Sir Georg Solti, KBE, (; 21 October 19125 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his recordings he is probably best known for leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1969-91. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the second half of the 20th century.

Early career

Solti was born György Stern () in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family; his parents were Móric(z) Stern and Teréz Rosenbaum. His cousin was László Moholy-Nagy, the Jewish-Hungarian painter and photographer, who taught at the Bauhaus in Dessau and co-founded the New Bauhaus in Chicago. His father Germanized the name ''György'' to ''Georg'' and changed his family name to ''Solti'', to shield them from antisemitism.

He learned the piano but at age 14 heard Erich Kleiber conduct Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and he decided immediately he wanted to be a conductor. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Leo Weiner and Ernst von Dohnanyi. In 1937, he played the glockenspiel in the Salzburg Festival production of ''The Magic Flute'', under the conductorship of the legendary Arturo Toscanini. By 1935 he was gaining recognition as a conductor, and made his debut at the Budapest Opera on 11 March 1938 with ''The Marriage of Figaro'', the first time an unconverted Jew had ever conducted there. It was also Solti's last performance there. On that very day, Hitler annexed Austria, and anti-semitism became rife in Hungary under Admiral Miklós Horthy's regime. In 1939, with German invasion imminent, he fled Hungary because of his Jewish ancestry, and moved to Switzerland, where he continued a career as a pianist and won the Geneva International Piano Competition, but he had limited opportunities to develop his conducting. Unfortunately, he never saw his father again.

After the Second World War, during which his father died of natural causes, Solti was music director of the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich (where he gave the German premiere of Paul Hindemith's opera ''Mathis der Maler'', which had been banned under the Nazi regime) and the Frankfurt Opera (where he gave the German premiere of Alban Berg's ''Lulu''). In 1951 he conducted Mozart's ''Idomeneo'' at the Salzburg Festival for the first time.

In 1960 Solti signed a three-year contract (effective in 1962) to be music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, having guest conducted the orchestra in winter concerts in downtown Los Angeles, during the summer at the Hollywood Bowl, and in other Southern California concerts. The orchestra had hoped that Solti would lead the orchestra when it moved into its new home at the still-to-be-completed Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and he even began to appoint musicians to the orchestra. However, Solti abruptly resigned the position in 1961 without officially taking the post after learning that the Philharmonic board of directors failed to consult him before naming then 26-year-old Zubin Mehta to be assistant conductor of the orchestra. Mehta was subsequently named as music director in Solti's place.

In 1961 Solti became music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, serving in that capacity until 1971. There, Solti's bald head and demanding rehearsal style earned him the nickname, "The Screaming Skull" (after the film of the same name). He thereafter spent much of his time in Britain and the United States.

His first marriage to Hedi Oechsli, in 1946, ended in divorce. His second marriage was to Valerie Pitts, a British television presenter whom he met when she was sent to interview him. They had two daughters, Gabrielle and Claudia. In 1972 he was naturalized as a British citizen. He had been awarded an honorary knighthood in the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1971, and was known as Sir Georg Solti after his naturalization.

Solti was a great supporter and mentor to many young musicians, including the Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass, with whom he recorded Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' and Bartók's ''Bluebeard's Castle''. In addition, in 1994, Solti directed the "Solti Orchestral Project" at Carnegie Hall, a training workshop for young American musicians.

Chicago Symphony

Solti was music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) from 1969 until 1991, when he was made the only Music Director Laureate in that orchestra's history. Before Solti took over as the CSO's music director, CSO violinist Victor Aitay described Solti's work style as follows:

Usually conductors are relaxed at rehearsals and tense at the concerts. Solti is the reverse. He is very tense at rehearsals, which makes us concentrate, but relaxed during the performance, which is a great asset to the orchestra.

In total, Solti conducted 999 performances with the CSO. His 1,000th performance was scheduled to be in October 1997, around the time of his 85th birthday. The City of Chicago renamed the block of East Adams Street adjacent to Symphony Center as "Sir Georg Solti Place" in his memory.

Solti consolidated the reputation of the CSO as one of the great orchestras of the world, while reiteratively reminding everyone how much he owed to the pioneering work of Fritz Reiner, who never toured the orchestra abroad. Solti took the CSO on its first tour to Europe in 1971. Solti's recordings with the CSO included the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, and Gustav Mahler. Solti recorded complete operas with the CSO as well, including:

''Moses und Aron'' by Arnold Schoenberg

''Otello'' by Giuseppe Verdi (also performed live at Carnegie Hall) ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' by Richard Wagner

Later career

thumb|right|150px|Portrait by Allan Warren In addition to his tenure in Chicago, Solti was music director of the Orchestre de Paris from 1972 until 1975. From 1979 until 1983 he was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time with the London Philharmonic he performed and recorded many works by Elgar including the two symphonies, the Violin Concerto with Kyung Wha Chung and the Cello Concerto with Julian Lloyd Webber. In 1983 he conducted Wagner's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth for the only time. For the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, Solti formed the World Orchestra for Peace, which consisted of musicians from 47 orchestras around the world.

Solti continued to add new works to his repertoire in the latter days of his career, voicing particular enthusiasm for the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, whom he admitted he failed to appreciate fully during the composer's lifetime. His commercial recordings of Shostakovich symphonies included Nos. 1 (Concertgebouw Orchestra), 5 (VPO), 8, 9 (twice : VPO & Carnegie Hall Project),10, 13 and 15 (all CSO).

Solti never truly retired, and his sudden death of a heart attack on 5 September 1997 in Antibes, France, meant that several years of planned performances and recording projects would never be realized. According to his last wish, Solti rests in Hungarian soil. After a state funeral, he was placed beside the remains of Bartók: his one-time tutor and mentor. After Solti's death, his widow and daughters began the Solti Foundation to assist young musicians. In 2002 a website dedicated to Solti was launched, under the instigation of Lady Solti.

Solti co-wrote his memoirs with Harvey Sachs, published in the UK under the title ''Solti on Solti'', ''Memoirs'' in the USA, and ''Emlékeim'' in Hungary, and the book appeared in the month after his death. His life has also been documented in a film by Peter Maniura entitled ''Sir Georg Solti: The Making of a Maestro.''

In September 2007, as a tribute on the 10th anniversary of Solti's death, a recording of his last concert was released on Decca, a performance with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich of Mahler's Symphony No. 5.

Recordings

Solti was as enthusiastic making music in the recording studio as in the opera house or concert hall. He developed a long and productive partnership with the legendary producer John Culshaw at Decca. Products of this partnership included the first ever complete studio recording of Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' with the Vienna Philharmonic (VPO). No less distinguished and equally groundbreaking were his studio recordings of the operas of Richard Strauss, which, like his Wagner recordings, have been remastered and released on CD where they are still praised for their musicianship and expert production values. His performances and recordings of works by Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler and Béla Bartók were also widely admired. In addition to his recordings with the CSO, Solti recorded other repertoire with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic, such as the two symphonies of Edward Elgar, selected symphonies of Tchaikovsky, William Walton's ''Belshazzar's Feast'', Michael Tippett's ''Symphony No. 4'' and ''Byzantium'', and the Da Ponte/Mozart operas.

In addition, Solti collaborated with Dudley Moore to create a 1991 television series, ''Orchestra!'', which was designed to introduce audiences to the symphony orchestra. He also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in performances of music by Beethoven for the 1994 film "Immortal Beloved", about the composer.

Recordings

Bach, ''Mass in B Minor''

Bach, ''St Matthew Passion''

Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra (1981)

Bartók, ''Dance Suite'' (1981)

Bartók, Piano Concertos #1 - 3 /w Ashkenazy

Bartók, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste

Bartók, Miraculous Mandarin Suite

Berlioz, Le Damnation de Faust

Berlioz, ''Symphonie Fantastique'', Liszt, ''Les Preludes''

Beethoven, ''Fidelio''

Beethoven, ''Missa Solemnis''

Beethoven, Complete Symphonies #1 - 9 (twice, 1972–74 and 1986–90)

Beethoven, Piano Concertos #1 - 5 /w Ashkenazy

Brahms, Symphonies #1-4

Brahms, ''Ein Deutsches Requiem''

Brahms, Variations on a Theme by Haydn

Bruckner, Symphonies #0-9

Debussy, ''La mer'' / ''Nocturnes'' / ''Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faune''

Del Tredeci, "The Final Alice"

Dvořák, Symphony #9 (''From the New World'')

Elgar, "Enigma Variations"

Handel, ''Messiah''

Haydn, "The Seasons"

Liszt, "A Faust Symphony"

Mephisto Magic (works by Liszt, Bartok, Weiner & Kodaly)

Mahler, complete Symphonies #1 - 9

Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3

Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4

Mozart, Requiem (1991)

Mussorgsky, ''Khovanshchina Prelude'' (1998)

Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Ravel), '' Pictures at an Exhibition''

Mussorgsky (orchestrated by Shostakovich), ''Songs and Dances of Death'' with Sergei Aleksashkin (1998)

Prokofiev, Symphony No. 1 (1982)

Ravel, "Le Tombeau de Couperin"

Schoenberg, ''Moses und Aron'' (1984)

Schoenberg, Variations

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 8 (1989)

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 10

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 15 (1998)

Strauss (R.), ''Also Sprach Zarathustra'' and other tone poems

Strauss (R.), Several operas

Stravinsky, Symphony Nos. 1 - 3

Stravinsky, Petrushka/Jeu de Cartes

Stravinsky, ''Rite of Spring''

Tchaikovsky, 1812 Overture, ''Romeo & Juliet'' Overture & The ''Nutcracker'' Suite

Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 / Dohnanyi, "Variations on a Nursery Song" with pianist Andras Schiff (1986)

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 (1984)

Tchaikovsky, ''Swan Lake'', excerpts (1987)

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 (1987)

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"

Tippett, ''Byzantium'' with Faye Robinson (1991)

Tippett, Symphony No. 4 (1979)

Tippett, Suite in D for the Birthday of Prince Charles (1981)

Verdi, ''Otello''

Verdi, Requiem

Verdi, ''Un ballo in maschera''

Wagner, ''Der fliegende Hollander'' (1976)

Wagner, ''Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg'' (1997)

Wagner, ''Tannhäuser Overture'' (1977)

Wagner, ''Tristan und Isolde, Prelude and Liebestod'' (1977)

Wagner, ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (1958-1965)*

Walton, ''Belshazzar's Feast''

''Das Rheingold'' was recorded in Sept/Oct 1958, ''Die Walküre'' in Oct/Nov 1965, ''Siegfried'' in May/Oct 1962, and ''Götterdämmerung'' in May-Nov 1964.

