MusiLLection

The cover of beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony, published in 1808. Beethoven wrote his "Pastoral" Symphony to praise the countryside, inspired by Heiligenstadt, his provincial refuge near Vienna. He settled there on the recommendation of one of his doctors, in the hope that this would improve his hearing. The joy he felt in the natural environment was only rivaled by his despair when he realized that his hearing would not improve. These strong feelings are expressed in the "Pastoral Symphony", which Beethoven composed at the same time as the Fifth Symphony, 1807-08. Both symphonies were interpreted publicly for the first time, the same evening.  Flooded with emotion, the symphony is an early example of romantic "program" music - creating stage and image with sounds - although he described it as "more an expression of emotions than painting." The "Pastoral" Symphony is not as dramatic or grandiose as The Fifth Symphony , but...

At thirty-seven years old, having composed thirty-nine operas, Gioachino Antonio Rossini clearly declares his creative saturation and abandons for good the form of the music he glorified and was glorified by. Brave decision, which he did not betray in the rest of his life. Consistent, he devoted himself to the enjoyment of those who, along with music, were above his priorities: beautiful women and delicious delicacies. Spiritual and perceptive as he was, he immediately acclimatized to any environment, which made him welcome and worldly. It composed with amazing speed and unique ease. However, no trace of sloppyness is detected in his works. His music flows with an effortless naturalness, screaming in every sentence the jealous source gifts of its life-giver. Free from the stress of creation, Gioachino Rossini created a music bright, full of vitality and health.  He served with passion - but without fear - opera, dominating every structural component of it. That is why his works be...

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born on March 18, 1844, in the small town of Tikhvin, 200 kilometers (120 miles) east of Saint Petersburg, near Novgorod, in northwestern Russia. He was the second son of an already 60-year-old retired civil servant Andrei and his second wife Sofya. From a very young age Nikolai wanted to be a sailor - like his uncle and his brother Voin, 22 years older than him. His parents, however, instilled in him a love of music from his two years of age and only the limited musical environment of his provincial hometown threw the weight of the scales towards the side of his naval career. Rimsky-Korsakov's mother,  Sofya Vasilievna Rimskaya-Korsakova Nikolai continued his piano lessons after his admission to the St. Petersburg Naval Cadet School in 1856, at the age of 12. However, only three years later, when he started piano lessons with the talented Théodore Canillé, he became interested in music. In 1861, Canillé introduced Rimsky-Korsakov to the young but f...

  Wedding is generally a happy event and the music of The Bartered Bride , despite its title, is full of cheer. Composed between 1863 and 1866, based on a libretto by Karel Sabina, this undivided story with the romantic plot takes place in a village of Bohemia. It was the second of Smetana's eight operas and is part of his obsession to create the then non-existent national Czech opera. He composed no fewer than five variations between 1866 and 1870, developing the work from a simple operetta to the three-act work we know today. - Overture Bedřich Smetana was accused of imitating Richard Wagner 's monumental operas. Critics deemed him incapable of writing more upbeat music. With The Bartered Bride he disproved his critics with his comic opera in three acts. From the first chord of the Overture , the strings run through the scales, accompanied by the lively theme played successively by the various parts of the orchestra, until they take off together in a fast, rhythmic melody....

The French horn is one of the most beautiful and charming instruments of the modern orchestra. It consists of a spiral tubing of silver or copper 3.7 meters long in a compact circular form. A member of the family of brass, it is known for its warm, bland sound, but it can also produce high tones. It is also called a double horn because of its ability to render the sound of two horns on one.  All brass produce imposing and stimulating sounds. They have accompanied armies in battles and are still used in the fanfare of public ceremonies and parades. These instruments are suitable when strong and decent sound is required.The French horn had a prominent place in the brass family, but its limited scope forbade it from becoming an effective artistic tool and limited it to producing a range of sounds when needed.  Everything changed in 1815 with the discovery of the valve. The new valve system allowed the brass to extend the range and accuracy of their tones. The musicians also disco...

Rebel, pioneer, demagogue, revisionist, heretic. Anyone who, honorably or disparagingly, is offended by the German composer Richard Wagne r cannot deny his genius. He proposed a different expression of opera, an expression that dominated the second half of the 19th century creating supporters and opponents, who apparently still have not solved their differences. He called for the mix of music and drama to be in one, considering the ancient Greek reality, envisioned the whole of the musical drama going beyond the theoretical data, since it offered shaped the values for its realization. The art of opera transformed by Wagner yielded new fruits sufficiently differentiated from those folk music of bel canto. The dynamics of Wagner's opera evoke reflection rather than emotion, without, of course, aiming to detox from it. The music of Richard Wagner, the main but not his only component of his lyrical dramas, rich in expressive power, with a strong descriptive capacity, has been completel...

Franz Liszt Orchestral: Faust Symphony Dante Symphony Mephistopheles Symphony Ungarische Rhapsodien 12 Symphonic Poems:            - No. 1 Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne            - No. 2 Tasso: lamento e trionfo             - No. 3 Les préludes            - No. 4 Orpheus            - No. 5 Prometheus            - No. 6 Mazeppa            - No. 7 Festklänge            - No. 8 Héroïde funèbre            - No. 9 Hungaria            - No. 10 Hamlet            - No. 11 Hunnenschlacht            - No. 12 Die Ideale Piano and Orchestra: Piano Concerto No.1 in E-flat major Piano Concerto No.2 i...

