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Agata della Pietà

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agata della Pietà (24 March 1712 - 17 October 1769) was an Italian composer, singer, and teacher of music at the Venetian charitable institution known as the Ospedale della Pietà. A foundling admitted in infancy to the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, she received thorough musical training starting in her childhood through the instruction of an older woman named Apollonia, who was also top soprano vocalist for the Ospedale. After years of training, Agata became a performing member in the institution’s musical ensembles, called the coro; she later became a soprano soloist, singing teacher, and administrator. She is known to have been the soloist in motets commissioned from Giovanni Porta and Andrea Bernasconi, in whose manuscripts she is mentioned by name; she is also mentioned in an anonymous verse tribute to musicians of the Pietà cori which dates to around 1740. Agata della Pietà is known to have written several musical compositions, including a setting of Psalm 134 Ecce nunc for compline. Harpsichordist, Elizabeth Anderson completed a reconstruction of this work in 2022 and it was first performed by the Australian Chamber Choir in Melbourne in May 2022. Other known compositions a

Agata Zubel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agata Zubel (born 1978 in Wrocław, Poland) is a Polish composer and singer. Life Zubel is a graduate of Wrocław’s Karol Szymanowski High School of Music (percussion and music theory) and the Karol Lipiński University of Music, where she studied composition with Jan Wichrowski. She is a member of the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers’ Union and a recipient of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarship. Currently she teaches at the Academy of Music in Wrocław (full professor). In 2013 she was honoured by the International Music Council’s International Rostrum of Composers with the best composition title for Not I, which she wrote for soprano, instrumental ensemble and electronics. In October 2017 she was awarded the Bronze Medal “Gloria Artis”. She is an ordinary member of the Polish Composers’ Union. Selected works * Lumiere pour percussion (1997) * Nocturne for solo violin (1997) * Three Miniatures for piano (1998) * Birthday for mixed a cappella choir; text by Wisława Szymborska (1998) * A Song about the End of the World for voice, reciter and instrumental ensemble; text by Czesław Miłosz (1998) * Meditations for mixed a cappella choir; text by Jan Twardowski (19

Agatha Rosenius

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agatha Rosenius (10 September 1814 – 29 August 1874) was a Swedish hymnwriter. Biography She was born Agatha Ulrika Lindberg to county official Erik Lindberg and Elisabeth Catharina (née Nordlund) in Grisbacka, today part of Umeå. She found an active Christian faith at a young age – a belief not shared by her parents and which led to conflict in the home. Preacher Carl Olof Rosenius later visited her hometown, encouraging her in her faith. They both described feeling that God had brought them their future spouse. After corresponding for a time, and after eventually receiving her parents’ approval, the two were married on 2 August 1843 in Umeå by priest A. A. Grafström. She was described by her husband as being satisfied with simple living and not caring for worldly interests, and by others as shy but unforgettable. They had seven children, including painter and , who became a liberal journalist in Karl Staaff and Hjalmar Branting’s circles. The couple was known for their hospitality, often inviting fellow revivalists who were traveling to stay with them. Charlotte af Tibell wrote: Rosenius herself composed a number of songs with religious themes, some of which were published in the

Agathe Backer Grøndahl

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agathe Ursula Backer Grøndahl (1 December 1847 – 4 June 1907) was a Norwegian pianist and composer. Her son Fridtjof Backer-Grøndahl (1885–1959) was also a pianist and composer, who promoted his mother’s compositions in his concerts. Biography Early life Agathe Ursula Backer was born in Holmestrand in 1847, in a wealthy and art-loving home, as the second youngest of four sisters, all gifted in drawing and music. In 1857, she moved with her family to Christiania, where she studied with Otto Winther-Hjelm, Halfdan Kjerulf and Ludvig Mathias Lindeman. She won fame there with her interpretation of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto. Her parents heavily discouraged her performance career, believing it was unsuitable for a woman. They believed she was better suited to life as a house-wife. In a letter to Kjerrulf, she wrote, “I do not understand how both you and my parents could object to the fact that I want to become what one calls a female artist… It seems to me that a beautiful, independent future for a woman can be found in the simple act of striving, if possible, to be able to present an enjoyable experience to people, especially if that future included a way to travel and see a little

Agboola Shadare

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agboola Shadare is a Nigerian songwriter, composer and producer. He started as a church musician, then moved into club and studio production in Nigeria. He produced for popular Nigerian artistes such as Gbenga Owoeye-Wise and Mike Aremu, and released two solo albums, Dream Dawn and Glory. Shadare then moved to the US, playing Christian smooth jazz. Agboola’s music is now played around the world. He has performed alongside Bob James, Ron Kenoly, Yolanda Adams and other top artistes and several times on TBN. Agboola held concerts across Europe, being due to return to the United States in March 2009, where he was to release two albums and a play at a concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Early life Agboola was born in Kano City in Africa on 9 May Originally from Ilesa, in Southern Nigeria. At the age of twelve Shadares became a drummer in the church. By age 19 he had learnt more instruments, particularly the guitar, which became his signature instrument, playing with his style. Between 1993 and 1994, Agboola appeared in several concerts with the group Treasure Band. He later concentrated on a Christian approach; between 1994 and 2002 he played with House on the R