Awards and recognition

Sonning Award (1992; Denmark)

Sir Georg Solti holds the record for having received the most Grammy Awards. He personally won 31 Grammys, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and is listed for 38 Grammys (6 went to the engineer and 1 to a soloist); he was nominated an additional 74 times before his death in 1997.

In 2007 his widow Lady (Valerie) Solti was made a Cultural Ambassador of Hungary, an honorary title granted by the Hungarian state.

He was a recipient of Yale University's Sanford Medal.

In 1987, a bronze bust of Solti by Dame Elisabeth Frink was dedicated in Chicago's Lincoln Park outside the Lincoln Park Conservatory. It was moved to the Solti Garden in Grant Park in 2006, near Orchestra Hall

Portraits of Solti

The National Portrait Gallery has 6 photographic portraits of Solti including those by Anne-Katrin Purkiss and Patrick Lichfield.

References

External links

Georg Solti official website

The Solti Foundation official website

Two Interviews with Sir Georg Solti by Bruce Duffie, ''The Instrumentalist'' magazine, October 1995

Tourdates.co.uk page on Richard Stoltzman and Sanford Medal, Solti mentioned as past recipient

Grammy Award search results page on Solti

Category:1912 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Alumni of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music Category:British conductors (music) Category:British Jews Category:British people of Hungarian descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Hungarian conductors (music) Category:Hungarian Jews Category:Hungarian musicians Category:Hungarian nobility Category:Hungarian refugees Category:Immigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish refugees Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Music directors (opera) Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:People from Buda Category:People who emigrated to escape Nazism Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:Texas classical music Category:Members of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art

bg:Джордж Солти ca:Georg Solti de:Georg Solti es:Georg Solti eo:Georg Solti fr:Georg Solti ko:게오르그 솔티 it:Georg Solti he:גיאורג שולטי la:Georgius Solti hu:Solti György nl:Georg Solti ja:ゲオルク・ショルティ no:Georg Solti pl:Georg Solti pt:Georg Solti ru:Шолти, Георг simple:Georg Solti fi:Georg Solti sv:Georg Solti uk:Георг Шолті zh:乔治·索尔蒂

Coordinates	22°34′0″N95°42′0″N
name	Dudley Moore
birth date	April 19, 1935
birth place	London, UK
death date	March 27, 2002
death place	Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
death cause	Pneumonia
birth name	Dudley Stuart John Moore
spouse	Suzy Kendall (1968–72) Tuesday Weld (1975–80) Brogan Lane (1988–91) Nicole Rothschild (1994–98)
occupation	Actor, comedian, musician
years active	1961–2002 }}

Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.

Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue ''Beyond the Fringe'' in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television double-act he formed with Peter Cook.

His fame as a comedy film actor was later heightened by success in hit Hollywood films such as ''10'' with Bo Derek and ''Arthur'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s, respectively. He received an Oscar nomination for the latter role. He was frequently referred to in the media as "Cuddly Dudley" or "The Sex Thimble", a reference to his short stature and reputation as a "ladies' man".

Early life

Moore was born in Charing Cross Hospital, London, the son of Ada Francis (Huges), a secretary, and John Moore, a railway electrician. He was brought up in Dagenham, Essex. He was notably short: and was born with club feet that required extensive hospital treatment and which, coupled with his diminutive stature, made him the butt of jokes from other children. His right foot responded well to corrective treatment and had straightened itself by the time he was six, but his left foot became permanently twisted and consequently his left leg below the knee was withered. Seeking refuge from his problems, he became a choirboy at the age of six and took up piano and violin. He rapidly developed into a highly talented pianist and organist and was playing the pipe organ at church weddings by the age of 14. He attended Dagenham County High School where he received musical tuition from a dedicated teacher, Peter Cork. Cork became a friend and confidant to Moore, corresponding with him until 1994.

Moore's musical talent won him an organ scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. While studying music and composition there, he also performed with Alan Bennett in the Oxford Revue. Bennett then recommended him to the producer putting together ''Beyond the Fringe'', a comedy revue, where he was to first meet Peter Cook. ''Beyond the Fringe'' was at the forefront of the 1960s satire boom and after success in Britain, it transferred to the United States where it was also a hit.

During his university years, Moore took a great interest in jazz and soon became an accomplished jazz pianist and composer. He began working with such leading musicians as John Dankworth and Cleo Laine. In 1960, he left Dankworth's band to work on ''Beyond the Fringe''. During the 1960s he formed the "Dudley Moore Trio" (with drummer Chris Karan and bassists Pete McGurk and later Peter Morgan). Moore's admitted principal musical influences were Oscar Peterson and Errol Garner. In an interview he recalled the day he finally mastered Garner's unique left hand strum and was so excited that he walked around for several days with his left hand constantly playing that cadence. His early recordings included "My Blue Heaven", "Lysie Does It", "Poova Nova", "Take Your Time", "Indiana", "Sooz Blooz", "Baubles, Bangles and Beads", "Sad One for George" and "Autumn Leaves". The trio performed regularly on British television, made numerous recordings and had a long-running residency at Peter Cook's London nightclub, The Establishment.

Moore composed the soundtracks for the films ''Bedazzled'', ''Inadmissible Evidence'', ''Staircase'' and ''Six Weeks'' among others.

Career

Partnership with Peter Cook

After following the Establishment to New York City, Moore returned to the UK and was offered his own series on the BBC. ''Not Only... But Also'' (1965). It was commissioned specifically as a vehicle for Moore, but when he invited Peter Cook on as a guest, their comedy partnership was so notable that it became a permanent fixture of the series. Cook and Moore are most remembered for their sketches as two working class men, Pete and Dud, in macs and cloth caps, commenting on politics and the arts, but they fashioned a series of one-off characters, usually with Moore in the role of interviewer to one of Cook's upper-class eccentrics. The pair developed an unorthodox method for scripting the material by using a tape recorder to tape an ad libbed routine that they would then have transcribed and edited. This would not leave enough time to fully rehearse the script so they often had a set of cue cards. Moore was famous for "corpsing"—the programmes often went on live, and Cook would deliberately make him laugh in order to get an even bigger reaction from the studio audience. Regrettably, many of the videotapes and film reels of these seminal TV shows were later erased by the BBC (an affliction which wiped out large portions of other British television productions as well, such as ''Doctor Who''), although some of the soundtracks (which were issued on record) have survived. Moore and Cook co-starred in the film ''Bedazzled'' (1967) with Eleanor Bron, and also had tours called ''Behind the Fridge'' and ''Good Evening''.

In 2009 it came to light that at the time three separate British police forces had wanted them to be prosecuted under obscenity laws for their comedy recordings made during the late 1970s under the pseudonyms ''Derek and Clive''. Shortly following the last of these, ''Derek and Clive – Ad Nauseam'', Moore made a break with Cook, whose alcoholism was affecting his work, to concentrate on his film career. When Moore began to manifest the symptoms of the disease that eventually killed him (progressive supranuclear palsy), it was at first suspected that he too had a drinking problem. Two of Moore's early starring roles were the titular drunken playboy ''Arthur'' and the heavy drinker George Webber in ''10''.

Later career

In the late 1970s, Moore moved to Hollywood, where he appeared in ''Foul Play'' (1978) with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. The following year saw his break-out role in Blake Edwards's ''10'', which he followed up with the movie ''Wholly Moses!'' The latter was not a major success.

Moore played Watson to Cook's Holmes in 1978's ''Hound of the Baskervilles''. Moore was noteworthy as a comic foil to Sir Henry and played 3 other roles: one in drag and one as a one legged man. Moore also played the piano for the entire score and appears at the start and end of the film as a flamboyant and mischievous pianist. Moore also scored the film.

In 1981, Moore appeared as the lead in the comedy ''Arthur'', an even bigger hit than ''10'', which also starred Liza Minnelli and Sir John Gielgud. It was both commercially and critically successful; Moore received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor whilst Gielgud won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Arthur's stern but compassionate manservant. Moore lost to Henry Fonda (for ''On Golden Pond''). He did, however, win a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy. In 1984, Moore had another hit, starring in the Blake Edwards directed ''Micki + Maude'', co-starring Amy Irving. This won him another Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy.

His subsequent films, including ''Arthur 2: On the Rocks'', a sequel to the original, and an animated adaptation of ''King Kong'', were inconsistent in terms of both critical and commercial reception; Moore eventually disowned the former. In later years, Cook would wind up Moore by claiming he preferred ''Arthur 2: On the Rocks'' to ''Arthur''.

In addition to acting, Moore continued to work as a composer and pianist, writing scores for a number of films and giving piano concerts, which were highlighted by his popular parodies of classical favourites. In addition, Moore collaborated with the conductor Sir Georg Solti to create a 1991 television series, ''Orchestra!'', which was designed to introduce audiences to the symphony orchestra. He later worked with the American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas on a similar television series from 1993, ''Concerto!'', likewise designed to introduce audiences to classical music concertos. He also appeared as Ko-Ko in a Jonathan Miller production of ''The Mikado'' in Los Angeles in March 1988.

In 1987, he was interviewed for the ''New York Times'' by the music critic Rena Fruchter, herself an accomplished pianist. They became close friends. At that time Moore's film career was already on the wane. He was having trouble remembering his lines, a problem he had never previously encountered (for this reason he was fired from Barbra Streisand's film ''The Mirror Has Two Faces''). He opted to concentrate on the piano, and enlisted Fruchter as an artistic partner. They performed as a duo in the U.S. and Australia. However, his disease soon started to make itself apparent there as well, as his fingers would not always do what he wanted them to do. Symptoms such as slurred speech and loss of balance were misinterpreted by the public and the media as a sign of drunkenness. Moore himself was at a loss to explain this. He moved into Fruchter's family home in New Jersey and stayed there for five years, but this, however, placed a great strain on both her marriage and her friendship with Moore, and she later set him up in the house next door.

Moore was deeply affected by the death of Peter Cook in 1995, and for weeks would regularly telephone Cook's home in London just to get the telephone answering machine and hear his friend's voice. Moore attended Cook's memorial service in London and at the time many people who knew him noted that Moore was behaving strangely and attributed it to grief or drinking. In November 1995, Moore teamed up with friend and humorist Martin Lewis in organising a two-day salute to Cook in Los Angeles which Moore co-hosted with Lewis.

Moore is the main subject of the play ''Pete and Dud: Come Again'', by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde. Set in a chat show studio in the '80s, it focuses on Moore's comic and personal relationship with Peter Cook and how their careers took off after the split of the partnership.

Entrepreneur

Moore co-owned a fashionable restaurant in Venice, California [1980s–2000]. The restaurant was named 72 Market Street Oyster Bar and Grill. Moore played piano in the restaurant whenever he dropped by the premises.

