|
|
Post by jk on Feb 16, 2022 8:03:36 GMT -5
Our daily sessions listening to Dutch "classical" radio (NPO Radio 4) are a constant source of new names and hidden gems. Today it was the turn of Rosy Wertheim (1888–1949), to wit her Sonatina for cello and piano (c. 1921) in the rendition linked below by Doris Hochscheid (cello) and Frans van Ruth (piano). This is uploader Dutch Composers' splendid YouTube blurb, slightly tweaked in square brackets by yours truly with the help of an old online article by Melissa de Graaf, with grateful thanks (see the wiki page linked below for supplementary information): [Rosalie Marie Wertheim was born in Amsterdam.] After gaining a piano teaching certificate in 1912 from the Koninklijke Nederlandse Toonkunstenaars Vereniging, she studied composition with Bernard Zweers and Sem Dresden. She also taught the piano and solfège at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum. Deeply concerned about the social circumstances of the working classes, she gave piano lessons to poor children, conducted a children's chorus in a working-class neighbourhood and financially supported a number of families. She also conducted the Jewish women's chorus of the Religieus Socialistisch Verbond in Amsterdam. During World War I her song Neutraal was popular. She began her career writing mainly songs and choral works and after encountering the works of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky her music became increasingly Impressionistic. In 1929 she moved to Paris, where she studied with Louis Aubert. Until 1935 her home in Paris was a meeting-place for many composers, including Elsa Barraine, Arthur Honegger, Jacques Ibert, André Jolivet and Messiaen. After spending a year in Vienna, where she studied counterpoint with Karl Weigl, she went to the USA, where some of her works were performed by the Composers' Forum Laboratory in New York. In 1937 she returned to Amsterdam but was forced to go into hiding during World War II because of her Jewish origins. [She gave covert concerts in the basement of her home, often of works by Jewish composers, whose music had been outlawed.] Much of her chamber music is cheerful and neo-classical, and can be playful, as in 'Cortège de marionettes' from the Trois morceaux. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_Wertheim |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Feb 20, 2022 14:07:10 GMT -5
Looking for new names for this thread, I'd noticed that of Margaret Bonds among African American composers in the past but had passed her over in favour of Florence Price (two posts back), maybe because Ms Price wrote symphonies (one of my many weaknesses). This evening I heard the following work of hers sung by a Surinamese counter tenor and had to find it! Composed in 1942, The Negro Speaks of Rivers sets a jewel of a poem of that name by Langston Hughes that deserves reproducing in full: I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.It is sung here by Patrice P. Eaton (mezzo-soprano) accompanied by Kyle Walker (piano): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Bonds |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Feb 24, 2022 5:19:03 GMT -5
The Scottish composer Geraldine Mucha (1917–2012) owes her surname to her marriage to the writer Jiří Mucha, son of the famous Czech painter and she spent a large part of her life in Prague. I see one of her teachers at London's Royal Academy of Music was Alan Bush, whose Marxist-inspired beliefs caused his music to be largely ignored in the West for most of his equally long life. Ms Mucha's brief ballet suite Macbeth (1965) is performed here by the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andreas Sebastian Weiser: I. Introduction: II. Witches: III. Banquet: IV: Lady Macbeth Sleepwalking: V: Death of Macbeth & Conclusion en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Mucha |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Feb 27, 2022 8:41:36 GMT -5
And now for two miniatures by two French music teacher-composer-pianists, as a change from my usual heavy fare. Both are played here by Jean-Yves Serreault. First, "Etude No. 2" (Allegretto) from Suite d’études (1818) by the Parisian Marie Bigot de Morogues (1786–1820). The video includes a description of the composer and her work: And second, "Etude No. 55" (Molto agitato) by Hélène de Montgeroult (1764–1836). It comes from her Cours complet pour l'enseignement du fortepiano (written 1788–1812), whose three volumes comprise 972 exercises and 114 études (published Paris, 1820): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hélène_de_Montgeroult |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Feb 28, 2022 16:53:54 GMT -5
