TDCM: February 28th - Gabriel Pierné

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937)

Bio

Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz, France. He studied at the Paris Conservatory and was a stand-out student under Franck, Massenet, Marmontel, Durand, and Lavignac. He had a number of notable compositions, was made a Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur, and has a Square in Paris named after him.

Music

Piano Concerto

Concert for Harp and Orchestra

Paysages franciscains, Three Pieces for Orchestra

Images

Ramuntcho, Suite No. 1

Ramuntcho, Suite No. 2

Variations libres et final for flute, string trio and harp

Introduction et Variations for Saxophone Quartet

Les Enfants à Bethleem

TDCM: February 27th - Allan Pettersson

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Gustaf Allan Pettersson (1911-1980)

Bio

Pettersson was born in the Uppland province of Sweden. Born into extreme poverty, Pettersson taught himself violin and after two unsuccessful attempts, gained admittance into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He played in the Stockholm Concert Society and furthered his studies in Stockholm before traveling to Paris to study with Honegger, Messiaen, and Milhaud. Arthritis ended his violin career but he continued composing and is one of Sweden's most prolific and successful musicians. 

Music

Symphony No. 6

Symphony No. 7

Symphony No. 8

Symphony No. 13

Symphony No. 9

Symphony No. 1

TDCM: February 24th - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)

Bio

Giovanni Battista Draghi was born in Jesi, which was in the Papal States. He studied in Naples before working under the patronage of the Prince of Stigliano and the Duke of Maddaloni. His career, and his life, were very short but dramatically influenced the other masters of his time including JS Bach.

Music

Stabat Mater

Violin Concerto

Concerto in G major

Sinfonias

TDCM: February 23rd - Krzysztof Penderecki

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020)

Bio

Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki was born in Dębica, Poland. He studied at Jagiellonian University in Kraków and the Kraków Academy of Music. He taught at the Academy and composed in a progressive post-modern style. He developed his own graphic notation and utilized non-standard instrumentation techniques frequently. He shifted towards more traditional notation later in life and influenced a wide range of musicians including Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. 

Music

Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

Symphony No. 7 "Seven Gates of Jerusalem"

Symphony No. 3

Polymorphia

Cello Concertos

Concerto per violino e orchestra

TDCM: February 22nd - Paul Patterson

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Paul Patterson (b. 1947)

Bio

Paul Patterson is the Manson Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He has a website here: http://paulpatterson.co.uk/ devoted to his compositions and career.    

Music

Concerto for Orchestra

Cracowian Counterpoints

Europhony

Violin Concerto

TDCM: February 21st - Hubert Parry

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Sir Charles Hubert Parry, 1st Baronet (1848-1918)

Bio

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was born in Bournemouth. He was an inheritor of a fortune earned by his grandfather with the East India Company. He studied at Eton College before becoming the youngest ever to earn Oxford's Bachelor of Music. Unable to secure tutoring from Brahms, he continued his education with Edward Dannreuther who began premiering his work. He succeeded Elgar as the director of the Royal College of Music and had many impressive students including Vaughan Williams, Holst, and John Ireland.     

Music

Symphony No. 3 in C major "The English"

Symphony No. 2 in F major "The Cambridge"

Symphony No. 1 in G major

Symphony No. 4 in E minor

TDCM: February 20th - Horatio Parker

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Horatio Parker (1863-1919)

Bio

Horatio William Parker was born in Auburndale, Massachusetts. He studied first in Boston and then in Munich. He returned to the United States and worked as a professor at Yale and as an organist. He was a fairly prolific composer but is best known for his most notable student, Charles Ives.    

Music

Suite for Piano Trio in A

Organ Concerto

Fairyland Suite

Count Robert of Paris Overture

A Northern Ballad

Four Organ Pieces

Scherzino

TDCM: February 17th - Andrzej Panufnik

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Sir Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991)

Bio

Panufnik was born in Warsaw. He studied at the Warsaw Conservatory initially as a percussionist and then as a composer/conductor. He composed music for the Polish resistance during World War II but much of his work during that time was destroyed. He met and collaborated with Kodály, Shostakovich, and Khachaturian but resisted Soviet Realism as an idiom. He eventually fled to the West, became a British citizen, and was knighted. 

