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Václav Dobiáš

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

Václav Dobiáš (22 September 1909 – 18 May 1978) was a Czech composer. Life Dobiáš was born in Radčice, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, on 22 September 1909. He studied in Prague with Josef Bohuslav Foerster (in 1930–1931) and then at the Prague Conservatory under Vítězslav Novák (in 1937–1939). Many of his early works show considerable influence from folk music. Later in his life he became interested in quarter tone composition, especially after studying with Alois Hába. After working in the Czech Ministry of Information, he became professor at the Prague Academy of Music in 1950. Some of his 1940s and 1950s works, especially his cantatas, were written in praise of communism. His work was also part of the music event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Dobiáš died in Prague on 18 May 1978. Works Chamber music *String Quartet No. 1 (1931) *Sonata for Violin and Piano (1936) *String Quartet No. 2 (1936) *Říkadla, Nonet (1938) *String Quartet No. 3 (1938) *Sonata for Cello and Piano (1939) *Lento for 3 harps, 1940 *String Quartet No. 4 (1942) *Pastorální dechový kvintet, wind quintet (1943) *Ballade for Viola and Piano (1944) *Little Suite for Cello and Piano (1944) *4 Noctu

Václav Emanuel Horák

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

Václav (Wenzel) Emanuel Horák (1 January 1800 – 3 September 1871) was a Czech composer and liturgical musician. Life Horák was born on 1 January 1800 in Lobeč, Bohemia. From 1813, he attended the Prague Gymnasium while working as a choir boy and later on as a choralist at St. Nicholas’s Church in the Malá Strana quarter. At Prague University he first read philosophy, later switching to law. The musical training from Václav Tomášek he wished for, was out of his financial reach. Only later did he become a pupil of Friedrich Dionys Weber’s and Jan August Vitásek’s. He started as an organist at Prague’s Church of the Holy Trinity around 1830, starting as a teacher at Prague Organ School shortly afterwards. In 1833 he was appointed organist at the Church of Our Lady in front of Týn, choir director at Our Lady of the Snows Franciscan church in 1837, and Regens chori at St. Adalbert’s Church in 1853. From 1859, he returned to Our Lady Before Týn, having accepted an appointment as Liturgical musician and director there. In his lifetime, he was made an honorary member of many musical associations and academies, e.g. the Salzburg Mozarteum. He died on 3 September 1871 in Prague. Style Stylis

Václav Jan Kopřiva

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

Václav Jan Kopřiva (pseudonym Urtica ) (8 February 1708 – 7 June 1789) was a Bohemian composer and organist. Life Kopřiva was a son of the miller Václav Kopřiva (1672–?), from the neighboring village Brloh, and his wife Juditka Rozumová (1677–?). He received his first musical education from his godfather Martin Antonín Kalina, who was a cantor and a representative of another important music family in Cítoliby. He completed his studies in Prague, becoming an organist at the Crusaders’ Church and studying with Franz Joseph Dollhopf. Thereafter he worked as a cantor and organist in Cítoliby. With his wife Terézia, he had two sons Karel Blažej Kopřiva and Jan Jáchym Kopřiva, who both also became composers. His spiritual compositions have typical baroque characteristics and they employ pastoral poems and folksongs. His notable pupils include Jan Nepomuk Vent, Jan Adam Galina, Jakub Lokaj and both of his sons. List of works * Alma Redemptoris Mater, for soprano, alto, women choir, strings and organ * Litaniae Lauretanae, for SATB, mixed choir, orchestra and organ *# Kyrie *# Pater de coelis *# Sancta Trinitas *# Sancta Maria *# Mater Christi *# Virgo prudentissima *# Vas spirituale *# Sa

Václav Kaprál

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

Václav Kaprál (26 March 1889 – 6 April 1947) was a Czech composer, pianist and pedagogue. Life Kaprál was born on 26 March 1889 in Určice. He studied composition with Leoš Janáček in the Brno Organ School (1908–1910) and with Vítězslav Novák (1919–1920) in Prague. Later, he studied piano interpretation with Alfred Cortot in Paris (1923–1924). Kaprál composed about fifty opuses, mainly solo piano, vocal, and chamber music. He was the father of Czech composer Vítězslava Kaprálová. He died on 6 April 1947 in Brno. Works Orchestral music *Svatební pochod for orchestra (1923) *Dve idylky for orchestra (1931) *Smuteční fanfáry for brass orchestra (1945) Chamber music *String Quartet in C Minor (1925) *String Quartet No. 2 with Baritone Solo, on text by R. Bojko (1927) *Píseň podzimu. Voice and string quartet (1929) *Balada. Violoncello and piano (1946) Solo piano *Lyrica (1907–1915) *Sonata I in C Major (1912) *Nocturne (1915) *Berceuses de Printemps (1916–1917) *Suita Romantica (1918) *Sonata II (1921) *Miniatures (1922) *Sonata III (1924) *Con duolo, piano cycle for left hand (1926) *Radostné chvíle (1927) *Sonatina (1930) *Fantazie (1934) *Dumka (1936) *Sonatina Bucolica (1936) *Mencu

Václav Karel Holan Rovenský

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

Václav Karel Holan Rovenský (1644 – 27 February 1718) was a Czech baroque composer and organist. Life and work Holan Rovenský was born in 1644 in Rovensko pod Troskami. He had been organist in Turnov and Rovensko pod Troskami (where he was also cantor) from 1668 and in Dobrovice in 1679–1680. During his tenure at Vyšehrad he may have taken a pilgrimage to Rome and sometime in the early eighteenth century he lived a prayerful and hermit-like existence at Waldstein Castle near Turnov. His magnum opus is Cappella Regia Musicalis (Prague, 1693), containing 772 pieces, which was almost certainly the fruit of his 12-plus years as a provincial cantor. The publication coincides with his appointment as organist at Vyšehrad in Prague, though he may have been in the city for some time before that. Cappella Regia Musicalis is a massive collection of hymns, sacred and festive songs, and all manner of musical settings of almost all central parts of the Roman Catholic liturgy, all printed primarily in Czech. It is difficult to tell just how much of the collection was composed by Holan himself (though it is clear that many other composers are represented), and some of the songs and other pieces ar

Václav Nelhýbel

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

Václav Nelhýbel (September 24, 1919 – March 22, 1996) was a Czech-American composer, mainly of works for student performers. Life and career Nelhýbel was born the youngest of five children in Polanka nad Odrou, Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. He received his early musical training in Prague, going to both Charles University in Prague and Prague Conservatory. In 1942 he went to Switzerland, where he studied at University of Fribourg; after 1947 he taught there. In 1957 he came to the United States, where he taught at several schools, including Lowell State College. He served as composer-in-residence at University of Scranton for several years until his death. The university’s Department of Performance Music continues to house his full collection of works. Some of his music is for wind instruments or concert band, and most of his published music is designed for student performers. He used non-functional modal writing, pandiatonicism, and motor rhythms extensively. He was an advocate of the use of a flute in F, sitting between (and notably aurally bridging) the standard (and far more common) C Flute and C Piccolo. Although such a flute is now commercially available from Kotato, he wrote of i

