1946 ~ Ian McDonald, Musician, instrumentalist with Foreigner

• 1952 ~ “Wish You Were Here” opened at Imperial Theater New York City for 597 perfomances

• 1955 ~ “Can Can” closed at Shubert Theater New York City after 892 performances

• 1961 ~ Pat Boone spent this day at number one for one last time with Moody River. Boone, a teen heart-throb in the 1950s, had previously walked his way up the music charts, wearing white buck shoes, of course, with these other hits: Ain’t That a Shame, I Almost Lost My Mind, Don’t Forbid Me, Love Letters in the Sand and April Love.

• 1963 ~ George Michael (Yorgos Panayiotou), Singer

• 1966 ~ The Beatles’ Paperback Writer, single went #1 & stayed #1 for 2 weeks

• 1967 ~ 400 million watched The Beatles “Our World” TV special

• 1969 ~ The Guess Who from Canada received a gold record for their hit single, These Eyes.

• 1971 ~ Stevie Wonder released Where I’m Coming From

• 1976 ~ Johnny Mercer, American songwriter, died at the age of 66 He wrote the lyrics for a number of award winning songs including Moon River.

• 1977 ~ Endre Szervanszky, Composer, died at the age of 65

• 1977 ~ Petko Staynov, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1983 ~ “Evita” closed at Broadway Theater New York City after 1568 performances

• 1987 ~ Boudleaux Bryant, Song writer for the Everly Brothers, died at the age of 67

• 1990 ~ Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Australian Composer, died at the age of 77

• 1992 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Vinorhady Theatre, Prague

• 2000 ~ Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, the longest-running production in Broadway history, closed after 7,397 performances.

• 2000 ~ Arnold Black, a composer and violinist who started a beloved classical music program in the rural Berkshires, died at the age of 77.
More information on Arnold Black

• 2002 ~ Nellie Monk, wife and muse of the jazz musician Thelonious Monk, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. She was 80. Born Nellie Smith in St. Petersbrug, Fla., she moved to New York with her family and met Thelonious Monk at the age of 16 at a neighborhood basketball court. Throughout their nearly four-decade relationship, Thelonious Monk, who was known as an eccentric absorbed in his work, depended on his wife for financial and emotional support. Nellie Monk worked as a seamstress during World War II, and afterward occasionally made clothes for her husband and others. While she was never her husband’s official manager, she paid musicians, collected money from promoters, and made sure band members had plane tickets. Thelonious Monk wrote a famed ballad, Crepuscule With Nellie, when she was undergoing surgery for a thyroid problem in 1957. The couple was together from about 1947 until Thelonious Monk died in 1982.

How Does a Pianist Remember the 30,000 Notes of the ‘Rach 3’?

Posted by MaryO on

memory

 

Imagine being in a subway station memorizing the number (and perhaps names) of stops to your destination — an opera house let’s say. After you passed through the sliding train doors and entered the portal of the opera house (a couple of doors really), most likely the brain estimated each time that the usefulness, shelf life, of the information has expired, been proven correct each time and slowly diminished its recall ability. It is apparent that a narrative is easier to remember than a shopping list for the untrained memory.

Master memory is cultivated by mnemonic training — the cultivation of a multi-layered and often emotionally connected retrieval structure. Soloists are capable of remembering a tremendous amount of information based on several, mostly inexplicable and un-researched, mnemonic applications. Concert pianists, for example, can perform a 45 minute piece with 30,000 individual notes, that have to be performed in an absolutely particular order, with rhythmical and dynamic variability, passionately creating an emotional and formal narrative, from memory, live on stage.

“As with all things of value, cultivation and constant practice is key.”

And in a piece such as “Rach 3,” they also have to coordinate with a large body of musicians, also from memory. The research on the doorway effect is quite insightful and relevant for the career musician (concert pianists, for example) and the methodical pedagogue, and can be epitomized as such: The stage and the practice room must become the same room.

As with all things of value, cultivation and constant practice is key. In order to keep all that has been achieved behind the practice room door, one should attempt to create a comfortable and familiar environment in the practice room, gain authority and mastery of the music and the instrument and return to the same enjoyable and intimate environment on the stage. Imagine the door out of the practice room is the door onto the stage Matrix style. The concert performance is the tip of an iceberg — always keep that in mind and in sight.

via How Does a Pianist Remember the 30,000 Notes of the ‘Rach 3’? | Jura Margulis.

