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1563
John Dowland (1563-1626): Born
- his name rhymes with “Poland”
- by his own account a “melancholy soul” (Semper Dowland, semper dolens)
- set poems that are filled with expressions of despair and references to sin.
- In his four songbooks, love songs appear side by side with serious
- Madrigal influence: chromaticisms, jarring dissonances
- Example: “In Darkness Let Me Dwell”
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1567
Thomas Campion (1567-1620): Born
- Well-known scholar, poet, physician, and theorist
- His poems set by contemporary musicians
- 100+ lute songs
- He set only his own texts
- Simple approach to vocal line, preserving the poetic meter
- Example: “Fair, If You Expect Admiring”
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1577
Thomas Morley (1577-1602): Born
- one of the most influential musicians of the late 16th century England
- crucial role in spreading Italian influence
- well-known madrigalist, helped compile The Triumphs of Oriana
- A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Musicke (1597)
- Example: “It Was a Lover and His Lass” (1599)
-- music for Shakespeare’s As You Like It
-- solo voice, lute, and bass viol
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Thomas Morley (1577-1602): Dies
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Thomas Campion (1567-1620): Dies
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John Dowland (1563-1626): Dies
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John Blow (1649-1708): Born
- early teacher of Henry Purcell
- organist at Westminster Abbey
- wrote mostly ‘service music’: anthems, welcome odes, coronation anthems, funeral odes, but also wrote secular courts songs
- Venus and Adonis
- published a collection of songs Amphion Anglicus
- Example: Tell me no more
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Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Born
- Became organist at Westminster at age 22
- 5 semi-operas -- Dioclesian -- King Arthur -- The Indian Queen -- The Fairy Queen -- The Tempest
- One opera: Dido & Aeneas
- Songs for theatrical productions
- Church music
- “Orpheus Brittanicus” – Purcell was a countertenor
- Music for awhile , from Oedipus (play)
- Winter’s song, from King Arthur (semi-opera)
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Purcell: Publishes Bess of Bedlam (aka "Mad Bess")
published in 1683 in the fourth book of Choice Ayres and Songs to Sing to the Theorbo-lute or Bass-viol Mad Bess: it belongs to a traditional genre known as the mad song, with its characteristic depiction of a woman driven insane by lovesick grief. Written for soprano and continuo -
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): Born
- his major attention was given to Italian opera
- ‘easier’ songs from the operas fitted with English words for home use
- Arias from less frequently performed oratorios usually treated as recital songs
- Come and trip it
- Where’er you walk
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Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Dies
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John Blow (1649-1708): Dies
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Thomas Arne (1710-1778): Born
- wrote music plays, masques, pantomimes, and opera.
- composed the famous British patriotic song “Rule Britannia”
- his opera Artaxerxes remained very popular into the 19th century -- Mozart saw a production in 1764 Examples:
- Blow, blow, thy winter wind (words from As You Like It)
- Where the bee sucks (written for a production of The Tempest, 1746)
- Rise, glory rise, from the opera Rosamund
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Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Born
- Famous in England even before he visited London
- Created English versions of his oratorios
- Fourteen original song settings of English words
- Piano accompaniment: the first to have the right hand part fully written out – a necessary step in the development of song
- Example: The Spirit’s Song
- Example: The Mermaid Song
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George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): Dies
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Thomas Arne (1710-1778): Dies
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Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Dies
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Stephen Foster (1826-1864): Born
- “Father of American Song”
- Nearly 200 Songs
- “Childhood Songs”
- American “folk songs”
- Private school education
- Taught himself to play clarinet, violin, guitar, flute, and piano but had no formal composition lessons; was helped by Henry Kleber a German-born music dealer in Pittsburgh
- Parlor songs (household songs) and state songs (minstrel shows)
- Sentimental melodies and simple accompaniments
- Influenced Ives and Gershwin
- Rep: Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair
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Frederick Delius (1862-1934): Born
- Not traditionally “English” in style
- Lived in Florida (influenced by African-American music)
- Studied music formally in Leipzig
- Style is hard to pinpoint due to the wide variety of influences
- Praised for boldness of conception
- Sir Thomas Beecham
- Example: Love's Philosophy
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Stephen Foster (1826-1864): Dies
