My choice for the French composer "Charles Gounod", is motived both by himself and his opera: "FAUST".
I really appreciate his great melody talent as a composer. He is famous for three main operas, but also for a lot of melodies and religious pieces, about 150. Just remember theses famous arias or melodies: Faust – “Aria of the jewels” ; Faust – aria “Demeure chaste et pure” – Ave Maria (using one Prelude of JS Bach)...
CHARLES GOUNOD - FAUST (Avant de quitter ces lieux)
Biography - Basic facts
Charles Gounod (1818 – 1893) was born on June 17th of 1848 in Paris, in France. His father was a painter and his mother teach him to play piano. As Charles’s father died when he was 5 years old, he says that everything good he did in his life is
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His first really major success is “Faust”: it became a great success, played 70 times in 1859 (when C Gounod was 41 years old).
His second major success is another opera “Romeo and Juliet” in 1867, during the Universal Exposition in Paris, he was 49 years old.
The next period, he wrote more religious pieces and a lot of melodies, until his death in 1893. At his funeral ceremony, two famous musicians and friends played music : Camille Saint-Saëns playing organ and Gabriel Fauré – famous for his marvelous melodies ! – conducting the choir !
We know that he was a very gentle man in his personal life, concerned with kindness by other people. These mentions make it easy for us to understand that both his life and his compositions are full of love. C Gounod used to say about his work : “God created three beautiful things : music, flowers and women. That’s what I always sang”.
Influences -
He studied music at the Conservatory for Music (School of music of Paris) with famous teachers as Antoine Reich, for harmony class. Antoine Reich studied with Salieri and Albrecht when he lived in Vienna… just like Beethoven, who had the same age, did. Thus, we may say that Charles Gounod received partly the same influences for his musical basis
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Gounod began to write Faust during is staying in Italy, Villa Medicis… but achieve it later in his life, after he wrote two operas, on the advice of a friend found of theater in 1851. Creation of Faust was in 1859.
Myriad composers have set the classic Faust tale, in whole or in part, to music. Yet even in a list that includes Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and Mahler, it is the grand opera of French composer Charles Gounod that continues to impress year after year. The work opened the Metropolitan Opera House in 1883 and has since seen nearly 750 performances on that stage alone. In one of the opera’s many notable arias, “Avant de quitter ces lieux” (“Before I leave this place”), Valentin bids farewell to his sister Marguerite before going to war, and asks his younger friend Siébel to look after her while he is away. The emotion and nobility of the character, combined with the role’s high notes and demanding phrasing, make this a benchmark aria for baritone
Gabriel Faure was a French Romantic Composer, pianist, teacher and an organist. He was a very influential composer and his style of composition influenced many of the 20th century composers. He was one of the most prominent French composers of his era. Faure was known as one of the French master of the art song. He was awarded a scholarship to École de Musique Classique et Religieuse. His tutors respectively included; Clément Loret, Louis Dietsch, Xavier Wackenthaler, Saint-Saëns and Niedermeyer. Faure took up the post of an organist at the church of Saint-Sauveur at Rennes in Brittany. After the Franco-Prussian war Faure left France and took up teaching in Switzerland.
Hector Berlioz was a French composer his ideals of the 19th century Romanticism in musical creations such as “Symphonie Fantastique” and “La Damnation De Faust”. His father wanted him to be in the medical field he turned his back to that to pursue his musical career. In 1826, Berlioz enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire. Where he started his music career. He became successful in 1830 with “Symphonie Fantastique”. Berlioz was a huge contributor to the modern orchestra with one of his greatest works, “Treatise on Instrumentation”. He works influenced the further development of the Romanticism, his pieces influenced composers like Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov,
His astonishing understanding of musical rudiments was further cemented at age seven by his first teacher Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel, with piano literature ranging from Bach to Schubert to Clementi (Musgrave 10). The young gifted talent quickly matured, with his compositions being sedulously characterized in craft similar to the seasoned taste of aged liquor. Following in the wake of Beethoven, his style of romanticism seemed restrained, and viewed as being confined to classical forms. With his preference towards absolute music, his works demonstrated “as [Ian] McEwan/ [Clive] Linley would have it, at the intersection of emotion and reason” and of “powerful intellect and of passionate expressivity” (Platt and Smith 4). However, being the headstrong romantic that he is, he manipulated the limiting factor into an area of expanse, in which he developed his music into seriously emotional, imaginative works of art.... ...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are very famous past composers that have created many pieces that have influenced not just people of their time, but people in modern times as well.
