Johannes Brahms wrote his Third Symphony in the span of a few short months in the summer of 1883 after he was hit with a sudden rush of inspiration. The theme of F - Aflat - F can be found throughout the piece and are believed to be a reference towards Brahms’ personal motto frei aber froh which translates to free but happy. In the First and Final Movements, this theme is full of conflict as the key shifts between F-major and F-minor. Brahms may have been expressing his complex emotions regarding his love life in these movements and throughout the entirety of the piece. Brahms never married, but he had a very close friendship with Clara Schumann that, arguably, was more than platonic. These conflicting themes may have been expressing, on one
Each time I read The Awakening, I am drawn to the passage on page 69 where Edna and Madame Ratignolle argue about “the essential” and “the unessential.” Edna tries to explain, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself.” What most would see as essential—money (you need it for food, clothing, shelter, etc) and life—Edna sees as “unessential.” Edna is speaking of more than that which one needs for physical survival; she would not hesitate to give her life to save the life of one of her children. On the other hand, Edna’s being, her “self,” is something quite different from her physical form.
Melvin B. Tolson was an African American modernist poet. Tolson is compared to the likes of Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison and Gwendolyn Brooks, some of the biggest names in African American literature during the realism, naturalism and modernist era. Melvin B. Tolson was born February 6th although his true birth year is unknown. Tolson was raised in a Methodist Episcopal church and his family moved around quite a bit. Beginning his career very young, Tolson’s first poem was published at the age of 14 in the local newspaper. His poem was about the sinking of the Titanic. Tolson attended Fisk and Lincoln University where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Tolson taught at Wiley College and coached the debating team. After taking a break from Wiley,
Dohnányi was a major Hungarian composer, pianist and conductor of the turn of the 20th century, second only to Bartok in influence in his home country. His compositional output was late Romantic in style and very conservative, largely influenced by Brahms.
Before actually going into the analysis of the actual piece itself, background information would be helpful. The composition was written by Bach, and it is part of the sonatas and partitas for solo violin. For this example, Partita II in d minor, movement I, Allemanda, will be discussed. Allemanda, sometimes spelled allemande, derives from German and simply means “dance.” While there are various tempos used, this movement is usually fast, around 120 beats per minute.
Melville didn’t name the chapter in the novel, Moby-Dick, randomly. It is evident in this chapter that his syntax, diction, and the vivid descriptions truly depict a symphony. A symphony is a piece of music created for an orchestra and typically has four parts, or movements: Allegro, Andante, Adagio, and Presto. This chapter’s organization can be compared with the parts of a symphony, hence the reasoning behind Melville’s title: The Symphony.
Requiem in d minor by Mozart (1756-1791) was written in 1791. Mozart fully completed Movements I and II: Introitus and Kyrie. Movements III and IV, Sequenz and Offertorium, were sketched out. When Mozart died on December 5, 1791, Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766-1803) completed the Requiem shortly after Mozart’s death. The original key is d minor. Movements I and II are in d minor. Movement III moves from d minor, B-flat Major, g minor, d minor, F Major, a minor, and back to d minor. Movement IV is in g minor, E-flat Major, and g minor. Movement V to D major, VI is B-flat Major, VII d minor to B-flat Major, and Movement VIII Communio starting in B-flat Major and ending in the original d minor key. I listened to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti performance of this with guest performer Cecilia Bartoli. Throughout this analysis Movement II, Kyrie, will be discussed. Kyrie is unique to the other Movements because of its form: a double fugue.
“Desiree Baby” by Kate Chopin is a very thought provoking short story that deals with racism, prejudice, and love. The story takes place in southern Louisiana, where Armand, a prominent landowner, marries a girl of unknown origin named Desiree. The story has a twist when their baby is born and is discovered to be of mixed race. Armand knew all along that he was OF mixed race, and I will prove it by analyzing characterization, diction, and imagery.
