orchestra

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...

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (Nov. 2, 1739 - Oct. 24, 1799) was an Austrian composer and violinist. Introduced to the violin at the age of six, he was able to take lessons thanks to his father's financial position, and one of his violin teachers was able to get him in to a church orchestra when he was only eleven years old.  Continue reading →

Rued Langgaard (July 28, 1893 - July 10, 1952) was a Danish composer and organist, born to musical parents. He began piano lessons at five years old, with his parents as his first teachers, and was playing Chopin Mazurkas at age seven. He started composing not long after for the piano, and began taking organ and violin lessons. Continue reading →

Sir Arnold Trevor Bax (Nov. 8, 1883 - October 3, 1953) was an English author, poet, and composer. Born in a suburb of London to a wealthy family, his parents encouraged him to study music. As he had a private income,  he followed his own whims when it came to composition. He attended the Hampstead Conservatoire, and the Royal Academy of Music. While at the academy, he became an admirer of the music of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Claude Debussy (the latter two were frowned upon by the faculty). Bax became highly interested in Ireland and Celtic culture, and lived in Dublin for a time, and grew an interest in Nordic culture as well. Later on Bax would travel to Russia, and some of his works were influenced by his travels there. Continue reading →

Niels Wilhelm Gade (Feb. 22, 1817 - Dec. 21, 1890) born in Copenhagen, was the son of an instrument maker. Gade, a violinist, composer, and conductor, started his career with the Royal Danish Orchestra as a violinist, and was able to see compositions of his played by the orchestra. Felix Mendelssohn was an early champion of Gade's work, and they became close associates. Robert Schumann was a good friend as well, and the influence of the significant composers of the German Romantic style (Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn) can be heard in his works. Gade went on to influence other composers himself, such as Edvard Grieg and Carl Nielsen. Gade is considered one of the most important Danish composers, though we sadly don't see his works programmed frequently. Continue reading →

This week, we move to a composer who's name is more known, Chrales Villiers Stanford, a vanguard of the British musical scene, but one who's compositions have faded away gradually. Stanford's orchestral compositions and operas are well forgotten today (though we'll be sure to feature some of those here in upcoming months!), but his vocal works survived him well. Unfortunately, these two continue to fall out of favor, including his Stabat Mater, which we look at today. Continue reading →

This week we take a look at a work from a composer who's life was tragically cut short during World War I, Ernest Bristow Farrar. Just two days after going to the western front of the war, Farrar's short life ended at the age of 33. His extensive compositional output in the years preceding the war have, unfortunately, fallen into obscurity. Today we look at a work for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra, a setting of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The Blessed Damozel. Continue reading →