Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous German born composer and pianist, composed the Romance in F major in 1798. It was likely first performed in that year, but was not published until 1805 in Vienna. It was originally written for violin and orchestra but the edition being performed today was transcribed and edited for saxophone and piano by Peter Saiano. During this period of his life, Beethoven was still known as perhaps the greatest pianist in existence and he was busy touring Europe as a performer. He had not yet achieved the status he now holds as a composer, and during this period he was also working on his first set of string quartets. Romance in F major contains several technical passages for the saxophonist that include lengthy passages with difficult articulation. This piece also contains several altissimo notes that are above the standard range of the saxophone and are troublesome to even the most advanced saxophonist. The goal of the saxophonist in this piece is to imitate the sound of the violin as closely as possible because the saxophone was not yet invented in Beethoven's time. Joseph Kerman, et al. Beethoven, Ludwig van. In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40026pg4 (accessed February 6, 2011). Claude Debussy, a well known French composer, is perhaps the greatest composer of the late Romantic style of music emerging around the beginning of the twentieth century. Debussy is well known for bringing the impressionist style of painting into the realm of music and he was at first flattered with the comparison. He later became frustrated with the general public referring to the whole of his music as impressionistic. The circumstan... ... middle of paper ... ...ntal music he had written for the play The Flying Doctor. The title of the piece comes from the name of the theater in which the play was originally performed. Milhaud showed some resentment toward Scaramouche because of its immense popularity in comparison to his other works. The piece remains a standard in the classical saxophonist's repertoire regardless. Works Cited Breitrose, Henry and Darius Milhaud. 1970. Conversation with Milhaud. Music Educators Journal 56, no. 7 (March). http://www.jstor.org/stable/3392748 (accessed February 6, 2011). Scaramouche. The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev., edited by Michael Kennedy. In Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e9002 (accessed February 5, 2011). Wright, Craig, and Bryan Simms. 2006. Music in Western Civilization. Belmont: Thomson Schirmer.
Susskind, Pamela. "Clara Schumann." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie and George Grove. 1980. Print.
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.
Willoughby, David. "Chapter 11." The World of Music. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 249-53. Print.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are two of the greatest composers ever to write music. Both men lived in the early 18th and 19th century, but their music and influences are still felt today. The men faced similar experiences, yet they both lead very different lives. All together the pieces that these men composed amounts to over 300 published, and unpublished works of art. The people of their time period often had mixed feelings about these men, some “complained that Mozart’s music presented them with too many ideas and that his melodies moved from one to the next faster than audiences could follow, yet the ideas themselves seem effortless and natural, clear and unforced.” (Bonds 210-211) Beethoven’s criticisms ranged from ‘genius’ to grim dislike. Mozart and Beethoven were influenced by things going on around them such as: love, nature, and the Enlightenment.
middle of paper ... ... Debussy started to find inspiration from Musorgsky. In 1889 he heard Javanese Gamelan orchestra. Hearing this exotic music from the orchestra, he later applied it to some of his work. He also drew his inspiration from poems, songs, and other composers, such as, Stéphane Mallermé poem, Mary Gardens song, and Louis Bourgault-Ducoudray compositions.
McGee, Timothy J. Medieval and Renaissance Music: A Performer’s Guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
Classical music in France started in the medieval times (10th century) and continues to develop now. The types of classical music in France can be broken into six different eras: Middle Ages, Renaissance, baroque, opera, romantic era, and the 20th century. Classical music is associated with secular music, meaning non-religious music. It covers a broad range dating from the 10th century to the present. The major genres are all part of the classical music, whether it be sacred, secular, vocal, or instrumental. As you look into the classical music of France you see that there are different styles within each era. This type of music would start out as one thing, then progress throughout the centuries. Many composers would experiment with different styles to create a separate and unique sound that would be recognized as French music.
