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Bite-Sized Trivia, Part the Second
By Tom Heaton
In the last installment, I provided the ground rules and presented the first portion of the Trivia Menu. Perhaps you were able to use some of the factoids and were satisfied with the results.
In any event, now that your previous allotment has settled, take a few moments and peruse these lovely offerings. Bon appetit!
(All information taken from Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1999 edition.)
BEACH, AMY
Amy is a rarity in that she was an American composer who achieved recognition in a field dominated by men. - She was a descendant of New England colonists.
- She was the heiress of a wealthy family.
- She studied piano and made her debut as a pianist (at the age of 16) in October of 1883, performing a concerto by Ignaz Moscheles.
- At the age of 18, she married Dr. H.H.A. Beach, a Boston surgeon.
- Her husband was 25 years her senior.
- She composed a Mass which was performed by the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston in 1892 -- becoming the first woman whose work was performed by that group.
- She wrote a Gaelic Symphony based on Irish folk tunes.
- She appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony in 1900 at the debut performance of her own Piano Concerto.
- After her husband died in 1910, she toured Europe and achieved considerable notice for her playing.
- She wrote a work based on the famous poem of St. Francis of Assisi called "Canticles of the Sun."
BEECHAM, SIR THOMAS
Beecham was a conductor. There are precious few conductors with the kind of name recognition necessary to qualify as subjects for conversation over cocktails or dinner. Beecham is one of them, especially if the party is in Britain (and since this article is available on the Internet from anywhere around the world...). - Beecham and the Beatles have something in common -- all are from Liverpool.
- Beecham's father got rich through the selling of Beecham pills -- an iron supplement popular with anemic people.
- He attended Oxford University.
- Beecham caused quite a stir during his tenure at the Covent Garden Opera House when he invited Richard Strauss to come and conduct his own works.
- At the age of 47, Beecham was knighted for his contribution to British music.
- At the death of his father, Beecham assumed the title of Baronet.
- In spite of the wealth he inherited, Beecham went bankrupt within 3 years of his father's death.
- In 1929, he organized the first Delius Festival. The composer attended, although paralyzed and blind.
- He took the London Philharmonic to Berlin in 1936, a concert attended by Hitler himself.
- To mark the centennial of his birth (1979), the Post Office of Great Britain issued a commemorative stamp with his likeness on it.
BERNSTEIN, LEONARD
As promised, here are some treats about this amazing composer, conductor and performer. What you find below just scratches the surface. Given the interviews that Bernstein did over the course of his life, he'd probably be delighted to find himself covered in this section! - He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts to a family of Russian Jewish heritage.
- His original name was Louis but he changed it to Leonard when he was 16.
- He attended and graduated (with honors) from Harvard University.
- His most important mentor in conducting was Serge Koussevitzky.
- He occasionally published his own music under the name of Lenny Amber ("Bernstein" is the German word for Amber).
- His big break came in November of 1943 when he was called, on short notice, to conduct a difficult program with the New York Philharmonic.
- In 1958, he became the first American-born conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
- In 1953, he became the first American conductor to lead a performance at the famed La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy.
- He held the position of Professor at Harvard in 1973 -- but it wasn't in the field of music -- it was in poetry (which he also wrote)! (This one should really wow your audience!)
- He held positions of prestige in the French Legion of Honor.
- In 1989, he conducted performances of Beethoven's Ninth on both sides of the Berlin Wall.
(I know, I know -- there's plenty that can be listed. Perhaps a future installment of Bite-Sized Trivia will generate more on Lenny. But we do need to move on!)
BOCCHERINI, LUIGI
You might not know who Boccherini was but I can guarantee you've heard his most famous work -- it's used in lots of commercials, especially those depicting some type of upper-class, snobby surrounding. The music in question is the Minuet from one of his String Quartets. - He was a cellist and, naturally, wrote a number of works featuring that instrument.
- He was a music teacher to a child king -- Infante Luis in Madrid.
- One of the biggest patrons in his life was Lucien Bonaparte -- Napoleon's brother, who was also serving as the French Ambassador to Spain.
- "Boccherini is the wife of Haydn" was a common saying in his lifetime -- not meant as a reflection of his orientation or lifestyle but rather a reflection of their very similar musical styles.
- In spite of his popularity and commissions, he was penniless when he died. (If you are in a situation where you really need more than these offerings on Boccherini, feign sudden stomach distress and get thee to the lavatory!)
BOIELDIEU, FRANCOIS-ADRIEN
The last name is pronounced "BWAH(L)-dyuh" -- helpful to know if you're going to talk about him. Although not well-known today, he was (in his own time) one of the most popular and prolific opera composers of France, thought to be a rival of Rossini for sheer output. - His most successful early opera was "The Caliph of Bagdad". (This is a handy fact in case the subject turns to Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio" -- the setting of which was a Turkish harem. Should the subject come up, you can say, "Ah, Mozart! Without 'Seraglio,' would Boieldieu have had a 'Caliph of Bagdad?'")
- At the age of 27, he married a French dancer. They separated a year later and remained apart for the next 23 years. (Now that's what I call an argument!)
- When his estranged wife died in 1826, Boieldieu gave the marriage thing another try and popped the question to a singer, Jenny Phillis. This marriage "took" -- or in any event, the couple stayed together until he died -- a mere 8 years later.
- His most popular opera was "La Dame Blanche", which was fashioned after Walter Scott's novels The Monastery and Guy Mannering.
- In recognition of his contribution to opera, the French government gave Boieldieu a retirement pension of 6,000 francs.
- In retirement, he took up painting, preferring to do landscapes.
BRITTEN, BENJAMIN
Considered by many to be the best English composer after Elgar and Vaughan Williams, Britten is musically important but not terribly well-known by the general public. - After graduating from the Royal College of Music in London, Britten began scoring background music to be used in films.
- During World War II, he claimed status as a conscientious objector and was exempted from military service.
- The score for his opera "Peter Grimes" demands the calls of seagulls!
- His opera "Gloriana" was composed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
- In June of 1976, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Britten a Life Peer of the British Empire, the first composer to be so honored.
- His "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra", which highlights various orchestral instrument families, is a set of variations and fugue on a theme of Henry Purcell (one of England's great Baroque composers).
BRUCKNER, ANTON
Be careful about using this material if the discussion even looks like it might veer towards the work of Richard Wagner. Besides being a major composer, Wagner also tends to polarize conversants -- you either really love him or you really hate him, with precious scant middle ground to occupy. But, if you're talking strictly about orchestral (or non-operatic) music, proceed -- cautiously. - Even though he was a music teacher, he felt his compositional skills were weak, so, at the age of 31, he became a student of harmony and counterpoint under Simon Sechter.
- Because of the lack of confidence in his composing abilities, he didn't begin writing music until he was almost 40.
- His symphonies were sometimes called "cathedrals of Gothic grandeur" because of the attention to symmetry.
- Bruckner was consistently unlucky in love. He made a lot of marriage proposals to a lot of women -- all of which were turned down.
- After he received an honorary degree from the University of Vienna, he actually solicited degrees for himself from other universities such as Cambridge, Philadelphia and Cincinnati! (He didn't get them.)
In the next episode:
Refill your h'ors doeuvre plate and contemplate these questions:
- Is it really true there was something going on between opera star Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis?
- What did Enrico Caruso and the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 have in common?
- Who was Luigi Cherubini and why should you care?
Read on! CAGE through CHOPIN...
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