In music, a fugue ( ) is a compositional technique (in classical music) in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition.

The English term ''fugue'' originated in the 16th century and is derived from either the French word ''fugue'' or the Italian ''fuga''. This in turn comes from Latin, also ''fuga'', which is itself related to both ''fugere'' (‘to flee’) and ''fugare'', (‘to chase’). The adjectival form is ''fugal''. Variants include ''fughetta'' (literally, 'a small fugue') and ''fugato'' (a passage in fugal style within another work that is not a fugue).

A fugue usually has three sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation containing the return of the subject in the fugue's tonic key, though not all fugues have a recapitulation. In the Middle Ages, the term was widely used to denote any works in canonic style; by the Renaissance, it had come to denote specifically imitative works. Since the 17th century, the term ''fugue'' has described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of imitative counterpoint.

Most fugues open with a short main theme, the subject, which then sounds successively in each voice (after the first voice is finished stating the subject, a second voice repeats the subject at a different pitch, and other voices repeat in the same way); when each voice has entered, the ''exposition'' is complete. This is often followed by a connecting passage, or ''episode'', developed from previously heard material; further "entries" of the subject then are heard in related keys. Episodes (if applicable) and entries are usually alternated until the "final entry" of the subject, by which point the music has returned to the opening key, or tonic, which is often followed by closing material, the coda. In this sense, a fugue is a style of composition, rather than a fixed structure.

The form evolved during the 18th century from several earlier types of contrapuntal compositions, such as imitative ricercars, capriccios, canzonas, and fantasias. The famous fugue composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) shaped his own works after those of Johann Jakob Froberger (1616–1667), Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643), Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707), and other composers. With the decline of sophisticated styles at the end of the baroque period, the fugue's popularity waned, eventually giving way to sonata form. Nevertheless, composers from the 1750s to the present day continue to write and study fugues for various purposes; they appear in the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). Many composers such as Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), Anton Reicha (1770–1836) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) wrote cycles of fugues.

Musical outline

A fugue begins with the ''exposition'' and is written according to certain predefined rules; in later portions the composer has more freedom, though a logical key structure is usually followed. Further entries of the subject will occur throughout the fugue, repeating the accompanying material at the same time. The various entries may or may not be separated by ''episodes''.

What follows is a chart displaying a fairly typical fugal outline, and an explanation of the processes involved in creating this structure.

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+Example of Key/Entry Structure, in a Three-Voice Baroque Fugue

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1st Middle-Entry !! !! style="background-color:#ABCDEF;"

2nd Middle-Entry !! !! colspan=2 style="background-color:#ABCDEF;"| Final Entries in Tonic

! !! Tonic !! Dom. !! !! T !! (D-redundant entry) !! !! Relative Maj/Min !! Dom. of Rel. !! !! Subdom. !! !! T !! T

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Subj.

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A

EPISODE

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EPISODE

S

EPISODE

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Free Counterpoint

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S

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S

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!Bass

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S

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A

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S

The exposition

A fugue begins with the exposition of its subject in one of the voices alone in the tonic key. After the statement of the subject, a second voice enters and states the subject with the subject transposed to another (often closely related) key, which is known as the ''answer''. To make the music run smoothly, it may also have to be altered slightly. When the answer is an exact copy of the subject to the dominant, it is classified as a ''real answer''; if it has to be altered in any way it is a ''tonal answer''.

A tonal answer is usually called for when the subject begins with a prominent dominant note, or where there is a prominent dominant note very close to the beginning of the subject. To prevent an undermining of the music's sense of key, this note is transposed up a fourth to the tonic rather than up a fifth to the supertonic. Answers in the subdominant are also employed for the same reason.

While the answer is being stated, the voice in which the subject was previously heard continues with new material. If this new material is reused in later statements of the subject, it is called a ''countersubject''; if this accompanying material is only heard once, it is simply referred to as ''free counterpoint''. right|thumb|400px|The interval of a fifth inverts to a fourth (dissonant) and therefore cannot be employed in invertible counterpoint, without preparation and resolution. The countersubject is written in invertible counterpoint at the octave or fifteenth. The distinction is made between the use of free counterpoint and regular countersubjects accompanying the fugue subject/answer, because in order for a countersubject to be heard accompanying the subject in more than one instance, it must be capable of sounding correctly above or below the subject, and must be conceived, therefore, in invertible or double counterpoint. In tonal music invertible contrapuntal lines must be written according to certain rules because several intervallic combinations, while acceptable in one particular orientation, are no longer permissible when inverted. For example, when the note "G" sounds in one voice above the note "C" in lower voice, the interval of a fifth is formed, which is considered consonant and entirely acceptable. When this interval is inverted ("C" in the upper voice above "G" in the lower), it forms a fourth, considered a dissonance in tonal contrapuntal practice, and requires special treatment, or preparation and resolution, if it is to be used. The countersubject, if sounding at the same time as the answer, is transposed to the pitch of the answer. Each voice then responds with its own subject or answer, and further countersubjects or free counterpoint may be heard.

When a tonal answer is used, it is customary for the exposition to alternate subjects (S) with answers (A), however, in some fugues this order is occasionally varied: e.g., see the SAAS arrangement of ''Fugue No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846'', from the ''Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1'' by J. S. Bach. A brief codetta is often heard connecting the various statements of the subject and answer. This allows the music to run smoothly. The codetta, just as the other parts of the exposition, can be used throughout the rest of the fugue.

The first answer must occur as soon after the initial statement of the subject as possible; therefore the first codetta is often extremely short, or not needed. In the above example this is the case: the subject finishes on the quarter note (or crotchet) B-flat of the third beat of the second bar which harmonizes the opening G of the answer. The later codettas may be considerably longer, and often serve to (a) develop the material heard so far in the subject/answer and countersubject and possibly introduce ideas heard in the second countersubject or free counterpoint that follows (b) delay, and therefore heighten the impact of the reentry of the subject in another voice as well as modulating back to the tonic.

The exposition usually concludes when all voices have given a statement of the subject or answer. In some fugues, the exposition will end with a redundant entry, or an extra presentation of the theme. Furthermore, in some fugues the entry of one of the voices may be reserved until later, for example in the pedals of an organ fugue (see J. S. Bach's Fugue in C major for Organ, BWV 547). Opening with the subject stated in the bass, while unusual, is to be preferred when other actions would present illegal inversions in the exposition.

The episode

Further entries of the subject follow this initial exposition, either immediately (as for example in ''Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 846'' of the ''Well-Tempered Clavier''), or separated by episodes. Episodic material is always modulatory and is usually based upon some element heard in the exposition. Each episode has primarily the function of transitioning for the next entry of the subject in a new key, and may also provide release from the strictness of form employed in the exposition, and middle-entries. Gédalge states that the episode of the fugue is generally based on a series of imitations of the subject that have been fragmented.

The development

Further entries of the subject, or middle entries, occur throughout the fugue, must state the subject or answer at least once in its entirety, and may also be heard in combination with the countersubject(s) from the exposition, new countersubjects, free counterpoint or any of these in combination. It is uncommon for the subject to enter alone in a single voice in the middle-entries just as it is in the exposition; rather it is usually heard with at least one of the countersubjects and/or other free contrapuntal accompaniments. Middle-entries tend to occur at pitches other than the initial—as shown in the typical structure above, these are often closely related keys such as the relative dominant and subdominant, but key structure of fugues varies greatly. In the fugues of J. S. Bach the first middle-entry very commonly occurs in the relative major or minor of the work's overall key, and is followed by an entry the dominant of the relative major or minor when the fugue's subject requires a tonal answer. In the fugues of earlier composers (notably Buxtehude and Pachelbel), middle entries in keys other than the tonic and dominant tend to be the exception, and non-modulation the norm. One of the famous examples of such non-modulating fugue occurs in Buxtehude's Praeludium (Fugue and Chaconne) in C, BuxWV 137.

When there is no entrance of the subject and answer material, the composer can develop the subject by altering the subject . This is called an episode, often by ''inversion'', although the term is sometimes used synonymously with middle-entry and may also describe the exposition of completely new subjects, as in a double fugue for example (see below). In any of the entries within a fugue the subject may be altered, by inversion, retrograde (a less common form where the entire subject is heard back-to-front) and diminution (the reduction of the subject's rhythmic values by a certain factor), augmentation (the increase of the subject's rhythmic values by a certain factor) or any combination of them.

Example and analysis

The excerpt below, bars 7–12 of J. S. Bach's Fugue no. 2 in C minor, BWV 847, from the ''Well-Tempered Clavier'', Book 1 illustrates the application of most of the characteristics described above. The fugue is for keyboard and in three voices, with regular countersubjects. This excerpt opens at last entry of the exposition: the subject is sounding in the bass, the first countersubject in the treble, while the middle-voice is stating a second version of the second countersubject, which concludes with the characteristic rhythm of the subject, and is always used together with the first version of the second countersubject. Following this an episode modulates from the tonic to the relative major by means of sequence, in the form of an accompanied canon at the fourth. Arrival in E-flat major is marked by a quasi perfect cadence across the barline, from the last quarter note beat of the first bar to the first beat of the second bar in the second system, and the first middle entry. Here Bach has altered countersubject 2 to accommodate the change of mode.

False entries

At any point in the fugue there may be false entries of the subject, which include the start of the subject but are not completed. False entries are often abbreviated to the head of the subject, and anticipate the "true" entry of the subject, heightening the impact of the subject proper.

Counter-exposition

The counter-exposition is a second exposition, however, there are only two entries, and the entries occur in reverse order. The counter-exposition in a fugue is separated from the exposition by an episode, and is in the same key as the original exposition.

Stretto

Sometimes counter-expositions or the middle entries take place in ''stretto,'' whereby one voice responds with the subject/answer before the first voice has completed its entry of the subject/answer, usually increasing the intensity of the music. centre|thumb|400px|Example of stretto fugue in a quotation from Fugue in C major by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer who died in 1746. The subject, including an eighth note rest, is seen in the alto voice, starting on beat 1 bar 1 and ending on beat 1 bar 3, which is where the answer would usually be expected to begin. As this is a stretto the answer already takes place in the tenor voice, on the third quarter note of the first bar, therefore coming in "early".Only one entry of the subject must be heard in its completion in a stretto. However, a stretto in which the subject/answer is heard in completion in all voices is known as ''stretto maestrale'' or ''grand stretto''. Strettos may also occur by inversion, augmentation and diminution. A fugue in which the opening exposition takes place in stretto form is known as a ''close fugue'' or ''stretto fugue'' (see for example, the ''Gratias agimus tibi'' and ''Dona nobis pacem'' choruses from Bach's Mass in B Minor). In general, fugues that are densely strettoed will not contain countersubjects, and vice versa. One notable exception is the E Major fugue from Bach's ''Well-Tempered Clavier'', Book II, which initially exposes the subject accompanied by its countersubject, followed by counterexposition of the two ideas, separated in time, and each in stretto with itself.