Newman, Ernest “Bach, Johann Sebastian.” The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 1985, 11th Edition, pp. 102-108
The Baroque era was a unique period in music that began during the 1600's and ended around 1750. The word "baroque" is define by Merriam's Collegiate Dictionary as, "of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of artistic expression prevalent esp. in the 17th century that is marked generally by use of complex forms, bold ornamentation, and the juxtaposition of contrasting elements often conveying a sense of drama, movement, and tension." The word "baroque" has been used to indicate paintings, poems, architecture, literature, and all else that is dynamic and astonishing.
History is the story and knowledge of the past. There are individuals that are interested by history and wish to study it by learning more. It is very informative to know what has happened in the past for self-knowledge. An individual cannot be naïve to the past including but not limited to how literature came to. One can understand literature more when they understand the time period the author wrote during and the way they wrote. There are several time periods different authors have been through with each period having specific beliefs. Romanticism is the time period that interests me the most; it was a time during the eighteenth century and focused on nature along with the individual’s expression of imagination and emotion.
Music throughout the ages has changed dramatically. Starting in the Medieval period, from 400-1475, music was in the form of what is called the Gregorian chant. Instruments were very rarely used at this time. Since songs during this period were either troubadour or trouvere these chants had no real harmony. One example of this type of medieval composition is “Viderunt Omnes” by Leoninus. Like most Gregorian chants the texture of this piece is monophonic and polyphonic. “Viderunt Omnes” is a typical Gregorian chant in that it uses diatonic, not chromatic notes of the scale. Musical compositions during the Medieval period was made mostly by members of the church for the church. It was and is a very slow and steady movement that was meant to create a feeling of peace for worship purposes.
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.
A group of poets known as, the Symbolists began poetry in which the words that were used were used purely for their sounds and not for their actual meaning. Symbolists tried to convey impression by suggestion instead of definition. Music compositions from the Impressionism period contained some of the same characteristics of impressionist paintings. Impressionist composers and its music at the time were breaking away from classical techniques. In the impressionism spectrum, Debussy is to impressionist music as Monet is to painting, meaning in that they are both the father figures of their medium in which they portray the impressionist style. Impressionist music was very much like the paintings; they stirred emotions to their audience. Claude Debussy was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music but he never ever considered himself an Impressionist instead he considered himself a “Realist” (Classical 1). Debussy’s style and works are closely similar to those of the impressionists. For instance, in order to achieve an effect that was comparable to that painted by the visual artists, Debussy emphasized those musical elements that could be immediately grasped and understood the instant they were heard, namely timbre and harmonic color. Claude
Roughly from 1815 to 1910, this period of time is called the romantic period. At this period, all arts are transforming from classic arts by having greater emphasis on the qualities of remoteness and strangeness in essence. The influence of romanticism in music particularly, has shown that romantic composers value the freedom of expression, movement, passion, and endless pursuit of the unattainable fantasy and imagination. The composers of the romantic period are in search of new subject matters, more emotional and are more expressive of their feelings as they are not bounded by structural rules in classical music where order, equilibrium, control and perfection are deemed important (Dorak, 2000).
Near the close of the nineteenth century, a new movement had emerged in European classical music. Rooted most heavily in France and lasting till the mid twentieth century, Europe witnessed what we call 'Impressionism', an idea of music described wonderfully by Oscar Thompson in 1937 as he states that the aim of such art was to "suggest rather than to depict; to mirror not the object, but the emotional response to the object; to interpret a fugitive impression rather than to seize upon and fix the permanent reality." Impressionism thus, in its most basic definition, is the converse of realism.A rather prominent characteristic of Impressionist music was the striking predominance of modal and exotic scales, free rhythm, unresolved dissonances and the evidently smaller programmatic form. Apart from this, Impressionist music is more broadly characterized by a dramatic use of both the minor and major scale systems. Claude Debussy is known as one of the greatest Impressionist composers till date. Many musical critics believe that the Impressionist movement was a liberating intrusion in the otherwise fixated notions of Western classical music. However, Impressionism too came with a set of restrictions, incapacities and difficulties, those of which will be discussed further in the essay in relation to their influence on Debussy's composition.