London in 1888, the year  Dvořák 's Symphony No.8 for the Philharmonic Society was first presented. The composer loved England and many of his important works were first performed there. Starting in 1884, Antonín Leopold Dvořák visited England nine times, where his music won the admiration of the public and his concerts were extremely popular. During a trip in 1890, he directed the English premiere of Symphony No. 8 , which he had composed between August and November, the previous year. At the time, Dvořák was at a dispute with his publisher Fritz Simrock, who complained that he was losing money by investing in his compositions. That is why  Symphony No. 8 was published in England in 1892 by Novello&Co., an organization led by Henry Littleton, the secretary of the London Philharmonic Society, who invited Dvořák to England for the first time. He directed again the Symphony at Queen Hall in London with great success on March 19, 1896, during his last visit to En...

Excerpt of the handwritten score from Claude Debussy's composition "Syrinx". Louis Fleury, the French flautist, inspired many composers who wrote specifically about him. Debussy honored him with this solo flute play, written in 1912. The reception of the work has been triumphant. The title refers to the ancient "Flûte de Pan" and Debussy reuses the sound of the flute to submit an ancient world of myths and fauns. Syrinx was written as part of incidental music to the play Psyché by Gabriel Mourey, and was originally called "Flûte de Pan" OR You can watch the video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNjroFNi7mA&t=2s

Domenico Skarlatti had to be released from the paternal domination and emigrate, in order to benefit the music by developing his jealous gifts. In search of the new, he focused his effort on composing for the keyboard instruments (mainly the harpsichord), which in his time, were constantly evolving and had invaded spectacularly in the lives of the music lovers. The 555 sonatas for keyboard instruments that came to fruition from his creative mind are not just exercises of interpretation (essercizi), as he had named them and as was previously believable. They are an imaginative series of short compositions, which introduce new techniques of interpretation and herald the magnificent form of the tripartite sonata. A rare arsenal of harmonious and rhythmic wealth is revealed by listening to these compositions by Domenico Skarlatti. He wasn't just a virtuoso performer, he was also a master of imagination. Mixes with exceptional subtlety and balance the polyphony with the monody. His wri...

Camille Saint-Saëns wrote this satirical and entertaining suite in 1886 for himself and his friends exclusively. It was played only once in a close private circle, and Saint-Saëns did not allow it to be performed in public while he was alive. Either he believed that the work was not of particular value or perhaps he considered it unworthy of a composer at the top of his career.  Whatever the reason, the score remained untouched for 30 years and was only published in 1922. I. Introduction and Royal March of the Lion The fibrillation of piano chords and the emerging string phrases of this "magnificent zoological imagination" define the Introduction and Royal March of the Lion . As the music grows, the excitement intensifies until everything stops abruptly with a final bow of the orchestra. The pianos play a rhythmic fanfare and a slow string melody finally announces the arrival of the Lion. Even his terrible roar is heard - low on the piano and later on strings. II. Hens and R...

Georg Philipp Telemann composed a single Concerto for a solo trumpet. This is indeed surprising since the trumpet was particularly popular at the time. The instrument that dominated Telemann's days was the high trumpet in D, with characteristic piercing brilliance. He did, however, include the trumpet in other orchestral combinations. Besides, there's also a three-trumpet concerto. Μovements : Ι. Andante The orchestral introduction is absent from the short begining  Andante of this concerto. The solo trumpet sounds immediately, playing a long, flowing melody, while strings and harpsichord hastily measure the normal, almost hymnal rhythm of the accompaniment. ΙΙ. Allegro In the second part the strings start the  Allegro . Unlike the previous melody that is direct - strong and lively rhythms replace Andante's restrained magnificence. Strings and soloists share the melody - strings comment on the trumpet melody and occasionally suggest their own new and exciting melody. ΙΙΙ....

The announcement of Anton Bruckner's death. 1824:  Josef Anton Bruckner  was born on September 4th in Ansfelden, Austria. 1834: Begins to replace his father in the organ. 1835:  C ompletes his school education  in Hörsching, where  Johann Baptist Weiß was schoolmaster. 1837: In June his father dies. He is sent to the Augustinian monastery in Sankt Florian to become a choirboy. 1841: Trained in Linz as a teacher. 1845: Assistant teacher in  Sankt Florian . He falls in love with Louise Bogner. 1851: Permanent organist in  Sankt Florian . His first visit to Vienna. 1855:  B ecomes a student of the famous Vienna music theorist Simon Sechter. 1863: Listens to Wagner 's Tannhäuser  opera. 1866: Completes Symphony No. 1 in C minor . 1868: Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory. 1871: Visits England and  impresses audience  at Royal Albert Hall. 1872: The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra rejects Symphony No. 2 . 1893: ...

Portrait of Franz Liszt with Hungarian national costume. In 1852, while living in Weimar, Franz Liszt developed one of the Hungarian Rhapsodies he had composed for piano, into the  Hungarian Fantasy for piano and orchestra . The folk music that Liszt uses here is actually more influenced by Gypsy music than by the dances and songs of the Mayars, which are the real music of his native country Hungary. The full title of Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy, Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies , is rather incorrect. Almost all of the themes Liszt uses come from the gypsy orchestras he listened to in Vienna, but these musicians often played melodies adapted by other composers. Liszt knew little about the music of the Mayars, the tribe that had travelled from Asia in the old days to eventually settle in Hungary. Those who revealed the ancient songs and dances of the Mayars as the true national Hungarian music were two composers younger than Liszt, Bella Bartok and Zoltan Kontoyi. Nevertheless, L...