Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882 and died on April 6, 1971. He was a Russian classical composer. Stravinsky’s works are mostly neoclassical and serial works and the most representative classic compositions, that are L’Oiseau de feu, which means the fire bird, Petrushka, and Le scare du printemps, which means the rite of spring, represents Stravinsky. Not only composer, Stravinsky was recognized as a pianist and conductor at his works. He also worked on theoretical work, which is called Poetics of Music and he strongly claimed that music is incapable of “expressing anything but itself”. By this writing, he was recognized as a writer. Stravinsky asserted that music is essentially powerless to express something, but he still believed the nature
A conductor may be seen by many as a very important part of a musical but others may see them as unnecessary. Stravinsky feels that conductors don’t deserve the all the attention and respect that is given to them by critics and audiences. The passage tells of how Stravinsky finds conductors to be more of a distraction than talented musicians. In the Passage, Stravinsky uses diction and metaphors to explain his disdain of conductors.
Conductors are seen as the leader of an orchestra or band and are given most if not all the credit for the music played. For such a simple task that consists of counting the beats, showing the mood for the music, and giving people cues to enter, conductors are as good as their orchestra or band, not by their talent. In this passage by Igor Stravinsky, Stravinsky discusses that the work the conductor puts in is negligible to the work the orchestra it self and that concerts should be about the complex qualities of the music played instead of how the conductor impacts the performance.
Debussy was the first modernist composer; and considered by many to be the greatest French writer, this was because he was not a part of the common fundamental German tradition in music. Instead of following to the rules created at an earlier time for common practice harmony, he liked to make up his own chords, which he called "chords with no names." He is known for composing "Voiles" and "The Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun." He was connected to the symbolist poetic movement and known for using selective orchestration. Debussy's famous opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, was completed in 1895. It became a sensation when it was first performed
“Carmina Burana” and “Pictures At An Exhibition” are two wonderfully composed pieces of music, but the actual composers were very different. Carl Orff was born on July 10, 1895 in Munich, Germany. Orff began learning to play the piano at the age of five and soon realized he wanted to become a composer more than he wanted to perform. Orff is most widely known for the composition of “Carmina Burana” which was very popular within Nazi parties and camps. In contrast, the composer of “Pictures At An Exhibition” is Modeste Moussorgsky who was born just south of St. Petersburg on March 21, 1839. When Moussorgsky was introduced to Alexander Dargomyzhsky, a very important Russian composer, Moussorgsky began his professional music career. “Pictures At An Exhibition” is one of Moussorgsky’s most imaginative and creative pieces. The backgrounds of Carl Orff and Modeste Moussorgsky is useful knowledge when comparing some of their most popular works of music. Both composers are similar when it comes to structure and imagination, but different when you explore their early life and influences in the music world.
As indicated by musicologist Stephen Walsh the colossal advancement of the ritual is not the discord or the stationary nature of the consonant movement in light of the fact that both of these thoughts were by and by before Stravinsky's work. The genuine development was Stravinsky's utilization of musical parts and convincing rhythms to give a structure to drive the sensational activity and therefore free the solidified consonant riggings. Arrangers of the late nineteenth and mid twentieth century found a situation as the customary part of discord as a vehicle for consonant movement was deserted. The issue with disharmony that does not prompt an unavoidable determination is an aggregate discontinuance of consonant and in this way musical motion.Walsh refers to Debussy's Et la Lune Descend Sur le
Dmitri Shostakovich, born on September 25, 1905, started taking piano lessons from his mother at the age of nine after he showed interest in a string quartet that practiced next door. He entered the Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg, later Leningrad) Conservatory in 1919, where he studied the piano with Leonid Nikolayev until 1923 and composition until 1925 with Aleksandr Glazunov and Maksimilian Steinberg. He participated in the Chopin International Competition for Pianists in Warsaw in 1927 and received an honorable mention, after which he decided to limit his public performances to his own works to separate himself from the virtuoso pianists.
Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Two composers who marked the beginning and the end of the Classical Period respectively. By analysing the last piano sonata of Haydn (Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI:52)) and the first and last piano sonatas of Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2, No.1, Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111), this essay will study the development of Beethoven’s composition style and how this conformed or didn’t conform to the Classical style. The concepts of pitch and expressive techniques will be focused on, with a broader breakdown on how these two concepts affect many of the other concepts of music. To make things simpler, this essay will analyse only the first movements of each of the sonatas mentioned.
