Search Results

(b Dobrova, nr Ljubljana, Slovenia; Dec 25, 1877; d Ljubljana, Dec 6, 1936). Slovenian music educator, conductor, and writer on music. Uncle of composer Bojan Adamič. He received his first musical education at the Ljubljana Glasbena Matica society music school, from 1911 to 1912 he studied at the Conservatory in Trieste, and in 1912 he passed the national examination at the Ljubljana Conservatory. During World War I he joined the Austrian Army, and from 1915 to 1920 was a prisoner of war at Tashkent. In 1920 he returned to Ljubljana, where he taught music at the teacher’s college and at the classical gymnasium until his retirement in 1932. From 1925 to 1928 he was conductor of the Orchestral Society at the Glasbena Matica music society, and from January 1928 to December 1929 editor of the Nova muzika (‘New Music’) magazine. He was also active as a music critic and reviewer for the magazines ...

(b Bucharest, 2/Aug 14, 1893; d Bucharest, Feb 18, 1959). Romanian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, music critic, and director of music programmes. A leading figure of the first half of the 20th century, he laid the foundation of the Romanian school in music, concert life, and musical journalism. He studied with A. Castaldi, D. Dinicu, D.G. Kiriac, and E. Saegiu at the Bucharest Conservatory (1903–11), completing his education with two periods of study in Paris (1913–14, 1923–4), where he studied with d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum and with Paul Vidal at the Conservatoire. A remarkable accompanist, he worked with Enescu, Thibaud, Mainardi, Moodie, and others during the period 1919–45. As a conductor he always achieved a soberly balanced performance; he conducted more than 1500 performances at the Romanian Opera in Bucharest (1921–59), where he specialized in the French repertory (Bizet, Massenet, and Gounod). In his capacities as conductor of the Romanian Philharmonic Society, and as conductor and artistic manager of the Romanian RSO, he did much to encourage Romanian composers. He was also active as a music critic for Romanian and French reviews. Much of his compositional work was done during his youth, including ...

(b Jackson, MS, Sept 14, 1910; d New York, NY, Aug 29, 1982). American conductor, composer, arranger, educator, and writer on music. After studying composition at the Cincinnati Conservatory, Engel moved to New York, where he had lessons in composition at the Juilliard School with rubin Goldmark and then privately with roger Sessions . During the late 1930s Engel provided incidental music for plays and dance groups and conducted his own Madrigal Singers under the auspices of the WPA. He conducted the premieres of Kurt Weill’s Johnny Johnson and Aaron Copland’s The Second Hurricane, and he also led the chorus in the audience at the improvised premiere of Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock.

Engel is best known for his work in commercial venues. He supplied vocal and choral arrangements and other forms of incidental music for theatrical and broadcast productions. As a conductor, his most successful shows on Broadway included Gian Carlo Menotti’s ...

(b Würzburg, May 28, 1780; d Würzburg, Jan 5, 1862). German teacher, musical organizer, critic, theorist, conductor and composer. He studied music at the student institute of the Juliusspital in Würzburg, and studied law and philosophy at the university there. In 1801 he began his career as a violinist in the prince-bishop’s court orchestra. He also founded the Akademische Bande, a student choral and orchestral group, which in 1804 became the Akademisches Musikinstitut and was made part of the university, thus becoming the basis of the first state music school in Germany. His teaching and organizational work was of the highest importance and encompassed several disciplines and activities. He became reader in aesthetics in 1812, reader in pedagogical studies in 1819 and professor in 1821. In 1820 a singing school was established as part of the institute. He also conducted important historical concerts for King Ludwig I in ...

(b Göteborg, Dec 22, 1846; d Stockholm, March 11, 1925). Swedish conductor, composer, teacher and critic. Between 1866 and 1871 he studied in Leipzig with Reinecke, in Munich with Rheinberger and in Dresden with Rietz. He then returned to Göteborg, where he became conductor of the music society (1872–8); he later taught singing in Berlin (1879–83). Back in Sweden he was conductor of the Philharmonic Society in Stockholm (1885–95) and of the Royal Opera (1892–7), as well as founder and conductor of the South Swedish Philharmonic Society (1902–7). From 1909 to 1919 he taught composition at the Stockholm Conservatory.

