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This is one of the oldest web sites about classical music composers. It has been on the Internet since 1995, and wants to be the best starting point for all sorts of information about classical composers and their compositions. With your help, as a classical music lover, this site can become an even better source.
Latest composer news
- Fitkin to be Composer in Residence in London
(16 June 2008)Graham Fitkin has just been made Composer in Residence with the London Chamber Orchestra for the next two years.
Yo Yo Ma will be premiering L, which Graham wrote for him last year, at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on December 4th 2008.
There is a full list of Graham's performances on the website www.fitkin.com [click on New Concerts].
[→ Go to Graham Fitkin’s page] - Composer Hay finds back score after 35 years
(30 May 2008)In 1973, while a student at Blair Academy (Blairstown, New Jersey, USA) Daniel solicited a 12-tone theme from childhood friend Debra Ridge. The theme was for Oboe and was to represent a "hermit" against a string orchestra representing "society".
Upon completion the handwritten original score was sent to Ms. Ridge and misplaced for several years. After reacquiring the score, life-in-general buried it in a collection of concert programs.
Fast forward to 2008, after many personal losses, and Daniel discovers the score tucked away waiting to be seen and heard. He is happy to announce that the score has been computerized into modern (readable) music notation for Oboe, Violin I&II, Viola I&II, Cello I&II, and Bass.
At 35 years in the making Daniel reports that there were only a few notational errors in the original score and only three new measures were included. The 5-minute piece sounds like he envisoned it; liltingly gay, yet dark and brooding.
[source: Daniel J. Hay]
[→ Go to Daniel J. Hay’s page] - Sibelius plaque unveiled in Berlin
(24 April 2008)On wednesday a plaque was to be unveiled in Berlin to commemorate Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, who lived in the city for some time.
The plaque is fastened on a house at Marienstrasse 4, where Sibeilus lived for some time while studying in Berlin from 1889 till 1890. His time in Berlin appeared to be an inspiring period. He wrote to his friend that he was "like a fish in water".
[source: newsroom.finland.fi]
[→ Go to Jean Sibelius’s page] - Lost Bach composition found back
(22 April 2008)On 16 April the Deutsche Welle web site reported that a long lost composition by Johann Sebastian Bach was found back among papers in a treasure chest. The papers belonged to Wilhelm Rust (1822–1892), who was the editor of Bach's first complete works.
The piece is for organ, and is a variation on an old German choral melody entitled "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält". The "fantasy" variation takes about five to seven minutes to play
Based on its stylistic features, the piece is dated between 1705 and 1710, The copy that was now found was made by the editor Rust in 1877. It is unclear why he did not include this piece in his “Complete Works of Bach”.
[source: www.dw-world.de]
[→ Go to Johann Sebastian Bach’s page]