June 24 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

• 1572 ~ Jan Campanus, Composer

• 1724 ~ Johann Theile, German Composer, died at the age of 77

• 1746 ~ Jean Baptiste Rochefort, Composer

• 1747 ~ Johann Melchior Dreyer, Composer

• 1724 ~ Johann Paul Wessely (1762) Composer

• 1803 ~ George James Webb, Composer

• 1808 ~ Anna Caroline Oury, Composer

• 1838 ~ Lowell Cross, Composer

• 1840 ~ Louis Brassin, Composer

• 1724 ~ Thomas Carl Whitmer (1873) Composer

• 1882 ~ Joseph Joachim Raff, German opera Composer, died at the age of 60

• 1891 ~ Ann Sheppard Mounsey, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1900 ~ Gene Austin, Singer

• 1901 ~ Harry Partch, American composer and inventor of musical instruments

• 1904 ~ Phil Harris, American bandleader. He achieved stardom providing voices for Disney cartoons notably “The Jungle Book.”

• 1906 ~ Pierre Fournier, French cellist

• 1907 ~ Jose de Lima Siquiera, Composer

• 1908 ~ Hugo Distler, Composer

• 1909 ~ Milton Katims, American conductor and violist

• 1910 ~ Denis Dowling, Baritone

• 1913 ~ Frank Lynes, Composer, died at the age of 55

• 1920 ~ Bernhard Krol, Composer

• 1922 ~ Manny Albam, Composer, music educator at Eastman School of Music

• 1933 ~ Sissieretta Joyner Jones, “Black Patti”, American singer, died at about 64

• 1935 ~ Terry Riley, American avant-garde composer

• 1936 ~ Nandor Zsolt, Composer, died at the age of 49

• 1942 ~ Mick Fleetwood, Musician, drummer with Fleetwood Mac

• 1942 ~ Michele Lee, Singer

• 1944 ~ Jeff Beck, Singer, guitarist with The Yardbirds

• 1944 ~ John ‘Charlie’ Whitney, Musician, guitarist with Family

• 1944 ~ Rio Gebhardt, Composer, died at the age of 36

• 1945 ~ Colin Blunstone aka Neil MacArthur, Singer with The Zombies

• 1949 ~ John Illsley, Musician, bass with Dire Straits

• 1961 ~ The Beatles recorded If You Love Me Baby

• 1972 ~ I Am Woman, by Helen Reddy, was released by Capitol Records. The number one tune (December 9, 1972) became an anthem for the feminist movement. Reddy, from Australia, made her stage debut when she was only four years old. She had her own TV program in the early 1960s. Reddy came to New York in 1966 and has appeared in the films Airport 1975, Pete’s Dragon and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Reddy also had four million-sellers: I Am Woman, Delta Dawn, Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) and Angie Baby. She had a total of 14 hits on the pop music charts.

• 1992 ~ Billy Joel,American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer, received an honorary diploma from Hicksville HS at 43

• 2000 ~ British actor David Tomlinson, who starred as father George Banks in the classic 1964 musical movie “Mary Poppins”, died at the age of 83.

• 2002 ~ Dolores Gray, a Tony-winning actress and singer, died of a heart attack at her Manhattan apartment. She was 78. Gray began performing in Hollywood clubs when she was 14, and at 15 she was discovered by Rudy Vallee and given a guest spot on his national radio show. She landed her first major theater success in 1947 as Annie in “Annie Get Your Gun” in London. In 1954, she won a Tony award for best musical actress in “Carnival in Flanders.” After signing a contract with MGM in 1955, Gray began to star in musical movies, including “Kismet,” and “The Opposite Sex.” She performed alongside Gene Kelly in “It’s Always Fair Weather” and with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in “Designing Women.” Gray continued to perform in clubs, on stage, and on television variety shows, including the Bell Telephone Hour. She returned to Broadway for several productions, including “Destry Rides Again,” during which the stage curtain once caught fire as she sang “Anyone Would Love You.” As the theater’s firefighters and stagehands battled the blaze backstage, Gray kept singing, and was credited with keeping the audience calm until they could evacuate the theater. The show resumed after a 40-minute intermission.

