Great Composers You think you might have Heard Of…
Poor Edi! He was a Strauss, after all, born in 1835 into that dynasty of Viennese musicians who made the waltz a craze that swept the world (and Vienna itself has never recovered from). His father Johann I, and his brothers Johann II and Josef were composers of the first rank among their contemporaries, especially Johann II who was called “the Waltz King” (to his father’s chagrin). But Eduard was a major engineer of that popularity, making his name
Joaquin Rodrigo is probably best known for his Fantasia para un gentilhombre, the Fantasia for a Gentleman, a sprightly piece paying homage to 18th–century musical forms and ideas, and for the Concierto de Aranjuez that is a staple of every guitar competition. Even if you’ve never heard his name or the names of these compositions, if you listen to classical music at all it’s practically a dead cert that you’ve heard the second movement of the Concierto,
The composer called E. Chabrier –
Though his name is so very francais –
Was in no way too clannish,
Sang in German and Spanish!
We just love it: Ja, wohl! and Ole’!
After learning a little about Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-92), the listener will probably find it unfortunate that the PIP’s upcoming end-of-sum…
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians calls Joaquin Turina ‘a kind man who loved simplicity and beauty’, and did his composing on a regular schedule, a little every day. Sounds like ‘Papa’ Haydn – also like someone whose first experience with music, as a small boy, was in his devotion to a little toy accordion.