Final entries and coda

The closing section of a fugue often includes one or two counter-expositions, and possibly a stretto, in the tonic; sometimes over a tonic or dominant pedal note. Any material that follows the final entry of the subject is considered to be the final coda and is normally cadential.

Types of fugue

Double (triple, quadruple) fugue

A double fugue has two subjects that are often developed simultaneously; similarly, it follows that a triple fugue has three subjects. There are two kinds of double fugue: (a) a fugue in which the second subject is presented simultaneously with the subject in the exposition (e.g. as in Kyrie Eleison of Mozart’s Requiem in D minor), and (b) a fugue in which the second subject has its own exposition at some later point, and the two subjects are not combined until later (see for example, fugue no. 14 in f-sharp minor from Bach’s ''Well-Tempered Clavier'' Book 2, or more famously, Bach's "St. Anne" Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 552.)

Counter-fugue

A counter-fugue is a fugue in which the first answer is presented as the subject in inversion, and the inverted subject continues to feature prominently throughout the fugue. Examples include ''Contrapunctus V'' through ''Contrapunctus VII'', from Bach's ''The Art of Fugue''.

Permutation fugue

Permutation fugue describes a type of composition (or technique of composition) in which elements of fugue and strict canon are combined. Each voice enters in succession with the subject, each entry alternating between tonic and dominant, and each voice, having stated the initial subject, continues by stating two or more themes (or countersubjects), which must be conceived in correct invertible counterpoint. Each voice takes this pattern and states all the subjects/themes in the same order (and repeats the material when all the themes have been stated, sometimes after a rest). There is usually very little non-structural/thematic material. During the course of a permutation fugue, it is quite uncommon, actually, for every single possible voice-combination (or 'permutation') of the themes to be heard. This limitation exists in consequence of sheer proportionality: the more voices in a fugue, the greater the amount of possible permutations. In consequence, composers exercise editorial judgment as to the most musical of permutations and processes leading thereto. One example of permutation fugue can be seen in the opening chorus of Bach’s cantata, ''Himmelskönig, sei willkommen'', BWV182.

Permutation fugues differ from conventional fugue in that there are no connecting episodes, nor statement of the themes in related keys. The fugue of Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 is unusual in this sense, since it does have episodes between permutation expositions.

Invertible counterpoint is one of the main technical devices used in permutation fugue not in the conventional fugue.

Fughetta

A fughetta is a short fugue that has the same characteristics as a fugue. Often the contrapuntal writing is not strict, and the setting less formal. See for example, variation 24 of Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations" Op. 120.

History

Middle Ages and Renaissance Period

The term ''fuga'' was used as far back as the Middle Ages, but was initially used to refer to any kind of imitative counterpoint, including canons, which are now thought of as distinct from fugues. Prior to the 16th century, fugue was originally a genre. It was not until the 16th century that fugal technique as it is understood today began to be seen in pieces, both instrumental and vocal. Fugal writing is found in works such as ''fantasias'', ''ricercares'' and ''canzonas''.

"Fugue" as a theoretical term first occurred in 1330 when Jacobus of Liege wrote about the fuga in his ''Speculum musicae''. The fugue arose from the technique of "imitation", where the same musical material was repeated starting on a different note. Zarlino, a composer, author, and theorist in the Renaissance, was one of the first to distinguish between the two types of imitative counterpoint; fugues and canons(which he called imitations). Originally this was to aid improvisation, but by the 1550s, it was considered a technique of composition. The Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525?-1594) wrote masses using modal counterpoint and imitation, and fugal writing became the basis for writing motets as well. Palestrina's imitative motets differed from fugues in that each phrase of the text had a different subject which was introduced and worked out separately, whereas a fugue continued working with the same subject or subjects throughout the entire length of the piece.

Baroque era

It was in the Baroque period that the writing of fugues became central to composition, in part as a demonstration of compositional expertise. Fugues were incorporated into a variety of musical forms. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Jakob Froberger and Dieterich Buxtehude all wrote fugues, and George Frideric Handel included them in many of his oratorios. Keyboard suites from this time often conclude with a fugal gigue. The French overture featured a quick fugal section after a slow introduction. The second movement of a sonata da chiesa, as written by Arcangelo Corelli and others, was usually fugal.

The Baroque period also saw a rise in the importance of music theory. Some fugues during the Baroque period were pieces designed to teach contrapuntal technique to students. The most influential text was published by Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741), his ''Gradus Ad Parnassum'' ("Steps to Parnassus"), which appeared in 1725. This work laid out the terms of "species" of counterpoint, and offered a series of exercises to learn fugue writing. Fux's work was largely based on the practice of Palestrina's modal fugues. It remained influential into the nineteenth century. Haydn, for example, taught counterpoint from his own summary of Fux, and thought of it as the basis for formal structure.

Johann Sebastian Bach often entered into contests where he would be given a subject with which to spontaneously improvise a fugue on the organ or harpsichord. This musical form was also apparent in chamber music he would later compose for Weimar; the famous ''Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor'' (BWV 1043) (although not contrapuntal in its entirety) has a fugal opening section to its first movement.

Bach's most famous fugues are those for the harpsichord in ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', which many composers and theorists look at as the greatest model of fugue. ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' comprises two volumes written in different times of Bach's life, each comprising 24 prelude and fugue pairs, one for each major and minor key. Bach is also known for his organ fugues, which are usually preceded by a prelude or toccata. The ''Art of Fugue'' is a collection of fugues (and four canons) on a single theme that is gradually transformed as the cycle progresses. Bach also wrote smaller single fugues, and put fugues into many of his works that were not fugues per se.

Although J. S. Bach was not well known as a composer in his lifetime, his influence extended forward through his son C.P.E. Bach and through the theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795) whose ''Abhandlung von der Fuge'' ("Treatise on the fugue", 1753) was largely based on J. S. Bach's work.

Classical era

During the Classical era, the fugue was no longer a central or even fully natural mode of musical composition. Nevertheless, both Haydn and Mozart had periods of their careers in which they in some sense "rediscovered" fugal writing and used it frequently in their work.

Haydn was the leader of fugal composition and technique in the Classical era. Haydn's most famous fugues can be found in his Sun quartets (op. 20, 1772), of which three have fugal finales. This was a practice that Haydn repeated only once later in his quartet-writing career, with the finale of his quartet op. 50 no. 4 (1787). Some of the earliest examples of Haydn's use of counterpoint, however, are in three symphonies (No. 3, No. 13, and No. 40) that date from 1762–63. The earliest fugues, in both the symphonies and in the baryton trios, exhibit the influence of Joseph Fux's treatise on counterpoint, ''Gradus ad Parnassum'' (1725), which Haydn studied carefully. Haydn's second fugal period occurred after he heard, and was greatly inspired by, the oratorios of Handel during his visits to London (1791–1793, 1794–1795). Haydn then studied Handel's techniques and incorporated Handelian fugal writing into the choruses of his mature oratorios ''The Creation'' and ''The Seasons,'' as well as several of his later symphonies, including No. 88, No. 95, and No. 101.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart studied counterpoint when young with Padre Martini in Bologna. However, the major impetus to fugal writing for Mozart was the influence of Baron Gottfried van Swieten in Vienna around 1782. Van Swieten, during diplomatic service in Berlin, had taken the opportunity to collect as many manuscripts by Bach and Handel as he could, and he invited Mozart to study his collection and also encouraged him to transcribe various works for other combinations of instruments. Mozart was evidently fascinated by these works, and wrote a set of transcriptions for string trio of fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, introducing them with preludes of his own. Mozart then set to writing fugues on his own, mimicking the Baroque style. These included the fugues for string quartet, K. 405 (1782) and a fugue in C Minor K. 426 for two pianos (1783). Later, Mozart incorporated fugal writing into the finale of his ''Symphony No. 41'' and his opera ''Die Zauberflöte''. The parts of the Requiem he completed also contain several fugues (most notably the Kyrie, and the three fugues in the Domine Jesu; he also left behind a sketch for an Amen fugue which, some believe, would have come at the end of the Sequentia).

A common characteristic of the Classical composers is that they usually wrote fugues not as isolated works but as part of a larger work, often as a sonata-form development section or as a finale. It was also characteristic to abandon fugal texture just before the end of a work, providing a purely homophonic resolution. This is found, for instance, in the final fugue of the chorus "The Heavens are Telling" in Haydn's ''The Creation'' (1798). Ludwig van Beethoven was familiar with fugal writing from childhood, as an important part of his training was playing from ''The Well-Tempered Clavier''. During his early career in Vienna, Beethoven attracted notice for his performance of these fugues. There are fugal sections in Beethoven's early piano sonatas, and fugal writing is to be found in the second and fourth movements of the ''Eroica Symphony'' (1805). Beethoven incorporated fugues in his sonatas, and reshaped the episode’s purpose and compositional technique for later generations of composers. Nevertheless, fugues did not take on a truly central role in Beethoven's work until his "late period." A massive, dissonant fugue forms the finale of his String Quartet, Op. 130 (1825); the latter was later published separately as Op. 133, the ''Große Fuge'' ("Great Fugue"). His Cello Sonata, Op. 102,2 have fugue movements. Fugues are also found in the ''Missa Solemnis'' and in the finale of the ''Ninth Symphony''.

Romantic era

By the beginning of the Romantic era, fugue writing had become specifically attached to the norms and styles of the Baroque.

One manual explicitly stated that the hallmark of contrapuntal style was the style of J. S. Bach. The 19th century's taste for academicism–setting of forms and norms by explicit rules–found Marpurg, and the fugue, to be a congenial topic. The writing of fugues also remained an important part of musical education throughout the 19th century, particularly with the publication of the complete works of Bach and Handel, and the revival of interest in Bach's music.

Examples of fugal writing in the Romantic era are found in the last movement of Berlioz's ''Symphonie Fantastique'', and Wagner's ''Meistersinger'', in particular the triple fugue at the conclusion of the second act. The finale of Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''Falstaff'' is a ten-voice fugue. Felix Mendelssohn was obsessed with fugal writing, as it can be found prominently in the ''Scottish Symphony'', ''Italian Symphony'', and the ''Hebrides Overture''. In the last movement of his ''Fifth Symphony'' Anton Bruckner wrote the development section in form of a big double fugue. The unfinished Finale of his ''Ninth Symphony'' has a fugue section, too. Another composer of this time, whose work is strongly influenced by fugal textures, was Felix Draeseke. Especially in his church music highly artificial fugues could be found.

Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms also included fugues in many of their works. Towards the end of the Romantic era, Richard Strauss included a fugue in his tone poem, ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', to represent the high intelligence of science. Sergei Rachmaninoff, despite writing in a lush post-romantic idiom, was highly skilled in counterpoint (as is highly evident in his ''Vespers''); a well known fugue occurs in his ''Symphony No. 2''. Alexander Glazunov wrote a very difficult ''Prelude and Fugue in D minor'', his Op. 62, for the piano.

20th century

Twentieth-century fugue writing explored many of the directions implied by Beethoven's ''Große Fuge'', and what came to be termed "free counterpoint" as well as "dissonant counterpoint."

The late-Romantic composer Max Reger had the closest association with the fugue among his contemporaries. Many of his organ works contain, or are themselves fugues. Two of Reger's most-played orchestral works, the Hiller variations and the Mozart variations, end with a large-scale orchestral fugue. Twentieth-century composers brought fugue back to its position of prominence, realizing its uses in full instrumental works, its importance in development and introductory sections, and the developmental capabilities of fugal composition.

A number of other 20th-century composers made extensive use of the fugue. Béla Bartók opened his ''Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta'' with a fugue based on alternating ascending and descending fifth series. He also included fugal sections in the final movements of his ''String Quartet No. 1'', ''String Quartet No. 5'', ''Concerto for Orchestra'', and ''Piano Concerto No. 3''. The second movement of his ''Sonata for Solo Violin'' is also a fugue. The Czech composer Jaromir Weinberger studied fugue with Max Reger, and had an uncommonly facile skill in fugal writing. The fugue of the "Polka and Fugue" from his opera "Schwanda the Bagpiper" is an example.

Igor Stravinsky also incorporated fugues into his works, including the ''Symphony of Psalms'' and the ''Dumbarton Oaks'' concerto. Stravinsky recognized the compositional techniques of Bach, and in the second movement of his ''Symphony of Psalms'', he lays out a fugue that is much like that of the Baroque era. It employs a double fugue with two distinct subjects, the first beginning in C and the second in E. Techniques such as stretto, sequencing, and the use of subject incipits are frequently heard in the movement.

The practice of writing fugue cycles in the manner of Bach's ''Well-Tempered Clavier'' was perpetuated by Paul Hindemith in his ''Ludus Tonalis'', Kaikhosru Sorabji in a number of his works including the Opus clavicembalisticum, and Dmitri Shostakovich in his ''Preludes and Fugues'', opus 87 (which, like the ''Well-Tempered Clavier'', contains a prelude and fugue in each key, although the order of Shostakovich's pieces follows the cycle of fifths, whereas Bach's progressed chromatically). Several Bachianas Brasileiras of Heitor Villa-Lobos feature a fugue as one of the movements. Ástor Piazzolla also wrote a number of fugues in his Nuevo tango style. György Ligeti wrote a fugue for his "Requiem’s" (1966) second movement, the ''Kyrie/Christe,'' which consists of a 5-part fugue in which each part (S,M,A,T,B) is subsequently divided in four voices that make a canon. The melodic material in this fugue is totally chromatic, with melismatic (running) parts overlaid onto skipping intervals, and use of polyrhythm (multiple simulataneous subdivisions of the measure), blurring everything both harmonically and rhythmically so as to create an aural aggregate, thus highlighting the theoretical/aesthetic question of the next section as to whether fugue is a form or a texture.

Benjamin Britten composed a fugue for orchestra in his ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'', consisting of subject entries by each instrument once. Leonard Bernstein wrote a "Cool Fugue" as part of his musical ''West Side Story''. The central section of Ron Goodwin's theme for the film Where Eagles Dare is a short fugue. Stephen Schwartz wrote a song from his 1974 Broadway hit ''The Magic Show'' called "The Goldfarb Variations" which uses fugue-like vocal counterpoint. Jazz musician Alec Templeton even wrote a fugue (recorded subsequently by Benny Goodman): "Bach Goes to Town." Canadian pianist Glenn Gould composed ''So You Want to Write a Fugue?'', a full-scale fugue set to a text that cleverly explicates its own musical form.

Is the fugue a musical form or texture?

A widespread view of the fugue is that it is not a musical form (in the sense that, say, sonata form is) but rather a technique of composition. For instance, Donald Francis Tovey wrote that "Fugue is not so much a musical form as a musical texture," that can be introduced anywhere as a distinctive and recognizable technique, often to produce intensification in musical development.

On the other hand, composers almost never write music in a purely cumulative fashion, and usually a work will have some kind of overall formal organization—hence the rough outline given above, involving the exposition, the sequence of episodes, and the concluding coda. When scholars say that the fugue is not a musical form, what is usually meant is that there is no single formal outline into which all fugues reliably can be fitted.

The Austrian musicologist Erwin Ratz argues that the formal organization of a fugue involves not only the arrangement of its theme and episodes, but also its harmonic structure. In particular, the exposition and coda tend to emphasize the tonic key, whereas the episodes usually explore more distant tonalities. However, it is to be noted that while certain related keys are more commonly explored in fugal development, the overall structure of a fugue does not limit its harmonic structure as much as Ratz would have us believe. For example, a fugue may not even explore the dominant, one of the most closely related keys to the tonic. Bach's Fugue in B major from book one of the ''Well Tempered Clavier'' explores the relative minor, the supertonic and the subdominant. This is unlike later forms such as the sonata, which clearly prescribes which keys are explored (typically the tonic and dominant in an ABA form). Then, many modern fugues dispense with traditional tonal harmonic scaffolding altogether, and either use serial (pitch-oriented) rules, or (as the ''Kyrie/Christe'' in György Ligeti’s ''Requiem'', Witold Lutosławski works), use panchromatic or even denser harmonic spectra.

Fugues are also not limited in the way the exposition is structured, the number of expositions in related keys, or the number of episodes (if any). So, the fugue may be considered a compositional practice rather than a compositional form, similar to the invention. The fugue, like the invention and sinfonia, employs a basic melodic subject and spins out additional melodic material from it to develop an entire piece.

Perceptions and aesthetics

Fugue is the most complex of contrapuntal forms. According to one writer, "fugal technique significantly burdens the shaping of musical ideas, and it was given only to the greatest geniuses, such as Bach and Beethoven, to breathe life into such an unwieldy form and make it the bearer of the highest thoughts."

In presenting Bach's fugues as among the greatest of contrapuntal works, Peter Kivy points out that "counterpoint itself, since time out of mind, has been associated in the thinking of musicians with the profound and the serious" and argues that "there seems to be some rational justification for their doing so." Because of the way fugue is often taught, the form can be seen as dry and filled with laborious technical exercises. The term "school fugue" is used for a very strict form of the fugue that was created to facilitate teaching.

Others, such as Alfred Mann, argued that fugue writing, by focusing the compositional process actually improves or disciplines the composer towards musical ideas. This is related to the idea that restrictions create freedom for the composer, by directing their efforts. He also points out that fugue writing has its roots in improvisation, and was, during the baroque, practiced as an improvisatory art. (The Study of Fugue, Chapter Two, Elements of Fugal Technique: Vicentino :- "...the composer, having completed the initial imitative entrances, take the passage which has served as accompaniment to the theme and make it the basis for new imitative treatment, so that 'he will always have material with which to compose without having to stop and reflect'. This formulation of the basic rule for fugal improvisation anticipates later sixteenth-century discussions which deal with the improvisational technique at the keyboard more extensively.")

References

Further reading

Horsley, Imogene. 1966. ''Fugue: History and Practice''. New York: Free Press; London: Collier-Macmillan.

External links

Downloadable PDFs of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier on Mutopia

Analysis of the Well-Tempered Clavier (requires Shockwave)

Theory on fugues

Fugues and Fugue Sets

Category:Polyphonic form Category:Western classical music styles

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Coordinates	51°6′38″N22°51′31″N
Name	Lady Gaga
Alt	Portrait of Lady Gaga
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Birth date	March 28, 1986
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Genre	Pop, dance
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist
Years active	2005–present
Label	Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope
Website	}}

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (; born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and by the end of 2007, was signed with Streamline Records. Employed as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album ''The Fame'' (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with ''The Fame Monster'' (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro" and allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her most recent album ''Born This Way'' (2011) topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles that include "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Beside her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Influenced by such acts as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is well-recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through fashion, performance and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time and her singles some of the best-selling worldwide. Her achievements include four ''Guinness World Records'', five Grammy Awards and thirteen MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on ''Billboard'' magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), is regularly placed on lists composed by ''Forbes'' magazine, and was named one of the most influential people in the world by ''Time'' magazine.

Biography

1986–2004: Early life

Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986, in New York City. Brought up in the family home in Manhattan's Upper West Side, Gaga is of Italian and more distant French-Canadian descent, and is the daughter of Cynthia (née Bissett) and Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur. The elder of two children, Gaga has one sister, Natali, a fashion student, who was born in 1992. Gaga has stressed that – despite her seemingly affluent upbringing – she did not come from a wealthy background, stating that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything—my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father."

From the age of 11, Gaga – who was raised Roman Catholic – attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure" as she told in an interview, "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak." Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in at school. "She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate.

Left-handed Gaga began playing the piano at the age of four, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13, and started to perform at open mike nights by the age of 14. Her passion for musical theatre brought her lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in ''Guys and Dolls'' and Philia in ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. She also appeared in a very small role as a mischievous classmate in the television drama series ''The Sopranos'' in a 2001 episode titled "The Telltale Moozadell" in addition to unsuccessfully auditioning for parts in New York shows. When her time at the Convent of the Sacred Heart came to an end, her mother encouraged her to apply for the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21), a musical theatre training conservatory at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After gaining early admission at 17, she eventually lived in an NYU dorm on 11th Street.

She sharpened her songwriting skills while composing essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst; such research prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity." She also tried out for and won auditions while at CAP21, including the part of an unsuspecting diner customer where MTV's ''Boiling Points'' – a prank reality television show – was being filmed. Notwithstanding these achievements, she felt that she was more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she withdrew from the school to focus on her musical career. Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll at Tisch if unsuccessful. "I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she remembers.

2005–07: Career beginnings

Settled in a small apartment on Rivington Street towards the summer of 2005, Gaga recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Melle Mel, for an audio book accompanying the children's book ''The Portal in the Park'', by Cricket Casey. She also began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band (SGBand) with some friends from NYU – guitarist Calvin Pia, bassist Eli Silverman, drummer Alex Beckham and booking manager Frank Fredericks – in September of that year. The band played a mixture of songs: some self-penned alongside classic rock numbers like Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er". Playing in bars like the Greenwich Village's The Bitter End and the Lower East Side's the Mercury Lounge, the band developed a small fan base and caught the eye of music producer Joe Vulpis. Soon after arranging time in Vulpis' studio in the months that followed, SGBand were selling their extended plays ''Words'' and ''Red and Blue'' at gigs around New York while becoming a local fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club scene.

