11-24a: Queen Buenos Aires 1981 - Big Joe Turner All the Classic Hits 1938-1952 - Tchaikovsky 5 Cantelli 1950 - Bülent Arel Electronic Works

1615 – Sethus Calvisius (German music theorist, composer, chronologer, astronomer & teacher)
1650 – Manuel Cardoso (Portuguese composer & organist)
1722 – Johann Adam Reincken (Dutch organist & composer, active in Germany)
1842 – Pehr Frigel (Swedish composer)
1944 – Václav Štěpán (Czech pianist, composer, music critic, musicologist & teacher)
1946 – Alfonso Broqua (Uruguayan composer)
1948 – Raoul [von] Koczalski (Polish pianist & composer)
1956 – Guido Cantelli (Italian conductor)
1970 – Evgeny Tikotsky [Яўген Цікоцкі ; Евге́ний Тико́цкий] (Belarusian composer & pianist)
1972 – Hall Overton (American composer, jazz pianist & teacher)
1985 – Big Joe Turner (American blues singer, "Boss of the Blues")
1990 – Bülent Arel (Turkish composer, teacher, painter & sculptor)
1991 – Freddie Mercury [Farrokh Bulsara] (Zanzibar-born British rock singer, songwriter & pianist of Parsi ancestry, Queen)

In this post we remember two awe-inspiring singers, Big Joe Turner and Freddie Mercury, as well as Guido Cantelli, the promising young conductor who might well have become music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958 (rather than Leonard Bernstein) had he not been killed in a plane crash in 1956. It's said that the elderly and ailing Arturo Toscanini, who himself passed away only two months later, was somehow sheltered from the news of Cantelli's tragic demise in order to spare him the grief, in his last days, that this artist in whom Toscanini had placed so many hopes for the future had been taken away at such an early age.

Perhaps you'll remember that we already remembered Portuguese composer Manuel Cardoso, back when we were remembering a fellow pupil of Manuel Mendes, Duarte Lôbo, and Manuel Mendes himself, as well as Tomás Luis de Victoria, whom we've been remembering all year this year since it marks the 400th anniversary of his death.

Well, here's a strange coincidence: In that same previous post, we also remembered the great Turkish singer Zeki Müren, and via Zeki we touched on another Turkish singer with androgynous qualities, Bülent Ersoy. Well, in today's post, we remember another Turk by the name of Bülent, electronic composer Bülent Arel! I don't know how common a given name Bülent is in Turkey, but it's all making sense today here at YiDM...

11-23: Tallis Lamentations of Jeremiah / Hilliard Ensemble 1987 - Roy Acuff King of Country Music 1953-1958 - Judee Sill Live in London 1972-1973 - Don Byron Do the Boomerang The Music of Junior Walker 2006

1585 – Thomas Tallis (English composer)
1750 – Giuseppe Sammartini (Italian composer & oboist, older brother of Giovanni Battista)
1787 – Anton Schweitzer (German composer)
1853 – Francisco Andrevi y Castellar (Spanish priest, composer & organist)
1853 – Friedrich Schneider (German composer & conductor)
1916 – Eduard Francevič Nápravník [Эдуард Францевич Направник] (Czech conductor & composer, active in Russia)
1931 – Evert Cornelis (Dutch conductor & organist)
1932 – Percy Pitt (English organist, conductor, choirmaster & composer)
1937 – Louis Victor Saar (Dutch composer, pianist & teacher)
1940 – Catharina van Rennes (Dutch composer)
1948 – Uzeyir Hajibeyov [Üzeyir Hacıbəyov] (Azerbaijani composer, conductor, publicist, playwright, teacher & translator)
1952 – Albert van Raalte (Dutch conductor)
1974 – Páll Isólfsson (Icelandic composer)
1979 – Judee Sill (American folk & pop singer, songwriter, guitarist & pianist)
1992 – Roy Acuff (American country & gospel singer, songwriter, fiddler & promoter, "King of Country Music")
1993 – Tatiana Nikolayeva [Татьяна Николаева] (Russian pianist, composer & teacher)
1994 – Tommy Boyce (American songwriter, Boyce & Hart, wrote for The Monkees)
1995 – Junior Walker (American R&B, soul & disco singer & saxophonist)
1996 – Art Porter, Jr. (American jazz saxophonist & composer)
2001 – O.C. Smith (American R&B & jazz singer & pastor)
2006 – Anita O'Day (American jazz singer)
2010 – James Tyler (American lutenist, banjoist, guitarist, composer, musicologist & author)

There is in fact no authentic portrait extant of the great 16th-century English master Thomas Tallis. The one I've used here was made about 150 years after Tallis's death. Whether it was based on a now-lost portrait contemporary to Tallis is unknown. Today, Tallis is known as much for the sublime Vaughan Williams fantasia based on one of his melodies as he is for his own superb and distinctive sacred choral music.

And the composer who pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva was addressing above would be Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich. Nikolayeva was most famed for her interpretations of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 were inspired not only by the 48 preludes and fugues of Bach's mammoth Well-Tempered Clavier, but also by Nikolayeva's playing of them.

