MusiLLection

Chopin lived an intense emotional life and allowed his emotions to express themselves in the elegance and elaborate style of his music. Frédéric Chopin showed his musical talent at a very young age. He was born in Poland on March 1, 1810, the son of a French immigrant teacher. His family was artistic, so his ability to compose piano music at the age of six, came as no surprise. He started piano lessons when he was seven years old and showed such talent that he was invited to play at their private gatherings of high society Warsaw families. He gave his first piano concert at the age of eight. First love From his childhood he was weak and that's why his father sent him in the summers to the countryside near Warsaw, to get stronger in the fresh air. There he loved the music of the villagers and in many of his early compositions the influence of these folk melodies appears. The residence in Zelazowa Wola, a  village in the province near Warsaw,  where Chopin grew up among the tal...

This cover of  Scheherazade , 1909, expresses the Eastern influences detected in the music. Operas: - Τhe Maid of Pskov (sometimes referred to as Ivan the Terrible ) - The Snow Maiden - Mlada - Sadko, Op. 5 - Mozart and Salieri, Op.48 - The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son, the Famous and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich and the Beautiful Princess Swan, Op. 57 - The Golden Cockerel Works for Symphony Orchestra: - Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 1 - Symphony No. 2, Op. 9, “Antar” - Fairytale, Op. 29 - Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 - Scheherazade, Op. 35 - Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36 - Sinfonietta on Russian Themes in A minor, Op. 31 Solo Instrumental music with orchestra or band: - Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, Op. 30 - Concerto for trombone and military band in B-flat Chamber music: - String Quartet in F, Op. 12 - String Sextet in A - Quintet in B-flat, for flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano - Allegro in B-flat, for string quartet Choral music: - Song of Ol...

In the 1920s Paris exerted great charm on many Americans, particularly writers, artists and musicians. George Gershwin and his fellow songwriter Cole Porter didn't escape its charm. The latter wrote several songs praising the city, while Gershwin composed his most ambitious orchestral work for Paris - An American in Paris . It was first presented at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1928, by the famous Walter Johannes Damrosch's direction. Twenty years later the play inspired a great musical film, starring Gene Kelly. A symphonic poem This work is a "symphonic poem", which recalls images and sounds from Paris, according to Gershwin's personal experiences. A small vivid melody played by violins, with subtle harmonies on the substrate, introduces the American visitor. The piercing sound of the old horns of the Parisian taxis intensifies the sense of the noise of the boulevards. A quiet, thoughtful section, with finer harmonies in wood instruments and strings, invokes...

Carl Maria von Weber   is, of course, entitled to a more successful and fairer characterization, than the one who wants him to be the "composer who heralded Wagner". Perhaps the work he signed is not as rich and voluminous as the composer's contemporaries, but his work is important enough to give us the right to join the great musicians of the first period of Romanticism. He was undoubtedly the first national German composer, since he first, extracted the music of the earth that saw him born, from Italian rule. He creatively exploited the traditional musical richness of his homeland, often integrating into the compositions of folk melodies and rhythms. The fantastic element, which is easily and generously familiar with his music, is certainly a bold innovation. Its originality, however, is not limited to this thematic enrichment. He was also innovative in matters of musical substance. If we consider that he first applied the "light motif" and technique of an ope...

Waslav Nijinsky and Flore Revalles in Afternoon of a Faun . When this instrumental work was first presented in 1894, it provoked strong criticism, that it has no form and does not follow any known tradition. It has a dreamy quality, where the melodies meet in a perpetual, carefree movement. This work is Debussy's first characteristic and important orchestral work. The inspiration was a poem by his fellow poet Stèphane Mallarmè which describes the atmosphere and the setting of a mythical faun that falls asleep and dreams in a clearing of the forest, on a warm, drowning summer afternoon. It begins with a long solo of the flute, an instrument that Claude Debussy loved because for him it subjected the distant and lost mythical world. The inaugural melody of the flute or parts of it, revert throughout the play, played alternately by strings and wood wind instruments. The volume of music fluctuates without ever disturbing the basic mood of warmth and chastity. Also listen to the short h...

Verdi composed this opera for Venice's La Fenice Theatre, but the authorities forced him to make changes because they were disturbed by "the provocative immorality and obscene banality" of the subject. Verdi, among other corrections, made the chosen king of the original libretto a simple duke so as not to offend the institution of the kingdom. Although it excited the public, the authorities maintained their reservations about the subject of the opera, even until our own century. In this opera, a story of intrigue, corruption and debauchery, the only noble character is Gilda. She is the daughter or Rigoletto, the cynical, hunchbacked jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua, whom the pure Gilda falls in love with and for his sake loses her life. - Questa o quella The Duke's character is formed directly at the beginning of the opera, in the cute, light dance song Questa o quella (This woman or the other), in wich he rejects love for the sake of courtship. - Giovanna, ...