SGBand reached their career peak at the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at The Cutting Room in June where Wendy Starland, a singer and model, appeared as a talent scout for music producer Rob Fusari. Starland informed Fusari – who was searching for a female singer to front a new band – of Gaga's ability and contacted her. With SGBand disbanded, Gaga traveled daily to New Jersey to work on songs she had written and compose new material with the music producer. While in collaboration, Fusari compared some of her vocal harmonies to those of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. It was Fusari who helped create the moniker Gaga after the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga". Gaga was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she received a text message from Fusari that read "Lady Gaga." He explained, "Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing 'Radio Ga Ga'. That was her entrance song" and that the text message was the result of a predictive text glitch that changed "radio" to "lady". She texted back, "That's it," and declared, "Don't ever call me Stefani again." ''The New York Post'', however, has reported that this story is incorrect, and that the name resulted from a marketing meeting.

Although the musical relationship between Fusari and Gaga was unsuccessful at first, the pair soon set up a company titled Team Lovechild in which they recorded and produced electropop tracks and sent them to music industry bosses. Joshua Sarubin, the head of A&R; at Def Jam Recordings, responded positively and vied for the record company to take a chance on her "unusual and provocative" performance. After having his boss Antonio "L.A." Reid in agreement, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006 with the intention of having an album ready in nine months. However, she was dropped by the label after only three months – an unfortunate period of her life that would later inspire her treatment for the music video for her 2011 single "Marry the Night". Devastated, Gaga returned to the solace of the family home for Christmas and the nightlife culture of the Lower East Side. She became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs. Her father, however, did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at her for several months. "I was onstage in a thong, with a fringe hanging over my ass thinking that had covered it, lighting hairsprays on fire, go-go dancing to Black Sabbath and singing songs about oral sex. The kids would scream and cheer and then we'd all go grab a beer. It represented freedom to me. I went to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself." It was then when she became romantically involved with a heavy metal drummer in a relationship and break-up she likened to the musical film ''Grease'': "I was his Sandy, and he was my Danny, and I just broke." He later became an inspiration behind some of her later songs.

During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped mold her on-stage persona. Starlight explained that, upon their first meeting, Gaga wanted to perform with her to songs she had recorded with Fusari. Like SGBand, the pair soon began performing at many of the downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall. Their live performance art piece was known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue" and, billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts. Soon after, the two were invited to play at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival in August that year. The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews. Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga had found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into her music.

While Gaga and Starlight were busy performing, producer Rob Fusari continued to work on the songs he had created with Gaga. Fusari sent these songs to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007. Gaga later credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going." Having already served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls. While Gaga was writing at Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. He then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M; Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live Distribution, making her his "franchise player." As 2007 came to a close, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up inspired by Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T.". Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album; making the chart-topping singles "Just Dance", "Poker Face" and "LoveGame" together. Gaga also joined the roster of Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierszenbaum, after co-writing four songs with Kierszenbaum including the singles "Christmas Tree" and "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". Despite her secure record deal, she admitted that there was fear about her being too "racy", "dance-orientated" and "underground" for the mainstream market. She responded, "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next."

2008–10: ''The Fame'' and ''The Fame Monster''

By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles, where she worked extensively with her record label to complete her debut album in addition to setting up her own creative team – modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory – Haus of Gaga. Intensive work continued on the album, combining genres "from Def Leppard drums and hand claps to metal drums on urban tracks" while drawing inspiration from 1980s synthpop and incorporating dance music with clear hooks. ''The Fame'', described as an exploration of her obsession with fame and the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, was first released on August 19, 2008, preceded by lead single "Just Dance" four months earlier. Due to radio play being slow, Gaga supported the releases by performing in the backwaters of Malta and Vietnam in addition to small gay clubs around the United States. She was also billed as a supporting artist on the North American leg of New Kids on the Block's reunion concert tour.

A sleeper hit, "Just Dance" hit the summit of the charts in six countries – Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States – in January 2009. The Grammy Award-nominated song provoked the instant success of ''The Fame''. Receiving positive reviews from contemporary critics who commended Gaga's ability to discover a melodious hook and compared her vocal abilities to those of Gwen Stefani, the album went to number-one in countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland while appearing in the top-five in Australia, the United States and fifteen other countries. On ''Billboard'''s Dance/Electronic Albums chart, it stayed at the top spot 106 non-consecutive weeks. Since its release, ''The Fame'' has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Gaga achieved an even greater unexpected success when "Poker Face", another sleeper hit, reached number-one in almost all major music markets in the world including the United Kingdom and the United States in early 2009. The follow-up single won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards over nominations for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, while ''The Fame'' was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album. Gaga was the recipient of many other honors in 2009 including the accumulation of 3 of 9 MTV Video Music Awards nominations – she won Best New Artist while the video for her single "Paparazzi" gained the awards for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects – and ''Billboard'' magazine's Rising Star award. In addition to being an opening act on the Pussycat Dolls' Doll Domination Tour during the first half of 2009 on their legs in Europe and Oceania, she also embarked on her own six-month critically appreciated worldwide concert tour The Fame Ball Tour which ran from March to September 2009.

While she traveled the world on tour, she wrote ''The Fame Monster'', a collection of eight songs, which was released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience, is expressed through a monster metaphor. Its first single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries, while reaching the top-two in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It made Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles (along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales and accrued the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance while its accompanying music video won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video at the 53rd Grammy Awards The album's second single "Telephone", which features singer Beyoncé, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and became Gaga's fourth UK number-one single while its accompanying music video, although controversial, received a more positive reception from contemporary critics: praising her for "the musicality and showmanship of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts of Madonna." Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial – critics complimented its ideas and dark nature but the Catholic League attacked Gaga for her alleged use of blasphemy. Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they made Gaga the first artist to gain over one billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube. Musically, ''The Fame Monster'' has also received abundant success. Equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received, ''The Fame Monster'' garnered a total of six nominations; the album won for Best Pop Vocal Album and earned her a second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year at the 53rd annual awards ceremony.

The success of the album allowed Gaga to start her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after the release of ''The Fame Monster'' and months after having finished The Fame Ball Tour. Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and, according to ''Billboard'', grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist. Gaga also performed songs from the album at international events such as the 2009 Royal Variety Performance where she sang "Speechless", a power ballad, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II; the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening performance consisted of the song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "Your Song" with Elton John; and the 2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "Dance in the Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend, Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the awards ceremony. Other performances may have included her participation in Michael Jackson's This Is It concert series at London's O2 Arena. "I was actually asked to open for Michael on his tour," she stated. "We were going to open for him at the O2 and we were working on making it happen. I believe there was some talk about us, lots of the openers, doing duets with Michael on stage." A realized collaboration with Polaroid started in January 2010. Excited about combining the company with the digital era, Gaga was named Chief Creative Officer for a line of imaging products for the international optic company with the intent of creating fashion, technology and photography products.

Despite a successful debut, Mermaid Music LLC – her production team – was sued in March 2010 by past producer Rob Fusari who claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of its earnings. Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as "unlawful" and declined to comment. Five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed both the lawsuit and a countersuit by Gaga. In addition to such strife, Gaga has been tested borderline positive for lupus, but claims not to be affected by the symptoms. The revelations caused considerable dismay amongst her fans, leading to Gaga addressing the matter in an interview with Larry King, saying she hopes to avoid symptoms by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

2011–present: ''Born This Way''

Gaga's second studio album and third major release ''Born This Way'' was released on May 23, 2011. Described as "a marriage of electronic music with major [...] metal or rock 'n' roll, pop, anthemic style melodies with really sledge-hammering dance beats" and referred to as an album "about what what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid", she stated. Gaga characterized her new music as "something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat dress" and upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she is taking music to the "next level". Its arrival followed the release of its eponymous lead single "Born This Way" on February 11, 2011, which was performed live for the first time at the 53rd Grammy Awards two days after its release. The song, dealing with self-acceptance regardless of race or sexual orientation, debuted atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the 19th number-one debut and the 1,000th number-one single in the history of the charts, while selling more than 3 million digital copies in the United States by October 2011. A music video was released for the song, showing Gaga giving birth to a new race amidst surrealistic images; critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised its concept. Gaga lent her vocals elsewhere, pairing with Elton John to record an original duet for the animated feature film ''Gnomeo & Juliet''. The song, titled "Hello, Hello", was released on February 11, 2011, without Gaga's vocals. The duet version was only featured in the film. In February, Gaga's concerts of her then-ongoing tour at Madison Square Garden in New York City, were filmed for an HBO special aired in May. The special was nominated for five awards at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards winning one – Outstanding Picture Editing for a Special (Single or Multi-Camera).

Two other singles, "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory", as well as a promotional single, "Hair", were eventually released before the album. The music video for "Judas", in which Gaga portrays Mary Magdalene, and Biblical figures such as Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot are also featured, was criticized for its religious references; the video, nonetheless, received acclaim for its overall delivery and praise from others who claimed that there was nothing offensive about it. "Judas" additionally peaked within the top ten in several major musical markets. "The Edge of Glory" was intended as a promotional single; nevertheless, due to commercial success in digital outlets, the song was released as a single to critical appreciation, accompanied by a music video. Gaga also undertook a job as a fashion columnist for ''V'', where she wrote about her creative process, her studying of the world of pop culture, and her ability to tune into the evolution of pop-culture meme. Upon release, ''Born This Way'' sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the United States, debuting atop the ''Billboard'' 200, and topping the charts in more than 20 other countries. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its range of different styles as well as her vocals. Later, Lady Gaga went to Sydney to promote ''Born This Way'' with a one-of-a-kind concert at the Sydney Town Hall on July 13, 2011.

She continued her musical endeavors, releasing "You and I" and "Marry the Night" as succeeding singles from ''Born This Way'', as well as recording songs with veteran artists like Cher and Tony Bennett. The song recorded with Bennett is a jazz version of "The Lady Is a Tramp", while Gaga described her duet with Cher as a "massive" and "beautiful" track, which she "wrote a long time ago, and I've never put it on one of my own albums for, really, no particular reason." On August 28, at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won two awards out of four nominations, and attended the event dressed as Jo Calderone, her male alter-ego. For the 2012 edition of the ''Guinness World Records'', Gaga was listed for Most Followers on Twitter, with over 13 million followers, and "Poker Face" was listed for Most Weeks on US Digital Hot Songs, with 83 weeks. Gaga continued her live appearances, and performed at the celebration of former US president Bill Clinton's 65th Birthday alongside Bono, Stevie Wonder and Usher, among others. She wore a blond wig as a nod to the famous performance of Marilyn Monroe for John F. Kennedy and changed the lyrics to her song "You and I" specifically for the performance. Later on, Gaga won four awards out of six nominations in the main categories at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards in November, for Best Female, Biggest Fans, Best Song and Best Video; the latter two with "Born This Way". On November 14, 2011, Gaga and her choreographer and creative director Laurieann Gibson parted ways, after working together for four years. Gibson's assistant Richard Jackson replaced her as Lady Gaga's choreographer.

