Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Underrated Classical Musicians 2/21/20


Poor Luigi Cherubini. He should probably be remembered as the second-best composer of Beethoven's generation, and there is something very Beethoven-like about much of his music. But Cherubini had the unfortunate luck as an old man to be director of the Paris Conservatoire when a rebellious and temperamental, outside-the-box young man named Hector Berlioz was a student barely able to play an instrument. But Berlioz was a fantastic writer who was very funny and obviously knew music inside-out. When it came time to write Berlioz's memoirs, poor Cherubini was the sputtering, petty, buffo villain, and his posthumous reputation was ruined forever. 
But Cherubini was esteemed by even Beethoven, and had no little influence on Beethoven's music. His opera, Medea, is probably his most famous work, and was a longtime vehicle for Maria Callas. But his most influential work is his Requiem, written for the 25th anniversary of Louis XVI's execution. Without it's example, there's no Requiem as we know them by either Berlioz or Verdi, no Rossini Stabat Mater, no Mendelssohn Elijah or Walpurgisnacht. It is one of the great works of church music written in a secular era. 


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