I know we've done Conductors on Stamps here. If Composers has already been done, my humble apologies. There seem to be quite a few composer stamps; probably a topical unto itself. Here are my favorite composers on stamps: Beethoven His 7th symphony is my favorite piece of music. I also like the 4th and 8th very well. Bartok For his amazing Concerto for Orchestra and string quartets. Rachmaninoff The 2nd piano concerto. Shostakovitch 4th and 13th symphonies. Stalin had just published a criticism of un-Soviet music when the 4th was being written and had problems getting it performed. He 'apologized' with his 5th symphony. The work also requires an immense orchestra. The orchestra for the 13th requires some unusual instruments (for a classical orchestra) - tambourine, glockenspiel, castanets and woodblocks! I know...my tastes are quite pedestrian. A story from college years. My friend, Bill Riley, who introduced me to classical music majored in double reeds and composition. He was excited to ask me to attend the performance of his first symphony by the college orchestra. The first movement lasted less than three minutes! (I thought it might be a prelude or some such.) The second, third and fourth movements were even shorter. Total for the entire work was perhaps seven minutes. Later, he asked me how I liked it. "It was great, but wasn't it a little short for a symphony, Bill?" To which he replied, somewhat indignantly "Do you know what it takes to write and score music for an entire orchestra?!" I do think composing music has to be one of the purist acts of creativity. More composers on stamps and their works/your favorites?
That´s really some coincidence: On this rainy day today I had the idea to start a thread showing composers on stamps.I checked Austria and Germany (Reich and West-). I had not expected that there were so many more stamps from Austria, - my wild guess is around 100 or so -,than from Germany.But then Vienna always had been the musical capital of Germany,at least till World War I. I think my musical taste is less sophisticated than yours,Molokai. Modern composers are not my favourites.My major-deities are Bach (the supreme),Beethoven,Haydn and Mozart.But of course I like many lesser deities as well. By the way my Beethoven favourite symphonies are 3,5,6 and the fourth set of the 9th. Here the one and only composer issue of the I.Republic: 2 1/2 K. Joseph Haydn 5 K. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 7 1/2 K. Ludwig van Beethoven 10 K. Franz Schubert 25 K. Anton Bruckner 50 K. Johann Strauß (son) 100 K. Hugo Wolf Issued April 24th,1922 the stamps were sold at ten times of theirs face value.So the complete set was sold for 2000 Kronen. I will not write any information,because interested people either know it all anyway or can google.
"Great minds think alike." That is a very attractive set! I enjoy your narratives much better than Wiki's so feel free to write away <WERNER>!
Two more famous composers: Prokofiev I still recall Leonard Bernstein performing and annotating Peter and the Wolff on his wonderful Young People’s Concerts. Rossini When I first heard the William Tell Overture in 4th or 5th grade, my first reaction was “Hey, this guy stole the Lone Ranger’s music!"
As I recall, all of the 1940s and 1950s cartoons that preceded the Saturday matinees at the local movie theaters used classical music as background. At the time, it probably didn't make much of an impression on the kids watching the cartoon, but I noticed it when I became an adult and saw those cartoons again. I appreciated the studios attempt to add a little culture to those funny and goofy cartoons. I don't believe contemporary cartoons introduce classical music to kids these days and their lives are a little lesser for its absence. Don
I don't pretend to know much about music, but my wife and I do enjoy going to opera productions in Fort Worth, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and at the local universities. I do have my favorite composers with Giuseppe Verde, probably, at the top of the list. The only Verde opera that I have seen or heard that I don't care much for is Falstaff. At the bottom of my composer list is Wagner. To make this post philatelic, a scan of the Composer set from the 1940 Famous Americans Issue is below. Of the five composers featured in the set, my guess is that John Philip Sousa's music would be the most recognizable to average Americans 50 or older. Those younger probably would not have a clue as to who any of them were, and I must confess the music of MacDowell and Nevin are unknown to me. Don
Good memory! I also recall that music at the matinees my grandmother would take me to fairly often. I think it was a quarter for a double feature? We saw The Blob at one of them and it scared the daylights out of both of us. Our culture has definitely fallen hard since then <DON>. I remember my grandparents (Italian) listening to Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra on Sunday afternoons. Now its Baby Goo-Goo sitting Indian style squirting cheese-whiz into her mouth.