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Henry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949): Born
- Composer and singer
- Classical settings of spirituals
- Born in Erie, PA
- Grandfather sang spirituals and slave songs to him
- Dvořák
- First to bring the spiritual to the concert stage
- Over 200 of his own compositions Rep:
- Deep River
- Saracen Songs
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Amy Beach (1867-1944): Born
- The “Dean” of American women composers
- Over 300 works
- Used well-known poets (Shelley, Browning, Tennyson, Shakespeare, etc)
- Prodigy
- Marriage and concertizing
- Late Romantic style
- Rep: Three Browning Songs
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Arthur Farwell (1872-1952): Born
- Studied with Humperdinck in Berlin
- Returned to the US and taught at Cornell
- Founded Wan-Wan Press, devoted to publishing the works of Indianist composers
- Crusaded for an American style
- Strong relationship between music and text
- Rep: Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers
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Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Born
- “Ralph” pronounced “Rafe” (like “safe”)
- Compound last name “Vaughan Williams”
- Studies in England at --- Royal College of Music --- Trinity College, Cambridge
- Studied on continent with: --- Max Bruch (Berlin) --- Maurice Ravel (Paris)
- Important also a scholar of English Music --- Edited Purcell --- Contributed to 1904 edition of Grove --- 1902 began to collect English folksongs --- 1904 editor of English Hymnal (pub. 1906)
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Charles Ives (1874-1954): Born
- Father directed bands, choirs, orchestras, and taught music theory
- Taught theory to Charles and his brother
- Encouraged them to experiment with tonality
- Charles found inspiration from hearing his father’s bands and other bands across the square playing simultaneously
- Introduced to the songs of Stephen Foster
- Was a church organist, writing hymns for various services
- Studied with Horatio Parker at Yale
- Successful career in insurance and a prolific composer
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Roger Quilter (1877-1953): Born
- Privileged background
- Studied at Eton College and then the Hoch’sche Konservatorium in - Frankfurt
- Member of the Frankfurt Group/Gang
- Composition Studies (Ewan Knorr) -Rep: Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
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John Ireland (1879-1962): Born
Sea Fever: Most well-known song; declamatory but not recitative; sailor desire to return to the sea -
Beach: Debuts with a Boston orchestra (age 15)
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Charles Griffes (1884-1920): Born
- Piano lessons at an early age
- Teacher (Mary Broughton) taught at Elmira College and recommended he study with Ernst Jerdliczka in Berlin; also studied with Humperdinck
- Wrote songs in German and English; German more Romantic style, - English increasingly more impressionistic
- Fascinated by the exotic and also influenced by a variety of European cultures/styles
- Popular in his day, then out of vogue, somewhat of a resurgence over the last 20 years or so
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George Butterworth (1885-1916): Born
- First music lessons with mother, organist in the chapel at his Prep School
- Began composing at an early age
- Studied at Eton and then Trinity College
- Good friends with RVW
- Most noted for his A.E. Housman “A Shropshire Lad” settings (two sets)
- Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad and Bredon HIll and Other Songs
- Folk “style” but no known folk song used
- Noted for their simplicity and clarity; inherently English
- Rep: A Shropshire Lad
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Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979): Born
The Seal Man: referred to as one of the most astonishing songs in the wole of English repertoire. Sets this prose poem beautifully using blurred tonality and modal and pentatonic scales to set the atmosphere as the story of the male selkie unfolds. -
Ivory Gurney (1890-1937): Born
Gurney was subject to breakdowns and even attempted suicide. He himself was a poet and deeply sensitive to word. One of his best songs, Sleep, depicts the repressed despair of the poetry and has a blurred tonailty throughout -
Burleigh: Scholarship to the National Conservatory of Music in New York
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Peter Warlock (1894-1930): Born
Sleep: Warlock greatly influenced by Quilter. If there wasn’t a Quilter, there would be no Warlock. Sleep intended for string quartet; directed the voice part to “be sung as though unbarred”; natural accent of the language; chromatic texture -
Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): Born
- Studied piano at an early age; teacher was his church organist
- Went to Harvard; toured with Harvard Glee Club
- At Harvard, studied Satie, went to Paris on a fellowship; influenced by Les Six
- In Paris, met his life partner and collaborator, painter Maurice Grosser
- They later lived in Hotel Chelsea, presided over a largely gay salon that attracted many leading artistic figures
- Encouraged many young composers, such as Rorem, Cage, Bowles
- Important friendship with Gertrude Stein
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John Duke (1899-1984): Born
