Tonight, we are going to Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York to hear an all-Mozart program including
Piano Concerto No. 21
Symphony No. 38, Prague
Piano Concerto No. 20
Comments and full program later!
Tag Archives: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
May 28 ~ Today in Music History
• 1608 ~ Claudio Monteverdi’s “Arianna,” premiered Mantua
• 1650 ~ Gilles Hayne, Composer, died at the age of 59
• 1765 ~ Jean Baptiste Cartier, Composer
• 1777 ~ Joseph-Henri-Ignace Mees, Composer
• 1778 ~ Friedrich Westenholz, Composer
• 1780 ~ Joseph Frohlich, Composer
• 1787 ~ (Johann Georg) Leopold Mozart, Austrian Composer, Wolfgang’s father, died at the age of 67, in Salzburg.
• 1791 ~ Joseph Schmitt, Composer, died at the age of 57
• 1798 ~ Josef Dessauer, Composer
• 1805 ~ (Ridolfo) Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer and cellist, died at the age of 62
• 1830 ~ Karoly Filtsch, Composer
• 1833 ~ Johann Christian Friedrich Haeffner, Composer, died at the age of 74
• 1836 ~ Anton Reicha, Composer, died at the age of 66
• 1838 ~ Thomas Busby, Composer, died
• 1841 ~ Giovanni Sgambati, Composer
• 1844 ~ Leon Felix August Joseph Vasseur, Composer
• 1883 ~ George Dyson, Composer
• 1883 ~ August Freyer, Composer, died at the age of 79
• 1883 ~ Luigi Perrachio, Composer
• 1889 ~ Jose Padilla, Composer
• 1890 ~ Viktor Ernst Nessler, Composer, died at the age of 49
• 1892 ~ Comedienne Marie Dressler made her New York City singing debut in the comic opera, “The Robber of the Rhine”.
• 1896 ~ Marius Monnikendam, Dutch choir composer
• 1898 ~ Andy Kirk, Jazz musician
• 1906 ~ Phil Regan, Singer, My Wild Irish Rose
• 1906 ~ Shields/Cobbs musical “His honor, the Mayor,” premiered in New York City
• 1910 ~ T-Bone Walker, Legendary blues guitarist
• 1914 ~ Adolf Gustaw Sonnenfeld, Composer, died at the age of 76
• 1915 ~ Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Violinist
More information about Schneiderhan
• 1923 ~ György Ligeti, Hungarian-born Austrian composer
More information about Ligeti
• 1922 ~ Carl Tieke, Composer, died at the age of 58
• 1922 ~ Otto Krueger conducted the Detroit News Orchestra, the first known radio orchestra, which was heard on WWJ Radio in Detroit, MI. The “Detroit News” owned the radio station at the time.
• 1925 ~ Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German baritone. Known for his performance of opera, notably Mozart, Strauss and Wagner, he is also famed for his interpretation of German lieder.
• 1927 ~ Bernhard Lewkovitch, Composer
• 1930 ~ Julian Penkivil Slade, Composer
• 1931 ~ Peter Talbot Westergaard, Composer
• 1932 ~ Henning Christiansen, Composer
• 1934 ~ Julian Slade, Composer
• 1934 ~ Rob du Bois, Composer
• 1936 ~ Maki Ishii, Composer
• 1940 ~ Hans Dulfer, Tenor saxophonist and director of Paradiso
• 1940 ~ Theodor Streicher, Composer, died at the age of 65
• 1940 ~ Irving Berlin’s musical “Louisiana Purchase,” premiered in New York City
• 1941 ~ Frank Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra in recording “This Love of Mine” for Victor Records.
• 1943 ~ Dennis Riley, Composer
• 1944 ~ Gladys Knight, American rhythm-and-blues singer
• 1945 ~ John Fogerty, Songwriter, singer with Creedence Clearwater
• 1945 ~ Gary Stewart, Country singer
• 1954 ~ Achille Longo, Composer, died at the age of 54
• 1957 ~ The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) was established. This is the organization that brings us the Grammy Awards for all forms of musical entertainment each year.
• 1958 ~ Mikulas Schneider-Trvavsky, Composer, died at the age of 77
• 1959 ~ Johnson and Bart’s musical “Lock up your daughters,” premiered in London
• 1963 ~ Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin, Composer, died at the age of 60
• 1964 ~ John Finley Williamson, conductor of the Westminster Choir, died at the age of 76
• 1964 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his Ninth String quartet
• 1966 ~ Percy Sledge hit number one with his first, and what turned out to be his biggest, hit. When a Man Loves a Woman would stay at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It was the singer’s only hit to make the top ten and was a million seller.
