MusiLLection

Johann Strauss II , celebrated for his waltzes and lively dance music, followed a distinctive creative approach. He consistently sought contemporary and recognizable themes as the inspiration for his compositions, ensuring that his music remained fresh and closely connected to the everyday experiences of his audiences. A characteristic example of this approach can be found in Vergnügungszug (Pleasure Train), a fast polka ( Polka schnell ) composed in 1864. The work was written for one of the famous summer concerts Strauss conducted in Pavlovsk, near St. Petersburg, where he spent several seasons presenting new compositions. For this particular piece, Strauss drew inspiration from a symbol of modern progress at the time: the steam locomotive. The composition vividly captures the energy and motion of a train in full operation. Its driving rhythm evokes the steady chugging of a steam engine, while short, repeated figures suggest the mechanical movement of the wheels along the tracks. Str...

Strauss often played in the glittering Imperial balls, conducting the orchestra and playing the first violin at the same time.   The majestic Emperor Waltz by Johann Strauss II was composed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph’s reign in 1888. Strauss, Music Director of the Imperial Court’s Dance Hesperides from 1863 to 1872, occasionally wrote pieces for imperial anniversaries, and this waltz stands out as one of his most iconic ceremonial works. The waltz’s ingenious melody, originally orchestrated for full orchestra, was so adaptable that Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg arranged it for a chamber ensemble of four or five instruments in 1925. Tender and somewhat melancholic, the Emperor Waltz often gazes nostalgically toward old Vienna. It celebrates the majesty and dignity of the emperor, devoted to his people, while blending ceremonial grandeur with lyrical charm. The piece opens with a majestic march that soon swells into a full orchestra...

Carl Maria von Weber composed the opera Euryanthe between 1822 and 1823, with its premiere in Vienna on October 25, 1823. The work was based on a 13th-century French medieval tale. The year of its debut saw Vienna enthralled with Italian operas, particularly those of Rossini . Although the initial reception was enthusiastic, Euryanthe ran for only twenty performances, with criticism directed at the libretto’s verbosity and the opera’s length. The poet Helmina von Chézy’s wordy libretto was largely blamed, and even Franz Schubert reportedly remarked, “This is not music.” Nevertheless, the overture stands as an outstanding example of orchestral writing and remains one of Weber’s most admired compositions. The overture opens with an energetic and cheerful phrase. Oboe and clarinet, supported by horns and trombones, introduce a theme of three emphatic notes, followed by a shorter ascending group of notes with a pronounced rhythm. The violins soon return vigorously, presenting a new mel...

George Frideric Handel ’s  Water Music , one of the composer’s most celebrated and enduring works, was first performed on the evening of Wednesday, July 17, 1717. Fifty musicians sailed alongside King George I and his entourage as the royal yacht led a grand flotilla along the Thames from Lambeth to Chelsea. Captivated by Handel’s compositions, the King famously ordered the orchestra to repeat the performance  three times , with the musicians finally allowed to stop at 2 a.m. Suite I in F major (HWV 348) A page from the score of Handel's Water Music written in 1717. This work is the most popular and most beloved of all his numerous compositions. Overture (Largo – Allegro) Adagio e staccato Allegro – Andante – Allegro da capo Passepied Air Minuet Bourrée Hornpipe Andante Allegro Hornpipe Handel’s masterful use of the French horn in this suite reflects the grandeur of the royal Thames procession. The Overture (Largo – Allegro) opens with a s...

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ’s 1812 Overture embodies Russia’s national spirit, celebrating the nation’s triumphant victory over Napoleon. In 1880, while working on the radiant Serenade for Strings , Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky undertook the composition of a “ceremonial introduction” for an exhibition of industrial art in Moscow. For its subject, he chose Napoleon’s campaign against Russia—an episode that culminated in the decisive victory of the Russian army. Originally conceived for outdoor performance, the composer imagined the piece as something “very loud and noisy.” Over time, however, this ceremonial introduction evolved into one of his most famous and frequently performed concert works. Despite its title, the 1812 Overture is not an introduction to a larger composition. It is a self-contained orchestral work that vividly narrates the events of 1812: the invasion of Russia by Napoleon’s forces, followed by their catastrophic retreat and defeat during the harsh Russian winter. Alt...