Agim Krajka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agim Krajka (1 May 1937 – 1 March 2021) was an Albanian composer. He was known as one of the greatest masters of music at that time. Biography He was born on 1 May 1937, in the small city of Kavajë, Albania to a family from Debar, present day North Macedonia. Krajka began his musical career at the Pioneer Palace in Tirana sometime in the early 1950s where he learned accordion, the musical instrument for which he was to become famous. He went on to study composition at the State Conservatory in Tirana between 1963 and 1968. Known for his close collaboration with singer Vaçe Zela, he authored two of her most well-known songs, Lemza and Djaloshi dhe Shiu. He also composed music for several films such as “Zonja nga Qyteti”, “Udha e Shkronjave”.. etc. He was awarded Albania’s Merited People’s Artist prize for his long contribution to music. He received the “Honor of the Nation” Decoration. Krajka died on 1 March 2021, aged 83 from COVID-19. References External links * *

Agnes Clune Quinlan

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agnes Clune Quinlan (20 September 187321 May 1949) was an Irish composer, lecturer and pianist who wrote Gaelic-influenced music for piano and voice and recorded commercially as a pianist. She moved to America and died in Philadelphia. Quinlan was born in Limerick, Ireland. She studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where her teachers included Henry Davenport, Frederick Eyres, and Arthur O’Leary. She was awarded medals by the Royal Academy of Music and by the Society of Arts, both in London. Quinlan traveled to New York in 1895 and in 1900 was living at the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus in Delaware, Pennsylvania. In addition to composing, she was listed as a speaker with The Lecture Guild in New York City. She gave lecture recitals on various musical topics, including weekly talks on Philadelphia Orchestra programs during its winter season, and a lecture on ancient music and musical instruments of Ireland. With Katherine Bregy, she gave a lecture recital on modern French music and poetry. She wrote at least one article for The Etude entitled The Music of Ireland. As a pianist, Quinlan made several trial recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA

Agnes Elisabeth Overbeck

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ella Overbeck, pseudonym Baroness Ella Overbeck or Overbach, also Agnes Elisabeth Overbeck, Elizabeth von Overbe(c)k, or Baroness Jo Overbeck (nicknamed Jimmy) (10 October 1870 – 12 November 1919) was an Anglo-Russian composer and pianist. Life and career Born in Russia, Overbeck was brought to England as a young child by her parents, both Russians. Following their deaths, she was adopted by an English woman, and educated at the Royal College of Music. She was piano accompanist to Clara Butt and students of Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García in London. In the 1890s she made friends with Edith Craig (1869-1947) and her brother Edward, son and daughter of leading British actress Ellen Terry, and wrote the stage music for Edward’s adaptation of Alfred de Musset’s On ne badine pas avec l’amour (as No Trifling with Love), which was performed in Uxbridge in 1894. Overbeck’s music was praised by the Musical Times; other early works, such as a violin sonata and various songs, were also positively reviewed by the musical press. A survey of women composers active in 1896 described Overbeck, though a ‘baby’ song-writer by comparison with the older Cecile Chaminade and Guy d’Hardelot, as possess

Agnes Nebo von Ballmoos

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agnes Nebo von Ballmoos (February 21, 1938 – March 29, 2000) was a Liberian professor of music, scholar of Liberian folk music, conductor, composer, and lawyer. Von Ballmoos contributed to the preservation of Liberian folk music by collecting and transcribing folk music representing diverse cultural traditions around the country and composing original arrangements of traditional songs. She also taught at the University of Liberia for nearly thirty years, directing the university choir. Under her leadership, the choir gave concerts at venues around the world, performing a varied repertoire which included classical pieces, spirituals, and traditional Liberian music. Early life and education Agnes Nebo von Ballmoos was born in Grand Cess in Grand Kru County. Her father was Amos S. Nebo and her mother was Grace Nah Tameh Nebo. In 1975, she completed a master’s degree in ethnomusicology from Indiana University, which she attended on a Fulbright fellowship. Shortly after completing her undergraduate degree, Agnes married Rudolph von Ballmoos, with whom she had two sons. Their younger son, DeWitt von Ballmoos, leads Liberia’s National Social Security and Welfare Corporation. Career From 1

