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A Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert
''A Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert'' is an 89-minute television film starring the opera singers Kathleen Battle and Frederica von Stade, the jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the American Boychoir, the Christmas Concert Chorus, the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the pianist and conductor André Previn. It first aired as part of PBS's ''Great Performances'' series in 1991, and was subsequently released on VHS, Laserdisc, DVD and CD. It was jointly produced by CAMI Video, Sony, PBS and WNET. Synopsis The film presents thirty pieces of music performed before an audience in the main auditorium of Carnegie Hall, New York City on 8 December 1991. The soloists mostly stand on a multi-level platform at the front of the stage, the back of which is decorated with three large, lavish panels of Christmas imagery inspired by designs on a Russian lacquer box. The music, presented without any interrupting dialogue, is both sacred and secular. It is drawn from many traditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kathleen Battle
Kathleen Deanna Battle (born August 13, 1948) is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016. Life and career Early years and musical education Battle was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, US, the youngest of seven children. Her father was a steelworker, and her mother was an active participant in the gospel music of the family's African Methodist Episcopal church. Battle attended Portsmouth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engelbert Humperdinck (composer)
Engelbert Humperdinck (; 1 September 1854 – 27 September 1921) was a German composer. He is known widely for his opera ''Hansel and Gretel (opera), Hansel and Gretel'' (1893). Biography Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province in 1854. After receiving piano lessons, he produced his first composition at the age of seven. His first attempts at works for the stage were two singspiele written when he was 13. His parents disapproved of his plans for a career in music and encouraged him to study architecture. But he began taking music classes under Ferdinand Hiller and Isidor Seiss at the Cologne Conservatory in 1872. In 1876, he won a scholarship that enabled him to go to Munich, where he studied with Franz Lachner and later with Josef Rheinberger. In 1879, he won the first Mendelssohn Scholarship, Mendelssohn Award given by the Mendelssohn Scholarship, Mendelssohn Stiftung (foundation) in Berlin. He went to Italy, where he became acquainted with composer Richard Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gesù Bambino
is an Italian Christmas carol composed by Pietro Yon in 1917. The melody was used by Frederick H. Martens in his English language carol "When Blossoms Flowered 'mid the Snows". The melody and lyrics of the chorus are derived from the chorus of " Adeste Fideles" (O Come All Ye Faithful). The music historian Salvatore Basile notes: "The song would achieve the near-impossible feat of surviving in the standard holiday repertoire, with important performances, innumerable recordings, and every kind of vocal and instrumental arrangement."Salvatore Basile, ''Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick's Cathedral'', Fordham University Press, 2010, , p. 78. Lyrics See also * List of Christmas carols This list of Christmas carols is organized by country, language or culture of origin. Originally, a "Christmas carol" referred to a piece of vocal music in carol form whose lyrics centre on the theme of Christmas or the Christmas season. The d ... References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pietro Yon
Pietro Alessandro Yon (August 8, 1886 – November 22, 1943) was an Italian-born organist and composer who made his career in the United States. Early life Yon was born in Settimo Vittone, (Piedmont, Italy). His earliest studies in music began at age 6 with Angelo Burbatti, organist at the Cathedral of Ivrea. At the conservatory of Milan he was Polibio Fumagalli, Polibio Fumagalli's pupil. From 1901-1904 he was enrolled at the conservatory in Turin, studying organ with Remondi and composition with Giovanni Bolzoni (composer), Giovanni Bolzoni. He then attended the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, studying organ with , piano with Bustini and Giovanni Sgambati, Sgambati, and De Sanctis in composition. In 1905 he graduated with the academy's first-prize medal and won a medal from the minister of public instruction. From 1905 to 1907 he served as assistant organist under his former teacher Renzi at St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's in the Vatican. Relocation to America In t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Twelve Days Of Christmas (song)
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol. A classic example of a cumulative song, the lyrics detail a series of increasingly numerous gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas (the twelve days that make up the Christmas season, starting with Christmas Day). The carol, whose words were first published in England in the late eighteenth century, has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 68. A large number of different melodies have been associated with the song, of which the best known is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin. Lyrics "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a cumulative song, meaning that each verse is built on top of the previous verses. There are twelve verses, each describing a gift given by "my true love" on one of the twelve days of Christmas. There are many variations in the lyrics. The lyrics given here are from Frederic Austin's 1909 publication that established the current ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hale Smith
