Prior to the twentieth-century, the well-rounded musician was expected to perform, improvise, and compose; each activity was an important aspect of the individual’s musicianship. Historically, this standard is most evident amongst pianists, as many of the greatest works for the instrument were produced by keyboard virtuosos. Composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Sergei Rachmaninoff were excellent pianists and active performers. Naturally, their intimate knowledge of the piano’s capabilities ensured idiomatic writing and resulted in some of the finest writing for the instrument.
The composer-performer phenomenon, however, is not limited to pianists and the keyboard. Many flutists, throughout history, have composed for the flute. Baroque flutists Jacques-Martin Hotteterre and Michel Blavet were employed by courts to compose and perform music for evening parties. During the early twentieth-century, Philippe Gaubert and Paul Taffanel, professors at the Paris Conservatoire, composed concours, or test pieces, for their students. The Hungarian virtuosos, Franz and Karl Doppler toured and performed as a flute duo, showcasing original compositions. .
Today, a multitude of flutists actively compose for their instrument; Katherine Hoover, Ian Clarke, and Gary Schocker are notable examples of performer-composers. In recent years, the most popular and frequently performed contemporary works for the instrument have been written by flutists. Carla Rees, a British flutist, has suggested that the “era of the player-composer” has returned. Two flutists that exemplify the composer-performer archetype are Johann Joachim Quantz and Robert Dick. Both men, through their id...
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...tructional DVD where he explains, teaches, and demonstrates the techniques required. He also provides imaginative ideas for the flutist’s cadenza. Flames Must Encircle Sides for unaccompanied flute requires the performer to circular breathe. Techno Yaman, for flute and electronic keyboard/drumset, is a lyrical work that blends elements of the traditional North Indian raga music with rock and electronica. The work opens with a lyrical and contemplative melody above a drone. He has experienced immense success as a composer, and he has received awards and commissions from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts.
Robert Dick and Johann Joachim Quantz, over three centuries apart, shared a similar passion for new music, instruments, and pedagogical techniques; the two musicians have left a lasting impact on the evolution of flute performance and study.
Though Jelly Roll Morton began his career without formal training, he grew to live an influential life. His piano style, musical notations on paper, and creative compositions thrived in the 1910s and the 1920s and even weaved its way into the later eras as musicians used Morton’s music as the foundation for their own. Even past his death, Jelly Roll Morton remains a legendary figure. His works are meticulously preserved and displayed in the prestigious Smithsonian Museum and universities around the world continue his legacy by teaching students about Jelly Roll Morton and his influential career.
The Western concert flute has a range that extends three full octaves and a fourth up to the F two octaves above the treble clef staff. The flute has several capabilities for advanced techniques, including flutter-tongue, in which the tone rapidly flutters to create a vibrating sound. Flutists can also clack the keys and blow to create a crackling sound. Some flute players have mastered the art of multi-phonics, in which two notes play at the same time. One note sounds by the flutist humming while the other note sounds through actually playing the
Next we come to a point in time where a great leap had to be made. Musicians had made positive steps forward in the way of pitch and time but of only one or two notes at a time. What was needed was an in instrument that gave players control of many pitches simultaneously. The mechanism ...
This is the second volume of Richard Taruskin's historical work, and it highlights composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He examines the progression of different styles and eras of music.
Reilly, Edward R. “Quantz and the Transverse Flute: Some Aspects of His Practice and Thought
The history of the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble will be reflected through a timeline of events, including an analysis of significant events, groups, composers, and advancements. When society envisions a Wind Ensemble, talented musicians, grand music halls, and difficult arrangements typically come to mind. However, a modern-day Wind Ensemble includes a variety of musicians, each with positive and negative aspects. In society today, music is greatly appreciated and accepted. It is considered an honor and a privilege to expose our ears to the music.