Gaga released her fourth extended play ''A Very Gaga Holiday'' on November 22, and followed an appearance in her Thanksgiving Day television special entitled ''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving''. The television special was critically acclaimed and attained 5.749 million American viewers upon original airing. The accompanying tour for ''Born This Way'' was materializing, and at the same time Gaga started writing songs for a new record. She further explained to MTV News that she and Garibay were working on the follow-up album to ''Born This Way'' and stated that it was "beginning to flourish".

Artistry

Influences

Gaga's parents, who exposed her to artists like The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Elton John, had significant influence on her childhood and, presently, still do. "I am a real family girl. When it comes to love and loyalty, I am very old-fashioned. And I am quite down-to-earth for such an eccentric person," she insists. "I'm quite traditional in the family sense. I've always been that way." According to Gaga, Joanne Germanotta – her aunt who died of lupus aged 19 – lives on through her and inspires all of her music and art. Joanne's date of death is tattooed on Gaga's body and, despite dying 12 years before her birth, Gaga commented, "I really believe I have two hearts. I think I actually carry two souls in my body, and that I'm living out the rest of her life and her goodness – she died a virgin, she died never having experienced all these things that we all get to love and experience in our lives." Another spiritual influence on Gaga has been the Indian physician, public speaker and writer Deepak Chopra. Labeling him a "true inspiration", she stated that "he's always reminded me to work in a life of service to my fans and to fulfill my vision and my destiny" in addition to thinking about Chopra when it comes to her work as a musician: "I want so much for it to go beyond the music for my fans."

Musically, Gaga takes influence from numerous musicians from dance-pop singers like Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen whilst employing the theatrics of artists like Andy Warhol and of her musical theatre roots in performance. The Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name, "Lady Gaga": "I adored Freddie Mercury and Queen had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. That's why I love the name [...] Freddie was unique—one of the biggest personalities in the whole of pop music," she commented. Gaga receives regular comparisons to recording artist Madonna. The 53-year-old singer admits that she sees herself reflected in Gaga. In response to the comparisons, Gaga has stated, "I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I've made it my goal to revolutionize pop music. The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago" in addition to commenting that "there is really no one that is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally." Like Madonna, Gaga has continued to reinvent herself and, over the few years her career has spanned, Gaga has drawn musical inspiration from a diverse mix of musicians including Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Scissor Sisters, Prince, Marilyn Manson and Yoko Ono.

Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence and has been stylistically compared to English eccentrics Leigh Bowery and Isabella Blow and to American recording artist Cher. She commented that "as a child, she somehow absorbed Cher's out-there fashion sense and made it her own." She has considered Donatella Versace her muse and the late British fashion designer and close friend Alexander McQueen as an inspiration, admitting that "I miss Lee every time I get dressed" while channeling him in some of her work. Modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory, Gaga has her own creative production team, which she handles personally, called the Haus of Gaga, who create many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos. Her adoration of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful." "When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It's all about everything altogether—performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us." The Global Language Monitor named "Lady Gaga" as the Top Fashion Buzzword with her trademark "no pants" a close third. ''Entertainment Weekly'' put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying, "Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."

Musical and performance style

Gaga's musical and performance style is the subject of much analysis and scrutiny of critics as her career is a continuous experimentation with new musical ideas and images. She professes that she is "liberating" herself by constantly reinventing her sound and image, insisting that she has been drawn to such a practice since her childhood. Vocally, Gaga has drawn frequent comparison to the ranges of Madonna and Gwen Stefani. Possessing the range of a contralto, Gaga exhibits "overwhelming expression, instinctive vocal phrasing, '80s rock reminiscent chest belts and animalistic vocal ticks" while being able to move through 2.4 octaves. Gaga, who refuses to lip sync, has manipulated her vocal style over the course of her career yet considers ''Born This Way'' (2011) "much more vocally up to par with what I've always been capable of." In summation of her voice, ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote, "There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability, recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung power."

Although her early lyrics have been criticized for lacking intellectual stimulation, "[Gaga] does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace." She admits that her songwriting has been misinterpreted; her friend and blogger Perez Hilton articulated her message in a clearer way: "you write really deep intelligent lyrics with shallow concepts." Gaga opined, "Perez is very intelligent and clearly listened to my record from beginning to end, and he is correct." "I love songwriting. It's so funny – I will just jam around in my underwear or I could be washing my dishes. I wrote several songs just at the piano," she confesses. Gaga believes that "all good music can be played at a piano and still sound like a hit." She has covered a wide variety of topics in her songs: while ''The Fame'' (2008) meditates on the lust for stardom, ''The Fame Monster'' (2009) expresses fame's dark side through monster metaphors. ''Born This Way'' (2011) is sung in English, French, German and Spanish and includes common themes in Gaga's controversial songwriting like love, sex, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality, freedom and individualism.

The structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. Her debut album ''The Fame'' (2008) provoked ''The Sunday Times'' to assert "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, [Gaga] evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now" and a critic from ''The Boston Globe'' to comment that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B;-ish beats." The follow-up ''The Fame Monster'' (2009), saw Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam, perky ABBA disco and sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q" while ''Born This Way'' (2011) also draws on the records of her childhood and still has the "electro-sleaze beats and Eurodisco chorus chants" of its predecessor but includes genres as diverse as opera, heavy metal, disco, and rock and roll. "There isn't a subtle moment on the album, but even at its nuttiest, the music is full of wide-awake emotional details," wrote ''Rolling Stone'', who concluded: "The more excessive Gaga gets, the more honest she sounds."

Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV. She continued the "blood soaked" theme in The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wore a revealing leather corset and is "attacked" by a performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood. Her performances of that scene on tour in England triggered protests from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people. "What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence. Her unconventionality continued at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards when she performed in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivered a lovesick monologue before a performance of her song "Yoü and I". Chris Rock has defended her flamboyant and provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga," he said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?"

Public image

While ''Rolling Stone'' named Gaga the "Queen of Pop" in 2011, public reception of Gaga's music, fashion sense and persona are mixed. Her status as a role model, self-esteem booster for her fans, trailblazer and fashion icon who breathes new life into the industry is by turns affirmed and denied. Gaga's albums have received mostly positive reviews and critics have pointed out her unique place in pop music, the need for new movements in popular culture, the attention Gaga brings to modern social issues, and the inherently subjective nature of her art. In view of her influence on modern culture and her rise to global fame, sociologist Mathieu Deflem of the University of South Carolina has organized a course titled "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" since the spring of 2011 with the objective of unravelling "some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga."

Contrary to her outré style, the ''New York Post'' described her early look as like "a refugee from ''Jersey Shore''" with "big black hair, heavy eye makeup and tight, revealing clothes." Lady Gaga is a natural brunette; she bleached her hair blonde because she was often mistaken for Amy Winehouse. She has nine tattoos on the left side of her body (her father has banned etchings on her right): a unicorn head with a ribbon wrapped around its horn that says "Born This Way"; a small heart with "dad" written inside it; several white roses; a treble clef; three daises; "Tokyo Love" with a little heart; "Little Monsters" written in cursive; a peace symbol, which was inspired by John Lennon, who she stated was her hero; and a curling German script on her left arm quoting the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, her favorite writer, commenting that his "philosophy of solitude" spoke to her. Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Lady Gaga and recording artist Christina Aguilera that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up. Aguilera stated that she was "completely unaware of [Gaga]" and "didn't know if it [was] a man or a woman." Lady Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity, saying, "She's such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn't know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way."

When interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual ABC News special ''10 Most Fascinating People'' in 2009, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is intersex as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, "At first it was very strange and everyone sorta said, 'That's really quite a story!' But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny." In addition to Aguilera's statement, comparisons continued into 2010, when Aguilera released the music video of her single "Not Myself Tonight". Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video with Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance". There have also been similar comparisons made between Lady Gaga's style and that of fashion icon Dale Bozzio from the band Missing Persons. Some have considered their respective images to be strikingly parallel although fans of Missing Persons note that Bozzio had pioneered the look more than thirty years earlier. Nonetheless, Gaga was named one of Vogue.com UK's Best Dressed people of 2010 while her stylist, Dazed & Confused creative director Nicola Formichetti, won the Fashion Creator of the Year Award at the British Fashion Awards.

Part of the reasoning for Gaga's Best Dressed achievement was her attire worn to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards: a dress supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat – each fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal. The dress, named ''Time'' magazine's Fashion Statement of 2010 and more widely known as the "meat dress", received divided opinions – evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. Lady Gaga denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community. In addition to this unconventionality, in a question posed about the necessary procedure to attach the prosthetics to give the appearance of recent horn-like ridges on her cheekbones, temples, and shoulders, Gaga responded, "They're not prosthetics, they're my bones." She also clarified that they were not the result of plastic surgery, believing such surgery to only be the modern byproduct of fame-induced insecurity to which she does not subscribe. The interviewer's further probing brought Gaga to the conclusion that they are an artistic representation of her inner inspirational light and part of the "performance piece" that is her musical persona: an inevitability of her becoming who she now is. When Gaga briefly met with US president Barack Obama at a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser, he described the interaction as "intimidating" as she was dressed in 16-inch heels making her undoubtedly the tallest woman in the room.

Gaga often refers to her fans as "Little Monsters" and in dedication, has had that inscription tattooed on "the arm that holds my mic." Her treatment of her "Little Monsters" has inspired criticism, due to the highly commercial nature of her music and image. To some, this dichotomy contravenes the concept of outsider culture. Camille Paglia in her 2010 cover story "Lady Gaga and the death of sex" in ''The Sunday Times'' asserts thatGaga "is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured product who claims to be singing for the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of those." Writing for ''The Guardian'', Kitty Empire opined that the dichotomy "...allows the viewer to have a 'transgressive' experience without being required to think. At [her performance's] core, though, is the idea that Gaga is at one with the freaks and outcasts. The Monster Ball is where we can all be free. This is arrant nonsense, as the scads of people buying Gaga's cunningly commercial music are not limited to the niche worlds of drag queens and hip night creatures from which she draws her inspiration. But Gaga seems sincere."

