Yevhn Stankovich

  

Yevhen Fedorovyč Stankovyč was born in Szolyva on September 19, 1942, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1962-63, he studied composition with Adam Soltys at the Lviv Conservatory, and from 1965 to 1970, with Borys Ljatošyns'kyj and Myroslav Skoryk at the Kyiv Conservatory. He worked as a music publisher, was the president of the Union of Ukrainian Composers, and has been a professor of composition at the Kyiv Conservatory, now the National Academy of Music of Ukraine, since 1998.

In 2017, he served as the head of the organizing committee for the Ukrainian Olympiad "The Voice of the Country."

Yevhen Stankovych is a central figure in contemporary Ukrainian music. A prolific composer, since 1966, he has written  six symphonies, operas "When the Fern Blooms" and Rustici, six ballets, a large number of works in the genres of oratorio, chamber vocal music, and chamber instrumental music, as well as incidental music for up to 6 musical theatre performances and over 100 films.

From his earliest compositions, Stankovych declared himself a composer of dramatic temperament, not averse to emotional risk. The composer's elaborate polyphonic textures and meditative lyricism are reminiscent of the rigorous instrumental style of Baroque music. At the same time, the full-bodied effects, with their obvious post-Romantic coloring, give the music warmth and expressiveness. His music is remarkable in many respects, showing his emotional freedom, consummate technical mastery, and flexibility of form.

Yevhen Stankovych has received numerous major awards. The UNESCO World Tribune selected his Chamber Symphony No. 3 as one of the 10 best works of 1985. He has been awarded multiple prizes in Ukraine, including the country's highest award for artistic creativity, the Taras Shevchenko State Prize.

The composer's works have been performed in Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Finland, Spain, China, the Philippines, and Yugoslavia, as well as performances in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. In January 1992, he served as a senior juror for the first Canadian Contemporary Music Competition held in Winnipeg and appeared at contemporary music festivals in Germany and Poland. In 1996, he was a composer-in-residence in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

Yevhen Stankovych is an academician of the National Academy of Arts, chairman of the Faculty of Composition of the Kyiv National Academy of Music, and a member of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize Committee. He is the former chairman of the Union of Ukrainian Composers, a People's Artist of Ukraine, and a Hero of Ukraine.

Stankovych's Symphony No. 4, "Lyrical Symphony," composed two years after "The Heroic," in 1977, returns to the string world of the "Large Symphony." This work, scored for sixteen solo strings in one extended movement, was, by Stankovych's admission, a turn towards neo-romanticism and a deliberate abandonment of the use of "templates" (harmonic or rhythmic). The construction of the work is ingenious in the distribution of melodies on the strings: each musician has a melody of a different character that he must often reproduce without reference to the rest of the ensemble - sometimes, the conductor is instructed to conduct only one or two instruments, leaving the others to play independently. But this careful layering of simultaneous (horizontal) musical lines produces a beautiful and rich (vertical) harmonic texture.

The primary thematic material of the Symphony evokes the gentle lyricism of Scriabin; however, this is far from pastiche, and Stankovych employs a variety of formal and stylistic approaches to create the work. The structure, for example, is a synthesis of elements of sonata form, variation form, and rondo – yet the result, which increases in intensity and decreases again, is cyclical. This intricate approach paradoxically allows him to create music with a feeling of extreme freedom and an improvisatory quality. As the title suggests, it is a piece in which the primary force seems to be a beautiful, long-breathed lyricism.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

 

Salzburg 27-I-1756 - Vienna 5-XII-1791

Son of Leopold, an excellent violinist and vice-chapel master at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, as well as a composer and author of a valuable treatise for violin, his father himself valued the prodigious musical talents of the boy, who at the age of six already held concerts as a harpsichordist at the courts of Munich and Vienna. In 1763, a new tour took him through numerous German centers to the courts of Paris and London. This trip, which brought the young Wolfgang into contact with the greatest names in the musical world of the time, was to be decisive for his education. In 1966, he returned to Salzburg, and from then on, his trips to Vienna were commonplace, where he became acquainted with the music of Gluck, Haydn, and others.

In 1769, he left with his father for Italy, giving concerts in all the major cities: Verona, Milan, Bologna (where he met Padre Martini), Rome, and Naples. In 1771, he returned to Salzburg, where the new archbishop, Geronimo di Colloredo, hired him in 1772 to join the orchestra with a regular salary. In the same year, he was allowed a new trip to Milan, where he performed a new opera and met Paisiello. From 1773 to 1777, he lived in Salzburg. However, in that year, he broke with the archbishop and embarked on a tour with his mother to Munich, Mannheim (where contacts with the local school were of considerable importance to him), and Paris. He remained here until the end of 1778 (the year his mother died), much sought after and appreciated as a composer and concert performer. In 1779, he returned to his hometown, where he was appointed court organist. In 1781, he finally freed himself from the yoke of the archbishop and settled in Vienna, where he married Constanze Weber in 1782, despite his father's opposition. In Vienna, he formed friendships with the most outstanding musicians and writers, joined the Freemasonry, and won over the Viennese with his German works. From 1784 to 1787, he experienced his most serene years, during which his production was sought after and appreciated. On two occasions, he traveled to Prague, where he found an environment particularly favorable to his music. In 1787, he was appointed "chamber musician" to the emperor, and in 1789, he went to Berlin and Dresden, where he was applauded as a concert pianist. After the death of Joseph II, his successor, Leopold II, proved much more lukewarm towards music, so much so that Mozart lost all support from the court. He once again staged La Clemenza di Tito in Prague, composed for the coronation of the new emperor. However, in 1791, he died in poverty for unspecified reasons and was buried in a common grave.

