Obscure Music Mondays

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (Aug. 15, 1875 - Sept. 1, 1912) was born in London, England, to Alice Hare Martin, an English woman, and Dr. Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor, from Sierre Leone. They were not married, and Daniel Taylor returned to Africa before 1875, not even knowing he had a son. Martin named her son after the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and was raised in Croydon, Surrey by his mother, and her father. Coleridge-Taylor studied violin at the Royal College of Music, and was later on appointed a professor at the Crystal Palace School of Music, and conducted the orchestra at the Croyden Conservatory. Continue reading →

Paul Lacombe (July 11, 1837 - June 4, 1927) was a French composer and pianist. He was born in to a wealthy family, and his first music lessons were with his mother, on piano. Later on his studied harmony and counterpoint with Francois Teysseyre, who graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris. Lacombe was a great admirer of George Bizet, and began a correspondence with him, asking for compositional advice, which Bizet gave, from 1866 to 1868. They would eventually become good friends, and Bizet promoted much of Lacombe's works. Lacombe music sadly never gained widespread popularity, as he was unwilling to leave his hometown of Carcassonne for Paris. Continue reading →

Franz Schreker (March 23, 1878 - March 21, 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Schreker grew up travelling across Europe, and after his father died, the family moved to Vienna in 1888. A few short years later, Schreker entered the Vienna Conservatory on violin,  but then also started taking up composition. He would go on to teach at Vienna's Imperial Academy of Music, and later on be an administrator at the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin. A vast portion on his compositional output is opera, though he wrote many orchestral work, including a one movement work entitled Chamber Symphony. Continue reading →

Arthur William Foote (March 5, 1853 - April 8, 1937) was an organist and composer, and a member of the "Boston Six", a group of composers from New England that lived in the late 19th century and early 20th century, that also included Amy Beach, George Whitefield Chadwick, Edward MacDowell. John Knowles Paine, and Horatio Parker. Foote graduated from Harvard, and was the first composer of note to be trained entirely in the United States. Continue reading →

John Alden Carpenter (Feb. 28, 1876 - April 26, 1951) was born in Park Ridge, Illinois, in to a musical family.  He attended Harvard University, and studied under John Knowles Paine, and later on traveled to England to study with Edward Elgar. After his time in England, he returned to Chicago to study with Bernhard Ziehn in 1912. Sadly, Carpenter has been overlooked as a composer, in favor of other big names from his generation, like Ives and Copland. Continue reading →

Adolphe Charles Adam (July 24, 1803 - May 3, 1856) was a French composer and music critic. His father, Jean-Louis Adam, was a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, but Adolphe enjoyed improvising music by himself, rather than study seriously. That suited his father fine--he wasn't keen on his son following his path. Eventually, however, Adolphe started studying seriously (and secretly) and eventually entered the Paris Conservatoire.  He ended up becoming a prolific writer of ballets and operas, particularly opéra comique. Continue reading →

Sergei Prokofiev (April 23, 1891 - March 5, 1953) was a Russian and Soviet pianist, composer, and conductor.  A graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev is undoubtedly one of the most well known composers of the 20th century, and many of his works are staples in the repertoire, from his concertos for violin, cello, and piano,  seven symphonies, and to his ballets and operas. Some of his works have remained under the radar though, for whatever reason, such as the one we are looking at today: Things In Themselves, a work for solo piano. Continue reading →

Émile Waldteufel (Dec. 9, 1837 - Feb. 12,1915) was a French conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in to a musical family, he studied music first with his father, and then at the Conservatoire de Paris. He went on to become the court pianist for Empress Eugenie, and he also led the state orchestra. Regarding his body of work, Waldteufel is known for composing dance pieces, particularly waltzes. His most well known is Les Patineurs (The Ice Skaters). Continue reading →

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 - Nov. 29, 1957) was an Austrian born composer, conductor, and a child prodigy. The son of a music critic, Korngold was playing piano alongside his father at age five, and was writing his own music by age seven. Gustav Mahler said that Korngold was a "musical genius", and suggested he study with Alexander von Zemlinsky. Richard Strauss spoke very highly of him as well. Korngold went on to compose many movie scores, operas, and orchestral works. Continue reading →

Leó Weiner (April 16, 1885 - Sept. 13, 1960) was born in to a Jewish family in Budapest, and ended up being one of the leading Hungarian music educators the first half of the twentieth century. He started piano lessons as a boy with his brother, and later studied at the Academy of Music in Budapest. While he was there, he won numerous prizes, and eventually went on to be a professor at the Academy, teaching theory, composition, and chamber music. Some of his notable students include cellist János Starker, conductors Fritz Reiner and George Solti, and pianist György Sebők. Continue reading →