#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalAugust Week 2
By Ralph Graves
For August, the Classics a Day team chose to celebrate some birthdays. Several major composers were born in August, and some deserve rediscovery. The challenge is to post videos of August’s birthday boys and girls to your social media feed.
For this challenge, I tried to match the actual birthdate to the date of the post. (I wasn’t always successful.)
08/12/24 Heinrich Biber (August 12, 1644): Battalia a 10
Although he wrote in many genres, Biber is best remembered for advancing violin technique. He was among the first to write double stops and alternative tuning.
08/13/24 John Ireland (August 13, 1879): Piano Sonata
1918 Most of Ireland’s works were written for piano. His 1918 piano sonata is one of his longer works for the instrument. Many are miniatures, or suites made up of short movements.
08/14/24 Samuel Wesley (August 14, 1810): Symphony No.6
1802 Wesley was Charles Wesley’s son and John Wesley’s nephew, founders of the Methodist Church. Samuel wrote a fair number of organ works, as well as 6 symphonies 11 concertos, and a variety of anthems.
08/15/24 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast
Coleridge-Taylor had a highly successful career as a conductor and composer, despite being of mixed-race descent. His trilogy of cantatas based on Longfellow’s poem “Hiawatha” made his reputation.
08/16/24 Heinrich August Marschner (August 16, 1795): Overture to Hans Heiling, Op. 80
Marschner was the most popular German opera composer of the mid-1800s. He was considered Weber’s heir and was supplanted by Wagner.