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Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Born
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Micheal Head (1900-1976): Born
Michael Head had a wide musical vocabulary; hints of impressionism, romanticism, use of modality but the songs he is most noted for are those that are fairly straight forward and folk-like in structure like Money-O and When I Think Upn The Maidens -
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956): Born
- Born in London, privately educated
- Studied music with Ernest Farrar who called him “very shy, but full of poetry”
- Farrar’s death and the deaths of his 3 brothers affected him deeply
- Found solace in poetry, particularly that of Thomas Hardy
- Finzi noted for his works for solo voice and piano and also his choral works
- Songs were published in sets; some were cycles (A Young Man’s Exhortation, Earth and Air, Before and After Summer)
- Elgar and RVW cited as influences
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Theodore Chanler (1902-1961): Born
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Vaughan Williams: Begins collecting English folksongs
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Vaughan Williams: Contributes to the 1904 edition of Grove
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Vaughan Williams: Editor of English Hymnal (pub. 1906)
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Ives: Has his first “heart attack” (possibly psychological attacks and not physical)
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Copland: Starts writing songs (age 8)
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Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Born
- Born into a comfortable, educated home (Father a physician, mother a pianist, aunt was Metropolitan Opera contralto, and uncle a composer)
- Showed musical interest and skill early on
- Family wanted him to be a typical extroverted, athletic, American boy
- St. Ita's Vision (Hermit Songs)
- A Monk and His Cat (Hermit Songs) -
Duke: Begins piano (age 11)
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Copland: Writes his first notated music for an opera scenario called Zenatello
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Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): Born
- Most eminent British composer of the 20th century -- Britten could build on the previous generation (RVW, Holst, Elgar…)
- Active in many musical areas: -- Arranger -- Pianist -- Conductor -- Festival organizer -- Premiered most of his own works -- Performed the works of other composers
- Admired Berg and Schoenberg
- Felt a close connection to John Dowland and Henry Purcell
- Result is a tonally-based, melodically focused music that rejected the more avant-garde movements of the time.
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Copland: Takes piano lessons with Leopold Wolfsohn before deciding to be a composer (age 15)
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Duke: Enters the Peabody Conservatory on scholarship (piano and composition) (age 16)
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George Butterworth (1885-1916): Dies
Dies during WWI -
Barber: Starts piano at 6
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Barber: Writes first composition at 7
Sadness 23-bar solo piano piece -
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Born
- Born Louis Bernstein to Ukrainian Jewish parents
- Always called Leonard (Lenny), changed name at age 15
- Studied piano, went to Harvard; accompanied and musically directed Marc Blitzstein’s “The Cradle Will Rock”; became friends; also met Copland and conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos
- Copland was not his teacher per se, he often sought out his advice
- Went to Curtis, but did not like it, and left
- Rabbit at Top Speed (La Bonne Cuisine)
- Jupiter has seven moons (I Hate Music!) -
Ives: Has his second heart attack after which he composed very little
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Britten: Starts piano and composition lessons (age 5)
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Vaughan Williams: Begins teaching at the Royal College of Music
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Charles Griffes (1884-1920): Dies
Dies at age 35 of influenza in a worldwide pandemic -
Barber: Attempts to write his first opera (age 10)
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Duke: Moves to NY after WW1, and made his debut as a pianist
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Vaughan Williams: Begins as Conductor of Bach Choir
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Barber: Organist at church (age12)
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Ives: Publishes 114 Songs at his own expense and distributed for free
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Ned Rorem (b. 1923): Born
- Born in Richmond, Indiana
- Early musical interest; studied at the American Conservatory of Music, Northwestern, Curtis, and Juilliard
- Pupils have included Jonathan Bailey Holland, David Horne, and Daron Hagen
- Songs show taste and style, associated with Les Six (7 years in Paris), often written for specific singers
- 1997 “Evidence of Things Not Seen” (Four soloists, 36 songs)
- Early in the Morning Early in the Morning
- The Lordly Hudson -
Duke: starts teaching at Smith College (where he taught until he retired) and first songs were published by G. Schirmer
