Jacob Herschel News
Last update
2024-03-24
Refresh
2022-07-05 07:51:15
Stories inspired by the Queen of Science
[…] echo Somerville’s early life, by one of her dearest friends, Lady Dufferin. One of her mathematics students, Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852), became a figurehead for generations of women developing computer technology up to the present day, and inspired composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad to write a solo work using her words. There are further settings of the words of several of the protagonists by composers Lynne Plowman (setting Mary Somerville) and Frances M Lynch (setting astronomer Caroline Herschel). Somerville College, Oxford, is named after Mary Somerville. She and Caroline Herschel were elected in 1835 as the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society. Somerville's 1834 book, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, in which she described the interdependence of astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology and mathematics, and explained the latest scientific thinking of the day in language directed to her "country-women", was one of the best-selling scientific books of the 19th century. […]
2022-06-27 21:14:59
The accomplished astronomer was, one historian said, “the Einstein of his time.” But before he surveyed the sky, he was a prolific musician.
2022-02-25 08:36:05
Celebrating the bicentenary of the death of William Herschel with premiere recordings of two of his trio sonatas
Manuscript of William Herschel's Symphony No. 15 in E-flat major (1762) This year is the bi-centenary of the death of Frederick William Herschel (1738-1822), the German-born British composer and astronomer who is best known for his discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781. But Herschel had a parallel career as a musician though few of his compositions have made it into the record catalogue, and now The Dionysus Ensemble have recorded two of his trio sonatas. William Herschel by Lemuel Francis Abbott (1785) William Herschel came from a musical family. His father was an oboist in the band of the Hanoverian Guards, and both Wilhelm (as he was then) and his brother Jakob were engaged as oboists with the band. But the threat of war and defeat in battle led their father to send Wilhelm and Jakob to England in 1757. Wilhelm was charged with desertion but […]
2022-01-31 08:42:12
Handel's Messiah was first heard in Bath in 1756 and there were other performances during Handel's lifetime and a memorial performance after his death. Then in 1767 William Herschel directed a performance at the opening of The Octagon in Bath, the first of quite a number of performances of the work that Herschel would direct in the city. Herschel is now best known as an astronomer (notably for the discovery of Uranus) but during his lifetime he had a parallel career as a distinguished musician and composer. To celebrate this history, the Paragon Singers conceived the Messiah 250 project. Originally conceived in 2019, the project will finally culminate in March with a dramatised performance of Messiah, directed by Tom Guthrie and conducted by Sarah Latto, Paragon Singers music director, with soloists from the Echo Vocal Ensemble. The journey towards this performance will incorporate several community events, including a series of workshops, a Taster […]
or
- timeline: Composers (Europe). Performers (Europe).
- Indexes (by alphabetical order): H...