• 2002 ~ Joe Derise, a musician, cabaret artist and former big band vocalist, died. He was 76. Derise sang with Tommy Dorsey at the age of 21 and performed as a singer, guitarist and arranger with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. He went on to form his own group, Four Jacks and a Jill, which performed around the country. Derise made several records and composed some of his own songs with the lyricist Marcia Hillman. His last major performance was at the Algonquin Hotel in New York in 1999.

June 21 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

• 1577 ~ Giovanni Del Turco, Composer

• 1790 ~ Wilhelm Speyer, Composer

• 1805 ~ Karl Friedrich Curschmann, Composer

• 1846 ~ Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone he invented in 1840

• 1862 ~ Henry Holden Huss, Composer

• 1865 ~ Albert Herbert Brewer, Composer

• 1868 ~ Wagner’s opera “Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg” premiered in Munich

• 1887 ~ Adolf Schimon, Composer, died at the age of 67

• 1892 ~ Hilding Rosenberg, Swedish composer

• 1893 ~ Alois Hába, Czech opera composer and writer

• 1900 ~ Gunnar Ek, Composer (he died on 81st birthday)

• 1900 ~ Polibo Fumagalli, Composer, died at the age of 69

• 1903 ~ Louis Krasner, violinist

• 1906 ~ Luis Maria Millet, Composer

• 1908 ~ Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian Composer, died at the age of 64 He was best known for his orchestral piece “Sheherezade” and the opera “The Golden Cockerel” as well as his re-orchestration of Moussorgsky’s opera “Boris Godunov.”
More information about Rimsky-Korsakov

• 1909 ~ Kurt Schwaen, Composer

• 1910 ~ Bela Tardos, Composer

• 1910 ~ Charles Jones, Composer

• 1914 ~ Jan Decadt, Composer

• 1921 ~ Frank Scott, American pianist for the Lawrence Welk Show

• 1930 ~ Helen Merrill (Milcetic), Jazz singer, Swing Journal readers’ poll: Best American Jazz Singer in 1989

• 1932 ~ Judith Raskin, American soprano

• 1932 ~ Lalo Schifrin, Composer

• 1932 ~ O.C. (Ocie Lee) Smith, Singer, vocalist for Count Basie Orchestra

• 1939 ~ Charles Boone, Composer

• 1941 ~ Wayne King and his orchestra recorded Time Was, with Buddy Clark providing the vocal accompaniment, for Victor Records.

• 1944 ~ Ray Davies, Musician, guitar, singer, songwriter with The Kinks

• 1945 ~ Chris Britton, Guitarist with The Troggs

• 1946 ~ Brenda Holloway, American singer and songwriter

• 1946 ~ Heinrich Kaminski, Composer, died at the age of 59

• 1948 ~ Columbia Records announced that it was offering a new Vinylite long-playing record that could hold 23 minutes of music on each side. One of the first LPs produced was of the original cast of the Broadway show, South Pacific. Critics quickly scoffed at the notion of LPs, since those heavy, breakable, 78 RPM, 10- inch disks with one song on each side, were selling at an all-time high. It didn’t take very long though, for the 33-1/3 RPM album — and its 7-inch, 45 RPM cousin to revolutionize the music industry and the record buying habits of millions.

• 1951 ~ Nils Lofgren, Musician, guitar, keyboards, singer, songwriter

• 1958 ~ Splish Splash was recorded by Bobby Darin. It was his first hit and it took Darin only ten minutes to write the song.

• 1959 ~ Kathy Mattea, Singer

• 1969 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Fourteenth Symphony, premiered in Moscow

• 1972 ~ Billy Preston received a gold record for the instrumental hit, Outa-Space. Preston, who played for gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, back in 1956, was also in the film St. Louis Blues as a piano player. He was a regular on the Shindig TV show in the 1960s; and recorded with The Beatles on the hits Get Back and Let It Be. Preston also performed at The Concert for Bangladesh in 1969. Many well-known artists have utilized his keyboard talents, including Sly & The Family Stone and the Rolling Stones.

• 1972 ~ Seth Bingham, Composer, died at the age of 90

• 1975 ~ Heinz Lau, Composer, died at the age of 49

• 1978 ~ Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice’s musical “Evita” premiered in London

• 1980 ~ Bert Kaempfert passed away

• 1981 ~ Gunnar Ek, Composer, died on 81st birthday

• 1982 ~ Paul McCartney released “Take it Away”

• 1985 ~ Ron Howard directed his first music video. The TV star of The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days also directed the film Cocoon, which included Gravity, the song used in the video. Michael Sembello, a guitarist who played on Stevie Wonder’s hits between 1974 and 1979 was responsible for Gravity.