Václav Pichl

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

Václav Pichl (; 25 September 1741 – 23 January 1805) was a Czech classical composer. He was also a violinist, music director and writer. Life Pichl was born in Bechyně in Bohemia. His first musical training was at Bechyně with the cantor Jan Pokorný. He served as a singer between the years 1752 and 1758 at the Jesuit college at Březnice. In Prague, he was a violinist at the Jesuit seminary of Saint Wenceslaus and his studies while at the university were philosophy, theology and law. He was appointed to the post of first violinist of the Týn Church in 1762 and studied counterpoint with the organist J. N. Seger. In 1765 he was engaged by the composer Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf as a violinist for the private orchestra of Bishop Adam Patachich at Nagyvárad (now Oradea, Romania). The orchestra was dissolved in 1769 and Pichl became the music director for Count Ludwig Hartig in Prague. In about 1770 he became first violinist of the Vienna court theatre and on the recommendation of the Empress Maria Theresa, he became music director for the Austrian governor of Lombardy at Milan, Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este. Pichl went to the Kingdom of Italy in 1777 and remained there unti

Václav Riedlbauch

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

Václav Riedlbauch (1 April 1947 – 3 November 2017) was a Czech composer, pedagogue and manager. He was the Minister of Culture in the caretaker government of Jan Fischer (2009–2010). Musician Riedlbauch studied accordion with Josef Smetana and composition with Zdeňek Hůla at the Prague Conservatory from 1962 to 1968. He continued his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the class of Václav Dobiáš. He was program director at the Prague Congress Centre, formerly the Palace of Culture, and director of the National Theatre in Prague and music publishing house Panton. From 2001, he was the Director General of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Riedlbauch was a professor of composition at the Faculty of Music, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Selected compositions ;Stage *Macbeth, Ballet for soloist, a group of dancers and large orchestra (1979–1982); written for the National Theatre Ballet in Prague ;Orchestral *Sonáta “Rožmberská” (The Rožmberk Sonata) for winds and percussion instruments (1971) *Symphony No. 1 (1972) *Symphony No. 2 s refrénem (With Refrain) (1973) *Smrtelná ronda (Deadly Rondos) (1975) *Povídka (The Story), Symphonic Narration (1983) *Vize (Visi

Václav Smetáček

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

Václav Smetáček (30 September 1906 – 18 February 1986) was a Czech conductor, composer and oboist. Life and career Smetáček was born on 30 September 1906 in Brno. He studied in Prague among others with Jaroslav Křička, conducting with and , musicology, aesthetics, and philosophy at Charles University, receiving his doctorate in musicology in 1933. He was the founder and a member of the Prague Wind Quintet (1928), for whom he also composed and arranged compositions. Smetáček died on 18 February 1986 in Prague. References

Václav Suk

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

Václav Suk (16 November 186112 January 1933) was an Austrian-born violinist, conductor and composer who operated in the Russian Empire. He was also known as Váša Suk, Vyacheslav Suk, Vyacheslav Ivanovich (Вячеслав Иванович Сук) and Vjačeslav Ivanovič Suk. Biography Suk was born in Kladno, Bohemia, Austrian Empire. He is said to have been related to the composer Joseph Suk. From 1873 to 1879 Suk studied violin at the Prague Conservatory as a pupil of Antonín Bennewitz. Concurrently he studied also counterpoint with Josef Krejčí, and, privately, composition with Zdeněk Fibich. In 1880 he went to Warsaw as a violinist in the Warsaw Philharmonic, but a short while later he was already engaged as a concert master in the Imperial Orchestra of Kiev (from 1880 to 1882). In 1885 his career as an opera conductor began with the Philharmonic Society in Moscow, where from 1882 he had served as a violinist with the Bolshoi orchestra, but he proved his abilities as kapellmeister of the opera in Kharkiv (1885–1886). Tchaikovsky recommended him to Saint Petersburg, but Suk went to Taganrog instead, where he began to also conduct symphonic works. His later employment with a private opera orchestra i

Václav Tomášek

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

Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (; 17 April 17743 April 1850) was an Austrian-Bohemian, by other accounts a Czech composer and music teacher. He was known as the Musical Pope of Prague. In the words of Kenneth Delong, “Highly opinionated, often sarcastic and projecting a sense of his own importance, Tomášek’s memoirs also reveal him to be deeply concerned about all things artistic and intellectual: a man of courage and idealism, unflinching in his pursuit of truth in music and in life.” Life As a pianist, he was an autodidact, becoming one of the most important piano teachers of Prague for a century. Tomášek studied violin and singing with Wolf. Until 1824 he worked as a piano teacher in aristocratic families. Afterwards he created a considerable school of music; among its most well-known pupils were Jan Voříšek, Alexander Dreyschock, Johann Friedrich Kittl and Eduard Hanslick. Tomášek made the acquaintance of Beethoven, and also of Goethe, whose poems he set. He maintained correspondence with the Polish pianist and composer Maria Agata Szymanowska. His autobiography was published in German, as well as in a Czech translation. He lived at number 15 Tomášská Street in Prague. The building

Václav Trojan

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

Václav Trojan (24 April 1907, Plzeň – 5 July 1983) was a Czech composer of classical music best known for his film scores. Trojan studied composition at the Prague Conservatory under Jaroslav Křička and Otakar Ostrčil from 1923 to 1927. He continued his studies in the composition masterclasses of Alois Hába, Josef Suk and Vítězslav Novák until 1929. A composer and arranger of dance and jazz music in the 1930s, he was a music director for Radio Prague from 1937 to 1945. After the end of World War II, Trojan composed most frequently for film, stage and radio, and developed a close association with director Jiří Trnka, earning international fame for his music for Trnka’s popular animated puppet films. Trojan’s music is mostly written in a neo-classical style, and he often drew inspiration from the traditions of Czech folk music. In 1940 he was given the Czech National Prize for his remarkable children’s opera Kolotoč (‘The Merry-Go-Round’), and in 1960 the K. Gottwald State Prize for his music for Sen noci svatojánské (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’). Works Orchestral Compositions *Merry-go-round. Suite from an opera (1940) 24’ *Tarantella for symphonic orchestra (1940), CHF, r SU 5’ *Fa

Václav Vačkář

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

Václav Vačkář (12 August 1881 – 4 February 1954) was a Czech composer and conductor of the late romantic era. He is well known for his marches, especially for his march “Šohaj”. Vačkář is also a very prolific composer with over 300 original pieces of music. Biography Vačkář received military training in Przemyśl, Poland, from 1895 to 1898 during which he began learning about music through a military program. After his time in Poland Váckář began to play and conduct in various local orchestras including the Czech Philharmonic. In 1952 he wrote the book Instrumentace symfonického orchestru a hudby dechové (“Instrumentation for the Symphony Orchestra and Wind Music”) with his aforementioned son Dalibor C. Vačkář which is still taught in Czech conservatories. Influences Vaćkář’s predecessor Bedřich Smetana innovated the Czech nationalistic style. A style that embodied the desire many Czechs felt to secede from the Austrian Empire and was also adopted by many Czech composers — including Vaćkář. Another significant influence on Vačkář was Antonín Dvořák who was also a champion of Czech nationalism. Dvořak composed a series of Bohemian dances called the Slavonic Dances which impart inspir

