TDCM: November 10th - George Lloyd

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

George Lloyd (1913-1998)

Bio

George Walter Selwyn Lloyd was born in Cornwall. His father wrote a biography of Bellini and both of his parents were musically trained. He was prodigious and studied music at Trinity College in London. He composed operas with his father prior to the war. He served in WWII but experienced tragedy and suffered from shell shock. He composed 12 Symphonies, a collection of chamber and concertante pieces, and 3 operas with his father.  

Music

Symphony No. 5 in B-flat

Symphony No. 4 in B minor "Arctic"

Symphony No. 2

Symphony No. 3 in F

Symphony No. 7

Twelfth Symphony

Piano Concerto No. 1

TDCM: November 9th - Henry Charles Litolff

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Henry Charles Litolff (1818-1891)

Bio

Litolff was born in London. He showed early promise on the piano and traveled Europe with his skills. He composed a decently sized repertoire but very little is performed today. 

Music

Concerto Symphonique No. 4

Concerto Symphonique No. 3 in E-flat major

Concerto Symphonique No. 2 in B minor

Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor

TDCM: November 7th - Franz Liszt

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Bio

Franz Liszt was born in Hungary. His father was a musician in the Esterházy court. Young Franz was exposed to Haydn, Hummel, and Beethoven through his father. He was prodigious and begun studying with Czerny, Paer, and Salieri before his teen years. He gained some notoriety when Salieri debuted his music in Vienna and he met Beethoven and Schubert there. He moved to Paris and taught piano and became friends with Berlioz and Chopin. He traveled Europe composing and performing for nearly sixty years before dying in Germany. 

Music

Dante-Sinfonie

Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne

Symphonic Poems

TDCM: November 4th - György Ligeti

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

György Ligeti (1923-2006)

Bio

Ligeti was born in Transylvania, Romania into a Hungarian-Jewish family. The area where he lived was transferred to Hungary as part of the Second Vienna Award. He studied at the conservatory in Kolozsvár and with Kadosa in Budapest. Members of his immediate family were sent to Mauthausen-Gusen and Auschwitz. He worked in a forced-labor brigade and survived the war. He then studied in Budapest at the Franz Liszt (the next composer) Academy of Music under Kadosa and Kodály. He had to flee to Vienna and then Cologne and was introduced to the avant-garde. He embraced the 12-tone technique, electronic music, and contemporary styling. His music has been used by Hollywood for some significant films.

Music

String Quartet No. 2

2001: A Space Odyssey

Violin Concerto

Études for Piano

Musica Ricercata

Piano Concerto

TDCM: November 3rd - Anatoly Lyadov

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Anatoly Lyadov (1855-1914)

Bio

Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov was born in St. Petersburg and entered the local Conservatory to study piano and violin. He was a contemporary of The Five and studied composition under Rimsky-Korsakov. He taught at St. Petersburg and had several significant pupils including Prokofiev, Gnesin, and Saminsky. He instituted the Glinka Prize, was a founding member of the Belyayev Circle with Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov, and was a dear friend of Tchaikovsky.  

Music

Eight Russian Folk Songs

Three Late Pieces for Orchestra

Complete Piano Works

TDCM: November 2nd - Ruggero Leoncavallo

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)

Bio

Leoncavallo was born in Naples, Italy. He studied literature at the University of Bologna. He was a proficient pianist and briefly tutored the Khedive of Cairo. Unrest in Egypt drove him to France and eventually back to Italy where he began composing Operas. He spent much of his career competing with Puccini for the limelight, falling short more often than not.  

Music

Pagliacci

Complete Piano Works

TDCM: November 1st - Kenneth Leighton

 

Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music 

Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988)

Bio

Kenneth Leighton was born in Yorkshire. He excelled in his studies and double-majored in the Classics and Music at Queen's College, Oxford. He was assisted along the way by Gerald Finzi and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He held several teaching posts around England, concluding his career as the Reid Professor of Music in Edinburgh. He was prolific and successful as both a composer and educator.

Music

Symphony No. 1

Symphony No. 2 "Sinfonia Mistica"

Concerto for String Orchestra

Metamorphoses for Violin & Piano

Six Studies "Study Variations"

Symphony No. 3 "Laudes musicae"

Works for Cello and Piano