This is the first in a mini-series on Ukrainian women composers. Ludmila Yurina was born in 1962. Since 1993 she has been a member and a coordinator of the Organizing Committee of the International Youth Music Forum in Kiev/Kyiv. Since 1995, she has worked as an Associate Professor of Department of Composition at Kyiv Conservatory, where she specializes in composition and orchestration. Ms Yurina is also a pianist. Angel of White Day was originally written for that instrument in 2004. The version for chamber ensemble dates from two years later and is played here by Kiev Camerata conducted by Valery Matjukhyn:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludmila_Yurina |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 1, 2022 17:42:39 GMT -5
Vydyniv, a village in the region called Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in Western Ukraine, has yielded two renowned women composers: Bohdana Frolyak (born 1968) and Hanna Havrylets (born 1958), who died two days ago aged 63. Her death seems not to be connected with the ongoing tragic events. This heart-breaking rendition of her Troparion to the Blessed Virgin from 2020 is sung by Molodizhnyi kamernyi khor (Youth chamber choir, soloist Antonina Yurash) conducted by the choir's director Oksana Sukhetska: Bohdana Frolyak wrote her Kyrie eleison for mixed choir and strings in 2004. It is performed here by the Gloria Chamber Choir and Leopolis Chamber Orchestra (solo cello Lyudmyla Isakova), conducted by Volodymyr Syvokhip: More information on both composers can be found at ukrainianinstitutenyc.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/women-composers-from-ukraine/. |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 2, 2022 17:23:29 GMT -5
The life of the Ukrainian composer Julia Gomelskaya (1964–2016) was cruelly cut short by a car accident that also claimed the life of her husband. Ms Gomelskaya wrote for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal combinations. Her Memento Vitae (1996) is scored for one each of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone and harp, two percussion players and strings. This is my slightly abridged and revised version of an online description of the work: " Memento Vitae encapsulates the idea of spiritual movement and the concept of the afterlife. In its nine minutes it presents a constant flurry of sounds from within the orchestra, with the composer utilizing all areas of the ensemble as well as some extended techniques, among the most prevalent being pitch-bending and flutter-tonguing. There is no key, which is said to represent spirits not being tied to one tonality. The use of chromatic runs and open chords creates an ingenious spatial awareness. "The most exciting parts of this work are the constant changes between very busy and much sparser sections. Ms Gomelskaya's use of tuned percussion makes these quieter sections much more atmospheric, with the vibraphone and tubular bells creating celestial effects. The choice of confining this music to a smaller orchestra means it is much more intense and concentrated in places. " Memento Vitae requires a lot of stamina, concentration and dexterity to be able to play the parts in perfect synchronisation. The composer's use of polyphony and counterpoint makes this work very complex and exciting. It ends eerily with static strings and a simple melodic input from the winds before just drifting off. The spiritual undertones of this work can project a new narrative onto the music, giving rise to a multi-dimensional reading of the score." [ Source] Memento Vitae is performed here by an as yet unidentified orchestra conducted by Christoph Poppen: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gomelskaya |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 5, 2022 5:55:40 GMT -5
