Category: Music

Stamp of the Month: March 2017


Zoltán Kodály
Hungary 16.7.2007

Zoltán Kodály was born on 16 December 1882 in Kecskemét. He died on 6 March 1967 in Budapest. 2017 is the 50th anniversary of his death.



The Hungarian composer, music teacher and ethnomusicologist Zoltán Kodály learned early to play the violin and studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest from 1900 onwards. From 1907 he taught music theory and composition there. Kodály dealt with fundamental questions of music education and has authored numerous books. Together with his friend Béla Bartók he collected more than 3500 Hungarian folk songs, which he examined scientifically. Since 1963 Zoltán Kodály was President of the International Folk Music Council (IFMC) and 1961-1967 editor of the journal “Studia musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae”.
 



 
 
The video shows the Rajkó Orchestra performing at the Synagogue in Budapest. The composition “Dances of Galánta” is influenced by the music of Sinti and Roma.

Stamp of the Month: February 2017




Gioachino Rossini
San Marino 12.2.1999

Gioachino Rossini was born on 29 February 1792 in Pesaro. He died on 13 November 1868 in Passy near Paris. 2017 his birthday comes up for the 225th time.

The Italian composer Gioachino Rossini is one of the world’s most important opera composers. In addition to around 50 operas he composed instrumental music, a number of cantatas, hymns and choruses and spiritual works. His operas “The Barber of Seville” and “Cinderella” are part of the standard repertoire of almost all opera houses.
 

 
 
The video shows the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria under the direction of Andrés Orozco-Estrada with the overture to Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” at the Summer Night Gala 2012 in Grafenegg.


Opening of the Elbphilharmonie

After five years of planning (2001-2006) and a ten-year construction period (2007-2016) the
new Hamburg concert hall was opened on 11 January 2017 with an impressive concert.
 

The stamp depicts the building, which is considered one of the most
modern, largest and acoustically best concert halls in the world.
 

The video shows a part of the live broadcast of the opening concert performed
by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrock.
 
Discover the new Concert Hall
 
By the way: The organ of the Elbphilharmonie was built by the organ builder company of our member Hans-Gerd Klais of Bonn.

Stamp of the Month: January 2017




Arturo Toscanini
Italy 25.3.1967

Arturo Toscanini was born on March 25, 1867 in Parma. He died on January 16, 1957 in New York. 2017 is the 150th anniversary of his birth and the 60th anniversary of his death.

1895 Toscanini got a job in Turin and was allowed to conduct the first performance of Puccini’s opera “La Bohème” in 1896. In 1898 he went to La Scala in Milan and in 1908 to the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has conducted many concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic and was conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from 1926. Until 1937, he influenced the Salzburg Festival by conducting essential concerts and opera productions. After his emigrating to the USA he led the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with whom he recorded – among others – all nine Beethoven symphonies. In 1946 he conducted the opening concert of the rebuilt La Scala. Toscanini is generally considered one of the greatest orchestra conductors of his time and was praised especially for his interpretations of works by Beethoven and Verdi.
 

 
 
The video shows the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini with a performance of the overture to Verdi’s opera “La forza del Destino”. The orchestra was established specifically for Toscanini.