Requiem in D minor for soloists, choir, and orchestra, K 626

Requiem - soprano and choir - Adagio (D minor)

Kyrie - choir - Allegro (D minor)

Dies irae - choir - Allegro assai (D minor) sketch

Tuba mirum - soli - Andante (B flat major) sketch

Rex tremendae - choir - Grave (G minor) sketch

Recordare - choir - Andante (D minor) sketch

Confutatis - choir - Andante (A minor) sketch

Lacrimosa - choir - Larghetto (D minor) sketch

Domine Jesu - soli and choir - Andante con moto (G minor) sketch

Hostias - choir - Andante (E flat major). Andante con moto (G minor) sketch

Sanctus - chorus - Adagio (D major) added

Osanna - chorus - Allegro (D major) added

Benedictus - soli - Andante (B flat major) added

Osanna - chorus - Allegro (B flat major) added

Agnus Dei - chorus - ... (D minor) added

Lux aeterna - soprano and chorus - ... (D minor). Allegro. Adagio

When Count Franz von Walsegg zu Stuppach, an aspiring composer, decided to celebrate the anniversary of his wife's death on 14 February 1791, he chose to commission a Requiem from Mozart that he would later pass off as his own. The financial proposal was good, and the composer, who at that time needed money to finance his substantial expenditure, accepted. However, 1791 was a year full of commitments for Mozart that he had to face quickly. Thus, the Requiem was completed up to the second piece, broadly sketched out, and then left among the papers inherited by Constanze after her husband's death in December 1791. Among those papers was found evidence that the composer knew the person who commissioned it. Likely, Mozart did not inform his wife about that unusual commission. It was good that no one in Vienna should have heard of it, but that he, whose secret had been bought, did not know about it and that he was being commissioned for a work by a mysterious man is frankly improbable. Returning to the Requiem, the reason for such carelessness in completing it must therefore be attributed to pressing commitments, but we must not overlook the annoyance that Mozart, a man who was rightly proud and with a great sense of personal dignity, felt for Walsegg's gesture and for the Requiem itself. And yet, this work, thanks also to Constanze's excellent propaganda efforts, has become one of the major vehicles of Mozart's fame immediately after his death. In the last years of the eighteenth century, it had numerous performances in various cities, first in Germany and then throughout Europe, and was often chosen to commemorate the deaths of notable personalities.

In this sacred composition, Romanticism immediately found its voice again, and the Requiem, which fueled the anecdotes, also entirely Romantic, of the tragic death and its soundtrack, has become one of Mozart's most famous and performed creations to our times. The work was completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr, a pupil of the composer and a family friend, with the help of others and on commission from Constanze, who delivered the score to the count's representative about two months after her husband's death, passing it off as authentic. In any case, Constanze, who had sensed the deal in terms of image and money, kept a copy for herself and initially tried to convince people that the Requiem was indeed authentic. Mozart, on the other hand, had completed only the first two pieces (Introitus, Kyrie, and part of the Dies Irae) and had left notes, more or less substantial up to the Hostias, with which to develop the following parts. 

Walsegg conducted the score at his disposal on 14 December 1793, then conducted it again, using it for the purpose for which he had commissioned it, on 14 February 1794, in the church of Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt, a town where he was count. However, when he learned that Constanze had already had his score performed for her benefit on 2 January 1793 in Vienna, he decided to let it go for the future. However, a few years later, when he learned that the Requiem was about to be published, he attempted to request a large refund for the fraud that had been perpetrated against him. He had done the same thing with money, but in a more subtle way.

Vasilij Sergeevič Kalinnikov

   

He was born on January 13, 1866, in Voyny, near Mtsensk, now in Oryol Oblast. He studied at the Oryol Seminary, where he conducted the choir from the age of fourteen. He later moved to Moscow to attend the conservatory but could not afford the tuition. He received a scholarship to attend the Moscow Philharmonic School, where he studied composition and bassoon. He played timpani, bassoon, and violin in theater orchestras and worked as a copyist to supplement his income.

In 1892, Tchaikovsky recommended Kalinnikov to the directors of the Maly Theater and the Italian Theater in Moscow. However, suffering from tuberculosis, Kalinnikov had to leave these posts and move to Crimea. He lived in Yalta for the rest of his life, and it was there that he wrote most of his musical compositions, including two symphonies and the incidental music for Tsar Boris by the playwright Alexei Tolstoy (Leo Tolstoy's cousin).

His Symphony No. 1 in G minor, written between 1894 and 1895, which employs the cyclical form, brought him success. It was performed in Kyiv on February 20, 1897, and then in Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, and Paris during the composer's lifetime. However, it was not published until after his death. The royalties contributed to the support of Kalinnikov's widow. It was with the help of Sergei Rachmaninoff that Kalinnikov managed to sell three of his songs to Jurgenson, who also published Tchaikovsky, for 120 rubles. Jurgenson later also published Symphony No. 2 in A major.

He died of tuberculosis on January 11, 1901, a few days before his thirty-fifth birthday.

The symphony is in four movements:

Allegro moderato (G minor)

Andante comodo (E flat major)

Scherzo: Allegro non troppo (C major)

Finale: Allegro moderato (G major)

The first movement is in sonata form and opens with the central theme played in unison by the strings. The second theme is also presented by the strings, with woodwinds in the background. The development section is contrapuntal in nature, reminiscent of the fugues composed by Kalinnikov in the 1880s. The second movement opens with an ostinato by the harp and the first violins that flow into a solo by the English horn with violas. Then, the central theme of the movement is played by the oboe on plucked strings. The third movement, a scherzo, incorporates influences and melodies from Russian folk music and features a trio played by the winds. The finale opens with the main theme of the first movement before revisiting and transforming the themes of all the previous movements, as well as incorporating new themes derived from the old ones. The symphony concludes with a triumphal finale played by the full orchestra. A typical performance lasts about 40 minutes.

Salvatore Di Vittorio

  

Salvatore Di Vittorio, born in Palermo on October 22, 1967, is an Italian composer and conductor. He is the music director and conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of New York. He was recognized by Luigi Verdi (Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna) as "a lyrical, musical spirit, respectful of the ancient Italian tradition... a leading emerging interpreter of the music of Ottorino Respighi."

He began his musical studies with his father, Giuseppe, in Italy. He then studied composition with Ludmila Ulehla and Giampaolo Bracali at the Manhattan School of Music in the United States. He conducted with Giampaolo Bracali, Francesco Carotenuto, and the late Piero Bellugi in Italy.

He is the author of 15 orchestral works, 7 transcriptions and revisions of orchestral music by Ottorino Respighi, 2 Operas, 4 choral/vocal works, and some chamber compositions. Hector Berlioz and Richard Strauss influenced his symphonic music and followed in the footsteps of Ottorino Respighi. He has worked and written works for orchestras around the world. He has taught at Loyola School in New York City and Adelphi University.

In 2007, he gained considerable attention with the Chamber Orchestra of New York when he was invited by Elsa and Gloria Pizzoli (Respighi's great-grandchildren) and Potito Pedarra (curator and cataloguer of the Respighi archive) to edit, orchestrate and complete several of Respighi's early works including the first Violin Concerto (from 1903), for publication by Edizioni Panastudio and Casa Ricordi in Italy. He premiered and subsequently recorded three of these critical editions, along with his own Overture Respighiana and the first two symphonies, in 2010, with the New York Chamber Orchestra for Naxos Records. These early recordings were released in 2011.

