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The Dream Of Gerontius
''The Dream of Gerontius'', Op. 38, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory. Elgar disapproved of the use of the term "oratorio" for the work (and the term occurs nowhere in the score), though his wishes are not always followed. The piece is widely regarded as Elgar's finest choral work, and some consider it his masterpiece. The work was composed for the Birmingham Music Festival of 1900; the first performance took place on 3 October 1900, in Birmingham Town Hall. It was badly performed at the premiere, but later performances in Germany revealed its stature. In the first decade after its premiere, the Roman Catholic theology in Newman's poem caused difficulties in getting the work performed in Anglican cathedrals, and a revised text was used for performances at the Three Choir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Swinnerton Heap
Charles Swinnerton Heap (10 April 1847 – 11 June 1900) was an English organist, pianist, composer and conductor. Life Heap was born in Birmingham in 1847 and educated at the town's King Edward VI School, where he studied the organ under Walter Brooks. At the age of 11 he performed as a boy soprano at the 1858 Birmingham Festival, the first conducted by William Stockley. In 1862 he went to study under Dr. Edwin George Monk at York Minster. In 1865 he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship for young composers. Between 1865 and 1867 he studied at the Leipzig Conservatoire with Ignaz Moscheles, Moritz Hauptmann, Ernst Richter and Carl Reinecke, sometimes deputizing for Reinecke as organist at the Gewandhaus.William Barclay Squire, rev. John Warrack and Rosemary Williamson: 'Heap, Charles Swinnerton', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001) He then returned to study organ with W T Best, and to attend St John's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded Mus Bac. in 1871 and Mus.D in 1872. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Along with Gustav Mahler, he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style. Strauss's compositional output began in 1870 when he was just six years old and lasted until his death nearly eighty years later. While his output of works encompasses nearly every type of classical compositional form, Strauss achieved his greatest success with tone poems and operas. His first tone poem to achieve wide acclaim was ''Don Juan'', and this was followed by other lauded works of this kind, including ''Death and Transfiguration'', ''Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'', ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', ''Don Quixote'', ''Ein Heldenleben' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Wüllner
Ludwig Wüllner (19 August 1858 – 19 March 1938) was a German concert and operatic tenor, as well as an actor and narrator. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and important stage performers of his time. Life Born in Münster, Wüllner was the son of the composer and conductor Franz Wüllner and grandson of the philologist (1798–1842). His mother was Anna, ''née'' Ludorff. He learned to play the piano and violin at an early age and sang in the choir of the , which he attended in 1876 – among others with , Karl Schlösser, Gustav von Schoch and Carl Seitz. From 1876 to 1880, he read German studies in Munich and Berlin and received his doctorate in 1881 in Strasbourg with the topic "Das Hrabanische Glossar und die ältesten Bayrischen Sprachdenkmäler. A grammatical treatise". After further studies in Berlin, he was Privatdozent for German philology at the Royal Theological and Philosophical Academy in Münster (today University of Münster) from 1884 to 1887. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muriel Foster
Muriel Foster (22 November 187723 December 1937) was an English contralto, excelling in oratorio. '' Grove's Dictionary'' describes her voice as "one of the most beautiful voices of her time". Muriel Foster was born in Sunderland in 1877. She was one of twin daughters; her sister was Hilda Foster. Muriel and Hilda studied at the Royal College of Music in London. Muriel's oratorio debut was in Hubert Parry's ''King Saul'' in 1896. The Foster sisters performed at the Popular Concerts in 1899 in duets, Hilda retiring in 1900 upon marriage. Muriel Foster performed in Edward Elgar's ''The Dream of Gerontius'' under Julius Buths in Düsseldorf in May 1902, of which the Manchester Guardian wrote: "The part of the Angel was given by Miss Muriel Foster with the wonderfully beautiful and genuine voice ..." She had previously sung in Elgar's ''Sea Pictures''. She was also memorable in Brahms' ''Alto Rhapsody''. She was a personal friend of Elgar and sang in the first performance of hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lower Rhenish Music Festival
The Lower Rhenish Music Festival (German: Das Niederrheinische Musikfest) was one of the most important festivals of classical music, which happened every year between 1818 and 1958, with few exceptions, at Pentecost for 112 times. History In the year 1817 Johann Schornstein, the musical director at Elberfeld, organized a music festival in his town, in which he was assisted by the musicians from Düsseldorf under their conductor Friedrich August Burgmüller. During this festival the idea was born by Schornstein and Burgmüller to repeat this event every year alternately between their cities. In the year 1821 the musicians from Cologne and 1825 from Aachen participated, but with the performance 1827 the responsible persons of Elberfeld decided to stop their commitment, because the town was not up to manage the rush of musicians and guests. This festival continued up to 1958 and took place 112 times. Only during the period of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states and the Fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a population of 617,280. Düsseldorf is located at the confluence of two rivers: the Rhine and the Düssel, a small tributary. The ''-dorf'' suffix means "village" in German (English cognate: ''thorp''); its use is unusual for a settlement as large as Düsseldorf. Most of the city lies on the right bank of the Rhine. Düsseldorf lies in the centre of both the Rhine-Ruhr and the Rhineland Metropolitan Region. It neighbours the Cologne Bonn Region to the south and the Ruhr to the north. It is the largest city in the German Low Franconian dialect area (closely related to Dutch). Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf the sixth most livable city in the world. Düsse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julius Buths
