Joseph Marx

Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx (May 11, 1882 - September 3, 1964) was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic.

Life and career

Marx was born in Graz and pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earning several degrees including a doctorate in 1909. His thesis was an expansion of a 1907 scholarly study of tonality, in which he coined the term "atonality". He began composing seriously in 1908 and over the next four years he produced around 120 songs. In 1914 he joined the faculty of the Vienna Music Academy, later becoming the institution's director in 1922. When the school was reorganized as the Hochschule für Musik in 1924 he was appointed to the position of rector, holding that post for three years. Some of his notable students include Johann Nepomuk David, Paul Ulanowsky, Ivana Lang and Hisatada Otaka. From 1931 to 1938 he was music critic for the Neues Wiener Journal and following World War II he was critic for the Wiener Zeitung.

Surname

A surname or family name is a name added to a given name. In many cases, a surname is a family name and many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name". In the western hemisphere, it is commonly synonymous with last name because it is usually placed at the end of a person's given name.

In most Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries, two or more last names (or surnames) may be used. In China, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Madagascar, Taiwan, Vietnam, and parts of India, the family name is placed before a person's given name.

The style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is far from universal. In many countries, it is common for ordinary people to have only one name or mononym.

The concept of a "surname" is a relatively recent historical development, evolving from a medieval naming practice called a "byname". Based on an individual's occupation or area of residence, a byname would be used in situations where more than one person had the same name.

Joseph

"Joseph" is a masculine given name originating from Hebrew, recorded in the Hebrew Bible, as יוֹסֵף, Standard Hebrew Yossef, Tiberian Hebrew and Aramaic Yôsēp̄. In Arabic, including in the Qur'an, the name is spelled يوسف or Yūsuf. The name can be translated from Hebrew יהוה להוסיף YHWH Lhosif as signifying "JEHOVAH will increase/add".

In the Old Testament, Joseph is Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first (Yossef ben-Yaakov in the Jewish Bible). In the New Testament, Joseph is the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In the New Testament there is another Joseph as well, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus who supplied the tomb in which Jesus was buried.

The form "Joseph" is used mostly in English, French and German-speaking countries. The name has enjoyed significant popularity in its many forms in numerous countries, and Joseph was one of the two names, along with Robert, to have remained in the top 10 boys' names list in the US from 1925 to 1972. It is especially common in contemporary Israel, as either "Yossi" or "Yossef", and in Italy, where the name "Giuseppe" was the most common male name in the 20th century.

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for a piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble.

Keyboard concerti were common in the time of Johann Sebastian Bach. Occasionally, Bach's harpsichord concerti are played on piano.

History

In the 17th and 18th centuries, typical concertos for keyboard were organ concertos and harpsichord concertos, such as those written by George Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Classical and romantic

As the piano developed and became accepted, composers naturally started writing concerti for it. This happened in the late 18th century, during the Classical music era. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the most important composer in the early development of the form. Mozart's body of masterly piano concerti put his stamp firmly on the genre well into the Romantic era.

Mozart wrote many piano concertos for himself to perform (his 27 piano concertos also include concerti for two and three pianos). With the rise of the piano virtuoso, many composer-pianists did likewise, notably Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Robert Schumann—and also lesser-known musicians like Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Joseph Wölfl, Carl Maria von Weber, John Field, Ferdinand Ries, and F. X. Mozart.

Thomas Christian

Thomas Christian (1754–1828) was the translator of John Milton's Paradise Lost into Manx, an author of Manx carols, and vicar of Marown parish, Isle of Man.

Life

Thomas Christian was the second son of John Christian (1728–1779), Vicar of Marown for 26 years, from 1753 to 1779, and his wife Elizabeth. Thomas Christian's father is notable for having translated the Second Book of Kings from the Bible into the Manx language for Bishop Hildesley, published in 1771. Thomas was John's second son, born in 1753. He showed early academic promise, as testified by Bishop Hildesley, although the Bishop was disappointed upon first meeting him:

Young Christian got to me the day before the snow... I find he is almost a blank paper, notwithstanding the vast cries up of his vehement scholarship. His uncle sent me a list of books he had read, enough to frighten a learned Jew. He is tolerably versed in Greek Testament. But it is time he should know things as well as words

In 1768 or 1769 he was appointed Vicar of Peel. However, Christian was disappointed by this position as he saw as insufficient for him. But his complaints were quieted by Bishop Hildesley's pointing out that "his several appointments" brought him no less than £65 Manx, nearly £56 Sterling.