Personal life

Moore was married and divorced four times: to actresses Suzy Kendall, Tuesday Weld (by whom he had a son, Patrick, in 1976), Brogan Lane and Nicole Rothschild (one son, Nicholas, born in 1995).

He maintained good relationships with Kendall particularly, and also Weld and Lane. However, he expressly forbade Rothschild to attend his funeral. At the time his illness became apparent, he was going through a difficult divorce from Rothschild, despite sharing a house in Los Angeles with her and her previous husband.

Moore dated and was a favourite of some of Hollywood's most attractive women, including Susan Anton. In 1994, Moore was arrested after Rothschild claimed he had beaten her before that year's Oscars; she later withdrew her charges.

Illness and death

In September 1997 Moore underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in London, and subsequently suffered four minor strokes.

In June 1998, Nicole Rothschild was reported to have told an American television show that Moore was "waiting to die" due to a serious illness, but these reports were denied by Suzy Kendall.

On 30 September 1999, Moore announced that he was suffering from the terminal degenerative brain disorder progressive supranuclear palsy, some of whose early symptoms were so similar to intoxication that he had been accused of being drunk, and that the illness had been diagnosed earlier in the year.

He died on 27 March 2002, as a result of pneumonia, secondary to immobility caused by the palsy, in Plainfield, New Jersey. Rena Fruchter was holding his hand when he died, and she reported his final words were, "I can hear the music all around me." Moore was interred in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Fruchter later wrote a memoir of their relationship (''Dudley Moore'', Ebury Press, 2004).

In December 2004, the Channel 4 television station in the United Kingdom broadcast ''Not Only But Always'', a TV movie dramatising the relationship between Moore and Cook, although the principal focus of the production was on Cook. Around the same time the relationship between the two was also the subject of a stage play called ''Pete and Dud: Come Again''.

Honours and awards

In June 2001, Moore was appointed a Commander of the Order of The British Empire (CBE). Despite his deteriorating condition, he attended the ceremony, mute and wheelchair-bound, at Buckingham Palace to collect his honour.

Filmography

''The Wrong Box'' (1966)

''Bedazzled'' (1967)

''30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia'' (1968)

''The Bed-Sitting Room'' (1969)

''Monte Carlo or Bust'' (1969)

''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1972)

''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1978)

''Foul Play'' (1978)

''10'' (1979)

''BBC Horizon: "It's About Time" '' (1979)

''Derek and Clive Get the Horn'' (1979)

''Wholly Moses!'' (1980)

''Arthur'' (1981)

''Six Weeks'' (1982)

''Lovesick'' (1983)

''Romantic Comedy'' (1983)

''Unfaithfully Yours'' (1984)

''Micki + Maude'' (1984)

''Best Defense'' (1984)

''Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985)

''Like Father Like Son'' (1987)

''Arthur 2: On the Rocks'' (1988)

''The Adventures of Milo and Otis'' (1989)

''Crazy People'' (1990)

''Blame It on the Bellboy'' (1992)

''Really Wild Animals'' (1993)

''Dudley '' (1993)

''Daddy's Girls'' (1994) (TV)

''Parallel Lives'' (1994)

''The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson'' (1995)

''The Mighty Kong'' (1998)

Discography

UK chart singles

"Goodbye-ee" (1965) Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

"The L.S. Bumble Bee" (1967) Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

"Song for Suzy" (1972) Dudley Moore Trio – upbeat jazz.

Jazz discography

''From Beyond The Fringe'' (Atlantic Standard 2 017, 1966)

''The Dudley Moore Trio'' (Decca Records (LK UK) / London Records (US) PS558) 1969

''Dudley Moore plays The Theme From Beyond The Fringe and All That Jazz'' – Atlantic 1403 (1962)

''The World of Dudley Moore'' – Decca SPA 106

''The Other Side Of Dudley Moore'' - Decca LK 4732

''Genuine Dud'' – Decca LK 4788

''The Music of Dudley Moore'' – EMI Australia (Cube Records) TOOFA.14-1/2

''Dudley Down Under'' – Cube ICS 13

''Dudley Moore at the Wavendon Festival'' – Black Lion Records BLP 12151

''Smilin' Through'' – Cleo Laine & Dudley Moore – Finesse Records FW 38091

''Dudley Dell'' – Parlophone 45R 4772

''Strictly For The Birds'' – Cleo Laine & Dudley Moore – CBS A 2947

''The Theme From "Beyond The Fringe" & All That Jazz'' – Collectibles COL 6625

''Live From an Aircraft Hangar'' – Martine Avenue Productions MAPI 8486

''Songs Without Words'' – GRP/BMG LC 6713

''The First Orchestrations'' – Dudley Moore & Richard Rodney Bennett – Played by John Bassett and his Band – Harkit Records HRKCD 8054

''Jazz Jubilee'' – Martine Avenue Productions MAPI 1521

References

;Notes

;Further reading

Dudley Moore (1966). ''Originals. Arranged as Piano Solos Transcribed from the Decca L.P. 'The Other Side of Dudley Moore'''. Essex Music.

''From Fringe to Flying Circus'' – 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980' – Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980

''Dudley Moore'', Rena Fruchter, Ebury Press, 2004.

''Fallen Stars'', Julian Upton, Headpress, 2004.

External links

"The Films of Dudley Moore", film clip compilation, 5 minutes

accessdate=2 September 2010}}

Obituary at CNN.com

Radio 4 programme "Affectionately Dudley", 2006

Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:English jazz pianists Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Deaths from progressive supranuclear palsy Category:English classical organists Category:English comedians Category:English film actors Category:English satirists Category:English television actors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Organ scholars Category:People from Dagenham Category:1935 births Category:2002 deaths Category:English expatriates in the United States

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Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include ''Der Rosenkavalier'' and ''Salome''; his ''Lieder'', especially his ''Four Last Songs''; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as ''Death and Transfiguration'', ''Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'', ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', ''An Alpine Symphony'', and ''Metamorphosen''. Strauss was also a prominent conductor throughout Germany and Austria.

Strauss, along with Gustav Mahler, represents the late flowering of German Romanticism after Richard Wagner, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.

Life and works

Early life and family

Strauss was born on 11 June 1864, in Munich, the son of Franz Strauss, who was the principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich. In his youth, he received a thorough musical education from his father. He wrote his first music at the age of six, and continued to write music almost until his death.

During his boyhood Strauss attended orchestra rehearsals of the Munich Court Orchestra, and he also received private instruction in music theory and orchestration from an assistant conductor there. In 1874 Strauss heard his first Wagner operas, ''Lohengrin'' and ''Tannhäuser''. The influence of Wagner's music on Strauss's style was to be profound, but at first his musically conservative father forbade him to study it. Indeed, in the Strauss household, the music of Richard Wagner was viewed with deep suspicion, and it was not until the age of 16 that Strauss was able to obtain a score of ''Tristan und Isolde''. In later life, Richard Strauss said that he deeply regretted the conservative hostility to Wagner's progressive works. Nevertheless, Strauss's father undoubtedly had a crucial influence on his son's developing taste, not least in Strauss's abiding love for the horn.

In 1882 he entered Munich University, where he studied Philosophy and Art History, but not music. He left a year later to go to Berlin, where he studied briefly before securing a post as assistant conductor to Hans von Bülow, who had been enormously impressed by the young composer's ''Serenade'' for wind instruments, composed when he was only 16 years of age. Strauss learned the art of conducting by observing Bülow in rehearsal. Bülow was very fond of the young man and decided that Strauss should be his successor as conductor of the Meiningen orchestra when Bülow resigned in 1885. Strauss's compositions at this time were indebted to the style of Robert Schumann or Felix Mendelssohn, true to his father's teachings. His remarkably mature Horn Concerto No. 1, Op. 11, is representative of this period and is a staple of modern horn repertoire.

Richard Strauss married soprano Pauline de Ahna on 10 September 1894. She was famous for being irascible, garrulous, eccentric and outspoken, but the marriage, to all appearances, was essentially happy and she was a great source of inspiration to him. Throughout his life, from his earliest songs to the final ''Four Last Songs'' of 1948, he preferred the soprano voice to all others, and all his operas contain important soprano roles.

The Strausses had one son, Franz, in 1897. Franz married Alice von Grab, a Jewish woman, in a Catholic ceremony in 1924. Franz and Alice had two sons, Richard and Christian.

Works

Solo and chamber works

Some of Strauss's first compositions were solo and chamber works. These pieces include: early compositions for piano solo in a conservative harmonic style, many of which are lost; a string quartet (opus 2); a cello sonata; a piano quartet; Violin Sonata in E flat (1888); as well as a handful of late pieces.

After 1890 Strauss composed very infrequently for chamber groups, his energies being almost completely absorbed with large-scale orchestral works and operas. Four of his chamber pieces are actually arrangements of portions of his operas, including the ''Daphne-Etude'' for solo violin, and the string ''Sextet'' which is the overture to his final opera ''Capriccio''. His last independent chamber work, an Allegretto in E for violin and piano, dates from 1940.

Tone poems and other orchestral works

Strauss's style began to truly develop and change when, in 1885, he met Alexander Ritter, a noted composer and violinist, and the husband of one of Richard Wagner's nieces. It was Ritter who persuaded Strauss to abandon the conservative style of his youth, and begin writing tone poems. He also introduced Strauss to the essays of Richard Wagner and the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer. Strauss went on to conduct one of Ritter's operas, and at Strauss's request Ritter later wrote a poem describing the events depicted in Strauss's tone poem ''Death and Transfiguration''.

The new influences from Ritter resulted in what is widely regarded as Strauss's first piece to show his mature personality, the tone poem ''Don Juan'' (1888), which displays a new kind of virtuosity in its bravura orchestral manner. Strauss went on to write a series of increasingly ambitious tone poems: ''Death and Transfiguration'' (''Tod und Verklärung'', 1889), ''Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'' (''Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche'', 1895), ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (''Also sprach Zarathustra'', 1896), ''Don Quixote'' (1897), ''Ein Heldenleben'' (''A Hero's Life'', 1898), ''Sinfonia Domestica'' (''Domestic Symphony'', 1903) and ''An Alpine Symphony'' (''Eine Alpensinfonie'', 1911–1915). One commentator has observed of these works that "no orchestra could exist without his tone poems, written to celebrate the glories of the post-Wagnerian symphony orchestra."

Solo instrument with orchestra

Strauss's output of works for solo instrument or instruments with orchestra was fairly extensive. The most famous include two concertos for horn, which are still part of the standard repertoire of most horn soloists; a Violin Concerto in D minor; the ''Burleske'' for piano and orchestra; the tone poem ''Don Quixote'' for cello, viola and orchestra; the well-known late Oboe Concerto in D major; and the Duet-Concertino for bassoon, clarinet and orchestra, which was one of his last works (1947).