Agnes Tyrrell

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agnes Tyrrell (20 September 1846 – 18 April 1883) was a composer and pianist of English and Czech descent. Life Agnes Tyrrell was born in Brno, the regional capital of Moravia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She was the daughter of English teacher Henry Foster Tyrrell, who had established himself among the German-speaking community of Brno, and his Czech wife Josefína Kotulánová. Agnes Tyrrell grew up speaking English, German, and Czech fluently. A child prodigy, she performed in her first piano recital at nine, and attended the Vienna Conservatory at sixteen. She studied piano with Adalbert Pacher in Vienna and composition with Anton Bruckner’s teacher Otto Kitzler in Brno. She had to give up an active career as a pianist due to failing health (heart problems), and instead devoted her short life to composition Oeuvre Tyrrell was a prolific composer. During her fairly short life (she was 36 when she died), she composed 39 compositions for piano solo, 55 vocal compositions ranging from songs to choral music, oratorio and opera, and several major orchestral works. Tyrrell was one of the few women to compose a symphony before 1900. In 2018, her Overture in C Minor received a world pre

Agnes Zimmermann

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agnes Marie Jacobina Zimmermann (5 July 1847 14 November 1925) was a German concert pianist and composer who lived and worked in England, where she enjoyed a fifty-year performance career, one of the longest unbroken spans before the public. From the 1870s through to the 1890s in particular she was a central figure in British musical life. Biography Agnes Marie Jacobina Zimmermann was born in Cologne, Germany. Her family moved to England, and she was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of nine, where her teachers were Charles Steggall and Cipriani Potter. Later she studied under Ernst Pauer and Sir George Macfarren. Zimmermann received the Kings Scholarship from 1860 to 1862 and made her public debut in 1863, aged 16, at The Crystal Palace, playing two movements from Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. In 1868 she gave the first of a series of two-piano recitals with Clara Schumann: they often performed Robert Schumann’s Andante und Variationen, Op. 46 together. After ending her studies, Zimmermann went on a tour of Germany, followed by concert tours in 1879, 1880, 1882 and 1883. She remained an active performer for decades, establishing a long-running series of recitals an

Agoria (musician)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agoria, born Sébastien Devaud (born 16 January 1976) is a French electronic record producer, composer, and DJ. He has released four albums, including the soundtrack to the film Go Fast. He is one of the founders of the record label InFiné and also helped to create the music festival Nuits Sonores. He released his debut album, Blossom, in 2003 and has since produced albums including The Green Armchair (2006), Impermanence (2011), Drift (2019), .dev (2011) and Unshadow (2024). Agoria is the founder of Sapiens Records label and is a film composer, with soundtracks for films including and . Early life Sébastien Devaud, known as Agoria, grew up in Valencin, Isère. Inspired by a Jeff Mills DJ set at 15, he taught himself to mix and, by 17, was performing at clubs, opening for Richie Hawtin and Carl Cox. After high school, he briefly attended university but left to organize parties and work in record shops. By 23, he committed fully to music. Music career First albums Agoria released his debut LP, Influence Hivernale, in 1999 on the Kubik label, then managed by Cyrille Bonin, the future director of the Transbordeur in Lyon. His breakthrough came in 2001 with La Onzième Marche, initially r

Agostino Agazzari

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agostino Agazzari (2 December 1578 – 10 April 1640) was an Italian composer and music theorist. Life Agazzari was born in Siena to an aristocratic family. After working in Rome, as a teacher at the Roman College, he returned to Siena in 1607, becoming first organist and later choirmaster of the cathedral there. He was a close friend of Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, the early innovator of the basso continuo. Agazzari wrote several books of sacred music, madrigals and the pastoral drama Eumelio (1606). Stylistically, Eumelio is similar to the famous composition by Cavalieri, Rappresentatione di Anima, e di Corpo of 1600, a work of singular significance in the development of the oratorio. In the preface to the drama he mentions that he was asked to set the text to music only one month before the performance; he composed the music in two weeks, and copied the parts and rehearsed it in the remaining two weeks, a feat which would be impressive even in the modern age. Agazzari is best known, however, for Del sonare sopra il basso (1607), one of the earliest and most important works on basso continuo. This treatise was immensely important in the diffusion of the technique throughout Europe:

