Classical Music Lover

Classical music and plant growth

2010-04-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Scientists and medical researchers have been looking into the affects of sound for ages; people tend to underestimate its impact on people and our surroundings. In fact those that live in or very close to busy metropolitan cities are believed to live much shorter lives than people from quiet towns and neighborhoods. Sound can change our moods, affect our appetites and even improve our growth, in certain tribes the beat of a drum during religious ceremonies produce binaural beats, which change the frequency of the villager’s brainwaves putting them into a type of trance.

Horticulturalists have taken this idea a step further and tried exposing their plants to different types of music to see if any had a positive result. The idea that music can in some way boost or hinder a plants growth is a relatively old myth with two groups, one that believes it and uses their own selection of sound to get their sunflowers blooming and the others that think it’s nonsense.

In an attempt to find out whether a piece by Beethoven might be able to bring in a crop of corn earlier in the year several studies were set up. Researchers took a wide selection of music genres, pop, rock, heavy metal, jazz, classical music etc and took a fast growing water cress plant. Each plant was watered and fed the same amount each day and left to grow for 1 week with music being played constantly from a certain direction. At the end of the study, researchers found that the plants exposed to music such as heavy metal, art house jazz, and forms of dance music were seen to be moving away from the speakers with a below average growth rate. Of all of the music tested classical music seemed to have the most affect, after the 5 days was up the plants had grown in an abnormal 90 degree angle towards the speakers.

Scientists are undecided as to what this means, plants don’t have ears or brains to hear and process the intricacies of classical music, so perhaps it could be the vibrations. Whatever the reasons classical music seems to have a positive affect on the growth of your plants, if you’re interested in giving this theory a try, here are some tracks that have been tried and tested on several types of plants with positive results:

1: Lute Suite in G Minor, BWV 995: V. Gavotte I and II by Sonja Prunnbauer
2: Ave Maria (after J.S. Bach) by Hermann Prey
3: Nocturnes, Op. 27: No. 2 in D-Flat Major: Lento sostenuto by Abbey Simon
4: Canon in D Major by Mainz Chamber Orchestra

Contemporary classical musicians broke all the boundaries

2010-04-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Placing a starting point for the most recent era in classical music can be a little difficult, some believe that it begins roughly about 1945, where as others think that the developments of this new style happened much further back. At the end of World War 1 composers were becoming tired of the over excessive formless qualities of music from the romantic periods and some decided to return to the compositions of the classical period, which had a much more controlled pitch. The strength of the contemporary period really started to take off in the mid 1940s and reach a peak at the beginning of the 1970s a time when people in all fields of creative media were experimenting with alternative methods of expression. The 1970’s also saw a split by many composers of classical music, with some trying to revive what they believed to be a dying form of western traditional music and the other group wanting to push ahead with new modern avant garde styles of music.

The rise of new developments in computer technologies saw mainstream musicians start to introduce computer synthesized sounds into their compositions; a new breed of electronic artists was coming to the surface. What made computers and synthesizers so alluring to the masses, was that anybody could go out and buy one. You no longer needed to spend years studying how to master the violin or harpsichord, you could go to your local computer store and pick up some software and a keyboard then spend a few hours composing an original soundtrack. Music had become limitless as loud rumbles, beeps and computer noise found its way into music tracks by famous musicians.

Contemporary classical music made use of these new forms of technology and mixed them in with more traditional instruments. Compositions lacked any tonal structure or pattern and in some cases may have sounded like rearranged fragments of a musical piece. A new group of composers lead by Arnold Schoenburg played around with new ways of notating music, increasing and decreasing the length of a song and playing more spontaneously during live performances. Several composers developed musical styles following on from Schoenburgs creation the twelve tone serialism, which had a format, but allowed for expression and creativity. The doors had been open allowing a new freedom to create whatever you wanted, so many sub genres had been opened up that classical music seems to have gradually been diluted.

If you are not familiar with the sound for many of the better known composers of contemporary classical music, here are a few names and songs that they were known for:

1. Milton Babbitt – Philomel for soprano, recorded soprano and synthesized sound
2. John Cage – Sonatas and interludes for prepared piano
3. Elliott Carter – Sonata for flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord: Allegro
4. Henry Cowell – The Banshee
5. Steve Reich – Tokyo/Vermont counterpoint

Rachmaninoff's First Piano Sonata

2010-01-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

Sergei Rachmaninoff was one of the leading composers of Russia at the end of the Romantic period and into the 20th century, particularly in the area of piano music. He was virtuoso pianist himself and wrote many works for his instrument, including two piano sonatas.

In December 1906, Rachmaninoff, with his wife and daughter, moved away from the busy life of Moscow to the quite town of Dresden, Germany. He remarked in a letter that "we live here like hermits: we see nobody, we know nobody, and we go nowhere. I work a great deal." During his stay in Dresent, Rachmaninoff produced three pieces that commonly known as the "Dresden pieces," which include the Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, his Second Symphony and parts to an opera. In fact, the primary motivation for moving to Dresden was the composition of his second symphony in an effort to offset the failure of his first.

The original idea of the First Piano Sonata was to be a program sonata based on Goethe's tragic play Faust. Each of the three movements were to represent the main characters of the story: Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles. In this regard, the work nearly parallels Franz Liszt's famous Faust Symphony. Rachmaninoff abandoned the programmatic nature of the work shortly after beginning work on it, however, the theme is still relatively clear in the final version. The three movements follow the traditional Classical design of a sonata.

Initial reception of the First Piano Sonata was mediocre. At the advice of the pianist Konstantin Igumnov, Rachmaninoff cut 110 measures from the sonata, shortening its length from 45 minutes to about 35. One critic called the work "dry and repetitive." Even today, Rachmaninoff's First Piano Sonata remains somewhat unknown in the piano music world. Although a substantial work in Rachmaninoff's oeuvre, his Second Piano Sonata, composed in 1913, is much more favored in terms of performance and is considered a greater work.

Charles Valentin-Alkan

2010-01-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

Charles Valentin-Alkan was a prominent French pianist and composer of piano music during the early Romantic period. He was born on November 30th, 1813 in Paris to Jewish parents. His father, Alkan Morhange, was the proprietor of a private music school in Le Marais, the Jewish quarter of Paris. At an early age, Charles and his five siblings adopted the use of the their father's first name as their last, and it was by this they we're known henceforth. Charles and his siblings also went on to study at the Paris Conservatorie. Charles entered the Paris Conservatorie at the age of six, studying both piano and organ. He was a favorite pupil of his teacher Joseph Zimmerman. Among Zimmerman's other pupils are Georges Bizet, Cesar Franck and Charles Gounod. Charles' brother Napoleon later would be the professor of solfege at the Conservatorie, his brother Maxim would make a career of composing light music for French theatres, and his sister Celeste was also a pianist.

While at the Conservatorie, Charles won many prizes including first prizes in solfege, piano, harmony and organ. Luigi Cherubini, a prominent composer in France and the director of the Conservatorie, proclaimed Charles' technique and ability to be extraordinary. His piano debut was at the age of 12, premiering some of his own compositions in a private home.

Charles became a prominent pianist of his day. Among his friends in Paris where Franz Liszt, George Sand, Victor Hugo and Anton Rubinstein. During the 1840s, he even lived next to Frederic Chopin. Charles performed frequently with Chopin during the 1830s and his fame grew as a virtuoso rivaling even Franz Liszt. Liszt himself even admitted that Charles had the finest piano technique he had ever heard.

Charles' composition output was almost exclusively dedicated to piano music. Some of his music is extremely virtuosic, making ungodly demands of pianist's technique, and has often been described as "ferociously" or "impossibly" difficult to perform. His most notable compositions are his Grande Sonate 'Les quatre âges' and two sets of etudes in each of the major and minor keys. Some regard Alkan's etudes as even more difficult than Liszt's famed Transcendental Etudes.

Alkan's Grande Sonate

2010-01-23T08:13:00.001-08:00

Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) was a significant French composer during the Romantic period. He was one of the great piano virtuosos of his day and was friends with prominent musicians like Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt and Eugene Delacroix. Like Chopin, Alkan devoted himself almost exclusively to the composition of piano music.

One of Alkan's most widely known works for piano is his Grande sonata 'Les quatre âges' (Grand Sonata: The Four Ages), published in 1847 and dedicated to his father. The title refers to the subtitles given to each of the movements. Each of the four movements is designed to represent a man at different ages in his life. The first movement is a man at the age of 20, the second at the age of 30, the third at 40, and the last at the age of 50. Due to the programmatic nature of the work, the four movements do not follow the typical outline of a piano sonata. First of all, the movements become progressively slower as an representation of the increase in age. The first movement 20 ans (years) is marked "très vite," or "very fast," the second is marked "quite fast," the third "slowly," and the fourth "extremely slowly."