Hallén’s compositions show an accomplished handling of formal elements and contain stylistic reminiscences of Swedish folk music and the works of other Swedish composers like Söderman. The salient feature of his style, however, and the one which strongly affected contemporary reaction, is its close, almost derivative relationship to German music. Wagner’s works and aesthetic ideas had a particularly strong and lasting influence on Hallén; his operas, although conceived with considerable dramatic skill, are largely dependent on Wagnerian models. As an enterprising and versatile conductor, he gave sympathetic performances of the Wagner operas and brought about performances of many choral masterpieces then almost unknown in Sweden, including the first Swedish performance of Bach's ...

[Pietari](Juhani)

Member of Hannikainen family

(b Nurmes, Dec 9, 1854; d Helsinki, Sept 13, 1924). Finnish composer, conductor, educationist, and writer. The son of a cantor, he held a degree in chemistry but was almost entirely self-taught in music. In 1882 he formed and conducted the Helsinki student choir ‘YL’ to give Finnish-language performances, and from 1885 to 1887 was theatre and music critic for the newspaper Uusi suometar (now Uusi suomi). For 30 years from 1887 he pioneered musical education and taught choral singing at the training college (now university) in Jyväskylä, forming the men’s Sirkat choir there in 1899 and directing it for 16 years. He was active in national song and music festivals, made collections of folk music from Finnish and Russian Karelia, and founded the first Finnish music journal, Säveleitä (‘Melodies’), which he published for four years. Many of his school songs and other choral works became well known nationally, and he played a leading part in his country’s musical growth. As well as writing more than 70 poems, he translated literary works into Finnish (including the libretto of ...

(Michal)

(b Prague, May 2, 1817; d Prague, July 22, 1868). Czech choirmaster, teacher, composer and critic. He was the son of the distinguished Prague choirmaster František Xaver Kolešovský (b Prague, 1781; d Prague, 12 June 1839), a pupil of J.A. Kozeluch. He studied the violin at the Prague Conservatory, theory, organ and singing at the Prague Organ School, and theory and composition with Tomášek and others. He was a member of the Estates Theatre Orchestra in Prague from 1835 until 1839, when he succeeded his father as choirmaster of St Štěpána; here, and later at St Ignác he continued his father's practice of presenting music by earlier Czech masters, especially F.X. Brixi. In the 1850s he was director of the Žofín Academy, an important Prague music institution with choir and school, but gave up the post to found his own school of singing and theory, where his pupils included Fibich. He also taught from ...

(b Bucharest, Romania, Oct 1, 1890; d Bucharest, Jan 19, 1951). Romanian composer, conductor, music critic, teacher, and violinist. Along with Alfred Alessandrescu and Ion Nonna Otescu, Nottara was among the first disciples of the renowned composition professor Alfonso Castaldi from the Bucharest Conservatory. First under the influence of French impressionism, then of Italian verismo, Nottara’s work then gradually integrated with the tendency of forming a Romanian national style in the first half of the 20th century.

He studied at the Bucharest Conservatory (1900–07) with D.G. Kiriac (music theory and solfège), Alfonso Castaldi (composition), and Robert Klenck (violin); he continued his studies under George Enescu and Berthelier (violin) in Paris (1907–9), and under Klinger (violin) and Schatzenholz (composition) at the Königliche Akademie der Künste, Berlin, (1909–13). His career as a violinist included orchestral playing in the Bucharest PO (1905–7, 1918–20), leading a string quartet (...

(b Northwich, Cheshire, May 17, 1912; d York, May 9, 2004). English writer on music and music educationist . He was educated at Christ’s Hospital (1924–30) and read English, music and history as an organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge (1930–34; MusB 1933). He was director of music at Stranmillis Teachers Training College, Belfast, from 1934 until 1937, when he took the MusD at Trinity College, Dublin. From 1937 to 1944 he was music adviser to the city of Stoke on Trent. In 1944 he became director of music at Wolverhampton College of Technology; there he also formed a choir which gave many performances, particularly of lesser-known works by Handel. Since 1970 he has been a visiting scholar and lecturer at numerous colleges in the USA.

Young was an exceptionally fluent and prolific writer. His books include short popular biographies and several volumes for younger readers. Many of his more substantial writings are based on a lively, fresh and industrious, if not always highly discriminating, examination of source material; these include original research on Elgar and useful surveys of the British choral tradition and British music generally. As a composer Young was equally prolific: his works include a Fugal Concerto for two pianos and strings (...