October 12 ~ On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on October 12, 2025

• 1855 ~ Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor

• 1872 ~ Ralph Vaughan Williams, British composer
More information on Vaughan Williams

• 1935 ~ Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor, Emmy Award-winning opera star

• 1935 ~ Samuel Moore, Singer with Sam & Dave

• 1944 ~ Who could forget the picture of a huge crowd of swooning bobbysoxers stopping traffic in New York’s Times Square as Frank Sinatra made his triumphant return to the famed Paramount Theatre (he had played there for eight weeks starting on December 30, 1942). In what was called the ‘Columbus Day Riot’, 25,000 teenagers, mostly young women, blocked the streets, screaming and swooning for Frankie. Sinatra later explained, “It was the war years, and there was a great loneliness. And I was the boy in every corner drug store … who’d gone off, drafted to the war. That was all.”

• 1948 ~ Rick Parfitt, Singer, guitarist with Status Quo

• 1950 ~ Susan Anton, Singer

• 1956 ~ Dave Vanian (Letts), Singer

• 1968 ~ Big Brother And The Holding Company went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Cheap Thrills’. The cover, drawn by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, replaced the band’s original idea, a picture of the group naked in bed together. Crumb had originally intended his art to be the LP’s back cover, but Joplin demanded that Columbia Records use it for the front cover. Initially the album title was to have been Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but this didn’t go down too well at Columbia Records.

• 1971 ~ Some folks weren’t pleased when “Jesus Christ Superstar” premiered on Broadway because of the controversial content of the musical. Before the show opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, some 2.5 million copies of the album were sold to the curious. The Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber collaboration would become a big hit. “Jesus Christ Superstar would run on Broadway” for 720 shows, and spawn several hit songs, including I Don’t Know How to Love Him (Helen Reddy) and the title song, Jesus Christ Superstar (Murray Head).

• 1981 ~ Barbara Mandrell walked away with the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year honor for the second year in a row.

• 1989 ~ Carmen Cavallaro passed away. He was an American pianist. He established himself as one of the most accomplished and admired light music pianists of his generation.

• 1994 ~ Pink Floyd played the first of a 15-night run at Earls Court, London, England. Less than a minute after the band had started playing ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, a scaffolding stand holding 1200 fans, collapsed, throwing hundreds of people 20 feet to the ground. It took over an hour to free everyone from the twisted wreckage, ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital treatment. Six were detained overnight with back, neck and rib injuries. Pink Floyd sent a free T-shirt and a note of apology to all the fans who had been seated in the stand that collapsed. The show was immediately canceled and re-scheduled.

• 1997 ~ John Denver died. Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, died at the age of 53. He was an American singer and songwriter. He is known for popularizing acoustic folk music in the 1970s as part of the ongoing singer-songwriter movement of the mid-to-late 20th century. Denver is widely recognized as a cultural icon of the American West.

• 2000 ~ Boston Symphony Hall celebrated its 100th anniversary

• 2002 ~ Ray Conniff, American bandleader and musician (Ray Conniff Singers), died at the age of 85

January 14 ~ On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on January 14, 2025

. 1690 ~ Announcement of the invention of the clarinet.

. 1812 ~ Sigismond Thalberg, composer and one of the most famous virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.

. 1780 ~ François-Joseph Dizi, Flemish harpist and composer. He died sometime in 1840

. 1800 ~ Ludwig von Köchel, Austrian musicographer; compiler of the Mozart catalog
More information about von Köchel

. 1875 ~ Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian humanitarian, physician, Bach scholar and organist, winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1952

. 1888 ~ Stephen Heller, Hungarian composer and pianist, died at the age of 74

. 1900 ~ The Giacomo Puccini opera “Tosca” had its world premiere in Rome. The opera made its U.S. debut on February 4, 1901.

. 1908 ~ Russ Columbo, Singer, bandleader, songwriter

. 1917 ~ Billy Butterfield (Charles William Butterfield), Trumpeter, the founding member of World’s Greatest Jazz Band

. 1925 ~ Alban Berg’s atonal opera “Wozzeck” premiered in Berlin

. 1929 ~ Billy Walker, Singer, known as the ‘masked singer’

. 1931 ~ Caterina Valente, Singer

. 1936 ~ Harriet Hilliard, vocalist and wife of bandleader Ozzie Nelson, sang Get Thee Behind Me Satan, for the movie “Follow the Fleet.” The song was originally written by Irving Berlin and was previously intended for Ginger Rogers to sing in the movie “Top Hat.”

. 1938 ~ Jack Jones (John Allan Jones), Singer, son of Allan Jones and wife, actress, Irene Hervey.

. 1939 ~ The program, “Honolulu Bound”, was heard on CBS radio. Phil Baker and The Andrews Sisters were featured on the program.

. 1949 ~ Joaquín Turina, Spanish pianist/conductor/composer (Rima), died at the age of 66

. 1953 ~ Ralph Vaughan Williams‘ Sinfonia Antartica first performance.

. 1956 ~ Rock ‘n’ roller, Little Richard, was singing the newly released Tutti-Frutti. The Pat Boone version became even more popular as a cover record.

. 1964 ~ A hootenanny was held for the first time at the White House, as the New Christy Minstrels entertained President and Lady Bird Johnson, as well as Italy’s President.

. 1965 ~ Jeanette (Anna) MacDonald passed away. She was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy

. 1968 ~ LL Cool J (James Todd Smith), Rap singer

. 1970 ~ Diana Ross and the Supremes perform their final concert

. 1995 ~ Alexander Gibson, British conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera, died at the age of 68

.2024 – Peter Schickele died at the age of 88. He was best known as P.D.Q. Bach and wrote a biography under that name titled Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach. There’s a copy in the music studio if anyone wants to borrow it.

Peter Schickele, a virtuoso of versatility and a maestro of musical mirth, embarked on his final cadence in his home in Bearsville, N.Y. His daughter, Karla Schickele, confirmed his passing, marking the end of a vibrant era. Schickele’s health had waned following a series of infections last fall, but his legacy resonates with a crescendo of creativity and humor.

A composer of serious concert music, Schickele’s symphonic, choral, solo instrumental, and chamber works numbered over 100, enchanting audiences since the 1950s. His compositions, which graced the repertoires of the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Lark Quartet, the Minnesota Opera, and other prestigious ensembles, reflected his deep musical prowess. His talents also shone in the realms of film scores and Broadway musicals, showcasing his versatility and profound understanding of diverse musical genres.

Yet, it was under the guise of his riotously comedic alter ego, P.D.Q. Bach, that Schickele achieved iconic status. In this whimsical persona, he masterfully blended the gravitas of classical music with the lightheartedness of parody. For over fifty years, he delighted and surprised audiences with performances that were a fantastical fusion of Mozart, the Marx Brothers, and Rube Goldberg. His prizewinning recordings and even a book-length biography of P.D.Q. Bach playfully punctured the oftentimes solemn bubble of classical-music culture, bringing a refreshing irreverence to the concert hall.

Peter Schickele’s life was a symphony of serious music and satirical comedy, leaving behind a legacy that dances between the profound and the playful, reminding us that at the heart of great art lies the joy of creation.

More about Schickele

Composers – V

Posted by MaryO on January 26, 2024

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.

January 14: On This Day in Music

Posted by MaryO on January 14, 2020