• 1990 ~ June Christy passed away

• 1990 ~ Little Richard recieved a star on Hollywood’s walk of fame

• 1992 ~ Thomas Whitfield, Gospel vocalist, died of heart attack at 38

• 1993 ~ “Camelot” opened at the Gershwin Theater New York City for 56 performances

• 1997 ~ Art Prysock, Jazz musician, died at the age of 68

• 2000 ~ Alan Hovhaness, a prolific composer who melded Western and Asian musical styles, died at the age of 89.
More information about Hovhaness

• 2001 ~ Bluesman John Lee Hooker, whose foot stompin’ and gravelly voice on songs like Boom Boom and Boogie Chillen electrified audiences and inspired generations of musicians, died of natural causes at the age of 83. He recorded more than 100 albums over nearly seven decades. He won a Grammy Award for a version ofI’m In The Mood, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s Grammys. His distinctive sound influenced rhythm and blues musicians, as well as rock ‘n’ rollers including Van Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt and ZZ Top. Hooker’s 1990 album “The Healer“, featured duets with Carlos Santana, Raitt and Robert Cray. It sold 1.5 million copies and won him his first Grammy Award, for a duet with Raitt on I’m in the Mood. Born in Clarksdale, Miss., August 22, 1917, Hooker was one of 11 children born to a Baptist minister and sharecropper who discouraged his son’s musical bent. In Detroit, he was discovered and recorded his first hit, Boogie Chillen, in 1948.

• 2003 ~ William Leslie died at the age of 78. He was a jazz saxophonist who toured the world with the Louis Jordan Band in the 1950s in Sellersville, Pa. He played with the Jordan Band in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Europe and on the television show “Your Hit Parade.” Mr. Leslie had played the saxophone since he was 12. After serving in World War II, he attended the Landis School of Music in West Philadelphia, Pa., on the GI Bill.

June 20 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

• 1585 ~ Lazaro Valvasensi, Composer

• 1743 ~ Anna L Barbauld, Composer of hymns

• 1756 ~ Joseph Martin Kraus, Composer

• 1819 ~ Jacques Offenbach, German-born French conductor, cellist and composer of operettas
Read quotes by and about Offenbach
More information about Offenbach

• 1833 ~ Philip Knapton, Composer, died at the age of 44

• 1837 ~ Giovanni Furno, Composer, died at the age of 89

• 1842 ~ Michael Umlauf, Composer, died at the age of 60

• 1861 ~ Arthur Battelle Whiting, Composer

• 1883 ~ Giannotto Bastianelli, Composer

• 1888 ~ Cesare Dominiceti, Composer, died at the age of 66

• 1899 ~ Anthon van der Horst, Dutch organist and composer

• 1900 ~ Ernest White, Composer

• 1906 ~ Bob Howard, American singer and pianist

• 1910 ~ Fanny Brice, born Fannie Borach, debuted in the New York production of the Ziegfeld Follies

• 1914 ~ Friedrich Zipp, Composer

• 1922 ~ Vittorio Monti, Composer, died at the age of 54

• 1923 ~ Joseph Leopold Rockel, Composer, died at the age of 85

• 1924 ~ Chet Atkins (Chester Burton), Grammy Award-winning guitarist, made over 100 albums and elected to Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973.
More about Chet Atkins

• 1925 ~ Wilhelm Posse, Composer, died at the age of 72

• 1927 ~ John M Dengler, Jazz bass sax, trumpet, trombone

• 1928 ~ Robert Satanowski, Composer

• 1929 ~ Ingrid Haebler, Austrian pianist

• 1931 ~ Arne Nordheim, Norwegian conductor and composer

• 1934 ~ Cornel Taranu, Composer

• 1938 ~ Nikolay Avksentevich Martinov, Composer

• 1939 ~ first TV broadcast of an operetta, “The Pirates of Penzance” by Gilbert and Sullivan W2XBS (later WCBS-TV) in New York City televised Pirates of Penzance. It was presented to a very small viewing audience since television was a new, experimental medium at the time.

