10 People who died at the age of 64

Around this time of the year I like to do this sort of thing for my own interest and to make me thankful for another year of grace.

1. C S Lewis
2. Dorothy L Sayers
3. Pelagius
4. Charles T Russell
5. Karl Marx
6. Bram Stoker
7. Edvard Grieg
8. Bela Bartok
9. Christina Rosetti
10. Gene Krupa

10 Cataloguers of Classical Music

1. Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV)

Schmieder, Wolfgang (1950).

Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV). Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. BWV (The designation BWV, an abbreviation of Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, which Schmieder created, is more usual for Bach's works, but S numbers are found in some older references; subsequent 2nd and 3rd editions are mostly reprints).

2. Béla Bartók (BB, DD or Sz)

Somfai, László (1996).

Béla Bartók: composition, concepts, and autograph sources. Ernest Bloch lectures. 9. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08485-3.

BB

Dille, Denijs (1974).

Thematisches Verzeichnis der Jugendwerke Béla Bartóks: 1890-1904. Kassel: Bärenreiter. ISBN 978-3-7618-0437-7.

DD

Szőllősy, András (1948).

Bartók Béla válogatott zenei írásai. Zenetörténet kézikönyvei. 3. Budapest: Mágyar Kórus.

Sz 

(Bartók's works have been designated by numbering systems developed by three different catalogers. Szőllősy's chronological index is the most frequently used. It includes Bartók's musicological writings as well as his compositions.)

3. Ludwig van Beethoven (Hess, WoO or Bia)

Hess, Willy (1957). Verzeichnis der nicht in der Gesamtausgabe veröffentlichten Werke Ludwig van Beethovens. Zusammengestellt für die Ergänzung der Beethoven-Gesamtausgabe. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel.

Hess

Kinsky, George; Halm, Hans (1955).

Das Werk Beethovens; thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner sämtlichen vollendeten Kompositionen. München: G. Henle Verlag.

WoO

Biamonti, Giovanni (1968). Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven, comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati. Torino: ILTE.

Bia

(The Biamonti Catalogue sought to incorporate all works listed in other places, including the Beethoven Gesamtausgabe, the Kinsky-Helm catalogue (WoO numbers) and the Hess catalogue). 4. Johannes Brahms (WoO)

McCorkle, Margit L. (1984).

Johannes Brahms: thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis. München: G. Henle. ISBN 3-87328-041-8.

WoO

5. Claude Debussy (L)

Lesure, François (1977).

Catalogue de l'œuvre de Claude Debussy. Centre de documentation Claude Debussy Publications. 3. Genève: Minkoff. ISBN 2-8266-0657-3.

L

6. Antonín Dvořák (H, B, S or T)

Herbert, Peter J. F. (1988).

Antonín Dvořák, Complete Catalogue of Works. [Great Britain]: Dvořák Society for Czech Music. OCLC 315534955.

H

Burghauser, Jarmil; Clapham, John (1996). Antonín Dvořák: thematický katalog [thematic catalogue]. Prague: Bärenreiter Edition Suprahon. ISBN 978-80-7058-410-1.

B

Šourek, Otakar (1917). Dvořákś Werke ... ein vollständiges Verzeichnis in chronologischer thematischer und systematischer Anordnung. Berlin: N. Simrock. OCLC 7629267.

S

Trufitt, Ian T. (1974).

Antonín Dvořák, Complete Catalogue of Works. Great Britain: Dvořák Society of Great Britain. OCLC 11677657.

T

7. Joseph Haydn (Hob)

Hoboken, Anthony van (1978) [1957].

Joseph Haydn; thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis. Mainz: B. Schott’s Söhne. ISBN 978-3-7957-0003-4.

Hob.

(The Hoboken-Verzeichnis was created in 1957. Haydn's string quartets are still generally referred to by their opus numbers.)

8. Felix Mendelssohn (MWV or S)

Wehner, Ralf (2009).

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke (MWV). Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Serie 13, Werkverzeichnis. Band 1 A. Wiesbaden. ISBN 978-3-7651-0317-9.

MWV

Seiffert, Max (1908). Ausgewählte Werke. Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern. 17, 9. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.

S

9. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (K, also WSF)

Köchel, Ludwig van Ritter (1964).

Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts; nebst Angabe der verlorengegangenen, angefangenen, von fremder Hand bearbeiteten, zweifelhaften und unterschobenen Kompositionen (6. Auflage, bearbeitung von Franz Giegling, Alexander Weinmann, Gerd Sievers ed.). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel.

K

(Mozart's opus numbers are particularly scattered and useless and are no longer used at all (for instance, there are two sets of violin sonatas both called Op. 1). Köchel's Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämmtlicher Tonwerke W. A. Mozarts was published in 1862 and has been substantially revised four times since then. KV numbers (short for Köchel-Verzeichnis) are often used for Mozart's works in Europe.

Wyzewa, Teodor de; Saint-Foix, Georges de (1912).

W.-A. Mozart, sa vie musicale et son œuvre de l'enfance à la pleine maturité (1756-1777): Essai de biographie critique, suivi d'un nouveau catalogue chronologique de l'œuvre complète du maitre. Paris: Perrin et Cie.

WSF

10. Antonio Vivaldi (F.  M, P, RN or RV)

Fanna, Antonio (1986).

Opere strumentali di Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): catalogo numerico-tematico (2a edizione riveduta e ampliata ed.). Milano: Ricordi. ISBN 88-7592-022-2.

F

Malipiero, Gian Francisco (1968). Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Catalogo numerico-tematico delle opere strumentali. Milano: Ricordi.