Vadim Baykov

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

Vadim Gennadiyevich Baykov (Baikov; ; born 18 March 1965 in Volgograd, RSFSR, USSR) is a Soviet and Russian composer, singer, songwriter and producer. Biography In 1970, Vadim Baykov and his mother moved from Volgograd to Klimovsk, Moscow Oblast. In 1972, he entered to the Moscow State Choir Specialized School. Since 1978, Vadim Baykov participated in various VIA bands such as “Rhythm”, “Impulse” etc., where he played on keyboards. In 1985, Vadim Baykov finished 2nd Moscow Regional School of Music in piano and jazz. Has a second specialty – choir conductor. From 1982 to 1984, Vadim Baykov participated as a pianist in various jazz festivals. From 1985 to 1987, Vadim Baykov worked in VIA bands such as “Marie”, “August”, “Leysya, Pesnya”. In 1987, he became the lead singer of the band “Spectr” under the guidance of Lev Leshchenko. In 1990, when Lev Leshchenko created the theater “Music Agency”, Vadim Baykov became a soloist of the theater. In 1993, he left the theater and began a solo career. From 1993 to 2000, Vadim Baykov released four solo albums: “Russian Roulette” (; 1993), “Arithmetic of Love” (; 1995), “Queen of My Dreams” (; 1997), songs which were written specifically for Vad

Vadim Petrov

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

Vadim Petrov (24 May 1932 – 7 December 2020) was a Czech composer of Russian descent. Biography Petrov was a pianist and composer of classical and popular music. He stemmed from the family of a Russian emigrant of aristocratic origin (family Repnin), a family doctor, resident in Prague-Žižkov. At first, he attended a Russian high school in Prague district Pankrác, during which time he was preparing for his future piano and composition studies at the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (AMU), taking piano lessons with Berta Kabeláčová and music theory and composition lessons with Miloslav Kabeláč. At the Academy he was Jaroslav Řídký’s student from 1952 to 1956. His graduation composition was the symphonic poem The Vítkov Hill (Vítkov – the place of the decisive battle in 1420 near Prague). He worked in the Prague Municipal Education Centre, where he was in charge of the Folk Entertainment department. In the 1960s he founded the People’s Conservatory specialising in dance-music and jazz (now Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory and College), and became its first director. His granddaughter is model Linda Vojtová. Filmography # Tobogan (1989) # Sedmé nebe (1987) # Úsměv diabla (19

Vadim Salmanov

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Vadim Nikolayevich Salmanov (4 November 1912, in Saint Petersburg – 27 February 1978, in Leningrad) was a Soviet composer and pedagogue. Salmanov learned to play the piano as a child from his father who was a professional metallurgical engineer. Exposed to composers from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, Salmanov quickly grew fond of music and was quickly enrolled in music theory courses at the age of six. However, following the passing Salmanov’s father, he went to work at a factory and soon became interested in the topic of hydrogeology. At 18, he was about to attend the Leningrad Conservatory when he decided to study hydrogeology instead, eventually working as a geologist until 1935 when he finally decided to attend the Conservatory where he studied composition with Mikhail Gnesin following his attendance at a piano concert by Soviet pianist Emil Gilels. After the war, he returned to his pedagogical work, teaching at the Leningrad Conservatory from 1946 to 1951, as well as creative work and began to set poems by Blok and Yesenin relating to the war. Later on in his life, Salmanov set poems by Federico García Lorca and Pablo Neruda as well as by Soviet poets. Salmanov

Vagn Holmboe

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

Vagn Gylding Holmboe (; 20 December 1909 – 1 September 1996) was a Danish composer and teacher. Early life and education Vagn Holmboe was born in Horsens, Jutland, into a merchant family of dedicated amateur musicians. Both parents played the piano. His father earned his living as a maker of colours and lacquers at Horsens. The Danish journalist Knud Holmboe was his elder brother. From the age of 14 Vagn Holmboe took violin lessons. In 1926, at the age of 16, he began formal music training at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen on the recommendation of Carl Nielsen. He studied under Knud Jeppesen (theory) and Finn Høffding (composition). Career After finishing his studies in 1929 he moved to Berlin where for a short period Ernst Toch became his teacher. During his time in the German capital he met the Romanian-born pianist and visual artist Meta May Graf (1910–2003) from Sibiu/Hermannstadt. She had studied at the Musikhochschule Berlin since 1929, with Paul Hindemith as one of her teachers. The couple married in 1933 and left Berlin for Romania, where they visited obscure and remote villages and studied Transylvanian folk-song. Vagn Holmboe’s students included Per Nørgå

Vaiko Eplik

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

Vaiko Eplik (born 1 August 1981) He has been part of several collectives: Claire’s Birthday, Ruffus and Koer. In 2006, Eplik started his solo project under the name Eliit. He has released eight albums, regularly reaching the top of Estonian album charts. In 2014, he released two albums in close sequence, “Nõgesed” (“Nettles”) and “Nelgid” (“Carnations”). He has emphasised his aspiration to “earn enough money to get by, and keep being intelligent and free to be creative with music.” Eplik is a principled independent artist, producing his music at home and releasing it under his independent record label. In 2006 he commented on it in the following words:“Home-made music has no rival… From now on to in about five years time, record companies will be bankrupt.” - ! scope=“row” "" 2025 32 - Collaborations * Claire’s Birthday – Venus (2000) * Claire’s Birthday – City Loves (2001) * Claire’s Birthday – Future Is Now (2003) * Ruffus – Lessons in Pop (2005) * Koer – Pure (2004) * Lenna Kuurmaa – Lenna (2010) References External links * * Vaiko Eplik on Myspace * * – independent record label run by Vaiko Eplik

Väinö Raitio

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Väinö Eerikki Raitio (15 April 1891 – 10 September 1945) was part of the small group of composers who appeared in the Finnish art music scene in the 1920s with a new cosmopolitan music style, very different from the dominant conservative National Romanticism. He was born in Sortavala, Grand Duchy of Finland. Raitio’s career as a composer reached its peak in the 1920s when eight large symphonic poems appeared from his pen. Influenced by Alexander Scriabin, his style was too modern for Nordic music circles, and his orchestral work Joutsenet (The Swans, Les Cygnes) of 1919 remained as his sole orchestral piece to be published (in 1938). Raitio’s profile as a composer slipped, as he concentrated on shorter works for smaller ensembles in the 1930s and 1940s. In private, however, much effort was made by the composer to write operatic works. He died in Helsinki. Even today, his five operas are only known from the composer’s hand-written manuscripts. Works Early period (–1919) *Toccata in G minor op. 1 *Violin Sonata in F sharp minor op. 2 *Preludium for cello (or violin) and piano op. 3(b) *Summer Idylls for piano op. 4 *Six Songs for voice and piano op. 5 *Piano concerto op. 6 *Poème for

Vakhtang Kakhidze

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

Vakhtang (Vato) Kakhidze (; ; born 23 March 1959 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian composer and conductor. He is the son of conductor Jansug Kakhidze. He graduated and postgraduated from the Moscow State Conservatory. He studied composition with Nikolai Sidelnikov and orchestration with Edison Denisov. Kakhidze is the conductor of Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra since 1993. Biography Vakhtang Kakhidze was born into a family of Jansug Kakhidze in 1959 in Tbilisi, Georgia. He began to study music when he was 6 years old, as a pianist. In 1975 he finished choir conducting department of Music High School. In 1981 he graduated from Moscow State Conservatory as a composer, and in 1983 he finished the post graduate courses of the same institute. His teachers were such famous musicians as Nikolai Sidelnikov - composition, Edison Denisov - art of instrumentation and others. In 1988-89 he studied conducting with his father, world-famous Georgian conductor Jansug Kakhidze. In 1989, Vakhtang Kakhidze began conducting. His debut took place in Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi, where he has conducted several performances of his ballet “Amazons”. From 1993 he worked as conductor of Tbilisi