Agostino Agresta

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agostino Agresta (fl. 1600–1617) was a Neapolitan composer working at the beginning of the 17th century, who can be seen as having been strongly influenced by Carlo Gesualdo. Agresta’s only known surviving works are unaccompanied madrigals, including a complete book of six-voice pieces. Biography Incredibly little is known about the life and career of Agresta, including neither the circumstances of his birth or death. Apart from his works (discussed below), there are only two contemporary or near-contemporary references to him. He and his elder brother Giovanni Antonio are listed together in the third book of Scipione Cerreto’s 1601 Della prattica musicale as excellent composers operating in Naples (‘Compositori eccellenti della Città di Napoli, che oggi vivono’); however, no works by Giovanni Antonio survive. And a 1664 work by the Neapolitan scholar Camillo Tutini lists him as a madrigalist in a section devoted to promoting the cultural claims of Naples against Rome. Madrigali a sei voci … Libro primo (1617) Agresta’s only surviving book of madrigals, Madrigali a sei voci … Libro primo, was published in Naples in 1617 by Costantino Vitale, and dedicated to Don Roderico di Sal

Agostino Steffani

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agostino Steffani (25 July 165412 February 1728) was an Italian bishop, polymath, diplomat and composer. Education Steffani was born at Castelfranco Veneto on 25 July 1654. As a boy he was admitted as a chorister at San Marco, Venice. Steffani excelled as a choirboy and was asked to sing at important occasions. Aged 11 and 12 he sang opera in Venice. Aged 13 Steffani received patronage and he moved to Munich. Steffani’s education was completed at the expense of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, who appointed him Churfürstlicher Kammer- und Hofmusikus and granted him a liberal salary. After receiving instruction from Johann Kaspar Kerll, in whose charge he lived, Steffani was sent in 1673 to study in Rome, where Ercole Bernabei was his master, and among other works he composed six motets, the original manuscripts of which are now in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. On his return to Munich with Bernabei in 1674, Steffani published his first work, Psalmodia vespertina, a part of which was reprinted in Giovanni Battista Martini’s Saggio di contrappunto in 1774. In 1675, Steffani was appointed court organist. Royal appointments The date when he was ordained priest, with the title

Agostino Tinazzoli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agostino Tinazzoli (Bologna, ca. 1660Sant’Angelo in Vado, 10 February 1725) In jail, he may have written the “In carcere penoso privo” cantata. After being released, he went back to his birthplace, Emilia-Romagna, and then moved to Recanati, Marche, where he was appointed Maestro di cappella and opera director in 1720. His compositions include cantatas, Drammi per musica, Keyboard works. In October 1718, Tinazzoli played at James Francis Edward Stuart’s court-in-exile in Urbino. David Nairne, Stuart’s Secretary of the Closet for private letters and dispatches, described Tinazzoli as “one of the best players on the harpsichord and ablest masters of music in Italy”. Recordings * Complete Keyboard Works, Simone Pierini Harpsichord & Organ, Brilliant Classics 96875, 2023 References General references * CD notes to Complete Keyboard Works, Simone Pierini Harpsichord & Organ, Brilliant Classics 96875, 2023 External links * Works by Agostino Tinazzoli in MLOL, Horizons Unlimited. * * *

Agustín Barrios

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agustín Pío Barrios (also known as Agustín Barrios Mangoré and Nitsuga—Agustín spelled backwards—Mangoré; May 5, 1885 – August 7, 1944) was a Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist and composer, regarded by some as one of the greatest performers and arguably the most prolific composer for the classical guitar. Biography Birthplace It has been generally accepted that Barrios was born in San Juan Bautista, Paraguay, although the baptismal document in the book of registries in the cathedral of that city does not give his place of birth and several biographers and authorities present evidence that he was actually born in nearby Villa Florida, Misiones, on the Tebicuary River, 30 km to the north; Barrios’ diplomatic papers, found in 2019, give “Missiones” sic as the place of birth. Early life As a child, Barrios developed a love of music and literature, two arts that were very important to his family. Barrios would eventually speak two languages (Spanish and Guarani), and read three others (English, French, and German). Barrios began to show an interest in musical instruments, particularly the guitar, before he reached his teens. He went to Asunción in 1900, at the age of fifteen, to a

Agustín Fernández (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agustín Fernández (born 1958 ) is a Bolivian composer. Career In Bolivia Fernández began musical life as a child, singing and playing the charango in folk clubs, including Peña Ollantay, Peña Naira and the country’s then only television channel. Still a teenager he worked as a violinist and then principal viola with the National Symphony Orchestra and taught harmony at the National Conservatoire, while studying composition with Alberto Villalpando. He later studied in Japan with Takashi Iida and with Akira Ifukube, while working part-time at the Bolivian Embassy and as a language instructor at Nichisei Gakuin and later at Komagane Training Institute. In the United Kingdom, after obtaining an MMus at Liverpool University and a PhD at City University Fernández was composer-in-residence at Queen’s University Belfast since 1990 until 1994. Fernández’s work has been performed and acclaimed internationally, featuring at festivals such as Focus!, Summergarden (New York), ISEA (Montreal), International New Music Week (Bucharest), Latin American Music Festival (Caracas), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, London International Opera Festival and many others. Some of his folk arrangeme