In the passage by Igor Stravinsky, he uses not only comparison and contrast, but also language to convey his point of view about the conductors of the time and their extreme egotism. Stravinsky believes that conductors exploit the music for their own personal gain, so rather, he looks on them in a negative light.
Music has an ability to make the listeners feel what the composer felt when they composed it. That idea really took off during the Romantic Era, after Beethoven paved a new way for composers to express themselves. One of the most prominent figure of the Romantic Era that really expressed himself in his music was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky’s wide and diverse musical repertoire made him into one of the most celebrated composer in history. But when he composed his sixth symphony, he declared it to be “the best thing I ever composed or shall compose.” Then, he suddenly died nine days after the premiere. There are many theories that might connect to the two and I will argue that Tchaikovsky composed his sixth symphony knowing that this
Born as Jan Václav Antonin Stamic and later Germanized as Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz, he was an influential composer and violinist. He was born on June 19, 1717 in Deutschbrod, Bohemia, now called Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic. Stamitz received a musical education from his father from a young age, and attended the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Prague for the academic year of 1734 – 1735, and shortly thereafter left the university to become a violin preformer. In 1741, he was employed as a string player in the court orchestra of Mannheim, Germany. Stamitz went on to marry Maria Antonia Luneborn on July 1, 1744, the couple had 5 children, two of which died in infancy. One of their children, named Carl Phillip Stamitz went on to have a successful musical career. By 1745, he was appointed as the concertmaster of the court orchestra at Mannheim, with a role as the conductor and lead violinist. In the years of 1754 – 1755, he travelled to France to conduct for the Concert Spirituel and the Concert Italien, which were the two most important concert series of 18th – century Paris. He returned to Mannheim in 1755, his health rapidly deteriorated and he died in Mannheim on March 27, 1757 at the age of 39. The entry of his death contains the following quote: “March 30, 1757. Buried, Jo'es Stainmiz, director of court music, so expert in his art that his equal will hardly be found “. Overall, he was an accomplished individual and died at a very young age.
Elements of this piece that helped shape a new musical language for thee twentieth – century would consist of Stravinsky experimenting with rhythm and new combinations of instruments. The way he uses dissonance in his pieces as well polyphonic and polytonal textures. His ballets were strongly nationalistic but contained rites of Russia in ancient times. On the opening night of The Rite of Spring, he caused a riot to ensue because it wasn’t like a regular ballet, it was totally different. It consisted of no ballet dancing at all, but more of a chant dance, the different melodies and the change in dissonance caused the ballet to be viewed as a frightening experience to some. Spring is something that is viewed as beautiful, light, loving and this ballet showed none of this, from the point of view of those who attended that night.
Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Benjamin Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra have some similarities while they also have their differences. Igor Stravinsky premiered his piece in 1910 and the work was an instant success. Stravinsky’s The Firebird is composed of two sections that consist of a full orchestra. The Firebird starts off with a French horn playing in a slow melody creating an andante tempo while more instruments enter soon leading to the full orchestra. Stravinsky repeats one melody over and over while creating alterations in rhythm, tone color, and dynamics. In the second section Stravinsky begins his piece off softly but then the music crescendos. Additional instruments begin to play and the melody continues to
Taylor, Jake. “Igor Stravinsky – Le Sacre du Printemps.” SputnikMusic. 10 August 2008. Web. 17
Gustav Stresemann Gustav Stresemann was given the job of German Foreign Minister during the six years commencing 1923. A foreign policy was needed. The German Nationalists needed to be given confidence in the Republic as it was not happy with the Republic's acceptance of the VersaillesTreat. Throughout the time of 1923 to 1929 Stresemann had certain choices to make which question whether he was acting as a 'Good German' or a 'Good European' There are arguments for both sides to the question.
Claude Debussy is one of my favorite composers of all time. Claude Debussy’s music has had the ability to alter how I perceive music and, has made me gain a greater appreciation for all types of music. Growing up playing piano my entire life it was always hard for me as a child to follow all of the “rules” of what traditional classic music was interpreted as. Sheet music seemed so dull and boring to me, because I would be playing the piece but certain parts just did not sound appealing to my ear. My instructor always frowned upon me for this because it was different from what every other person was doing at the time. I recognized that Debussy’s style of music was also criticized much in the same way as mine was one day while I was listening to my favorite piece Clair De Lune. The song in my mind is simply perfection, the harmonies all flow beautifully but, according to others it is not what they want to hear because it is considered to be vague and lacks image. My struggle at being restricted to these so called rules of piano made me like Debussy more and more.