At age 14 in 1880 Russian composer Vasilly Kalinnikov became choir director at a seminary. A few years later, with difficulty owing to his family’s poverty, he enrolled in Moscow music schools and played in theater orchestras for money. This was until 1892 when Tchaikovsky, who admired his youthful compositions, recommended him for his first position as conductor at a theater orchestra. But his weak constitution (from childhood poverty and privation) soon saw him fall ill with tuberculosis. For his health, in 1893 he moved south to Crimea (Yalta) where he lived the rest of his life. He finished his first symphony in 1895 and his Symphony No. 2 in 1897 which received ovations and critical success. Kalinnikov succumbed to tuberculosis in 1901. His symphony No. 2 is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Also, today’s featured composer for Women’s History Month is Hildegard von Bingen, the medieval nun born in 1098 who also wrote books on theology, botany, medicine and, in hundreds of letters, gave counsel to everyone from peasants to kings. She is the earliest known female composer and one of the first identified composers, PERIOD. Her music was virtually unknown until around the 800th anniversary of her death in 1979 but with hundreds of recordings since. A more thorough look at her life as a composer, visionary and saint can be found in
this article. Listen for the music of Hildegard von Bingen throughout the day.
