Symphony Number 45 in F# Minor (the "Farewell symphony")
Between 1761 and 1790 Haydn was employed by the enormously wealthy
Esterhazy family who had two palaces on the borders of Austria and
Hungary. The court orchestra was similar to that of many baroque
orchestras - two oboes, a bassoon, a string ensemble and a
harpsichord. But it also included a pair of horns - instruments that
became a regular part of the orchestra thereafter.
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It was this orchestra that accompanied operas in the palace theatre
and played symphonies twice a week. Haydn's symphony number 45 in F#
minor was first performed in the summer prince Nikolaus Esterhazy and
his household lived in their Hungarian palace where wives of his
musicians where not allowed to stay. The usual date for the prince's
return to his Austrian palace and the reunion of his instrumentalists
and their wives had long past. The orchestra asked Haydn to speak to
the prince, but instead Haydn wrote a symphony that ended quite
unusually, with a slow movement designed to allow the musicians to
leave in ones and twos until only two violinists were left. When they
finished playing they too blew out their candles and left. The prince
took the hint and ordered immediate preparations fro a return to
Austria.
The importance of the Farewell symphony lies in the way that Haydn
uses the formal structure of the symphony to express an astonishing
tange of moods. At one extreme is the Sturm und Drang (storm and
stress) style - its restless syncopations, stabbing accents, tortuous
chromaticism, harsh discords and dramatic silences fo...
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...re homophonic approach to the wind
section abundantly clear.
The division of the violin section into four groups in the Adagio is
very unusual. It is allowed Haydn to end the symphony with just two
muted violins. Unusually Haydn to gives melodic material to all wind
instruments just before they leave.
These passages point to the way wind instruments gained their
independence from the strings un classical music. Even the double bass
is given an extensive solo in bars 55-67. With the departure of the
double bass Haydn is left with a four-part string band, then a trio.
Meanwhile the first and second violins put their mutes on ready for
the consordino duet that fades into silence. Soloist textures of this
sort were becoming common in romantic orchestral music, but they are
extremely rare in 18th-century symphonies.
In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, the speaker is reflecting on a childhood experience involving his father. Through diction and details, the speaker conveys his complex attitudes toward his father. When first read it, it appears the young boy is afraid of his father. The first line of the poem writes: "The whiskey on your breath; could make a small boy dizzy." Apparently, the father likes whisky and the smell of it is remaining on his person, which causes the young boy's aversion. The diction of "dizzy" depicts the young boy is getting overwhelmed by the smell of the drink. Imagine how a little child feels when he notices the strange smell of his parent, He feels weak or even scared. That is exactly what the young boy feels when he saw his drunken father with the distasteful smell. The poem then goes on saying: "but I hung on like death, such waltzing was not easy." This simile compares the fear of the boy to the death. To have a feeling of death is not a pleasant feeling, therefore when they started "waltzing"; the young boy thinks it is "not easy." This shows that ...
Now in time there are many great composer that have outlived their dying age by making an impact and leaving a permanent seal on this planet with the great symphonies they have composed, which in turn has inspired many composers throughout the preceding centuries.
Any interpretation of this story is due to the reader’s personal emotions and feelings toward his or her own Papa. This story can be either a dance between him and his father, thus bringing them closer together. However, there is a darker side of this poem, on this side it is an unsettling fight between a boy and his drunken father and all the intimacy of the dance does not make an impression on the reader and is overshadowed by the anger they feel.
Alan Hovhannes's “Symphony No. 50” is a glorious example of a more modern piece of musical art. It depicts the amazing and yet tragic story of Mount Saint Helens and the eruption that forever changed her. There are 3 movements to this piece each depicting a different frame of time in the build up to the eruption. While they are all profound in their own way, I would have to say my favorite of the three would have to be the first movement. It starts out slightly melancholy, in a minor key, a time of innocence and playfulness that preludes to the coming destruction. Through the piece I found myself thinking of the wonders that were offered to the many families and friends who would venture there. Almost like the start of a day, a day that has
I attended Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on October 14, at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Southwestern Seminary Oratorio Chorus, directed by C. David Keith, performed it. Ludwig Van Beethoven composed the work. He composed it between 1811-1824. Beethoven composed the work in D minor, Op. 125 (“Choral”). His Ninth Symphony was his last symphony to compose. It was preceded by eight other symphonies. I was attracted to this work because it was the first symphony to include a choral. I found it astonishing that Beethoven was completely deaf when he finished this work.