The first movement is a lively scherzo in D major, an unusual form to begin a sonata with. The movement shares some similarities in regards to form with Chopin's Scherzo No. 1, op. 20. The second movement ventures into the remote key of D sharp minor and is known as the "Quasi-Faust" movement. This movement is an expansive sonata form. It begins with a fanfare to be played "satanically," hence the relationship to Faust. The third movement, when the man is at the age of 40, represents the family life. The music returns to the "simple" key of G major and there are sections to represent his children and "a prayer." The final movement again begins the key a half step above the previous movement, in this case, G sharp minor. This movement depicts the man looking toward death. Contrary to Classical tradition, the sonata ends in a very distant key from that which it started.

Alkan's Grande Sonate is often likened to another grand piece of piano music of the early Romantic: Liszt's Sonata in B minor. Malcolm McDonald regarded Alkan's Grande Sonate, Liszt's Sonata in B minor and Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor as the three greatest piano sonatas of the middle Romantic period.

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3

2010-01-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

Sergei Rachmaninoff completed his Piano Concerto No. 3 in the fall of 1909. Rachmaninoff is known as the one of the great composers of piano music and the Third Concerto is one of his most popular works. It was composed while Rachmaninoff resided at his family's estate in Ivanovka, where he also wrote his First Piano Sonata and the tone poem The Isle of the Dead.

The Third Piano Concerto is widely known in the piano music world mostly due to its extreme technical and artistic difficulties. In fact, the work commands the same kind of fearful respect among pianists as Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata. Josef Hofmann, to whom the concerto was dedicated, remarked that the work "wasn't for" him and consequently he never publicly performed it. The American pianist Gary Graffman said that he regretted not learning the piece when he was a student, when he was "still too young to fear." Rachmaninoff premiered the work himself on November 28, 1909 in New York City with the New York Symphony Society. A few weeks later the work was performed under the baton of the German conductor and composer Gustav Mahler.

It seems that Rachmaninoff may have possibly still had the Second Piano Concerto in his head while composed the Third, even though the Second was written 9 years earlier. Several allusions are made to the melodic ideas of the Second Concerto in the middle movement of the Third. Furthermore, both concerto's end with the same four-note rhythm. Although, this ending was more or less Rachmaninoff's "musical signature."

Rachmaninoff authorized multiple cuts in the work to be made at the discretion of the performer. The cuts were often taken in the early performances of the work, but it has now become the tradition to play the work in its entirety, without cuts.

The concerto follows the standard three-movement Classical form:

Allegro ma non troppo (D minor)
Intermezzo: Adagio (F sharp minor/D flat major)
Finale: Alle breve (D minor/D major)

The key scheme of the work is typically Romantic, with the use of the distantly related key of F sharp minor for the second movement.

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2

2010-01-16T07:29:00.000-08:00

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed is Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor between the autumn of 1900 and spring of 1901. Since its composition, the Second Piano Concerto has remained his mostly popular piece of piano music. The concerto was an immediate success after its premier in 1901, bringing Rachmaninoff much praise and establishing him as a prominent concerto composer. However, the road to the completion of concerto was not a pleasant one.

In 1897, Rachmaninoff premiered his First Symphony which resulted in complete disaster for the young composer. It was ruthlessly denounced by critics. One critic even commented that the concerto could have been written in a "conservatory in hell." The results of this criticism were devastating on the young Rachmaninoff. Things continued to go downhill during the next few years. Finally, in 1900, Rachmaninoff visited Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian author, and played the piano for him. Tolstoy's remarks were less than encouraging: "Tell me, is such music needed by anybody? I must tell you how I dislike it all!" Tolstoy apologized for the remarks, yet the damage was done. Rachmaninoff fell into a period of great depression and nearly gave up composing altogether.

Concerned for the well-being of Rachmaninoff, his cousins persuaded him to seek help from Dr. Nikolai Dahl. Dahl was an amateur musician himself, but also had become very interested in hypnosis. He began to treat Rachmaninoff's depression by combining hypnosis with stimulating conversations on music. During these sessions, Rachmaninoff began to regain his self-confidence and started work on the Second Concerto by the fall of 1900. Work on the new concerto preceded quickly. The second and third movements were given a premier in December of the same year. The first movement was composed last and the completed work was premiered with Rachmaninoff as soloist in October of 1901. As a show of gratitude, Rachmaninoff dedicated the work to Dahl.

While the Second Piano Concerto has somewhat been overshadowed in recent years by the Third Concerto, the Second still remains Rachmaninoff's most enduringly popular work of piano music.

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

2010-01-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was a born in Russia and is typically considered as the last great Romantic composer. He was also a remarkable pianist of his day, and, as a composer, he made a significant contribution of piano music.

One of Rachmaninoff's most well-known compositions for piano is his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The theme is, to no surprise, that of Paginini's Caprice No. 24 in A minor. By the time Rachmaninoff composed his variations, Paginini's theme already has a long history behind it. Such luminary figures of the Romantic period as Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms had already composed there own interpretations of Paginini's caprice. Yet it is the bare-bones melody of Paginini's caprice that allows it to be such an unending source of inspiration for other composers.

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody was composed during the summer of 1934 at Villa Senar, his estate in Switzerland near Lake Lucerne. It is scored for piano solo and orchestra and combines some elements of concerto. There are twenty-four variations in the piece and while they are performed continuously, the work is essentially divided up into three contrasting sections that follow the three movement outline of a concerto. Up through variation eleven is considered the "first movement," variations twelve to eighteen make up the "second movement," and variation nineteen to the end constitutes the "third movement."

The work begins unusually with a variation actually preceding the theme, forming essentially an introduction. It is likely Rachmaninoff was mimicking the opening of the finale of Beethoven's Eroica symphony, in which the theme proper is not stated until variation four. The slow eighteenth variation is perhaps the most famous part of the work and contains one of the most beloved melodies of piano music. This variation is based on an inversion of Paginini's theme. In other words, it is played "upside-down." The variation is so popular that it is often separately from the rest of the work.

Schubert's Last Sonatas

2010-01-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

Franz Schubert was a very prolific composer and considered to be one of the first Romantics. His career developed under the shadow of his great contemporary, Ludwig van Beethoven, whom Schubert greatly admired. As a result, much of Schubert's music was not fully appreciated until after his death in 1828, some of it never gaining popularity until the 20th century. Schubert's last three piano sonatas suffered just such a fate.

These last sonatas, known colloquially as Schubert's last sonatas, were written during the final months of his life and represent some of his absolute best piano music. Although they were published a mere ten years after his death, they suffered the same fate as the rest of his sonatas, and were for the most part neglected for much of the 19th century. This is mostly due to the consideration that they were inferior, both formally and emotionally, to the great sonatas of Beethoven. Indeed, while Schubert mimicked compositional traits of Beethoven, it cannot be denied that his last three piano sonatas possess a mature style of composition unique to Schubert. However, during the 20th century, Schubert's piano sonatas become increasingly popular, now forming an important part of the repertoire, and have finally gained their position as prime examples of early Romantic piano music.

Schubert had composed the three sonatas as a set and had even written to his published Probst concerning them. However, before any deal was made, Schubert was dead, and Probst was uninterested in the sonatas. Schubert's brothers then sold the autographs to the publisher Diabelli who published them in 1838 and 1839. Schubert had originally intended to dedicate the works to Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a prominent pianists and composer of the early Romantic, whom Schubert admired. However, Diabelli, due to Hummel having also passed away, dedicated the works to Robert Schumann, who had praised Schubert's works in his critical writings.

Schubert's last piano sonatas are modeled after the four movement plan begun by Beethoven and adopted by the Romantics:

A first movement in moderate to fast tempo adhering mostly to traditional Classical sonata form.
A slow movement in some type of ternary form.
A scherzo or minuet with trio.
A moderate to fast tempo finale in sonata or sonata-rondo form.

Sibelius and Kalevala

2010-01-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

The main idea of Sibelius's seven symphonies is to develop the evolution of the idea of movement, of tenderness and observing his self-discipline. Sibelius said that "what is essentially irresistible in a symphony is currently traveling to the entire story, to the entire landscape, and this in opposition to the picturesque". As symphonist, Sibelius, and Mahler, never given up to tone and effective procedures so that recourse to ensure continuity of dynamic, integrating a lens of a cosmic or a mythical story, everything in its passage - lengthy pedal, notes kept emerging from the depths of the orchestra before giving rise to fear or to whole paragraphs, however, have a certain fixation tonal result. One means used by Sibelius to produce the highest effects is just refusing the modulation and the heroic refusal to recognize the function of certain notes, the result being some tonal colors of his music often modal. In the Sibelius creations we can find almost never the counterpoint in the traditional sense. Sibelius's music is topological, based on topological variations, the continuous deformation of the material and orchestral mass with extensive limits as long as the extended heights were those of Varese. It turns in polyphonic configurations of the past, in the same way that today's study turns the area in the Euclidean geometry. English musician Constant Lambert (well known for his piano music) says that Sibelius is not only one of the largest symphonist from Beethoven onwards, but also "one of the perfect expressions in terms of how the product forms of the human spirit”. The great power of his talent is novelty in musical ideas, the freedom of speech and melodic richness safe from conventional patterns. In the chaos of the various current and guidelines, especially the Western avant-garde formalist who wins followers everywhere, he knows all, and borrows only what suits his music, never abandoning the concepts of personal peculiarities.