Vakhtang Machavariani

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

Vakhtang Machavariani (19 February 1951 – 6 May 2025) was a Georgian, Soviet and Russian conductor and composer. The chief conductor of the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1996, he worked with about 80 orchestras, among them prominent symphony orchestras of the world. His compositions include a symphony in memory of his father, Aleksi Machavariani, vocal works based on Shakespeare and Merab Kostava, and a symphonic poem Mariupol. Life and career Machavariani was born in Tbilisi on 19 February 1951, He conducted the premiere of his father’s ballet The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin there in 1985. Awards Machavariani was awarded the Presidential Order of Excellence in 2011. As conductor Machavariani conducted recordings of several of his fathers works, including his ballet The Man in the Panther’s Skin in 1983 with the Cinema Orchestra of the SSSR, his ballet Otello in 1986, his First Symphony in 1987, his Third Symphony in 1988 and his Fifth Symphony Symphony in 1990, all of these with the Orchestra of the Kirov Theatre. Notes References External links * * *

Valborg Aulin

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Laura Valborg Aulin (9 January 1860 – 13 March 1928) was a Swedish pianist and composer. Aulin’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 17 and String Quartet in F minor are the most important Swedish music compositions in that genre from the 1880s. Her mother, Edla Aulin had hoped for a career as a singer, but bad health had stopped her career. Aulin’s father was a classics scholar, holding a doctorate in Greek, on the poet Callimachus. He also held a position at a Stockholm secondary school, where he taught classical languages. As a teacher, she supplemented her income by teaching piano, counterpoint, composition and harmony. Mixed choir a cappella * Three songs for mixed choir a cappella opus 5 * Two choirs a cappella for mixed voices opus 24 Mixed choir and instruments * Christmas song for mixed choir and organ accompaniment opus 23 Mixed choir and orchestra * Pie Jesu Domine, Missa sollemnis opus 13 * Veni sanctu spiritus sic , hymn (Veni sancte spiritus) opus 32 Mixed choir with solo voice(s) and orchestra * Herr Olof (‘På ängen under det mörka fjället’, Carl David af Wirsén), ballad for tenor solo, choir and orchestra op. 3, 1880 * Procul este (‘Gå stum, ja stum’, Carl David af Wirsé

Valdemar Tofte

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Lars Valdemar Tofte (21 October 1832 – 28 May 1907) was a Danish violinist who taught for a half century and trained over 300 of Denmark’s violinists. Biography Tofte was born on 21 October 1832 in Copenhagen, Denmark, to distiller Hans Larsen Tofte (1798–1857) and Mathilde Pedersen (1812–1867). The father, who loved music and was a good violinist, wanted his son to become a musician, particularly a violin virtuoso. To that end, he took Tofte at a young age to concerts to hear great artists like Miska Hauser, Hubert Léonard, and François Prume. He also found skilled teachers: first Carl T. Petersen, violinist in Hans Christian Lumbye’s orchestra, known for his beautiful bowing, and then of the Royal Danish Orchestra. In the fall of 1850, when the Music Society formed its own orchestra under the direction of Niels W. Gade, Tofte was one of its early violinists. Gade’s recommendation was for Tofte to study with the “violin king” Joseph Joachim in Hannover. Tofte followed the advice and went to study with Joachim from 1853 to 1856; occasionally he studied with Louis Spohr in Kassel. Career After his return, he made his debut in May 1856 with great acclaim in the Music Society Orchestr

Valentin de Bournonville

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Valentin de Bournonville (c. 1610 – 18 March 1684) was a French Baroque composer and music master active in the middle of the 17th century. Biography Valentin de Bournonville was the son of Jean de Bournonville, and trained by his father in the mastery of the Amiens Cathedral. He was a priest. In 1634 he took over the position of master of the children of the cathedral, succeeding Artus Aux-Cousteaux, who himself had succeeded Jean de Bournonville. In 1643, an act of 23 July shows him depositing his almuce on the desk of the chapter as a sign of obedience, like the other vicars and chaplains of the cathedral. In 1646, when he had two masses published by Robert III Ballard, he is said to be a canon of the church of St. Firmin d’Amiens and master of the children of the cathedral church of that city. He was also endowed with the Vicariate Chapel of Saint-Quentin. Valentin de Bournonville then moved to Paris, being appointed on 27 August 1646 as the music master of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, until 20 March 1653, succeeding here François Cosset. On 14 April 1651, the chapter reminded him that during the days of great feast, only a psalm and the magnificat were to be sung in mus

Valentin Haussmann

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

Valentin Haussmann (c. 1560 – c. 1613–14) was a German composer, music editor and poet, known from the publications of his compositions, derived from Italian and Polish models. Life Little is known of Haussmann’s life, and information is ascertained from the titles, prefaces and dedications of his printed works. He published compositions between 1588 and 1611, and was very active from 1602 to 1606. He appended “Gerbipola” (a Latinized form of Gerbstedt, a town in Saxony-Anhalt) to his name, so this is assumed to be his home town. It is thought he did not have a permanent position anywhere, but travelled throughout Germany, composing in various places works which he dedicated to princes and towns. There are many songs in German that are derived from Italian canzonettas, and there is instrumental music where he uses the melodies and rhythms of Polish folk music. In later years, from 1606 to 1609, he published, with German translations, villanellas by Luca Marenzio, canzonettas by Orazio Vecchi, tricinia by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi and ballets by Thomas Morley. His publications were evidently popular, since collections went through several editions within a few years. His biographer

Valentin Rathgeber

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Johann Valentin Rathgeber (3 April 1682 – 2 June 1750) was a German composer, organist and choirmaster of the Baroque Era. Life Rathgeber was born in Oberelsbach. His father, an organist, gave him his first music lessons. At the beginning of the 18th century, he began studying at the University of Würzburg, initially studying rhetoric, mathematics and law; later he changed direction and continued his studies in theology. His first position was as a teacher at the Julius Hospital in Würzburg. In 1707 he took up the post of chamber musician and servant of the abbot of the Banz Abbey, Kilian Düring. Worklist (selection) * Augsburger Tafel-Confect * Opus I Octava musica clavium octo musicarum in Missis octo musicalibus (mass compositions) * Opus II (vespers) * Opus III (masses) * Opus IV (offertories with instrumental accompaniment) * Opus V (antiphons for the church year) * Opus VI (secular instrumental works) * Opus VII (masses for the church year) * Opus VIII (requiem and Libera) * Opus IX Psalmodia vespertina (vespers cycle) * Opus X (Latin and German arias) * Opus XI (hymns) * Opus XII (rural and town masses) * Opus XIII (Miserere and Tantum ergo) * Opus XIV (offertories cycle in

Valentin Zubiaurre

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Valentin Zubiaurre Urionabarrenechea (13 February 1837 – 13 January 1914) was a Spanish composer who was a professor at the Madrid Royal Conservatory and worked at the Chapel Royal. Life Zubiaurre was born in Garay, a Basque town in the province of Biscay on 13 February 1837. His first musical experience was as a choirboy in Bilbao, and he later went on to study the organ. He traveled to Latin America in 1852, where he taught music until 1866, when he returned to Spain. This proved to be fruitful, as in 1869 he won the National Music Competition for an opera called Ferdinand Set. He was noticed by authorities and received a scholarship from the Academy of Fine Arts, with which he visited France, Germany and Italy to study. Upon his return he entered the Chapel Royal, which he eventually became master of in 1878. At the chapel he composed religious music and audition pieces for applicants. one of his only compositions still used for the purpose of examination. Known works Solo pieces *Audition Piece for Trumpet *Fantasy for horn with piano accompaniment *Oboe solo with piano accompaniment Operas *Luis de Camoes *Ferdinand Set *Leda Orchestral *Symphony in E minor (1870) Religious mu

