TDCM: August 31st - George Frideric Handel

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Bio

Handel was born in Halle which is in modern-day Germany to a medical professional. He studied at the University of Halle and was the organist at the local Calvinist Cathedral, despite being a Lutheran. He cut his compositional teeth there though none of the compositions have survived. He moved from there to Hamburg where he composed his first Operas and began to gain notoriety. Ferdinando de' Medici brought him to Italy where he worked in Rome composing music for the RCC. He received an invitation to visit London and considered England home for the rest of his life. He settled in Middlesex where he supported the formation of the Royal Academy of Music. He was quite prolific, composing 42 operas, over a hundred cantatas, and scores of chamber arrangements including some of the most famous pieces in history such as The Messiah. 

Music

Music for the Royal Fireworks

Water Music

Oboe Concertos

Concerti Grossi

Trumpet Concertos

The Messiah

TDCM: Review of the "G" Composers

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

List, Stats, Curiosities of the "G" Composers

1. Andrea Gabrieli
2. Giovanni Gabrieli
3. Niels Gade
4. Francesco Geminiani
5. Roberto Gerhard
6. Edward German
7. George Gershwin
8. Carlo Gesualdo de Venosa
9. Orlando Gibbson
10. Eric Gilder
11. Don Gillis
12. Alberto Ginastera
13. Umberto Giordano
14. Mauro Giuliani
15. Philip Glass
16. Alexander Glazunov
17. Reinhold Glière
18. Mikhail Glinka
19. Christoph Gluck
20. Benjamin Godard
21. Alexander Goehr
22. Karl Goldmark
23. François-Joseph Gossec
24. Louis Moreau Gottschalk
25. Morton Gould
26. Charles Gounod
27. Percy Grainger
28. Enrique Granados
29. Marcel Grandjany
30. André Grétry
31. Edvard Grieg
32. Charles Tomlinson Griffes
33. Ferde Grofé
34. Louis Gruenberg

Nationalities

American 8
Italian 6
French 5
Russian 3
English 3
German 2
Spanish 2
Hungarian 1
Australian 1
Danish 1
Norwegian 1
Argentine 1

Earliest
Composer - Andrea Gabrieli (c1532-1586)
Composition - Gossec's Missa Pro Defunctis (1760)*

*earliest dated composition

Latest
Composer - Philip Glass (b. 1937)
Composition - Glass's Heroes (1996)

Total Compositions Sampled - 177

Top 10 Ranked "G" Composers

Ranked on a purely subjective personal enjoyment scale

Edvard Grieg (10/10)

Norwegian, 1843-1907

Piano Concerto in A minor

Philip Glass (10/10)

American, b. 1937

Metamorphosis 

Niels Gade (10/10)

Danish, 1817-1890

Symphony No. 1 in C minor "On Sjoland's Fair Plains"

Reinhold Glière (10/10)

Russian, 1875-1956

The Bronze Horseman

Don Gillis (10/10)

American, 1912-1978

Symphony No. 3 "A Symphony for Free Men"

Alexander Glazunov (10/10)

Russian, 1865-1936

Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major

George Gershwin (10/10)

American, 1898-1937

Rhapsody in Blue

Karl Goldmark (10/10)

Hungarian, 1830-1915

Rustic Wedding Symphony

Ferde Grofé (9/10)

American, 1892-1972

Benjamin Godard (9/10)

French, 1849-1895

Symphony Gothique in A minor

TDCM: August 30th - Iain Hamilton

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Iain Hamilton (1922-2000)

Bio

Hamilton was born in Glasgow and studied in engineering in London. His amateur compositions earned him a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and he switched careers. He taught in London, then moved to the US and taught at Duke. 

Music

Sinfonia for two Orchestras

Symphony No. 2

Alexandrian Sequence for Chamber Orchestra

1912 Overture

Symphony No. 1

Bartholomew Fair Overture

TDCM: August 29th - Fromental Halévy

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Fromental Halévy (1799-1862)

Bio

Jacques-François Fromental Halévy was born in Paris. He studied under Cherubini at the Paris Conservatoire. He eventually took a teaching post there while composing for the stage. His students included Bizet and Gounod. His triumph, La Juive, was wildly successful and is considered a staple of French Opera.

Music

La Juive

Charles VI

TDCM: August 26th - Reynaldo Hahn

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947)

Bio

Hahn was born in Venezuela but his family emigrated to Paris while he was a child. He entered the Paris Conservatory and was a contemporary student with Maurice Ravel. He studied under Gounod, Massenet, Dubois, and others. He is best known for his contributions to Opera and directed the Paris Opèra at the end of his career.

Music

20 Mélodies

Le ruban dénoué for two pianos

Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor

Piano Concerto

Mozart

Violin Concerto

Video of Hahn accompanying himself singing

TDCM: August 25th - Louis Gruenberg

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Louis Gruenberg (1884-1964)

Bio

Gruenberg was born in Brest-Litovsk in modern-day Belarus but emigrated to the United States with his family as a child. He was a talented pianist and studied at Dvořák's school in New York. He traveled to Europe to learn under Busoni and became a prolific composer. He had a successful career in Hollywood writing film scores and was a champion of Schoenberg and the early contemporary composers.

