Thursday 6 December 2012

Oscar Niemeyer dies

Oscar Niemeyer died yesterday at the grand old age of 104.
He was the architect of the Milan head office of the Italian printer publisher Mondadori. I worked for them for 15 years so I knew the building quite well and so I took an interest in Niemeyer.
A couple of years ago I did a small series of portraits of architects, including Oscar here on the right. The design is based on the ceiling of the Brasilia cathedral. 
Of course there are numerous obituaries in the press today. Here below is a gallery of photos of some of his work.

Monday 3 December 2012

Exhibition at Morley Gallery

I'm participating in a group exhibition at the Morley Gallery in London with 16 of my fellow printmakers. We had a private view on Thursday evening which was well attended. 
No red dots for me yet though!
Here's a photo of me and my wall. 



There will be another private view/party on Tuesday 11th December. Everybody welcome.
Here is the invite with information and a map. 

Sunday 2 December 2012

December Anniversaries of classical composers

December
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

2/12/1990 Copland died
4/12/1976 Britten died
5/12/1791 Mozart died
5/12/2007 Stockhausen died
7/12/1863 Mascagni born
8/12/1865 Sibelius born
8/12/1890 Martinu born
10/12/1822 César Franck born
10/12/1908 Messiaen born
11/12/1803 Berlioz born
16/12/1770 Beethoven born
16/12/1921 Saint Saëns died
17/12/1749 Cimarosa born
22/12/1858 Puccini born
25/12/1871 Scriabin born
28/12/1937 Ravel died


Wednesday 14 November 2012

Happy Birthday Aaron

Today is Aaron Copland's birthday. He would have been 112.
Here is a video of his arrangement of Happy Birthday conducted by Seiji Ozawa for Bernstein's 70th birthday in 1970.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Death of Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky's death mask
Tchaikovsky died on this day, 6 November, in 1893 aged 53 in St.Petersberg.
Officially he died of cholera but for many his death was suspicious and there are various intriguing theories about the true cause.
Cholera was common at the time and everyone knew that you must not drink unboiled water. Certainly for an educated man in high society it is very unlikely that he would have drunk it accidentally.
He was a very important highly regarded person in Russia. He was also gay, which at that time was illegal and could ruin your reputation.
The main theories link his death to his homosexuality:
- suicide due to personal problems including his infatuation with his nephew which could never be revealed.
- contraction of cholera through unhygienic sexual practices
- suicide by "court of honour". Eight of his close circle convened with him and convinced him that the only way for him to avoid a massive scandal was for him to kill himself.
- suicide or murder ordered by Tsar Alexander III, in order to avoid scandal.
You can find plenty of articles and opinions on the internet which make interesting reading. Here are a few:
- Wikipedia
- BBC
- Daily Telegraph
- Tchailovsky-research.net

Sunday 4 November 2012

The Deaths of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn

Available from Amazon
Today is the anniversary of the death of Felix Mendelssohn at the age of 38 on 4 November 1847.
His sister Fanny had died less than six months earlier at the age of 41.
Fanny had suffered a sudden stroke or a brain haemorrhage. They were very close and her death had a devastating effect on Felix affecting his work and his health.
Felix died from  a series of strokes.
His grandfather Moses and both his parents had also died from strokes so there was obviously a genetic cause involved.

Thursday 1 November 2012

November's Composer Anniversaries

November
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

3/11/1801 Bellini born
4/11/1847 Mendelssohn died
4/11/1924 Fauré died
6/11/1854 Sousa born
6/11/1893 Tchaikovsky died
8/11/1890 César Franck died
12/11/833 Borodin born
13/11/1868 Rossini died
14/11/1805 Fanny Mendelssohn born
14/11/1900 Copland born
15/11/1787 Gluck died
18/11/1786 Weber born
19/11/1828 Schubert died
20/11/1894 A.Rubinstein died
21/11/1695 Purcell died
22/11/1900 A.Sullivan died
22/11/1913 Britten born
23/11/1585 Thomas Tallis died
24/11/1868 Scott Joplin born
28/11/1829 A.Rubinstein born
29/11/1643 Monteverdi died
29/11/1797 Donizetti born
29/11/1924 Puccini died


I have done a webpage with composer anniversaries for the whole year at: www.52composers.com/composer-anniversaries.html