Timothy Judd 
Hailed as “a second to Corelli,” Nicola Matteis (c. 1650-1713) was the earliest Italian Baroque virtuoso violinist to settle in London. He is credited with introducing to England something closer to the modern bow hold. His son, Nicola Matteis II (1670-1737), a violinist and composer as well, left England in 1700 for Vienna, where he composed ballets for the imperial opera. His Fantasia in A minor for solo violin was written in …
The renowned Russian composer, Sofia Gubaidulina, passed away yesterday at her home near Hamburg, Germany. She was 93. Born in the rural Tatar region of the Soviet Union, Gubaidulina graduated from the Kazan Conservatory in 1954. Soviet authorities conducted raids in the school’s dormitories, in search of Western contemporary music scores, which were banned at the time. Gubaidulina later recalled, “We knew Ives, Cage, we actually knew everything on the sly.” While …
English composer Judith Weir’s Heroic Strokes of the Bow (“Heroische Bogenstriche”) was inspired by a work of twentieth century art. The Swiss-born artist Paul Klee’s 1938 work of the same title, currently displayed at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is a blue and black painting on pink newspaper. “Said to be a tribute to the famous violinist Adolph Busch, whom Klee knew personally, it seems to show a simple pattern of violin …
The bass aria, Komm, süsses Kreuz (“Come, sweet Cross”), comes near the end of the second part of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, first performed in 1727. Its text speaks of the suffering of Christ in his final days. Arriving in the story’s most desolate moments, the veiled accompaniment of the viola da gamba (often played by the cello in modern performances) hovers as a gloomy and inescapable presence. The …
In the 19th century, writers such as Charles Dickens commonly published books in monthly installments which appeared in popular periodicals. Published on the first day of each month in 1876 in the St. Petersburg music journal, Nuvellist, Tchaikovsky’s piano cycle, The Seasons, Op. 37a reached listeners in a similar way. Subtitled “12 characteristic scenes,” the atmospheric works are miniature tone paintings. Tchaikovsky composed them concurrently with the ballet, Swan Lake. In this era before recordings, …
Begun in 1914 on the eve of the First World War and completed in 1920, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending is a shimmering, impressionistic ode to the serene English countryside. Gently rising ever higher, the solo violin depicts the courting flight of the skylark, which glides over the green hedgerow-stitched landscape during spring and early summer. Wordsworth described the bird as the “ethereal minstrel.” Filled with a sense of nostalgia and lament, …
The Italian Baroque composer and violinist Antonio Bertali (1605-1669) is now little more than a footnote in music history. But during his lifetime, Bertali was a celebrated virtuoso and composer of operas, oratorios, liturgical works, and chamber music. Half of his output has been lost. Born in Verona, Bertali migrated north to Vienna where he was employed by the court of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. He is credited with establishing the …