Music

Violin Concerto

Polychromatics

The Emperor Jones

Symphony No. 2

TDCM: August 24th - Ferde Grofé

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Ferde Grofé (1892-1972)

Bio

Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé was born in New York to German immigrants. He came from a musical family who took him to Germany to study music at Leipzig. He was a proficient violinist and pianist and worked odd jobs while composing on the side. His compositions brought him notoriety and a career in arranging and composing for film. 

Music

The Grand Canyon Suite

World's Fair Suite

Niagara Falls Suite

Mississippi Suite

Orchestration of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue

Piano Concerto in D minor

Hollywood Suite

TDCM: August 23rd - Charles Griffes

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Charles Griffes (1884-1920)

Bio

Griffes was born in Elmira, New York, and studied piano at the local college. He stood out enough to be sent to Berlin for further study at the Stern Conservatory. He returned to the U.S. and directed the music department at the Hackley school for boys where he succumbed to the Spanish Flu at the young age of 35. He is considered one of the preeminent examples of American impressionism.

Music

The Vale of Dreams, Piano Music

Roman Sketches

Piano Sonata

The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan

The Kairn of Kordiwen

Three Sketches on Indian Themes

TDCM: August 22nd - Edvard Grieg

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)

Bio

Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway. His mother taught him piano and then he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory. His composing brought him notoriety throughout northern Europe and he met and collaborated with Hartmann, Gade, Nordraak, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Grainger, and Bjørnson. Grieg led the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and represents the pinnacle of Scandinavian romanticism. 

Music

Peer Gynt

Holberg Suite

Piano Concerto in A minor

Symphony in C minor

Grieg Piano Works

TDCM: August 19th - André Grétry

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

André Grétry (1741-1813)

Bio

Grétry was born in Liège in modern-day Belgium. He was a choir boy and studied under the organists at St-Pierre de Liège. He was greatly impressed by the operas of Galuppi and Pergolesi and studied under Casali in Rome. He composed nearly 70 operas and was among the leading musical figures of his day. 

Music

Flute Concerto in C major

Grand Motet

Le Magnifique

Guillaume Tell

TDCM: August 18th - Marcel Grandjany

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975)

Bio

Grandjany was born in Paris and studied at the Conservatoire. He was a prodigious harpist and performed with prominent conductors/composers such as Ravel, Koussevitzky, and others. He taught at Fountainebleau and Juilliard and was a prominent supporter of the American Harp Society.

Music

Children's Hour

Handel Harp Concerto (performance by Grandjany)

Petite Suite Classique

Introduction and Allegro (Grandjany performing)

TDCM: August 17th - Enrique Granados

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Enrique Granados (1867-1916)

Bio

Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados y Campiña was born in Lleida, Catalonia. His father was Cuban and his mother was Spanish. He studied in Barcelona and Paris and became an internationally renowned composer after winning a competition at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. He was tragically killed when the passenger ship he was crossing the Atlantic in was sunk by a German U-Boat in World War I.

Music

12 Spanish Dances

Goyescas

TDCM: August 16th - Percy Grainger

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Bio

Percy Grainger was born in Brighton, Australia. He moved to Frankfurt to study at the Hoch Conservatory accompanied by his mother Rose who began to teach there. He moved to the United States, joined the Army for World War I, and took American citizenship after the war. He traveled as a pianist playing his compositions and a full repertoire. He had a fascination with Nordic culture and befriended Grieg and Delius in his travels. 

Music

Seven pieces arranged for Orchestra

Youthful Suite for Orchestra

In a Nutshell Suite

Orchestral Pieces

Lincolnshire Posy

Free Music No. 1

TDCM: August 15th - Charles Gounod

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Bio

Charles-François Gounod was born in Paris to a painting father and a pianist mother. He showed an early inclination in the arts and had private tutoring from Anton Reicha before entering the Conservatoire de Paris. He met Berlioz there and was profoundly impressed. He composed many Operas, Masses, Oratorios, and other theater forms as well as a catalog of instrumental music in the Classical style. He was considered a harbinger by the French giants Massenet, Fauré, and Debussy.

Music

Symphony No. 1 in D major

Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major

Meditation on Bach's 1st Prelude

Faust, Ballet

Romeo and Juliet

TDCM: August 2nd - Morton Gould

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Morton Gould (1913-1996)

Bio

Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York. His first composition was published at age six and he studied with Abby Whiteside & Vincent Jones at the Institute of Musical Art in New York. He played piano for Radio Music City Hall and worked for radio stations as a composer and program director. Many of his works were for Broadway as well as some film and television scores. He was given a lifetime Grammy award, a Pulitzer, Gold Baton Award, and was the president of the American Society of Composers, Artists, and Publishers. 

Music

Symphony No. 1

American Symphonette No. 3

Symphony No. 4 "West Point"

Holocaust Orchestral Suite

Interplay

TDCM: August 1st - Louis Moreau Gottschalk

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869)

Bio

Gottschalk was born in New Orleans to a large family. He was a prodigious pianist and was sent to the Paris Conservatoire at 13. He was rejected initially due to being an American but worked his way to prominence being praised by the great pianists of his day, Chopin, Liszt, and Alkan. Gottschalk was immensely influenced by his cajun upbringing and travels in the Caribbean. He tragically passed at 40 due to an overdose of quinine. 

Music

A Night in the Tropics

Music for Piano

Various Pianoworks

Piano Pieces

Works for Orchestra