• 1966 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch’s Eleventh String quartet, premiered in Leningrad
• 1967 ~ Dmitri Shostakovitch completed his Second Violin Concerto
• 1973 ~ Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, German composer and conductor, died at the age of 73
• 1975 ~ The Doobie Brothers went gold with the album, “Stampede”. The group, formed in San Jose, CA, recorded 16 charted hits. Two made it to number one, becoming million-selling, gold record winners: Black Water in March, 1975 and What aFool Believes in April, 1979.
• 1977 ~ Jiri Reinberger, Composer, died at the age of 63
• 1981 ~ Mary Lou Williams, Musician, died at the age of 71
Studying for Exams?
Listening to music can help you while you’re studying for your exams.
This is 3.5 Hours of the Best Classical Music – Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin – Beautiful Piano, Violin & Orchestral Masterpieces by the greatest composers of all time.
May 18 ~ Today in Music History
• 1799 ~ Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright, died. Famed for his two comedies “The Marriage of Figaro” (Mozart used this for an opera) and “The Barber of Seville” Rossini used this for an opera).
• 1830 ~ Karl Goldmark, composer
• 1876 ~ The first issue of the first music magazine in America, Musical America, was published
• 1892 ~ Ezio Pinza, Italian bass and actor
• 1902 ~ Meredith Willson, American composer, flutist, arranger and orchestrator
More information about Willson
• 1911 ~ Gustav Mahler, Czech-born Austrian composer, died. His last word was “Mozart”. He completed nine symphonies and several song-cycles notably “Das Lied von der Erde.”
More information about Gustav Mahler
• 1911 ~ Big Joe (Joseph Vernon) Turner, Rhythm & blues singer
• 1913 ~ Perry (Pierino Roland) Como, Grammy Award-winning American singer of popular music, 15 gold records
More information about Como
• 1919 ~ Dame Margot Fonteyne, British prima ballerina. She started her career with the London Sadler’s Wells company in 1934 and in 1962 began a legendary partnership with Rudolph Nureyev.
• 1922 ~ Kai Winding, Jazz musician: trombone
• 1948 ~ Joe Bonsall, Singer with The Oak Ridge Boys
• 1968 ~ Tiny Tim’s warbly Tiptoe Through the Tulips was released. An eventual top twenty hit, Tiptoe was a remake of a number one hit for Nick Lucas in 1929.
• 1970 ~ Opening this night in New York City was The Me Nobody Knows at the Orpheum Theatre. The musical had a run of 586 performances.
• 2002 ~ Wolfgang Schneiderhan, a violinist who began performing as a child, became a concert master at 17 and played with orchestras across Europe, died. He was 86. A child prodigy, Schneiderhan quickly rose to international fame, performing with leading ensembles, including the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra and the Philharmonic. A regular at Europe’s most important music festivals, Schneiderhan played with Wilhelm Backhaus and other well-known pianists and gave violin concerts under such legendary conductors as Bruno Walter and Wilhelm Furtwängler. Later, Schneiderhan was a teacher at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at the Vienna Academy of Music. At age 11, Schneiderhan played in Copenhagen, Denmark – his first major concert abroad. Already a distinguished interpreter of the music of Mozart andBeethoven, Schneiderhan became concert master of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at age 17, a job he also held with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1937.
• 2003 ~ Broadway’s ‘Les Miserables’ Ended After 16 Years. The pop opera based on Victor Hugo’s 1832 novel closed after 16 years, making it the second longest-running show ever on the Great White Way. The show played 6,680 performances since opening at the Broadway Theater in 1987. Only “Cats” has played more performances on Broadway with 7,485. The last performance at the Imperial Theater included a finale featuring 300 alumni of the Broadway run. Although it is now gone from the New York stage, the show is performed around the world by touring companies and is a fixture in London’s West End.
May 16 ~ Today in Music History
• 1813 ~ Stephen Heller, Hungarian pianist, teacher and composer whose career spanned the period from Schumann to Bizet, and was an influence for later Romantic composers.
• 1892 ~ Richard Tauber (Ernst Seiffert), Austrian-born British tenor. He sang a wide range of music and was as equally at home in opera, notably Mozart, as in Austrian operetta.
• 1913 ~ Woody (Woodrow Charles) Herman, American jazz clarinetist, bandleader and composer
• 1922 ~ Eddie Bert, Jazz musician, trombone
• 1929 ~ The first Academy Awards were presented on this night, hosted by Douglas Fairbanks and William C. de Mille. This first awards ceremony of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. It attracted an audience of 200 people.
• 1929 ~ Paul Whiteman and his orchestra backed Bing Crosby for the tune, Sposin’, which ‘Der Bingle’ recorded for Columbia Records. Betty Carter (Lillie Mae Jones) (1930) Jazz singer: toured with Lionel Hampton & Miles Davis
• 1946 ~ The Irving Berlin musical, Annie Get Your Gun, at New York’s Imperial Theatre. Once of the most successful shows presented on a Broadway stage, the show ran for 1,147 performances.