This was a story about a sudden storm coming to an American town. The author Kate Chopin wrote this story in 1898, at that time, America was during the two concept conflict time. This story happened when husband and son outside, wife met her ex in their home. The wife could not reject Alcee, so they made a mistake during the storm. After storm past, everything was back to normal, Calixta and Alcee returned to their family. In many people’s thought, Calixta and Alcee are betrayed their families; however, in Chopin’s mind, they are not wrong, they just give each other a chance to vent feeling, this connection does not mean they are betray their families, and I agree with her opinion. Love and marriage are separate, people can have many lovers, but they just have one partner.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed an exemplary piece of classical music that can be seen in television and films of the twenty-first century. Mozart would hear a complete piece in his head before he would write it down. He created pieces that had simple melodies, but also the orchestration sounded rich. Out of the forty-one symphonies Mozart composed, I have chosen Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor or better known as The Great G Minor Symphony, written in 1788. Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 is considered the most popular out of all forty-one symphonies because the opening movement is very memorable. Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 is effectively composed through the use of a specific form, elements of music, and using the appropriate instruments so one can see brilliant scenes unfolding.
Frederic Chopin, a Polish Nationalistic composer of the Romantic period, is a famous musician. Chopin’s compositions are individualistic to his talent and love of the piano. Chopin lived in Warsaw as a child and spent a great deal of his life living Paris amongst other artists of the Romantic period. He was influenced by people surrounding him and even more from his childhood in Poland. The Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-Flat major opus 61, is musically representative of Chopin and the Romantic period, nationalistic styles from Poland and unique innovations especially from Warsaw.
Gustav Mahler began composing the Fifth Symphony in the summer of 1901. At this point in his life, Mahler had developed a high degree of confidence in his compositional ability. The symphony was written mostly during the summers of 1901 and 1902, with an important life event marked within this time period: Mahler’s engagement to Alma Maria Schindler (Fischer 385-6).
The Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Opus 26 is one of the most famous violin concertos over the musical history. It is also considered to be the most renowned work by the German composer Max Bruch. I will begin with a short explanation of why I choose to analyse this piece followed by what makes this piece so remarkable. I will then present the musical context – German Romantic period – in which this piece was composed and discuss how it is representative of this period. Also, I will present briefly the biography of the composer and relate his life and style with this particular piece of music. After, I will explain the basic structure of a concerto, associate it with this violin concerto, and analyse how each movement is related. Then, I will analyse some psychoacoustic parameters of this piece (pitch, dynamics, rhythm, and texture). Finally, I will give my appreciation of this piece in term of beauty, musical expression, and mood.
In order to understand a composer’s popularity one not only needs to analyse the circumstances and the composer’s works, but those pieces that provided the basis of the operas as well. Dent’s (1926) idea is that the melody of the music should follow the rhythm and pace of spoken English language. He also has a language requirement: an opera cannot become genuinely English if it is composed to foreign language. He emphasises that Purcell’s work needs to be studied; his works are in connection with the proper musical adaptation, since in Dent’s view Purcell was a master in following the rhythm of the language with the music. He even adds that the original story does not need to be written by an English author. In this chapter I am examining
Recently as an avid operagoer I decided to attend one of Lyric Opera’s productions, which happened to be Die Walküre. I had my reservations about this opera as it was written by one of my contemporaries who I no longer feel worthy of calling a colleague but now rather address him as a fraud. The man that I speak of is Richard Wagner. Now I tried to attend this opera with little bias as possible, as I once was a dear friend of Wagner, but I must say after 5 hours at the opera I had a distaste in my mouth. This opera was more off-putting than I thought it would be, and I already had my reservations about Wagner. Not only was the opera long, at moments it was rather unentertaining; the plot of the story had some moments that were unpleasant. Now
Ludwig van Beethoven was an exceptional composer and musician in his time period for numerous reasons. He produced countless symphonies, sonatas, masses, and even an opera. He was a very talented man in the Classical and Romantic era, and he will be remembered for many centuries to come. One of his works that intrigues me the most is his Piano Sonata No. 14, otherwise known as the Moonlight Sonata. Not only is it a hauntingly beautiful piece, but it is also very historically significant. Completed in 1801, the Moonlight Sonata stretched the boundaries of music in Beethoven’s time period. To understand why the Moonlight Sonata is such a unique piece, I will delve into the background of the piece, the form of Moonlight Sonata, and finally Beethoven’s