Composer of the Week

Kate Molleson & Nastasha Loges explore the life and music of Johanna Senfter.

If you know the name Johanna Senfter, it is probably in connection with her teacher, the composer, Max Reger. Senfter won the Arthur Nikisch prize for composition in 1910, and went on to be one of the most prolific of all late-Romantic female composers, writing at least 150 works, yet she has all but disappeared from our history books. In between the two World Wars she was very active within the world of music too, founding the Oppenheim Music Society, organizing her own concert series and founding the Oppenheim Bach Society. However, her personal life is shrouded in mystery with little information published about either her biography, or her music, and there are substantial gaps in her story when we know nothing about Senfter. Unsurprisingly then, there are also questions hanging over certain elements of her personal life, and her political allegiances. Over the course of this week, Kate Molleson is joined by Professor Natasha Loges to explore the life of Johanna Senfter. They also examine the tumultuous world of early 20th Century Germany in which Senfter was working, and speculate on the reasons for her anonymity today.

Music Featured:

Suite for two violins No 2 (Menuet) Symphony No 4 (2nd mvt) Drei Klavierstucke, op 77 Violin Sonata in G minor, Op 32 (4th mvt) Trio for clarinet, horn and piano (3rd mvt) Vogelweise Clarinet Quintet (2nd mvt) Symphony No 4 (3rd mvt) Viola Sonata No 1 in F minor, Op 41 (3rd mvt) Chorale Preludes, Op 70 (Nos 4, 2 & 9) Sonata for cello in A Major, Op 10 (4th mvt) Suite for two violins No 91 No 2 (1st mvt) 5 pieces for viola and piano, Op 76 (No 5) Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 90 (3rd mvt) 6 Little Pieces for violin and piano, Op 13 (No 3 Elegie) Sonata for cello and piano in E flat major, Op 79 (2nd mvt) Clarinet Sonata (3rd mvt) Drei Klavierstucke Op 83, No 1 Sonata for violin and piano in A major, Op 26 (4th mvt) Concerto in C minor for two violins and orchestra, Op 40 5 pieces for viola and piano, Op 76 (Weihnachten. In ruhiger Bewegung) Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 90 (1st mvt) Suite for two violins No 1 (Courante) Piano Concerto in G minor, Op 90 (2nd mvt) Symphony 4 (1st mvt) Quintet for clarinet and string quartet in B, Op 11 (3rd mvt) 6 Little Pieces, for violin and piano (No 1, Melodie) Mazurka: Allegretto

Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Johanna Senfter (1879-1961) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001wqp7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod delves into the world of Venetian composer, Maddalena Sirmen

Maddalena Sirmen was born in Venice in 1745 and christened Maddalena Laura Lombardini. Her poverty-stricken family were unable to support her and by the age of seven she was admitted to one of Venice’s ‘Ospedali’. The Ospedali were hospitals and orphanages set up to help the needy but also celebrated for the musical education they provided to their residents . Sirmen soon excelled in her training. By the age of fourteen she was accepted for additional music lessons in Padua with the famed violinist, Tartini, and became one of his favourite students. In 1767 she married fellow composer, Lodovico Sirmen, and was able to leave the Ospedale, at last. There followed many successful years of travelling and performing as a virtuoso violinist, often presenting her own works. Sirmen’s music was published in many leading European cities, and Leopold Mozart said of one of her works, that it was “beautifully written”. When visiting London for a third time, Sirmen decided to present herself as a singer, rather than a violinist. This proved to be a mistake and she was greatly criticised in the press. From this point onwards her reputation diminished despite further concerts, as a violinist, in Paris, Dresden and St Petersburg. Sirmen eventually settled back in Venice, where she died in 1818.