Anna Segal is a Ukrainian-born composer living in Israel. To lift (and tweak) part of her Linkedin page, "she began studying piano and composition at the age of five. After graduating from music school and college with degrees in piano and musicology, she studied composition at The Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine. After immigrating to Israel, she attended the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, graduating in composition (M.A.) under Prof. Ami Maayani." This is the opening movement, "Scherzo", from her Concertino for Harp, Clarinet & String Quintet, here getting its premiere recording by Rachel Talitman (harp), Jean-Marc Fessard (clarinet) and Ensemble Mendelssohn: The composer (on our right) with harpist Rachel Talitman:  |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 5, 2022 12:00:32 GMT -5
Goodness -- I see there are 113 posts in the three relevant threads combined. That must mean I've spotlighted at least 100 women composers.  It evens things up a bit but there's still plenty more work to be done -- work, of course, being entirely the wrong word.  |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 8, 2022 6:04:02 GMT -5
Few composers have lived to as great an age as Austria's Frida Kern (1891–1988). The picture of Ms Kern at Wikipedia and on YouTube is undated, as is the one with her dog in the CD booklet. Her Impressionen, Op. 51 is played here by Rachel Talitman (harp; see previous featured composer) with Benjamin Braude (violin), Mihi Kim (flute), Pierre-Henry Xuereb (viola) and Ilia Laporev (cello). Edit: The video is back on YouTube. Indeed, Ms Kern is now represented by eight works. |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 11, 2022 15:12:57 GMT -5
American composer and violist Jessica Meyer has already made an appearance on this forum in the Viola thread. Ring Out, Wild Bells for vocal octet (or chorus) and field recording was written for the sensational vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth and was first performed (here with a hilarious "blooper") on 21 June 2017 at The TANK Center for Sonic Arts with its extraordinary acoustics.  Let the composer set the scene: "I happened to be in Paris this past Easter Sunday morning, and while I was at a café three different churches within earshot started chiming to call everyone to mass. "Amazing rhythms started to phase in and out of each other, so I ran outside with my phone and recorded it. This became the inspiration for 'Ring Out, Wild Bells', which is also a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson (published in 1850, yet still very relevant today) that accurately sums up what I wish to see in the world. "For musical reasons, I have extracted the following text and sequenced it differently from the original poem. "I have also extracted a section of my original recording of the bells and looped it. The ensemble accompanies this track for the middle section of the piece. "It was an honor to have Roomful of Teeth bring this to life at the TANK's Summer Solstice concert in Rangely, CO in 2017...which is a magical place that sports a 20-second + reverb. "An official close mic'd recording will be released at a later date, but this is what it sounded like if you were in the TANK itself." Ring...Ring out...
Ring out Wild Bells to the Wild Sky!
The flying cloud, the frosty light,
the year is dying,
dying in the night.
Ring Out!
the false
the grief
the want
foul disease
lust of gold
wars of old
the coldness of the times
ring out my mournful rhymes
(the year is going!)
here we see no more
feud of rich or poor
(let him go!)
Ring out false pride!
in place and blood!
Ring in the love!
Ring in the love of truth and right
Ring in the common love of good
Ring in the valiant man
and free the larger heart
the kindler hand
all that is true
the thousand years of peace
happy bells across the snow
Ring in the true
to the Wild Skywww.tanksounds.org/the-tank/ |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Apr 9, 2022 14:35:54 GMT -5
It's been a while since I posted in this thread -- hence my thanks to a good friend for pointing me in the direction of this composer. The overriding majority of compositions by the multi-talented Soon Hee Newbold (born 1974) are for string orchestra. One of these is Perseus (completed 2009), which was commissioned by the Grandville (MI) High School Symphony Orchestra. It's a setting of the tale of Perseus and Medusa. To quote the programme notes from a recent performance, "Newbold's Perseus, with its fresh harmonies and driving rhythms, serves as an exhilarating musical depiction of this epic tale."  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soon_Hee_Newbold |
|
|
|
Post by jk on May 27, 2022 12:35:40 GMT -5
