Yme Woensdregt and his “Ugly Beethoven”
Category: Stamps
Stamp of the Month: September 2022
The Hungarian conductor Georg Solti (real name György Stern) was born on October 21, 1912 in Budapest. He died 25 years ago, on September 5, 1997 in Antibes (France).
Solti studied at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, among others. In 1930 he became répétiteur at the Budapest Opera and from 1935 assistant to Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini in Salzburg. He made his debut as an opera conductor in 1938 in a performance of The Marriage of Figaro in Budapest.
Solti studied at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, among others. In 1930 he became répétiteur at the Budapest Opera and from 1935 assistant to Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini in Salzburg. He made his debut as an opera conductor in 1938 in a performance of The Marriage of Figaro in Budapest.
Hungary 6.7.2012
A second major artistic period began for Georg Solti when he became chief conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969-1991). He was also musical director of the Orchester de Paris (1971-1975) and artistic director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1979-1983). In 1983 he conducted at the Bayreuth Festival, several times at the Salzburg Festival and, after Karajan’s death, took over as his successor at the Easter Festival for two years.
Georg Solti signed a contract with the Decca record company as early as 1947 and over the years he has recorded all the popular operas by Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Giuseppe Verdi for the label. The first complete studio recording of Wagner’s “Ring des Nibelungen” with the Vienna Philharmonic (1958-1965) is still considered a great moment in the history of recordings. Georg Solti has received 105 Grammy nominations and, with 31 awards, is the artist to have received the most awards with the coveted trophy.
In addition to numerous other honours, he was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968 and Knight Commander in 1971 during his tenure in London.
The video shows Georg Solti and the London Symphony Orchestra perfoming the Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 by Ludwig van Beethoven, recorded in 1987 at the Barbican Center in London.
In Memoriam: Olivia Newton-John
Over the course of her long career, Olivia Newton-John has sold more than 100 million records, making her one of the top-selling artists worldwide to date. Her most successful release is the soundtrack album for the musical film Grease, in which she starred alongside John Travolta.
The British-Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John died on August 8, 2022 in Santa Ynez Valley, California.
Newton-John was born on September 26, 1948 in Cambridge. In 1955 the family moved to Australia. Already as a schoolgirl she won several singing competitions, founded a girls group and got her first record deal in 1966. With her country, folk, pop and disco songs, she was one of the biggest stars of the 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1973 and 1983 she received 4 Grammys and 9 American Music Awards.
In addition to numerous other awards, Olivia Newton John was made an officer by Queen Elizabeth II in 1979 and made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, Newton-John went public to share her cancer. She supported numerous charity projects and founded a foundation for cancer research, with the help of which the Olivia Newton-John Canver Wellness & Research Center was opened in Melbourne in 2012.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, Newton-John went public to share her cancer. She supported numerous charity projects and founded a foundation for cancer research, with the help of which the Olivia Newton-John Canver Wellness & Research Center was opened in Melbourne in 2012.
Stamp of the Month: August 2022
The Ukrainian pianist Sviatoslav Teofilowitsch Richter was born on March 20, 1915 in Zhitomir (Russian Empire, today Ukraine). He died 25 years ago, on August 1, 1997 in Moscow.
Richter’s father was a German-born pianist who took a job as an organist and choirmaster in Odessa in 1916. From the age of three he ensured that his son received a solid musical education.
Richter’s father was a German-born pianist who took a job as an organist and choirmaster in Odessa in 1916. From the age of three he ensured that his son received a solid musical education.
Ukraine 20.3.2015
Richter’s recordings of the works of Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt and the Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach are legendary. His Préludes by Rachmaninoff are still considered a kind of reference recording today.
In addition to his solo activities, Sviatoslav Richter also played chamber music with, among others, David Oistrakh, Pierre Fournier, Mstislav Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten.
The video shows Sviatoslav Richter performing Mozart’s Piano Sonatas No.4 in E flat major (K282), No.16 in C major (K545) and No.8 in A minor (K310) live recorded at the Barbican Centre, London, 29 March 1989.
Stamp of the Month: July 2022
The Cuban pianist and composer Ignacio Cervantes Kawanag was born on July 31, 1847 in Havana. He died in his hometown on April 29, 1905. July 2022 will be his 175th birthday.
Cuba 15.9.1997
Cuba 27.6.1959
Cervantes was considered a child prodigy and was taught by the American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, among others. Gottschalk encouraged him to study at the Conservatoire de Paris (1866-1870), where he received first prizes for composition (1866) and harmony (1867) and gave concerts with Christina Nilsson and Adelina Patti.
Cervantes was one of the first musicians to emphasize the special character of the Central and South American peoples in their music.
Cervantes was one of the first musicians to emphasize the special character of the Central and South American peoples in their music.
The video shows the Orquestra De Guiarres De Barcelona conducted by Sergi Vicente performing a medley of Ignacio Cervantes’ “Danzas Cubanas”. All members of the orchestra are teachers, graduates or master students of the Conservatorio Superior de Mùsica del Liceo in Barcelona.