Opera

Around the end of the 19th century, Strauss turned his attention to opera. His first two attempts in the genre, ''Guntram'' (1894) and ''Feuersnot'' (1901), were controversial works: ''Guntram'' was the first significant critical failure of Strauss's career, and ''Feuersnot'' was considered obscene by some critics.

In 1905, Strauss produced ''Salome'', based on the play by Oscar Wilde, which produced a passionate reaction from audiences. The premiere was a major success, with the artists taking more than 38 curtain calls. Many later performances of the opera were also successful, not only with the general public but also with Strauss's peers: Maurice Ravel said that ''Salome'' was "stupendous", and Mahler described it as "a live volcano, a subterranean fire". Strauss reputedly financed his house in Garmisch-Partenkirchen completely from the revenues generated by the opera.

Strauss's next opera was ''Elektra'' (1909), which took his use of dissonance even further, in particular with the Elektra chord. ''Elektra'' was also the first opera in which Strauss collaborated with the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The two subsequently worked together on numerous occasions. For his later works with Hofmannsthal, Strauss moderated his harmonic language somewhat, which resulted in operas such as ''Der Rosenkavalier'' (1911) having great public success. Strauss continued to produce operas at regular intervals until 1942. With Hofmannsthal he created ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' (1912), ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'' (1918), ''Die ägyptische Helena'' (1927), and ''Arabella'' (1932). For ''Intermezzo'' (1923) Strauss provided his own libretto. ''Die schweigsame Frau'' (1934), was composed with Stefan Zweig as librettist; ''Friedenstag'' (1935–6) and ''Daphne'' (1937) both had a libretto by Joseph Gregor and Stefan Zweig; and ''Die Liebe der Danae'' (1940) was with Joseph Gregor. Strauss's final opera, ''Capriccio'' (1942), had a libretto by Clemens Krauss, although the genesis for it came from Stefan Zweig and Joseph Gregor.

Lieder

All his life Strauss produced ''Lieder''. The ''Four Last Songs'' are among his best known, along with ''"Zueignung"'', ''"Cäcilie"'', ''"Morgen!"'', ''"Allerseelen"'', and others. In 1948, Strauss wrote his last work, the masterful and haunting ''Four Last Songs'' for soprano and orchestra. He reportedly composed them with Kirsten Flagstad in mind, and she gave the first performance, which was recorded. Strauss's songs have always been popular with audiences and performers, and are generally considered – along with many of his other compositions – to be masterpieces of the first rank.

Strauss in Nazi Germany

The Nazi Reich forms the ''Reichsmusikkammer''

In March 1933, when Richard Strauss was 68, Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power. Strauss never joined the Nazi party, and studiously avoided Nazi forms of greeting. For reasons of expediency, however, he was initially drawn into cooperating with the early Nazi regime in the hope that Hitler – an ardent Wagnerian and music lover who had admired Strauss's work since viewing ''Salome'' in 1907 – would promote German art and culture. Strauss's need to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and Jewish grandchildren also motivated his behavior, in addition to his determination to preserve and conduct the music of banned composers such as Mahler and Debussy.

In 1933, Strauss wrote in his private notebook:

I consider the Streicher-Goebbels Jew-baiting as a disgrace to German honour, as evidence of incompetence – the basest weapon of untalented, lazy mediocrity against a higher intelligence and greater talent.

Meanwhile, far from being an admirer of Strauss's work, Joseph Goebbels maintained expedient cordiality with Strauss only for a period. Goebbels wrote in his diary:

Unfortunately we still need him, but one day we shall have our own music and then we shall have no further need of this decadent neurotic.

Nevertheless, because of Strauss's international eminence, in November 1933 he was appointed to the post of president of the ''Reichsmusikkammer'', the State Music Bureau. Strauss, who had lived through numerous political regimes and had no interest in politics, decided to accept the position but to remain apolitical, a decision which would eventually become untenable. He wrote to his family, "I made music under the Kaiser, and under Ebert. I'll survive under this one as well." In 1935 he wrote in his journal:

In November of 1933, the minister Goebbels nominated me president of the ''Reichsmusikkammer'' without obtaining my prior agreement. I was not consulted. I accepted this honorary office because I hoped that I would be able to do some good and prevent worse misfortunes, if from now onwards German musical life were going to be, as it was said, "reorganized" by amateurs and ignorant place-seekers.

Strauss privately scorned Goebbels and called him "a pipsqueak." In order to gain Goebbels' cooperation, however, in extending the German music copyright laws from 30 years to 50 years, in 1933 Strauss dedicated an orchestral song, ''Das Bächlein'' ("The Little Brook") to him.

Strauss attempted to ignore Nazi bans on performances of works by Debussy, Mahler, and Mendelssohn. He also continued to work on a comic opera, ''Die schweigsame Frau'', with his Jewish friend and librettist Stefan Zweig. When the opera was premiered in Dresden in 1935, Strauss insisted that Zweig's name appear on the theatrical billing, much to the ire of the Nazi regime. Hitler and Goebbels avoided attending the opera, and it was halted after three performances and subsequently banned by the Third Reich.

On 17 June 1935, Strauss wrote a letter to Stefan Zweig, in which he stated:

Do you believe I am ever, in any of my actions, guided by the thought that I am 'German'? Do you suppose Mozart was consciously 'Aryan' when he composed? I recognise only two types of people: those who have talent and those who have none.

This letter to Zweig was intercepted by the Gestapo and sent to Hitler. Strauss was subsequently dismissed from his post as ''Reichsmusikkammer'' president in 1935. The 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics nevertheless used Strauss's ''Olympische Hymne'', which he had composed in 1934. Strauss's seeming relationship with the Nazis in the 1930s attracted criticism from some noted musicians, including Arturo Toscanini, who in 1933 had said, "To Strauss the composer I take off my hat; to Strauss the man I put it back on again," when Strauss had accepted the presidency of the ''Reichsmusikkammer''. Much of Strauss's motivation in his conduct during the Third Reich was, however, to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law Alice and his Jewish grandchildren from persecution. Both of his grandsons were bullied at school, but Strauss used his considerable influence to prevent the boys or their mother from being sent to concentration camps.

''Friedenstag''

In 1938, when the entire nation was preparing for war, Strauss created ''Friedenstag'' (''Peace Day''), a one-act opera set in a besieged fortress during the Thirty Years' War. The work is essentially a hymn to peace and a thinly veiled criticism of the Third Reich. With its contrasts between freedom and enslavement, war and peace, light and dark, this work has a close affinity with Beethoven's ''Fidelio''. Productions of the opera ceased shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939.

When his Jewish daughter-in-law Alice was placed under house arrest in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1938, Strauss used his connections in Berlin, including the Berlin intendant Heinz Tietjen, to secure her safety. He drove to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in order to argue, albeit unsuccessfully, for the release of his son Franz's Jewish mother-in-law, Marie von Grab. Strauss also wrote several letters to the SS pleading for the release of her children who were also held in camps; his letters were ignored.

In 1942, Strauss moved with his family back to Vienna, where Alice and her children could be protected by Baldur von Schirach, the Gauleiter of Vienna. Strauss was unable, however, to protect his Jewish relatives completely; in early 1944, while Strauss was away, Alice and his son Franz were abducted by the Gestapo and imprisoned for two nights. Only Strauss's personal intervention at this point was able to save them, and he was able to take the two of them back to Garmisch, where they remained under house arrest until the end of the war.

''Metamorphosen''

Strauss completed the composition of ''Metamorphosen'', a work for 23 solo strings, in 1945. The title and inspiration for the work comes from a profoundly self-examining poem by Goethe, which Strauss had considered setting as a choral work. Generally regarded as one of the masterpieces of the string repertoire, ''Metamorphosen'' contains Strauss's most sustained outpouring of tragic emotion. Conceived and written during the blackest days of World War II, the piece expresses in music Strauss's mourning of, among other things, the destruction of German culture – including the bombing of every great opera house in the nation. At the end of the war, Strauss wrote in his private diary:

The most terrible period of human history is at an end, the twelve year reign of bestiality, ignorance and anti-culture under the greatest criminals, during which Germany's 2000 years of cultural evolution met its doom.

In April 1945, Strauss was apprehended by American soldiers at his Garmisch estate. As he descended the staircase he announced to Lieutenant Milton Weiss of the U.S. Army, "I am Richard Strauss, the composer of ''Rosenkavalier'' and ''Salome''." Lt. Weiss, who, as it happened, was also a musician, nodded in recognition. An 'Off Limits' sign was subsequently placed on the lawn to protect Strauss. The American oboist John de Lancie, who knew Strauss's orchestral writing for oboe thoroughly, was in the army unit, and asked Strauss to compose an oboe concerto. Initially dismissive of the idea, Strauss completed this late masterpiece, his Oboe Concerto, before the end of the year.

Final upsurge of genius

The metaphor "Indian Summer" is often used by journalists, biographers, and music critics to describe Strauss's late upsurge of genius from 1942 through the end of his life. The horrifying events of World War II seemed to bring the composer – who had grown old, tired, and a little jaded – into focus. The major works of the last years of Strauss's life, written in his late 70s and 80s, have a luminosity which matches anything he had composed earlier in his life, and they surpass most of them in emotional depth. These pieces include, among others, his Horn Concerto No. 2, ''Metamorphosen'', his Oboe Concerto, and his masterful and haunting ''Four Last Songs''.

The ''Four Last Songs'', composed shortly before Strauss's death, deal poetically with the subject of dying. The last, "At Sunset" (''Im Abendrot''), ends with the line "Is this perhaps death?" The question is not answered in words, but instead Strauss quotes the "transfiguration theme" from his earlier tone poem, ''Death and Transfiguration'' – symbolizing the transfiguration and fulfillment of the soul after death.

Death and legacy

Richard Strauss died at the age of 85 on 8 September 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Georg Solti, who had arranged Strauss's 85th birthday celebration, also directed an orchestra during Strauss's burial. During the singing of the famous trio from ''Rosenkavalier'', Solti described how "each singer broke down in tears and dropped out of the ensemble, but they recovered themselves and we all ended together." Strauss's wife, Paulina, died eight months later, on 13 May 1950, at the age of 88.

During his lifetime Strauss was considered the greatest composer of the first half of the 20th century, and his music had a profound influence on the development of 20th-century music. There were few 20th-century composers who compared with Strauss in terms of orchestral imagination, and no composer since Wagner made a more significant contribution to the history of opera. And Strauss's late works, modelled on "the divine Mozart at the end of a life full of thankfulness," are perhaps the most remarkable works by any octogenarian composer.