Music

Piano Concerto

Symphony No. 2

Symphony No. 3

Violin Concerto

Symphony No. 8

Symphony No. 6

Bassoon Concerto

Symphony No. 1 "Sinfonia Rustica"

TDCM: February 16th - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c1525-1594)

Bio

Giovanni Pierluigi was born in the town he was named after near Rome. He studied music in Rome and was influenced by Josquin des Prez and Guillaume Du Fay's developments in polyphony. He was enormously popular in his time and has been called the "Saviour of Church Music."  

Music

Missa Papae Marcelli

Missa Benedicta

Missa Sicut lilium inter spinas

Missa Nigra sum

Motets for 5 Voices

TDCM: February 15th - Giovanni Paisiello

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816)

Bio

Paisiello was born in Taranto, Italy. He studied voice at the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio in Naples. He wrote a pair of operas while studying which gained him notoriety. More operas attracted significant attention from heads of state such as Catherine the Great and Napoleon and composers such as Gioachino Rossini and a young Mozart. He ended up with more than 80 operas, an extensive collection of sacred compositions, and an enduring legacy.

Music

String Quartet No. 4 in E-flat major

String Quartet No. 8 in G major

Piano Concerti

6 Flute Quartets

TDCM: February 14th - Niccolò Paganini

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)

Bio

Paganini was born in Genoa. He learned the mandolin from his father and was quickly recognized as a prodigy violinist. He rose in fame and was attached to Napoleon's sister Elisa Baciocchi's court in Lucca and then Florence. He was recognized by the Pope and several other significant patrons throughout southern Europe. His compositions advanced violin technique and compositional style immensely. 

Music

Caprice 24

Sonata concertata 2 in A major and others

Lucca Sonatas

Violin Concerto No. 1

TDCM: February 13th - Ignacy Jan Paderewski

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941)

Bio

Paderewski was born in Kurilovka, part of modern-day Ukraine. His family was Polish and he is an important figure in Polish politics. He studied in Strasbourg and was a brilliant pianist. He traveled the world giving concerts and used his earnings to support other composers. He settled in the United States for a time but then returned to become the Prime Minister of the 1919 brand-new state of Poland. His time directly in politics was brief but he remained an important force in the region for the rest of his life. 

Music

Piano Concerto in A minor

Symphony in B minor "Polonia"

6 Humoresques de Concert

Polish Fantasy

Suite for strings in G major

Overture in E-flat major

2 Piano Pieces

Soirees de Vienne (played by Paderewski)

TDCM: February 10th - Johann Pachelbel

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

Bio

Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg. He studied under Heinrich Schwemmer who was a significant figure in the Nuremberg musical tradition started by Johann Erasmus Kindermann & Johann Staden. Pachelbel was talented and managed to secure a position in Vienna at the Saint Stephen Cathedral. He became friends with the Bach family as he moved around Germany though JS Bach was only a child. He married twice after losing his first wife to the plague. Several of his children were also musicians.  

Music

Canon in D major

Hexachordum Apollinis

Pachelbel arrangements

TDCM: Review of the "O" Composers

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

List, Stats, Curiosities of the "O" Composers

1. Jacques Offenbach
2. Stephen Oliver
3. Carl Orff

Nationalities

German 1
French 1
English 1

Earliest

Composer - Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Composition - Offenbach's Grand Concerto for cello in G major "Concerto militaire" (1848)*

*Earliest dated composition

Latest
Composer - Stephen Oliver (1950-1992)
Composition - Nilsson's The Lord of the Rings (1981)

Total Compositions Sampled - 10

Top Ranked "O" Composer

Ranked on a purely subjective personal enjoyment scale

Carl Orff (8/10)

German, 1895-1982

Carmina Burana

TDCM: February 9th - Carl Orff

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Carl Orff (1895-1982)

Bio

Carl Heinrich Maria Orff was born in Munich. His father was an officer in the Imperial German Army. Carl learned piano from his mother at a young age and was exposed to Wagner, Strauss, and Mahler as a child. He studied formally at the Munich Academy of Music but was most impacted by his personal study of Schoenberg and Debussy. He was drafted into the Kaiser's Army for WWI and then during WWII was forced into the Reichsmusikkammer. His relationship with Nazism is debated still today but he was cleared during denazification. He produced a large body of work for the stage and for musical pedagogy which is still used today.