Other notable restorations of historical interest include Respighi's 1908 orchestration of Claudio Monteverdi's Lamento di Arianna (from the lost opera Arianna, 1608), revised in 2012, and Di Vittorio's completion of Respighi's orchestration of Tre Liriche (Tre canti d'arte, 1913) edited for his centenary in 2013. In 2019 Di Vittorio completed the first printed edition of Respighi's Second Violin Concerto "all'Antica". With the Chamber Orchestra of New York, he went on to record the Violin Concerto "all'Antica" in 2019, along with Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances Suites and the Mezzo-soprano Songs in 2021, also for Naxos Records.

In November 2012, he performed the world premiere of his Symphony No. 3, "Templi di Sicilia," in his debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana at the Teatro Politeama in Palermo. RAI interviewed him on the evening news. He was soon thereafter awarded the Palermo Medal by Mayor Leoluca Orlando, who recognized the great importance of Di Vittorio's work as a promoter of the city of Palermo in the world.

He conducted the world premiere of "Fanfara del Mare: Su un Tema di Monteverdi" with the San Diego Symphony, commissioned for the centennial of Balboa Park and its Organ Pavilion at Copley Symphony Hall in 2015, and "Venere e Adone" for the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in 2016. During that summer, he achieved a significant milestone when he became the first native Italian composer to be invited to donate an autographed manuscript of his opera to the music archive of the Morgan Library & Museum. Villa d'Este, a Tivoli for small orchestra, was composed in 2015 for Morgan as part of its exhibition, "City of the Soul: Rome and the Romantics," in June 2016.

In late 2018, he completed his Symphony No. 4, "Metamorphoses," based on Ovid's Metamorphoses and three Italian paintings related to the story. In June 2021, he released a second album for Naxos, which includes several world premiere recordings, including his new Fourth Symphony. The London Philharmonic released a recording of Nebbie from Tre Liriche under Renato Balsadonna and tenor Freddie de Tommaso, and the Orchestra dell'Opera del Teatro Alla Scala recorded Aria for strings under Riccardo Chailly.

Between the 2021/2022 and 2024/2025 seasons, Di Vittorio will premiere his direction of Sinfonia Metamorfosi and Viaggi di Enea with the Orchestra dell'Opera del Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

Di Vittorio resides with his family in New York and Palermo.

Roberto Cacciapaglia

  

Composer and pianist born in Milan on December 28, 1959, he graduated in composition under the guidance of Bruno Bettinelli at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of his city, where he also studied electronic music and orchestral conducting. He works at the Rai Phonology studio and collaborates with the CNR (National Research Council) of Pisa, studying computer applications in the field of music. A protagonist of the most innovative international music scene, his music explores all genres, blending classical and avant-garde, tradition and contemporaneity.

In 1975, with the German label Ohr, he created "Sonanze," the first quadraphonic LP published in Italy. He came into contact with German musical groups such as Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream.

In the following years, he published and performed operas, concerts, and ballet music, including "Sei note in Logica" for voices, orchestra, and computer; "Generazioni del Cielo," an opera in two acts; and "Lamentazioni di Geremia," five elegies on a Hebrew text. In the same year, he performed in concert "In C" with Terry Riley, a manifesto of minimalism in music, and the unreleased "Transarmonica"; "Aurea Carmina" on a text by Pythagoras; "Il segreto dell'Alba" a ballet-pantomime; "Un Giorno X" his second opera; "Le Mille e una Notte" a musical fairy tale.

From the long artistic partnership undertaken with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, his works "Quarto Tempo," "Canone degli Spazi," and "Ten Directions" came to life.

In 2013 he composed "Antartica", which accompanied the European Concordia expedition to the Antarctic.

In 2015, he created "Tree of Life," the soundtrack for the Tree of Life icon at EXPO 2015 in Milan. It is a work that collects a series of orchestral compositions with some intrusions into electronics.

The album features a series of songs that hark back to the musical universe of the soundtrack and, despite the homonymy, have nothing to do with Terrence Malick's cinematic masterpiece. The first six were created to be proposed cyclically inside the Italian pavilion of EXPO 2015. Other themes are part of Cacciapaglia's previous repertoire, including compositions for both piano and orchestra, as well as electronics, taken from the quadraphonic experience of "Sonanze." All the material was reworked and explicitly rearranged for this recording edition to give the songs greater affinity and a more homogeneous sound thread.

In 2018, with the "Celebration Tour," he brought his music from Moscow to all of Russia, Siberia, Europe, America, China, and Turkey.

In the same year, he recorded "Diapason" with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London, which he presents in concert all over the world as part of the "Diapason Worldwide Tour."

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 Kitakyushu Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, the Farfalle Azzurre, the Italian national rhythmic gymnastics team, won the gold medal with the song "Tree of Life Suite."

On February 24, 2023, she released her new album, "Invisible Rainbows" (Ingrooves).

This year, she set to music INCIPIT / Moz-Art K.488 ReComposed.

Darius Milhaud

  

(Marseille, 4 September 1892 – Geneva, 22 June 1974)

Having abandoned his violin studies for composition, he came into close contact with Paris's cultural environment from a young age. He spent some time in Brazil as an embassy attaché (hence his predilection for the popular music of that country), and in 1918, he came into contact with Cocteau and Satie, becoming part of the "Groupe des Six." After 1920, we find him touring Europe and attending numerous contemporary music festivals. However, at the beginning of the Second World War, he moved to the United States to teach in Oakland, California. In 1947, he returned to Paris, where he taught at the Conservatory, and from 1948, he directed the music section of that radio station.

Highly prominent from a young age among the advanced groups of European contemporary music, he was soon considered an enfant terrible of music, comparable to Honegger, Antheil, and Hindemith. His production, born under the banner of the "Groupe des Six," was soon influenced by a wide range of diverse influences, including neoclassicism, jazz, and polytonalism. Still, he managed, at least during the happiest period of his compositional activity, to blend them into a coherent and personal style, which saw him for several years among the leading figures of contemporary musical events.

In his youth, he preferred complex rhythms, bitonal and polytonal harmonic superimpositions, a very dense counterpoint combined with a free sense of form and an ironic and pungent attitude, where, however, the melodic need always prevailed, a sense of lyricism typically.

Mediterranean and "French." Lately, Milhaud has abandoned the aggressiveness of the first period, following an evolution comparable to that of Hindemith.

Milhaud's production is immense: he is the author of numerous theatrical works, over fifteen ballets, stage and choral music, pieces for voices and instruments, and a substantial body of chamber music, including approximately twenty quartets and many pieces for piano.

