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...