Philanthropy

Besides her career in music, Gaga has also contributed to various charities and humanitarian works. In 2011, she launched her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and career development. "My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation," Gaga said in a statement about the foundation, which takes its name from the eponymous 2011 single and album. "Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment." The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

For natural disasters, Gaga has also helped various relief efforts. Although declining an invitation to appear on the single "We Are the World 25" to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she donated the proceeds of her January 24, 2010 concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall to the country's reconstruction relief fund. All profits from her official online store on that day were also donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of $500,000 was collected for the fund. Hours after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, Gaga tweeted a message and a link to Japan Prayer Bracelets. All revenue from a bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to relief efforts. As of March 29, 2011, the bracelets raised $1.5 million. However, attorney Alyson Oliver filed a lawsuit against Gaga in Detroit in June 2011, noting that the bracelet was subject to a sales tax and an extra $3.99 shipping charge was added to the price. She also believed that not all proceeds from the bracelets would go to the relief efforts, demanding a public accounting of the campaign and refunds for people who had bought the bracelet. Lady Gaga's spokesperson called the lawsuit "meritless" and "misleading". On June 25, 2011, Gaga performed at MTV Japan's charity show in Makuhari Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross.

Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS with the focus upon educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each contributor respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were donated to the cosmetic company's campaign to prevent HIV and AIDS worldwide. In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick." The sales of Gaga-endorsed Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS.

With the performance of the bilingual song "Americano" from her second studio album ''Born This Way'' (2011), Gaga jumped into the debate surrounding SB 1070, Arizona's immigration law. She premiered the tune for the first time on the Guadalajara, Mexico stop of her Monster Ball tour telling the local press that she could not "stand by many of the unjust immigration laws" in the United States.

LGBT advocacy

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a gay icon. Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase." She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of ''The Fame'', saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team." One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance". In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.

After ''The Fame'' was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with ''Rolling Stone'', she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'." When she appeared as a guest on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' in May 2009, she praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community". She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009 National Equality March rally on the National Mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays," similar to her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech for Best New Artist a month earlier. At the Human Rights Campaign Dinner, held the same weekend as the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality.

Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the United States Armed Forces (Mike Almy, David Hall, Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez), all of whom, under the United States military's "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving openly because of their sexuality. In addition, Gaga wore a dress fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal to the awards ceremony. Gaga wished that the dress, more widely known as the "meat dress", was interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community adding that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones." She later released three videos on YouTube videos urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In late September 2010 she spoke at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's "4the14K" Rally in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an estimated 14,000 – of service members discharged under the DADT policy at the time. During her remarks, she urged members of the U.S. Senate (and in particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the DADT policy. Following this event, editors of ''The Advocate'' commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians, one that Barack Obama had promised to be.

Gaga appeared at Europride, a pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride, held in Rome in June 2011. In a nearly twenty-minute speech, she criticized the intolerant state of gay rights in many European countries and described homosexuals as "revolutionaries of love" before performing acoustic renderings of "Born This Way" and "The Edge of Glory" in front of thousands at the Circus Maximus. She stated that "Today and every day we fight for freedom. We fight for justice. We beckon for compassion, understanding and above all we want full equality now". Gaga revealed that she is often questioned why she dedicates herself to "gayspeak" and "how gay" she is, to which, she told the audience: "Why is this question, why is this issue so important? My answer is: I am a child of diversity, I am one with my generation, I feel a moral obligation as a woman, or a man, to exercise my revolutionary potential and make the world a better place." She then joked: "On a gay scale from 1 to 10, I'm a Judy Garland fucking 42."

Discography

''The Fame'' (2008)

''The Fame Monster'' (2009)

''Born This Way'' (2011)

Filmography

''Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden'' (2011)

''A Very Gaga Thanksgiving'' (2011)

Concert tours

The Fame Ball Tour (2009)

Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga (2009–10) (canceled)

The Monster Ball Tour (2009–11)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Lady Gaga

Honorific nicknames in popular music

List of best-selling music artists

References

Further reading

Monster Anthems (2011) by Robert Christgau

External links

Slide show ''Vanity Fair''

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Coordinates	51°6′38″N22°51′31″N
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
instrument	Classical Guitar, Lute, baroque guitar
name	Julian Bream
born	July 15, 1933, London
genre	Classical music
label	RCA, EMI, BMG
notable instruments	}}

Julian Bream, CBE (born 15 July 1933) is an English classical guitarist and lutenist and is one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century. He has also been successful in renewing popular interest in the Renaissance lute.

Early years

Bream was born in London and brought up in a musical environment. His father played jazz guitar and the young Bream was impressed by hearing the playing of Django Reinhardt.

Bream began his life-long association with the guitar by strumming along on a small gut-string Spanish guitar at a very young age to dance music on the radio. The president of the Philharmonic Society of Guitars, Dr Boris Perott, gave Bream lessons, while Bream's father became the society librarian, giving Bream access to a large collection of rare music.

On his 11th birthday, Bream was given a guitar by his father. He became something of a child prodigy, at 12 winning a junior exhibition award for his piano playing, enabling him to study piano and cello at the Royal College of Music. He made his debut guitar recital at Cheltenham in 1947, aged 13.

He left the Royal College of Music in 1952 and was called up into the army for national service. He was originally drafted into the Pay Corps, but managed to sign up for the Royal Artillery Band after six months. This required him to be stationed in Woolwich, which allowed him to moonlight regularly with the guitar in London.

After three and a half years in the army, he took any musical jobs that came his way, including background music for radio plays and films. Commercial film, recording session and work for the BBC were important to Bream throughout the 50s and the early 60s.

In the years after national service, Bream pursued a busy career playing around the world, including annual tours in the U.S. and Europe for several years. He played part of a recital at the Wigmore Hall on the lute in 1952 and since has done much to bring music written for the instrument to light.

1960 saw the formation of the Julian Bream Consort, a period-instrument ensemble with Bream as lutenist. The consort led a great revival of interest in the music of the Elizabethan era.

His first European tours took place in 1954 and 1955, and were followed by extensive touring in North America (beginning in 1958), the Far East, India, Australia, the Pacific Islands and other parts of the world. Bream performed for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston, first solo in 1959, and later with the US debut of the Julian Bream Consort.

In addition to master-classes given in Canada and the USA, Bream has also conducted an international summer school in Wiltshire, England.

Recordings

Bream has recorded extensively for RCA and EMI Classics. These recordings have won him several awards, including four Grammy Awards, two for Best Chamber Music Performance and two for Best Classical Performance. RCA also released The Ultimate Guitar Collection, a multi-CD set commemorating his birthday in 1993.

From the beginning of the 1990s Julian Bream continued his recording career with EMI Classics, featuring music by J.S. Bach, a Concerto album (with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle), and discs devoted to contemporary works and guitar sonatas.

Despite his importance as a classical guitarist, however, many of his RCA recordings (including the series of 20th century guitar music) are currently out of print.

Later career

A highly successful biographical film, "A Life in the Country", was first shown on BBC TV in 1976. Bream also presented a series of four master-classes guitarists on BBC TV. BBC TV has presented a programme about Julian Bream's life as a concert guitarist. In 1984 he made eight films on location in Spain for Channel 4 exploring historical perspectives of Spanish guitar music.

In 1991, BBC Radio and TV broadcast Bream's BBC Prom performance of Malcolm Arnold's Guitar Concerto. He also participated in a recital and concerto performances of works by Tōru Takemitsu at the Japan Festival in London with the London Symphony Orchestra.

During the 1992-1993 season he performed on two separate occasions at the Wigmore Hall - at their Gala Re-opening Festival, and at a special concert celebrating his 60th birthday. In the same period, he toured the Far East, visiting Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and performed the premiere of Leo Brouwer's arrangement for guitar and orchestra of Albéniz's Iberia at the Proms. In 1994 he made debuts in both Turkey and Israel to great acclaim, and the following year played for the soundtrack to the Hollywood film Don Juan de Marcos.

In 1997, in celebration if the 50th anniversary of his debut, he performed a recital at Cheltenham Town Hall. A few weeks later the BBC dedicated a special television tribute "This Is Your Life" programme to Julian Bream, filmed after a commemorative concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.

In recent years, his engagements have included a Gala solo performance at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, a Kosovo Aid concert at St. John's Smith Square, London, with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields recitals at the Snape Proms, Aldeburgh, and at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and a tour of UK National Trust properties in summer and autumn 2000.

In November 2001 he gave an anniversary recital at Wigmore Hall, celebrating 50 years since his debut there in 1951.

The 2003 DVD video profile ''Julian Bream: My Life In Music'' contains three hours of interview and performance. It has been declared by Graham Wade "the finest film contribution ever to the classic guitar." His series ''Guitarra!'' was made for British television and charts a journey across Spain.

Style and influences

Bream's recitals are wide-ranging, including transcriptions from the 17th century, many pieces by Bach arranged for guitar, popular Spanish pieces, and contemporary music, much for which he was the inspiration. He has stated that he has been influenced by the styles of Andrés Segovia and Francisco Tárrega.

Bream's playing can be characterised as virtuosic and highly expressive, with an eye for details, and with strong use of contrasting timbres.

Dedications and collaborations

Many composers have worked with Bream, and among those who dedicated pieces to him are Malcolm Arnold, Richard Rodney Bennett, Benjamin Britten, Leo Brouwer, Peter Racine Fricker, Hans Werner Henze, Humphrey Searle, Tōru Takemitsu, Michael Tippett and William Walton. Britten's ''Nocturnal'' is one of the most famous pieces in the classical guitar repertoire and was written with Bream specifically in mind. It is an unusual set of variations on John Dowland's ''Come Heavy Sleep'' (which is played in its original form at the close of the piece).

Bream has also taken part in many collaborations, including work with Peter Pears on Elizabethan music for lute and voice, and three records of guitar duets with John Williams.

Honours and awards

Bream was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1964 for services to music, and in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 1985 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He has received Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Surrey (1968), and Leeds (1984). In 1976 he was personally presented with the Villa-Lobos Gold Medal by the composer's widow. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (1966), and has been honoured with Fellowships of the Royal College of Music (1981) and the Royal Northern College of Music (1983). In 1988 he became an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, and was also presented with the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist's Award in 1996.

Other details

In 1984 Bream’s arm was seriously injured in a car accident. It cost him great effort to regain his previous technical ability.

Bream has stated that even though he had some 'sessions' with Segovia, he never really studied with him — Bream also does not exclusively hold his right-hand fingers at right angles to the strings, but has stated that he uses a less rigid hand position for reasons of tonal variety.

Bream has for over 40 years lived in a Georgian farmhouse at Semley in Wiltshire.