Music

Carmina Burana

Gassenhauer (and other teaching compositions)

Dancing Fauns

Entrata for Orchestra

Satz für Streichquartett in C major

TDCM: February 8th - Stephen Oliver

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Stephen Oliver (1950-1992)

Bio

Stephen Michael Harding Oliver was born in Liverpool. He studied at Ardingly College and Worcester College, Oxford. He began composing operas while still in school. He composed over 40 operas in his short life and his name lives on in the Stephen Oliver Trust which supports young opera composers.

Music

Lord of the Rings Soundtrack

TDCM: February 7th - Jacques Offenbach

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)

Bio

Jacob Offenbach was born to Jewish immigrants in Cologne, Germany (then Prussia). His father played the violin and taught music. Young Jacob and his brother Julius were prodigious and met Cherubini in Paris and gained entrance into the Conservatoire. They both adopted French names but took different paths, Jules became a prominent conductor after successful studies while Jacques dropped out after barely a year. Jacques was a virtuoso cellist, earned his keep with the instrument, and eventually composed for the Opéra-Comique. Napoleon III made him a French citizen but inexorably linked his image to the doom of the Second Empire. Despite controversy and a flippant personality, his impact on the Opera scene is still felt today.

Music

Le Papillon

Grand Concerto for cello in G major "Concerto mlitaire"

Cello Duets

Operettas Overtures

TDCM: Review of the "N" Composers

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

List, Stats, Curiosities of the "N" Composers

1. Otto Nicolai
2. Carl Nielsen
3. Bo Nilsson
4. Luigi Nono
5. Vitězslav Novák

Nationalities

German 1
Czech 1
Danish 1
Swedish 1
Italian 1

Earliest

Composer - Otto Nicolai (1810-1849)
Composition - Nicolai's Messe D-ur (1832)*

*Earliest dated composition

Latest
Composer - Bo Nilsson (1937-2018)
Composition - Nilsson's Arctic Romance (1995)

Total Compositions Sampled - 24

Top 2 Ranked "N" Composers

Ranked on a purely subjective personal enjoyment scale

Carl Nielsen (10/10)

Danish, 1865-1931

Symphony No. 4

Vitězslav Novák (9/10)

Czech, 1870-1949

Slovak Suite

TDCM: February 6th - Vitězslav Novák

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Vitězslav Novák (1870-1949)

Bio

Vitězslav Augustin Rudolf Novák was born in Southern Bohemia. Young Novák studied music as his family moved around until finally going off to Prague to enter the Conservatory. He studied composition under Dvořák and then Stecker but ultimately ended up in impressionism and modernism. He was politically active and did much for Czech national identity during the turmoil of his era. 

Music

Slovak Suite

Serenade in F major for small orchestra

Serenade in D major for small orchestra

Pan

In the Tatra Mountains

Eternal Longing

The Storm

TDCM: February 3rd - Luigi Nono

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Luigi Nono (1924-1990)

Bio

Nono was born in Venice. He studied at the Venice Conservatory under Malipiero. Nono was a politically driven composer and joined the Italian Resistance during World War II. He is one of the leaders of the New Music movement despite not aligning politically with its other primary forces, namely Boulez and Stockhausen. 

Music

La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura

Prometeo, Tragedia dell'ascolto

TDCM: February 2nd - Bo Nilsson

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Bo Nilsson (1937-2018)

Bio

Bo Nilsson was born in Skellefteå, Sweden. He was mostly self-taught but gained a following in northern Europe for his inventiveness and progressive compositional style. He produced a number of electronic compositions and his work in the field was recognized by the Luleå University of Technology with an honorary doctorate.

Music

Scene III

Quantitäten

Arctic Romance

TDCM: February 1st - Carl Nielsen

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)

Bio

Carl August Nielsen was born in Sortelung on the island of Funen in Denmark. He had a musical family and played in the army band as a young man. He studied at Odense and then joined the Royal Academy in Copenhagen where he met Niels Gade. His compositions earned him a state pension which he combined with a violin studio and teaching at the Royal Academy to survive.  

Music

Symphony No. 4

Symphony No. 5

Symphony No. 2 "The Four Temperaments"

Symphony No. 1

Symphony No. 6 "Sinfonia semplice"

Symphony No. 3 "Sinfonia Espansiva"

Wind Quintet

Flute Concerto