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Britten: Starts viola lessons with Frank Bridge
- 1st composition teacher
- Early influence of pacifism (opposition to violence under any circumstance)
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Barber: Enters the Curtis Institute
- Enters the Curtis Institute where he studied piano, composition, and voice
- At Curtis met his partner (personally and professionally) Gian Carlo Menotti
- Curtis founder introduced Barber to the Schirmer family
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Period: to
Chanler: 1924-1927 moved to Europe and studied with Nadia Boulanger
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Lee Hoiby (1926-2011): Born
- Born in Wisconsin, child prodigy
- Studied with Darius Milhaud at Mills College
- Went to Curtis, where he was mentored by Gian Carlo Menotti and admired Samuel Barber
- Leontyne Price (debuted or songs written for); over 100
- Songs have dramatic flair and warm lyricism, classical and lyrical, from joyful to serious, and also blatantly humorous
- Where the Music Comes From
- The Serpent -
Dominick Argento (1927-2019): Born
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Britten: Enters The Royal Conservatory of Music (age 16)
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Barber: In his 20's he gets many commissions and/or premiers
- In his 20’s many commissions and/or premiers from Vladimir Horowitz, Eleanor Steber, Leontyne Price, Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau...
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Peter Warlock (1894-1930): Dies
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Richard Hundley (1931-2018): Born
- Born in Cincinnati Repertoire highlights:
- Virgil Thomson: “Hundley’s songs could stand on their vocal line alone.”
- Romantic feel, tonal harmony, beautiful melodies
- Come Ready and See Me
- Arise, My Love
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Hoiby: begins playing piano at age 5
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Frederick Delius (1862-1934): Dies
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Barber: Wins the American Prix de Rome and Pulitzer traveling scholarship
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Britten: Works with W.A. Auden (Poet)
- Our Hunting Fathers (Verbal satire on hunting)
- Picturesque musical language caused a scandal
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Ivory Gurney (1890-1937): Dies
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Britten: Meets Peter Pears (tenor)
- Lifelong domestic and artistic partner
- Many Britten songs are specifically for Pears and his voice
- 1939 to America
- Return in 1941 at the height of the “Battle for Britain”
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William Bolcom (b. 1938): Born
- Cabaret Songs (written for his wife Joan Morris; Arnold Weinstein wrote, “the scene is the piano, the cast is the singer.”) Repertoire highlights:
- Amor
- George
- I Will Breathe A Mountain (commissioned by Marilyn Horne; poets all American women; extended techniques)
- The Crazy Woman
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Hundley: Moves to KY and begins piano lessons (age 7)
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Barber: Adagio for Strings performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton on Arturo Toscanini (semplice e bella)
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Bernstein: Startes gaining notoriety as a conductor and composer
Gained notoriety as a conductor in the 40’s and also as a composer -
Hundley: Attends first opera (Il Trovatore) at age 10
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Hundley: Begins piano lessons with Illone Voorm at CCM (age 11)
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Argento: Starts piano lessons (age 16)
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Amy Beach (1867-1944): Dies
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Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945): Born
- In addition to songs, wrote many operas and scenes or monodramas Repertoire highlights:
- Three Poems of James Agee
- Overweight, Overwrought, Over You
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Hundley: Performs a Mozart Piano Concerto with NKSO (age 14)
at age 14 performed a Mozart Piano Concerto with the Northern Kentucky Symphony Orchestra -
Barber: Awarded the Guggeheim Fellowship
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Hundley: Solos with the Cincinnati Symphony (age 16)
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Ives: Wins Pulitzer Prize for his Third Symphony (had long since stopped composing)
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Henry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949): Dies
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Bernstein: Makes his first TV appearance with the BSO at Carnegie Hall
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Period: to
Copland: Emily Dickinson songs written between 1949-1950
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Libby Larsen (b. 1950): Born
- Wealth of output
- Student of Argento and like him, often chose prose texts Repertoire highlights:
- Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VII
- Katherine of Aragon
- Ann Boleyn
- Cowboy Songs, Songs from Letters, ME, Love after 1950), Sonnets from the Portuguese (commissions from Arlene Auger, Susanne Mentzer, etc.
