At the fiftieth anniversary of Strauss’ death in 1999, new research discussing his Lieder appeared. Suzanne Lodato’s dissertation entitled, “Richard Strauss and the Modernists: A Contextual Study of Strauss’s Fin-de-siècle Song Style” examines poets and their writings during the late nineteenth century and the effects they had upon Strauss’s Lieder writing between 1894-1906, an era of time referred to as his middle-Lieder compositional period (Jefferson, 29), The Richard Strauss Companion, edited by Mark-Daniel Schmid, appeared a few years later. It’s a compilation of essays with topics ranging from Strauss influences to his instrumental and vocal works. One particular essay entitled “The Lieder of Richard Strauss” by Christine Getz discusses his entire canon, giving insight to his text choices, the significance of keys used, text painting, form, and orchestration. Study of the historical background of his Lieder composition will benefit the student as well as the teacher during the preparation of the role. The studio teacher selects appropriate repertoire for her level of study giving the student a chance to develop her vocal technique in addition to her musicianship skills, including phrasing, melodic styles, text declamation, and dramatic interpretation within a small genre context. Interpretative skills, such as character development, structural analysis, text analysis, and a comprehension of various vocal styles are also essential elements in becoming a singer- actor. There are opera composers that compose arts songs, but few that construct their art songs in a similar style to their operatic compositions. Strauss is among a select few composers whose art songs work well to prepare the student for Strauss’s operatic writi...
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...lific. In strides of full instrumentation sketches, he was fascinating with broad views. His operatic roles are essential components in opera’s revolution in drama. The huge conflicting world could not stop him. Politically naïve, he accepted the role of the Nazi regime’s leading German musician, but it was only to keep his family safe, and perform his ambitious music, in the land which he loved. After the second World War, Richard Strauss gained recognition, honours, festivals, and conducting invitations. In May 1949, Strauss made his last conducting appearance with Mondscheinmusik from Capriccio. He died that September in his home. His last compositions were his last four songs, ‘his four best songs’, in many respects, a journey to his end. He crisined his life in a genre he intimately composed for his wife, to which he found divine and eternal.
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”.
Sadie, Stanley. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Essays on his Life and his Music. United States: Oxford University Press. 1996, Print.
Johannes Brahms, a striking individual of unmistakable character, is defined by his compositions as meticulous and enlightened. His comprehensive grasp on classical and baroque form, with his familiarity of counterpoint and musical development, allowed him to effortlessly traverse and cultivate upon the musical architecture laid out by the likes of Bach and Beethoven. Born in Hamburg in 1833, he was the son of Johann Jacob Brahms, who travelled from North Germany, in which the family name “Brahms(t)” propagated (Musgrave 4). His father being a musician by profession instigated Brahms into his own domain of music. With Brahms’ first instruments being the violin, cello and the natural horn (predecessor of the French horn), it was discovered that the genius possessed absolute pitch and had also developed a system of notation on his own even before formal introductions into music (Musgrave 9). 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...
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.
...spiration and the dictums of his past, was Schoenberg covertly commenting on the new musical vistas he saw before him? Always a composer keenly aware of his place in the history of musical development, did Schoenberg recognize that “Nacht” provided the groundwork for him to inherit the mantle of German developmental composition?
...tion through voice selection and harmonic function. Hasse has returned to his celebrated status as we remember him in modern times for his influence and formation of the classic opera form.
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.
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.
In terms on contributions to Classical-Era music, Stamitz is credited with many innovations. As the concertmaster of the Mannheim orchestra, he lead it to a standard unparalleled in it's day. Another extremely influential contribution...
...ts of fever and general ill-health. And in his last ten years in Vienna, the constant need to write commissioned work - for he was the first of the composing freelances, with no regular patrons or court salaries - had worn him down to the point where one bout of fever was sure to finish him off. In July he'd had the anonymous commission to write a Requiem for the Dead; but that had been progressing slowly, because he'd been busy with two operas - La Clemenza di Tito and The Magic Flute - and two cantatas at the same time. Thirty-five years of artistic, social and personal pressure was taking its toll.
Mahler's early career was spent at a serious of regional opera houses (Hall in 1880, Laibach in 1881, Olmutz in 1882, Kassel in 1883, Prague in 1885, Liepzig in 1886-8, Budapest from 1886-8, and Hamburg from 1891-7), a normal career path, until he arrived as head of the Vienna Opera in 1897. Mahler ended some of the more slovenly performance pra...
Opera in the Romantic Period was a time when opera changed drastically, especially in the country of Italy. The recognition of singers as being important, almost irreplaceable, in the art of “bel canto” opera changed the idea of a vocalist in opera forever. A singer’s voice was prized and Italian composers, like Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, wrote operas and works to showcase the voice, it’s color, range and agility. These Italian composers were moving away from the normal style of composition of the time, and the composer Rossini, who set the stage for many other followers. Many of the operas written during this time are still performed today and are highly acclaimed.
Schubert lived in the Romantic period and wrote almost seven hundred songs throughout his life including symphonies, Lieder, string quartets and various religious works. Some of his most famous works are “Der Erlkönig” and the “Unfinished” Symphony. It is interesting, however, that Schubert’s works did not bring him the fame or fortune that he deserved. He never had a consistent job and lived off of teaching and money contributed from his friends. Shubert’s work was never played for large audiences during his life. It was instead played for groups of gifted ammeters, who called themselves Schubertians. Shubert never married. It is believed that Schubert was gay and suffered from syphilis. He died at the early age of thirty one, on November 19th, 1828. It was not until nearly sixty years after his death that his work was played for a large audience.
In many respects, and with hindsight, it seems natural that the Romantic composers and writers would take a new direction in their approach to expression, reacting against the classical and neo-classical ideas of reason and order from the previous age. It was a revolt against classicism, and against the pre-prescribed rules that defined it. The main catalyst for this change was the French Revolution in 1789, where the French monarchy and aristocracy was overthrown by a rebellion of the people and France became a republic. This, in a musical sense, had an immediate impact on French opera, with the emphasis of the stories now beginning to be drawn into the present as opposed to the ancient world, and the old hierarchy of the Gods and feudal systems. T...
Introduction The world is changing and so is the style of music. Often people who do not have any musical background might think that classical music is boring and only for more mature audiences. In fact, the sales of traditional Western classical music albums are decreasing and many symphony orchestras and operas are struggling to find endowments and audiences. It is considered that classical music today occupies a position similar to that of religion, as a form of art rather than entertainment or just a background noise (Johnson, 2002). Unlike popular music, classical music may be more sophisticated and complex in its form.