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.
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev is considered one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. Not only was Sergeyevich an accomplished pianist, but he was an outstanding and famous conductor as well. He was infinitely skilled at a wide range of musical genres, including symphonies, concerti, operas, program pieces, film music, and ballets. His works were considered both ultra-modern and innovative for their time. Ironically, Prokofiev died on the same day as Stalin - 05 March 1953.
How would a clarinetist go about searching for a piece from the Medieval to the very end of the Baroque period? Well, that clarinetist should first realize that the repertoire from this timeframe is incredibly difficult to find on the internet. Not only that, the clarinet did not come into existence until around the 1700s, which would give it a mere fifty years in order to develop any sort of solo literature. So, how would one go about looking for early music to perform?
Born in 1770 Beethoven grew up with a great interest in music and his father gave him piano lessons at an early age. Even so, he was never close to his father, probably because of the abuse he endured. When his father became unable to care for his family due to an alcohol addiction, Beethoven felt it was his responsibility to take care of his three remaining siblings and his mother. So, at age 12 he began publishing music to help support his family. Unfortunately, his lack of money was always an issue throughout his life. At age 22...
Beethoven was a pioneer of his time. During the classical period most composers were at the hands of monarchs. Composers had to create whatever the monarchs wanted, they really did it have a choice in what they wrote. Beethoven on the other hand was not reliant on patrons of the arts. Beethoven created and sold what he made, not what some aristocrat told him to make. These traits of Beethoven make it possible for him to be classified in both the classical and romantic music periods.
On the tails of the Romantic Era, a particularly intriguing form of musical composition evolved: Early Modernism. Composers began challenging formal the formal structure and rigidness of classical composing and created music to depict stories and evoke emotions in listeners. One of the most influential composers of this period was Claude Debussy. Of French descent, Debussy rejected traditional form and musical characteristics as he was taught in his musical training and developed a more artistic and expressive collection of music. Debussy’s experiences in his early life, artistic inspirations, and his French heritage led him to be a successful Early Modernist composer.
Beethoven originally named his sonata ‘quasi una fantasia’, which translates to “sonata in the manner of a fantasy” (“Quasi”). Furthermore, Beethoven dedicated ‘quasi una fantasia’ to Countess Julie Giulietta Guicciardi, one of his “piano students whom he was in love with” (Kerman). At that time in 1801, Beethoven grew “realization that his deafness was progressive and probably incurable” so he “ceased to attend any social functions and was miserable.” (Kerman) That was before Beethoven met the “dear charming girl” (Kerman) Julie Guicciardi. Beethoven thought “for the first time marriage with Julie might bring [him] happiness” (Kerman) so he “proposed to her” (Murphy) Unfortunately, Julie was “not quite 17, she was still too young and too spoilt to take Beethoven’s devotion seriously” and Beethoven stated himself that “[Julie] was not of [his] class.” (Kerman)
Achille-Claude Debussy was one of the most renowned French composers who stimulated the music of the twentieth-century. Debussy’s life experiences have given an emotional and relatable truth in his work. Works such as Clair de Lune, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, and La Mer are great achievements of Debussy that are the most familiar today. Debussy is worth reviewing because he uniquely structured his compositions that served as a base for musicians in the past, and will easily continue to motivate musical masterpieces for years to come.
Newman, Ernest “Bach, Johann Sebastian.” The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 1985, 11th Edition, pp. 102-108
When looking at the earlier styles explored in this class, it was easy to categorize composers by their era or period. Bach played during the Baroque; Mozart is clearly a Classical composer, etc. As we moved deeper and deeper into the class, and closer and closer to modern day, the categorization became increasingly difficult. This began with Beethoven, who did not fit quite into the Classical style, but was not a pure Romantic either. He was somewhere in-between. Debussy fills a similar space between periods. Though Debussy composed a great deal of program music, he also created pieces in the Impressionist style. With Debussy’s Pierrot, from his Quatre Chansons de Jeunesse (Four Songs of Youth), he creates a Lied that could be interpreted as either; an Impressionist piece or a piece of program music, meant to look at the meaning of the words and the music that accompanies them, as opposed to purely the sound itself.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
As all of us know very well, there are many different famous musicians and composers in the world of music. It can be also noted that all of these musicians and composers have always played an important role in the world of music. Therefore, actually it should be detected that if we want to learn something about the musical world, of course, we should also pay attention to the famous musicians and composers, in the other word, it means that no one can learn normally anything regarding the musical world without well-known musicians and composers. In the world of music one of the famous musicians and composers is Ludwig van Beethoven who was really a famous German composer.
Romantic: of, characterized by, or suggestive of an idealised, sentimental, or fantastic view of reality… concerned more with feeling and emotion than with form and aesthetic qualities.
In Beethoven’s early quartets, he takes great inspiration from both Mozart and his tutor, Joseph Haydn. Before Beethoven wrote his first quartet he had already written several different compositions for he wanted to really establish his own style of writing first. Op. 18, No. 1 in F, was first written in 1799 but still remains close to the Haydnesque and Mozartian quartet writing style, but the young Beethoven begins to place in his own ideas. This can be seen in the very first movement (see example 1).
Claude Debussy is a French classical music composer. Debussy was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France in 1862. Debussy’s music was considered to fall under the impressionism study as he veered away from the traditional musical composition methods of key and pitch and worried about the different intervals in a piece. Debussy started playing the piano at the young age of seven, by age ten it was apparent that Debussy was very gifted in what he did as he was selected to attend a prestigious school for talented musicians, dancers and artists. Debussy stayed at the Conservatoire for eleven years where he perfected his talents with the help of some famous composers such as I...
The Romantic Era began in the late 18th century. It was a period of literature and arts.