Obscure Music Mondays

Erkki Melartin (Feb. 7, 1875 - Feb. 14, 1937) was a Finnish composer, conductor, and teacher. He studied in Helsinki fro 1893 to 1899 with Martin Wegelius, and with Robert Fuchs,in Vienna, from 1899 to 1901 Continue reading →

Vincent d'Indy (March 27, 1851 - Dec. 2, 1931) was a French composer and teacher born in to an aristocratic family. He took piano lessons from his grandmother at a young age, and studied harmony at 14 from Albert Lavignac. He enlisted in the National Guard during the Franco-Prussian War when he was 19, but came back to music as soon as the fighting was over. He became a student at the Paris Conservatory, and later on became dissatisfied with the standard of teaching there, and with Charles Bordes and Alexandre Guilmant, founded the Schola Cantorum de Paris in 1894. d'Indy would teach there, and at the Paris Conservatory, until his death. Continue reading →

Hedwige Chrétien (July 15 - 1859 - 1944) was a French composer, and not a great deal is known about her.  She studied at the Paris Conservatory with Ernest Guiraud starting in 1874, and became a professor there in 1889. While she was a student, she won several awards for piano, counterpoint, harmony, and fugue, and she would go on to write around 150 compositions, of various genres. Continue reading →

Franz Ignaz Danzi (June 15, 1763 - April 13, 1826) was a German composer and conductor, and like his father Innocenz Danzi, a cellist. Continue reading →

Reinhold Moritzevich Glière (Jan. 11, 1875 - June 23, 1956) was a Russian/Soviet composer and violinist born in Kiev, of German-Polish descent. Son of a wind instrument maker, Glière's father noticed his son's talent, and enrolled him in the Kiev School of Music, where he played violin. In 1894 he entered the Moscow Conservatory, and graduated in 1900, after composing a one act opera entitled...

Italo Caimmi (July 26, 1871 - May 21, 1964) was an Italian double bassist and pedagogue. Thought not a great deal is known about Caimmi, we do know that he studied at The Conservatory of Pesaro, with the great double bass pedagogue Isaiah Bille. He was also an accomplished pianist, and was moderately successful as a soloist in both instruments, playing in several countries. As an orchestral musician, he played at La Scala, and taught in conservatories. He wrote a method book that was important in the Italian school of double bass playing. Continue reading →

Giovanni Bottesini (Dec. 22, 1821 - July 7, 1889) was an Italian conductor, composer, and double bass virtuoso, born in to a musical family. Continue reading →

Robert Fuchs (Feb. 15, 1847 - Feb. 19, 1927) was an Austrian composer and music professor who taught many famous composers.   Continue reading →

Józef Wieniawski (May 23, 1837 - Nov. 11, 1912) was a Polish pianist, composer, teacher, and conductor, and younger brother of Henryk Wieniawski, a famous violinist and composer. Continue reading →

Paul Marie Theodore Vincent d'Indy (March 27, 1851 - Dec. 2, 1931) was a composer and teacher born in Paris, France. His first piano lessons were at a young age, given by his grandmother. Continue reading →