Franz Liszt, Hungarian piano virtuoso and composer. Among his, many notable compositions are his 12 symphonic poems, two (completed) piano concerti, several sacred choral works, and a great variety of solo piano pieces.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
Many prominent musicians produced major works during the romantic period. Among these are Beethoven, Strause, and Bach. But the musician that I think had the most impact, was Franz Schubert. Franz Peter, born on 31 January 1797 was one of fourteen children born of Franz Theodore Schubert and Elisabeth Vietz, four of which survived. He grew up in an apartment that daily converted to a classroom in which his father taught several elementary school classes. He received a thorough basic education; his father being a good teacher, and son being a bright student. From his father Franz also learned to play the violin, and from his brother he learned the piano. The family, indeed, was a very musical one; family "String Quartet Parties" were well known in the part of Vienna in which they lived. But soon young Franz learned all that his family had to teach him. Later, any neighbors who could play any instruments were drawn in and the quartet became a little orchestra. At nine years old, this inquisitive little boy auditioned and was accepted for a position as a chorister in the Royal Court Chapel Choir (which would later become the 'Vienna Boys' Choir). The young chorister gained the attention of Antonio Saliere, who saw to the nurture the young boy's education. After leaving the choir, he continued as a student at the school for one unhappy year. Schubert returned to live at home where it was decided that he would help his father teach. This did not last long. A disastrous episode with an unruly pupil was the last straw and Schubert at age nineteen left teaching and his home to pursue what he loved, composing. He moved in to the...
This paper will explore the life of the great composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was considered one of the greatest composers of all time. He created amazing, famous compositions that made a big impact in today’s world. He went through rough times like many people do, the loss of his parents and finding a way back to the old routine was not an easy task. Bach came from generations of musicians and was given a religious education which is something that played a big role in his life when becoming a musician. We will analyze and learn the significance of some of his great compositions, the stories and what inspired him to compose music.
...actually composed his best works during this time. In 1824, he debuted a mass “Missa Solemnis” which is now considered one of his great achievements and also a strong quartet number 14 which was composed of seven linked moments played without a break. His 9th and last symphony was competed later that year becoming one of the most famous pieces written in the history of music.
From that point on, he successfully founded modern French opera. “His involvement was not limited to musical composition. He collaborated with his poets in the production of libretti, and even took an interest in the acting and declamation of the performers. His insistence on discipline and high artistic standards in the opera orchestra was legendary” (Straughan (a))
Achille-Claude Debussy was one of the most renowned French composers who stimulated the music of the twentieth-century. Debussy’s life experiences have given an emotional and relatable truth in his work. Works such as Clair de Lune, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, and La Mer are great achievements of Debussy that are the most familiar today. Debussy is worth reviewing because he uniquely structured his compositions that served as a base for musicians in the past, and will easily continue to motivate musical masterpieces for years to come.
The music he produced had a lot of control with a lot of flair. He liked improvisation, but did not leave that up to the performer. Instead, he wrote very virtuosic passages for his pieces, with which the performer did not have much room for imaginative playing. Then there is his knowledge on how to writ...
Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg in 1809. His father Abraham Mendelssohn was a banker, while his mum Lea Mendelssohn was a highly educated artist and musician. Mendelssohn first had his piano lesson from his mum, but soon he was sent to study with the best teachers at that time such as Marie Bigot and Ludwig Burger. He also took composition lessons with Karl Zelter, who was the professor of the University of Berlin. Under their proper guidance, he completely showed his music talent- he first appeared as pianist at nine and as a composer at ten. At his age of twelve, he already composed nine fugues, five symphonies for strings, two operas and a huge number of smaller pieces. When he was sixteen, the publication of his Octet in E-flat Major for strings and Overture to A Mid Summer Night’s Dream marked his full maturity.
Ludwig van Beethoven was an extraordinary music composer, especially considering he was deaf most of his life and career. He was born in Germany on December 16, 1770. Many obstacles were hurled at him, but he triumphed over them, and even deafness didn’t stop him from composing some of the worlds greatest, and most recognized music compositions (Rosenwald 167). His life, music, and his musical styles and techniques all contribute to his life story.
His work demonstrated the intellectuality of his conceptions. His compositions were monumental. His work encapsulated a high degree of naturalism.