Valentina Crespi

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Valentina Crespi (March 14, 1892 – after 1959 ) was an Italian-American violinist and composer, based in New York City in the 1910s and 1920s. Early life and education Crespi was described as being from Milan, the daughter of Lucrezia Crespi, and a “protegee of the Queen of Roumania”. She trained with in Paris, and with Jenő Hubay in Budapest. Career Crespi was a “celebrated violinist” who toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She played Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D at the Promenade Concerts in London in 1912. “Her technique is excellent and she gave the work with intelligence and artistic insight of no small order for a young violinist”, reported the Musical News of her Proms appearance. She also played at Bechstein Hall in 1912 and 1914. In 1914, a British collector gave Crespi a manuscript of a “secret exercise” written by Niccolò Paganini, along with a letter in Paganini’s hand. Crespi lived in New York City in the 1910s and 1920s. She performed at a “socialst musical festival” in Carnegie Hall in 1914. She gave concerts in Maine and Michigan in 1915. In 1916 she played at a benefit for the Italian Red Cross the Biltmore Hotel, and for the Humanitarian Cult at

Valentina Ramm

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Valentina Yosifovna Mandelstam Ramm (22 October 1888 - 3 July 1968) was a Ukrainian author, composer, coloratura soprano, translator and violinist. She composed over 100 songs and several string quartets. Life and work Ramm was born in Kharkov, Ukraine. She graduated from the Leipzig Conservatory (today the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig) in 1908. Her teachers included B. Heidiger, S. Krell, K. Zitt (possibly Hans Sitt, who taught at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1884 to 1921), as well as Mikhail Gnessin in Moscow. Ramm wrote articles on the history of song and song in civil strife. She composed over 100 songs on texts by Soviet poets such as Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Alexander Blok, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Pushkin, Ovady Savich and Fyodor Tyutchev. Works Ramm’s works were published by Universal (Leipzig). Printed works *International Collection of Revolutionary Songs (editor) *Schubert v Massovoi Auditorii 1928 *Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights Orchestral works *Five Nights and Days: Funeral Stanzas, opus 7 (orchestra and baritone; text by Vera Inber) *Nike (voice and orchestra; text by Vladislav Bronevsky) *Santa Ursula Cantata *Slavyanski Marsh (wind or

Valentina Serova (composer)

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Valentina Semyonova Serova (maiden name Bergman) (1846 – June 26, 1924) was a Russian composer of Jewish descent. Her family had converted to Reformed Protestantism before she was born. Early life Serova’s father Simon Bergman was a German-Jewish merchant who lived in Warsaw and operated a jewelry shop; her mother Augusta Hudschon (Augustina Hudson) was a German-Jew as well born in Amsterdam. They moved to Saint-Petersburg from Warsaw in the late 1830-s. She studied briefly at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Anton Rubinstein but left to study with the composer and critic Alexander Serov, known both for his writings and his successful first opera Judith. Introduced through a shared friend, she married Serov in 1863 and in January 1865 their son Valentin Serov was born. Valentin would grow up to become a famous painter, renowned for his portraits. The Power of the Fiend Alexander Serov died of a heart attack in January 1871, and Valentina completed the last act of his third and final opera, The Power of the Fiend. She used his sketches and her memory of what Alexander had played to her to finish the work. The composer N.F. Solovyov helped her with some of the instrumentation and

Valentyn Silvestrov

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Valentin Vasylyovych Silvestrov (; born 30 September 1937) is a Ukrainian composer and pianist who plays and writes contemporary classical music. He is a laureate of Shevchenko National Prize. Biography Valentin Vasylyovych Silvestrov was born on 30 September 1937 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, then part of the Soviet Union. Silvestrov began private music lessons at 15. After first teaching himself, he studied piano at the Kyiv Evening Music School from 1955 to 1958 whilst training to become a civil engineer. He attended the Kyiv Conservatory from 1958 to 1964, where he studied musical composition with Borys Lyatoshynsky and harmony and counterpoint with Levko Revutsky. He then taught at a music studio in Kyiv. In 1974, pressured to conform to socialist realism and trends of modernism, and to apologise for his composers’ meeting walkout protesting the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Silvestrov withdrew from the spotlight and began to reject his earlier modernist style, composing the Silent Songs (Тихі Пісні, 1977) cycle for private performance. After the Soviet Union’s fall, he composed spiritual and religious works influenced by Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox liturgical music. He

Valerie Rodway

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Valerie Muriel Rodway (February 12, 1919 – August 1970) was a Guyanese composer of cultural and patriotic songs, inspired by the events leading up to Guyana’s independence in 1966. She is best known for composing music to accompany Guyana national poetry, like Arise, Guyana, Kanaïma, and the Martin Carter’s Guyanese Independence poem Let Freedom Awaken. For the next two decades, school children were taught the songs she and others composed to inspire patriotism and cultural affinity. She selected the poetry for her compositions based upon her principles and values, first developed among her parents and siblings. She has been considered Guyana’s greatest composer of patriotic and national music, and among the best composers from Guyana of the 20th century, generally and among composers of classical music. She was awarded the Wordsworth McAndrew Award posthumously in 2002. In 2019, she was awarded the Cacique Crown of Honor, one of the highest honors of Guyana. The National Trust of Guyana building in Cummingsburg, Georgetown, has been renamed the Valerie Rodway House in her honor. She was married multiple times, yet had no children of her own. She was described as a caring, good mot

Valéry Aubertin

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Valéry Aubertin (born 3 June 1970) is a contemporary French organist, composer and choir conductor. Biography Born in Lagny-sur-Marne, Aubertin was a student in the organ class of Michèle Guyard at the Aubervilliers conservatory. He ended his studies with a First Prize of organ and another first prize of music formation. From 1989 to 1995, he attended the Conservatoire de Paris where he won several first prizes. Among others, he was a student of Brigitte François-Sappey (history of music and orchestration), and Gérard Grisey (musical composition). From 1995 to 1997, he worked with Jean-Louis Florentz (composition). In 1993, he won the Special Jury Prize at the Composition Competition of the in Montréal (Canada), with a work for organ La nuit des nuits (in Le Livre Ouvert, Op.6). In 1995, his first symphonic work …et le soleil se déchirait, Op.7 received, unanimously by the jury and ahead of 216 entries from all over the world, the First Prize of the 40th International Composition Competition of the City of Trieste, 32nd symphonic edition (Trieste, Italy 1995). He is a professor of musical analysis, musical training and composition at the Conservatoire à rayonnement départemental