By 1926, Sibelius was a prolific composer; his works are inspired by the "Kalevala" (the popular poem written to mark Finland's independence from Russia in 1917). He composed over 100 songs for piano, chamber music, choral music, an opera - "Virgin of the tower, and Masonic ritual music. His piano music is played today with great success. He successfully completed his work with the composition with the seventh symphony (1924) and the work called "Tapiola" (1926).

Sibelius, inspired by the folklore of Finland

2010-01-05T05:48:00.000-08:00

Sibelius has an important moment on December 8, 1915, and Helsinki is home to the first audition of the first version (in four parts) of the Fifth Symphony in E flat Major op. 82. In 1917, Finland proclaimed its independence, then, until 1918, is the civil war. Sibelius is forced to abandon Jarvenpaa and becomes a refugee in Helsinki, in the psychiatric clinic managed by his brother. With peace, he travels in England (1921), Norway and Sweden (1923) and Italy (1924-1926).

The major creation of the recent years was the sixth Symphony op.104 and op.105 VII. From 1930 to 1931 begin a time when Sibelius reputation and his prestige will shine in the Anglo-Saxon countries, especially during the period marked the books of Cecil Graz (Sibelius, London 1934) and Constant Lambert (Music Hall, London 1934) and a festival of his works was held in London in 1938 by Sir Thomas Beecham. He spent all years of the war in Jarvenpaa, despite several offers to go to the United States. His piano music is inspired by the folklore of Finland. He died a few weeks after he dictated his son-in-law, the conductor Jussi Jalas, an accompaniment for string orchestra for his creation Come Away Death, the first of two lieder op. 6o (1909). His last creation was inspired by Shakespeare and the Epiphany. As a national musician, Sibelius can be close to Janacek or Bartók, because like those who, to escape to the influence of Germany have used the "antidote Debussy”. His relations with Finland have never been only based on folk music, because he does not cited in popular themes and even - despite the often very subtle color and modal non-tonal of his music - a kind of folklore was recreated as Bella Bartók did. Fascinated early by Liszt ( and his genial piano music) and Berlioz and very influenced by the Russians, at that time, Sibelius realized that his music should be more than a colorful response to Kalevala, and on a long term, he leaved the source of his inspiration, at least in terms of its most visible aspects. He managed to "exorcise" the spectrum to become the kind of romance and romantic disciplined artist. In this regard, Sibelius was the opposite of his contemporary, Gustav Mahler. The great power of Sibelius's music is that from the depths of its style, not synonymous with total immobility, appears a considerable force.

Sibelius, the famous Finnish composer

2010-01-05T05:45:00.000-08:00

Johan (Jean) Julius Christian Sibelius (b. 1865 - d. 1957) is the most famous Finnish composer. Although belonging to a Swedish-Finnish family and even drew little of his country's folk music, he is considered the most important representative of the Finnish national music school and his symphonic poem Finlandia (1900) became a patriotic song.

The composer Johan Julius Christian, known as Jean Sibelius, was born in Tavastehus - Finland in 1865. After his law studies in 1886, he was accepted to the Music Institute founded by Martin Wegelius in Helsinki in 1882. He studies with Feruccio Buson, with the theorist Alfred Becker in Berlin (1889) and with Robert Fuchs and Carl Goldmark in Vienna (1890). The first audition of the Kullervo Symphony op.7, which took place in Helsinki (April 28 1892) was the basis for his reputation in Finland. The first period of the creation of Sibelius is called "romantico-national" ("Finlandia" Op. 26, for example). Sibelius piano music is still played all over the world. His international reputation began in Germany, but before that moment, he accompanied the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Kajanus, in 1900, in Paris. In 1901 he participates together with Richard Strauss in Heidelberg, at the 37 th festival of "The Society of German musicians”, and in 1903 he is for the first time in England, and six trips will come.

In 1904, Sibelius is set at Jarvenpaa, 30 km north of Helsinki. From this period we have the famous Concerto for Violin op. 74, the music scene for Kuolema op. 44 of which is extracted the famous Waltz, and music scene for Peleas and Melisande op. 46 and wonderful piano music. Setting the Jarvenpaa marked a new phase of his style, and the composer is attracted to the universal, more focused, more classical than the previous perios and illustrated especially with the Third Symphony in C Major, true arch vault of true maturity of Sibelius. In 1909, during the fourth trip to England, was completed the string quartet Voces Intimae op.56, the only piece of large-scale chamber music of the composer. During his only trip to the United States (1914), just before the outbreak of World War I, Sibelius composed one of the most beautiful of his symphonic poems, Oceans op .73. During the war, the travel is restricted to the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Mendellsohn's Songs Without Words

2010-01-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

Felix Mendellsohn's composed the Songs Without Words at different times during his career and are probably his most well-known works of piano music. The Songs Without Words are published in eight books each consisting of six "songs."

There was in general a greater interest in the piano during the Romantic period particularly among middle class families. In line with this was the trend towards short one-movement works of piano music in contrast to lengthy sonatas. Many composers contributed toward this movement. Frederic Chopin wrote his collections nocturnes, preludes, mazurkas and etudes; Robert Schumann wrote several sets of short piano pieces, for example Carnaval and Kreisleriana, although his constitute complete works as a whole; and Johannes Brahms wrote several sets of intermezzos, romances and the like. While some of these pieces are technically challenging, many were also capable of being performed by pianists of various skill levels, thus making them available to a wider audience and helping to spread their popularity.

The concept of a "song without words" seems to be of Mendelssohn's own invention. It is possible though that it was actually his sister Fanny Mendelssohn who had initially written some short piano pieces similar to her brother's "song without words," yet had not so named them. In 1828, Fanny wrote in a letter that "my birthday was celebrated very nicely...Felix has given me a 'song without words' for my album (he has lately written several beautiful ones)." Mendelssohn however objected the Songs being taken too literally and when his friend Souchay sought to put words to some of them to make them actual songs, Mendelssohn remarked, "What the music I love expresses to me, is not thought too indefinite to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite."

Mendelssohn's Song Without Words also inspired later composers to compose similar sets of pieces, including Charles-Valentin Alkan, Anton Rubenstein, Ignaz Moscheles and Edvard Grieg. Both in 19th century and today, the Songs Without Words remain popular on piano recitals. Also, various individual songs from the collection have been arranged for orchestra, chamber ensembles and solo instruments with piano accompaniments.

Muzio Clementi

2009-12-31T12:24:00.000-08:00

Muzio Clementi is a well recognized name in music today. However, during his lifetime, he was a leading figure in piano music. Clementi was born in Rome, Italy on January 24, 1752. His father recognized his son's musical talent early and arranged for private music instruction. By the time Clementi was 9, he was given the position of church organist at the Chiesa di St. Lorenza in Damaso. Furthermore, he had composed an opera and oratorio by the age of 13. In 1766, a wealthy Englishman by the name of Sir Peter Beckford, during a visit to Rome, was greatly impressed by Clementi's talent. Beckford arranged for Clementi to travel with him back to England and made payments towards Clementi's musical training.

With a growing reputation in England, Clementi set out on a tour of mainland Europe, traveling to France, Germany and Austria. While in Vienna, he agreed to enter a duel with Mozart for the entertainment of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and his guests. Each performer was to play selections of their own compositions and improvise. The Emperor was so impressed by both he declared a tie. Mozart later wrote to his father saying, "Clementi plays well as far as execution with the right hand goes. His greatest strength lies in passages in 3rds. Apart from that, he has not a kreuzer's worth of taste or feeling - in short he is a mere mechanicus." Clementi, on the other hand, praised Mozart's playing, remarking that he "had never heard anyone play with such spirit and grace. I was particularly overwhelmed by an adagio and by several of his extempore variations for which the Emperor had chosen the theme, and which we were to devise alternately." After 1782, Clementi remained mostly in England performing on the piano, conducting and teaching. Among his most famous students were Johann Baptist Cramer, Ignaz Moscheles and John Field, who would in turn become a great influence on Frederic Chopin.

Clementi is best known now for his piano music, including his many sonatas, sonatinas and his collection of piano studies Gradus ad Parnassum. However, in addition to this, Clementi was also a piano manufacturer and music publisher. In 1807, Clementi made a deal with Ludwig van Beethoven that gave him full publishing rights to Beethoven's music in England. Furthermore, Clementi's reputation as an editor and interpreter of Beethoven's music was nearly equal to his reputation as a composer. In 1813, he helped to found the "Philharmonic Society of London" which later became the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1912. Clementi died on March 10, 1832 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Carl Czerny

2009-12-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

Carl Czerny is well-known name in the piano music world particularly for this books of etudes for the piano. He was born in 1791 in Vienna to a family of Czech origin. In fact, Czerny did not speak German until he was ten years old. He studied piano from his father first before he began lessons with Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri, and Ludwig van Beethoven. He also attended courses held by Muzio Clementi in Paris, Rome, Vienna and other cities around Europe.