Pieces written for Julian Bream (in chronological order)

Reginald Smith Brindle ''Nocturne for Guitar Solo'' (1946)

Reginald Smith Brindle ''El Polifemo de Oro'' (1956)

Lennox Berkeley ''Sonatina'', op. 52, no. 1 (1957)

Tristram Cary ''Sonata'' (1959)

Malcolm Arnold ''Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra'', op. 67 (1959)

Benjamin Britten ''Nocturnal after John Dowland'', op. 70 (1963)

Richard Rodney Bennett ''Impromptus'' (1968)

Tom Eastwood ''Ballade-Phantasy'' (1968)

Peter Racine Fricker ''Paseo'' (1969)

Reginald Smith Brindle ''Variants on two themes of J. S. Bach'' (1970)

Richard Rodney Bennett ''Guitar Concerto'' (1970)

Malcolm Arnold ''Fantasy'', op. 107 (1971)

Alan Rawsthorne ''Elegy'' (1971)

William Walton ''Five Bagatelles'' (1972)

Humphrey Searle ''Five'' (1974)

Lennox Berkeley ''Guitar Concerto, Op. 88'' (1974)

Hans Werner Henze ''Royal Winter Music'' (first sonata, 1976)

Giles Swayne ''Suite'' (1976)

Peter Maxwell Davies ''Hill Runes'' (1981)

Michael Berkeley ''Sonata in One Movement'' (1982)

Richard Rodney Bennett ''Sonata'' (1983)

Michael Tippett ''The Blue Guitar'' (1984)

Leo Brouwer ''Concerto elegiaco (Guitar Concerto No. 3)'' (1986)

Tōru Takemitsu ''All in Twilight'' (1987)

Leo Brouwer ''Sonata'' (1990)

Awards and recognitions (incomplete)

1964: Officer of the Order of the British Empire

1964: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1964 for ''Evening of Elizabethan Music'' performed by the Julian Bream Consort

1966: Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music

1967: Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (with or without orchestra) at the Grammy Awards of 1967 for ''Baroque Guitar (Works of Bach, Sanz, Weiss, etc.)''

1968: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Surrey

1972: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) at the Grammy Awards of 1972 for André Previn (conductor), Julian Bream & the London Symphony Orchestra for ''Villa-Lobos: Concerto for Guitar''

1973: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1973 for Julian Bream & John Williams for ''Julian and John (Works by Lawes, Carulli, Albéniz, Granados)''

1981: Fellowship of the Royal College of Music

1983: Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music

1984: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Leeds

1985: Commander of the Order of the British Empire

1988: Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society

1996: Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist's Award

Partial discography

LP

''20th Century Guitar'', RCA LSC-2964

''70's'', RCA ARL 0049

''Dedication'', RCA ARL 5034

''A Bach Recital for the Guitar'', Westminster CLP 1929

''Baroque Guitar'' (1966), RCA

''Collection of the Greatest Performances of Julian Bream, Vol. II, Westminster

''Concertos for Lute and Orchestra'', RCA ARL1-1180

''Dances of Dowland'', RCA LSC-2987

''Elizabethan Lute Songs'', RCA LSC-3131

''Elizabethan Music by The Julian Bream Consort'', RCA LSC-3195

''The Golden Age of English Lute Music'', RCA LSC-3196

''Julian & John'', RCA

''Julian Breams Greatest Hits'', Westminster

''Julian Breams Greatest Hits Volume Two'', Westminster 9008-8185

''Lute Music of John Dowland'', RCA ARL1-1491

''John Dowland: 14 Lute Pieces'', Westminster W-9079

''Music for Voice and Guitar'' with Peter Pears, RCA LSC-2718

''Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar'', RCA

''Rodrigo: Concerto De Aranjuez, Berkeley Guitar Concerto (1975), RCA

''Sonatas for Lute and Harpsichord—Bach, Vivaldi'' with George Malcolm, RCA LSC-3100

''Villa-Lobos, Twelve Etudes for Guitar, Suite populaire bresillienne'' (1978), RCA

''The Woods So Wild'', RCA LSC-3331

CD

''Fret Works'' (1990), MCA ''Guitarra: The Guitar in Spain'' (1990), RCA ''Joaquin Rodrigo: Concerto Elegiaco/Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre'' (1990), RCA ''Julian Bream plays Bach'' (1990), RCA ''Julian Bream Plays Granados & Albéniz (Music of Spain, Volume Five)'' (1990), RCA ''Music of Spain, Vol. 7'' (1990), RCA ''Two Loves'' with Peggy Ashcroft (1990), RCA ''Baroque Guitar'' (1991), RCA ''La Guitarra Romantica'' (1991), RCA ''Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Villa-Lobos: Preludes'' (1991), RCA ''Romantic Guitar'' (1991), RCA ''Baroque Guitar'' (1993), RCA ''A Celebration Of Andrés Segovia—Bream'' (1993), RCA ''Highlights from the Julian Bream Edition'' (1993), RCA ''Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un gentilhombre No1-5'' (1993), RCA ''Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Takemitsu: To the Edge of Dream'' with Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1993), Capitol ''Together/Julian Bream & John Williams'' (1993), RCA ''Together Again/ Julian Bream & John Williams'' (1993), RCA ''Villa-Lobos: Guitar Concerto; Preludes; Etudes'' with André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra (1993), BMG International ''Bach Guitar Recital'' (1994), EMI Classics ''Bach: Lute Suites, Trio Sonatas'' (1994), RCA ''Guitar Concertos'' (1994), RCA ''Julian Bream Consort, Vol. 6'' (1994), RCA ''Music of Spain'' (1994), RCA ''Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar'' (1994), RCA ''Romantic Guitar'' (1994), RCA ''Sonata'' (1995), Angel ''20th Century Guitar I'' (1996), RCA ''The Golden Age of English Lute Music'' (1996), RCA ''Music for Voice & Guitar'' (1996), RCA ''Music of Spain: Milán, Narváez'' (1996), RCA ''Popular Classics for the Spanish Guitar'' (1997), RCA ''Julian Bream Edition, Volume 1: The Golden Age of English Lute Music'' (28 CDs) (1998), RCA ''The Romantic Hours'' (1998), RCA ''Spain—Sor, Vol. 24'' (1998), BMG Classics ''Guitar Concertos'' (1999), RCA ''Guitar Music by Albeniz, Vivaldi, Rodrigo & Grandos'' (2 CDs) (1999), RCA Classics/BMG ''Woods So Wild'' (1999), RCA ''Nocturnal: Martin, Britten, Brouwer, Lutoslavski'' (2000), EMI ''The Ultimate Guitar Collection'' (2 CDs) (2000), RCA ''Duos de Guitares'' with John Williams (2001), RCA ''Spanish Guitar Music'' (remastered) (2001), Deutsche Grammophon ''Spanish Guitar Recital'' (2001), RCA ''Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un gentilhombre; Tres piezas espanolas; invocacion y danza'' (remastered) (2004), RCA ''Spanish Guitar Recital'' (2004), ''Guitar Recital: Bach, Sor, Turina, Tippet, Schubert'' (2005), Testament ''Music of Spain'' (2005), RCA ''Elizabethan Lute Songs'', Decca ''Julian Bream & Friends'', Musical Heritage Society ''Lute Music from the Royal Courts of Europe'', BMG Classics ''Music of Spain: The Classical Heritage'', RCA

Books about Bream

''Julian Bream: A Life on the Road.'' London: Macdonald, 1982. ISBN 0356078809. Text by Tony Palmer, photographs by Daniel Meadows.

References

Books about Bream ''Julian Bream, The Foundations of a Musical Career'', Stuart W. Button, Scolar Press, 1997 ''The Art of Julian Bream,'' Graham Wade, Ashley Mark Publishing'' Company, 2008

External links

Julian Bream's myspace page

Biography (Hazard Chase)

Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks

Some photos of LP covers (Oviatt Library Digital Collections)

Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:Musicians from London Category:English classical guitarists Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Performers of early music Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Category:British lutenists

de:Julian Bream es:Julian Bream fr:Julian Bream it:Julian Bream he:ג'וליאן ברים nl:Julian Bream ja:ジュリアン・ブリーム nn:Julian Bream pl:Julian Bream pt:Julian Bream ru:Брим, Джулиан fi:Julian Bream

Coordinates	51°6′38″N22°51′31″N
Name	Yngwie Malmsteen
Background	solo_singer
Alias	Yngwie J. MalmsteenLars Y. Loudamp
Birth name	Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck
Born	June 30, 1963Stockholm, Sweden
Instrument	Guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals, sitar, cello
Genre	Heavy metal, neo-classical metal, speed metal, hard rock, power metal
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer
Years active	1978–present
Label	Polydor, Polygram, Elektra, Rising Force Records, Universal Music
Associated acts	Steeler, Alcatrazz, Rising Force, Hear 'n Aid, G3
Website	Official website
Notable instruments	Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster }}

Yngwie Johann Malmsteen ( ; born June 30, 1963) is a Swedish virtuoso guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. Malmsteen became known for his neo-classical playing approach in heavy metal music which became a new musical style in the early 1980s. He is considered by many to be one of the most technically gifted rock guitarists of all time and a pioneer of shred guitar.

Early life

Malmsteen was born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck in Stockholm, Sweden, as the third child of a musically-inclined family. At age seven, he saw a television news report on the death of Jimi Hendrix, an event which had a profound impact on his musical path. Malmsteen has later stated that Hendrix had no musical impact on him, but on September 18, 1970 he saw a TV special of Hendrix, where he smashed and burned his guitar, and Malmsteen thought: "this is really cool". To quote his official website, "The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Yngwie was born". At the age of 10 he took his mother's maiden name Malmsten as his surname, slightly changed it to Malmsteen, and Anglicised his given name Yngve to "Yngwie". Yngwie also created his first band "Track On Earth" at the age of 10, consisting of himself and a friend from school on drums (Armin). Malmsteen was a teenager when he first encountered the music of the 19th century violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical music influence. Ritchie Blackmore and Uli Jon Roth are also cited as being significant influences, as is Brian May of Queen. He played featuring Denim And Leather song with Saxon during The Eagle Has Landed part II tour.

Recording career

1980s

In late 1982, Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing, brought Malmsteen to the U.S. He had brief engagements with Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz, for their 1983 debut ''No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll'', and the 1984 live album ''Live Sentence''. Malmsteen released his first solo album ''Rising Force'' in 1984, which featured Barrie Barlow of Jethro Tull on drums. His album was really meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it contained vocals, and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of ''Rising Force''.

''Rising Force'' won the Guitar Player Magazine's award for Best Rock Album and was also nominated for a Grammy for 'Best Rock Instrumental', achieving #60 on the Billboard album chart. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force (as his band was thereafter known) next released ''Marching Out'' (1985). Jeff Scott Soto filled vocal duties on these initial albums. His third album, ''Trilogy'', featuring the vocals of Mark Boals, was released in 1986. In 1987, another singer, former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined his band. That year, Malmsteen was in a serious car accident, smashing his Jaguar E-Type into a tree and putting him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. During his time in the hospital, Malmsteen's mother died from cancer. In the summer of 1988 he released his fourth album, ''Odyssey''. Odyssey would be his biggest hit album, mainly because of its first single "Heaven Tonight". Shows in Russia during the Odyssey tour were recorded, and released in 1989 as his fifth album ''Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad''.