The story goes that in 1950, Shostakovich was allowed by the Soviet government to travel to Leipzig to sit as a judge for the first-ever International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, part of a festival held to mark the bicentennial of Bach's death, in that city in which Bach spent the last 27 years of his life, and composed many of his greatest works.

Although the rules of the competition did not require it, Tatiana Nikolayeva came to it prepared to play any one of Bach's 48 preludes and fugues from the WTC upon request. As it happened, Nikolayeva won the gold medal in the competition. Shostakovich began composing his Op. 87 several weeks later, after his return to the Soviet Union, and finished the work in February of the following year. He dedicated it to Nikolayeva, and she gave its premiere in Leningrad exactly 59 years ago to the day, on December 23rd, 1952.

See, sometimes it pays to be a month behind!

11-22b: GILBERT & SULLIVAN BLOWOUT! D'Oyly Carte / Godfrey 1949-1955 : Gondoliers | H.M.S. Pinafore | Iolanthe | Mikado | Patience | Pirates of Penzance | Princess Ida | Ruddigore | Sorcerer | Trial by Jury | Yeomen of the Guard

Tip: To sound ultra-smart and cultured at all the right parties, use the term "Savoy opera" when you mean "Gilbert & Sullivan." For instance, when arriving in an unfamiliar city while on vacation, ask locals "Do you have a company in town that specializes in Savoy opera?" Then if they stare at you blankly, say, "Oh, you know... Gilbert & Sullivan and the like." Then if they keep staring at you blankly, say, "Oh, never mind..."

The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house the Gilbert and Sullivan pieces, and later, those by other composer–librettist teams. The great bulk of the non-G&S Savoy Operas either failed to achieve a foothold in the standard repertory, or have faded over the years, leaving the term "Savoy Opera" as practically synonymous with Gilbert and Sullivan. The Savoy operas (in both senses) were seminal influences on the creation of the modern musical.

11-22a: MC Breed Best Of 1995 - Andreas Scholl / Arcadia 2003 : Corelli | Gasparini | Pasquini | Alessandro Scarlatti - INXS St. Gallen 1986

1710 – Bernardo Pasquini (Italian composer)
1813 – Johann Gottfried Vierling (German organist & composer)
1826 – Pavel Lambert Mašek (Czech composer)
1852 – August Alexander Klengel (German composer & pianist)
1896 – Leon Leopold Lewandowski (Polish violinist, composer & conductor)
1900 – Sir Arthur Sullivan (English composer of Irish & Italian ancestry, collaborator with librettist W.S. Gilbert)
1902 – Septimus Winner (American song composer)
1926 – Darvish Khan [درویش‌خان] (Persian tar master)
1967 – Edvin Kallstenius (Swedish composer & librarian)
1969 – Acario Cotapos (Chilean composer)
1980 – Malando [Arie Maasland] (Dutch accordionist, composer & bandleader)
1982 – Max Deutsch (Austrian-born French composer, conductor & teacher, pupil of Schoenberg, teacher of Kurtág & Bussotti)
1994 – Forrest White (American musical instruments industry executive, Fender, Music Man)
1997 – Michael Hutchence (Australian rock singer & songwriter, INXS)
2001 – Norman Granz (American jazz impresario, producer & record company executive, Verve, Clef, Norgran, Pablo)
2008 – MC Breed (American rapper)

The Gilbert & Sullivan will be in post 11-22b!

11-21: Yardbirds feat Jimmy Page New York 1968 - Henry Purcell : Bowman / Leonhardt / Brüggen 1970 - Robert Lockwood Jr Trix Recordings 1973-75 - Hadda Brooks Femme Fatale 1956 - Frank Martin / Fischer-Dieskau 1964

1695 – Henry Purcell (English composer & organist)
1863 – Joseph Mayseder (Austrian violinist & composer)
1907 – Gaetano Braga (Italian composer & cellist)
1920 – William James Robjohn [Caryl Florio] (English actor, composer, singer, organist & critic, active in the United States)
1938 – Leopold Godowsky (Polish pianist, composer & teacher, active in the United States)
1953 – Larry Shields (American jazz clarinetist, Original Dixieland Jazz Band)
1954 – Karol Rathaus (Polish-born American composer & teacher)
1972 – Karel Hába (Czech violinist & composer, brother of Alois)
1974 – Frank Martin (Swiss composer, active in the Netherlands)
1988 – Pál Kalmár (Hungarian singer, first artist to record "Vége a világnak" ("Gloomy Sunday"))
1995 – Peter Grant (English rock manager & record executive, Led Zeppelin, Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Bad Company, Stone the Crows)
2002 – Hadda Brooks (American jazz, blues & R&B singer, pianist & composer, "Queen of the Boogie")
2006 – Robert Lockwood, Jr. (American blues guitarist & singer, student of Robert Johnson)

Well, we've seen this sort of thing happen before, haven't we? Weren't we just remembering Czech microtonalist Alois Hába two or three days ago? Turns out he passed away just two or three days shy of the one-year anniversary of his brother Karel's death. Somehow, the memorialization of the day a relative or close associate passed puts us in the mood to poop. It's a fascinating phenomenon.

