Composers From Different Periods

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Thomas Weelkes, an organist and composer from south England, lived between the years 1576 and 1623. Research does not provide his actual date of birth; however, it estimates his date of birth to be around the 1570s (Bank, 2019). Studies only estimate his baptismal date which, in this case, was around October 1576 in Elsted; a small village found close to Chichester (Bank, 2019). During his time, he was among the top composers of madrigals. There are speculations that he might have been in Winchester College between the years 1583 and 1584 since he was an organist there between 1598 and 1601 (Bank, 2019). Afterward, he became an organist of Chichester Cathedral by way of appointment, and in the following year, he got married.

Despite being a successful organist and composer, Weelkes had numerous challenges that affected his career. In 1609, he was reportedly getting into a lot of trouble and was, on several occasions, reprimanded for being drunk and using blasphemous language (Bank, 2019). Weelkes had more than 100 madrigals with his most appreciated madrigals being the two pieces of work; of five and six in that order. In comparison to other artists, Weelkes works combine William Byrd’s verbal sensitivity, Thomas Morley’s totality aspects, and Luca Marenzio’s elegance (Bank, 2019). Weelkes’ compositions had a highly created form sense, lively rhythms, and painted words. He wrote some Anglican music; however, none of these survived.

Arcangelo Corelli was born on February 17, 1653, in Italy at a town called Fusignano which was close to Imola, and died in Rome on January 8, 1713. Corelli was an Italian composer and violinist and was primarily known for his impact on violin style development. Additionally, Corelli was known for creating the “12 Concerti Grossi”, which formed the basis for the concerto grosso (Philip, 3018). Though there are no definite records about his study, it is speculated that he had a curate teacher from San Savino. He got his initial elements of music theory by going to Lugo and Faenza. Giovanni Benvenuti was the first person to teach Corelli the principles of the violin and later continued his further studies on the same with Leonardo Brugnoli. As the years progressed, he particularly became an expert in conducting music. One of the most unique works of his time was sponsored by Queen Christina where he conducted a 150-stringed orchestra. Not much is known about his challenges because his career progresses seamlessly until he dies.

Christoph Willibald Gluck was born on July 2, 1714, in a small town called Erasbach, which was near Berching, Bavaria in Germany, and died in Vienna, Australia in November 1787. Gluck was a classical composer and was primarily recognized for his opera. Among his greatest works include Iphigénie en Aulide (1774), Paride ed Elena (1770), and Orfeo ed Euridice (1762) (Harris-Warrick, 2020). Gluck left his home at around 1727 and after several years of pursuing his musical career, he found himself in Vienna. Here he met Giovanni Battista Sammartini, the first person to introduce him to the Italian style of music; the six trio sonatas. The characteristics of his compositions were that they were never gland but managed to be melodic. The other aspect of his music was that it was without intensity. Despite these elements about his music, he had a problem with his infrequent exceedingly heartfelt outbursts, which hindered his progress. He was known for playing the violin and primarily contributed to opera music.

Louis Moreau Gottschalk was born in the United States in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 8, 1829, and died in Brazil in a town called Rio de Janeiro on December 18, 1869. He specialized in playing the piano and was the first United States citizen pianist to attain global recognition (Mitchell, 2018). He was also the first composer in America to use Creole folk rhymes and themes and Latin American. He mainly contributed to orchestra works through his musical compositions including Grande Tarantelle. He further made other contributions by composing vocal works characterized by sentimental salon pieces. Most of his works were romantic pieces, which were mainly inclined to the popular taste of the 19^th century (Mitchell, 2018). The challenge he had is that his music did not have the harmonic inventiveness of Chopin. As a result, he had to stick to the more popular styles during his period. Concerning how he learned his craft, Louis Moreau Gottschalk was a child prodigy.

Francis Poulenc was born in Paris, France on January 7, 1899, and died in Paris on January 30, 1963. During World War I, Poulenc made significant contributions to French pieces and made some of his most appreciated music in the 20^th century (Reed, 2020). The main musical instrument Francis Poulenc played was the piano. He learned this craft by primary teaching himself and during his first years, he composed Sonata for Piano Duet and Trois Mouvements Perpétuels and Rapsodie Nègre for piano (Reed, 2020). These formed his most famous pieces during the 20^th century and were mainly works of parody. Thus, he mainly contributed to the comical side of opera music throughout his time. Poulenc also contributed to the opera producing Les dialogues des Carmélites, which was one of his unique works (Reed, 2020). Additionally, he composed pieces along the lines of tragedy through the sensitive incorporation of accompaniment and vocal lines. Many of his works mingled the urbane, light element of 18^th-century French compositions with the harmonies of the 20^th century.

Danny Elfman is an American songwriter, singer, and composer who was born on May 29, 1953, in Los Angeles, California. His reputation came from composing over 100 television compositions and feature film scores. Other works that propelled his international recognition include composing songs for the concert hall and stage productions. His early influencers included Franz Waxman and Bernard Herrmann who mainly composed horror and fantasy music (Lerk, 2017). At an early age, he played the violin alongside his brother Richard Elfman. Nevertheless, later he changed his ensemble to a more guitar and rock-oriented production. One of his biggest and successful scores was the “Weird Science” which was featured in the album a Dead Man’s Party (Lerk, 2017). After performing several live performances incorporating different instruments including his “Schlitz celeste,” he encountered challenges. Elfman started experiencing hearing problems and could no longer continue his career.

Tania Leon was born in Cuba on May 14, 1943, and is a highly recognized conductor and composer. Additionally, she is a highly accomplished advisor and educator to various arts organizations in the world. Her main musical instrument, which she started studying at a young age, is the piano. She founded the Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theater of Harlem where she became its first musical director (León, 2016). In the theater, she established an orchestra, music schools, and a music department. Some of her works for the company include Belé, Douglas, and Haiku. Leon has served as a conductor and has been a guest with the New York Philharmonic, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra. The Scourge of Hyacinths opera won the BMW trophy for being the best new opera at that time.

References

Bank, K. (2019). ‘Fantastic Spirits’: Myth and satire in the Ayres of Thomas Weelkes. Music, Myth, and Story in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, 207-223. Web.

Harris-Warrick, R. (2020). Christoph Willibald Gluck. Music Library Association. Notes, 76(4), 629-634.

León, T. (2016). Polyrhtythmia in the music of Cuba. Diagonal: An Ibero-American Music Review, 1(2).

Lerk, R. S. (2017). Danny Elfman’s horror film music elements in the films by Tim Burton (Bachelor’s thesis). Utrecht University Repository.

Mitchell, R. P. (2018). Gottschalk’s engagement with the ungovernable: Louis moreau Gottschalk and the Bamboula rhythm.Educational Studies, 54(4), 415-428.

Philip, R. (2018). The classical music lover’s companion to orchestral music. Yale University Press. Web.

Reed, P. (2020). Poulenc, Britten, Aldeburgh: A chronicle. Francis Poulenc, 348-362.

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Composers From Different Periods

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