Ernest Bloch, an American composer, was born in Geneva on July 24th, 1880. He began his passion for music at the age of 9 when he began playing the violin and soon began to compose music. While at a conservatory in Brussels he studied music under teachers such as the Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaye. Bloch’s compositions from this apprenticeship period reveal the influence of the Russian national school, particularly in matters of fluctuating meters, folk-flavored melodies, irregular rhythms, exotic scalar constructions, a propensity for modality, and coloristic scoring (Kushner 1). At the end of the century, Bloch began to exploring the Franco-Belgian approach to his composition. The Franco-belgian is characterized by elegant and refined melodic contours and harmonic support and cyclical treatment as a means of attaining structural unity in essentially rhapsodic creations. Works of his such as Poème Concertante and Concerto reflect this style. Bloch’s evident preference in these works for frequent instrumental solos as opposed to large blocks of sound indicates a shift to the French...
This concert is held by the Stony Brook University music department and is to perform seven pieces of music written by seven student composers. The concert is performed in Recital Hall of Staller Center in Stony Brook University. Since it is a small hall, audiences are very close to the performers. In fact, it is the first time I am this close to the performers and the sound for me is so clear and powerful that seems like floating in front of my eyes. Among the seven pieces, “Ephemeral Reveries” and “Gekko no mori” are piano solo, “Two Songs for Joey” is in piano and marimba, “Suite” and “Fold Duet No. 1” are in woodwinds, “Elsewhere” is played by string groups, and “e, ee, ree, and I was free” is in vocal. Personally, I like the sound of piano and guitar the best. Therefore, in the latter part I will analysis two pieces in piano, “Gekko no mori” and “Two Songs for Joey”.
Nearly a century’s worth of compositions has earned Aaron Copland extensive recognition as the foremost American composer of his time. Ironically, Copland was raised the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and inhabitant of a colorless city environment, yet would become known for producing the music of “rugged-souled Americans” (Mellers 4). Unbounded by historical musical constraints such as those present in the culture of France, where Copland studied for many years, Copland found himself free to explore and experiment in pursuit of a unique, undoubtedly American sound.
TitleAuthor/ EditorPublisherDate James Galways’ Music in TimeWilliam MannMichael Beazley Publishers1982 The Concise Oxford History of MusicGerald AbrahamOxford University Press1979 Music in Western CivilizationPaul Henry LangW. W. Norton and Company1941 The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Classical MusicRobert AinsleyCarlton Books Limited1995 The Cambridge Music GuideStanley SadieCambridge University Press1985 School text: Western European Orchestral MusicMary AllenHamilton Girls’ High School1999 History of MusicRoy BennettCambridge University Press1982 Classical Music for DummiesDavid PogueIDG Books Worldwide,Inc1997
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a cosmopolitan European composer and piano virtuoso of the Romantic era. Although it was his place of birth, Liszt spent most of his formative years away from Hungary, though he returned to his homeland many times over the course of his life. Liszt’s allegiance to Hungary can be found in many of his compositions through the Hungarian-Gypsy folk idiom verbunkos; however, most analyses of his “Hungarian” music are oversimplified and exoticist because of a nationalist perspective. Shay Loya, a contemporary Lisztian scholar, asserts that focusing on Liszt’s “Hungarian” works from a purely nationalistic perspective “obscures the real extent of the verbunkos idiom in Liszt’s compositions as well as the complex interaction of that idiom with other topics and styles, and ultimately with other expressions of identity.” With this in consideration, I intend to use a transcultural approach to analyze the influence of verbunkos idiom in the music of Franz Liszt. Liszt incorporated the verbunkos idiom into “Hungarian” works, along with works that were not nationally allied, to further both Romantic and Modernist ideals in his music.
In their books: Copland: 1900 through 1942 and Copland: Since 1943, Aaron Copland and Vivian Perlis give a detailed account of the life of one of America’s most influential composers. The books are arranged similarly to the Shostakovich biography that our class reviewed earlier this semester. That is, through personal accounts by Copland himself along with accounts of Copland’s friends and acquaintances, the authors manage to paint an accurate and interesting picture detailing the life of the great composer. When combined, the two books recount Copland’s entire life, dividing it into two periods for the purpose of easier organization and reading.
A peer to such keyboard greats - such as Rubenstein, Thalberg, and Liszt - Clara Schumann (1819-1896) was a brilliant pianist and composer. Carrying a career which extended over sixty years, Schumann contributed a great deal of repertoire to the world of Lieder. Much like her performing technique, her compositions were famous for carrying a beautiful tone and poetic temperament. In analyzing Clara Schumann’s Liebst du um Schönheit, one can cultivate an understanding of Schumann’s compositional techniques, as they are implemented in the style of German lieder.