Valery Zhelobinsky

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Valery Viktorovich Zhelobinsky (; November 9, 1913, Tambov – August 13, 1946, Leningrad) was a Soviet and Russian composer, pianist and pedagogue. Life and works Zhelobinsky studied music firstly at Tambov and then from 1928 to 1932 at the Leningrad Conservatory with Vladimir Shcherbachov. He performed across the Soviet Union as a soloist. He returned to Tambov in 1942 where he taught at the College of Music and was Chairman of the Composers’ Union. For his short career, Zhelobinsky’s output was large. His four operas, which include The Peasant of Komarino (Комаринский мужик), produced in Leningrad in 1933, and Mother (Мать, 1939, based on the novel by Maxim Gorky), were well received. He also wrote orchestral music including six symphonies, and three piano concertos. His Romantic Poem for violin and orchestra was premiered in Leningrad together with the first performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony in November 1939. From his numerous piano works, the ‘Six short études’ were introduced to the United States by Vladimir Horowitz and were published there in 1946. Two of these études were recorded by Oscar Levant. In addition, a selection from his opera Mother (“Hobo Song”

Vally Weigl

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Vally Weigl (11 September 1894 – 25 December 1982) was an Austrian-American composer and music therapist. Biography Valerie Weigl (née Pick) was born in Vienna, Austria. She was the first daughter of a Jewish couple, lawyer Josef Pick (1849, Náchod – 1926, Vienna) and his wife Charlotte “Lotte”, née Rubinstein (1871, Galați – 1939, Vienna). Her younger sister was an Austrian economist, women’s rights activist, journalist and politician Käthe Leichter. Vally took piano lessons in childhood and studied musicology at Vienna University. She studied piano under Richard Robert, composition under Karl Weigl and musicology under Guido Adler. Vally married Karl Weigl in 1921, and after the National Socialists took power in Austria in 1938, the couple emigrated with their son to the U.S. with assistance from the Quaker Society of Friends. In New York, Weigl worked as a music teacher and composer, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts allowed her to compose and record Nature’s Moods, New England Suite, and four song cycles. After receiving a master’s degree at Columbia University, she also worked as a music therapist and became chief medical therapist at New York Medical Colleg

Vanessa Corish

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Vanessa Corish is an Australian-born singer-songwriter and record producer. She has written songs for artists including Olivia Newton-John, Tina Arena, Wynonna Judd, Human Nature, Donny Osmond and Troy Cassar-Daley. Some of Corish’s most notable works include the US Country #1 “Now That I Found You”, recorded by Terri Clark,. and “Dare to Dream”, performed by Olivia Newton-John and John Farnham at the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, broadcast to an estimated global audience of 4.5 billion viewers. Career Corish co-wrote the US #1 Country song “Now That I Found You” with Paul Begaud and J.D. Martin. which was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The song was also included on Clark’s Greatest Hits 1994–2004, which is certified Gold by the RIAA. In 2022, Country Universe featured “Now That I Found You” in its retrospective series on every No. 1 country single of the 1990s, crediting Corish alongside Paul Begaud and J.D. Martin as co-writers. In a 2020 interview with ABC Radio, Corish reflected on writing “Dare to Dream” for the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games calling it “one of the greatest joys of my life,” and discussed the experience of hearing Olivi

Vanessa Lann

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Vanessa Lann (born April 6, 1968, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American-Dutch composer living in the Netherlands. and toy piano. recorded on compact discs, and performed in music festivals in Europe and North America. She has written numerous types of compositions, including concertos and operas. In 1990, she was musical director at the American Repertory Theater. Reviewer David Toub described her music as “expertly performed”. The New York Times music reviewer Allan Kozinn described her composition Is a Bell … a Bell? as a “propulsively rhythmic score” which was charming with its use of two toy pianos to bring out “different timbral qualities.” Music reviewer Jed Distler described her compositions as “gracious keyboard writing and humor.” Dutch music critic for the daily newspaper de Volkskrant, Frits van der Waa, has reviewed her music on numerous occasions. He described her hour-long opera The Silence of Saar in 2013 as an “endless series of mind-numbing variations.” He described her music in 2005 as “intense but sweet juicy tension,” and her composition for the Delft Chamber Music Festival in 2007 as “beautiful.” Selected compositions * moonshadow sunshadow *Lullabye for a yo

Vangelis

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Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), mainly known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ; also credited as Vangelis Papathanassiou), was a Greek composer, arranger, performer and record producer. He released material of wide musical genres such as electronic music, progressive rock, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He is primarily known for his film scores, composing the Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as composing the scores of (among many) Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan. Born in Agria and raised in Athens, Vangelis began his career in the 1960s as a member of the rock bands the Forminx and Aphrodite’s Child; the latter’s album 666 (1972) is recognised as a progressive-psychedelic rock classic. Vangelis settled in Paris and gained initial recognition for his scores to the Frédéric Rossif animal documentaries , , and . He released his first solo albums during this time and performed as a solo artist. In 1975, Vangelis relocated to London, whe

Vano Muradeli

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Vano Muradeli (; ; 6 April 1908 – 14 August 1970), was a Soviet Georgian composer. Biography He was born in Gori, Georgia (then part of Imperial Russia) to Georgian -Armenian parents. He graduated from Tbilisi State Conservatoire in 1931; then studied with Nikolai Myaskovsky at the Moscow Conservatory. From 1934 to 1938, he worked there. From 1942 to 1944, he served as a principal and artistic director of the Central Ensemble of the Soviet Navy. In 1946, he was awarded the Stalin Prize. In 1948, his opera The Great Friendship was censured by the resolution of the Communist Party Central Committee. After Joseph Stalin’s death, he was restored to favor and granted the title of the People’s Artist of the USSR in 1968. Works Opera: *“The Great Friendship” (1947; premiere, Moscow, 7 November 1947) *“October” (1950; revised 1962; premiere, Moscow, 22 April 1964) Operetta: *“Moscow-Paris-Moscow” (1968) Orchestra: *Symphony No. 1 “To the Memory of Kirov” (1938; premiere Moscow, 28 November 1938) *Symphony No. 2 (1945; received Stalin Prize) *Georgian Dance Suite for symphony orchestra (1939) *Festive Overture for symphony orchestra (1940) *Symphonic poem, “The Path of Victory” for chorus a

Vartan Adjemian

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Vartan Adjemian (, , ; born 27 April 1956) is an Armenian composer of orchestral, operatic, and chamber music whose works have been performed worldwide. Career Adjemian studied composition with prominent Armenian composer Ghazaros Saryan (son of Martiros Saryan) at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory from 1973 to 1981. In 1987, Adjemian was awarded the National Prize of the Armenian SSR (for his Symphony No. 1). His music has been performed in Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Iceland, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States. In 2007, six of his major works were commissioned by BIM Edition (Switzerland). He has been a member of SUISA since 2008. Adjemian has taught composition at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory since 1987 and was appointed a professor in 2001. He has been Head of the Composition Department since 2002. Family His grandfather, Vardan Ajemian (1905–1977), was the General Stage Director of the National Theatre of Armenia and his grandmother was Arus Asryan (1904–1987), one of the leading actress of the same theatre. His father, Alexander Adjemian (1925–1987), was a composer, author of seven symphonies, cha