Last month we received our precious copy of the BBC Proms Guide for the first time in three years, thanks to a combination of Brexit and COVID. Looking through it, I was struck by the number of women composers whose works were being performed, many for the first time. At least nine of them have yet to be represented in this thread and its predecessors. But what caused me to resume posting here today was hearing September I, the first movement of a four-part work for saxophone quartet written in 2019 by the young Dutch composer Sarah Neutkens (born 1998). It is brief enough to be linked in full below. "For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, there is something particularly beguiling about the month of September coupled with a benign melancholia. The heat & glare of summer finally gives way to the slanted light and first cool breezes of autumn along with the promise of vibrant color that peaks in glory but inevitably ends in the brittle greys & browns of winter. It was a September in 1819 when Keats wrote his ode 'To Autumn', one of the most prominent examples of how its unique temporal and meteorological qualities naturally invite artistic expression. And, so it is for the multi-talented Sarah Neutkens, a Dutch visual artist, writer, and model who is also a pianist & composer and has written an ode of her own that serves as her own personal reflection on the arrival of the season in the form of a suite of music for saxophone. "Simply called September, her new delightful EP presents a composition in four movements performed by members of the Nederlands Saxofoon Octet, namely David Cristobal Litago (soprano), Dineke Nauta (alto), Tom Sanderman (tenor), and Marijke Schroër (baritone). Having listened to such an abundance of modern classical music performed on piano and strings, I found the choice of instruments here quite refreshing. As one would expect, there is a melancholic air to many passages, but others are surprisingly buoyant as the sprightly interplay of brass, wood, and wind manages to evoke an autumnal mood in all its nuance and complexity." [ Source] herbertmag.com/herbert-meets-sarah-neutkens/ |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jul 3, 2022 6:53:46 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 9, 2023 13:41:20 GMT -5
This is a provisional list of the women composers I myself have linked at EH over the years. Although women composers generally are getting more attention today than ever before, there is still a long way to go. So I drew up this list to make sure I choose new names for future posts in this thread -- and there are literally hundreds of new names to choose from. Most of the composers in this list are represented in this thread, its two predecessors and/or elsewhere by a description and a YouTube video, some by just a description and a few by just a name. I'll be supplementing the list from time to time either with new women composers I've discovered or with existing entries I've missed. "Searching" for a complete name in this list should get you to the post(s) in question.
Vittoria Aleotti (= Raffaella Aleotti?)
Laurie Anderson
Kristina Arakelyan
Caterina Assandra
Lera Auerbach
Grażyna Bacewicz
Rosa Giacinta Badalla
Leonora Baroni
Elsa Barraine
Bebe Barron
Adriana Basile
Amy Beach
Sally Beamish
Jeanne Beijerman-Walraven
Olivia Belli
Gertrude van den Bergh
Marie Bigot de Morogues
Hildegard of Bingen
Nina Biriukova
Josina van Boetselaer (née Aerssen)
Anna Bon
Margaret Bonds
Mélanie Bonis
Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman
Victoria Borisova-Ollas
Henriëtte Bosmans
Marianna Bottini
Lili Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Kerensa Briggs
Maria Brizzi Giorgi
Francesca Caccini
Settimia Caccini
Maria Catterina Calegari
Francesa Campana
Doreen Carwithen
Sulpitia Cesis
Cécile Chaminade
Suzanne Ciani
Rebecca Clarke
Reine Colaço Osorio-Swaab
Valerie Coleman
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani
Ruth Crawford
Jessica Curry
Nancy Dalberg
Eleanor Daley
Hanne Darboven
Tina Davisdon
Claire Delbos
Mary Dering
Liana Dolgopolova
Leonora Duarte
Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté
Rolande Falcinelli
K. Dorothy Fox
Cheryl Frances-Hoad
Jessica French
Bohdana Frolyak
Varvara Gaigerova
Lūcija Garūta
Gerda Geertens
Ruth Gipps
Marie-Louise Girod-Parrot
Julia Gomelskaya
Valentina Goncharova
Dorothy Gow
Caterina Benedicta Grazianini
Galina Grigorjeva
Beverly Grigsby
Maria Margherita Grimani
Sofia Gubaidulina
Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
Mlle Guédon de Presles
Hildur Guðnadóttir
