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