issued March 31st,1947 Schubert (1797-1828) composed a huge number of all kinds of musical works.The "Deutsch-Verzeichnis" lists nearly 1000. His symphonic works are excellent,while others like his operas are rarely performed. His greatest achievement is possibly the "Deutsches Kunstlied" (German Art Song or German Lieder),what was almost inventend by Schubert. He wrote more than 600 Lieder. "Die Winterreise" and "Die schöne Müllerin" are possibly his best known Lieder-cycles. Schubert was born and died in suburbs of todays Vienna.He lived for 31 years only and died presumably from typhoide weakened by his longtime syphilis.
issued Jan.21st,1948 Ziehrer was a composer of popular music and operettas.Moast are forgotten, only his operetta "Die Landstreicher" is still performed today. He wrote walts,polkas,mazurkas,marches etc. He became conductor of a famous regiment in 1888 and in 1907 he became the last K.u.K. Hofball-Marshall.
issued Dec.18th,1948 130 years "silent night,holy night" Composed by Franz Gruber (1787-1863) on a text by Josef Mohr (1792-1848), "Stille Nacht,heilige Nacht" is the best known non-secular christmas song of Germany.It almost "personalizes" the solemn character of the "German Christmas".What is very different from the way Christmas is celebrated in most non-german countries.
Johann Sebastian Bach...Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concerto and so much more.... https://www.bachonbach.com/150-johann-sebastian-bach-stamps-in-the-world/
Carl Nielsen, Danish composer, conductor and musician. If you consider Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (29 volumes but now online!) there are hundreds if not thousands of little-to-unknown composers. Many of them have written some wonderful music. YouTube is a good resource for listening to some of them. (And, no, I am not saying Nielsen is one of them, though he is certainly no well-known at least worldwide.)
It is quite amazing to read the Wikipedia about Nielsen.He had composed a wide choice of music.And I have to confess: I did not know him. No such problems with the next gentleman,who was and still is one of the best known composers. issued June 3rd,1949 A stamp commemorating his masterpiece: "An der schönen blauen Donau" centenary,issued Feb.15th,1967; Often called as the "real national anthem" of Austria.
A lovely choice for such a country so infused with things cultural! Not so much of that kind of culture over here. As the Russians say about the U.S., 'Nye-culturnyi'
Molokai,I don´t know about the Russians,but somehow it is strange,that in an earliar thread the US seemed to have more stamps,than any other country,showing generals & admirals. The following stamp shows one of my favourite composers: Commemorating the125th birthday of Anton Bruckner,issued Sept.3rd,1949.
A small dividend for spending more on defense than the next ten countries combined. Here is my favorite General and President in my lifetime: "I Still Like Ike!" By today's political standards he would be a Democrat.
Oh,the Americans.They really love their generals ! O.K.,so here a composer,who wrote the possibly best (known)(at least ouside the US) march: The "Radetzky Marsch". issued Sept.24th,1949 The Radetzky Marsch honours Field-Marshal Radetzky stamp issued Dec.1st,1935 (from a set 6)
issued Dec.31st,1949 Karl Millöcker was a composer of what would be called today "popular music". Operettas,(today called musicals),walts,music for music-halls,etc. His most successful operetta was "Der Bettelstudent" (the beggar student)(1881). issued July 3rd,1970
issued April 12th,1951 Lanner was a cotemporary competitor of Johann Strauss (Vater). He wrote hundreds of walts,polkas,marches and all kind of dance-music.
issued Oct.3rd,1951 Wilhelm Kienzel was a composer and conductor.He wrote operas,(today his most often played opera is "Der Evangelimann" from 1894),instrumental music and Deutsche Kunstlieder (German art-songs). Notes of "Der Evangelimann" are shown in the background of the stamp.