M

Pincherle, Marc (1948). Antonio Vivaldi et la musique instrumentale. Paris: Floury.

P

Rinaldi, Mario (1944). Catalogo numerico tematico delle composizioni di Antonio Vivaldi, con la definizione delle tonalità, l'indicazione dei movimenti e varie tabelle illustrative. Roma: Editrice Cultura moderna.

RN Ryom, Peter (1973).

Antonio Vivaldi: thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke (RV). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 978-3-7651-0372-8.

RV

(Bonus:

Richard Wagner (WWV)

Deathridge, John; Geck, Martin; Voss, Egon (1986). Wagner Werk-Verzeichnis (WWV): Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke Richard Wagners und ihrer Quellen erarbeitet im Rahmen der Richard Wagner-Gesamtausgabe. Mainz: Schott. ISBN 978-3-7957-2201-2.

WWV

[Also includes Wagner's literary works])

10 Composers beginning with B

1. Bach, Johann Sebastian
2. Beethoven, Ludwig van
3. Berlioz, Hector
4. Bizet, Georges
5. Brahms, Johannes
6. Bruckner, Anton
7. Boccherini, Luigi
8. Borodin, Alexander
9. Bartok, Bela
10. Bruch, Max
This is a repeat performance I see. Check here.

JA the classical element 1

The word ‘classical’ has many meanings. Here we use it to refer to older and more traditional musical styles as opposed to more contemporary and popular ones. I am not a great fan of classical music, though I have very many classical CDs. Much of my classical education has been via men like Jan Akkerman.
Akkerman’s most famous period was with Focus in the 1970s. He remarkably finished the At the Rainbow concert by coming on stage and performing a Dowland piece on solo lute. See here. He had become interested in the instrument through seeing Julian Bream in concert. It seems that the live act often included a Menuett from J S Bach (1685-1750) and the fourth movement of the Concerto for Orchestra by Hungarian composer Bela Bartok (1881-1945), among other things classical, that were never released. Akkerman expressed particular appreciation for Bach and for Bartok's Concerto and Third Piano Concerto. In an interview from the period he neatly sums up the difference between the two. Bach, he says, sought to make earthly music and made heavenly, while Bartok sought to make heavenly music and made beautiful earthly music.

Even without such comments journalists at the time were not slow to spot the classical influence on the music. Relistening to the recorded corpus this is not immediately obvious. The careful listener, however, soon spots the influence as far back as the coda to Anonymus (In and out) through to the Hamburger Concerto album and beyond. It is sometimes in the background as with Anonymus, Eruption (Moving Waves) or P’s March and Spake the Lord Creator (Ship of Memories) or there are parodies such as with the opera singing on Hamburger Concerto or the harpsichord intro to Birth (Hamburger Concerto). Then there are tracks in a classical style such as Le Clochard (Moving Waves) on guitar or Elspeth of Nottingham (Focus 3) on lute.
It was apparently intended that Eruption should include adaptations from Bartok but his family refused permission. At least one listener has spotted a lift from the opera Orpheus and Euridice by Monteverdi (1567-1643) and believes there is also a quotation from the opera of the same name by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787).

As for direct lifts from classical composers, however, there appear only to be some three tracks of this sort. They are Delitae Musicae and the Starter from the title track of Hamburger Concerto and Father Bach (Mother Focus). The first is credited to good old Anonymous. The story goes that Akkerman found a manuscript by an old Belgian composer from Antwerp in a London music shop. It was then arranged for lute and recorder with Van Leer. It has been suggested that the piece is the work of a J Hove whose lute arrangement of a motet appeared in 1612 as Delitiae Musicae Cantiones. Starter uses the theme best known as The St Anthony Chorale. It was written by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) as a trumpet serenade and later taken up by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) in his Variations on a theme by Haydn (Op 56a), completed in 1873. The third piece is based on part of Bach’s St Matthew Passion of 1729.
Turning to Akkerman’s solo output we remind ourselves that his very first release, aged 15, was a rocked up version of Melody in F (but played in 'A') by American classical pianist Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982). We can make similar divisions to those above. The albums vary in classical content from some (eg Tabernakel) that are full of it to others (eg CU) that appear to have none at all.
Guitar for Sale, the debut album, gives only a slight hint of classicism with the Jewish traditional Hineimatov. The next two albums have several classical themes. Profile (1972) is very diverse and shows plenty of evidence of Akkerman’s classical training on the second side where four of seven tracks are in a classical style for solo guitar or lute. First, the anonymous Kemp’s jig, on lute. William Kemp was apparently a Shakespearian actor who came to fame with his nine days wonder - a morris dance performed from London to Norwich in the days of Elizabeth I. Then comes an etude by Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853), a leading 19th Century guitarist-composer. Born in Florence he began as a pianist but changed to guitar, beginning a concert career in Germany in 1810. He moved from place to place but was eventually based in Paris where he died. His fame there rivalled that of Carulli, though the two differed greatly in technique and style. Carcassi left almost a hundred works for guitar, all of romantic taste, brilliant and technically demanding. His Method (Op 59) is still considered among the best didactic works of 19th Century guitar masters and his etudes (Op 60) are popular. Track four is by Austrian composer Antonio Diabelli (1781-1858). Andante Sostenuto, as its title suggests, is slow and sustained. It is from a Guitar Sonata (Op 29 No 3) and is described by one aficionado as ‘almost too beautiful to be true’. The sixth track is a short lute composition of Akkerman’s own - Minstrel/Farmers dance.
To be continued