Musical Portraits : Interpretations of Twenty Modern ComposersRosenfeld, Paul
History
Musical Portraits : Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers
Rosenfeld, Paul
Composers; Music -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Music -- 20th century -- History and criticism
On April 14th
he was dead.
His principal orchestral works are: "Le Poeme divine," Opus 43; "Le
Poeme de l'Extase," Opus 54; and "Prometheus," Opus 60. It is not easy
to say which of his many compositions for the pianoforte are the most
important. Sonata No. 7, Opus 64; Sonata No. 8, Opus 66; Sonata No. 9,
Opus 68; and Sonata No. 10, Opus 70; are perhaps the most magistral.
STRAWINSKY
Igor Fedorovitch Strawinsky was born at Oranienbaum near Petrograd, June
5th, 1882. His father was a bass singer attached to the court. Igor was
destined for a legal career. But in 1902 he met Rimsky-Korsakoff in
Heidelberg, and abandoned all idea of studying the law. He studied with
Rimsky till 1906. His "Scherzo fantastique," inspired by Maeterlinck's
_Life of the Bee_, which was produced in 1908, attracted the attention
of Sergei Diaghilew to the young composer, and secured him a commission
to write a ballet for Diaghilew's organization. The immediate result was
"L'Oiseau de feu," which was composed and produced in 1910. "Petruschka"
was written in 1911, the composer residing in Rome at the time. "Le
Sacre du printemps" was written in Clarens, where Strawinsky generally
lives. It was produced in Paris in 1913. The opera "Le Rossignol," of
which one act was completed in 1909, and two in 1914, was produced in
Paris and in London just before the war. A new ballet "Les Noces
villageoises" has not as yet been produced.
Other of Strawinsky's compositions are:
Opus 1, "Symphony in E-flat"; Opus 2, "Le Faune et la Bergere," songs
with orchestral accompaniment; Opus 3, "Scherzo fantastique"; Opus 4,
"Feuerswerk"; Opus 5, "Chant funebre" in memory of Rimsky-Korsakoff;
Opus 6, Four Studies for the pianoforte; Opus 7, Two songs; "Les Rois
des Etoiles," for chorus and orchestra; Three songs on Japanese poems
with orchestral accompaniment; Three pieces for string-quartet; An
unpublished pianoforte sonata; A ballet for clowns.
MAHLER
Gustav Mahler was born in Kalischt, Bohemia, July 7th, 1860. He died in
Vienna May 18th, 1911. He studied the pianoforte with Epstein,
composition and counterpoint with Bruckner. In 1883 he was appointed
Kapellmeister in Kassel; in 1885 he was called to Prague; in 1886 he was
made conductor of the Leipzig opera. In 1891 he went to Hamburg to
conduct the opera, and in 1897 he was made director of the Vienna Court
Opera. In 1908 he came to New York to conduct the operas of Wagner,
Mozart and Beethoven at the Metropolitan. In 1909 he became conductor of
the New York Philharmonic Society. His health broke in 1911, and he
returned to Vienna.
Mahler wrote nine symphonies. The first dates from 1891, the second from
1895, the third from 1896, the fourth from 1901, the fifth from 1904,
the sixth from 1906, the seventh from 1908, the eighth from 1910, and
the ninth from 1911.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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