Today's videos on our YouTube page feature Robert Lockwood, Jr., Hadda Brooks, and Peter Grant, the original Ian Faith. Check 'em out.

11-20: Section 25 : From the Hip 1984 - Chris Whitley Boulder 2001 - Pierre de la Rue : Requiem / Clemencic 1990 - Mahler Das Lied : Baker / King / Haitink 1975 - Anton Rubinstein Solo Piano Music / Howard 1997

1518 – Pierre de la Rue (Flemish composer)
1758 – Johan Helmich Roman (Swedish composer, "Father of Swedish Music")
1827 – Alexey Titov [Алексей Титов] (Russian composer, violinist & cavalry officer)
1851 – Wenzel Sedlak (Czech clarinettist & composer)
1882 – Béla Kéler (Hungarian bandmaster & composer)
1894 – Anton Rubinstein [Анто́н Рубинште́йн] (Russian pianist, composer & conductor)
1908 – Albert Hermann Dietrich (German composer & conductor, friend of Brahms)
1927 – Wilhelm Stenhammar (Swedish composer, conductor & pianist)
1939 – Désiré Pâque (Belgian organist, teacher & composer)
1950 – Francesco Cilea (Italian composer)
1951 – Thomas Quinlan (English opera impresario)
1957 – Weldon Hart (American composer & violinist)
1964 – John Tasker Howard (American musicologist, radio host, writer, lecturer, composer & curator of NY Public Library)
1984 – Alexander Moyzes (Slovak composer)
2004 – Jenny Ross (English post-punk singer & keyboardist, Section 25)
2005 – Chris Whitley (American blues, rock & alt-country singer, songwriter & guitarist)
2005 – James King (American tenor)
2010 – Roxana Briban (Romanian operatic soprano)

I know, we already had one excellent Das Lied von der Erde for our commemoration of this year's Mahler death centenary. But this Das Lied is really, really good too! And since we'd yet to feature any of the fabulous Janet Baker or Bernard Haitink (much less James King), this is an opportunity I could hardly pass up.

11-19: Badfinger Vancouver 1974 - Schubert Symphonies : 5 Wand 2001 | 6 Suitner 1986 | 8 Beecham 1937 | 9 Stock 1940 - Shirley Bergeron : French Rocking Boogie 1957-1969

1630 – Johann Hermann Schein (German composer & singer)
1785 – Bernard de Bury (French court composer & harpsichordist)
1804 – Pietro Guglielmi (Italian opera composer)
1825 – Jan Václav Voříšek (Czech composer, pianist & organist)
1828 – Franz Peter Schubert (Austrian composer & pianist)
1854 – Alberich Zwyssig (Swiss Cistercian monk, choirmaster & composer, Swiss National Anthem)
1928 – Achille Simonetti (Italian violinist & composer, active in England & Ireland)
1929 – Arthur H. Mann (English organist, choirmaster, composer & editor of Church of England Hymnal)
1931 – Frederic Cliffe (English composer)
1974 – George Brunies (American jazz trombonist)
1983 – Tom Evans (English bass guitarist, singer & songwriter, Badfinger)
1995 – Shirley Bergeron (American Cajun singer & steel guitarist)
1995 – Bruce Trent (British pop singer, songwriter & actor)
2004 – George Canseco (Filipino songwriter)
2004 – Terry Melcher (American record producer; son of Doris Day)

Schubert! Lionheart of the Lied, King of Kammermusik, Schubert! None of those for you today, however... I hope you'll be satisfied with a healthy swath of his symphonies, which, while not quite Beethovenian in stature, contain their own unique glories. Speaking of Beethoven, Schubert was quite in awe of him, such that - even though they both resided for years at the same time in Vienna - the shy, generation-younger composer only rarely approached the older master. Beethoven apparently held quite a high opinion of Schubert's music, however.

Imagine, if you will, that Schubert had not died so very young... that he had lived to as old an age as Beethoven did, into his 50s, instead of expiring from syphilis at the age of 31, with his death coming just the very year after Beethoven's. Imagine a Schubert who passed away, say, in 1852 instead of 1828. We would certainly not think of Schubert as a Classical-period composer in that case, or even as a composer who was transitional between the Classical and Romantic periods. I believe we would think of him as a bona fide Romantic composer. We'd tend to mention him less often in the same breath as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and group him more often along with Schumann, Chopin, and Mendelssohn.

And now, just think of the music composed by the middle-aged Schubert. The titanic symphonies and masses, the increasingly weird and sublime song cycles and chamber works. Maybe some operas and oratorios! It's one of the great "what ifs" of music history, and of course it's a totally pointless hypothetical. For Franz Schubert, short-lived as he was, is already among the ten or so greatest composers who ever lived. And that's enough!