Music Featured:

Violin Concerto No 3 in A major, Op 3 No 3 (excerpt) Trio Sonata No 5 in G, Op 1 No 5 (Allegro Moderato) Ferdinando Bertoni: Veni Creator (excerpt) Trio Sonata No 5 in G, Op 1 No 5 (Rondo Allegro) Ferdinando Bertoni: Orfeo (excerpt) String Quartet No 5 in F major Violin Concerto No 3 in A major, Op 3 No 3 Giuseppe Tartini: Violin Sonata in G minor, “Devils Trill” (excerpt) String Quartet No 1 in E flat major (Andante) String Quartet No 1 in E flat major (Allegretto) Giuseppe Tartini: Stabat Mater Violin Concerto No 2 in E major, Op 3 No 2 String Quartet No 4 in B flat major String Quartet No 2 in E flat major (excerpt) Duet in C major, Op 4 No 6 Ludovico Sirmen: Sonata in A major (Moderato) Violin Concerto No 5 in B flat major, Op 3 No 5 Ludovico Sirmen: Sonata in A major (Lento) String Quartet No 2 in E flat major Violin Concerto No 1 in B flat major, Op 3 No 1 (Allegro) J. C. Bach: Gioas, re di Giuda (Fe giuriamo) Maddalena Sirmen: Violin Concerto No 1 in B flat major, Op 3 No 1 (excerpt) J. C. Bach: Sonata in G, Op 10 No 3, W. B4 (Rondeaux) String Quartet No 3 in G minor Violin Concerto No 6 in C major, Op 3 No 6 Violin Concerto No 4 in C major, Op 3 No 4 (excerpt) String Quartet No 6 in E major (Andantino) Thomas Linley Junior: The Song of Moses (Chorus: Praise be to God, and God alone) String Quartet No 6 in E major (Con brio) Ludovico Sirmen: Sonata in A major (Adagio cantabile) Violin Concerto No 4 in C major, Op 3 No 4 String Quartet No 5 in F minor

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Maddalena Sirmen and her World https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001w8gx

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Karl Jenkins has had a career of contrasts – from accomplished jazz fusion, prog rock and the worlds of film and advertising, to phenomenal success in concert halls around the world as a composer of music that delights audiences and often defies categorisation; music that is rhythmic, emotional – and hugely popular: he just might be the most performed living composer in the world.

In these special programmes, Sir Karl Jenkins joins Donald Macleod to talk about his life and music ahead of the composer’s 80th birthday.

Music Featured:

Benedictus One World: In the Beginning One World: Let’s Go (The Tower of Babel), One World: Yet, Here I Am Sarakiz (Dance) Stabat Mater (excerpt) One World: Tikkun Olam Suo Gan Quirky Blue Hazard Profile, pt 1 Carol Ann La Folia – concerto for marimba and strings Cantata Memoria (excerpt) Cantilena Adiemus Hymn Kayama Cancion Plateada Palladio, concerto grosso for string orchestra (i Allegretto) Stella Natalis (excerpt) Gloria (excerpt) The Peacemakers (excerpt) The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace (excerpt) Quirk (Chasing the Goose) White Water One World: The Golden Age Begins Anew Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra (‘It takes two…’ Seductively) Over the Stone (iv, Tros y Garreg) One World: Sakura, Spring has Come Requiem (excerpt)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Martin Williams for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Karl Jenkins https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001w1jw

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson explores the legends and lore of Igor Stravinsky

Music Featured:

Rite of Spring Fireworks Three Movements from Petrushka (Russian Dance) The Firebird: Infernal Dance The Rite of Spring, Part 2: The Sacrifice Three Pieces for String Quartet (Excentrique) Four Russian Peasant Songs Song of the Nightingale (The Mechanical Nightingale) Renard (excerpt) Soldier’s Tale (excerpt) Les Noces: The Wedding Feast Pulcinella Suite (Sinfonia) Suite Italienne Sonata for Piano Symphonies of Wind Instruments Octet Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments Oedipus Rex(excerpt) Serenade in A for piano (Romanza) Orpheus (excerpt) Apollo (excerpt) Duo Concertant Otche nash Symphony of Psalms Mass (Santus) Ode (iii Epitaph) In Memoriam Dylan Thomas Requiem Canticles

Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Martin Williams for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vld7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach’s life throws a light on the political turbulence and identity within 19th century Europe. He struggled to break into the musical establishment of Paris, but he didn’t struggle with creating a dazzling array of work for the theatre. His 98 stage works established and defined what operetta was, paving the way for modern musical theatre.