Symphonie n.1 op.210 (1939)

Like other contemporary musicians, Milhaud approached the classical form of the Symphony only in full maturity. This also applies to Honegger and Hindemith, who, like Milhaud, threw themselves into the search for new forms and modes of expression in their youth, only feeling the call of classicism later. Milhaud himself states that this Symphony is conceived following the example of Mozart, in the sense of the clarity of the formal structure and, above all of the tireless melodic research, which remains - here as in almost all of the French composer's production - one of the fundamental elements of his style. There is. Therefore, there is a lack of dramatic contrasts, and the expressive climate of the work is relatively naturalistic, at times almost rustic, only occasionally strengthened by some vigorous episodes, such as the fugato of the second movement.

Here is the order of succession of the four movements: "Pastorale" ('Moderatamente animato'), "Molto vivo," "Molto moderato" (with a chorale character) and "Finale" ('Animato').

Zygmunt Noskowski

   

(Warsaw 1846 - Wiesbaden 1909)

Zygmunt Noskowski's father, Józef Lada Noskowski, was a wealthy notary who supported eleven of his children and five of Andrzej Towiański, a Polish theosophist and philosopher, with whom Noskowski's mother, Amelia de Salisch-Noskowska, was an enthusiast. The Noskowski family home in Warsaw was one of the leading centers of Towianism in Poland, and they supported Towiański's activities in exile for many years. The Noskowski family ignored the work of Fryderyk Chopin, who spoke of Towiański and his teachings with irritation and contempt. Zygmunt Noskowski, despite the aversion to Chopin acquired in his homeland, became one of his most active propagators in Poland as an adult. Over time, he completely abandoned Towianism.

Noskowski began studying music at the Warsaw Real Secondary School in 1851. In addition to playing the piano, he also studied violin under the supervision of the famous teacher, Jan Hornziel. His musical talent was discovered by Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński, whose figure, due to his unawareness of Chopin's achievements, remained for Noskowski, an example of a Polish composer. His first teacher was Stanisław Moniuszko, whose songs and some of his works he learned around 1860. Young Noskowski witnessed the pogrom of a patriotic demonstration of Russian troops in Warsaw on February 27, 1861. In the summer of that year, he took part in a trip to Kraków and the Tatra Mountains. All these events had a substantial impact on Noskowski's personality and were reflected in his subsequent creative, organizational, and journalistic activities.

After his father's death on June 23, 1863, he likely participated in the January Uprising.

In 1864–1867, he studied violin with Apolinary Kątski and counterpoint with Stanisław Moniuszko at the Warsaw Music Institute; he completed his studies with second prize. From 1867, he played in the orchestra of the Warsaw Grand Theatre, and from 1871 to 1872, he taught music at the Institute for the Deaf and Blind. From 1870, he was a music critic of the "Kurier Warszawski." He was socially active in the Warsaw Music Society. In 1872, he received a scholarship from the Warsaw Music Society. In December of the same year, he went to Berlin, where he studied composition with Friedrich Kiel at the Akademie der Künste. During these studies, he composed, among others, Variations and Fugues on a Theme by I. B. Viotti for string quartet (dedicated to Kiel), and from 1874, he worked on the First Symphony in A major, which he presented at a public concert in Berlin in April 1875 as a diploma work. Both critics and the public received this work well. After returning to Warsaw, Noskowski organized a concert of the composer on November 10, 1875, in the Resursa Obywatelska hall. The program, in addition to the First Symphony, included, among others, the overture Morskie Oko, which achieved considerable success. However, Noskowski's efforts to find permanent employment in Warsaw ultimately failed. Thanks to the recommendation of Friedrich Kiel, he finally secured the post of city music director and conductor of the Bodan Singing Society in Konstanz, where he likely arrived at the end of 1875 after marrying Stanisława Segedy, a piano graduate of the Warsaw Music Institute.

Noskowski's activity in Konstanz took place between 1876 and 1880. Under his direction, the Bodan Singing Society achieved the status of the best choral group in Baden, gained considerable authority among musicians, and the recognition of Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden. Financial and family stability allowed for intensive creative work. In Konstanz, among others, the first cycle of Krakowiacy for piano is Piano Quartet op. 8, String Quartet No. 1, op. 9, and Symphony No. 2 in C minor "Elegy." In 1880, Noskowski met Liszt in Baden-Baden, who soon after took part in the first performance of his Piano Quartet op. 8. Noskowski's rising position did not go unnoticed by the Warsaw musical community. In 1878, he received an offer to become a teacher at the Music Institute, but he refused it. Instead, he established a collaboration with "Ech Muzyczny," publishing articles (including a series entitled "Drogowskazy") in which he harshly assessed the artistic relations in Warsaw, the poverty of concert programs, the dilettantism of critics, and the contempt for the works of Polish composers, among other issues. These articles were met with polemical outcry.

Despite the good conditions in which he lived and worked in Konstanz throughout the 1880s, Noskowski had the intention of moving to a larger center of musical life. Initially, he considered Weimar or Leipzig, but it is not known under what circumstances he received another offer from Warsaw, where the resigning director of the Warsaw Musical Society, Władysław Żeleński, proposed him as his successor. On November 25, 1880, this institution organized a concert featuring Noskowski, during which, in addition to the Morskie Oko Overture, already known to the public, he conducted the world premiere of his Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Elegy." Despite the very low attendance, both works were well received by critics and the musical community. This fact likely influenced Noskowski's decision to accept the post of director of the Warsaw Musical Society. This finally occurred in January 1881, when Noskowski, along with his family, including his son Zygmunt Stanisław, relocated permanently to Warsaw.

