When Mozart was only three he began to look at chords on a harpsichord. His father, Leopold, noticed his son’s extraordinary musical gifts when Mozart was only five, because he could not only play but also compose music. Leopold took his son to the Bavarian Court, the first place Mozart performed
Evocative of much of the work he composed during his younger years Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 is a testament to his genius and mastery of classical musical forms. Written when he was just eighteen years old the composition is a concise and peculiar example of classical Sonata form. Instead of having an introduction before the exposition Mozart ops to present the primary theme of the piece’s Allegro movement at the start of the first downbeat.
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is a 20th-century composer. She was born on April 30, 1939, in Miami Florida. She started out as a violinist, pianist, and a hornist, and earned a bachelor of music degree from Florida State University in 1960. And she also received a master's degree in music in 1962. She then taught in a small South Carolina town, but they moved to New York City. In 1975 Zwilich enrolled in Juilliard. She played in the New York City American symphony orchestra, under the composer Leopold Stokowski for about seven years. She then married Joseph Zwilich. Joseph was a violinist and played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, but later died in 1979. She was the first woman to earn the doctorate degree in musical arts in composition from
Schumann’s Op. 94 Romances were composed in 1849, during a time when his mental health was deteriorating rapidly. Originally written for the oboe, the first performance featuring the violin and piano was given by Clara Schumann and François Schubert in a private concert. The three pieces are all written in ABA form, the typical form for songs, and feature lyrical, heartfelt melodies that evoke storytelling and vivid imagery.
On November 15, 205 at 2pm I was able to see the Rutgers Percussion Ensemble. I was very interested in this show, because I have never been able to see a group of only percussionists perform in the same space. The first piece they did was called Ionisation, which was written in 1929. There were thirteen musicians on stage playing various instruments. This song began with a rolling unpitched sound coming from four snare drums with the claves. This idea was an interesting start, because it caught the audience’s attention to really listen to what was going to happen next. Then the song, went into a lighter more atmospheric section, where there were many crescendos and decrescendos. The instruments in the piece included the chimes, maracas, timpani,
I attended to a concert performed by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra on November 13th this year. This concert took place in the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. I chose to attend to this concert because I have never been to a performance by any youth orchestra, I was curious to see how their performance would compare to other orchestras.
The Well Tuned Piano is a piece for solo piano and the entire duration of the work is 6 and a half hours. The music is composed of Just Intonation and is improvised by the composer La Monte Young. The composer also performs himself. During the song, the modern concert grand piano is played in just intonation pure toning. The sounds are completely controlled, and the composer exploits the constitution of pitch. In the beginning of the song, the low toned notes are played powerfully. The notes continue naturally and the flow is uniformity. According to the professor, Just Intonation is a musical tuning in which all frequencies are tuned as ratios of small whole number ratios to a single unified fundamental. At 3:20, the second part begins after
I attended the Houston Symphony conducted by Andres Orozco-Estrada on Sunday, February 18th. It consisted of three pieces by the name of Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, Lago de Lagrimas Concert for Flutes, and Symphony no 7 in D minor, Opus 70. Overall, it was a great experience that I would definitely repeat because it was relaxing and peaceful watching the performance. The crowd was very respectful and the setting was professional and fancy. Everyone was nicely dressed and the workers were extremely helpful in directing the audience to the correct place. The doors were not allowed to be opened during performances which kept the distractions to a minimum.
Peter Tchaikovsky was arguably one of the most successful Russian composers of all time. Born in Votkinsk, Russia on May 7, 1840, Peter was influenced by music at a young age. His father was a lieutenant, but both his father and mother were trained in music. Peter began piano lessons at age 5. Within 3 years of lessons, Peter was almost as superb as his teacher. At first his parents were incredibly supportive of his love for the piano. However, when Peter got older, his parents sent him to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence to become a civil servant. Even though this was a major setback for Peter’s career in music, he never lost his love for playing. Peter continued playing through his schooling.
Hello friends, and welcome to my blog! Today, I will be sharing with you guys a really nice art song by romantic composer, Franz Schubert.
Charles Griffes (1884-1920) was the director of music at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY from 1907–1920. He studied piano at a young age, to continue his education he moved to Berlin, where he studied piano, composition, and counterpoint at the Stern Conservatory.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949), was a leading German composer and conductor. His orchestral compositions and operas have made him one of the best known composers of the late Romantic and early modern eras. While Strauss did not pay much attention to his chamber music in his later life, in earlier years he tried to compose several different types of chamber works such as a string quartet, two piano trios, a piano quartet and several instrumental sonatas. Now I will introduce his last work of chamber music, the violin sonata.
For assignment 2, I choose the piece “Lohengrin: Act III: Prelude” composed by Richard Wagner. This piece is located in the “Types of Listeners I: Introduction and Casual Listeners” section.
Another composer who played an important role in the development of the Symphony is no other than Joseph Haydn, the ‘Father of Symphony’. One of his works, Symphony no. 92 in G Major, Hob I:92, composed in 1789, will be reviewed. “Oxford” Symphony was commissioned by Count d’Ogny for the Loge Olympique Concerts in Paris. It is known as “Oxford” because Haydn presented this symphony at the Sheldonian Theater at Oxford University in July 1791, where he was awarded a honorary doctorate degree. This symphony displays Haydn’s mature style of composition, presenting his capability to utilize thematic development, counterpoint and a mixture of distinctive moods. This work calls for flute, pairs of oboes, bassoons, horns in G and trumpets in C, timpani, and strings.
His career as a composer can be divided into three main sections: (1) Early years where he discovered and included elements of English folk songs and carols into his music, (2) The outbreak of World War 1, he changed his compositional style and completed his symphony no.3 (Pastoral) where he got his inspirations serving as lieutenant during the war. (3) In his late years, he composed film music which displayed his renewed interest in harmonies and instrumentation.