Music Featured:

Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann), Act III: Barcarolle (arr. A. Sedlar) Grand Concerto in G Major for cello and orchestra, Concerto Militaire (I. Allegro maestoso) Les fleurs d’hiver Musette, Op 24 Pepito (excerpt) Les bavards: Overture Decameron dramatique (excerpt) Le “66”(excerpt) 6 Fables de Lafontaine (orchestrated by J.-P. Haeck) (excerpt) Rends-moi mon âme L'etoile Les brigands: Overture Ba-ta-clan (excerpt) Orphee aux enfers (excerpt) Le Papillon (excerpt) Die Rheinnixen: Overture Abendblatter La Vie parisienne: Overture La belle Helene (excerpt) Barbe-bleue (except) La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein (excerpt) La Haine, Act IV: Marche religieuse Les contes d'Hoffmann (excerpt) American Eagle Waltz Le voyage dans la lune (except) Madame Favart: Overture Ouverture a grand orchestra

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Iain Chamber for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vcpj

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores Mendelssohn’s experience in the British Isles

Mendelssohn’s relationship with Britain began when he was 20 years old, when London became the first stop of his Grand Tour. This week Donald Macleod explores the composer's experiences in Britain, considering the mark he left on musical life in these islands, the works he wrote here, and what he got up to in the course of the ten visits he made across his lifetime. Mendelssohn took inspiration from the scenery, but he also got his first professional engagements in Britain, and in return, by the end of his life, Britain lionized him.

Music Featured:

Songs Without Words Op 19b No 1 Symphony No 1 in C minor (1st mvt) 12 Lieder Pp 9: III – Wartend Octet in E flat major (3rd mvt) Concerto in E major for Two pianos (2nd & 3rd mvts) Fantasie in F# minor (Mvt 1) Symphony No 3 in A minor 'Scottish' (1st mvt) 3 Fantasies (or Caprices) Op 16 String Quartet in E flat Major (1st mvt) Organ Sonata No 3 (1st mvt) Symphony No 3 in A minor 'Scottish' (4th mvt) Songs without Words Op 19b No 3 Hebrides Overture Piano Concerto No 1 in G minor (2nd & 3rd mvts)) Songs Without Words Op 19b (Nos 2, 5, 6) Symphony No 4 in A major 'Italian' (3rd & 4th mvts) Songs Without Words Op 102 No 1 Piano Concerto No 2 in D minor (2nd & 3rd mvts) Piano Trio No 1 (1st mvt) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nos 5 & 7) Violin Concerto in E minor (1st mvt) 6 Songs Op 99 No 5 Elijah Part 1 (excerpt) Octet in E flat major (1st mvt) String Quartet No 6 in F minor (3rd mvt) Elijah Part 2 (excerpt)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Megan Jones for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001v4jh

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Kate Molleson talks to Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Caroline Shaw

At the age of just 30, in 2013 American composer Caroline Shaw made the headlines when she became the youngest person to win a Pulitzer Prize for her vocal work "Partita for Eight Voices". It's a mind blowing, joyous celebration of every sound and technique the human voice can achieve. The unexpectedly gained Pulitzer could have pigeon-holed Shaw's future career, as a "composer", but central to her identity as a creator is the fact that Shaw regards herself as musician. She's a violinist, a vocalist, producer, and a composer and it's the sum of all these parts that make up the creative impetus for her music. Blending performance with composition, blurring the lines between different musical genres, Shaw has avoided categorisation in the multiplicity of her enthusiasms. She's worked with rappers Kanye West and Nas, and soprano Renée Fleming, and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. Her more than one hundred works encompass classical works, film scores, vocal music, and performing and working collaboratively she continues to engage in a diverse range of multi-media projects.