The grave of composer Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909) in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

Noskowski considered the main task in his new position to be the reconstruction of musical life in Warsaw, which had been hindered throughout the 19th century and even suppressed in the post-uprising periods due to restrictions by the tsarist authorities and the pauperization of the city's inhabitants. Noskowski began by rebuilding the choir of the Musical Society, announcing memberships, and conducting free lessons in choral singing and musical rules for the newly appointed members. Then, he began to implement the idea of ​​weekly symphony concerts in Warsaw. To this end, he made energetic efforts to establish a permanent symphony orchestra in Warsaw, whose primary task was to perform works by Polish composers. These attempts did not bring lasting success. The orchestra founded and conducted by Noskowski, which held its inaugural concert on May 8, 1881, went bankrupt after only a year, despite its inclusion in the structures of the Musical Society and the collaboration of such outstanding soloists as Aleksander Michałowski and Stanisław Barcewicz. Neither the subsequent orchestra, founded in May 1886, nor the amateur orchestra, founded in the same year—both organized and led by Noskowski—survived for long. The cause of the failures was huge financial problems, which forced the composer to cover the deficit from his pocket and, as a result, to seek income by writing music for unsophisticated plays and stage adaptations performed in garden theaters. After that, he abandoned more ambitious creative projects for a while. The next point in Noskowski's plan was to organize weekly chamber concerts, both within and outside the activities of the Musical Society, usually also with the participation of Michałowski and Barcewicz. Due to the shortage of funds, Noskowski himself performed there as a violinist, violist, pianist, and even a singer, which was sometimes mistakenly taken as a sign of his desire to promote himself. The energy with which he faced various challenges and his somewhat abrasive way of dealing with them made him many enemies; on the other hand, he was criticized for turning some intimate evenings into social gatherings and even dance parties, which he did to attract new members for the Musical Society, recruited from the wealthier strata of the middle class. Despite these controversies and several severe crises in the activities, thanks to Noskowski, musical life in Warsaw became more regular.

A key work for Noskowski is the Symphony No. 2 in C minor, composed between 1875 and 1879. In the autograph, this work is titled Symfonia Elegijna, and the final movement is entitled "Per aspera ad astra!" In the program of the concert in Kraków on April 6, 1883, all the movements bear programmatic titles:

1. Naród w niewoli [The Nation in Slavery];

2. Nadzieje i wezwanie do walki [Hope and Call to Arms];

3. Elegy poległym bohaterom [Elegy on the fallen heroes].

4. ‘Per aspera ad astra!’.

In this context, the title of the final movement acquires special significance: "Per aspera ad astra." It shows that it is adapted to reflect on the Polish struggle for national independence.

Noskowski's Second Symphony features several musical indicators intended to demonstrate its lucidity. The first and last movements begin with the motto motif, a three-note sequence (C – B – G) descending from the principal. In an article, Noskowski stated that this melodic figure was typical of Polish folk music. It was also used by many other European composers of the time to emphasize the "national" color of their music, most notably by the Norwegian Edvard Grieg.

In any case, this motif does not play any essential structural role in the outer movements of Noskowski's Second. It is, however, part of the broad elegiac melody of the slow movement, from which the entire work took its name. Some Polish dances in his Second Symphony also refer to Noskowski, specifically the "Kujawiak" in the first movement and the "Krakowiak" in the scherzo. In this respect, he follows the model of Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński, who used several rhythmic Polish dances in each movement of his Symphony No. 2. Noskowski adapted Dobrzyński's idea of ​​combining the change of mode with the use of a patriotic melody, but, as will be shown, he transferred it to a much higher level of structural complexity, accessible only to connoisseurs.

Noskowski ends his slow elegiac movement in the minor mode, apparently to avoid doubling the "per aspera ad astra" effect. He even adapted the central theme of the first movement of Dobrzyński's Symphony to his own; however, he uses it differently. In Dobrzyński's Symphony, the theme is introduced in the slow introduction pathetically and plaintively; it also opens the Allegro molto, where it is answered by a fortissimo explosion of the entire orchestra on a diminished seventh chord. This strong, almost operatic gesture apparently represents a collective cry of protest. In Noskowski's Symphony, the Dobrzyński theme is introduced in a rather discreet and veiled way by the lower voices at the beginning of the Allegro molto. The fortissimo dynamic is reached much later in the course of a complex process of motivic development.

Obviously, Noskowski wanted to avoid a simplistic "Deus ex machina" effect. In the finale, the melodic aspect of the song is carefully developed through the two themes of the last movement, which are both related to the central theme of the first movement and also to the song itself. The second theme is presented in E flat major in the exposition. It is followed by a coda in which several themes are composed simultaneously. In the development section of this movement, a fierce conflict culminates in the destruction of the thematic material, similar to Beethoven's first movement in the Eroica Symphony.

Johann Hermann Schein

(Grünhain-Beierfeld, 20 January 1586 – Leipzig, 19 November 1630)

Johann Hermann Schein (Grünhain-Beierfeld, 20 January 1586 – Leipzig, 19 November 1630), together with Heinrich Schütz and Samuel Schütz, was the greatest German composer of the first half of the 17th century. One of his famous works is the Musical Banquet, composed in Leipzig in 1617, comprising nineteen Suites for various instruments. Other collections he published include Cimbalum Sionium, Israelis Brünnlein, Opella Nova I and II, and Venus Kräntzelein.

He was the fifth son of the Protestant pastor Hieronymus Schein, originally from Dresden. He spent his early years in Grünhain, in the Erzgebirge.

After the pastor died in 1593, the mother returned with her son to her parent's home in Dresden, partly because the new pastor needed the house in Grünhain and partly because she could barely earn a living in that small town. In Dresden, Schein developed his talent for singing in the children's choir of the Dresdner Hofkapelle, part of the choir of the principality, under the guidance of Rogier Michael and was a soprano until 1603. After his voice had changed, he was sent to further his education at the principality's state school in Pforta, where he was admitted on 18 May 1603. Here, he learned the fundamentals of musical knowledge very well. However, he returned to Dresden in April 1607.

He had already been enrolled at the University of Leipzig since 1603, so he could not begin until 1608. He studied law and liberal arts and received a scholarship as a former member of the princely choir. Although he had taken up the study of law seriously (he graduated in 1612), his interest lay more in poetry and music, and he began to compose. In 1609, he published his first musical work, Das Venus Kräntzlein (The Crown of Venus), a secular piece for choirs of five to eight voices and instrumental parts.

In 1613, Schein became a music teacher in Weissenfels to Gottfried von Wolffersdorf, who had met him in Pforta, after which he was appointed the family's musical director. He had not, however, given up composing, and in 1614, he published Cymbalum Sionium, a work in the form of sacred motets in Latin and German. In the autumn of 1616, Schein was appointed Sethus Calvisius' successor as Thomaskantor of the Thomasschule and music director of Leipzig. The considerable commitments associated with the role of cantor and music director of the Thomasschule, which included liturgical service in the churches of St. Nicholas and St. Thomas and accompanying weddings, baptisms, funerals, and city events, significantly weakened his health.

In Weimar, he married Sidonia, daughter of the official of the Saxon principality Eusebius Hösel. Three daughters died in infancy, and Sidonia herself died in 1624 at the birth of her third daughter; only the two sons survived their father.

In 1625, he married Elisabeth von Perre, daughter of the painter Johann von der Perre. Of the five children born to this marriage, four died in infancy.