In the following paper I will be exploring the beginning of Leonard Bernstein's career and his family background. I will also look into the influences he had in his life and look at two pieces that he composed, "Jeremiah Symphony No. 1", and "Candide". My reasons for choosing these two pieces is due to the fact that they are contrasting in genre, one being a symphony with orchestration and the other being an operetta, and that they were written at different stages in Bernstein's life. They both produced a number of responses and displayed his wide range of musical ability.
For almost half a century, the musical world was defined by order and esteemed the form of music more highly than the emotion that lay behind it. However, at the turn of the 19th century, romantic music began to rise in popularity. Lasting nearly a century, romantic music rejected the ideas of the classical era and instead encouraged composers to embrace the idea of emotionally driven music. Music was centered around extreme emotions and fantastical stories that rejected the idea of reason. This was the world that Clara Wieck (who would later marry the famous composer, Robert Schumann) was born into. Most well known for being a famous concert pianist, and secondly for being a romantic composer, Clara intimately knew the workings of romantic music which would not only influence Clara but would later become influenced by her progressive compositions and performances, as asserted by Bertita Harding, author of Concerto: The Glowing Story of Clara Schumann (Harding, 14). Clara’s musical career is an excellent example of how romantic music changed from virtuosic pieces composed to inspire awe at a performer’s talent, to more serious and nuanced pieces of music that valued the emotion of the listener above all else.
Schwartz, Boris. Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia, 1917-1981. 2nd edition. Indiana University Press, 1983.
This is the second volume of Richard Taruskin's historical work, and it highlights composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He examines the progression of different styles and eras of music.
Many people know that Debussy and Beethoven composed many great classical works but they did compose some ‘jazz like’ works over their music career. Noted composer, scholar, and educator Gunther Schuller wrote an article entitled “Jazz on Classical: Classical on Jazz”. In this article, he mentioned that jazz musicians of today and yesteryear have been attracted to works by classical composers and have drawn upon the inventive usage of harmonies employed by classical composers, including Debussy and Beethoven. Debussy had a profound impact on contemporary soundtrack composers such as John Williams because Debussy's colorful and evocative style translated easily into an emotional language for use in motion picture scores. Unfortunately, Gunther Schuller did not follow Beethoven’s influence on today’s jazz artists. He did not write more about his influences toward jazz (Schuller,2013).
"At that instant the lingering notes of a 'cello were wafted towards them from the house . . . and, like honey, the melody flowed through the air" (49). Like a true Nihilist, Bazarov immediately denounced the act of playing music as a purely romantic institution. "Good Lord!
It is clear that Beethoven’s stands as being significant in development of the string quartet to a massive extent in creativity and innovation. His early quartets show great influence of those from the Classical period and with his own, has influenced his contemporaries and later composers. The quartets published later in his life show even greater imagination and use of expression. It is also through similar uses of texture, harmony, rhythm and counterpoint that composers of the Romantic period and the 20th century wrote their own string quartets. Beethoven’s however prove a huge advancement in how string quartets are written and the intensity of emotions that they portray.
Compared to Mozart’s Sonata K.330, this work is longer and more energetic at some parts. Mozart’s K.330 has a lot of fast-tempo and dotted melodies, which gives the peice a brisk feeling, but does not show many manipulations of strong harmonies as Schumann’s work does. Unfortunately, our textbook does not include piano music composed by Schumann, we should compare Fantasiestucke, Op.12 with other piano music our textbook has. The Fantasiestucke, Op.12 has several sections, some of which are smooth and delicate, yet others are very exciting. The entire peice shows some typical features of Schumann’s style. It is obvious that Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op.27, No.2 Moonlight forms a huge contrast against many climax sections in Fantasiestucke, Op.12. Moonlight has delicate, singing melody that moves slowly. It uses a rather soft dynamics to express the tranquility of moonlight. Another examples is Chopin’s Mazurka in B-flat Minor, Op.24 No.4. Altough the Mazurka has wider range, dancelike dotted rhythms, rubato expression and much chromaticism, still does not have that much excitement compared to Fantasiestucke, Op.12. In Fantasiestucke Op.12, Schumann not only implemented the strong dynamic and intense tempo, but wrote some rather soft sections as transitions. Those characteristics examplify Schumann’s music style: impassioned melodies, novel changes of harmonies and driving rhythms that reveal him as a true Romantism composer. Lydia has carried out such experience in high
As a youth he reluctantly studied law, as much bore by it as Schumann had been, and even became a petty clerk in the Ministry of Justice. But in his early twenties he rebelled, and against his family's wishes had the courage to throw himself into the study of music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was a ready improviser, playing well for dancing and had a naturally rich sense of harmony, but was so little schooled as to be astonished when a cousin told him it was possible to modulate form any key to another. He went frequently to the Italian operas which at that time almost monopolized the Russian stage, and laid t...