Umberto Giordano studied piano, orchestration, conducting and scenic composition at the Conservatory of Naples. In 1888 he caused a sensation with his first opera “Mariana”, when he finished as the youngest participant in a competition among 73 candidates the 6th Place. With his second opera “Mala vita” he created in 1891/92 one of the first operas in the style of verismo. Although Giordano also composed lyrical and romantic operas, his verismo operas were especially successful. With his striking operas Giordano therefore applies in addition to Pietro Mascagni and Ruggiero Leoncavallo as the leading exponent of verismo.
 

Astor Piazzolla
Argentina 9.8.1997 / 11.11.2000

The Argentine composer Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata on March 11, 1921. He died in Buenos Aires on July 4, 1992. This year, his death marks the 25th time.
 
In 1939, Astor Piazzolla became a member of a tango orchestra. He started composition lessons in 1940. In the early 50s he received several national awards for his orchestral and chamber music. With a scholarship he studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He then founded his own orchestra and began to reinterpret the tango. In total he composed more than 300 tangos and music for nearly 50 films. Many of his tangos are not danceable in the traditional sense, but music for listening. His “Tango Nuevo” maintains the harmony of the tango, but combines it with elements from jazz and classical music.
 

Since stamp collectors hardly can go out on the street with their stamps, members of Motivgruppe Musik have compiled a colorful bouquet of stamps to which you can listen to the associated music.
Enjoy stamps & music !
 
Classic Music Opera Dance Popular Music Rock  Stamps & Music

 

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 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.
 

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.

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.