In the second edition of 1645 of his Cantionale, which Schein began compiling in 1629, there are 58 pieces composed by the Author himself, including funeral songs dedicated to his first wife and seven of his children.

He himself was often ill. Despite suffering from lung disease and kidney problems, he continued to work as a teacher, choirmaster, organist, and composer. He twice sought treatment in the city of Karlsbad but received no relief. He died before he was 45 years old. Heinrich Schütz composed a funeral lament in his honor. He was buried in his hometown, where an epitaph can be found in the church of St. Nicholas; a monument in front of the church commemorates the musician.

Israelis Brünnlein ("The Fountains of Israel") are spiritual madrigals performed by Gli Angeli Geneve, a baroque ensemble based in Geneva.

Schein was one of Bach's most illustrious predecessors at St. Thomas in Leipzig. His work, long eclipsed by the historical stature of his contemporary Heinrich Schütz, is today recognized as one of the jewels of the Protestant sacred repertoire. Composed "in the manner of an Italian madrigal," the celebrated Fountains of Israel give the Old Testament texts an extraordinarily pertinent and varied musical vision; this way of putting a whole range of means derived directly from Italy at the service of German-language religious music achieves here surprising appropriateness.

 

Onutė Narbutaitė

 

Onutė Narbutaitė was born in 1956 in Vilnius in the family of musicologist Ona Narbutienė and geologist Vytautas Narbutas.

She learned the basics of composition from Bronius Kutavičius and graduated in 1979 from the Lithuanian State Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Drama), where she studied composition with Prof. Julius Juzeliūnas. From 1979 to 1982, she taught music theory and history at the Klaipėda Faculty of the Lithuanian State Conservatory. Since 1982, she has concentrated exclusively on her creative work and lives in Vilnius.

Even in the 1980s, Onutė Narbutaitė enjoyed a reputation as a composer of subtle chamber music. Her early works were suffused with depictions of "night," "silence," and "oblivion"; her compositions, unhurried in their flow, with their transparent textures and nostalgic mood, often resembled the pages of a diary written in sounds. The composer's music underwent a significant transformation in the years following Lithuania's independence. First, Narbutaitė devoted herself to large-scale symphonic and symphonic-vocal works. Maintaining her undeniably creative independence, she developed an expressive musical language characterized by cerebral nature and structured thinking, expressive instrumentation and haunting melodic quality, lush harmonies and textures, and an intense musical flow. The subtle sonic imagination of her music is in harmony with the rich cultural references found in it.

We can say that Onutė Narbutaitė is today one of the few composers whose music bears the mark of exceptional individuality and is recognizable from the first bars of all her compositions. In addition to the broad spectrum of various emotional states and feelings in the creative work, what is also palpable is the sense of aristocratic restraint and strong compositional discipline that only increases the music's emotional impact. However, the constructive origin is not manifested by systems of organization of various musical parameters borrowed from others or created by her. Narbutaitė's intellectual works do not resemble 'mechanical production' but 'manual work' performed with great precision. The rationality of her composition is revealed through meticulously detailed textures, precise proportions of smaller or larger sections, the overall shape, and the not immediately perceptible interaction of the minor details. At the same time, the abstract musical narrative is highly expressive, clearly emerges, and often resembles "something familiar." Perhaps the aptest description of her current work was given by the American musicologist Richard Taruskin: 'Not "tonal." Not "romantic". Not "retro". Consonant.'

Onute Narbutaite's "Was There a Butterfly?" composition for chamber orchestra (2013)

Written on commission by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and dedicated to the conductor Juha Kangas and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. The initial musical idea and working title of the piece was Ostinato. As a constant repetition of musical patterns, Ostinato connotes a constant return to the same place, memory, and dream – dark and deep. The butterfly flew onto the title only after completing the work, but not by chance. It continued to flutter in various forms throughout the writing process, in the corners of the mind. Like a mysterious breath, a shadow of Psyche – in ancient Greek, the same word indicates Psyche, soul, breath, and butterfly. Or, as a symbol of metamorphosis, the idea of ​​a momentary unfurling of wings. In this regard, it would be appropriate to quote a joke by Czesław Miłosz: Why does a butterfly spread its wings for a flight measured by the grains of an hourglass?

Fabrizio Paterlini

 

It is fitting that composer and pianist Fabrizio Paterlini, born on February 22, 1973, was born and lives in the ancient city of Mantua in northern Italy. A romantic and historically significant center of musical and artistic excellence, the city's elegance and cultural depth permeate Paterlini's exquisite original compositions for solo piano. Yet despite Mantua's inescapable influence in informing the composer's work, his cinematic music is far from localized or even recognizably Italian but instead taps directly into universal human emotion.

Listeners and critics alike are torn over how best to label Paterlini's beautiful sound. Neoclassicism, ambient, minimalism, and new age are mentioned, but it is more pertinent to note some of the adjectives regularly used to appreciate his sonic palette. Ethereal, soulful, lush, emotional, dreamy, delicate, and, significantly, passionate all appear with unerring frequency. The composer himself describes his work as "like a glass of red wine on a summer evening," aware of the calming effect of his thoughtful melodies on the listener.

Paterlini began playing the piano at the age of six. From the first moment he touched the keys, his life changed irrevocably, music becoming "a choice made every day… explored in all its aspects". And so music and his life path became, and remain, inextricably linked; as he progressed as a musician and composer, his development as a human being runs parallel. Formal study of his chosen artistic path came at age five at the Accademia Campiani, the Academy of Fine Arts in Mantua, where he graduated in Music Theory.

The 1990s saw Paterlini cut his teeth as a touring musician, performing classic rock, pop, and jazz in local bands. While playing with these bands, he began to compose music, which, at this stage, was mainly material from progressive rock persuasion. As the decade and century drew to a close, Paterlini made a momentous decision: to focus exclusively on the piano – the instrument that, in his own words, "best expresses his inner world." Yet it wasn't until 2006 that he began composing music for solo piano.

The following year, his life's musical journey took a momentous step as he released his debut CD, Viaggi in Aeromobile (Travel in Aircraft), on the Music Center label. A collection of gracefully atmospheric, well-structured pieces showcasing Paterlini's natural touch and seemingly effortless talent, the Italian music press warmly received the release.

2008 saw the release of an EP previewing Paterlini's second full-length, Viandanze. Meanwhile, the 8-track Remixed collection presented the composer's material as subtly reworked soundscapes, fitting them comfortably into convincing chillout territory. In 2010, the impeccable CD Fragments Found, again on Paterlini's label, drew comparisons to luminaries such as Ludovico Einaudi, Erik Satie, and George Winston.

