MusiLLection

In his time the German composer Georg Philipp Telemann was more popular even than his co-local and contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach. In fact, he was offered the position of Kantor in the church of St. Thomas of Leipzig and only his refusal - he bid Hamburg to keep him close - resulted in Bach's recruitment. Baroque music discovered in Telemann a genuine, inspiring, unbound and accomplished composer. His ability to co-talk creatively with any kind of musical expression was truly enviable. Cosmic and religious, instrumental and vocal music had no secrets for him. Testimony undeniable are his works, the ones that were saved. They provoke immediate admiration both with the variety of their style and with their quantity. He composed a thousand and seven hundred or so Cantatas, numerous operas - forty only for the Hamburg Opera - and a host of others extremely prolific and pioneered in the effort to detox the composers from the royal courtyards and the patrons. Telemann's music wa...

The Piano Concerto in G major was composed between 1929 and 1931. Ravel was ill at the time and did not perform at the premiere himself, although he conducted the orchestra. Ravel claimed that the work was composed in the manner of Mozart and Saint-Saëns , although influences from Stravinsky and Gershwin , as well as from the Spanish folk music of the composer's hometown, the Basque region, can be seen. The concerto was Ravel's penultimate composition. Μovements : Ι. Allergamente This concerto has no orchestral introduction. At the beginning of the first part marked Allegramente , the piano appears immediately, although the original theme in a folk style, is introduced by the piccolo. The melody is repeated by the trumpet. In the theme of the piano that follows, the influence of jazz, which exists throughout the work, is felt for the first time. The piano then introduces a third theme, which adopts the saxophone and the trumpet. The lively part of the development continues t...

Set design by Philippe Chaperon for Act 4, Scene 2 of Aida by Verdi Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Giuseppe Verdi to compose an opera for performance to celebrate the opening of the Khedivial Opera House, but the premiere was delayed because of the Siege of Paris, during the Franco-Prussian War.  Aida eventually premiered in Cairo in 24 December 1871, conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. It was an immediate success and has remained Verdi's most popular opera ever since. Aida is an opera in four acts and the libretto was writter by Antonio Ghislanzoni. - Celeste Aida - Gloria all' Egitto - Triumphal March - Vieni, o guerriero vindice - O terra, addio "Aida" is a story of love, war and betrayal and focuses on the love between a captive Ethiopian princess Aida by the Egyptians and Radamès, the Egyptian captain of the Guard who defeats the invading troops of her father. Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the King of E...

In the summer of 1853, twenty-year-old Johannes Brahms was desperate. He had just had a fight with his best friend, the Hungarian violonist Eduard Remènyi, who had mediated for a meeting with the great pianist Liszt , whom he hoped to impress. But Brahms failed to praise Liszt's latest work, thereby undermining any hope of progress from that direction. Faced with failure, Brahms wrote to violonist Joseph Joachim, who had supported him along the way, asking for his help. Joachim recommended him to visit Dusseldorf in order to meet the distinguished composer Robert Schumann and his pianist wife Clara. On September 30th, thronging with excitement, Brahms sat down to play in front of the woman who was destined to steal his heart forever. A brilliant young pianist The sketch of 20-year-old Brahms. It was done on Robert Schumann's behalf. Robert Schumann , middle-aged and afflicted by various nervous disorders, distinguished Brahm's face as the billiant young pianist he once had...

Set for Rossini 's opera La Donna del Lago (The Lady of the Lake), written in 1819. Operas: Tancredi L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) Il turco in Italia Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione (The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution) Otello, ossia Il Moro di Venezia La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) Armida La donna del lago (The Lady of the Lake) Semiramide Le siège de Corinthe (The Siege of Corinth) Mosè in Egitto (Moses in Egypt) Le comte Ory Guillaume Tell Sacred music: Messa di Gloria Stabat mater Petite messe solennelle Instrumental music:  Duetto per Violoncello e Contrabasso Variazzioni di clarinetto Trois marches militaires Concerto per fagotto ed orchestra Fantaisie Vocal music: Les soirées musicales Francesca da Rimini

The symphony was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society in England to commemorate its seventy-third anniversary. It was presented in London on May 19, 1886 at St James's Hall, conducted by the composer. It is the last composition of Camille Saint-Saëns for this instrument and the most popular. The composer dedicated the work to the memory of his friend Franz Liszt , whom he admired immensely. The Symphony is also popularly known as the Organ Symphony, even though it is not a true symphony for organ, but simply an orchestral symphony where two sections out of four use the pipe organ. The composer inscribed it as: Symphonie No. 3 "avec orgue" (with organ). Movements : I. Adagio - Allegro moderato The serious beginning of Adagio - Allegro moderato is slow and hesitant - but the mood is brightened as more vivid material offered by the violins and drums, means the actual start of the symphony, where wide melodies of the wind instruments emerge and sink. After the ope...

He renounced the glory, confidence and adventure guaranteed by the career of the naval officer, Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov , and was thrown into the adventure of music without hesitation. As an amateur and self-taught musician, the aristocrat started from Tikhvin to settle down as a conscientious professional. He enjoyed every honor that any of his peers would dream of, becoming the most popular, after Tchaikovsky , composer of 19th century Russia. A member of the famous group of "Five", Rimsky-Korsakov, after his first transcendence and the change of his professional course, had to fight with the academicism and lack of self-confidence that were alive nourished by the sense of non-existent musical education. When he overcame any inhibitions - his love for music helped him a lot - and gained the confidence of musical discourse, he was easily able to exploit his innate gifts. A master of orchestration and an imaginative creator, he produced a rich musical work in whic...