ALMA MAHLER-WERFEL - AUSTRIA
BORN 31 AUGUST
BORN 31 AUGUST
Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel (born Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler; 31 August 1879 – 11 December 1964) was a Viennese-born composer, author, editor and socialite. At fifteen, she was mentored by Max Burckhard. Musically active from her early years, she was the composer of at least 17 songs for voice and piano.
Alma played the piano from childhood and in her memoirs ("Mein Leben"), reports that she first attempted composing in the beginning of 1888 on the Greek island of Corfu. She studied composition with Josef Labor beginning in 1894 or 1895 and until 1901. She met Alexander von Zemlinsky in early 1900, began composition lessons with him that fall, and continued as his student until her engagement with Gustav Mahler in December 1901, after which she ceased composing. Up until that time, she had composed or sketched mostly Lieder, but also around 20 piano pieces and a small number of chamber music works, and a scene from an opera. She briefly resumed composing in 1910, but stopped in 1915. The chronology of her compositions is difficult to establish, because she did not date her manuscripts and destroyed many of them herself. Attempts to establish a chronological list of her works have been made by Professor Susanne Rode-Breymann in 1999 and 2014, and by Danish scholar Knud Martner in 2018.
Only a total of 17 songs by her survive. Fourteen were published during her lifetime, in three publications dated 1910, 1915, and 1924. The first two volumes appeared under the name Alma Maria Schindler-Mahler, and the last volume was published as "Fünf Gesänge" by Alma Maria Mahler; the cover of the 1915 set was illustrated by Oskar Kokoschka. Three additional songs were discovered in manuscript posthumously; two of them were published in the year 2000, edited by Dr. Susan M. Filler, and one published in 2018, edited by Barry Millington. Her personal papers, including music manuscripts, are held at the University of Pennsylvania, the Austrian National Library in Vienna, and the Bavarian State Library in Munich. These songs have been regularly performed and recorded since the 1980s. Orchestral versions of the accompaniments have been produced. Seven songs were orchestrated by David and Colin Matthews(published by Universal Edition), and all 17 songs were orchestrated by Julian Reynolds, and by Jorma Panula.
Alma Mahler was not only an articulate, well-connected and influential woman, but she also went on to outlive her first husband by more than 50 years. For half a century, therefore, she was the principal authority on the mature Mahler's values, character and day-to-day behaviour, and her two books quickly became the central source material for Mahler scholars and music-lovers alike. Unfortunately, as scholarship has investigated the picture she sought to paint of Mahler and her relationship with him, her accounts have increasingly been revealed as unreliable, false, and misleading, and evidence of deliberate manipulation and falsification can no longer be ignored. The fact that these deeply flawed accounts have nevertheless had a massive influence — leaving their mark upon several generations of scholars, interpreters and music-lovers, and becoming a foundation of the critical and popular literature on Mahler — constitutes the 'Alma Problem'.
Source: Wikipedia
♫ LISTEN
Hartleben In Meines Vaters Garten by Alma Mahler Werfel
LUCRECIA ROCES KASILAG - PHILLIPINES
BORN 31 AUGUST
BORN 31 AUGUST
Lucrecia Roces Kasilag (31 August 1918 – 16 August 2008) was a Filipino composer and pianist. She is particularly known for incorporating indigenous Filipino instruments into orchestral productions.
Kasilag grew up in Paco, Manila, where she was educated at Paco Elementary School and graduated valedictorian in 1930. She then transferred to Philippine Women's University for high school, where in 1933 she also graduated as valedictorian. For college, she graduated cum laude in 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English, in the same university. She also studied music at St. Scholastica’s College in Malate, Manila, with Sister Baptista Battig, graduating with a Music Teacher's Diploma, major in piano, in 1939.
After completing her studies, Kasilag made an international tour as a concert pianist, but eventually had to give up a performing career due to a congenital weakness in one hand.
Kasilag was instrumental in developing Philippine music and culture. She founded the Bayanihan Folks Arts Center for research and theatrical presentations, and was closely involved with the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company.
She was also a former president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, head of the Asian Composers League, Chairperson of the Philippine Society for Music Education, and was one of the pioneers of the Bayanihan Dance Company. She is credited for having written more than 350 musical compositions, ranging from folksongs to opera to orchestral works, and was composing up to the year before she died, at age 89.
Source: Wikipedia and Phillipines Kundiman
♫ LISTEN
Lullaby by Lucrecia Roces Kasilag