Jocelyn Hagen
Élisabeth de Haulteterre
Hanna Havrylets
Ig Henneman
Jennifer Higdon
Margriet Hoenderdos
Augusta Holmès
Imogen Holst
Carrie Jacobs-Bond
Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre
Marie Jaëll
Betsy Jolas
Minna Keal
Frida Kern
Makiko_Kinoshita
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Vítězslava Kaprálová
Anna Kuzina-Rozhdestvenska
Vanessa Lann
Anna Lapwood
Libby Larsen
Rachel Laurin
Christine Lee
Helvi Leiviskä
Jeanne Leleu
Isabella Leonarda
Zara Levina
Nicole Lizée
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen
Elisabeth Lutyens
Ida May Mack
Elizabeth Maconchy
Nona Makarova
Rosanna Scalfi Marcello
Charlotte Marck
Tera de Marez Oyens
Daniela Mars
Marianna Martines
Cecilia McDowall
Elisabeth Sophie von Mecklenburg
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Anna Meredith
Jessica Meyer
Cassandra Miller
Hélène de Montgeroult
Kate Moore
Angiola Teresa Moratori Scanabecchi
Geraldine Mucha
Helena Munktell
Thea Musgrave
Laura Mvula
Maria Francesca Nascinbeni
Sarah Neutkens
Soon Hee Newbold
Nico (Christa Päffgen)
Pauline Oliveros
Cornélie van Oosterzee
Daphne Oram
Lotte Pen
Mrs Philarmonica
Michielina della Pietà
Julie Pinel
Poldowski (= Régine Wieniawski)
Anna Þorvaldsdóttir
Florence Price
Marieta Morosina Priuli
Anna Amalia of Prussia
Wilhelmine of Prussia
Marie-Anne-Catherine Quinault
Lucia Quinciani
Éliane Radigue
Priaulx Rainier
Shulamit Ran
Gity Raza
Catharina van Rennes
Cesarina Ricci de Tingoli
Camilla de Rossi
Claudia Francesca Rusca
Kaija Saariaho
Dilorom Saidaminova
Kimi Sato
Clara Schumann
Anna Segal
Françoise-Charlotte de Senneterre de Menetou
Claudia Sessa
Caroline Shaw
María Sigfúsdóttir
Alice Mary Smith
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Ethel Smyth
Susan Spain-Dunk
Laurie Spiegel
Barbara Strozzi
Marian Dix Sullivan
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Germaine Tailleferre
Alba Trissina
Galina Ustvolskaya
Veronique Vaka
Consuelo Velázquez
Esther Velkiers
Yuliya Veysberg
Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana
Aleksandra Vrebalov
Amalia Katharina of Waldeck
Lucy Walker
Errollyn Wallen
Mathilde Wantenaar
Constance Warren
Lotta Wennäkoski
Rosy Wertheim
Sally Whitwell
Régine Wieniawski (= Poldowski)
Ludmila Yurina
|
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 10, 2023 8:21:35 GMT -5
Back in 1963, I was lucky enough to have a quick play on a bass guitar before a student concert at my grammar school. By then, Jet Harris, formerly of The Shadows, had blossomed into a soloist on the Fender VI six-string bass guitar, a rare instrument indeed in the UK of those days. One of Jet's hits (a song I tried out that evening) was "Besame Mucho", written in 1940 by the Mexican concert pianist and composer Consuelo Velázquez (1916–2005): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consuelo_Vel%C3%A1zquezen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Harris |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 12, 2023 9:31:36 GMT -5
Written in 1884 by Marian Dix Sullivan, this is The Blue Juniata as rendered by the Sons Of The Pioneers in 1937: Hugh Farr (bass vocals/fiddle) 1903–1980 Tim Spencer (tenor vocals) 1908–1974 Bob Nolan (baritone vocals) 1908–1980 Leonard Slye aka Roy Rogers (at the microphone vocals/yodelling/guitar) 1911–1998 Lloyd Perryman (tenor vocals/bass) 1917–1977 Karl Farr (guitar) 1909–1961 Pat Brady (vocals/comedy/bass) 1914–1972 With thanks to uploader mrblindfreddy9999 for the above information. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Dix_Sullivan |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 15, 2023 3:29:11 GMT -5
The Italian Lucia Quinciani (c.1566, fl.1611) is the earliest known published female composer of monody. She is known by just one work, a setting of "Udite lagrimosi spirti d'Averno, udite" from Giovanni Battista Guarini's pastoral tragicomedy Il pastor fido. It can be found in Marcantonio Negri's Affetti amorosi (2nd volume, 1611), in which Negri refers to Lucia as his student. She may have worked in Venice or Verona. |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 16, 2023 2:13:03 GMT -5
Rosa Giacinta Badalla (c.1660–c.1710) was an Italian composer from the Milan area and a Benedictine nun. The first record of her is in the lists of the monastery of Saint Radegonda in Milan from 1678. Claudia Sessa, Claudia Francesca Rusca and Chiara Margarita Cozzolani were also active at Milanese convents during that period.