Varvara Adrianovna Gaigerova

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Varvara Adrianovna Gaigerova (; 17 October 1903 in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Russian Empire – 6 April 1944 in Moscow) was a Soviet composer and pianist. Life Gaigerova studied composition under Georgy Catoire and Nikolai Myaskovsky and piano under Heinrich Neuhaus at Moscow Conservatory, where she graduated in 1927. At the Bolshoi Theatre she worked as “concertmistress” from 1936 to 1944. Gaigerova was interested in the musical folklore of the southeastern people of Soviet Russia. In her compositions she uses folk music of various regions like Kalmykia, Buryatia, Kazakhstan, Turkestan, and Uzbekistan. Selected works * Fortress near Kamenny Brod Крепость у Каменного Брода , Op.30 (opera based on Lermontov and some Caucasian poets; 1937–40); Pechorin’s Aria “И скучно, и грустно”; Тучки небесные * Symphony No. 1 (1928) * Symphony No. 2 on Kalmyk Themes (1934) * Symphony No. 3 (1936) * Symphonic Suite on Caucasian Themes * Suite on Udmurt Themes Сюита на темы удмуртских (вотских) народных песен , for domra orchestra (pub. 1933) * Two Suites on Kazakh Themes (domra orch) * String Quartet No. 1 (1925-26) * String Quartet No. 2 in G Major on Yakuts Themes, Op. 17 (pub. 1947) * Sonata for viola and

Vasil Tole

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Vasil S. Tole (born 22 November 1963) is an Albanian composer, ethnomusicologist, and cultural administrator. A proponent of European classical music, his compositions encompass opera, chamber music, orchestral works, symphony and instrumental concerts, and various pieces for small ensembles and solo instruments. He is the author of several books, primarily focusing on Albanian music. Tole has served as a professor at the University of Arts in Tirana since 1994. He also holds multiple leadership roles in cultural institutions, including head of the Department for Cultural Heritage at the Albanian Ministry of Culture, president of the National Music Council, and a member of the International Music Council. Career Tole graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1987 with a degree in composition. From 1987 to 1990, he served as artistic director of the Shtëpia e Kulturës (House of Culture) in his hometown of Përmet. He subsequently joined the Faculty of Music as professor of Albanian Music Folklore and later became professor of composition. During his tenure, he completed his PhD in ethnomusicology with a dissertation titled Structure and Semantics in the Instrumental Folk Music of Souther

Vasile Șirli

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Vasile Șirli (born 25 September 1948) is a Romanian musical composer and producer. A pianist, Șirli specialises in easy listening, film, incidental and classical music. He studied at the National University of Music Bucharest, was an editor at Editura Muzicală and became director at Electrecord and at Disneyland Paris. Șirli is a Megleno-Romanian. Biography Vasile Șirli was born on 25 September 1948 in Variaș, Romania. He was born in a Megleno-Romanian family originating from villages in the north of Greece who migrated to Romania in the 1920s. They settled in Southern Dobruja, but moved to Northern Dobruja following the former’s cession to Bulgaria; in 1946 and 1947, following World War II, some Megleno-Romanian families in Northern Dobruja, including Șirli’s, were deported to Banat, possibly to balance the German, Hungarian and Serb populations of the region. He was musically inclined from an early age, during which he took piano lessons. He would later be admitted to the Music and Plastic Arts Lyceum of Timișoara in piano class, accessing the National University of Music Bucharest in Bucharest in 1967. In 1972, Șirli became editor at Editura Muzicală, and from 1980 to 1984, he w

Vasilije Mokranjac

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Vasilije Mokranjac (Belgrade, 11 September 1923 – Belgrade, 27 May 1984) was a Serbian composer, professor of composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was one of the most prominent Serbian composers in the second half of the 20th century. Although famed for his symphonies, he also wrote piano music, as well as music for radio, film and theatre. He won the most prestigious awards in former Yugoslavia, including the October Prize, the award of the Yugoslav Radio-Diffusion, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award. Biography Vasilije Mokranjac was born into one of the most prominent Serbian musical dynasties. His father, the cellist Jovan Mokranjac, was a nephew of the composer Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac; his mother Jelena, of Czech origin, was also a cellist. However, Vasilije Mokranjac chose to study piano: from 1932 to 1942 he was studying privately with Alexei Butakov, and then he enrolled at the Belgrade Music Academy (nowadays Faculty of Music) to study with Emil Hajek; he graduated in 1948. However, while studying piano, he became interested in composing music, so he enrolled to study composition with Stanojl

Vasily Kalinnikov

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Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov (; 13 January 1866 – 11 January 1901 ) was a Russian composer. His body of work consists of two symphonies, several additional orchestral works, and numerous songs, all of them imbued with characteristics of folksong. His symphonies, particularly the First, were frequently performed in the early 20th century. Kalinnikov’s musical style was inspired by composers like Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, and is notable for its expressive melodies and lush orchestration. His younger brother Viktor Kalinnikov (1870–1927) was also a composer, mainly of choral music. Biography Kalinnikov was a police official’s son. He studied at the seminary at Oryol, becoming director of the choir there at fourteen. Later he went to the Moscow Conservatory but could not afford the tuition fees. On a scholarship, he went to the Moscow Philharmonic Society School, where he received bassoon and composition lessons from Alexander Ilyinsky. He played bassoon, timpani and violin in theater orchestras and supplemented his income working as a music copyist. In 1892, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky recommended Kalinnikov for the position of main conductor of the Maly Theatre, and later that s

Vasily Lobanov

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Vasily Pavlovich Lobanov (Васи́лий Па́влович Лоба́нов, born 2 January 1947) is a Russian composer and pianist. He has been a Duo-Partner of Sviatoslav Richter. Biography Vasily Pavlovich Lobanov was born in Moscow. He studied piano with Heinrich Neuhaus and Lev Naumov and composition with Sergey Balasanian and Alfred Schnittke. Selected works Operas *Antigone, opera after Sophocles, Op. 51 (1985–1987) *Father Sergius (Отец Сергий – Otets Sergiy), opera in one act after the story by Leo Tolstoy (1990–1995) Oratories and cantatas *Lieutenant Schmidt, oratorio, Op. 31 (1979) *God-Nightingale, cantata after Osip Mandelstam for baritone and chamber ensemble, Op. 61 (1991) Orchestral music *Aria for violin and string orchestra (1986) *Chamber Symphony, Op. 92 (“Painters”), (2018) *Concerto for cello and orchestra, Op. 42 (1984–1985) *Concerto No.1 for piano and chamber orchestra, Op. 35 (1981) *Concerto for trumpet, percussion and string orchestra, Op. 70 (1997) *Concerto No.1 for viola and string orchestra, Op. 53 (1989) *Concerto No.2 for viola and string orchestra, Op. 71 (1998) *Double Concerto for clarinet, violin and chamber orchestra, Op. 65 (1995) *Sinfonietta for chamber orchest

Vasily Pashkevich

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Vasily Alexeyevich Pashkevich, also Paskevich (; c. 1742, probably Ukraine – March 20, 1797 in St. Petersburg) was a Russian composer, singer, violinist and teacher of Ukrainian origin and according to some sources was born in Ukraine. Vasily Pashkevich entered court service in 1756 becoming a court composer to Tsar Peter III of Russia and later to his widow, Catherine the Great. He also played violin, and taught singing in the Academy of Arts 1773-1774 and later in the court capella. Between 1780 and 1783 he managed the Karl Kniper Theatre and in 1789 he became the first violin of the court orchestra, remaining in charge of imperial ballroom music until his death. Pashkevich wrote important comic operas, often re-working them at length, like Saint-Petersburg’s Trade Stalls, begun in 1782 and revised in 1792, and also As you live you will be judged. The comic opera The Miser a work of 17 scenes brought him most success. Its roles are: Scriagin, Liubima’s guardian; Liubima, his niece; Milovid, her beloved; Marfa, the servant girl that Scriagin is in love with; Prolaz, Milovid’s manservant who is in Scriagin’s service. Accordingly the speech and the names of the characters of Molière

