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Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music Critic)
Desmond Christopher Shawe-Taylor, (29 May 1907 – 1 November 1995), was a British writer, co-writer of ''The Record Guide'', music critic of the ''New Statesman'', ''The New Yorker'' and ''The Sunday Times'' and a regular and long-standing contributor to ''The Gramophone''. Biography Shawe-Taylor was born in Dublin, the elder of two sons of Francis Manley Shawe-Taylor (1869–1920), magistrate and high sheriff for the county of Galway, and his wife, Agnes Mary Eleanor ''née'' Ussher (1874–1939).Warrack, John"Taylor, Desmond Christopher Shawe- (1907–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, May 2009, retrieved 30 May 2010 (requires subscription) His parents were members of the Anglo-Irish ruling classes; he was related to the playwright and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, Lady Gregory and a cousin of Hugh Lane, Sir Hugh Lane who founded Dublin's Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, gallery of modern art."Desm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Record Guide
''The Record Guide'' was an English reference work that listed, described, and evaluated gramophone recordings of classical music in the 1950s. It was a precursor to modern guides such as ''The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music''. Publication history The guide was conceived and written by Edward Sackville-West and the music critic Desmond Shawe-Taylor. Their aim, as set out in the preface to the first edition in 1951, was "to try to supply a guide-book to the vast available repertory of the gramophone". The book ran to 763 pages, but nevertheless confined its coverage to records available in Britain in the domestic catalogues up to and including December, 1950. A reviewer wrote of the first edition: "It is not an encyclopaedia … for the principle of it is selective rather than comprehensive. We cannot, therefore, fairly charge the authors with omissions other than those which are inadvertent. The point is made with subtlety in the introduction. 'Inadvertent omissions t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises thirteen Regular Army regiments, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and five Army Reserve regiments. History Formation to 1799 Artillery was used by the English army as early as the Battle of Crécy in 1346, while Henry VIII established it as a semi-permanent function in the 16th century. Until the early 18th century, the majority of British regiments were raised for specific campaigns and disbanded on completion. An exception were gunners based at the Tower of London, Portsmouth and other forts around Britain, who were controlled by the Ordnance Office and stored and maintained equipment and provided personnel for field artillery 'traynes' that were organised as needed. These personnel, responsible in peacetime for maintaining the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra-modernism" into a distinctive style with a personal harmonic and rhythmic language, after an early neoclassical phase. His compositions are performed throughout the world, and include orchestral, chamber music, solo instrumental, and vocal works. The recipient of many awards, Carter was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Born in New York City, Carter had developed an interest in modern music in the 1920s. He was later introduced to Charles Ives, and he soon came to appreciate the American ultra-modernists. After studying at Harvard University with Edward Burlingame Hill, Gustav Holst and Walter Piston, he studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, then returned to the United States. Carter was productive in his later years, pub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera '' Peter Grimes'' (1945), the '' War Requiem'' (1962) and the orchestral showpiece ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'' (1945). Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the '' a cappella'' choral work '' A Boy was Born'' in 1934. With the premiere of ''Peter Grimes'' in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-sca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work in electronic music. His early work was influenced by Igor Stravinsky and experiments with serial and electronic techniques, while his later works explore indeterminacy and the use of spoken texts as the basic material for composition. Biography Berio was born in Oneglia (now part of Imperia), on the Ligurian coast of Italy. He was taught piano by his father and grandfather, who were both organists. During World War II, he was conscripted into the army, but on his first day, he injured his hand while learning how a gun worked and spent time in a military hospital. Following the war, Berio studied at the Milan Conservatory under Giulio Cesare Paribeni and Giorgio Federico Ghedini. He was unable to continue studying the piano because of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Cairns (writer)
David Adam Cairns (born 8 June 1926, Loughton, Essex) is a British journalist, non-fiction writer and musician. He is a leading authority on the life of Berlioz.Grove, ''Cairns, David (Adam)'' Biography He is the son of the distinguished neurosurgeon, Sir Hugh Cairns. He co-founded the Chelsea Opera Group (COG) in 1950, together with Stephen Gray. Their first concert was a concert performance in Oxford of Mozart's '' Don Giovanni'' under the baton of a 22-year-old Colin Davis. Cairns and Davis went on to form a partnership to champion the music of Berlioz. During the early 1960s, Davis conducted the COG in concert performances of several of Berlioz's large-scale works, including ''La Damnation de Faust'', '' Roméo et Juliette'', '' Les Troyens'' and '' Benvenuto Cellini''. Cairns became classical programme coordinator for Philips Records between 1967 and 1972 (in the London division of Phonogram), when Davis released his ground-breaking cycle of Berlioz recordings for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