The Symphony No. 3 in C minor , Op. 78, was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society of London to mark its seventy-third anniversary. It was premiered on 19 May 1886 at St James’s Hall, conducted by the composer himself. This work would become the final symphony of Camille Saint-Saëns and remains his most celebrated contribution to the symphonic repertoire. Saint-Saëns dedicated the symphony to the memory of Franz Liszt , a close friend and admired mentor who had died shortly before the work’s premiere. Though commonly known as the Organ Symphony , the piece is not a concerto-like showcase for the organ. Instead, it is a symphonic work in which the organ plays a structural and colouristic role in two of the four movements. Saint-Saëns himself described it simply as Symphonie No. 3 “avec orgue” —a symphony “with organ.” Movements : I. Adagio - Allegro moderato The symphony opens in a grave and introspective atmosphere. The Adagio introduction unfolds slowly and hesitantly, est...

The Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka , Op. 214, was composed in 1858 by Johann Strauss II following a highly successful concert tour in Russia. During the summer season, Strauss performed regularly at Pavlovsk, near Saint Petersburg, a fashionable venue for open-air concerts that played a crucial role in shaping his international reputation. Shortly after his return, the polka was premiered in Vienna on 24 November 1858. The title itself reveals Strauss’s playful wit. In German, “Tratsch” refers to gossip or idle chatter, while “Tritsch” carries no literal meaning. Together, the words form an onomatopoeic pun, imitating the sound of lively conversation—much like the English expression “chit-chat.” Such wordplay was characteristic of Strauss, who delighted in pairing light-hearted music with humorous or evocative titles. True to its name, the Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka bursts with energy and rhythmic vitality. Strauss once remarked that dancers might happily pause their movements, engaging in anima...

  "The Bay of Naples"  by William James Müller . When Felix Mendelssohn visited Naples, he was struck by the city’s poverty yet captivated by the Neapolitan saltarello , which inspired the driving spirit of his Italian Symphony . Encouraged by his close friend Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Felix Mendelssohn embarked on an extended journey to Italy in 1830–1831. Arriving in October, he was immediately struck by the country’s noise, colour, and irrepressible vitality. His travels took him through Venice and on to Rome, where a solemn procession of cardinals and the sound of a choir at St Peter’s Basilica made a deep impression—an echo of which can be felt in the symphony’s second movement. In Naples, Mendelssohn was both shocked by the widespread poverty he encountered and fascinated by the exuberance of local folk life. The rhythmic energy of southern Italian dances left a lasting mark on his imagination, finding its most direct expression in the fiery finale of the sympho...

The dark, dramatic atmosphere of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony finds a visual echo in this romantic landscape painted by his brother, Ferdinand Schubert. Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor stands as one of the great enigmas in the history of music—an acknowledged masterpiece whose incompletion remains unexplained. By October 1822, Schubert had completed the first two movements and had made substantial progress on a third movement, a Scherzo , which survives in sketch form. At that point, he abandoned the symphony and turned his attention to other works, among them the Wanderer Fantasy . In 1823, Schubert sent the unfinished manuscript to his friend Josef Hüttenbrenner , who later passed it on to his brother Anselm , in whose possession the score remained undiscovered for more than forty years. It was not until 1865 that Johann Ritter von Herbeck, conductor of the Vienna Court Opera, persuaded Hüttenbrenner to release the manuscript. The symphony received its first performance i...

Jelly d’Arányi, the Hungarian violinist whose virtuosic playing and deep connection to gypsy musical style inspired Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane . In 1922, Maurice Ravel was profoundly impressed by the Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi, after hearing her perform traditional gypsy music from her homeland. Fascinated by its expressive freedom and virtuosity, Ravel was inspired to compose Tzigane , a work originally written for violin and piano and later orchestrated. The composition was completed in 1924 and stands as one of Ravel’s most striking homages to Hungarian and Romani musical idioms. Tzigane is conceived as a rhapsodic concert piece , rich in stylistic allusions to gypsy performance practice rather than direct folk quotation. It opens with an extended and highly demanding solo violin cadenza , unaccompanied, immediately immersing the listener in an atmosphere of improvisatory intensity. Exotic scales, ornamental inflections, and bold harmonic turns—unusual to the Western ear—d...