• 1947 ~ Barbara Lee, Singer with The Chiffons
• 1947 ~ Darrel Sweet, Drummer, singer
• 1953 ~ Bill Haley and His Comets made it to the Billboard music charts for the first time with Crazy Man Crazy. The tune went to number six and became the first rock ’n’ roll record to make the pop music chart.
• 1965 ~ The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd, a Broadway musical starring Anthony Newley, made its premiere at the Shubert Theatre in New York City. Cyril Ritchard appeared in the production which entertained audiences for 231 performances.
• 1966 ~ Janet Jackson, Singer
• 1990 ~ Jim Henson, the famous creator who of the Muppets, a cast of puppets including Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie and Bert, died at the age of 54.
• 1990 ~ The entertainer who could do it all, Sammy Davis, Jr., died this day, in Beverly Hills, California, USA. From vaudeville at age three (with his father and uncle) to the star of Broadway’s “Mr. Wonderful”, from Las Vegas nightclubs to hit records, the actor, singer, dancer, impersonator, and musician performed his way into the hearts of young and old everywhere. The world mourned the passing of Sammy Davis, Jr. at age 64 of throat cancer.
• 1993 ~ Marv Johnson passed away. He was an American R&B and soul singer.
• 1995 ~ Lola Flores, fiery Spanish dancer and singer, died. She made many films but was best known for her flamenco movements and passionate songs.
April 23 ~ Today in Music History
. 1882 ~ Albert Coates, British conductor and composer
1891 ~ Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer and pianist
More information about Prokofiev
Grammy winner
. 1928 ~ Shirley Temple, Entertainer
. 1936 ~ Roy Orbison, American rock-and-roll singer, songwriter and guitarist
. 1939 ~ Ray Peterson, Singer
. 1947 ~ Keith Moon, Drummer for the rock band The Who
. 1952 ~ Narada Michael Walden, Musician: drums with the group Mahavishnu Orchestra, record producer, singer, songwriter
. 1952 ~ Elisabeth Schumann, German soprano, died. Best known for her roles in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “Cosi Fan Tutte,” she was also a popular recitalist
. 1985 ~ This was a big day for the flamboyant Liberace. Lee, as he was called by those close to him, first appeared on the TV soap opera, Another World. The sequined and well-furred pianist appeared as a fan of Felicia Gallant, a romance novelist. Later in the day, Liberace was a guest video jockey on MTV!
. 1985 ~ The first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize in over a decade was Sunday in the Park with George.
. 2001 ~ Genji Ito, the resident composer for the experimental theater club La MaMa E.T.C. and a music collaborator with many other groups, died of cancer at the age of 54. Ito composed scores for more than 25 theatrical productions at La MaMa. He received an Obie Award in 1986 for sustained excellence. Working closely with Ellen Stewart, La MaMa’s founder, Ito produced scores notable for their stylistic variation and diversity. For 1986’s “Orfei,” a retelling of the Orpheus myth, Ito composed a score that mixed traditional folk instruments with modern electronic ones. For 1993’s “Ghosts: Live form Galilee,” the story of a group of black men accused of raping a white woman in 1931, Ito composed a score that combined blues with country and vaudeville. Ito also wrote 15 compositions for the Ubu Repertory.
Piano Stores, Teachers Adapt to Decline in Interest in the Instrument
SALISBURY, Md. – Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin wouldn’t be thrilled to hear that fewer people are choosing to learn to play the piano than ever before.
At B&B Music in Salisbury, people have been shopping for pianos since they opened 60 years ago. One think you won’t see on the display floor in 2015 is a grand piano.
“We used to have actual string pianos at one time,” said store manager Mike Jarrell. “The way the economy was, it wasn’t very feasible for a lot of people. They can cost up to several thousands of dollars.”
The best year for new piano sales in the United States was 1909, when more than 364,500 were sold. Now that number has plunged to between 30,000 and 40,000 each year.
Denise Crothers is on her 36th year of teaching people young and old how to play piano. She averages about 60 students per week.
“I teach for half an hour, usually for each lesson and half of I teach them in the note because I think it’s important to still know how to read. Half of it would be like the praise and worship and learning how to chord and how to play by ear,” said Crothers. “They can play what they hear on the radio. Some of them don’t even need me anymore.”
Nationally, increased interest in sports or electronics is blamed for declining interest in learning to play the piano. Denise says lessons have evolved over the years in order to keep it fresh.
“I think it’s important for teachers to be able to apply the real world into their teaching. Not maybe strictly Classical. Classical is wonderful, you know, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love it, but I think it’s important for them to do fun songs and stuff like that,” said Crothers.
Rather than smashing old pianos on the curb, B&B Music is adapting to suit a more tech-savvy generation.