Malmsteen's "Neo-classical" style of metal became popular among some guitarists during the mid 1980s, with contemporaries such as Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore becoming prominent. In late 1988, Malmsteen's signature Fender Stratocaster guitar was released, making him and Eric Clapton the first artists to be honored by Fender.

1990s

In the early 1990s, Malmsteen released the albums ''Eclipse'' (1990), ''The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection'' (1991), ''Fire and Ice'' (1992) and ''The Seventh Sign'' (1994). Despite his early success, and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s 1980s heavy metal styles such as neoclassical metal and lengthy, virtuoso shred guitar solos had become unfashionable in the US.

In 1993, Malmsteen's future mother-in-law, opposed to his engagement to her daughter, had him falsely arrested for holding the woman hostage with a gun. The charges were quickly dropped. Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and maintained a devoted following from some fans in Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in the USA. In 2000, he once again acquired a contract with a US record label, Spitfire, and released his 1990s catalog into the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece, ''Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra'', recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague.

In the mid 1990's Malmsteen went on to release the albums Magnum Opus (1995), Inspiration (1996) Facing the Animal (1997), Double LIVE! (1998) and Alchemy (1999). In 1996, Malmsteen joined forces with former band members Jeff Scott Soto and Marcel Jacob on the Human Clay album where he played lead guitar on the track Jealousy

2000s

After the release of ''War to End All Wars'' in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Doogie White. White's vocals were well received by fans. In 2003, Malmsteen joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as part of the G3 supergroup. Malmsteen made two guest appearances on keyboardist Derek Sherinian's albums ''Black Utopia'' (2003), and ''Blood of the Snake'' (2006) where Malmsteen is heard on the same tracks as Al Di Meola and Zakk Wylde. In 2004, Malmsteen made two cameo appearances on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

Malmsteen released ''Unleash the Fury'' in 2005. (This title may be a reference to an audio recording that supposedly captured Malmsteen's immoderate response to a flight attendant who spilled a beverage on him. The recording found popularity in filesharing networks as an example of the absurd behavior of celebrities.) He is married to April (Ebru Solmaz, born in Istanbul, Turkey) and has a son named Antonio after Antonio Vivaldi, and they live in Miami, Florida. A noted Ferrari enthusiast, Malmsteen owned a black 1985 308 GTS for 18 years before selling it on eBay, and a red 1962 250 GTO. In 2007, Malmsteen was honored in the Xbox 360 version of ''Guitar Hero II''. Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession. February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former Iced Earth and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Mr. Crowley", for the 2000 Osbourne tribute album ''Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy''. The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens is titled Perpetual Flame and was released on October 14. On November 25, 2008, Malmsteen had three of his songs ("Caprici Di Diablo", "Damnation Game", and "Red Devil") released as downloadable content for the video games ''Rock Band'' and ''Rock Band 2''. In 2008 Malmsteen was a special guest on the VH1 Classic show "That Metal Show". In the 10th of March 2009, Malmsteen's label Rising Force has launched his new release Angels of Love, an instrumental album which features acoustic arrangements of some of his best-known ballads.

In August 2009, ''Time'' magazine named Malmsteen #9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. Malmsteen recently released another album compilation entitled High Impact on December 8, 2009.

2010s

On November 23, 2010 ''Relentless'' was released, the second album to feature Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals. The US version features a remake of "Arpeggios From Hell" as a bonus track. Yngwie appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon along with Dana Carvey on February 3, 2011 to promote his album.

Technique and style

Malmsteen is known for his technical fluency and neo-classical metal compositions, often incorporating high speed picking and sweep picked arpeggios with harmonic minor and phrygian scales, and diminished arpeggios. He is often considered one of the most talented rock guitarists of all time and is considered to be a pioneer of shred guitar.

Musical equipment

Malmsteen has been a longtime user of Fender Stratocasters. His most famous Stratocaster is his 1972 blonde Strat, nicknamed "The Duck" because of its yellow finish and the Donald Duck stickers on the body. An alternative nickname for this guitar is "Play Loud" due to a sticker on the upper horn of the guitar. Fender made 100 replica copies of this guitar and marketed it as the "Play Loud Guitar". He also has a signature Stratocaster. It comes in a Vintage White finish with a maple neck, either a maple or rosewood fretboard with scalloped frets and, from 2010, Seymour Duncan STK-S10 YJM "Fury" Model pickups. There is also a signature YJM100 Marshall amplifier, based on the '1959' amplifier range.

Yngwie has stated that he prefers Stratocasters from the period of 1968-1972; he claims that the bigger headstock on these generates more sustain. Yngwie customizes his guitars by fitting a brass nut, removing the middle string tree and scalloping the fretboard. Yngwie previously disconnected the tone controls on his guitars but has said that he no longer does this.

Yngwie has previously used DiMarzio pickups - most notably the HS3 and the HS4 (Formerly known as the YJM). Yngwie would use an HS3 in the bridge and the HS4 in the middle and neck positions.

In his earlier recordings, Yngwie used an HS3 in the neck and bridge positions and a disconnected stock fender in the middle. In his earlier years he also used a Ibanez Gio Rg Series

Band members

; Current members

Tim "Ripper" Owens—vocals (2008–present)

Bjorn Englen—bass (2008–present)

Patrick Johansson—drums, percussion (2001–present)

Nick Marino—keyboards (2005–2006, 2010–present)

Discography

;Steeler

!Date of Release	!Title	!Label	!Chart positions	!US sales
1983		Shrapnel

;Alcatrazz

!Date of Release	!Title	!Label	!Chart positions	!US sales
	''No Parole from Rock N' Roll''
''Live Sentence''
	''Live '83''
''No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll Tour Live in Japan 1984.1.28 Audio Tracks''

;Solo

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
!style="width:2em;font-size:75%"	!style="width:2em;font-size:75%"
1984	''Rising Force''	* Released: 1984	Polydor Records>Polydor	* Format:
1985	''Marching Out''	* Released: October 1985	* Label: Polydor	* Format:
1986		* Released: 1986	* Label: Polydor	* Format:
1988		* Released: March 1988	* Label: Polydor	* Format:
1989		* Released: October, 1989	* Label: Polydor	* Format:
1990		* Released: 1990	* Label: Polydor	* Format:
1991	''The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection''	* Released: November, 1991	* Label: Polydor	* Format:
1992		* Released: 1992	Elektra Records>Elektra	* Format:
		* Released: February 18, 1994	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
	* Released: September 21, 1994	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
	* Released: October 21, 1994	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
1995		* Released: June 6, 1995	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
1996		* Released: November 5, 1996	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
1997	''Facing the Animal''	* Released: September 3, 1997	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
	''Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra'' in E flat minor, Opus 1	* Released: February 4, 1998	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
''Double LIVE!''	* Released: September 18, 1998	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
1999		* Released: September 17, 1999	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
		* Released: March 15, 2000	* Label:	* Format:
''The young person's guide to the classics.1'' *	* Released: April 25, 2000	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
''The young person's guide to the classics.2'' *	* Released: April 25, 2000	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
	* Released: May 9, 2000	* Label: Dream Catcher	* Format:
	* Released: November 22, 2000	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
		* Released: January 9, 2002	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
	* Released: September 4, 2002	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
''The Genesis''	* Released: December 30, 2002	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
		* Released: January 1, 2004	* Label: Pony Canyon	* Format:
''G3: Rockin' in the Free World''	* Released: March 10, 2004	Epic Records>Epic	* Format:
	''Unleash the Fury	* Released: February 23, 2005	* Label: Universal Music	* Format:
''20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Yngwie Malmsteen	* Released: May 24, 2005	* Label: Polydor	* Format:
2008	''Perpetual Flame	* Released: October 14, 2008	* Label: Rising Force Records/Universal Music Japan	* Format:
	''Angels of Love	* Released: March 10, 2009	* Label: Rising Force Records	* Format:
	* Released: December 8, 2009	* Label: Rising Force Records	* Format:
2010		* Released: November 23, 2010	* Label: Rising Force Records/Universal Music Japan	* Format:

See also

Guitar Moves

Shredding

Sweeping

G3 Tour

References

External links

Gaspar Muntwyler - Capricho Arabe/Preludio Obsesivo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ijX0Zvg_Mc

Malmsteen Brazil Fanclub

Audio interview with Yngwie // Metalpaths.com 2010

Audio Interview with Yngwie on GuitarJamDaily.com

HardRadio.com interview with Yngwie

How to pronounce Yngwie Malmsteen in Swedish (Svenska)

http://baroqueandloud.fr-bb.com/index.forum : French forum of Yngwie Malmsteen

A very complete biography of Malmsteen in French, made by Michaël Mhamdi from Baroque and Loud Forum: http://malmsteenforum.free.fr/

Category:Swedish expatriates in the United States Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:Swedish heavy metal guitarists Category:Swedish rock guitarists Category:G3 Category:Lead guitarists Category:People from Stockholm Category:1963 births Category:Living people

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Coordinates	51°6′38″N22°51′31″N
Name	Vincent Lo
Parents	Lo Ying-shekTo Lei-kwan
Alma mater	St. Joseph CollegeUniversity of New South Wales
Spouse	Loletta Chu (m.2008-)
Occupation	Chairman of the Shui On Lands Limited }}

Vincent Lo (; born 1948) is the chairman of Hong Kong-based Shui On Group, a building-materials and construction firm.

Lo graduated from University of New South Wales, Australia, in 1969. Upon returning to Hong Kong, started business with the sum of HK$100,000 (US$16,700) borrowed from his father, a Hong Kong property tycoon.

In 1984 Lo began investing in Shanghai and built a hotel in partnership with the Shanghainese Communist Youth League. The Tiananmen Square crisis caused occupancy to plunge, and the league could not repay its construction loan. Lo assisted the league in dealing with the loan: Han Zheng was the Youth League secretary at the time, and is now mayor of Shanghai. In association with Xu Kuangdi, a former Shanghai mayor, Han assisted Lo in gaining the right to develop a piece of land surrounding the hall where the Communist Party of China held its first meeting, now known as Xintiandi. The $170 million property development project is a 20,000 square meter complex of restaurants, bars and shops and is a prime entertainment spot in Shanghai.

In 1995, Lo bought his first cement plant in Chongqing, which has enabled the Shui On Group to become one of China's top three cement companies.

Under Lo's direction, the Shui On Group is carrying out property development projects in other Chinese cities, such as Wuhan, Dalian, Foshan and Hangzhou, as well as Chongqing.

Family

Vincent Lo and Loletta Chu married in November 2008.

References

External links

Shui On Group

CNN Interview of Vincent Loh (transcript), 9 April 2007

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Hong Kong people of Chaoshanese descent Category:Chinese billionaires Category:Hong Kong billionaires Category:Hong Kong businesspeople Category:University of New South Wales alumni

ja:ビンセント・ロウ zh-yue:羅康瑞 zh:羅康瑞