Czerny was considered a child prodigy and made his public debut playing a Mozart piano concerto in 1800. However, he disliked playing in public and ultimately withdraw from the performing stage and society in general. He then took up composition and piano instruction and by the time he was a teenager he was already a sought after piano instructor. He briefly returned to the stage in 1812 to perform the premier of Beethoven's "Emporer" Concerto. Among Czerny's most notable students were Franz Liszt, Sigismond Thalberg, and Stephen Heller.

Czerny was also a very prolific composer. His published works number almost a thousand. He composed many masses, requiems, symphonies, concertos and sonatas. However, these pieces are seldom heard today. The only pieces of his widely known today are the many etudes he wrote for the piano, including The School of Velocity and The Art of Finger Dexterity. He was also one of the first composer to use the term etude as a title for piano music. Czerny also was one of the fifty composers commissioned by Anton Diabelli to write variations on a theme of Diabelli's own creation as well as the coda to end Part II of the work (Part I is dedicated solely to the thirty-three variations that Beethoven supplied). In addition to his numerous etudes, Czerny also left behind an essay on the performance of Beethoven's piano sonatas and an autobiographical sketch entitled Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (Memories from My Life).

Czerny rarely left Vienna for most of his life. He died at the age of 66 in 1857.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat

2009-12-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the most influential composers in music history, made a significant contribution to the literature of piano music, particularly in the form of the piano concerto. The Köchel catalogue of Mozart's works list twenty-seven concertos. The first four are early works and are actually arrangements of keyboard sonatas of contemporary composers, such as, C.P.E. Bach, Raupach, and Eckart. Concertos No. 7 is for two pianos and No. 10 is for three. Finally, the remaining 21 concertos are original compositions for solo piano and orchestra. Fifteen of these were, in fact, written between the years of 1782 and 1786. During the remaining five years of Mozart's life, he only wrote two other piano concertos.

The Concerto No. 9, known as the "Jeunehomme" Concerto, is often considered to be a groundbreaking piece in the literature. Mozart supposedly composed the piece for a French pianist name "Jeunehomme" when she visited Salzburg. However, scholars have been unable to identify the woman for which Mozart wrote the work. It has been put forth by the musicologist Michael Lorenz that the work was actually written for Victoire Jenamy, a daughter of Jean-Georges Noverre, with whom Mozart was good friends.

As far as outline, the work follows the traditional three movement plan of the Classical concerto, yet, as regards details, there are several peculiarities. The first movement begins with interventions by the soloist during the orchestra exposition, a procedure very uncommon for the time. In fact, it anticipates the same interventions that occur in Beethoven's Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos. The remainder of the movement continues as a dialogue between soloist and orchestra, also unusual.

The second movement is more of an irregularity for Mozart than the time period. Of all of his piano concertos, No. 9 is one of five, to have a middle movement in the relative minor key of the first movement.

The final movement is a large scale rondo form. However, another peculiarity emerges in the form a slow minuet that interrupts the movement. Mozart would again repeat this in his 22nd concerto, which, oddly enough, is also in the key of E-flat major. The movement then resumes the original tempo and comes to a close.

The work has been highly praised as a remarkable piece of piano music. Charles Rosen called it "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece [of the] classical style," and Alfred Brendel dubbed it "one of the greatest wonders of the world."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Part II - Vienna

2009-12-21T15:19:00.000-08:00

Following Mozart's return from Italy with his father in 1773, he took up the position of a court musician at the court of Salzburg. During this time, Mozart had the opportunity to work with in many different genres of classical music, including symphonies, sonata, string quartets and a few operas. In 1775, he became fascinated the violin concerto, producing a series of five, which would be the only ones he would ever compose. During the following two years, he turned to composition of piano concertos, which culminated in the E-flat concerto K. 271, considered by many to be a breakthrough work of piano music. However, despite the opportunities and successes Mozart experienced in Salzburg, he became increasing disgruntled with the position and began to seek work elsewhere. After trips to Mannheim, Munich and Paris, and a brief return to Salzburg, Mozart ultimately settled in Vienna in 1781 as a freelance performer and composer.

Mozart's early years in Vienna were quite successful. He frequently performed piano music, particularly in competition with Muzio Clementi and soon earned the title of the "finest keyboard player in Vienna." His opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) was premiered with much success and fully established Mozart's reputation as a composer. While in Vienna, Mozart also met Haydn and the two composers became friends. Mozart dedicated six string quartets to Haydn. Haydn greatly praised the young Mozart. On one occasion he stated to Mozart's father Leopold: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."

However, Mozart's initial success in Vienna did not last. Toward the end of the 1780's the general condition of music had declined in Vienna due to Austria being at war. Mozart began to appear less often in concert as a performer and his income significantly shrunk. He made several trips to Berlin, Leipzig and other German cities that brought isolated and short-lived moments of success. He was often forced to borrow money from friends during this period and some musicologists, such as Maynard Solomon, suggest that he suffered from depression.

In 1791, Mozart's last year, things began to finally look up. The year, until his final sickness, was marked by great productivity in which he produced the opera The Magic Flute, his last piano concerto, the Clarinet Concerto, the last string quintet, and the unfinished Requiem. Mozart's financial situations also began to improve. He had stopped borrowing money and even began to start paying off his debts.

Mozart fell ill in September of 1791 while in Prague. He was able to continue his work for some time until he became bedridden on the November 20th. Mozart died on December 5th and 1 a.m. As was the custom at the time, he was buried in mass grave at St. Marx cemetery outside the city.

Hector Berlioz and the Fantastic Symphony

2009-12-20T05:57:00.000-08:00

After his return to Paris after he studied two years Italian opera in Rome, he learned that Harriet Smithson finally had attended a presentation of the Symphonie Fantastique. She quickly realized it was a clear allegory of the passionate letters that Berlioz had written. Soon they married, but few years later, disillusioned, they separated. During his lifetime, Berlioz was more famous as a conductor than a composer. He regularly gave concerts in Germany and England, where he conducted operas and symphonic music, his or other composers. Several times he met the composer and violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini. According to the memoirs of Berlioz, Paganini offered him 20,000 francs after seeing a live performance of Harold in Italy, a classical music work based on the Childe Harold of Byron. The idea was to sell him that Berlioz work (one piece for viola) so that I could play it like Paganini's own composition. Hector Berlioz died in Paris on 8 March 1869. He is buried in the cemetery of Montmartre with his two wives, Harriet Smithson (+ 1854) and Marie Recio (+ 1862).

Hector Berlioz made an important contribution in shaping French romanticism. His contribution is to promote a new musical music aesthetic, which implies the existence of expressive means. The development would meet the Symphony Orchestra requirements for Berlioz's work, revealed by 4 types of procedures: sound power, exploiting the effects of stamps, division game tool and increase the number of instruments (with an important concern for stereophony). Piano music was also a constant preoccupation for the great romantic composer.
Hector Berlioz was the author of an important "Treaty of instrumentation," including romantic concern for timbre instruments as a means of expression of refined sensibilities. A great series of conductors’ open with Berlioz as one of the best conductor of the nineteenth century. His piano music is also well known.
In terms of writing, he creates works with a tool largely explained, or only targeted titles, with new forms, evolving from symphony to opera.
Hector Berlioz main creations are the Fantastic Symphony, the Symphony Romeo and Juliet, the Symphony Harold in Italy, the Symphony of July, the Funereal Symphony, the Faust's Damnation and his Requiem. The Fantastic Symphony is his best known creation.

Hector Berlioz and the romantic movement

2009-12-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

Louis Hector Berlioz (La Côte-Saint-André, France, December 11, 1803 - Paris, 8 March 1869) was a French composer and leading figure of Romanticism. His best known work is the Symphonie Fantastique (first performed in 1830). Berlioz was a great orchestrator and the influence of his music was extraordinary.
Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André, between Lyon and Grenoble. His father was a doctor (he was a fan of acupuncture) and sent the young Hector to Paris to study medicine. Berlioz was horrified by the dissection process and despite the disapproval of his father, left the medicine to study music. He attended the Paris Conservatory where he studied opera and composition, piano music too.
The Romantic movement - Hestor quickly became identified with the French Romantic movement. Among his friends were writers such as Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. Later, Théophile Gautier wrote:
I think that Hector Berlioz, with Victor Hugo and Eugène Delacroix, form the Trinity of Romantic Art.
Berlioz is said to have been romantic, experiencing emotions deeply from early childhood, for example when reading passages of Virgil, and later in a series of adventures.
At 23, he fell in love with the Irish Shakespearean actress Henrietta (Harriett Constance Smithson).
Berlioz's letters seemed so overly passionate and the actress totally rejected him. She was the muse of the symphony that Berlioz was preparing at that time. In 1830, the Symphonie Fantastique generated by these emotions was considered "striking and vivid," but declined to attend Smithson debut in Paris. At that time the autobiographical nature of the work (which required listeners to read a brochure with your "argument" before the concert) was considered fairly impressive and innovative. In 1830 (in the same year was the debut of the symphony) Berlioz won the Prix de Rome, the world's largest scholarship of music, studying piano music too. Due to the rejection of Smithson, Berlioz romantically joined Marie Moke. But this affair was ended abruptly by Moke's mother, who organized a marriage with pianist and piano maker Camille Pleyel Ignaz. Berlioz, who at the time he was awarded a scholarship in Rome, planned to ride to Paris, disguised as a domestic servant, kill Moke, her mother and her boyfriend pianist and suicide. He came to travel a couple thousand miles to Nice until he was persuaded to abandon the idea.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Part I - The Early Years

2009-12-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is one the most memorable names of classical music. His compositions, numbering over 600, have consistently remained popular and are performed often. His influence, as well, over future generations of composers has lasted well into the 20th century.