Hale Smith (June 29, 1925 – November 24, 2009) was an American composer, arranger, and pianist.De Lerma, Dominique-Rene"African Heritage Symphonic Series" Liner note essay. Cedille CDR061. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he learned piano at an early age and played mellophone in the high school band. As a teenager, he played jazz piano in local nightclubs. When he was sixteen, he met Duke Ellington, who commented on his compositions. In the early 1940s he was drafted and worked for the U.S. Army as an arranger for shows at camps in Georgia and Florida. After the Army he studied classical music and composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music and received bachelor's and master's degrees. His composition ''Four Songs'' won the first student composer award given by BMI. During the late 1950s he moved to New York City and was employed as an editor at publishing companies. He worked as a jazz pianist and arranger with Eric Dolphy, Dizzy Gillespie, Ahmad Jamal, Melba Liston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary's Boy Child
"Mary's Boy Child", also known as "Mary's Little Boy Child", is a 1956 Christmas song, written by Jester Hairston. It is widely performed as a Christmas carol. History The song had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The friend asked him to write a song for a birthday party.''Boney M'', John Shearlaw and David Brown, Hamlin Paperbacks, 1979 , page 105 Hairston wrote the song with a calypso rhythm because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians. The song's original title was "He Pone and Chocolate Tea", pone being a type of corn bread. It was never recorded in this form. Some time later Walter Schumann, at the time conducting Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for his choir. Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from his old song and wrote new lyrics for it. Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the choir and sought permission to record it. It was recorded in 1956 and released as a single th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jester Hairston
Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on black spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include "Amen," a gospel-tinged theme from the film '' Lilies of the Field'' and a 1964 hit for the Impressions, and the Christmas song " Mary's Boy Child." Early life Hairston was born in Belews Creek, a rural community on the border of Stokes, Forsyth, Rockingham and Guilford counties in North Carolina. His grandparents had been slaves. At an early age, he and his family moved to Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, where he graduated from high school in 1921. Hairston was very young when his father was killed in a job-related accident. Hairston was raised by his grandmother while his mother worked. Hairston heard his grandmother and her friends talking and singing about plantation life and became determined to preserve this his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books. With an estimated $10.6 billion in revenue, it is one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The franchise began with ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', which debuted in the US on September 8, 1966 and aired for three seasons on NBC. It was first broadcast on September 6, 1966 on Canada's CTV network. It followed the voyages of the crew of the starship USS ''Enterprise'', a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". In creating ''Star Trek'', Roddenberry w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Courage
Alexander Mair Courage Jr. (December 10, 1919May 15, 2008) familiarly known as "Sandy" Courage, was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme music for the original ''Star Trek'' series. Early life Courage was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a music degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, in 1941. He served in the United States Army Air Forces in the western United States during the Second World War. During that period, he also found the time to compose music for the radio. His credits in this medium include the programs ''Adventures of Sam Spade Detective'', ''Broadway Is My Beat'', ''Hollywood Soundstage'', and ''Romance''. Career Courage began as an orchestrator and arranger at MGM studios, which included work in such films as the 1951 ''Show Boat'' ("Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number); ''Hot Rod Rumble'' (1957 film); ''The Band Wagon'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nancy Allen (harpist)
Nancy Allen (born 1954) is a prominent harpist from the United States. The daughter of a public school music teacher in the Carmel, New York district, she won numerous international competitions starting at a young age. In 1973 she won first prize at the Fifth International Harp Competition in Israel, one of the most prestigious international harp competitions in the world. Since 1999 she has been the Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic, playing under music director and conductor Lorin Maazel, and in her 20-year teaching career has trained many successful students as well as serving concurrently as head of the harp departments at the Juilliard School (where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees) and Aspen Music Festival and School. She was formerly the head of the harp department at the Yale School of Music. Her own teachers included Pearl Chertok, Lily Laskine, Marcel Grandjany, and her predecessor at Juilliard, Susann McDonald. She has made numerous recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Church, as a professor at the Leipzig Conservatory, Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, and as a music director at the court of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen. Reger first composed mainly ''Lieder'', chamber music, choral music and works for piano and organ. He later turned to orchestral compositions, such as the popular ''Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart'' (1914), and to works for choir and orchestra such as ''Gesang der Verklärten'' (1903), ' (1909), ''Der Einsiedler'' and the ''Requiem (Reger), Hebbel Requiem'' (both 1915). Biography Born in Brand, Bavaria, Brand, Kingdom of Bavaria, Bavaria, Reger was the first child of Josef Reger, a school teacher and amateur musician, and his wife Katharina Philomena. The devout Catholic fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