• 1936 ~ Billy Guy, Singer with The Coasters

• 1937 ~ Jerry Keller, Singer

• 1940 ~ Jehan Alain, French organist and composer, died in battle at 29

• 1942 ~ Brian Wilson, Bass player, singer with the The Beach Boys, inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988

• 1945 ~ (Morna) Anne Murray, Grammy Award-winning singer

• 1946 ~ André Watts, American pianist, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

• 1948 ~ George Frederick Boyle, Composer, died at the age of 61

• 1949 ~ Lionel Richie, Tenor sax, songwriter, singer with the Commodores

• 1951 ~ Peter Gordon, Composer

• 1953 ~ Cyndi Lauper, Singer

• 1953 ~ Alan Longmuir, Musician, bass with Bay City Rollers

• 1955 ~ Michael Anthony, Musician, bass with Van Halen

• 1955 ~ “Almost Crazy” opened at Longacre Theater New York City for 16 performances

• 1960 ~ John Taylor, Musician: guitar, bass with Duran Duran

• 1963 ~ The Beatles formed “Beatles Ltd” to handle their income

• 1969 ~ Guitarist Jimi Hendrix earned the biggest paycheck ever paid (to that time) for a single concert appearance. Hendrix was paid $125,000 to appear for a single set at the Newport Jazz Festival.

• 1970 ~ The Long and Winding Road, by The Beatles, started a second week in the number one spot on the pop music charts. The tune was the last one to be released by The Beatles.

• 1975 ~ Daniel Ayala Perez, Composer, died at the age of 68

• 1980 ~ Gustaf Allan Pettersson, Composer, died at the age of 68

• 1987 ~ Whitney Houston’s album, Whitney, debuted on Billboard magazine’s album chart at number one. Houston became the first female to have an LP debut at the top. The singer, daughter of Cissy Houston and cousin of Dionne Warwick, began her singing career at age 11 with the New Hope Baptist Junior Choir in New Jersey. Houston first worked as a backup vocalist for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls; entered modeling in 1981, appearing in Glamour magazine and on the cover of Seventeen. Whitney married soul singer, Bobby Brown, in the late 1980s.

• 1997 ~ Lawrence Payton, singer with the Four Tops, died at the age of 59

Changing Piano Design #1

Posted by MaryO on

Bosendorfer-290-Imperial

 

 Ferruccio Busoni: 97 Keys

Any piano student can tell you that their instrument has a total of 88 keys, but that isn’t always the case. While working on transcriptions of Bach organ works for the piano, composer and pianist Ferruccio Busoni found that the standard keyboard was unsatisfactory.

In order to mimic the sound of the largest organ pipes, Busoni worked with Ludwig Bösendorfer of the eponymous piano factory to create an instrument with an extended the piano’s lower register. The result was the Model 290 Imperial, a 97-keyed piano that encompasses eight full octaves.

The first prototype was built in 1909.  Its extraordinary sound inspired major composers, including Bartók, Debussy and Ravel. Several music pieces composed require an Imperial to ensure that they are played true to the original.

Garrick Ohlsson once called it the “Rolls Royce of pianos.”

June 18 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

• 1686 ~ Johann Quirsfeld, Composer, died at the age of 43

• 1726 ~ Giuseppe Scarlotti (1723) Composer

• 1726 ~ Michel-Richard Delalande, Composer, died at the age of 68

• 1726 ~ August Holler (1744) Composer

• 1726 ~ Ignaz Joseph Pleyel (1757) Composer

• 1780 ~ Michael Henkel, Composer

• 1799 ~ Johann André, Composer, died at the age of 58

• 1821 ~ Charles Hague, Composer, died at the age of 52

• 1821 ~ Opera “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber was produced in Berlin

• 1822 ~ Henry David Leslie, Composer

• 1850 ~ Richard Heuberger, Composer

• 1850 ~ Antoni Weinert, Composer, died at the age of 99

• 1859 ~ Joseph Hartmann Stuntz, Composer, died at the age of 65

• 1876 ~ August Rockel, Composer, died at the age of 61

• 1892 ~ Edward Steuermann, Composer

• 1901 ~ Jeanette MacDonald, Singer with Nelson Eddy

• 1902 ~ Louis Alter, Composer

• 1904 ~ Manuel Rosenthal, French composer

• 1905 ~ Eduard Tubin, Composer

• 1906 ~ Kaye Kyser, Bandleader Kay Kyser and His Kollege of Musical Knowledge
More information about Kyser

• 1907 ~ Benny Payne, American pianist for the Billy Daniels Show

• 1909 ~ Learmont Drysdale, Composer, died at the age of 42

• 1934 ~ Ray McKinley (1910) Musician, drummer, led Glenn Miller Band for the estate from 1956 until 1966.