Mozart was born on the January 27th, 1756 in Salzburg, now apart of Austria, but at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire. His father was Leopold Mozart, a deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra and minor composer himself. He was also an experienced violin teacher and his treatise Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule is of historical importance. Leopold was very dedicated to the education of his children and was Wolfgang's only teacher during his early years. He not only gave Wolfgang music lessons but instructed him in languages and academic subjects as well.

Beginning in 1762, the Mozart family began to make several trips around Europe to different courts displaying young Wolfgang and his older sister, Maria Anna, as child prodigies. They traveled to such places as Munich, Vienna, Paris, The Hauge, and even visited London in 1764-65 where Mozart met Johann Christian Bach. From 1769-1771, Leopold and Wolfgang traveled to Italy. In Bologna, he met G.B. Martini, a prominent composer and writer on classical music. In Rome, he heard a performance of the Allegri's Miserere performed in the Sistine Chapel. This composition by Allegri was kept under lock and key in the Vatican vault and only the choir at the Sistine Chapel was allowed to see it. After the performance, Mozart wrote out the entire work from memory, only going back to correct a few minor errors. Thus, the first illegal copy of the Allegri Miserere was made, a crime for which Mozart could have been excommunicated. In 1770, Mozart's opera Mitridate, re di Ponto was premiered in Milan to much success. This led to further opera commissions and two more trips to Milan, one in 1771 and another in 1772. However, to the disappointment of his father, neither of these trips led to court appointments for the young Mozart. These trips, however, did expose Mozart to a range of different musical styles, from the style galant of England and Italy, to the avant-garde techniques of the Mannheim orchestras.

Georg Philipp Telemann

2009-12-14T09:38:00.000-08:00

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) was one of the most well-known and respected composers during the Baroque era. However, in today's world of classical music, he has ended up a little farther down the totem pole. He was born to an upper-middle class family in Madgeburg. His family was not particularly musical and with the exception of a great-grandfather who had served as Cantor at Halberstadt, no one in his direct family was involved with music. Telemann began to show musical talent at the age of 10 and composed his first opera by the time he was 12. Unfortunately, Telemann's family did not approve of his musical adventures and in response his mother took all his instruments and sent him off to another school hoping Telemann would pursue a more lucrative career. However, the superintendent of this school, instead, encouraged Telemann's musical activities. In 1701, Telemann attended Leipzig University to study law, but, his musical talents were quickly discovered and he eventually abandoned the law profession. He soon became the director of Leipzig's opera house and cantor of one of its churches and in 1705, he took the position of Kapellmeister at the court of Count Erdmann II of Sorau. Finally, his greatest position came in 1721 when he took on the responsibilities of music director of Hamburg's five main churches.

Telemann and J.S. Bach were contemporaries and, in fact, knew each other. Telemann had been appointed the leader of the singers at the court of Eisenach, Bach's hometown. However, it was Telemann that enjoyed the greater fame during his lifetime. In fact, Bach's renowned position as Cantor in Leipzig was first offered to Telemann. Telemann declined the position and it seems had only use this opportunity as a means to secure a pay rise at his position in Hamburg. After Telemann declined, the position was then offered to Christoph Graupner, who also declined due to the fact that he could not secure a release from his current position. Finally, it was offered to Bach. Late in his life, Telemann also kept up correspondence with his godson C.P.E Bach.

Telemann is listed in the Guiness World Book of Records as the most prolific classical music composer with around 800 credited works. Recent studies, however, show that his work output was actually around 3,000 works although most of these have been lost. Telemann's music was an important step towards the Classical period. His music was often not as contrapuntally complex as his contemporary Bach, and leaned towards the simpler textures and harmonies of the coming Classical period. His music remained in vogue until the early part of the 19th century. It was not until the early 20th century that a renewed interest in Telemann's music would come about. Today, a critical edition of his works are available from Bärenreiter and his works of frequently performed and recorded by early music ensembles.

Franz Joseph Haydn

2009-12-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) is one of the most prominent figures in the history of classical music. Haydn was the son of a wheelwright and a cook, neither of which could read music. However, his father was an enthusiastic folk musician that had taught himself to play the harp. When Haydn began to show an early talent for music, his parents, knowing that in the small village they lived in there was no chance of serious musical training, accepted a proposal from a relative named Johann Matthias Frankh, the schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg, seven miles away from Hadyn's hometown. Haydn was to be apprenticed to Frankh and trained as a musician. He left for Hainburg when he was six years old and never again lived with his parents.

In 1740, Haydn moved to Vienna and became a choirboy in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. There he was under the direction of Georg von Reutter. While Reutter was very little help to Haydn in the areas of music theory and composition, Haydn was able to learn much just by serving as a professional musician in one of the leading musical centers in Europe.

Haydn was eventually to end up as Vice-Kapellmeister and ultimately Kapellmeister for the Esterházy family, one of the wealthiest and most important in the Austrian Empire. Haydn worked for the Esterházy family for nearly thirty years and produced a flood of compositions. He was also lucky that the Esterházy princes, most notably, Paul Anton and Nikolaus I, were musical connoisseurs and greatly appreciated Haydn's work.

In 1790, Prince Nikolaus had died and was succeeded by a unmusical prince who dismissed the entire musical establishment and put Haydn on a pension. Freed from his duties, Haydn accepted an invitation from Johann Peter Salomon to visit England and conduct new symphonies a large orchestra. Haydn made several visits to England and produced some of his most well-known works including the Surprise, Military, and London symphonies.

In 1795, Haydn returned to Vienna and turned to the composition of large religious works, namely, The Seasons, The Creation and six masses for the Esterházy family, which was once again headed by a musical prince. He remained in Vienna for the rest of his life and died in May of 1809, at the age of 77, shortly after an attack on Vienna by Napoleon's armies.

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff

2009-12-07T09:10:00.001-08:00

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, son of an officer of Hussars, was one of the most appreciated artists of his generation. In 1882 he entered the Conservatory of St. Petersburg where he was studying with Alexander Siloti, and in 1885 he went at Moscow, where he studied piano and composition. After graduation, Rachmaninoff is known more as a conductor and a composer than as a pianist. He was the pride of the Conservatory, seemed able to write, to direct, admirable at first reading, able to transpose. He was eighteen years old when he composed the Concerto for Piano (later revised) that was played in the next year. In 1895 he writes the Symphony no. 1, and the Concerto no. 2 for piano and orchestra (1900). This is the moment when he established himself in the world of music through his performances and his creations (symphonic works for orchestra or choir). Sergei develops an intense artistic activity until December 1917, when he moved from Russia (with the whole family) and lives in Switzerland, where he begins a new life, as virtuoso classical music pianist. He had a repertoire of his own music and was a good conductor – he was the first conductor at the Imperial Theater and the Moscow Philharmonic. In 1935 leaves Switzerland and he settles permanently in United States. Here the counts to give concerts and to write. He wrote important works for universal musical repertoire, as the Concerto no. 4 for piano and orchestra (1926), the "Variations on a theme of Corelli, for piano solo (1931)," Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini "for piano and orchestra (1934), Symphony no. 3 (1936) and "Symphonic Dances" (1940). He composed classical music opera "Aleko" (after a poem by Pushkin - 1893), "Knight grabbing" (1903) and "Francesca da Rimini" (1906), and left unfinished the work "Monna Vanna" started in 1907. Rachmaninoff is and remains as popular as he always was. His music just refuses to disappear from the world wide repertoire.
In my opinion, the composer Rachmaninoff is as "classic" as Bach, Mozart, Brahms and Gershwin. There is for me no difference between them in terms of their importance or significance. Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov was one of the most appreciated artists of his generation.

Fugue

2009-12-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

Fugue is probably the most complicated and difficult musical form to master in classical music. The word "fugue" itself derives from the Latin, fuga, which is related to both fugere ("to flee") and fugare ("to chase"). The word is an accurate depiction of the aural effect of the fugue, since it sounds as if the different parts of the fugue are chasing after one another.

The fugue has its origins in the Middle Ages when the term was used to denote any piece written in a canonic style. In the Renaissance the term was used specifically to denote pieces in imitative counterpoint. Since that time, fugue has been considered the highest form of contrapuntal writing. The fugal form continued to be developed during the early Baroque period by composers such as Johann Froberger and Dieterich Buxtehude, and finally, reached its highest degree of perfection at the hands of Johann Sebastian Bach. After the Baroque period, the prominence of the fugue somewhat waned due to the emergence of the sonata form, however fugue still remained a vital form of classical music. Fugues were still heavily used in choral pieces such as the Kyrie eleison in Mozart's Requiem; however, it became more typical for fugues to form sections of much larger movements, for example, the fugues that end the Gloria and Credo movements of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and those that end the third and sixth movements of Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem. Similarly, there are examples of individual fugues in instrumental music such as Beethoven's Grosse Fuge (although originally intended as the finale of the op. 130 string quartet), however, it is more usual to find fugues as either whole movements or a section of a much larger work, for example, the finale of Beethoven's Hammerklavier piano sonata or the fugal sections of the finale of the Ninth Symphony.