Strauss himself declared in 1947 with characteristic self-deprecation, "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer." The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould described Strauss in 1962 as "the greatest musical figure who has lived in this century."

Strauss as a conductor

Strauss, as conductor, made a large number of recordings, both of his own music as well as music by German and Austrian composers.

His 1929 performances of ''Till Eulenspiegel'' and ''Don Juan'' with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra have long been considered the best of his early electrical recordings; even the original 78 rpm discs had superior sound for their time, and the performances were top-notch and quite exciting at times, despite a noticeable mistake by the Horn soloist in the famous opening passage of ''Till Eulenspiegel''.

One of the more interesting of Strauss's recordings is perhaps the first complete performance of his ''An Alpine Symphony'', made in 1941 and later released by EMI, because Strauss used the full complement of percussion instruments required in this spectacular symphony. The intensity of the performance rivaled that of the digital recording Herbert von Karajan made many years later with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Music critic Harold C. Schonberg in ''The Great Conductors'' (1967), says that while Strauss was a very fine conductor, he often put scant effort into his recordings. Schonberg focused primarily on Strauss's recordings of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, as well as noting that Strauss played a breakneck version of Beethoven's 9th Symphony in about 45 minutes. Concerning the Beethoven 7th symphony, Schonberg wrote, "There is almost never a ''ritard'' or a change in expression or nuance. The slow movement is almost as fast as the following ''vivace''; and the last movement, with a big cut in it, is finished in 4 minutes, 25 seconds. (It should run between 7 and 8 minutes.)" Schonberg also complained that the Mozart symphony had "no force, no charm, no inflection, with a metronomic rigidity."

Peter Gutmann's 1994 review for ''ClassicalNotes.com'' says the performances of the Beethoven 5th and 7th symphonies, as well as Mozart's last three symphonies, are actually quite good, even if they are sometimes unconventional. Gutman wrote:

The Koch CDs represent all of Strauss's recordings of works by other composers. The best of his readings of his own famous tone poems and other music are collected on DGG 429 925-2, 3 CDs. It is true, as the critics suggest, that the readings forego overt emotion, but what emerges instead is a solid sense of structure, letting the music speak convincingly for itself. It is also true that Strauss's tempos are generally swift, but this, too, contributes to the structural cohesion and in any event is fully in keeping with our modern outlook in which speed is a virtue and attention spans are defined more by MTV clips and news sound bites than by evenings at the opera and thousand page novels.

Koch Legacy has also released Strauss's recordings of overtures by Gluck, Carl Maria von Weber, Peter Cornelius, and Wagner. The preference for German and Austrian composers in Germany in the 1920s through the 1940s was typical of the German nationalism that existed after World War I. Strauss clearly capitalized on national pride for the great German-speaking composers.

There were many other recordings, including some taken from radio broadcasts and concerts, during the 1930s and early 1940s. The sheer volume of recorded performances would undoubtedly yield some definitive performances from a very capable and rather forward-looking conductor.

In 1944, Strauss celebrated his 80th birthday and conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in recordings of his own major orchestral works, as well as his seldom-heard ''Schlagobers'' ("Whipped Cream") ballet music. Some find more feeling in these performances than in Strauss's earlier recordings, which were recorded on the Magnetophon tape recording equipment. Vanguard Records later issued the recordings on LPs. Some of these recordings have been reissued on CD by Preiser and are of remarkable fidelity.

Strauss also made live-recording player piano music rolls for the Hupfeld system, all of which survive today.

Richard Strauss was the composer of the music on the first CD to be commercially released: Deutsche Grammophon's 1983 release of their 1980 recording of Herbert von Karajan conducting the ''Alpine Symphony''.

Works

Selected major works

Operas

:''See List of operas by Richard Strauss''

Ballet music

''Josephslegende'' (The Legend of Joseph), Op. 63 (1914)

''Schlagobers'' (Whipped Cream), Op. 70 (1921/2)

Tone poems

''Aus Italien'' (''From Italy''), Op. 16 (1886)

''Don Juan'', Op. 20 (1889)

''Macbeth'', Op. 23 (1888/90)

''Tod und Verklärung'' (''Death and Transfiguration''), Op. 24 (1888–89)

''Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche'' (''Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks''), Op. 28 (1895)

''Also sprach Zarathustra'' (''Thus Spake Zarathustra''), Op. 30 (1896)

''Don Quixote'', Op. 35 (1898)

''Ein Heldenleben'' (''A Hero's Life''), Op. 40 (1899)

''Symphonia Domestica'' (''Domestic Symphony''), Op. 53 (1904)

''Eine Alpensinfonie'' (''An Alpine Symphony''), Op. 64 (1915)

Other orchestral works

Symphony in D minor (1880)

Symphony No. 2 in F minor, Op. 12 (1883)

''Festive Prelude'' for orchestra with organ (1913)

''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'', suite for orchestra Op. 60 (1917)

Film music for ''Der Rosenkavalier'' (1925)

''Japanese Festival Music'' (1940)

''Metamorphosen'', for 23 solo strings (1945)

Keyboard

Funf Klavierstucke, Op. 3 (1880–81)

Sonata for piano in B minor, Op. 5 (1880–81)

Concertante

Romance for Clarinet and Orchestra (1879)

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 8 (1882)

Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 (1882/83)

Romance for Cello and Orchestra (1883)

''Burleske'' for piano and orchestra (1886–1890)

''Parergon zur Symphonia Domestica'', for piano (left hand) and orchestra, Op. 73 (1925; ded. Paul Wittgenstein)

''Panathenäenzug'', for piano (left hand) and orchestra, Op. 74 (1926–1927; ded. Wittgenstein)

Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major (1942)

Oboe Concerto in D major (1945)

Duett-Concertino, for clarinet and bassoon with string orchestra (1947)

Vocal/Choral

''Acht Lieder aus Letzte Blätter'', Op. 10 (1885)

''Ruhe, meine Seele!'' ("Rest, My Soul!") Op. 27 No. 1

''Cäcilie'', Op. 27 No. 2

''Heimliche Aufforderung'' ("Secret Invitation"), Op. 27 No. 3

''Morgen!'' ("Tomorrow!"), Op. 27 No. 4

''Zwei Gesänge'', Op. 34 (1896/97) – 1. Der Abend 2. Hymne

''Wiegenlied'' ("Lullaby"), Op. 41 No. 1

''Deutsche Motette'', Op. 62 (1913)

''Olympische Hymne'', for chorus and orchestra (1934)

''Die Göttin im Putzzimmer'' (1935)

''Männerchöre'' (1935)

''An den Baum Daphne'' (1943)

''Vier letzte Lieder'' (Four Last Songs) (1948)

Chamber

Sonata for Cello and Piano in F, Op. 6 (1883)

Violin Sonata in E-flat, Op. 18 (1888)

Notes

Sources

Kennedy, Michael (1999). ''Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58173-7.

Kennedy, Michael. "Richard Strauss", in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2

Kennedy, Michael (2006). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'', 985 pages, ISBN 0-19-861459-4

Gilliam, Bryan. "Richard Strauss", in ''Grove Music Online'', ed. L. Macy (accessed 19 August 2005), (subscription access) (This article is very different from the one in the 1980 Grove; in particular, the analysis of Strauss's behavior during the Nazi period is more detailed.)

Dubal, David. ''The Essential Canon of Classical Music'', North Point Press, 2003. ISBN 0-86547-664-0

Selective bibliography

Kennedy, Michael (1999). ''Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58173-7.

Del Mar, Norman (1962). ''Richard Strauss.'' London: Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0-214-15735-0.

Tuchman, Barbara W. (1966, reprinted 1980). ''The Proud Tower'' chapter 6. Macmillan, London. ISBN 0-333-30645-7.

Gilliam, Bryan (1999). ''The Life of Richard Strauss.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-57895-7.

Osborne, Charles (1991). ''The Complete Operas of Richard Strauss.'' New York City: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80459-X.

Wilhelm, Kurt (1989). ''Richard Strauss: An Intimate Portrait.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01459-0.

Youmans, Charles (2005). ''Richard Strauss's Orchestral Music and the German Intellectual Tradition: the Philosophical Roots of Musical Modernism.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34573-1.

Karpath, Ludwig and Strauss, Richard (1905–1936). The handwritten correspondence between Richard Strauss and Ludwig Karpath, covering 31 years was acquired by the National Library of Austria in 1962 from the daughters of Dr. Alfred Marill who was Mr. Karpath's attorney. It consists of approximately 150 items covering Strauss relationships with the Vienna State Opera and other musical events of the period. It stops at the death of Ludwig Karpath in 1936. Dr. Alfred Marill was Mr. Karpath's executor. The terms of Karpath's will stipulated that the correspondence between Karpath and Strauss not be published until after Richard Strauss's death. In keeping with these terms Dr. Marill transported it to the United States when he emigrated in 1940. After Dr. Marill's death his daughters provided the letters to the library so that Mr. Karpath's wishes could be carried out. There is no evidence that these letters have been published.

External links

Richard Strauss online

Richard Strauss Institute, in English

''In America with Richard Strauss'': Elisabeth Schumann's 1921 diary

Category:1864 births Category:1949 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:German conductors (music) Category:Opera composers Category:Opera managers Category:People from Munich Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Category:Romantic composers Category:Ballet composers Category:German composers Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Category:General Directors of the Vienna State Opera Category:Music directors of the Berlin State Opera Category:Members of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art Category:German atheists

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thumb|Don Juan in [[Mozart|Mozart's opera ''Don Giovanni'', a painting by Max Slevogt]]

Don Juan (Spanish, or "Don Giovanni" in Italian) is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. ''El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' (''The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest'') by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630. Evidence suggests it is the first written version of the ''Don Juan'' legend. Among the best known works about this character today are Molière's play ''Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre'' (1665), Byron's epic poem ''Don Juan'' (1821), José de Espronceda's poem ''El estudiante de Salamanca'' (1840) and José Zorrilla's play ''Don Juan Tenorio'' (1844). The most influential version of all is ''Don Giovanni'', an opera composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, first performed in Prague in 1787 (with Giacomo Casanova probably in the audience) and itself the source of inspiration for works by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Alexander Pushkin, Søren Kierkegaard, George Bernard Shaw and Albert Camus.

''Don Juan'' is used synonymously for "womanizer", especially in Spanish slang, and the term Don Juanism is sometimes used as a synonym for satyriasis.

