Monday, November 27, 2023 | Composer of the Week

Franz Schubert (“frahnz SHOE-bert”)

• Born in Austria, 1797
• Died in 1828 at age 31
• Romantic Period

Compositions Include:

• Over 100 works including:
• 9 symphonies, includes one “Unfinished”
• 600 songs for voice and piano, including “Der Erlkönig, based on a poem by Goethe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS91p-vmSf0&list=RDJS91p-vmSf0&start_radio=1&rv=JS91p-vmSf0&t=13&t=13&t=13&t=13&t=14 

Other Details:

• Age 17  was a teacher at his father's school while composing at night
• At age 19, quit teaching to focus on composing
• He was part of a close-knit circle of artists and students who had social gatherings together that became known as Schubertiads
• Only a little more than five feet tall

Saturday, November 11, 2023 | Composer of the Week

Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington (“DUKE  EH-ling-ton”)

• Born in Washington, D.C. USA, 1899
• Died in 1974 at age 75
• Jazz Composer, Pianist and Band Leader

Compositions Include:

• Soda Fountain Rag, composed at age 15
• Mood Indigo
• Satin Doll
• It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg
• Black, Brown, and Beige which was a jazz symphony

Other Details:

• Began piano lessons at age 7; did not take his lessons seriously and liked playing baseball better
• When a bit older, got to hear professional pianists play ragtime music in Washington D.C., which made him try harder at music
• Moved to NYC in 1920s & started his own band
• Thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn,
• Ellington usually directed his band from the piano and rarely used a conductor’s baton
• Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969

Saturday, November 4, 2023 | Composer of the Week

Maurice Ravel  (“mah-REECE   ruh-VELL”)

• Born in France, 1875
• Died in 1937 at age 62
• Impressionism Period

Compositions Include:

• Bolero, originally composed as a ballet for orchestra, first performed at the Paris Opera in 1928
• Mother Goose Suite, originally composed for one piano, four hands; Ravel later notated it for orchestra
• Le tombeau de Couperin – a suite of six dances in Baroque forms, each one dedi­cated to a victim of World War I (WWI)
• Daphnis and Chloe – a ballet 
• Jeux d’eau – for piano solo 
• Piano Concerto for the left hand, composed for pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right hand while fighting in WWI 
• Piano Concertos in D and G major 
• Sonatina – for piano solo

Other Details:

• entered Paris Conservatory at age 14
• Mother was Spanish, father was French 
• Ravel and his broth­er Edouard served in the military during WWI
• Orchestrated Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, originally for piano solo
• Took composition lessons from French composer Gabriel Fauré
• Did not see himself as an Impressionistic composer, and thought that term only applied to visual artists