Saturday, October 28, 2023 | Composer of the Week

Igor Stravinsky  (“EE-gore   struh-VIN-ski”)

• Born in Russia, 1882
• Died in 1971 at age 88
• Modern Period

Compositions Include:

• Ballet: Firebird Suite
• Ballet: The Rite of Spring
• concertos
• symphonies

Other Details:

• Stravinsky’s father one of the leading Russian operatic basses of his day
• Igor studied law and philosophy at St. Petersburg University (graduating in 1905)
• In 1902 he showed some of his early pieces to composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rimsky-Korsakov was sufficiently impressed to agree to take Stravinsky as a private pupil, while at the same time advising him not to enter the conservatory for conventional academic training
• At the first performance of the ballet The Rite of Spring in 1913, the audience was so unsettled that it provoked one of the more famous first-night riots in the history of musical theatre: Stirred by the unusual and suggestive choreography and Stravinsky’s creative and daring music, the audience cheered, protested, and argued among themselves during the performance, creating such a clamor that the dancers could not hear the orchestra
• Disney used "The Rite of Spring" in the movie Fantasia
• Disney movie Fantasia 2000 used music from "Firebird Suite"
• In 1940, Stravinsky was arrested in Boston because he wrote an arrangement of "The Star Spangled Banner" with different harmonies. Boston had a law at the time forbidding this. He was soon released
• During World War II, he moved to the United States and eventually became a U.S. citizen
• Received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Saturday, October 21, 2023 | Composer of the Week

Felix Mendelssohn  ("FEE-licks  MEN-dell-son”)

• Born in Germany, 1809 
• Died in 1847 at age 38
• Romantic Period

Compositions Include:

• Many short solo piano pieces called Song Without Words
• Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream
• 2 oratorios
• symphonies

 Other Details:

• After J.S. Bach died, his music was not performed often. Mendelssohn organized & conducted Bach's St. Matthew Passion, for chorus and orchestra. It is largely due to Mendelssohn we know so many of Bach's works today.

Saturday, October 14, 2023 | Composer of the Week

Franz Joseph Haydn  ("Frahnz  JOE-seff  HIDE-in”)

• Born in Austria, 1732, 
• Died in 1809 at age 77
• Classical Period

Compositions Include:

• Over 100 symphonies, including the Farewell Symphony and the Surprise Symphony
• 84 string quartets
• 53 piano sonatas
• 25 concertos
• 12 masses
• 10 oratorios 

Other Details:

• Beginning at age 7, sang in the choir at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna until his voice changed at age 17
• While at St. Stephen’s studied singing, harpsichord and violin 
• Was very poor growing up and well into adult hood until he was hired by Prince Esterhazy at age 29