Don Juan legend

Don Juan is a rogue and a libertine who takes great pleasure in seducing women (mainly virgins) and enjoys fighting their men. Later, in a graveyard, Don Juan encounters a statue of Don Gonzalo, the dead father of a girl he has seduced, Doña Ana de Ulloa, and impiously invites the father to dine with him; the statue gladly accepts. The father's ghost arrives for dinner at Don Juan's house and in turn invites Don Juan to dine with him in the graveyard. Don Juan accepts and goes to the father's grave, where the statue asks to shake Don Juan's hand. When he extends his arm, the statue grabs hold and drags him away to Hell.

Pronunciation

In Castilian Spanish, ''Don Juan'' is pronounced . The usual English pronunciation is , with two syllables and a silent "J". However, in Byron's epic poem it rhymes with ''ruin'' and ''true one,'' indicating that it was intended to have the trisyllabic spelling pronunciation . This would have been characteristic of his English literary predecessors who often deliberately imposed partisan English pronunciations on Spanish names, such as Don Quixote .

Haidee

thumb|right|150px|''The Finding of Don Juan by Haidee'' by Ford Madox BrownHaidee is a beautiful Greek girl in ''Don Juan,'' who, falling in love with the hero and losing him, came to a tragic end.

Chronology of works derived from the story of Don Juan

1630: Tirso de Molina's play ''El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra''

1643: Paolo Zehentner's play ''Promontorium Malae Spei''

1650: Giacinto Andrea Cicognini's play ''Il convitato di pietra''

1658: Dorimon (Nicolas Drouin's) ''Le festin de pierre, ou le fils criminel''

1659: Jean Deschamps, Sieur de Villiers's play ''Le Festin de Pierre ou le Fils criminel''

1665: Molière's comedy ''Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre''

1669: Rosimon's ''Festin de pierre, ou l’athée foudroyé''

1676: Thomas Shadwell's play ''The Libertine''

17th century: ''L'ateista fulminato'', Italian play by unknown author

1714?: Antonio de Zamora's play ''No hay plazo que no se cumpla ni deuda que no se pague o convidado de piedra''

1730: Antonio Denzio's opera ''La pravità castigata'', with music mainly by Antonio Caldara

1736: Carlo Goldoni's play ''Don Giovanni Tenorio ossia Il dissoluto''

1761: Christoph Willibald Gluck's and Gasparo Angiolini's ballet ''Don Juan''

1776: Vincenzo Righini's opera ''Il convitato di pietra''

1787: Giovanni Bertati's opera ''Don Giovanni'', music by Giuseppe Gazzaniga

1787: Lorenzo da Ponte's opera ''Don Giovanni'', music by Mozart

1813: E.T.A. Hoffmann's novella ''Don Juan'' (later collected in ''Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier'')

1821: Byron's epic poem ''Don Juan''

1829: Christian Dietrich Grabbe's play ''Don Juan und Faust''

1830: Pushkin's play ''Каменный гость'' (''Kamenny Gost''', ''The Stone Guest'') set as an opera in 1872

1831: Alexandre Dumas' play ''Don Juan de Maraña''

1834: Prosper Mérimée's novella ''Les âmes du Purgatoire''

1840: José de Espronceda's ''El estudiante de Salamanca''

1841: Franz Liszt's Réminiscences de Don Juan on themes from the Mozart opera

1843: Søren Kierkegaard's ''Either/or'' in which he discusses Mozart's musical interpretation of ''Don Giovanni'', and includes another text which develops a similar character called Johannes ("Diary of a seducer").

1844: Nikolaus Lenau's play ''Don Juan''

1844: José Zorrilla's play ''Don Juan Tenorio''

1857: Charles Baudelaire's poem ''Don Juan aux enfers'' (Don Juan in Hell) in ''Les Fleurs du Mal''

1862: Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy's verse drama ''Don Juan''

1872: Alexander Dargomyzhsky's opera ''The Stone Guest'' after Puskin

1874: Guerra Junqueiro's poem ''A morte de D. João''

1878: ''The Finding of Don Juan by Haidee'', painting by Ford Madox Brown

1883: Paul Heyse's "Don Juans Ende"

1888: Richard Strauss' symphonic poem ''Don Juan''

1889: Vernon Lee's short story 'The Virgin of the Seven Daggers', in which Don Juan raises a Moorish princess from the grave in order to seduce her

1903: George Bernard Shaw's play ''Man and Superman''; the third act's dream sequence is often played by itself as ''Don Juan in Hell''

1902–1905: Ramón del Valle-Inclán's ''Las sonatas''

1906 : Ruperto Chapí's opera ''Margarita la tornera'', based on José Zorrilla's dramatic poem. This features a seducer of women known as Don Juan Alarcon.

1907: Guillaume Apollinaire's novel ''Les exploits d'un jeune Don Juan''

1910: Gaston Leroux's novel ''Phantom of the Opera'', which includes an opera called ''Don Juan Triumphant''.

1910–1912: Aleksandr Blok's ''The Commander's Footsteps'' (Шаги командора).

1912: Lesya Ukrainka's ''Stone Host'' (Кам'яний господар), a dramatic poem.

1913: Jacinto Grau's play ''Don Juan de Carillana''; also, the play ''El burlador que no se burla'' (1927) and the essay ''Don Juan en el tiempo y en el espacio'' (1954)

1921: Edmond Rostand's play ''La dernière nuit de Don Juan''

1922: Azorín's ''Don Juan''

1926: Ramón Pérez de Ayala's novel and play ''Tigre Juan''

1926: ''Don Juan'', starring John Barrymore, silent film with Vitaphone soundtrack.

?: Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero's play ''Don Juan''

1932: short story ''Don Juan's Confession'' in Karel Čapek's ''Apocryphal Tales (Kniha apokryfů)''

1934: Miguel de Unamuno's ''Don Juan''

1934: ''The Private Life of Don Juan'', Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.'s last film

1934–1949: André Obey: ''Don Juan''

1936: Ödön von Horváth's ''Don Juan kommt aus dem Krieg'' (Don Juan comes back from the war)

1938: Sylvia Townsend Warner's novel "After the Death of Don Juan"

1940: Le Mythe de Sisyphe: Albert Camus. Published by Librarire Gallimard (1942) and by Alfred A. Knopf (1955, 1983) and First Vintage International Editions (1991) in English as The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays. In Camus' anti-suicide treatise, Don Juan is one of three 'Absurd Men', 'heroes' who overcome life with their attitude.

1942: Paul Goodman's novel ''Don Juan or, The Continuum of the Libido'', edited by Taylor Stoehr, 1979.

1942: Franz Zeise's novel ''Don Juan Tenorio''

1944: Josef Toman ''Don Juan''

1946: Suzanne Lilar, play "Le Burlador", an original reinterpretation of the myth of Don Juan from the female perspective that revealed a profound capacity for psychological analysis.

1949: ''Adventures of Don Juan'', film starring Errol Flynn

1950: ''Don Juan'', film directed by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia

1952: "A Story of Don Juan", a short ghost story by V.S. Pritchett

1953: Max Frisch's ''Don Juan oder die Liebe zur Geometrie''; also ''Nachträgliches zu Don Juan''

1954: Ronald Frederick Duncan's play ''Don Juan''

1955: Ingmar Bergman's play ''Don Juan''

1955: Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo as Don Juan in several episodes (Season 4, Episode #6, #9, #10, #17, #21) of I Love Lucy, the television series.

1956: Buddy Holly's song ''Modern Don Juan''

1957: Georges Bataille's novel "Blue of Noon", an adaptation of the Don Juan story set in 1930s fascist Europe

1958: Henry de Montherlant's play ''Don Juan''

1959: Roger Vailland's play ''Monsieur Jean''

1960: Ingmar Bergman film ''Djävulens öga''(''The Devil's Eye'')

1963: Gonzalo Torrente Ballester's novel ''Don Juan''

1967: In the Star Trek Episode from the first season Shore_Leave_(Star_Trek) Yeoman Tonia Barrows is accosted by Don Juan.

1969: Jan Švankmajer's ''Don Šajn'' (Don Juan); a short retelling of the Don Juan legend featuring live-action, stop-motion animation, and marionettes.

1969/1970: ''Donna Juanita'', a song performed by Swedish artist Monica Zetterlund, part of the revue and TV-show "Spader, Madame!" by comedians Hasseåtage, based on a musical piece by Franz Schubert (Sixth Symphony, Second Movement) - the theme of the lyrics is to show the gender inequality in the fact that Don Juan's philandering behaviour would never have been accepted in a woman

1970: ''The Stoned Guest'', a half-act opera by P. D. Q. Bach

1973: ''Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme...'', a film starring Brigitte Bardot

1974: Derek Walcott's play, ''The Joker of Seville''

1975: Lars Gyllensten's novel ''I skuggan av Don Juan'' (In the shadow of Don Juan)

1980: New York City no-wave artists Mars and DNA recorded a collaborative opera based on Don Giovanni entitled John Gavanti

1987: In the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ''The Phantom Of the Opera'', the Phantom both writes and stars in a fictional opera named ''Don Juan Triumphant''.

1987: Post-minimalist composer Elodie Lauten wrote an opera based on a feminist variation of the legend entitled "The Death of Don Juan"

1988: The Pet Shop Boys song "Don Juan", which used the story as a metaphor for the seduction of the Balkans by Nazism during the 1930s

1991: Georges Pichard's''Exploits d'un Don Juan'', comic from Apollinaire's novel

1995: ''Don Juan DeMarco'', film starring Johnny Depp in the role of Don Juan, and also starring Marlon Brando

1997: David Ives' comedy ''Don Juan in Chicago''

2004: Peter Handke's novel ''Don Juan (erzählt von ihm selbst)'' ("Don Juan (Told by Himself)")

2005: José Saramago's play ''Don Giovanni ou O Dissoluto Absolvido'' (Don Giovanni or The Dissolute Acquitted).

2005: Jim Jarmusch's film ''Broken Flowers''.

2006: ''Don Juan in Soho'', a play by Patrick Marber

2009: Kasper Bech Holten's film Juan

Both the Flynn and Fairbanks versions turn Don Juan into a likeable rogue, rather than the heartless seducer that he is usually presented as being. The Flynn movie even has him successfully foiling a treasonous plot in the Spanish royal court. Shaw's play turns him into a philosophical character who enjoys contemplating the purpose of life.

References

Further reading

Guillaume Apollinaire: Don Juan (1914).

Michel de Ghelderode: Don Juan (1928).

External links

Don Juan Archiv Wien (in German)

Text of Molière's ''Dom Juan' (in French)

Encyclopædia Britannica article about Don Juan

Armand E. Singer: A Bibliography of the Don Juan Theme 1954-2003

"Juan!...Juaaan!!!" Sample of an alternative Don Juan story

"Flowers of Evil", Charles Baudelaire

Haidee Category:Literary archetypes by name Category:Sexual attraction Category:Spanish culture Category:Spanish folklore Category:Fictional Spanish people

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Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC (pronounced ; born 6 March 1944, Gisborne, New Zealand) is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array of works in multiple languages from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini.