The explanation of the musical structure of fugue is so vast that it would take an entire book to cover it and all its varieties. However, in simplest terms, a fugue is a composition in which one voice or part gives a melody known as the "fugue subject." This subject is then imitated, or "answered" by the other remaining voices. Once this is complete, the subject is then developed contrapuntally, meaning, voices will enter with the subject before a previous voice has completed it or, perhaps, the subject will be turned upside-down or have its note values doubled or cut in half. The possibilities of the development of a fugue subject are near limitless. Finally, towards the close of the fugue, the subject will usually, but not always, return in its usual form. This is a very simplistic example of the form of a very simple fugue. Fugues tend to be very complex compositions and the amount of variety the form is capable of is staggering. For further reading on the subject, Ebenezer Prout's Fugue and Fugal Analysis are two excellent books and give the most complete explanation of the fugal form and its varieties.

Bel Canto

2009-12-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

Bel canto or Bel Canto Bel-Canto (Italian, "beautiful singing"), is a style of interpretation of vocal music characterized by the purity of the melodic line, originating from Italy of the seventeenth century, taking over the scale of the nineteenth century, era musical called Bel Canto.
Gioacchino Rossini, the author of famous Italian Operas (1792 - 1868), Vincenzo Bellini (1801 - 1835) and Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848) exemplify this superlative interpretive style which has seen more than a maximum between 1805 and 1830. Although there are some experts who credit him on the eighteenth-century, the composer Pietro Cavalli introduced the style bel canto. A careful stylistic analysis indicates that its melodic line, smooth, is of a different era and, of course, a different style of music.

Interpretation of bel canto is characterized by perfect balance, with a well weighted legato, a slightly high voice register, agility and flexibility of good bill and a stamp specific what might be characterized as "sweet". Works with long solo passages and rich musical ornamentation, phrasing consistent in terms of alternative classical music, thais t using Cadenza is most suitable modality for the famous bel canto style. In essence, bel canto emphasizes the technique rather than the volume of interpretation. Thus, one of the exercises designed to demonstrate the quality of interpretation in the bel canto technique is to maintain a lit candle near the mouth singer while he sings. Ideally, the airflow coming from the mouth of the singer must not move candle flame.
Besides the style and the bel canto era, interpretive method can be used to play even in other styles, such as the verissimo, Wagnerian, verdian or other modern styles. Some of them are not exactly connected with classical music as interpretive style of the soloists. Geographical studies suggest that the Italian bel canto is a great vocal technique, and similar methods are developed in Spain, resulting very probably from an ancient vocal method, a technique of interpretation that has evolved with the cultural developments in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. This is and evidence that supports the ethno-musical evolutionary line.

Felix Mendelsohn

2009-12-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

Felix Mendelsohn was a Wunderkind; he was a classical musical prodigy to perform at the age of 9 years, composing symphonies by the age of 12 and musical works published whene he was only 13 years. He “has committed" the revival of a great interest in Bach's work, after decades of neglect, being able to place Bach’s creation in the music history. Felix Mendelssohn was born in the third day of February1809. He read everything he could about biblical history. viata Apostolului Pavel fiind doar un exemplu in aceasta directie.">Then he joined poets and theologians to compose musical librettos with Christian themes such as the life of the Apostle Paul. Abraham Mendelssohn, Felix father, was a successful banker and businessman.

When he was six years old, Felix's parents named him in the Lutheran Church, though they themselves, for now, were still in Hebrew. In that period many German Jews had gained their freedom from degrading treatment and wanted to participate fully in strengthening the German culture. Many felt that Judaism, with the entire history of torment and persecution, is one potential drawback to the desire of community integration.

His father says that with his wife Leah brought four children to Christianity, because this kind of faith was one more civilized. In fact by 1812, all Jews could become citizens with equal rights if converted to Christianity. This step was appointed by Heinrich Heine, the ticket for European integration of Jews. Some Hebrew rabbis understand the motivation of these conversions only the desire to achieve professional and not religious belief.

Jakob Salomon, uncle of Felix, was already converted to Christianity several years. He took the new name Bartholdy to mask his Jewish identity. Bartholdy was actually the name of the owner of a large garden in Berlin that Jacob bought for himself. When Felix was a teenager, his parents were finally baptized Lutheran. They also took their name and dropped the name Bartholdy Mendelssohn. His father wanted to do the same for his son. However, Felix has kept both names.

A devout Christian Felix was not ever ashamed of his Hebrew roots. He was probably considered the greatest classical musical genius of the 19th century school of German romantic music. Some say he was the most impressive musical prodigy of Mozart.
Felix was concerned to realize an oratorio about the life of Peter. This fact shows the spiritual depth of a soul of a composer who ordered the musical notes to evidence the Creator.

A Few Humorous Stories in Classical Music

2009-12-02T12:58:00.000-08:00

The history of classical music is full of good humor. In fact, some of these composers we take to be very serious men apparently had their comical side too. But, what would classical music be if it was all work and no play?

The story goes that Mozart was approached by a young man who wished to be a composer himself. The young man asked Mozart for his advice on writing a symphony. Mozart then advised the youth to begin by writing ballads. Taken aback by this advice, the young man replied, "But you wrote symphonies when you were ten years old." "I didn't have to ask how," was Mozart's reply.

The Irish composer John Field, known for inventing the piano nocturne, gave a somewhat peculiar reason for his marriage. According to him, among his students was an attractive young lady who was very negligent in paying for her lessons. To remedy this problem, Field turned to the law, but not as one would expect. He decided to marry her and thereby removing the problem of giving her lessons that she was likely to never pay for.

While Brahms held some respect for his contemporary Richard Wagner, he did not always admirer Wagner's works. One in particular was the opera Tristan und Isolde. Brahms remarked on one occasion that if he looked at the Tristan score in the morning, he was cross for the rest of the day. Sometime later, someone mentioned to Brahms the death of a member of Wagner's orchestra in Bayreuth. Upon hearing the news, Brahms said dryly, "See, the first corpse."

While still in Bonn, Germany, Beethoven served as an organist at the Electoral Chapel. In a service during Holy Week, the Lamentations of Jeremiah were sung by a single voice on a psalm tone, during which, the organist was allowed to indulge his fantasy so long as he did not exceed the solemnity of the service. However, young Beethoven, began to modulate so wildly, yet keeping the psalm tone in his little finger, that the cantor was unable to find the final cadence. A complaint was entered against Beethoven to the Elector, who reprimanded him out of duty, but it’s probable the young Elector was quite amused by the incident.

Giovanni Battista Vitali

2009-11-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

"No one deserves the title of musician until he has managed to penetrate the deepest secrets of his art."

This quote is attributed to Giovanni Battista Vitali, an early Baroque composer who lived from 1632-1692. Vitali is one of those lesser known composers of classical music that you never hear very much about. Vitali's musical career was focused first in Bologna, Italy and then later in Modena. Musical life in Bologna was centered around the academies located there, in particular, the Accademia Filarmonica, where Vitali was listed as a compositore instead of an instrumentalist. While in Bologna, Vitali never held a higher position than the maestri di capella at the Santissimo Rosario. Vital was a string player and not an organist and it is therefore likely that this impeded his progress in musical culture dominated by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1674 Vitali attained the position of vice-maestri di capella at the secular court of the Este family in Modena. Unlike Bologna which was a part of the Papal States and under the governance of Rome, Modena evidently possessed a great variety in musical styles and Duke Francesco II was a great patron of music and the theatre. The years the Vitali spent in Modena make up his most productive period in which he published six collections of compositions and was later promoted to maestri di capella in 1684.

Vitali's most important contribution to classical music is his Artificii Musicali, opus 13. The Artificii musicali is one of the most comprehensive studies of counterpoint techniques prior to Johann Sebastian Bach's Art of Fugue and the Musical Offering. The collection contains sixty pieces which makes it substantially larger in quantity than either of Bach's collections. The pieces are arranged in order of increasing difficulty and impressive display of Vitali's contrapuntal skill. Present in the collection are canons from two to twelve voices which display a variety of canonic techniques. In the non-canonic pieces, Vitali employs compositional devices that seem more at home in the modern era than in the early Baroque, including a balletto in three different meters at once, a passacaglia that modulates from B flat major to B major via the circle of fifths, and another balletto for two treble instruments with one part in G and the other part in F. Thus, it seems that Vitali took his own saying to heart and did indeed attempt to unveil the deepest secrets of music.

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony

2009-11-26T13:28:00.000-08:00

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is one of the most well-known and most often played pieces in classical music. Practically anyone can recognize the opening four note motive (three short notes followed by one long) of the first movement. The motive has been reused many times not just in classical music but in other genres like disco and rock. It has also appeared in movies and on television.