Shaw's passion for music formed early. Born in North Carolina in 1982, Shaw was taught the Suzuki method of violin by her mother from the age of 2. Her father, a specialist in respiratory disease, was a keen amateur pianist. Shaw grew up in a culture of community music-making, singing in the church choir and summer camp. Formal studies followed at Rice in performance and Yale in composition, after which she undertook a doctoral programme in composition at Princeton.

Plan and Elevation (IV: The Orangery) And So Partita for 8 Singers (IV: Passacaglia) Gustave Le Gray Entr’acte (version for String Orchestra) Valencia Limestone and Felt Punctum Boris Kerner Thousandth Orange for violin, viola, cello, piano Fleishman is in Trouble (Beef Lo Mein) And the Swallow Partita for 8 Singers (I: Allemande) To the Hands (Seven Responses project) (excerpt) Narrow Sea (excerpt) Its motion keeps “The Listeners” (excerpt) Plan and Elevation (V: The Beech Tree) Three Essays (III: Ruby) The Isle (excerpt) Taxidermy Blueprint for String Quartet To the Sky Partita for 8 Singers (II: Sarabande) Fleishman is in Trouble (excerpts) Ritornello 2.sq.2.j.a for string quartet

Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for A Vaughan Williams Christmas https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001trhs

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

The 19th century was an exciting time for classical musicians. Urban centres across Europe and the New World were expanding rapidly, creating a profitable music circuit for touring performers – particularly if you had the talent and star-power to attract audiences in large numbers! A new breed of performer began to emerge: extraordinary virtuosos whose dazzling abilities made them into international sensations. Liszt, Chopin, Clara Schumann and Paganini are among the names best remembered today but there were many others. This week, Donald Macleod explores the life and music of four more 19th century ‘showstoppers’ who were equally celebrated in their day, and who also turned their talents to composing.

Music Featured:

Teresa Carreño: Vals gayo Teresa Carreño: Florence, Cantilène Op.34 Teresa Carreño: Souvenirs de mon pays, Op. 10 Teresa Carreño: Le printemps, Op. 25 Teresa Carreño: String quartet in B minor: I. Allegro, II. Andante Teresa Carreño: Elégie Op. 22, No. 6, ‘Plaintes au borde d'une tombe’ Teresa Carreño: Little Waltz ‘Mi Teresita’ Elias Parish Alvars: Introduction, Cadenza & Rondo (extract) Elias Parish Alvars:Grand March Op.67 Elias Parish Alvars: Grand Duo on Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix, Op.65 Elias Parish Alvars: Harp Concerto in E flat Op.98, I. Allegro brillante Elias Parish Alvars: Grand Study in Imitation of a Mandolin Op.84 Maria Szymanowska: Polonaise in C major Maria Szymanowska: Prélude No. 18 in E major Maria Szymanowska: 24 Mazurkas, Nos. 21-24 Maria Szymanowska: Caprice sur la romance de Joconde in E major Maria Szymanowska: Fantaisie in F major Maria Szymanowska: Cotillon, ou valse figurée Maria Szymanowska Nocturne in B flat major Maria Szymanowska: 18 Dances of Different Genres, Nos. 9-12 & No.18 Joseph Joachim: 3 Stücke, Op.2, No.1, Romanze Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major (1st movt cadenza by Joseph Joachim) Joseph Joachim: Notturno Op.12 Joseph Joachim: Quartettsatz Joseph Joachim: Violin Concerto No.2 in D minor, Op.11 'A la hongroise': III. Finale alla Zingara: Allegro con spirito

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Taylor for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Greatest Showstoppers https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001th7g

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

“I’ve always loved carols,” Vaughan Williams wrote to Cecil Sharp in 1911. Despite being called a “most determined atheist” by Bertrand Russell at University, and in later life “a cheerful agnostic”, the composer never lost his love for Christmas. It dated back to childhood memories of singing carols from Stainer and Bramley’s Christmas Carols New and Old at his home at Leith Hill Place, Surrey. As an adult, his lifelong passion for the Christmas period was demonstrated in his music - the Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the cantata Hodie and the nativity play The First Nowell. His passion for collecting folk tunes in various counties of England – armed with a trusty pencil and paper, or at times a phonograph - also led to a plethora of carol settings using these folk tunes, as Vaughan Williams himself said “Every day some old village singer dies, and with him there probably die half-a-dozen beautiful melodies, which are lost to the world for ever: if we would preserve what still remains we must set about it at once.” This week. Kate Molleson explores Vaughan Williams’s experiences of Christmas across his life alongside some of his best loved pieces, and the music he wrote to celebrate the festive period.

