Mendelsohn as a Master-Craftsman in the Art of Instrumentation
Mendelsohn wrote the Hebrides overture in the summer of 1829 in
response to seeing and walking in the Hebrides and in paticular
visiting Fingal's Cave on an island in the outer Hebredies. Like
Mozart before him, he was regarded as a child prodigy and composed
several works before he was seventeen. Therefore when we consider the
question posed, we must acknowledge Mendelsohn set about writing his
concert overture with an esteemed background.
The concert overture has many different forms but Mendelsohn used
Sonata form for his Hebrides overture (a common decision to make in
this Classical period). It could be argued that Sonata form is
indicative of Mendelsohn's relative conservatism as it has a fairly
strict pattern to follow, both in terms of form, key and temperement:
It is clear that Mendelsohn did indeed use three contrasting passages
with the addition of the 52 bar long Coda (normally a more brief
concluding passage at the end of a work). Sonata form has many
positives that work well in this Overture: Mendelsohn's original theme
(fig 1) is clearly audible in the cello part in bar 1 of the
exposition which gives the grounding for the whole piece (indeed, it
has been argued that this theme is the genesis of the whole piece but
that is a different essay entirely.) and us repeated in all parts of
the work. Because the themes are so important they need to be clearly
exposed and the exposition does this effectively.
Sonata form also allows for two subjects in the exposition (bars 1-96)
and he intertwines them immaculately. An example of this is the chord
structur...
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... show the skill of the
Hebrides- texture and instrumentation. The instruments the Hebrides is
scored for is typical of the classical period and relatively small, as
detailed above. however, Mendelsohn does not use this to hinder the
drama of the piece with bright, tranquil motifs (the inital theme in
the cello in bar 1) contrasting heavily with the dramatic
full-orchestral sound heard at bar 87 and other instances.
To conclude, we have shown that there are numerous examples of the way
Mendelsohn has shaped the Hebrides- including contrasting texture, the
use of sonata form and the contrasts within that form- to make it
memorable and weave his varying ideas together. It should be noted
that Mendelsohn reviewed and heavily changed the piece several times
over his musical career to get it into the shape we see it today.
The first movement felt as though it was the beginning of a riddle sure to be solved later in the symphony. It began with a sense of suspense with all basic elements of music: tonality, melody, and rhythm. The entire first movement was of an established sonata, between all instruments. However, what caught my attention was the mumble of the low strings which erupted into violins. I was on the edge of my seat for what was to come.
In the first part of this recital the vivaldi, contained a string Quartet. After the first intermission, I looked down at the podium and noticed that the precussions were added which included the timpani, bass drum, tylophone, and cymbals. In this recital Nancy Menk was the conductor, Judith Von Houser was the soprano which played a high note, and Mary Nessinger was the Mezzo-soprano which played a slight softer note. This part of the concert was divided into four pieces. First there was the Magnificant by M. Haydn (the orchestra accompaniment was edited from the composer's manuscript by Mark Nabholz). This piece consisted of strings without violas, two french horns, and an organ.
The overture grew out of 17th century baroque dramatic works which began with either a French ouverture, the word from which the term is derived, or an Italian overture (Sadie, 1980). Composers such as Lully, Purcell and Handel used the French overture which is in two sections, each marked with a repeat. The French overture begins with a slow homophonic section frequently using dotted rhythms often ending on a half cadence and then moves to a faster fugal or "quasi-fugal" section which usually makes a return to the slow tempo and rhythms of the first section (Stolba, 1998). The Italian overture, or sinfonia as it was sometimes called, was written in three movements which are fast-slow-fast in order, the finale often written in a dance like character (Peyser, 1986). By the eighteenth century, this type of overture prevailed for operas even in France with the first movement becoming longer and more elaborate. Sonata form was generally used and a slow introduction would often begin the work (Sadie, 1980). Due to the loose terminology of the eighteenth century, symphonies and suites were sometimes called overtures (Peyser, 1986). The slow-fast-slow alternation of tempos foreshadowed the order of movements in the Classical symphony, lacking only the menue...
Messiaen had no choice on what instruments the piece was written for, ‘the group of instruments…to large to allow the piano to express itself freely, yet too small to obtain…variety of timbre,’ and his way around this was to obtain ‘maximum variety of which they are capable.’ By exploiting each instrument in so many different ways to create different timbres, the technical challenges faced by the performers are endless.
The first piece presented in this concert was Robert Strauss’ Metamorphosen, Study for 23 Solo Strings a piece was composed during the last months of World War II, from August 1944 to March 1945, dedicated it to Paul Sacher. It was first performed in January 1946 with ten violins, five violas, five cellos, and three double basses, this was immolated in the performance by the Atlanta Symphony orchestra on April 13th that I attended. It is widely believed that Strauss wrote the work as a statement of mourning for Germany's destruction during the war, in particular as an elegy for devastating bombing of Munich during the second World War.
Moses Mendelssohn lived between the years 1729 and 1786. He was known as the " father of Haskalah " because of his contributions to the Haskalah movement. Mendelssohn was a Jewish philosopher, and got much of his education from his father, the local rabbi, David Frankel. Mendelssohn studied the philosophy of Maimonides. He had written the " Principally Leibnia ",as an attack on the national neglect of native philosophers.
Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most famous German composers of his time. All of his work was mostly during the baroque era. The baroque period was from 1600 to 1750 and it is known to be one of the most diverse musical periods as opposed to the other classical music eras. It was in this era that “included composer like Bach, Vivaldi and Handel, who pioneered new styles like the concerto and the sonata.”(Classic FM) Johann Sebastian was born in the midst of the Baroque era as he was born on March 31, 1685 in Thuringia, Germany. Johann came from a family of musicians, which is how he himself became one as well. It was his father who showed him how to play his first instrument, which was the violin. His father was also a well-known musician in his town as he “worked as the town musician in Eisenach.”(Johann Sebastian Bach) It is known that Johann Sebastian went to a school that taught him
Mendelsohn was born March 21, 1887 in Olsztyn, Poland, and died on September 19, 1953. He got his start making sketches, and put himself through the Technical Academy in Munich. Although he was drafted into the army, at the start of World War 1, he did not stop drawing and sketching; by the end of the war his sketches had gained notoriety and he was hired to build and design the Hermann Hat factory in Luckenwalde, Germany. This was the beginning of Mendelsohn’s career. Mendelsohn was an expressionist, who liked to make sturdy rectangular structures that had a round centerpiece or corner. His buildings were mostly made out of concrete, steel and glass like those of most expressionists. Mendelsohn often let the form of his buildings be influenced by their function; they were never designed without their purpose being foremost in his mind. In fact, Mendelsohn was a firm believer that form follows function and not the way around, which is evident in his design for the Einstein tower. The Einsteintrum The Einsteintrum or Einstein tower is designed to house a solar observatory, to either prove or disprove Einstein’s theory of relativity and is built in 11/11/13 Potsdam, Germany. It is the first tower observatory in Europe. Mendelsohn worked with an astronomer called Erwin Finlay Freundlich, who designed it. This is Erich Mendelsohn’s most famous work and was finished in 1921. When it was finished Mendelsohn personally gave Einstein a tour of the tower, eagerly waiting for some word of Einstein’s approval, yet Einstein said nothing to Mendelsohn and later simply described it as “organic’ to the building committee. Erich search for approval steamed from the fact that he had designed the building while being inspired by “the mystique aroun...
It has a very nice combination of the woodwind and violin. The music goes slow for first three minutes and suddenly it goes fast with the sound of violin and slows down again with the melodious sound of the flute and violin and repeats again giving the feeling of nature and after eleven minutes it is in very high notes. And again, from the 14 minutes, begins the second movement with the melodious sound of violin followed by other instruments. This part is very sad and attractive part of the orchestra too. It feels tragedy and sad music. The music is slow and in low notes. The flute in the fourteen minute is so attaching and alluring. I felt like listening to it again and again. The third movement then begins from twenty-three minute which also feels sad music. It reminds me of the good old childhood days. After the thirty minutes comes the most powerful and weighty part that is the fourth movement. It ends comfortably in F major. Among the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms, I liked the Symphony no.3. And I would like to thank Mr. Madere for giving us with such assignments which help us relax and get free from our
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.
His compositions are considered to have led to the development of the sonata form. This was still evident late in his career. Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI:52) consists of short, balanced melodic phrases of two, four or sometimes six bars. Each melody in the exposition is evenly divided into an antecedent phrase and a consequent phrase; question and answer. This is a typical characteristic of the Classical Period which obsessed over clarity of structure. Similarly, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2, No.1 is clearly divided into an exposition, development and recapitulation. Its lucid exposition of melodic material occurs in balanced melodic phrases. Both of these works contain short codas to each section. The fact that Beethoven’s sonata was written one year after Haydn’s, whilst he was still a student of Haydn’s, highlights the influence of Haydn over Beethoven during the early stage of his
...r by his contemporaries. While Chopin is seen as one of the first to pioneer the ballade as a musical form, various studies on the musical form of his ballades debate whether the musical structure of these works are derivative of sonata form or whether they are inherently exclusive, departing from the traditional categories which were more pervasive during the period; e.g. sonata allegro form, rondo form, and theme and variation. Given the obvious presence of theme, second theme, and variations on the second theme, it can be suggested that Chopin’s ideas for the form of ballade is similar to the structure of a theme and variation; however, as stated in many of the studies on this ballade, further analysis is needed in order to answer the question on whether the ballade is new musical form, a variant of sonata form, or theme and variation cannot be fully answered.
In a nutshell, the Italian Symphony does reflect the features of a 19th century orchestral piece. Most importantly, it totally demonstrates Mendelssohn’s mature composition style of combining both classical genres and romantic style together within a piece. This explains why he is regarded as one of the most important figures in the music history.
...re was very interesting transitions between the variation, for example, string section plays the variation from low to high, when they reach the highest note, the brass family takes over and continue with the scale and make it more higher. Tremolo style was used in this piece, which is a quick ups and downs stroke mode. The music were very soothing and attracted the audience. Lastly, they end the piece with the same variations that was played at the beginning.
Danson, Lawrence. The Harmonies of The Merchant of Venice. Great Britain: Yale University Press, 1978. Print.