Julius Buths (7 May 185112 March 1920) was a German pianist, conductor and minor composer. He was particularly notable in his early championing of the works of Edward Elgar in Germany. He conducted the continental European premieres of both the ''Enigma Variations'' and ''The Dream of Gerontius''. He also had notable associations with Frederick Delius and Gustav Mahler. Early career Julius Emil Martin Buths was born in Wiesbaden, the son of an oboist. He studied music at Cologne under Ferdinand Hiller and others, in Berlin under Friedrich Kiel, in Italy and in Paris. He worked as a conductor in Breslau from 1875 to 1879, then in Elberfeld until 1890. That year he was appointed musical director for the city of Düsseldorf, and he played an important role in the Lower Rhenish Music Festivals for a number of years.Eric Blom, ed., Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., 1954, Vol. 1, p. 1048 In 1890, he was co-director with Hans Richter; in 1893 he was sole director ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Kennedy (music Critic)
George Michael Sinclair Kennedy CBE (19 February 1926 – 31 December 2014) was an English music critic and author who specialized in classical music. For nearly two decades he was the chief classical music critic for both ''The Daily Telegraph'' (1986–2005) and ''The Sunday Telegraph'' (1989–2005). A prolific writer, he was the biographer of many composers and musicians, including Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Barbirolli, Mahler, Strauss, Britten, Boult and Walton. Other notable publications include writings on various musical institutions, the editing of music dictionaries as well as numerous articles for ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' and the subsequent ''Grove Music Online''. Life and career On 19 February 1926 Kennedy was born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, and attended Berkhamsted School. On 17 November 1941, he joined the Manchester office of ''Daily Telegraph'' at age 15, as a tea boy. In his youth, Kennedy auditioned for a role in the mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of Westminster was purchased by the Diocese of Westminster in 1885, and construction completed in 1903. Designed by John Francis Bentley in neo-Byzantine style, and accordingly made almost entirely of brick, without steel reinforcements, Sir John Betjeman called it "a masterpiece in striped brick and stone" that shows "the good craftsman has no need of steel or concrete". History In the late 19th century, the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy had only recently been restored in England and Wales, and it was in memory of Cardinal Wiseman (who died in 1865, and was the first Archbishop of Westminster from 1850) that the first substantial sum of money was raised for the new cathedral. The land was acquired in 1884 by Wiseman's successor, Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene (24 June 1865 – 19 August 1936) was an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He wrote and lectured on his art, and was active in the field of musical competitions and examinations. He also wrote ''Where the Bright Waters Meet'' (1924) a book about fly fishing. Training Plunket Greene was born in Dublin, the son of Richard Jonas Greene, a barrister, and Louisa Lilias Plunket, a children's writer, granddaughter of William Conyngham Plunket, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was educated at Clifton College and initially expected to follow Law at Oxford. However, after he was 'smashed up' in a football accident he had a year's convalescence. Discovering his musical calling he studied under Arthur Barraclough in Dublin before attending the Stuttgart Conservatory for two years under Hromada in the early 1880s. He also studied in Florence with Luigi Vannuccini (a pupil of Francesco Lamperti), and in London with J. B. W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Lloyd (tenor)
Edward Lloyd (7 March 1845 – 31 March 1927) was a British tenor singer who excelled in concert and oratorio performance, and was recognised as a legitimate successor of John Sims Reeves as the foremost tenor exponent of that genre during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Early training in choral tradition Edward Lloyd was born in London, into a musical family. His father had, by invitation, assisted as a counter-tenor on 'Show Sundays' at Worthing when choral concerts were directed by the fourteen-year-old Sims Reeves. Young Lloyd began singing as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and in 1866 became a member of both Trinity College and King's College chapels in the University of Cambridge. In 1869 he joined the choir of St Andrew's, Wells Street (under Barnby) and was engaged for the Chapel Royal in 1869–71. In 1871 he sang in the St Matthew Passion at the Gloucester Festival, and came prominently to public attention. He never sang in the theatre, possibly becau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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