Te Kanawa's voice has been described as having "a vibrant but mellow quality that is ample in size without being overly heavy or forced". Music critics have consistently praised the freshness and warmth of her voice. The sheer beauty of Te Kanawa's voice made her one of the leading operatic sopranos internationally of the 1970s and 1980s. She found particular success in portraying princesses, noble countesses and other similar characters on stage, as her naturally dignified stage presence and physical beauty complemented these roles well.

Although she now only rarely sings in operas, Te Kanawa still frequently performs in concert and recital, while giving masterclasses and supporting young opera singers in launching their careers. In August 2009, ''The Daily Telegraph'' (London) reported Te Kanawa is retiring because the discipline is exhausting. It said her last opera performance would be at the Cologne Opera in Germany in April 2010, when she sings the role of the Marschallin in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss. However, Te Kanawa denied this the following month when interviewed in Sydney, saying "The press might have announced it. I didn't say a thing. I don't know why they're trying to retire me. I'm not retiring."

Personal life

Kiri Te Kanawa was born as Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron in Gisborne on New Zealand's North Island. She has Māori and European ancestry, but little is known about her birth parents, as she was adopted as an infant by Thomas Te Kanawa, a Māori, and his wife, Nell. She was educated at Saint Mary's College Auckland and formally trained in operatic singing by Sister Mary Leo, RSM. Te Kanawa began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano, but later developed into a soprano. Her recording of the "Nuns' Chorus" from the Strauss operetta ''Casanova'' was New Zealand's first gold record.

Kiri met Desmond Park on a blind date in London in August 1967, and they married six weeks later. They adopted two children, Antonia (1976) and Thomas (1979) who was named after Kiri's adoptive father. The couple divorced in 1997.

Career

In her teens and early 20s, Te Kanawa was a pop star and popular entertainer at clubs in New Zealand. In 1965 she won the Mobil Song Quest with her performance of "Vissi d'arte" from Puccini's ''Tosca''. In 1963, she was runner-up to Malvina Major in the same competition. As the winner, she received a grant to study in London. In 1966, she then won the prestigious Australian Melbourne Sun-Aria contest, which Major had also won the previous year. Both students had been taught by Sister Mary Leo.

Early years in London

In 1966, without an audition, she enrolled at the London Opera Centre to study under Vera Rózsa and James Robertson, who reputedly said Te Kanawa lacked a singing technique when she arrived at the school but did have a gift for captivating audiences.

She first appeared on stage as the Second Lady in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'', as well as in performances of Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas'' in December 1968 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. She also sang the title role in Donizetti's ''Anna Bolena''. In 1969, she sang Elena in Rossini's ''La donna del lago'' at the Camden Festival; and also was offered the role of the Countess in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' after an audition of which the conductor, Colin Davis, said, "I couldn't believe my ears. I've taken thousands of auditions, but it was such a fantastically beautiful voice." Praise for her Idamante in Mozart's ''Idomeneo'' led to an offer of a three-year contract as junior principal at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where she made her debut as Xenia in ''Boris Godunov'' and a Flower Maiden in ''Parsifal'' in 1970. Under director John Copley, Te Kanawa was carefully groomed for the role of the Countess for a December 1971 opening.

International career

Meanwhile, word of her success had reached John Crosby at the Santa Fe Opera, a summer opera festival in New Mexico, then about to begin its fifteenth season. He cast her in the role of the Countess in ''The Marriage of Figaro'', which opened on 30 July 1971. The performance also featured Frederica von Stade in her debut as Cherubino. "It was two of the newcomers who left the audience dazzled: Frederica von Stade as Cherubino and Kiri te Kanawa as the Countess. Everyone knew at once that these were brilliant finds. History has confirmed that first impression." Frederica and Kiri have kept up with their friendship to this day.

On 1 December 1971 at Covent Garden, Kiri Te Kanawa repeated her Santa Fe performance and created an international sensation as the Countess: "with "Porgi amor" Kiri knocked the place flat." It was followed by performances as the Countess at the Opéra National de Lyon and San Francisco Opera in autumn 1972, while her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974 as Desdemona in ''Otello'' took place at short notice, replacing an ill Teresa Stratas at the last minute. She sang at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1973, with further débuts in Paris (1975), Milan and Sydney (1978), Salzburg (1979) and Vienna (1980). In 1982 she gave her only stage performances as Tosca in Paris. In 1980 she added Elisabeth de Valois in ''Don Carlos'' to her repertory at Chicago, and in 1991 the Countess in ''Capriccio'', sung first at Covent Garden and with greater success at Glyndebourne and the Metropolitan in 1998.

In subsequent years, she performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, Munich and Cologne, adding the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Fiordiligi, in addition to Italian roles such as Mimi in Puccini's ''La bohème''. She played Donna Elvira in Joseph Losey's 1979 film adaptation of ''Don Giovanni''.

She was seen and heard around the world in 1981 by an estimated 600 million people . when she sang Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer.

In 1984, Leonard Bernstein decided to re-record the musical ''West Side Story'', conducting his own music for the first time. Generally known as the "operatic version", it starred Te Kanawa as Maria, José Carreras as Tony, Tatiana Troyanos as Anita, Kurt Ollman as Riff, and Marilyn Horne as the offstage voice who sings "Somewhere". It won a Grammy Award for Best Cast Show Album in 1985 and the recording process was filmed as a documentary.

Te Kanawa has a particular affinity for the heroines of Richard Strauss. Her first appearance in the title role in ''Arabella'' was at the Houston Grand Opera in 1977, followed by the roles of the Marschallin in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' and the Countess in ''Capriccio''. Many performances were given under the baton of Georg Solti and it was with him that she made her first recording of ''The Marriage of Figaro''.

In recent years Te Kanawa's appearances on the opera stage have become more infrequent, although she remains busy as a concert singer. She appeared in performances in Samuel Barber's ''Vanessa'' with the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera in November/December 2004. In February 2010 she played the part of The Duchess of Krakenthorp in Donizetti's ''La fille du régiment'' at the Metropolitan Opera, and sang a tango. In April 2010 she sang the Marschallin in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss in two performances at the Cologne Opera in Germany. It is said, this would be the end of her operatic career, but obviously this is not certain.

Honours

Kiri Te Kanawa was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982, invested as an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 1990 and awarded the Order of New Zealand in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List. She has also received honorary degrees from the following universities in the UK: Cambridge, Dundee, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford, Sunderland, Warwick as well as these universities worldwide: Chicago, Auckland and Waikato as well as being honorary fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and Wolfson College, Cambridge. She is also patron of Ringmer Community College, a school in the South-East of England situated not far from Glyndebourne.

On 12 June 2008 she received the Edison Classical Music Award during the Edison Classical Music Gala (formerly: 'Grand Gala du Disque') in the Ridderzaal in The Hague.

Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation

Kiri founded the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation with the vision "that talented young New Zealand singers and musicians with complete dedication to their art may receive judicious and thoughtful mentoring and support to assist them in realising their dreams."

The foundation manages a trust fund to provide financial and career scholarships to young New Zealand singers and musicians.

The Kiri Prize

In January 2010, Dame Kiri and BBC Radio 2 launched an initiative to find a gifted opera singer of the future. The initiative was the BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize competition.

Following regional auditions of over 600 aspiring opera singers, 40 were invited to attend masterclasses in London with Dame Kiri, mezzo-soprano Anne Howells and conductor Robin Stapleton. From these masterclasses fifteen singers were selected for the semi-finals which were broadcast on 5 consecutive weeks on BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night Is Music Night. The semi-finalists were accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Martin Yates, Richard Balcombe and Roderick Dunk and their performances were judged by Dame Kiri, Anne Howells, Robin Stapleton and director John Cox.

Five singers went through to the final which was broadcast on Radio 2 on Friday 3 September 2010. The winner - soprano Shuna Scott Sendall - performed with Dame Kiri and José Carreras at BBC Proms In The Park in Hyde Park, London on Saturday 11 September 2010 and was given the opportunity to attend a three-week residential course at the Solti Te Kanawa Accademia in Italy.

Controversy

In a 2003 interview with the Melbourne-based ''Herald Sun'' she criticised the high rate of welfare dependence among the Māori people, angering some of her compatriots. In 2007, Te Kanawa was sued for breach of contract by event management company Leading Edge, after cancelling a concert with Australian singer John Farnham. She cancelled after learning that his fans sometimes threw their underwear on stage, which he would then proudly display. She won the suit, but her Mittane company which employs and manages her was ordered to pay A$102,000 in court costs.

Career highlights

Moved to Auckland and studied under Sister Mary Leo 1959-1965 at St Mary's College.

Had New Zealand's first gold disc, with a popular operatic aria.

Was 2nd to Dame Malvina Major in the Mobil Song Quest in 1963, and won it in 1965.

Won the Melbourne Sun-Aria in 1965, and was awarded an Arts Council of Great Britain bursary to study at the London Opera Centre.

Made her US debut at Santa Fe Opera with her performance as the Countess in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' in summer 1971, and became internationally famous at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London after singing the role on 1 December 1971.

In 1977 she appeared at the Royal Opera House in a German/English production of ''Die Fledermaus''. The New Year's Eve performance, conducted by Zubin Mehta, was recorded for television with the cast was virtually duplicated on the later DVD release. The performance was broadcast on TV in the US on New Year's Eve 1979.

Sang at the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan, Italy.

In 1981 sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral, London.

She won a Grammy Award for ''Best Opera Recording'' in 1984, for Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro". It was produced by Christopher Raeburn and the London Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Georg Solti. Also featuring were Thomas Allen, Kurt Moll, Lucia Popp, Samuel Ramey and Frederica von Stade.

Created Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1982, and returned to New Zealand to sing several times, including the New Year millennium concert at Gisborne in January 2000.

In 1984, made a special recording of West Side Story in the leading role of Maria with José Carreras as Tony, and conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

In 1986, again partnered José Carreras in the recording of the musical ''South Pacific''.

In 1994 celebrated her 50th birthday, culminating in a spectacular Birthday Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Long awaited return to the Metropolitan Opera as Arabella.

November 1999, released a new album, ''Maori Songs''.

Sang in her last opera, ''Vanessa'', in 2004, but continues with recitals and concerts and organising the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, to help young music students.

On 15 March 2006, Te Kanawa played a role in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She sang a medley of "Happy Birthday" to Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of her upcoming birthday, and "God Save the Queen".