In 2011, the double CD set "Fragments Found + Viandanze" was released. In the fall of the same year, he began working on his project "Storie d'Autunno," composing, recording, and publishing online a song for each week of the autumn season, publishing it in February 2012.

In 2013, he released his new full-length album, "Now."

His first album of original songs in three years, Secret Book, was released in May 2017. It is once again different from his previous works, including extensive use of strings and electronics.

In 2018, he released "Winter Stories." He presented the new album from his living room and recorded it with daily live performances, which were streamed on his main social channel during the month of February.

In 2019, he toured Europe mainly with his "Piano Stories 2019 Tour".

In 2023, he released Riverscape. Giovanna Musolino writes about this work:

Riverscape is an album of liquid beauty flowing and insinuating deeply into the soul.

The music is inspired by and from the river and its incessant flow. It is a suite of 13 songs in which electronics, piano, and strings dialogue and paint soundscapes of intense beauty and veiled melancholy.

Paterlini's notes narrate the river and its waters, which follow their perpetual and unstoppable course, capturing its voice, colors, moods, changes, suggestions, emotions, and enchantment.

Adolf von Henselt

  

(Schwabach, May 12, 1814 – Warmbrunn, October 10, 1889)

Georg Martin Adolf von Henselt (Schwabach, May 12, 1814 – Warmbrunn, October 10, 1889) was three years old when his parents, Phillip E. Henselt and Caroline Geigenmüller, decided to move to Munich for economic reasons.

He approached music early, playing the violin at the age of three and the piano at five. At fifteen, he gave his first public recital. Admired by the music of Carl Maria von Weber, during his youth, he made many transcriptions and arrangements of the music of the composer and pianist from Eutin.

In 1832 he studied music (piano) in Weimar under the guidance of Johnann Hummel and composition with Simon Sechter, thanks to a scholarship from King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

In 1836, in Weimar, he met Rosalie Vögel, the wife of a court physicist and friend of Goethe, whom he married after his divorce. This love would inspire his Poéme d'amour op. 3, one of the German composer's most appreciated works.

He stood out for his peculiar piano technique, which was based on a large opening of the fingers and a major strict "legato."

In 1836, he began his career as a concert pianist in Berlin. Just two years later, he was published in Russia, in St. Petersburg, where he obtained important positions, including that of court pianist and teacher. His teachings and compositions influenced the new generation of local pianists.

After a few years, in 1863, Henselt was appointed general inspector of all musical institutions linked to the Russian court. Among his students are Nicolai Zverev, Ivan Neylisov, and Gustav Kross.

Although his compositions were not numerous and his public appearances were not frequent, Adolf von Henselt was one of the most appreciated pianists of his time. It is a pity that he suffered from severe stage fright. Alexander Dreyshock told an anecdote about this. He said that one day while visiting Henselt's house, he heard from outside one of the most beautiful melodies he had ever heard. He was so impressed that he did not even ring the doorbell and listened to the entire musical performance from outside. When the music was finished, Dreyshock entered Henselt's house and asked her to play it again, and the result was much inferior to what he had heard before from outside. Henselt's nerves had betrayed him.

Among his major works are a Piano Concerto, Concert Studies, Poème d'amour, Ballade, and Preparatory Exercises.

Naturally, Henselt's Piano Concerto reflects his characteristics as a pianist. The piece requires the performer to have a hand reach that can play chords spanning tenths with ease, a lyrical, cantabile execution, and an incredible technical mastery to execute thundering octave passages, flashy arpeggios, and rapid octave jumps—somewhat akin to a figure skater having to perform endlessly. triple and quadruple jumps and land them perfectly and gracefully every time. One thing to note is that all the difficulties in the solo part and the incredible feats accomplished by the pianist are often not immediately apparent without the score. With the constant technical demands, the concerto requires athleticism, stamina, and endurance on the part of the pianist. Currently, only three concerto recordings are available, so it is an extremely rare pleasure to hear this concerto live today.

Georg Philipp Telemann (UK)

 

(Magdeburg 14-III-1681 - Hamburg 25-VI-1767)

He was Kapellmeister in a church in Leipzig, where he founded a student choir; he made numerous trips to Poland before settling in Eisenach in 1708 as a court kapellmeister. 

From 1712, he was active in Frankfurt, and in 1721, he settled in Hamburg as a kapellmeister in various churches and organized concerts and opera performances. In 1728, he founded the first German musical periodical, the "Getreuer Musik-Meister." A contemporary of Bach, Telemann was a more extroverted and worldly musician, curious about different styles and unusual forms.

He trained in contact with French, Italian, and Polish music. He maintained an eclecticism throughout his production that, if it did not allow him to achieve expressive results of particular depth, nevertheless made him a skilled, self-assured musician capable of imaginative and graceful ideas. His music flows entirely on the surface. It remains a typical example of the transition between the German Baroque and Rococo, so much so that it can almost be considered a link between Bach and Mozart.

Telemann's production is immense (it exceeds in quantity that of Bach and Hendel combined!).

He composed thousands of pieces for liturgical use, at least 25 theatrical works, oratorios, and passions in great numbers, chamber music, and hundreds of orchestral pieces. In this last field, he was curious about new forms and revealed a marked tendency for program music, writing, among other things, water music, hunting scenes, pieces on human characters, and so on, in addition to serenades, concertos, suites, and overtures in the Italian and French style.

Since it is not possible for Telemann, as for many other composers of the 17th and 18th centuries, to examine even a tiny part of his production, which is still being re-evaluated, we will point out a few pieces that exemplify his style and the musical genres he preferred.

Don Quixote suite for strings, 1735

It is a series of pieces that evoke the feelings of Don Quixote, as well as episodes of his life and naturalistic impressions. 

As in the Musica da Tavola, here, too, the discourse is fluent and graceful, without dramatic contrasts. The eight parts of the suite (with the titles in French in the original) are: "Ouverture" ('Largo-Allegro-Largo'); "Don Quixote's awakening" ('Andantino'); "Don Quixote's attack on the windmills" ('Moderato'); "Loving sighs for Princess Alina" ('Andante'); "Sancho Panza mocked" ('Allegro moderato'); "The Gallop of Rocinante" ('Allegretto'); "That of Sancho's Donkey" ('Alternativo'); "Don Quixote Lies Down" ('Vivace').