My book report is from the biography of Mozart written by Robert W. Gutman. It was illustrated by the Jacket art courtesy of Music Lovers Society and was published by Harcourt Brace and Company. It was printed in New York City and the year of publication was 1999.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a family of musicians. It was only natural for him to pick up an instrument and excel in it. His father taught him how to play the violin and harpsichord at a very young age. All of Bach’s uncles were professional musicians, one of them; Johann Christoph Bach introduced him to the organ. Bach hit a turning point in his life when both of his parents died at the age of ten years old. Bach’s older brother Johann Christoph Bach took him in and immediately expanded his knowledge in the world of music. He taught him how to play the clavichord and exposed him to great composers at the time. At the age of fourteen, Bach and his good friend George Erdmann were awarded a choral scholarship to the prestigious musical school St. Michael’s in Luneburg. From then on, Bach began to build his career in the music industry. His first two years at the school he sang in the school’s a cappella choir. Historical evidence has shown that Bach at a young age would visit Johanniskirche and would listen to the works of organ player Jasper Johannsen. This was thought to have been the inspiration to Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Studying at the prestigious musical school has help Bach network his way around and become acquaintances’ with some of the best organ players at the time such as Georg Böhm, and Johann Adam Reincken. Through his acquaintance with Böhm and Reincken Bach had access to some of the greatest and finest instruments.
Over the past several years, some amateur musicians have developed specific ideas about 'correct' performance practice of Baroque music. In an essay concerning the issues of Baroque music performance, Michael Sartorius notes that:
Modern music critics continue to scratch their heads when considering Wagner’s gushing remarks on Mozart. In a review posted to the Flos Carmeli Arts Blog on February 26, 2010, Steven Riddle describes Mozart as a German composer who writes music that is “flexible, nimble, light and lovely”, while Wagner’s is “like a beautiful bludgeon- slow and ponderous”. While they possess little similarities in style as composers, it was not simply Mozart’s music that enamored Wagner. The Magic Flute inspired Wagner with its characters and their keen development, as well as Mozart’s clear voice as an interpreter of the drama within the music. He praised Mozart for his ability to create a genre that was unlike any previously seen in the German Opera. The Magic Flute was an opera that lived between Opera Seria and Opera buffa (both common in German opera at the time), but also contained many musical styles of the ornate Italian opera. ...
A beautiful and unique texture of the clarinet sound is charming. The closed, wooden, cylinder-conic tube of the clarinet creates specific acoustic. When one plays clarinet music it seems like it is coming from the faraway. A brief summarization of clarinet history and manufacturers, classical and classical jazz clarinet performers, classical clarinet and jazz composers (song writers), classical repertoires, well known old days jazz music, and famous orchestras, the Colorado and Philadelphia ones.
Mozart was a successful composer and violinist. He used the form of concerto (like the
Tchaikovsky is one of the most beloved composers in history. An inspired craftsman of melody, orchestration and tonal color, he wrote in an astonishing variety of musical forms, from symphonies to ballet scores to concertos (Sadie, 94). His life and work are the stuff of legend, and his personal struggles are almost as well recorded today as the methods by which he created his music (Osborne, 77).
Edgard Varèse’s Density 21.5 for unaccompanied flute was composed in 1936 (revised in 1944) at the request of George Barrère for the première of his new platinum flute.Inspired by the flute’s capabilities, Varèse sought to showcase the platinum instrument’s full range of sound and explore its timbral capacity. Density is a monophonic work that is characterized by extreme dynamics, angular motives, timbral variety, and complex rhythms. During the span of sixty-one measures, Varèse exploits the flute’s full range of sound and color and almost every pitch on the instrument is realized.
Music Appreciation has broadened my view to listen to different eras of music that I was not accustomed to. It was pleasant listening, reading, and learning about different periods of music. This course has given me an exceptional amount of knowledge on different styles of music, identifying different elements in music as well as learning about legendary composers who have influenced music throughout history. Not only has music been around for decades, it has developed a history of great composers who have left an imprint in history by their extraordinary compositions of music they developed during their times of glory, like Ludwig van Beethoven. In this essay I will discuss how Beethoven is known as one of the greatest, ingenuity composers of his time and how the classical period is so fascinating to listen to and learn about. In addition, I will also discuss how Music Appreciation has reshaped the way I perceive and listen to different styles of music that have been created throughout history.