2 December 2007, sang to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Variety Performance. Her performance included leading the National Anthem, ''God Save the Queen''

28 June 2008, she sang ''Summertime'' in duet with Portuguese fado singer star Mariza, at Casino Estoril.

19 July 2008, sang her last American concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Park.

19 June 2009, inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, performing solo works, and duets with Frederica von Stade and Josh Groban to a crowd of 18,000

6 February 2010, returned to the Metropolitan Opera as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in La Fille du Régiment - typically a non-singing character part, but an art song by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera was interpolated into the production for her to sing.

April 2010, returned to the Cologne Opera House in Germany for two final performances of the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier.

Discography

1972 - Mozart - Exsultate Jubilate - (Exsultate Jubilate , Vesperae Solennes De Confessore, Kyrie In D Minor , Ave Verum Corpus ), Te Kanawa, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Colin Davis [Philips] (also re-issued 1986)

1972 - Mozart - Don Giovanni - as Donna Elvira in a studio recording with Covent Garden Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, Colin Davis

1973 - My Favourite Things [Hallmark, SHM 3218]

1975 - Bizet - Carmen - as Micaëlla in a studio recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti

1976 - Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro - Te Kanawa (Contessa Almaviva), Freni (Susanna), Prey (Figaro), Fischer-Dieskau (Conte Almaviva), Ewing (Cherubino), Begg (Marcellina), Montarsolo (Don Bartolo), Wiener Philharmoniker, conductor Karl Böhm [DVD]

1977 - Duruflé - Requiem/Danse Lente - Te Kanawa, Nimsgern , Ambrosian Singers, Desborough School Choir , Andrew Davis , New Philharmonia Orchestra [CBS Schallplatten GmbH]

1977 - Mozart - Così fan tutte - as Fiordiligi in a studio recording under Alain Lombard

1978 - Mozart - Die Zauberflöte - as Pamina in a studio recording under Alain Lombard]

1979 - [[Strauss - Four Last Songs - London Symphony Orchestra, Alan Davis [CBS Masterworks]

1979 - Brahms - A German Requiem - Variations On A Theme By Haydn - Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Georg Solti, Bernd Weikl, Margaret Hillis [London Records]

1981 - Gay - The Beggar's Opera - as Polly Peachum in a studio recording with National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge

1981 - Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro - as Contessa Almaviva in a studio recording with London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti

1981 - Puccini - La rondine - as Magda de Civry in a studio recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel

1981 - Mozart Concert Arias - Kiri Te Kanawa, Wiener Kammerorchester, Gyorgy Fischer [London/Decca Jubilee 417756]

1983 - Canteloube - Chants D'Auvergne (Songs of The Auvergne) / Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras [Polygram SXDL 7604]

1983 - Mozart Opera Arias - London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis [Philips], [Polygram 5414319]

1983 - Verdi & Puccini - London Philharmonic Orchestra, John Pritchard [CBS 37298]

1984 - Come To The Fair - Folk Songs & Ballads'' - with the Medici String Quartet and members of the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Douglas Gamley [EMI EMC 222]

1984 - Puccini - Tosca - as Floria Tosca in a studio recording under Georg Solti

1984 - Ave Maria - a collection of religious favorites with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Choir of St. Paul's Cathedral, London

1984 - A Portrait of Kiri Te Kanawa [CBS SBR 236068]

1985 - Handel - Messiah - with Anne Gjevang, Keith Lewis, Gwynne Howell, Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Georg Solti [3xLP, Album + Box, London Records]

1985 - Leonard Bernstein ''West Side Story'' - a recording of Bernstein's music for the Broadway production ''West Side Story'', with José Carreras singing the part of Tony and Leonard Bernstein himself conducting the orchestra and chorus [Polygram 415253]

1985 - A Room With A View (OST) - the Verdi and Puccini arias "O mio babbino caro" (''Gianni Schicchi'') and "Chi bel sogno di Doretta" (''La Rondine'') in the Merchant Ivory film ''A Room with a View'' [DRG CDSBL 12588]

1986 - Richard Strauss -Arabella - as Arabella in a studio recording with Covent Garden Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, Jeffrey Tate

1986 - Gounod -Faust - sang the role of Marguerite in a studio recording with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Colin Davis

1986 - South Pacific - London Studio Cast, Kiri Te Kanawa, Mandy Patinkin, José Carreras and Sarah Vaughan

1986 - Kiri - Blue Skies - with Nelson Riddle And His Orchestra [Polygram/Decca 414 666-1 ]

1986 - Christmas with Kiri'' (with Philharmonia Orchestra of London and Chorus, Carl Davis) London Classic / Polygram

1987 - Puccini Manon Lescaut - sang the title role in a studio recording with Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Riccardo Chailly

1987 - Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick 'Fritz' Loewe - My Fair Lady - a studio cast recording with Te Kanawa singing the role of Eliza Doolittle and Jeremy Irons singing the role of Henry Higgins [Polygram 421200]

1987 - Kiri Sings Gershwin - a collection of George Gershwin songs with the New Princess Theater Orchestra, John McGlinn [EMI]

1987 - Portrait [Polygram 417645]

1987 - Beethoven - Symphonie No.9 - Te Kanawa, Hamari, Burrows, Holl, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum [EMI]

1988 - Mozart - Così fan tutte - recorded the role of Fiordiligi again this time with Vienna State Opera, James Levine

1988 - Bach - Matthäus-Passion - Te Kanawa, von Otter, Rolfe Johnson, Krause, Blochwitz, Bär, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [Box, Album + 3xCD, Decca]

1988 - Gabriel Fauré - Requiem · Pelléas Et Mélisande · Pavane - Te Kanawa, Milnes, Choeur De L'Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal, Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal, Charles Dutoit [Decca]

1989 - Verdi - Simon Boccanegra - recorded the role of Amelia Grimaldi in a studio recording with La Scala, Milan, Georg Solti

1989 - Songs Of Inspiration - Kiri Te Kanawa, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Julius Rudel [London/Decca/Polygram 425431]

1989 - Mozart - Die Zauberflöte - recorded the role of Pamina again this time with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

1990 - Johann Strauss II - Die Fledermaus - sang the part of Rosalinde with Vienna State Opera, André Previn

1990 - Mozart - Le nozze di Figaro - re-recorded the role of Contessa Almaviva in a studio recording with the Metropolitan Opera, James Levine

1990 - Richard Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier - sang the role of the Marschallin with the Semperoper Dresden under Bernard Haitink

1990 - Mozart - Der Schauspieldirector - sang the role of Mademoiselle Silberklang with the Vienna Philharmonic under John Pritchard

1990 - Ave Maria - Kiri Te Kanawa, English Chamber Orchestra, Choir of St Paul's Cathedral, Barry Rose [Philips 412629]

1990 - Kiri In Recital - Liszt, Obradors, Ravel - Kiri Te Kanawa, with Roger Vignoles (Piano) [London/Decca 425820 ]

1991 - Richard Strauss - 4 Letzte Lieder and other songs'' - with Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic

1991 - The Kiri Selection

1991 - Kiri Sings Kern

1991 - Bernard Herrmann - Citizen Kane - The Classic Film Scores Of Bernard Herrmann - Kiri Te Kanawa, Joaquin Achucarro, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Gerhardt [RCA Victor, BMG Classics]

1991 - World In Union (Single, 7") - (Rugby Union World Cup Theme Song) [Columbia]

1992 - Paul McCartney and Carl Davis - Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio (Movement VII: Crises)

1992 - Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin - sang the role of Tatyana in a studio recording with Welsh National Opera under Charles Mackerras

1992 - Verdi La traviata - sang the role of Violetta in a studio recording with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Zubin Mehta

1992 - Kiri Sidetracks: The Jazz Album

1992 - Mahler - Symphony No. 4, Kiri Te Kanawa, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti [Decca]

1993 - Wagner -Tannhäuser - sang the role of Elisabeth in a studio recording with the London Philharmonia Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers, Marek Janowski

1993 - Mozart Arias (Grand Voci) [Decca]

1993 - Classics - Mozart, Handel, Gounod, Schubet, Strauss [Philips 434725]

1994 - Mozart - Great Mass in C minor - (chorus master: Laszlo Heltay) [Philips]

1994 - Heart to Heart - with Malcolm McNeill

1994 - Puccini - La bohème - recorded the title role in a studio recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano

1994 - The Sorceress - arias from Handel operas with Hogwood and The Academy of Ancient Music

1994 - Kiri! Her Greatest Hits Live [Decca 443600]

1995 - Christmas with Kiri Te Kanawa: Carols from Coventry Cathedral - Kiri Te Kanawa, Michael George, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Robin Stapleton [Teldec]

1996 - Richard Strauss ''Capriccio - recorded the role of the Countess in a studio recording with Wiener Philharmoniker, Ulf Schirmer, Decca/London

1996 - Franz Schubert - Lieder - Judith Raskin, Kiri Te Kanawa, Elly Ameling, Peter Pears, Judith Blegen [Sony Classical]

1997 - French Songs and Arias

1997 - Sole et amore - Puccini Arias - Te Kanawa, Vignoles, Orchestre de L'Opera National de Lyon, Kent Nagano [Erato]

1998 - Bizet - Carmen - Highlights - Troyanos, Domingo, Te Kanawa, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti [Decca]

1998 - The Greatest Classical Stars On Earth - Placido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Luciano Pavarotti, Lesley Garrett, Nigel Kennedy (2CD, Compilation) [Decca]

1999 - Maori Songs - Kiri Te Kanawa, (Air New Zealand) [EMI Classics 5 56828-2]

1999 - Greatest Hits [EMI Classics]

2001 - Kiri (also known as Kiri - The Best Of)

2003 - The Very Best Of

2004 - Kiri - A Portrait

2005 - The Best of Kiri Te Kanawa (20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection)

2006 - Kiri Sings Karl - Songs of Mystery & Enchantment (with Karl Jenkins) – arranged and conducted by Karl Jenkins

Notes

External links

Kiri Te Kanawa Discogs discography

Kiri Te Kanawa operadis opera discography recordings

Kiri Te Kanawa Michael Storrs Music management

Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation NZ based charitable trust

Category:Operatic sopranos Category:New Zealand sopranos Category:New Zealand opera singers Category:New Zealand Māori classical musicians Category:New Zealand female singers Category:New Zealand pop singers Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Crossover jazz singers Category:Women in jazz Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Members of the Order of New Zealand Category:New Zealand dames Category:Honorary Companions of the Order of Australia Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Category:Fellows of Wolfson College, Cambridge Category:Honorary Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:People from Gisborne, New Zealand Category:1944 births Category:Living people

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