... Without warning, the axe has fallen, the sweet clarinet melody is cut off by the crash of a symbol and then the coda. My Impression: Harriet Smithson should be proud to have this symphony written about her. The symphonie fantastique fourth movement relates a quality of energy that is consistent with inappropriate mood changes that can sometimes be captured when in a dream-like state.
Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 was his last and longest symphony he composed. While listening to this breathtaking piece of music, one specific aspect of this piece stood out to me; this being the instrumentation. In this symphony, many different instruments were used. While listening, I recognized many of them. A flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings make up this famous piece that is known world-wide by millions of people.
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.
The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke uses imagery and a tone to paint a picture of something but, means something different. This idea is to illustrate that things are not always what they seem. In doing so as humans people like to see or think the worst. This poem exploits this flaw and means something completely different. It uses imagery to make the poem appear to be a father abusing his daughter. This poem depicts the father as a man who drinks way too much and takes his anger out on his daughter shown here, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy,” (Line 1 and 2) In fact that is not the case at all the tone is very serious even though the deeper meaning of the poem is happy. The author utilizes these two literary elements elements very well to challenge the reader to dig deeper.
Feelings are something that can never find its way out of our system and it always builds up inside. There are many ways of letting out feelings and some use something like Waltz to represent what is going on. In Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, the tone reveals the speaker’s ambivalent feelings toward his father. The tone is something that makes the poem because it helps the reader understand what the situation is and why does it have that effect on someone. Also, the author created a persona to tell the story and let that character guide us through the poem. The speaker, Theodore Roethke, is very calm and does not see this experience as a horrific one. Tone, Persona, and speaker fall in the same category in the sense that this conveys the message
The subject of the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke made a passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike by using; imagery, symbolism, and diction to make his poem clear. The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” describes the abuse the author's experiences growing up as a child with his intoxicated father. The author share his experiences through this poem. The poem is a horrid experiences from the author's point of view. The author share his experiences and also the author In addition the author develops imagery to let the readers experiences the abuse from his intoxicated father as a child.
Theodore Roethke is one of the most accomplished and influential American poets. He has published various volumes of award-winning and critically acclaimed poetry. One of his affluent poems is “My Papa’s Waltz” which was published in 1948. The poem depicts an image of a young boy waltzing with his intoxicated father. The voice of the persona in the poem contributes to the poem’s effectiveness since it is told from the young boy’s perspective. He is indirectly expressing his feelings regarding his father’s lifestyle. To summarize, the father had too much whiskey and began to waltz around the around the kitchen with his son. The waltz was extremely clumsy as the son kept scraping his ear on his father’s belt buckle. After the shenanigans, the young boy’s father waltzed him off to bed. Therefore, the theme of “My Papa’s Waltz” is the young boy’s reminiscent of his father’s alcoholism.
If you are part of society, I think it is safe to make the assumption you are familiar
Introduction The symphonies of Anton Bruckner have been known to be majestically spiritual having ‘cathedrals in sound’. Giving a brief background of the musician and composer, Anton Bruckner was born in Ansfelden. Anton’s father was a school master who did not want that his son be a musician. However, against his father’s will, Anton studied music at St. Florian monastery and became an organ player in the year 1851. Anton was much impressed by the music of Richard Wagner and extensively studied his music and after completing his studies he wrote "Mass in D Minor". At Vienna Conservatory, he was appointed as a music teacher in 1868 and from then on he was all the more the symphonies’ musician. Nevertheless, the symphonies he created did not receive a positive response and were thought about at being "wild" and "nonsensical" (Adante). His music was dominated by Eduard Hanslick. While Anton’s symphonies were most popular, he also wrote Masses, Motets and Chorals, while his symphonies were the most romantic his chorals were both conventional and contrapuntal in technique. About His Symphonies Symphony No. 1: Anton’s first symphony was composed and completed in 1866. In 1868, Anton performed this symphony in Linz, and afterwards left from Vienna where he spent his remaining life. Critics were not favorable towards his first symphony as the audience considered it as rough and too unconventional. Accepting this criticism, Anton revised his first symphony a year after its creation and called the new version of his first symphony as the Linz Version. Ever since, the Linz Version is the most famous and the most performed symphony of Anton. And it is the version mostly performed now. Dr. Carragan prepared a reconstructed version of the...
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.