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.

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. 

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

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.

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

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.

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

Spotted Dick

Today I made Spotted Dick and custard for Sunday lunch. It went down well!
As my first contribution to the Helm Family Cookbook, proposed by my brother Mike, I post the recipe below.
It is not your classic school dinner pudding, stodgy steamed suet, but rather a lighter spongy lemony version. Different.


One day soon I'll do the 'original'.

There is of course a website: http://spotteddick.net/
And a Wikipedia entry
Heinz do a tinned version (which isn't bad at all!)
And of course someone has produced a T-shirt


Serves 6 (or 8 who will be wishing for more)
Ingredients:
175 g butter, softened, plus a little extra for greasing the basin
175 g caster sugar
1 lemon, grated zest, and juice.
1 orange, grated zest
3 eggs, beaten
200 g self-raising flour
50 cc milk
80 g sultanas and/or currants (for adults - soak them overnight  in calvados or some such spirit)
Procedure
1. Grease a 1.2 litre pudding basin with butter.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Add the lemon and orange zest, followed by the lemon juice, and whisk in the beaten egg, a little at a time.
4. Sift in the flour and gently whisk the mixture together.
5. Add just enough milk for the mixture to drop easily from a spoon.
6. Fold in the sultanas and currants.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pudding basin and firstly cover with a disc of greaseproof paper, then with a  piece of foil, tied under the rim of the basin with string.
8. To steam the pudding, place a small saucer into the base of a large pan. Place the basin onto the saucer and fill the pan with boiling water two-thirds up the side of the basin.
9. Cover and steam for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours. Continue to top up the water to the two-thirds mark, as the water will evaporate. Take care not let the water dry out.

February classical composers anniversaries

Late again, but here are February's anniversaries:

February Great Classical Composer Anniversaries

2/02/1594 Palestrina died 3/02/1809 Mendelssohn born 7/02/1652 Allegri died 13/02/1883 Wagner died 15/02/1857 Glinka died 17/2/1653 Corelli born 20/2/1961 P.Grainger died 23/2/1934 Elgar died 23/2/1685 Handel born 27/2/1887 Borodin died 29/2/1792 Rossini born

Delius Anniversary

29th January was the 150th birthday of the english composer Frederick Delius (1862 - 1934).

Not one of my favourite composers. However as it is his anniversary I have done his portrait and added a profile to my 52composers.com website.
He was born 'Fritz' a name which he used until he was 40, when he changed it to Frederick.
He spent most of his adult life abroad in America, Germany, Norway and mainly France.

Here are the composer anniversaries for January:

January Great Classical Composer Anniversaries

1/1/1782 J C Bach died 2/1/1837 Balakirev born 2/1/1905 M Tippett born 4/1/1710 Pergolesi born 6/1/1838 Max Bruch born 7/1/1899 Poulenc born 8/1/1713 Corelli died 8/1/1990 M Tippett died 11/1/1801 Cimarosa died 16/1/1886 Ponchielli died 16/1/1891 Delibes died 17/1/1751 Albinoni died 18/1/1835 Cesar Cui born 23/1/1981 S.Barber died 27/1/1756 Mozart born 27/1/1813Verdi died 29/1/1862 Delius born 30/1/1963 Poulenc died 31/1/1797 Schubert born

Tomorrow 2012 arrives. Here are the major anniversaries for composers:

2012 Classical Composer Anniversaries Gabrieli 400th anniversary of his death on 12 August Delius 150th birthday on 29 January Debussy 150th anniversary of his birth on 22 Auguust 1812 John Cage centenary of birth on 5 September Massenet centenary of his death on 13 August John Ireland 50th anniversary of his death on 12 June You can find a far more comprehensive list of anniversaries at classical-composers.org

St Hildegard of Bingen

Here is my portrait of the first female classical composer - Blessed Hildegard von Bingen. One of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages.
The central image is a photoetching and the border is a collagraph. 
I have just uploaded a profile of her on my website at 52composers.com

There is an increasing interest in her music and there is plenty to see on YouTube. There is an interesting BBC documentary available on DVD at Amazon and a full length German biopic 'Vision'.

November Anniversaries of Classical Composers

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

Classical Music Calendars

It's October. Time to start publishing my new  classical music calendars.

This year I am making them available again on Zazzle. (click to see them)

In addition I am selling them on Etsy (click to see them). The first one uploaded today.

The Zazzle ones are printed in the USA and therefore for North American buyers it makes sense to order from them to avoid any postage delays and customs duties.

The Etsy one instead are printed by myself here in London and therefore is recommended for UK and European buyers, again to avoid postage delays, VAT and customs duty.

Opera composers uploaded to Etsy today.  It is already on Zazzle.

October classical composer anniversaries

October Great Classical Composer Anniversaries

1/10/1865 Paul Dukas born 2/10/1920 Max Bruch died 3/10/1931 Carl Nielsen died 5/10/1880 Offenbach died 9/10/1813 Verdi born 9/10/1835 Saint-Saëns born 11/10/1896 Bruckner died 12/10/1872 Vaughan Williams born 14/10/1990 Bernstein died 17/10/1849 Chopin died 18/10/1893 Gounod died 20/10/1874 Charles Ives born 22/11/1811 Liszt born 24/10/1725 A Scarlatti died 25/11/1825 J Strauss Jr born 25/11/1838 Bizet born 26/11/1685 D Scarlatti born 27/11/1782 Paganini born

September classical composer anniversaries

September already. Summer almost finished. Here are this month's birthdays and death anniversaries of the great classical composers:

September Great Classical Composer        Anniversaries

4/9/1824 Bruckner born 4/9/1892 Milhaud born 4/9/1907 Grieg died 5/9/1735 J Christian Bach born 5/9/1912 John Cage born 8/9/1813 Gesualdo died 8/9/1841 Dvorak born 8/9/1949 Richard Strauss died 10/9/1659 Purcell born 13/9/1819 Clara Schumann born 13/9/1874 Schoenberg born 17/9/1179 Hildegard von Bingen died 20/9/1957 Sibelius died 21/9/1874 Holst born 23/9/1836 Bellini died 25/9/1906 Shostakovich born 25/9/1849 J Strauss Sr died 26/9/1898 Gershwin born 26/9/1945 Bartok died

Back to school - Great Classical Composers Calendar

Summer is going fast and the shops are full of Back to School promotions which made me think that I should do a calendar starting in September instead of January.
So here it is: September 2011 to August 2012 Great Composers with 12 of my prints:
Sibelius, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Mozart, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Brahms, Grieg, Bach and Shostakovich.
I'll do another version Jan - Dec 2012 later when the Christmas promotions start.

It is available now at Etsy
Click on the above link or on the image.

Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra by Gabriel Prokofiev

Next Saturday's BBC Prom at the Albert Hall will feature a performance of the 'Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra' by Gabriel Prokofiev who just happens to be the grandson of the great Sergio Prokofiev.
I have featured it as Video of the Week on the home page of my 52composers site.
It is an interesting piece combining classical symphonic music with hip-hop.

August anniversaries of classical composers

August Great Classical Composer Anniversaries

Births ?/08/1653 Pachelbel 18/08/1750 Salieri 22/08/1862 Debusssy 22/08/1928 Stockhausen 25/08/1918 Bernstein 31 /08/1834 Ponchielli Deaths 2/08/1945 Mascagni 8/08/1975 Shostakovich 09/08/1919 Leoncavallo 10/08/1928 Janacek 12/08/1992 John Cage 13/08/1912 Massanet 26/08/1958 Vaughan Williams 28/08/1959 Martinu