The symphony was composed between 1804 and 1808. The length of time of its composition is unusual. The first sketches date back to shorting after the completion of the Third Symphony. However, Beethoven interrupted work on the symphony to compose other pieces, some rather large in scale, like Fidelio, the Fourth Symphony and the Mass in C. The Fifth Symphony was then completed along side the Sixth and both were premiered on the same concert. Interestingly, this concert also included the Choral Fantasy, an earlier precursor to the great Ninth Symphony.

While the premiere of the Fifth Symphony didn't generate much enthusiasm from critics, a performance a year later inspired E.T.A Hoffman to write the following:

"Can there be any work of Beethoven’s that confirms all this to a higher degree than his indescribably profound, magnificent symphony in C minor? How this wonderful composition, in a climax that climbs on and on, leads the listener imperiously forward into the spirit world of the infinite!...No doubt the whole rushes like an ingenious rhapsody past many a man, but the soul of each thoughtful listener is assuredly stirred, deeply and intimately, by a feeling that is none other than that unutterable portentous longing, and until the final chord -- indeed, even in the moments that follow it -- he will be powerless to step out of that wondrous spirit realm where grief and joy embrace him in the form of sound. The internal structure of the movements, their execution, their instrumentation, the way in which they follow one another -- everything among the themes that engenders that unity which alone has the power to hold the listener firmly in a single mood. This relationship is sometimes clear to the listener when he overhears it in the connecting of two movements or discovers it in the fundamental bass they have in common; a deeper relationship which does not reveal itself in this way speaks at other times only from mind to mind, and it is precisely this relationship that imperiously proclaims the self-possession of the master’s genius."

Later, Robert Schumann recounted an brief anecdote about a performance of the symphony in which a young boy, during the transition leading from the scherzo into the finale, tugged at the coat of the man sitting next to him. When the man asked the boy what was the matter, the boy replied, "Sir, I am afraid."

The piece has served as inspiration for many later composers including Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner and Mahler. It has been used in the inaugural concerts of the New York Phiharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is and always will one of the most defining pieces of classical music.

Mozart's Requiem

2009-11-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

Mozart's Requiem is one of the most beloved pieces of classical music, not to mention the attention the piece received in the movie Amadeus. While the story behind the piece given in the movie is mostly untrue, the piece does possess one of the most interesting stories in classical music.

The piece was written in 1791, the last year of Mozart's life. It was commissioned by the count Franz von Walsegg, although, anonymously and through several proxies. The count was an amateur musician himself and made a habit of commissioning works by composers and then passing them off as his own work. That's about where any truth in the Amadeus story ends. In this particular instance, the count wished to claim that he had composed a Requiem in memory of his wife's passing. However, as is well known, Mozart died before completing the piece. At the time of his death, it appears that only the opening movement (Requiem aeternam) was fully completed by Mozart himself. The Kyrie and most of the Sequence, up through the Confutatis, contained only complete vocal parts with basso continuo.

Mozart had only received half of the payment before starting work on the Requiem. Upon his death, his widow, Constanze Mozart called upon two other composers, Joseph von Eybler and Franz Xaver Sussmayer, to complete the work. Her plan was to have these two men complete the work in secret, submit the work to the count as being completed by Mozart himself and to cash in on the remaining half of the payment. Eybler completed most of the orchestration for the first part of the mass, up through the Lacrimosa. Feeling at this point unable to complete the sections of the Requiem for which Mozart had left even more sparse sketches, he returned the score to Constanze. Sussmayer, who had already helped the ailing Mozart in writing the score, took up the remainer of the project, completing the orchestration, and adding movements that a requiem would normally contained, the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. Finally, he finished the work with the Lux aeterna set to the music Mozart had already written for the opening movement. The score was then affixed with a forged autograph of Mozart's dated 1792 and sent off to the count.

Musical puzzles

2009-11-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

Classical music is very much an intellectual pursuit. The amount of study necessary to excel in the art is staggering and there seems to be no end in sight to the intellectual depth of music. Sometimes, however, compositions are written for nothing more than the pure intellectual challenge of solving a puzzle. This is the case in many of the old forms of canon.

During the Baroque period and somewhat less frequently during the Classical and Romantic periods, composers indulged themselves in the solving a canonic puzzles. The results, with few exceptions, are of little musical value but are rather stimulating to study from a purely intellectual standpoint. One such type of canon was the polymorphus canon, a canon in which the subject is capable of being worked in many different ways. Marpurg, a student of J.S. Bach's, gives an example of such a canon by Valentini which the composer had worked out in 2,000 different ways.

Another favorite indulgence of the old composers was to write canons for an extremely large number of parts. Valentini wrote a canon for 96 different voices, arranged into 24 choirs and Kircher discovered that Valentini's subject could be performed by 512 voices, or 128 choirs. The subject, however, consists of only the notes of the common chord, so, as stated before, the musical value is rather low.

Of course there are the riddle (or puzzle) canons themselves. These were canons in which only a portion of the subject was given, accompanied but some riddle (often in Latin) that must first be solved. The answer to the riddle would then indicate, often subtly, the missing information needed to complete the riddle, like, the number of voices, the melodic interval at which the voices answer each other, the rhythmic distance between each entry of a voice, etc., or any combination of the above. Sometimes the riddle did not give all the required information and the only way to discover the solution for the canon is by trial-and-error. (It is obvious that the old composers had way to much time on their hands!) Some of the most well-known examples of riddle canons are those contained in Bach's Musical Offering.

While hunting down some of these peculiarities of classical music is not always easy, they are rather fun to study and are the artifacts of much more intellectual time in the history of music.

The Overture to Haydn's Creation

2009-11-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

During two visits to England in the 1790s, Haydn was greatly inspired by performances of Handel’s oratorios and deeply moved by both the grandeur of them as well as how they appealed not only to the upper classes but large groups of mainly middle-class citizens. It is likely that it was these experiences that led Haydn to begin work on The Creation in October 1796. Yet the oratorio was not completed until April 1798, the longest period of time Haydn had spent on a single composition. “I spent much time over it because I expect it to last for a long time,” was his explanation for the composition’s prolonged creation. Indeed Haydn’s intense labors have been well repaid as The Creation remains one of his most popular compositions and a well-known work throughout classical music. The piece was premiered publicly on March 19, 1799 and reception was overwhelming. Forty more performances followed the premiere during the next decade in Vienna alone and the first American performance occurred in 1819.

The libretto of The Creation comes from three sources: the Book of Genesis, the Psalms and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The original libretto was given to Handel, yet he never began work on it. When Haydn left London in 1795, the impresario Johann Peter Salomon gave the libretto to Haydn. Upon his return to Vienna, Haydn passed the libretto on to his friend, Baron von Swieten, who prepared the German version of the libretto for Haydn’s use during composing. The work was published in 1800 in both English and German, becoming the first large-scale work in classical music to be published with bilingual text.

The overture to The Creation is entitled “The Representation of Chaos.” No doubt the overture is far from chaotic to modern ears, yet it must have indeed seemed so to the audiences of the nineteenth century. The music is full of vague harmonies and avoided cadences (a perfect authentic cadence does not appear until measure thirty-nine, nearly two-thirds of the way through). Expectations are set up yet never fulfilled. Another remarkable feature of the overture is the lack of a definite melody. The homophonic texture of melody and accompaniment is so typical of the Classical period, particularly of the Classical overture, that it is must have been a shock to the first audiences to be presented an overture without any trace of a singable melody!

Why We Compose

2009-11-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

"It was my chief aim to awaken, and to render lasting, religious feeling as well in the singers as in the hearers." - Ludwig van Beethoven

"The aim and final reason of all music should be nothing else but the Glory of God and the refreshment of the spirit." - Johann Sebastian Bach

"I should be sorry if I only entertained them, I wish to make them better." - Georg Frederic Handel

What were these three composers trying to say? The first quote was said by Beethoven about the Missa Solemnis and the third quote by Handel concerning the Messiah. Forget the religious aspect of it because that's not part of my point. The point is the that true classical music is not entertainment. It's purpose is for the enrichment of both performer and listener; to be an aid in bettering themselves, not as musicians, but as men.

"I, who know what discipline, what effort, what tension of mind, what unrelenting strain upon one's power of clarity are needed to produce a work of art--I, who know that it requires labor which makes a chain gang look like rest and a severity no army-drilling sadist could impose." - Richard Halley in "Atlas Shrugged"

This is what every composer of any worth has put into his works. It is proven by the products of the greatest composers of classical music--the degree of perfection we strive for in our art. Do you wonder why Beethoven and Brahms continued to study counterpoint even in the late part of their careers or how Bach possessed such a supreme command of the technique? That is the "unrelenting strain," the "discipline," the "severity" the true composer puts upon himself. This is what we put into our works and we expect payment on equal terms--for the listener to accept our product not as some unattainable mystery but as a communication from man to man. We expect the listener to understand. It doesn't matter if you know the first thing about the inner workings of music. We speak to the mind, and through the mind, to the heart. We do not and never have written for your entertainment. We write for the sole expression of ourselves as men. That is our only reason. Don't believe me? Then ask yourself: what other reason can explain the existence of the most complex pieces in the literature of classical music? What prompted Beethoven to write the Grosse Fuge?

