Famous Overtures auf CD

Product Information

É. LALO (1823–1892)
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was born in Lille, in northernmost France in 1823. He studied in Lille Academy of Music in the class of Professor Bauman; then he studied at the Paris Conservatoire under François Antoine Habeneck and Julius Schulhof.
Lalo’s symphonic works and concertos brought him fame: “Divertissement for orchestra” (1872), “Symphonic Allegro” (1876), “Symphony in G minor” (1887), also Concertos for violin (the Second one is known as “Symphonie espagnole” (1874) for violin and orchestra), concertos for cello and piano. The overture to Lalo’s lyrical drama “Le roi d’Ys” (“The King of Ys”) was performed in 1876, many years before the opera itself was staged. The introduction was supposed to become some kind of “musical preface”. At the beginning of the 90-ies the composer started to work on a new opera “La jacquerie” (“The Jacquerie Revolt”) but he failed to finish it. Édouard Lalo died almost at the age of 70 in Paris having survived the 100th performance of his “The King of Ys”. It took him less than 4 years since its premiere.
“Lalo’s music is very subtle in its essence” – writes J. Tiersot. – “This is a measured work, but it is done with artistic lightness, without any strain or tension, somehow naturally as if it had been made all by itself. Usually the melodies are short but they are elegant and fresh. The rhythms are precisely formed, the instrumentation strikes with its sonority and happiness.”

J. MASSENET (1842–1912)
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet is one of the most famous composers of the 19th century.
Massenet got his education in the Paris Conservatoire where his mentor in theory of composition was Ambroise Thomas. As a graduate in 1863 he was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome and spent three years in Italy. When he returned to his native country, Massenet introduced to the Parisians his “Fantasy for orchestra” (1867), as well as the theatre miniature “The Great Aunt” (“La Grand’tante”) that was staged in the Opéra-Comique in 1867. The composer’s oratorio in 4 acts “Marie-Magdeleine” (first performed in 1870) called forth Bizet’s enthusiastic review: “Not a single time the composers of our new school have created anything of the kind...” Massenet’s lyrical operas “Manon” (1884), “Werther” (1892), “Don Quichotte” (1910) form the mainstream repertoire of theatres. Besides operas (25) and ballet music Massenet composed works for orchestra and chamber pieces, cantatas and oratorios.
Massenet worked in the Paris Conservatoire for a long time where his pupils included G. Charpentier, A. Bruneau, F. Schmidt and others. The overture to Racine's tragedy “Phèdre” was written by Massenet in 1873.

F. HÉROLD (1791–1833)
The French composer Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold is mostly famous as the author of opera music.
His first teacher was his father, a pianist and composer, C. P.E. Bach’s pupil. Hérold got his further education in the Paris Conservatoire under Étienne Méhul and Jean Louis Adam.
Hérold composed piano music, romances, concerto arias; he created two symphonies, three quartets, some ballets. However, he became popular owing to his operas. He composed more than 20 operas, but the romantic “Zampa, ou La fiancée de marbre (Zampa, or the Marble Bride)” that was first staged in Paris in 1831, is the most well known in many countries. Three years later it was successfully performed in Saint Petersburg Opera House with O. A. Petrov as the title singer. Noticing the melodrama of the opera plot (the main character is a corsair who is punished for his infidelity to his fiancée) the outstanding Russian critic A. N. Serov found in Ferdinand Hérold’s music “plenty of melody ideas that are magnificent and fascinating”.

А. THOMAS (1811–1896)
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas composed more than 30 operas and ballets. Thomas studied in the Paris Conservatoire and took lessons from J.-F. Le Sueur.
After some experiments in various genres Thomas devoted himself to writing for the opera stage. In his last period of life (1871–1893) he was Director of the Paris Conservatoire.
P. Tchaikovsky noticed “excellent, rich in color and genially artistic instrumentation in his compositions”, considering Thomas an expert who “mastered the technical aspect of his business to the fullest extent”. Among Thomas’ twenty operas “Mignon” (1866) after Goethe’s novel “Wilhelm Meister’s Schooling” and “Hamlet” (1868) after Shakespeare’s tragedy turned to be the most viable. The audience liked them and these operas were included into the repertoires of the best theatres of the world descent for a long time. In 1871, five years later after its premiere in Paris, the opera “Mignon” was performed by the Italian company in St. Petersburg. The opera “Raymond” was composed in 1851. The melodious and elegant overture to this opera is often included in the repertoire by symphonic orchestras.

F. SUPPÉ (1819–1895)
One of the creators of the Viennese operetta, the Austrian composer Franz von Suppé was born in Split, Croatia in 1819.
Suppé’s descent predetermined his career as a theatre composer. He was a distant relative to the notability of the Italian opera Gaetano Donizetti, who actively participated in Suppé’s musical education at the moment the young composer’s talent began revealing.
Suppé started composing his own pieces of music in his childhood, and at the age of 15 he wrote some works of religious music. In 1835 he moved to Vienna and continued his studying music with the Austrian composer Ignaz von Seyfried who in his turn studied with W. A. Mozart. Brought up on Rossini’s and Verdi’s tunes Suppé introduced the features of the Italian style into the music of Vienna.
Suppé wrote more than 30 operas and operettas, about 200 farces, comic pieces and other stage productions. His march “Oh, my Austria! (Das ist mein Österreich)” became the second national anthem of the country. At the end of his life Suppe paid more attention and devoted more time to classical and religious music.
The brilliant, sparkling overtures to the operettas “Leichte Kavallerie” (Light Cavalry, 1866), “Die schöne Galathee” (The Beautiful Galatea, 1865), “Dichter und Bauer” (Poet and Peasant, 1846) make up the golden fund of the Viennese musical theatre.

Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky (b. 1931) is a world-famous conductor, also a pianist, composer and researcher; People’s Artist of the USSR and professor. He directed the most important orchestras of Russia and of other countries (during the years 1961–1974 he was the artistic director and chief conductor of the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra; during the years 1974–1977 he directed the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra; in 1978–1981 he directed the BBC Orchestra; in 1981–1982 – the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; in 1982–1992 – the State Symphony Orchestra of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR; in 1974–1985 he was the musical director of the Moscow Chamber Music Theater).