Stamp of the Month: June 2022
In addition to a number of choral works, Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson’s compositional oeuvre mainly includes piano and chamber music, which reveals a clear connection to the British salon music of the time. As early as 1874 he composed the melody of the later Icelandic national anthem “Lofsöngur” to the text by the poet Matthías Jochumsson. Icelandic music is rarely found in his work, e.g. in the two “Icelandic Rhapsodies”, in which he combined melodies from Icelandic folklore into one piece of music.
The Icelandic composer Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson was born on June 28, 1847 in Seltjarnarnes, he died on February 2, 1927 in Copenhagen. June 2022 will be his 175th birthday.
Sveinbjörnsson showed musical talent from an early age. However, since his father died early and a career as a professional musician in Iceland was practically impossible at the time, he trained as a pastor. In 1868 he decided to study music, majoring in piano and harmony. He was a member of the choir of Niels Gade’s music association and took piano lessons from Carl Reinecke in Leipzig in 1872/73. From 1873 to 1919 he lived in Edinburgh as a pianist and music teacher.
Island 11.12.1979
The video shows the Icelandic pianist Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir (*1965) with Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson’s “Minuet & Trio” from 1873, the first musical work composed by an Icelander. The recording was made in March 2011 at the Icelandic Music Museum in Kópavogur.
In Memoriam: Andrew Fletcher
The British musician Andrew Fletcher died on May 26, 2022.
Andrew Fletcher was born in Nottingham on July 8, 1961. He first played electric bass and was a member of the group “No Romance in China” with his school friend Vince Clarke. In 1979 he switched to synthesizers and formed the band “Composition of Sound” together with Clarke and Martin Gore. The band was later renamed “Depeche Mode”.
“Depeche Mode” is considered the most popular synth rock and synth pop group. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, it is one of the most successful bands in the world. Andrew Fletcher was the only member of the band who never wrote a song. As the band’s keyboardist, however, he had a decisive influence on the band’s style. In addition, he took on many of the organizational tasks and was heavily involved in the band’s studio work.
In Memoriam: Vangelis
On May 17, 2022, the Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, better known by his stage name Vangelis, died in Paris at the age of 79 as a result of a COVID-19 disease. Born on March 29th, 1943 in Agria, Greece, Vangelis was one of the pioneers of electronic music. Vangelis was largely self-taught in music and had only a basic knowledge of reading or writing music throughout his career. In the early 1960s he founded his first band. In 1968 he formed the progressive rock group Aphrodite’s Child with Demis Roussos and Lucas Sideras, which had several hit singles. In 1973 he started his solo career with his first film scores. In the 1980s he shared several international hits with Jon Andersen. In 1982 Vangelis won the first Oscar for an all-synthesizer film score with the music for the strip “Chariots of Fire”. Other film music hits followed, such as “Blade Runner”, “Bounty” and “1492 – Conquest of Paradise”, the background music for many documentaries by Jacques Cousteau, as well as the anthem for the 2002 World Cup.
New Stamps 2021
Every year, worldwide more than 200 stamps related to music are issued. The list of new issues published in the members-only-section of our website is updated several times per month.
15.1.: Central African Republic / Chad / Mongolia / Mocambique / Tuvalu
6.3.: Angola / Central African Republic / Chad / Colombia / Djibouti / Mocambique / Sao Tomé / Togo / Turkmenistan
24.3.: Chad / Djibouti
13.4.: Albania / Central African Republic / Chad / Philippines / Uzbekistan
7.5.: Andorra / Guinea-Bissau / Paraguay / Sao Tomé
Stamp of the Month: May 2022
The Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born on May 29, 1897 in Brno, he died on November 29, 1957 in Los Angeles. May 2022 will be his 125th birthday.
Korngold was considered a musical prodigy in Vienna. As early as 1910, a ballet music by the 13-year-old was premiered at the Vienna Court Opera. Some of his early works were frequently performed by prominent conductors such as Bruno Walter,
USA 16.9.1999
19 films, of which “Anthony Adverse” (1936) and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938) each received an Oscar for the best film score.
Austria 31.3.1997 Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Richard Strauss. Korngold’s operas “Der Ring des Polykrates”, “Violanta” (both 1916), “Die tote Stadt” (1920) and “Das Wunder der Heliane” (1927) were great successes and made him – alongside Richard Strauss – the most frequently performed opera composer in Germany and Austria. In 1934 he followed Max Reinhardt’s invitation to Hollywood to compose the film music for his film “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. With the work on this film, in which a symphony orchestra was used for the first time, he set new standards in the still young history of film music. Because of his Jewish heritage, he stayed in the United States and worked as a film composer for Warner Brothers. By 1946 he had composed the music for
Erich Wolfgang Korngold considered himself a representative of modern classicism. In addition to film music and six operas, his compositional output includes piano works, songs, orchestral and chamber music, choral works, incidental music and an operetta.
The video shows Jeffrey Schindler and the Australian International Symphony Orchestra Institute performing the overture to the 1940 film “The Sea Hawk” by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The recording was made in 2010 during the final concert of the summer course at the University of Tasmania’s Conservatory of Music.