George Gershwin (UK)

 

(New York 26-IX-1898 / Beverly Hills [California] 11-VII-1937)

Dedicated to light music since childhood, he soon created a series of songs that gave him great popularity. However, he felt strongly attracted by the forms of symphonic music, and the best fruit of this constant ascent from the sphere of "light" music to that of more meditated music, Gershwin reached him in Porgy and Bess, the first genuinely American opera, based on motifs of the black people, on their songs and their psychology, and also redeemed at a universal level by a genius force that today no one can deny in Gershwin.

The instrumental production is also interesting because it allows us to explore the possibilities of elaborating on jazz's characteristics in art music. Following his example, a current of thought developed in America that tended to re-evaluate jazz in symphonic music. But Gershwin remains a unique and inimitable musician, one of the most excellent products—and perhaps the greatest—that the musical culture of the United States has produced to date.

Rhapsody in Blue for Piano and Orchestra (1924) - At only twenty-six years old, Gershwin wrote a composition destined to become the most popular of his entire production. In truth, this combination of constructive developments taken from classical music with elements typical of jazz (rhythms, melodic and harmonic inflections) is ingenious. For its inventive freshness, spontaneity, and naivety of discourse, it definitely imposes itself on the attention of every listener, whatever their personal attitude towards jazz. The piano part is linear in writing and essential: this short piece flows away with rapidity and great communicative force. It is enough to give us the full measure of Gershwin's incredible talent.

Albert Grisar (UK)

 

(Antwerp, 25 December 1808 – Asnières, 15 June 1869)

A Belgian composer, he studied in Paris under Antonín Reicha. His debut opera was Le mariage impossible, performed in Brussels in 1833, followed by Sarah in 1836, L'an mil in 1837, La Suisse à Trianon in 1838, and Les travestissements in 1839; he created some operas in collaboration with François-Adrien Boieldieu.

The following year, he moved to Naples for a refresher course under Saverio Mercadante's guidance; upon his return to Paris, he resumed his activity as a theatre composer with the works Gilles Ravisseur of 1848, Bon soir, Monsieur Pantalon of 1851, and Le carillonneur de Bruges of 1852. He collaborated with Friedrich von Flotow for L'eau merveilleuse (1839) and with François-Adrien Boieldieu for L'opéra à la cour (1840).

Grisar distinguished himself with this historical-political-dramatic work, set in Bruges during the Spanish domination. The protagonists are the Belgian patriot Mathéus with his old carillon and his daughter Béatrix in love with Wilhelm. Mathéus grants Wilhem the hand of his daughter, but Mathéus' nephew Van Bruck and his cousin Mésangère insinuate that a mysterious lover has kissed Béatrix, and this fact creates confusion. The story ends with the call to revolt against the Spanish and the rescue of Béatrix from her suicidal intentions. 

The Carillonneur de Bruges premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 20 February 1852 and received much acclaim from the public and critics.

André Campra (UK)

 

Born in Aix-en-Provence on December 4, 1660, he died in Versailles on June 29, 1744. 

He was a French composer and conductor of Baroque music and the author of various melodramas.

In the Baroque musical panorama, among the notes that dance in the air and the sinuous movements that fill the spaces, the illustrious figure of André Campra, a 17th-century French composer, emerges.

His life and his artistic contribution intertwine in a harmonious ballet that continues to inspire generations of music and dance enthusiasts.

He carried out his artistic activity between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, contributing significantly to the renewal of French opera of the period.

Son of an Italian doctor, Francesco Campra, of Piedmontese origin, his family moved to France even before his birth. There, he deepened his musical and religious studies in the cathedral of Saint-Sauveur in the city of Aix-en-Provence, where he took his vows in 1678.

From 1694 to 1700, he was choirmaster at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris after having held similar positions in Toulouse, Toulon, and Arles. From 1697, however, he began to show his first interests in musical theatre, writing his first opera and some incidental music in great secrecy for fear of being discovered by the ecclesiastical authorities, given the strict prohibition that was made for churchmen to engage in profane activities. In vain, he hid behind a pseudonym for the first time. Still, in 1700, he devoted himself entirely to the theater, arousing numerous critical and public acclaim with his first work, the opéra-ballet L'Europe galante (1697).

He was the court music director after Louis XIV and of the court theater. During the last part of his life, he resumed his vows, dedicating himself exclusively to sacred music.

Campra shocked people when he introduced violins into sacred music playing at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, where he was employed as music director. He wrote sacred music, cantatas, and a requiem mass. Shortly before 1700, he moved away from sacred music and began concentrating on theater music - opera. He wrote almost twenty operas, including Iphigénie en Tauride, Idoménée, and Alcine. These three works have seen something of a renaissance in recent years with recent recordings, and people are again starting to sit up and take notice.

Although positioned between Lully and Rameau, his works met widespread public acclaim. Displaying sensitivity and melodic elegance, his main aim was to unite the stylistic peculiarities of Italian music with the virtues of French music. Many of his creations, in fact, contain pages in Italian, such as "Les fêtes vénitiennes" (1710).

Therefore, his art reveals itself in all its magnificence in the world of dance, transporting the listener into a vortex of emotions and movements that reflect the complexity of life itself.

For Campra, dance was not just a set of choreographic steps but an expression of the human soul in all its nuances.

In his compositions, one can feel the joys and sorrows, triumphs and defeats, loves and passions that mark the path of existence.

Every note, every rhythmic accent, every change of tone tells a story, evoking vivid images and palpable sensations.

His ability to combine music with dance was masterful, creating works that blended elegance of form with depth of content.

His ballets and plays were imbued with such vivacity and vitality that they transported the audience to a world of pure beauty and enchantment.

The listener immersed himself in a sensory journey, where emotions flowed freely and passions burned brightly like stars in the night sky.

But Campra's life was not without its challenges.

While finding success and recognition in his work, he had to deal with the pressures and criticism of his time and the personal difficulties that often accompany creative genius.

Yet through these challenges, his art has acquired depth and meaning, transforming his experiences into works of extraordinary beauty and emotional depth.

Today, André Campra's legacy lives on through his compositions, which continue to be performed and celebrated worldwide.

His music and dance are living testimonies to the strength and resilience of the human spirit. They can touch the deepest chords of the soul and transport the listener to worlds of pure wonder and contemplation.

In his spell of sound and movement, André Campra reminds us that life itself is a ballet, a perfect harmony of joy and pain, light and darkness, movement and stillness.

Through his music, we continue to dance to the rhythm of life, letting ourselves be carried away by its enchanting melodies and hypnotic dances in the eternal search for beauty and truth that resides in the heart of every human being.