• 1911 ~ Franjo Zaver Kuhac, Composer, died at the age of 76

• 1913 ~ Sammy Cahn, Composer and lyricist
Read quotes by and about Cahn
More information about Cahn

• 1915 ~ Victor Legley, Composer

• 1917 ~ Akhmet Jevdet Ismail Hajiyev, Composer

• 1918 ~ Bob Carroll, Singer and actor

• 1923 ~ Herman Krebbers, Dutch violist and concert master

• 1925 ~ Herman “Ace” Wallace, Blues guitarist and singer

• 1927 ~ Simeon Pironkov, Composer

• 1933 ~ Tommy Hunt, American singer

• 1934 ~ Francisco Lacerda, Composer, died at the age of 65

• 1935 ~ August Reusner, Composer, died at the age of 64

• 1941 ~ Lamont Dozier, Composer

• 1942 ~ Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor

• 1942 ~ Arthur Willard Pryor, Composer, died at the age of 71

• 1942 ~ Paul McCartney, British rock singer, songwriter and guitarist
More information about McCartney

• 1944 ~ Paul Lansky, Composer

• 1944 ~ Douglas Young, Composer

• 1948 ~ Eva Marton, Hungarian soprano

• 1949 ~ “Along Fifth Avenue” closed at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 180 perfomances

• 1953 ~ Jerome Smith, Musician, guitarist with KC & The Sunshine Band

• 1955 ~ Walter Rein, Composer, died at the age of 61

• 1955 ~ Willy Burkhard, Composer, died at the age of 55

• 1962 ~ Volkmar Andreae, Swiss conductor and Composer, died at the age of 82

• 1964 ~ Alexander Shamil’yevich Melik-Pashayev, Composer, died at the age of 58

• 1965 ~ George Melachrino, Composer, died at the age of 56

• 1973 ~ Fritz Mahler, Composer, died at the age of 71

• 1977 ~ Fleetwood Mac worked Dreams to the number one spot on the pop music charts this day. It would be the group’s only single to reach number one. Fleetwood Mac placed 18 hits on the charts in the 1970s and 1980s. Nine were top-ten tunes.

Great Recovery!

Posted by MaryO on

oh-no

 

Definitely one for lovers of schadenfreude, this documentary shows the moment that pianist Maria Joao Pires realized that the concerto she had prepared was not the same one as the orchestra had just started playing.

Skip to 0’43 to catch her moment of realization, followed by a remarkably subtle argument between pianist and conductor Riccardo Chailly, which Maria loses.

Don’t worry – of course she knows the new concerto (Mozart’s No.20 in D minor, K.466), and of course she executes it magnificently. She’s a pro.

June 14 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

Flag DayFlag Day Flag Day

 

https://youtu.be/PMwjjmjwQmw

• 1594 ~ Orlandus Lassus, Composer (Prophet sybillarum), died at about 61

• 1671 ~ Thomoso Albinoni, Italian composer and violinist
More information about Albinoni

• 1691 ~ Jan Francisci, Composer

• 1709 ~ Gottfried Wegner, Composer, died at the age of 65

• 1744 ~ André Campra, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1750 ~ Franz Anton Maichelbeck, Composer, died at the age of 47

• 1760 ~ Candido Jose Ruano, Composer

• 1763 ~ Johannes Simon Mayr, Composer

• 1769 ~ Dominique Della-Maria, Composer

• 1789 ~ Johann Wilhelm Hertel, Composer, died at the age of 61

• 1835 ~ Nikolay Rubinstein, Composer

• 1854 ~ Frederik Rung, Composer

• 1891 ~ Auguste Jean Maria Charles Serieyx (1865) Composer

• 1881 ~ The player piano was patented by John McTammany, Jr. of Cambridge, MA.