Vasily Polikarpovich Titov

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Vasily Polikarpovich Titov (; c. 1650 – c. 1715) was a Russian composer, one of the foremost exponents of the so-called Moscow Baroque. Although Titov’s works are not widely known today, he was famous during his lifetime, and his importance was acknowledged in Russia by both pre-revolutionary and Soviet musicologists. Biography The scant biographical materials indicate that Titov was born in the 1650s. He joined Tsar Fedor’s choir, the Gosudarevy Pevchie Diaki (Государевы Певчие Дьяки, The Tsar’s Singers) when he was in his twenties; his salary is recorded in 1678. He quickly rose to prominence as both singer and composer. In the 1680s he collaborated with Simeon Polotsky (a famed churchman, man of letters and tutor to the children of Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich), composing musical settings of Polotsky’s psalter and an almanac of sacred poetry. In the 1680s Titov also joined Tsar Ivan’s choir. Style Titov wrote more than 200 compositions, all of them vocal music. They include complete settings of Divine Services (Sluzhby Bozhie, Службы Божие) and a psalter (by Simeon Polotsky), as well as numerous vocal concertos for feast days. His works range from short, three-voice pieces to large

Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy

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Vasily Pavlovich Solovyov-Sedoy (; 25 April 1907 – 2 December 1979) was a Soviet classical composer and songwriter who was born and died in Leningrad. Originally named Solovyov, when he entered the Union of Soviet Composers he added the suffix “Sedoy”, meaning grey-haired, to avoid confusion with another composer with the same surname. He also wrote music for numerous films. Filmography * Heavenly Slug (1945) * The First Glove (1946) * World Champion (1954) * Good Morning (1955) * Maksim Perepelitsa (1955) * Be Careful, Grandma! (1960) * Don Tale (1964) * The Salvos of the Aurora Cruiser (1965) * Virineya (1968) * Fitil (1975) * Sweet Woman (1976) * A Taiga Story (1979) References External links * Short biography

Vasily Zolotarev

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Vasily Andreyevich Zolotarev, also romanized as Zolotaryov (; February 24, 1872 in Taganrog – May 25, 1964 in Moscow), was a Russian (Soviet) composer and music teacher of Greek ancestry. Biography Vasily Zolotarev was born to a Greek family named Kuyumzhi (Куюмжи) or Kouyoumtzis in the city of Taganrog in 1872. The family name was later changed to the more Russian Zolotarev. He studied music at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory under direction of Mily Balakirev (1893–1898) in the class of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1898–1900), graduating in 1900. Zolotarev lectured at Moscow Conservatory (1909–1918), at the Belarus State Academy of Music (Белорусская государственная консерватория им. А. В. Луначарского) in 1933–1941, and other conservatories. Among his students in Minsk was Mieczysław Weinberg. Zolotaryov was a prolific composer and left behind a large body of works: three operas, ballets, seven symphonies (1902-1962), three concerti, cantatas, romances, six string quartets, and other works. Among his stage works are: The Decembrists, revised as Kondraty Ryleyev, libretto by Yasinovsky,1957 (presented in a concert performance on 29.08.1857, Moscow), Khvestko Andyber, 1928 (written d

Vassilis Tsabropoulos

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Vassilis Tsabropoulos (in Greek: Βασίλης Τσαμπρόπουλος) is a Greek pianist, conductor, and composer. Career Tsabropoulos’s initial training was in classical piano. As a child prodigy, he won the UNISEF Competition. He studied at National Conservatory of Athens, from which he graduated with honours at the age of fifteen, having received a scholarship from Alexandro’s Onassis Foundation. He continued to study at the Paris Conservatory, the International Music Academy of Salzburg and the Juilliard School. He has performed with the London Philharmonia and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy in piano concertos of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. In October 2019, he performed Beethoven’s Emperor piano concerto and Mozart’s concerto No. 20, appearing both as a soloist and as conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London. Tsabropoulos has collaborated with the German cellist Anja Lechner, performing classic repertoire and his compositions. Tsabropoulos and Lechner achieved significant recognition for their two albums, Chants Hymns and Dances (2004) and Melos (2008). He has formed a piano duet with Vovka Ashkenazy, playing concerts in France, Iceland and

Vassily Brandt

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

Karl Wilhelm (Vasily Georgievich) Brandt (Willy Brandt) (1869 – 2 February 1923) was a German-Russian trumpeter, pedagogue, and composer. He is the founder of the Russian trumpet school. Life Karl Wilhelm Brandt was born and educated in Coburg, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now part of Germany. Between 1887 and 1890, he worked alternatively in the spa orchestra in Bad Oeynhausen and in Helsinki. He was active in the Helsinki Philharmonic Society, now the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, under Robert Kajanus. In 1890, he changed his name to Vassily Georgyevich and moved to Moscow, Russia. The opening of the Saratov Conservatory in September 1912 drew Vassily Brandt to Saratov for the remainder of his life. He spoke Russian quite poorly, often relying on demonstration for musical instruction. He died on 2 February 1923, purportedly as the result of a vaccination. Career Vassily Brandt became principal trumpet of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1890 and became first cornet in 1903. He succeeded Theodor Richter (1826–1901) as the second ever trumpet professor of the Moscow Conservatory in 1900, and also taught band orchestration there. In Moscow, he was part of the Russian Musical Society and toured a

Vatroslav Lisinski

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

Vatroslav Lisinski (, 8 July 1819 – 31 May 1854) was a Croatian composer. Biography Lisinski was born Ignatius Fuchs to a German Jewish family. He would later change his name to Vatroslav Lisinski, which is a Croatian calque of his original name. For a time he worked as a clerk at the Tabula Banalis in Zagreb. Lisinski composed the first Croatian opera, Love and Malice (1846), which he wrote at the urging of Alberto Ognjen Štriga, and Porin (1851) as well as numerous works for orchestra, choir and soloists. He was also one of the founders of Illyrism, a movement that advocated the importance of Croatian and more generally South Slavic cultural heritage, as a reaction to Magyarisation during the Austro-Hungarian rule. Lisinski died in Zagreb on 31 May 1854 and was buried at the Mirogoj Cemetery. Legacy In 1944, Oktavijan Miletić directed a movie about him, Lisinski (film). The Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall was named after him in 1973. The international train EN 498/499 connecting Zagreb and Munich is named Lisinski, after the composer. References

Vaughan Williams and English folk music

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

The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was one of the musicians who participated in the first English Folk Song revival, as well as using folk song tunes in his compositions. He collected his first song, Bushes and Briars, from Mr Charles Pottipher, a seventy-year-old labourer from Ingrave, Essex in 1903, and went on to collect over 800 songs, as well as some singing games and dance tunes. For 10 years he devoted up to 30 days a year to collecting folk songs from singers in 21 English counties, though Essex, Norfolk, Herefordshire and Sussex account for over two thirds of the songs in his collection. He recorded a small number of songs using a phonograph but the vast majority were recorded by hand. He was a regular contributor to the Folk Song Society’s Journal, a member of the society’s committee from 1904 to 1946, and when in that year the society amalgamated with the English Folk Dance Society he became president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, a position he held until his death. Vol. 2 no 8 of the Journal of the Folk Song Society was dedicated to 61 songs collected by Vaughan Williams from singers in Essex, Norfolk, Sussex, Wiltshire, Yorkshire, Kent and London. Book 2