Bet You Never Thought of It This Way

2009-11-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

This article is going to present quite a different view of classical music than you're probably use to and by the end of it you'll know, beyond a doubt, my opinion of atonal music. Any historian knows that it's important to look at everything that was going on during a particular time period in order to understand a single event. Every event has its repercussions.

The time is the Renaissance: this was the first great intellectual movement after the stifling conditions of the Dark Ages. For the first time in centuries, men began to throw off the shackles of superstition and the irrational. Great advances were made during this period of about three hundred years. It was during this period, particularly in the 17th century, that the foundations for what would become the tonal system of harmony were laid. At the forefront of this were composers like Palestrina. Following on the heals of the Renaissance, was the the Age of Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason—possibly the greatest of all intellectual movements in history. This period claims bragging rights to the greatest minds to walk this Earth—Locke, Newton, Rousseau and the Founding Fathers. In the musical world, it was during this period that the tonal system of harmony was brought to maturity. The laws of harmony and counterpoint were codified and, for the first time since the Greeks, there was a rational basis for music.

However, there are always the dissenters. At reason's greatest moment in history, a man named Immanuel Kant began to preach against it. In the name of reason, he said that man is incapable of it. He argued that man was incapable of obtaining true knowledge since such knowledge, according to Kant, cannot be gained through perception. How else then is knowledge to be gained? The repercussions of this philosophy have been far-reaching and disastrous and classical music was not exempted from its effects. Within one hundred years of Kant, composers began to reject the tonal system, on the sole whim of a feeling, until eventually the entire system collapsed into atonality. So I ask the question: Tonality has the entire weight of rationality behind it. What does atonality have?

Hildegard Von Bingen

2009-11-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

Classical music is a term that defines a style of music that spans over seven hundred years. The periods of classical music, when placed in order, are:
- Medieval (before 1400)
- Renaissance (1400 – 1600)
- Baroque (1600 – 1750)
- Classical (1750 – 1820)
- Romantic (1820 – 1900)
- Twentieth Century (1900 – current)

The purpose of this article is to focus on the medieval era of classical music, which was mostly religious. More importantly, my purpose today is to educate the reader on one notable individual whom a great deal of people may not know about...
Hildegard Von Bingen (c. 1098 – 1179) was a German Benedictine and, among other things, a mystic, abbess, author, poet, and composer. She wrote theological texts and liturgical songs. One very important aspect to remember is that Hildegard was a woman. However, it appears that she did have some power within the medieval church. Her fellow nuns elected her as magistra. At one point, Hildegard desired more freedom for herself and her sister nuns, so she asked another Abbott for permission to move to Rupertsberg. When denied permission, she went over the Abbot's head and straight to Archbishop Henry I of Mainz (who gave her permission to make the move). Now we know that she was a medieval female who had some power within the church, and we know that she was many things (as listed above). But what was her contribution to classical music?
The biography Hildegard of Bingen is that of the first known composer. Of course, there were others before her, but any biographies of them do not survive. Roughly eighty of her compositions survive (making her collection one of the largest among medieval composers). One of her better known works is 'Ordo Virtutum' (Play of the Virtues). The play consists of sixteen virtues, as well as monophonic melodies for the human soul. Hildegard's music can be found in the Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum (Symphonic Harmony of Celestial Revelations).
As a composer of her time, one of her unique qualities was the fact that Hildegard was a female who was honored during her time. Even by men. Music at the time consisted mostly of chanting and as the strength of the church grew, so did the need for written music. Before then, people relied on oral tradition. The church had the money needed to supply written notation of music (though it was kept w/in the church). Though Hildegard's music was designed with limited instrumental embellishment, it was among the first to be written for the church (that still survives). This little known nun made some of the earliest contributions that would later lead to a more instrumental style of classical music.

Where Does The Music Take You?

2009-10-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

When I was in the third grade, my parents decided that I should learn to play a musical instrument. They went out and got me my first violin and found an instructor for me. Of course, those first couple weeks of lessons was horrible. The instructor closely resembled a Gypsy witch and she had me play the same things over and over; and over. Sometimes, she would just have me sit there and listen to bits and pieces of classical music by various artists. I can honestly say that I have no memory of who those artists were; and over time I continued to be convinced that my instructor really was a Gypsy witch. When the witch/instructor was not teaching me; and when my daily hour of self "enrichment" (as my parents called it) was over, I would simply place my violin in its' case and slide the case under the bed.
I was so tired of hearing my instructor and my parents tell me how good I was. I might have been young but I was not stupid. I had just began to play the thing so I am sure that when I played, it probably sounded more like I was scratching a blackboard with my fingernails. I told my parents that I was not going to play/practice even more just because they told me that I was good at it. I knew how to read the sheet music and I just wanted the witch out of my house; because a strange transition began to occur after about a year.
I began to actually like to play my violin. The witch instructor finally decided it was time to move on. A good thing since I was getting close to smacking her that last time that she counted time in Japanese. When my parents would leave the house I would pull my violin out from under the bed and begin to play. I would stop every now and then to make sure that my sister and I were still alone in the house. I played so long that I would get tired of standing and just sit on the bed. Soon, I was laying on the bed with my eyes closed; stopping to make sure my parents had not come home yet. When it was time to put away my violin, I would smell it first. I loved that smell that only violinists know.
Then, I stole some of my parent's tapes. Yes, back then it was tapes. I would sneak them to my room and pop them into my portable tape player (I could not let them know that I liked listening to Mozart). As time passed, it was almost like a drug; all the sneaking around. To this day I have no idea why I did not want them to know that I liked the music. So, I would lay in bed with my earphones on and go to the most wonderful places.
By the time that I was in the ninth grade, I had learned to play the violin and clarinet; and had then taught myself to play my grandmother's piano. I had no instructor for that so I would listen to music for hours; matching the sound to the keys of the piano. I don't know if it was exact, but it was close enough. It was a side of me that most of my friends did not know about. While their portable tape players blasted Prince through earpieces, mine blasted various classical music.
At the beach, I would put on my headphones and listen to works by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
The most wonderful thing about this music for me, was the many places that it took me. When you close your eyes and listen to a rap song; your mind does not really go anywhere. But when you close your eyes while listening to Beethoven; you can be on the beach, in space, or in an empty field. The possibilities are limitless and it is based on how the music makes you (as an individual) feel. I lost my secret love of classical music for a long time; but it was never forgotten. Now, as an adult, I can openly listen to the music of my choice and I have found no shame in lying down on the bed to let Mozart take me away from chores or an often nagging five year old son.
There is something that classical music does to my soul and my body; and to my mind. It takes me places that I can not normally visit. What happens to you when you listen to Mozart, Beethoven, or any of the other greats? What happens to you when you listen to a symphony?

Classic music online

2009-09-15T03:43:00.000-07:00

Starting up this blog I would like to capture your attention for a moment and talk about the main topic of my blog: listening of classic music (here is where I mostly listen classical music online and I want to try and give some answers to such fundamental questions as: what is the essence of classic music? (No dictionary definitions and book quotations, of course), and why so many people today prefer other music styles to classics? Of course, all these answers would be subjective (i.e. they are my opinions and thoughts on the matter), but I believe that is what blogs are about: sharing your thoughts and insights with others. So, this introductory post would let us get a bit acquainted and would show you my approach to why classic music is present in my life.

As you know, strictly speaking “classic” understanding of classic music term refers to 1750-1825 epoch and such composers as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, etc. Even though this is a widely known fact I think it really is very significant and symbolic in defining of what classic music is. Let me explain my thought. Classic music was part of the epoch called Classicism. This epoch was marked by a new style in architecture, arts, literature, etc. I could say, a new style of life for people. Music was only part of the whole, which belonged to that epoch. Let me develop my thought.

Here is one of the dictionary definitions (which I have promised not to quote here, sorry), very simple, precise, and admitted by many, but very mistaken in its essence: model music, written by outstanding composers of the past. It is that simple and so inessential! So, was classic music only an attribute of the classicism? Was it an attempt to follow a certain music fashion? Or, was it something much more meaningful?

The way I feel about it is that music as any art is an impression of the epoch. It is something that embodies its spirit and pours out and reveals its soul. Any music, including classic one, is like a sensitive antenna, which forebodes the coming of the new epoch, takes part in its creation and bears impressions and spirit of time long after the epoch is gone.

For me personally, when I listen to classical music, I take a voyage to the places not only far away from me geographically, but far away in time, in people’s way of living and expressing themselves. It is like reading a book, where you get a chance of living through some else’s life, or like looking, let’s say, at an expressionist’s picture, where you have a chance of glancing not at the actual place or subjects, but at something more illusive, such as that person’s impression about places or things.
So, this is the essence of classic music for me. And, as to the second question: why so many people today prefer other music styles to classics? I believe this post has already given you a partial answer to it. But, I will share more on it in my second post.