Sister Badalla had only one printed collection to her name, Motetti a voce sola (Venice, 1684). Musicologist Robert L. Kendrick identifies it as "remarkable among Milanese solo motet books … for its patent vocal virtuosity, motivic originality and self-assured compositional technique".
There are also two surviving secular cantatas, Vuò cercando (c.1680) and O fronde care (c.1695), for which she also wrote the text.
From Motetti a voce sola, this is "O Serene Pupillae":
|
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 17, 2023 3:05:39 GMT -5
According to contemporary accounts, Maria Brizzi Giorgi (1775–1812) was a noted improviser on the organ and piano. She is best remembered today for her Marcia napoleonica, which was performed for the French Emperor when he passed through her home town of Bologna in 1807: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Brizzi_Giorgi |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 18, 2023 3:54:51 GMT -5
Astonishingly, it seems Marianna Bottini (1802–1858) composed most of her music between the ages of 13 and 20. No wonder she was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna in 1820 as an "honorary master composer". Her moving Messa da Requiem for four soloists, SATB chorus and orchestra was one of two works (the other being a Stabat Mater) written in memory of her mother when she was 16 or 17. This is the opening "Adagio": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianna_Bottini |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 19, 2023 3:40:37 GMT -5
Yesterday BBC classical radio played this Overture ("Sinfonia") in C Major by Marianna Martines (1744–1812), whose name was mentioned in the same breath as Joseph Haydn. It seems she had had keyboard lessons from Haydn and later played four-hand piano sonatas written specially for her by Mozart, who was a frequent visitor to (and performer at) the soirées she held at her home in Vienna. Martines' name and music were known throughout Europe, and in 1773 she was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna (see previous post), the first woman to gain admission. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianna_Martines |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 20, 2023 14:42:19 GMT -5
The French pianist, composer and pedagogue Marie Jaëll (1846–1925) has left us music for piano (solo, quatre-mains and concertos), songs, a concerto for cello and works for orchestra. This last category includes a symphonic poem, Ossiane, based on poetry by Jean Richepin and Victor Hugo, of which this is the stirring "Introduction": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Ja%C3%ABll |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 21, 2023 10:00:01 GMT -5
Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862–1946) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter who composed some 175 pieces of popular music from the 1890s to the early 1940s. She is perhaps best remembered for writing the parlour song "I Love You Truly", becoming the first woman to sell one million copies of a song. It first appeared in her 1901 collection Seven Songs as Unpretentious as the Wild Rose, along with "Just A-Wearyin' For You", which was also widely recorded. In 1910 she published "A Perfect Day”, of which 25 million copies of the sheet music were sold. It was the most popular of her compositions during her lifetime. During World War I Ms Jacobs-Bond gave concerts in Europe for US Army troops. "A Perfect Day" was especially popular among them: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Jacobs-Bond |
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 22, 2023 4:52:00 GMT -5
I see I'm just a handshake away from the multi-talented Imogen Holst (1907–1984). Ms Holst studied composition for a year with the composer Herbert Howells, whom I met during my abortive interview (not my idea) to enrol at the Royal College of Music in 1966. I recall hearing her speak on BBC classical radio in the 1960s. It's sad but true that her own music, unlike that of her father Gustav, is scarcely known at all. Thankfully, the current millennium has seen a number of recordings made of her instrumental and choral music. According to a critic, writing in The Independent in 2012 about one such recording, her Mass in A Minor of 1927 showed "confident and imaginative layering of voices, building to a satisfying Agnus Dei": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imogen_Holst |
|