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Hundley: Moves to New York to MSM, but then drops out.
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Copland: First set of Old American Songs premiered by Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten
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Copland: Premiers Emily Dickinson Songs with soloist Alice Howland.
Not particularly well received by critics, which prompted a note from Copland to Bernstein saying “I must have written a better cycle than I realized.” -
Arthur Farwell (1872-1952): Dies
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Roger Quilter (1877-1953): Dies
Dies at his home shortly after his 75th birthday -
Copland: Second set of Old American Songs written for William Warfield who had the American premier. Both sets sung in their entirety by Warfield and Copland
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Charles Ives (1874-1954): Dies
Diabetes, continued health struggles, retired, died of a stroke -
John Musto (b. 1954): Born
- “If there is a finer composer alive of song with piano alive and working in the world today, I would very much like to know his of her name.” - Graham Johnson Repertoire:
- Recuerdo (written for William Sharp and Steven Blier)
- Echo
- Shadow of the Blues (poetry Langston Hughes
- Could Be
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Lori Laitman (b. 1955): Born
- “Timeless, beautiful, lyric” Repertoire:
- Four Dickinson Songs
- If I…
- I Never Saw Another Butterfly (soprano/alto saxophone; also now transcribed for voice/clarinet; poetry written by children from the Terezin Concentration camp), Vedem (Holocaust cantata, several versions)
- The Apple Orchard
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Gerald Finzi (1901-1956): Dies
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Barber: Wins Pulitzer Prize for Vanessa
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Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Dies
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Hundley: Becomes part of the Met Opera Chorus
- He attributes his development as a songwriter to time as a Met chorister and to accompanying in lessons for Zinka Milanov
- Introduced his songs to singers at the Met who then began to program them.
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Theodore Chanler (1902-1961): Dies
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John Ireland (1879-1962): Dies
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Barber: Wins Pulitzer Prize for Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Menotti provided the libretto for all of Barber’s operas)
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Rorem: Publishes “The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem”
- “The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem” which with later diaries brought him some notoriety, particularly in his openness about relationships with other notable figures such as Bernstein, Noel Coward, Barber, Thomson, and others
- Write several other books and articles about his life and observations about music and musicians
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Barber: Antony and Cleopatra commissioned for the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera
harshly criticized, left the US and spent a number of years in seclusion in Europe, which also marked his estrangement from Menotti -
Copland: Premiers 8 of the Dickinson songs which were orchestrated
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Argento: Wins Pulitzer Prize for his song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
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Micheal Head (1900-1976): Dies
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Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): Dies
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Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979): Dies
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Copland: Health issues throughout the 80’s
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Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Dies
Dies of cancer -
John Duke (1899-1984): Dies
Concertized and continued to compose until his death -
Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): Dies
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Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Dies
- Dies of Alzheimer's
- The same year as Bernstein
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Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): Dies
The same year as Copland -
Rorem: "Evidence of Things Not Seen" (four solosits, 36 songs)
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Lee Hoiby (1926-2011): Dies
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Richard Hundley (1931-2018): Dies
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Dominick Argento (1927-2019): Dies