78 Rpm
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. At first, the discs were commonly made from shellac, with earlier records having a fine abrasive filler mixed in. Starting in the 1940s polyvinyl chloride became common, hence the name vinyl. The phonograph record was the primary medium used for music reproduction throughout the 20th century. It had co-existed with the phonograph cylinder from the late 1880s and had effectively superseded it by around 1912. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as the compact cassette were mass-marketed. By the 1980s, digital audio, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the record left the main ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historic Masters
Historic Masters was a historical reissue record label, based in Takeley, Essex, England, dedicated to making available quality pressings on vinyl of rare 78 rpm recordings of opera singers. Historic Masters Ltd claimed to be, to its knowledge, "the only company in the world issuing 78 rpm discs of historic vocal and operatic material on a regular basis". Historic Masters Ltd appears to have ceased operation in 2011 after the death of Roger Beardsley who was director. The Historic Masters website was not maintained after this and of 2020 is a holding page. Origins and production history Originally an offshoot of the ''British Institute of Recorded Sound'' (now the British Library Sound Archive), ''Historic Masters'' was the brainchild of the actor, record collector and connoisseur of singers, Richard Bebb.Feel, Tom; Stratton, Tony (2001). ''Seventy years of issues: historical vocal 78rpm pressings from original masters 1931-2001''pp 6–10 Dundurn Press. . The initial ''Historic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elisabeth Schumann
Elisabeth Schumann (13 June 1888 – 23 April 1952) was a German soprano who sang in opera, operetta, oratorio, and lieder. She left a substantial legacy of recordings. Career Born in Merseburg, Schumann trained for a singing career in Berlin and Dresden. She made her stage debut in Hamburg in 1909. Her initial career started in the lighter soubrette roles that expanded into mostly lyrical roles, some coloratura roles, and even a few dramatic roles. She remained at the Hamburg State Opera until 1919, also singing during the 1914/1915 season at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. From 1919 until 1938, she was a star of the Vienna State Opera. Her most famous role was that of Sophie in Richard Strauss's ''Der Rosenkavalier'', but she also excelled in Mozart, taking the roles of Pamina in ''The Magic Flute'', Zerlina in '' Don Giovanni'', Blonde in ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' and Susanna in '' The Marriage of Figaro''. Despite her glittering operatic career, she ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotte Lehmann
Charlotte "Lotte" Lehmann (February 27, 1888 – August 26, 1976) was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart, and Massenet. The Marschallin in ''Der Rosenkavalier'', Sieglinde in ''Die Walküre'' and the title-role in ''Fidelio'' are considered her greatest roles. During her long career, Lehmann also made more than five hundred recordings. Life and career Lehmann was born in Perleberg, Province of Brandenburg. After studying in Berlin with Mathilde Mallinger, she made her debut at the Hamburg Opera in 1910 as a page in Wagner's ''Lohengrin''. In 1914, she gave her debut as Eva in ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' at the Vienna Court Opera – the later Vienna State Opera – which she joined in 1916. She quickly established herself as one of the company's brightest stars in roles such as Elisabeth in ''Tannhäuser' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emma Eames
Emma Eames (August 13, 1865 – June 13, 1952) was an American first dramatic soprano, later lyric soprano renowned for the beauty of her voice. She sang major lyric and lyric-dramatic roles in opera and had an important career in New York City, London and Paris during the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century. Early life The daughter of an international lawyer, Eames was born in Shanghai, China, and raised in Portland and Bath in the American state of Maine. The promising quality of her voice was recognised early by her mother and she received singing lessons as a small girl. She attended school in Boston where she studied singing under Clara Munger, and later with Charles R. Adams. Later she took voice lessons in Paris with the highly successful but autocratic teacher of bel canto sopranos, Mathilde Marchesi. It was noted in the press at the time of Marchesi's death in 1913 that Eames had praised the tuition she received from that te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September 2004 in 60 volumes and online, with 50,113 biographical articles covering 54,922 lives. First series Hoping to emulate national biographical collections published elsewhere in Europe, such as the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (1875), in 1882 the publisher George Smith (1824–1901), of Smith, Elder & Co., planned a universal dictionary that would include biographical entries on individuals from world history. He approached Leslie Stephen, then editor of the ''Cornhill Magazine'', owned by Smith, to become the editor. Stephen persuaded Smith that the work should focus only on subjects from the United Kingdom and its present and former colonies. An early working title was the ''Biographia Britannica'', the name of an earlier eighteen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