• 1882 ~ Michael Zadora, Composer

• 1884 ~ John McCormack, Irish/American singer of Irish folksongs

• 1891 ~ Nicolo Gabrielli, Composer, died at the age of 77

• 1895 ~ Cliff Edwards “Ukulele Ike”, Singer of When You Wish Upon a Star

• 1904 ~ Benno Ammann, Composer

• 1909 ~ Burl Ives, American folk singer, banjo player, guitarist and Oscar-winning actor. His gentle voice helped popularise American folk music. He played powerful dramatic roles in movies including “The Big Country,” for which he won an Acadamy Award for best supporting actor, and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” anniversary of his death

• 1910 ~ Nappy (Hilton Napoleon) Lamare, Musician with Bob Cats

• 1911 ~ Johan Severin Svendsen, Composer, died at the age of 70

• 1916 ~ Karl-Rudi Griesbach, Composer

• 1918 ~ Carter Harman, Composer

• 1920 ~ Helmer-Rayner Sinisalo, Composer

• 1923 ~ Theodore Bloomfield, Composer

• 1923 ~ It was the beginning of the country music recording industry. Ralph Peer of Okeh Records recorded Fiddlin’ John Carson doing The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane— and the first country music recording was in the can.

• 1929 ~ Cy Coleman (Seymour Kaufman), American composer of popular music and pianist
More information about Cy Coleman

https://youtu.be/tSIyVYW1JmE

• 1932 ~ Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Composer

• 1933 ~ Albert Ross Parsons, Composer, died at the age of 85

• 1940 ~ John Mizelle, Composer

• 1943 ~ Muff (Mervyn) Winwood, Singer, songwriter, bass with The Spencer Davis Group

• 1945 ~ Rod Argent, Keyboard

• 1948 ~ Ernst Henrik Ellberg, Composer, died at the age of 79

• 1948 ~ John Blackwood McEwen, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1953 ~ Elvis Presley graduated from L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, TN. Within three years, the truck driver-turned-singer had his first number-one record with Heartbreak Hotel.

• 1960 ~ Vladimir Nikolayevich Kryukov, Composer, died at the age of 57

• 1962 ~ Boy George, Singer

• 1965 ~ Guido Guerrini, Composer, died at the age of 74

• 1965 ~ The Beatles released album “Beatles VI”

• 1965 ~ John Lennon’s second book “A Spaniard in the Works” was published

• 1968 ~ Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Swedish opera composer, died at the age of 51

• 1969 ~ John & Yoko appeared on David Frost’s British TV Show

• 1974 ~ Knud Christian Jeppesen, Composer, died at the age of 81

• 1975 ~ America reached the top spot on the Billboard pop music chart with SisterGolden Hair. The group had previously (March, 1972) taken A Horse With No Name to the number one spot. The trio of Dan Peek, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell had received the Best New Artist Grammy in 1972. America recorded a dozen hits that made it to the popular music charts in the 1970s and 1980s. Though number one,Sister Golden Hair did not qualify for gold record (million-seller) status.

• 1975 ~ Janis Ian released At 17

• 1976 ~ The Beatles were awarded a gold record for the compilation album of past hits titled, Rock ’n’ Roll Music.

• 1978 ~ Theodore Karyotakis, Composer, died at the age of 74

• 1980 ~ Theme From New York, New York by Frank Sinatra hit #32

• 1986 ~ Alan Jay Lerner, Broadway librettist, died in NY at 67
More information about Lerner

• 1989 ~ Carole King got a star in Hollywood’s walk of fame

• 1994 ~ Henry Mancini passed away at the age of 70
More information about Mancini

https://youtu.be/xiA6qe5S2wU

• 1994 ~ Lionel Grigson, Professor of jazz, died at the age of 52

• 1994 ~ Harry “Little” Caesar, blues singer/actor (City Heat), died at the age of 66

• 1996 ~ Thomas Edward Montgomery, drummer, died at the age of 73

• 2002 ~ Marvin Paymer, Pianist, composer, musicologist and author, died of cancer. He was 81. His son, actor David Paymer, told the Los Angeles Times that Paymer died in San Diego. In 1977, he co-founded and, until his retirement in 1993, served as associate director of the Pergolesi Research Center at City University of New York Graduate Center. Pergolesi was 18th century Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Paymer authenticated 13 Pergolesi compositions among hundreds of fakes attributed to the posthumously famous composer, who died at 26.

