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Not recognized in their lifetime?

I have appreciated the composer Bach for some time, and was startled to learn this week that he was ignored and abused during his own lifetime. The music that he wrote covers a broad range of types and styles, though it was mainly written to be performed in church. It is majestic and mathematical at the same time. Johann Sebastian Bach died poor, and his wife died in a home for destitute women.. On her death bed she was quoted as asking God not for anything for herself, but that her husbands music should live on.

At age 11 Mendelson , took a liking to Bach’s work. It was not till Mendelson's love for Bach's work that it became popular. Unfortunately Mendelson was abused physically and mentally for his appreciation of what was considered musical exercise. Mendelson, a Jew, left the school he attended, was baptized as a Lutheran and began to study the work of Bach. When Mendelson began performing the music of his mentor, Bach was accepted as the genius that he was.

Which other people can you think of that were neglected in their own lifetime, but have been recognized since as having something great to offer to the world of music?
128x128nrchy

Showing 4 responses by duanegoosen

duanegoosen
355 posts
 
Papertrail, like i said earlier, i'm a little dim. Was that Tiny Tim/Minnie Pearl comment aimed at musicians and composers that you have listened to extensively and know to be artistically insignificant? Or was it a harpoon job for submitting a post that offended you?
duanegoosen
355 posts
 
Hey i told you i was dim... no offense taken. I think you may be right about the tendancy to take some of the big pop culture artists for granted. Listening to Oranj Symphonette do Henry Mancini or Jewels and Binoculars do Bob Dylan kind of helped drive home how strong both were as composers. Same goes for Gil Evans covering Hendrix.
duanegoosen
355 posts
 
Hi Silab,
I really like Herbie Nichols and i'm a big Tapscott fan. Haven't got into Newborn yet. A check on his discography has him on at least 40 records, where would you recommend starting?
duanegoosen
355 posts
 
My (often dim) recollection of stuff i heard in school does'nt put Bach in the starving artist category. The biographical account at- http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxjsbach.html doesn't either. He was the Capellmeister of Weimar then Cothen and moved to take the same title at Leipzig (largely so his sons could attend a good university). "His arrival was clearly a major event in the musical and social world". The inagural ceremony was on May 31, 1723. At 36 he married a 20 year old, Anna Magdelena (one of the best sopranos in the country). "There is no doubt whatsoever that he was widely respected as a composer, musician, teacher and specialist in organ construction. This respect was to grow steadily as Bach's reputation widened and he gained the official title of Court Composer to the Dresden Court". His son Carl Phillip Emanuel wrote, "No musician of any consequence passing through Leipzig would fail to call upon my father", "where Bach had a large private music room in which he kept six claviers and several other instruments". He lived to be 65 when the average life expectancy was somewhere under 40.
This guy was a BIG player on the German music scene during his lifetime. I'm not saying he wasn't misunderstood or mistreated (everyone is at sometime), but his compositions got played. There are scores of great musicians and composers (living and dead) who have had to get by w/ alot less recognition, eg. (a tiny sample):

Stuart Liebig
Michael Vlatkovich
Michel Wintsch
Fred Frith
Edgard Varese
Don Van Vliet
Maarten Altena
Don Cherry
Kevin Norton
Andrew Hill
Louis Sclavis
Jean Derome
Ben Goldberg
Bill Noertker
Ken Vandermark (gets props, but not enough)
Franz Koglmann
Lucas Niggli
Devin Hoff
Charles Mingus
Thomas Chapin
Wayne Horvitz
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