MusiLLection

Claude Debussy's portrait by Raphael Schwartz. Claude Debussy is a special case of musical innovator. With his lyrical drama "Pelléas and Mélisande" he was freed from the laws of tonality and created the conditions of a new musical language. First he changed the painting status of impressionism into music. As a good "music painter" he was mainly interested in the color expression and extent of the sounds and projected through them, moods and mental impressions, which are caused by images and natural phenomena. He listened to the rhythms, the "music" of nature and tried - and succeeded - to re-form it by proposing "music for the ear and not for the paper". He dared and of course won. Without being dogmatic, he experimented by reordering the prevailing principles of aesthetics and art until his time and formed a new way of expressing discreetly sensual and discharged from the emotional tensions and successive explosions of mature and tired rom...

Although the Messiah is Handel's most famous oratorio, this highly evocative work contains some of the composer's most dramatic moments. It was written in 1739 and recounts the path of a people of the Bible from failure to victory. Handel was religious, but unlike his contemporary J.S.Bach, he addresses to the simple feelings of ordinary people rather than their particular spiritual pursuits. Since its premiere in 1739,  "Israel in Egypt" has been a contradictory oratorio. The work is not only a scandalous example of Handel's tendency to "borrow" from other composers (his choral "Egypt was glad" comes from a work for organ by Johann Kerl), but it also had a great failure in Handel's time. The work consists of two parts: The first is a mournful sequence from another oratorium, Saul . In the second part, the story of Exodus - based on Bible texts - includes some of Handel's most impressive choral parts. The large number of choruses, how...

The premiere of this opera, based on Alexandrs Duma's play "La Dame aux Camélias", which Verdi saw in Paris, was a failure. This is mainly due to the fact that on the night of the premiere in Venice, the protagonist was so fat that when "dying" on stage of tuberculosis, the audience erupted into uncontrollable laughter. Much to Verdi's delight, it was triumplahntly played again in the same city 14 months later, after international acclaim. In this opera, the courtesan Violetta kindly sacrifices her love for Alfredo by obeying his father's desire, and die of tuberculosis, the moment Alfredo turns to her. - Libiamo The curtain opens with a celebration in Violetta's house and Alfredo in a lively mood begins the famous song of the drinking, Libiamo (Let's drink), in which Violetta joins her voice with enthusiasm and then with all the guests. - Di Provenza il mar, il suoi However, the couple's happiness is brief. Alfredo's father, worried ab...

In French, it means "English." A musical term featuring some dances of English origin, which gained great fame in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. With intense rhythmic growth , anglaise dances required the dancers in a chain-shaped arrangement. In the 18th century, the term was used sporadically in purely instrumental music and in the Third French Suite of  G.S.Bach.

At Chopin's time, the composition of a "waltz concerto" was not new - composers like Mozart had helped shape this form. However, the elements, introduced by Chopin , was new. He turned the waltz into a musical genre of exceptional subtlety and kindness, dominated by the piano. The composer was still a teenager when he composed his first work in this form and continued to compose waltzes almost until the end of his life.  Waltz in G-flat major, Op. 70, No.1 In this waltz, the melody is full of vibrancy. Then a slow dreamy musical idea is presented and the rhythm changes abruptly. But the new mood doesn't last long. The first melody returns, now like a coda, completing the work serenely. Waltz in F minor, Op. 70, No. 2 Although this waltz is particularly lively, the prevailing mood is melancholy. The two melodies on which the work is based are the first in minor tonality and the second in major and are interpreted twice. The waltz is calmly completed in a major tonality...

Vivaldi's "Summer" is a time of drowning, tyrannical heat, with storm breaks. I. Allegro non molto "Under a hard season, fired up by the sun Languishes man, languishes the flock and burns the pine We hear the cuckoo’s voice; then sweet songs of the turtle dove and finch are heard. Soft breezes stir the air but threatening the North Wind sweeps them suddenly aside. The shepherd trembles, fearing violent storms and his fate." The first part, Allegro non molto ,  submits a lazy mood under the scorching sun, with small phrases in the most thoughtful rolled key. This is followed by a more passionate intercalary, with birdsong stresses and more restless spots as the air rises. II. Adagio  "The fear of lightning and fierce thunder Robs his tired limbs of rest As gnats and flies buzz furiously around. " In central Adagio, the sleep of a young shepherd is upsetsed by lightning but also by swarms of wasp and flies! III. Presto "Alas, his fears were justif...

George Gershwin's musical journey has been unique in every aspect: Tin Pan Alley - Broadway - Hollywood - concert halls - lyrical theatres. Everywhere with a great success. No composer has enjoyed such recognition, in so many different fields and in such a short period of time. As a songwriter, Gershwin appeared in the history of American music at the right time. As a composer he was able to ensure direct acceptance into the folk music of his land, giving it an artistic form. Gershwin had in his mind the rules and technique of Western European music, but at his heart, the harmonys and rhythms of the American South. His imagination was nourished by the idioms of an original folk music. He was one of the first to understand the universality of its character. He borrowed from, bold harmonics and a transparent melancholy, which only counterpart in Schubert's songs detected. His music is full of wondrous mixed melodies and rhythms. Unexpected chords succeed each other with incredib...