June 12 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

today

 

• 1468 ~ Juan del Encina, Composer

• 1526 ~ Marc-Antoine de Muret, Composer

• 1616 ~ Cornelis F Schuyt, Dutch organist/composer, died

• 1761 ~ Meinrad Spiess, Composer, died at the age of 77

• 1858 ~ William Horsley, Composer, died at the age of 83

• 1876 ~ Narciso Garay, Composer

• 1881 ~ Juan de Hernandez, Composer

• 1887 ~ Gustav Weber, Composer, died at the age of 41

• 1892 ~ John Donald Robb, Composer

• 1900 ~ Amadeo Roldan, Composer

• 1904 ~ Eino Roiha, Composer

• 1907 ~ Giorgio Nataletti, Composer

• 1909 ~ Mansel Treharne Thomas, Composer

• 1909 ~ Archie Bleyer, Orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey

• 1909 ~ Shine On, Harvest Moon by Ada Jones & Billy Murray hit #1

• 1912 ~ Eddie Williams, Blues/jazz bassist

• 1917 ~ Maria Teresa Carreno, Composer, died at the age of 63

• 1922 ~ Leif Thybo, Composer

• 1927 ~ Al Fairweather, Jazz musician

• 1928 ~ Richard Sherman, Composer/lyricist

• 1928 ~ Vic Damone (Vito Farinola), American singer of popular music

• 1930 ~ Jim Nabors, Singer

• 1935 ~ Ella Fitzgerald recorded her first sides for Brunswick Records. The tunes were Love and Kisses and I’ll Chase the Blues Away. She was featured with Chick Webb and his band. Ella was 17 at the time and conducted the Webb band for three years following his death in 1939.

• 1938 ~ Ian Partridge, British tenor

• 1941 ~ “Chick” Corea, American Grammy Award-winning (4) Jazz musician and composer

• 1942 ~ Walter Leigh, Composer, died at the age of 36

• 1942 ~ Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded Travelin’ Light on Capitol Records of Hollywood, California. On the track with Whiteman’s orchestra was the vocal talent of ‘Lady Day’, Billie Holiday.

• 1944 ~ Reg Presley, Singer with Troggs

• 1947 ~ Jazeps Medins, Composer, died at the age of 70

• 1948 ~ William Tell Overture by Spike Jones (originally an opera by Rossini) peaked at #6

Original:

• 1951 ~ Bun Carlos (Brad Carlson), Musician, drummer with Cheap Trick

• 1951 ~ Brad Delp, Musician, guitarist, singer with Boston

• 1954 ~ Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock, was originally released

• 1957 ~ James F “Jimmy” Dorsey, American orchestra leader, died at the age of 53

• 1962 ~ John N Ireland, English Composer/pianist, died at the age of 82

• 1965 ~ The Queen of England announced that The Beatles would receive the coveted MBE Award. The Order of the British Empire recognition had previously been bestowed only upon British military heroes, many of whom were so infuriated by the news, they returned their medals to the Queen. In fact, John Lennon wasn’t terribly impressed with receiving the honor. He returned it (for other reasons) four years later.

• 1965 ~ Rolling Stones released Satisfaction

• 1965 ~ Sonny and Cher made their first TV appearance, “American Bandstand”

• 1966 ~ Hermann Scherchen, German conductor and music publisher, died at the age of 74

• 1966 ~ The Dave Clark Five set record as they appear for twelfth time on Ed Sullivan

• 1968 ~ Fidelio Friedrich Finke, Composer, died at the age of 76

• 1968 ~ “What Makes Sammy Run?” closed at 84th St Theater NYC after 540 performances

• 1977 ~ “Pippin” closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 1944 performances

• 1982 ~ Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel performed in Rotterdam

• 1989 ~ Peter Conrad Baden, Composer, died at the age of 80

• 1992 ~ “Batman Returns”, music by Danny Elfman, was released in America

• 1993 ~ Three Little Pigs by Green Jelly hit #17

• 1994 ~ Cab Calloway suffered massive stroke at his home White Plaines NY

• 1995 ~ Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian Pianist, died at the age of 75. He was hailed as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.

• 1996 ~ MacKenzie John, Pipe major, died at the age of 83

• 2000 ~ Robert J. Lurtsema, a classical music show host with a sonorous voice and unique delivery who became a fixture of the Boston radio scene over nearly three decades, died of lung disease. He was 68. Lurtsema, who worked at WGBH-FM for more than 28 years, is well-known to classical music buffs as the host of “Morning pro musica”, which could be heard throughout the Northeast.