“Our more common models are the digital style models with weighted keys so it’s more like playing a real string piano. Then you start getting into more production type keyboards which are more for making your own scores and hip-hop beats and that kind of thing. It’s more of a production opposed to performance,” said Jarrell.
Despite a national downward trend in piano purchases and lessons, those in the biz can’t stress enough how important it is.
“In the music business, you’re constantly learning. It’s a never-ending thing,” said Jarrell.
“Once you commit to something, really having the work ethic to keep going and keep learning, it’s really rewarding and that’s something I think our culture lacks sometimes, you know the ‘stick-to-it-ness’,” said Crothers.
April 9 ~ Today in Music History
. 1886 ~ Enrique Granados, Spanish pianist and composer, performed his debut piano concert in Barcelona.
. 1888 ~ Sol Hurok, Impresario
1890 ~ Efram Zimbalist, Russian-born American violinist and composer
More information about Zimbalist
. 1898 ~ Paul Robeson, American bass. Known for his sympathy for Russia he had his passport revoked for many years. The song Ole Man River, whose words he changed to fit his views, became his signature song.
. 1906 ~ Antal Dorati, Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He was the first conductor to record all of Haydn’s symphonies.
. 1916 ~ Julian Dash, Jazz musician, tenor sax
. 1928 ~ Tom Lehrer, Songwriter
. 1932 ~ Carl Perkins, early American rock ‘n’ roll figure who originally recorded Blue Suede Shoes. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987
. 1940 ~ Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra, along with singer Helen O’Connell, recorded Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga for Decca Records.
. 1950 ~ Bob Hope hosted a Star-Spangled Review on NBC-TV. Hope became the highest- paid performer for a single show on TV. The Star-Spangled Review was a musical special.
. 1970 ~ Paul McCartney sought a High Court writ to wind up the Beatles business partnership, effectively ending the group’s career.
. 1977 ~ The Swedish pop group Abba made its debut at number one on the American pop charts, as Dancing Queen became the most popular record in the U.S.
. 1988 ~ Brook Benton passed away. He was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences.
. 2001 ~ Graziella Sciutti, an Italian soprano and opera director best known for her interpretations of Mozart, died at the age of 68. Born in Turin, northern Italy, in 1932, Sciutti made her first operatic appearance at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France in 1951. She went on to perform under Herbert von Karajan at Milan’s La Scala. She was lead soprano at a smaller theatre at La Scala called La Piccola Scala for eight years from its inception in 1955. She became a member of the Vienna State Opera in 1960 and the following year made her debut in San Francisco in one of her most celebrated roles, as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. She began her directing career at Covent Garden in London and at the Glyndebourne Festival in England, where she directed and performed in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine in 1977. She then went on to direct in Canada and for the opera companies in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Dallas and Miami, as well as in Britain, Germany and Italy. She joined London’s Royal College of Music in the mid 1980s and continued to teach there until shortly before her death.
Piano Gloves!
JoyTunes Piano Gloves
I thought this would surely interest all piano teachers and lovers out there – JoyTunes’ just came out with new piano teaching GLOVES!
Take a look in the clip and share it to all piano lovers everywhere.
The JoyTunes gloves, still in beta version, will turn you into Mozart in the blink of an eye! Don’t know how to play piano? These gloves will take you from 1 note to Beethoven in a flash. Our gloves allow your hands to auto magically bend and move to play any song your heart desires! Check out the video for more info.
Want to get your own pair of gloves? Purchase them here: http://www.joytunes.com/gloves
Piano Ornaments ~ Trills
WRONG – this post, and others in this category, isn’t about ornaments at Christmas but about those funny looking marks over your music and how to play them.
The trill (or shake, as it was known from the 16th until the 19th century) is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill.
A trill provides rhythmic interest, melodic interest, and harmonic interest. Sometimes it is expected that the trill will end with a turn or some other variation. Such variations are often marked in the music.
A trill in your music can look like this 
Or like this tr~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trills can be played differently, depending on the period in which the composer was living so it is important to know the time period of your piece.
Baroque trills (aka shakes in this time period) have several ways to be played as shown in this chart:
![A table depicting how to perform different types of trills when playing music from the Baroque period (1600-1750).[4] Note the similarity between the symbol for trill and that of the mordent.](https://oconnormusicstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/baroque_trill_instructions.png)
A table depicting how to perform different types of trills (or shakes) when playing music from the Baroque period (1600-1750).
The Baroque trill continuing through Mozart’s time usually begins on the note above the main note.
In music after the time of Mozart, the trill usually begins on the principal note.
Often, your music will have suggestions about how they should be played written above the music. If not, ASK!
A really good book which explains about the trill and other ornaments is this one, available as a reference book in the O’Connor Music Studio:
Some trill exercises:
Questions? Write them down and don’t forget to ask at your next lesson!
MaryO'Studio 