Music Featured:

Dives and Lazarus The First Nowell (extract) Trad. The Murder of Maria Marten Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’ Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra – Group 1 The Wasps Overture I Saw Three Ships Come In Willow Wood Folk Songs of the Four Seasons: Orchestral Suite Trad. The High-low well The Holy Well (version 1) Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis As Joseph was Walking A London Symphony (III. Scherzo) Fantasia on Christmas Carols Symphony 3 (II. Lento) Trad. On Christmas Night Sussex Carol The Lark Ascending Hodie (This Day): The Oxen On Christmas Night (extract) Dona Nobis Pacem (III. Reconcilliation) Trad. Ploughboy’s Dream O Little Town of Bethlehem Prelude: 49th parallel Symphony No 5 in D Major (III. Romanza) God rest you merry, gentlemen The First Nowell: IX: In Bethlehem City On Wenlock Edge (V. Bredon Hill) Epithalamion (the bridal day) – Procession of the bride Hodie (extract) Symphony No 7 (V. Epilogue) Trad. Seven Virgins (Leaves of Life) The Seven Virgins The First Nowell: XX. The First Nowell

Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for A Vaughan Williams Christmas https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001t9wp

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of German composer Engelbert Humperdinck

German composer, Engelbert Humperdinck, became an international celebrity with his music for the stage. His lasting hit was his opera, Hansel and Gretel. There were other huge successes too. Die Heirat wider Willen (The Reluctant Marriage) was highly praised after its premiere at the Royal Opera in Berlin, and Humperdinck took 19 curtain calls in London for his stage work Das Wunder (The Miracle). In New York, at the Metropolitan Opera House, after the premiere of Humperdinck’s opera Königskinder (King's Children), the applause just kept going so that the management had to turn the lights off, in order to force the audience to leave.

Humperdinck was born in Siegburg, and from early on his parents encouraged his musical abilities, provided he focused on his other school commitments, too. He went on to study at the Cologne Conservatoire and soon fell under the spell of Wagner whom he met, and later worked with, in the preparation of Wagner’s opera, Parsifal. Humperdinck travelled Europe, and in the early 1890s he saw the premiere of his own opera Hansel and Gretel, which was performed on sixty-nine German stages within one year. Humperdinck became a professor of composition in Berlin and, between his teaching duties, he continued to write many works for the stage. Opera houses clambered to give the premiere of a new work by Humperdinck and he became a giant of his times.

Music Featured:

Evening Prayer (Hansel and Gretel) Weihnachten Piano Quintet in G (Allegro moderato) Hansel and Gretel (Overture) Die Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar (excerpt) Notturno in G, for violin and string quartet Junge Lieder Die Lerche String Quartet in C minor Wagner arr. Humperdinck: Parsifal (Herzeleide) Hansel and Gretel (excerpt) Nachtstück in A flat Christkindleins Wiegenlied An das Christkind Frühlingssehnsucht Altdeutsches Liebeslied Wiegenlied Piano Quintet in G (Adagio) Das Licht der Welt Erinnerung Liebesorakel Königskinder (excerpt) Moorish Rhapsody (Elegy at Sunset) Die Heirat wider Willen (excerpt) Winterlied Shakespeare Suite No 1 (Ferdinand und Miranda) Die Lerche II Verratene Liebe Unter der Linden Das Wunder (excerpt) String Quartet in C (Lebhaft)

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Audio Wales and West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001t2k8

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z