Pierre Boulez, an inspirational composer, conductor, and music theorist of the late 20th century, was born in Montbrison, France, on March 26, 1925. When growing up, he learned that he had greatly excelled in both music and mathematics. Originally student at a technical school, he began studying mathematics. He also studied music and engineering. After deciding to pursue a career in music, he became a student at Paris Conservatoire. While attending Paris Conservatory, Boulez was greatly influenced by his teacher, Oliver Messiaen, who was also a conductor and organist. Although Boulez found his teacher to be a very respectable man, he disagreed with the way he had interpreted music and disliked the way new ideas were not dispersed with his …show more content…
This led to music involving indeterminate or aleatoric techniques. This writing style left the notes, duration, and especially the music, all up to the composer. With these new techniques, writers like Boulez could then decide where in each piece the repetition would happen. Since there were so many different alternatives that the composer could choose, no two pieces sounded the same. For example, Boulez’s third sonata for piano was printed in several different colors of ink, in order to show each performer different “routes” in which they could chose from. This approach was very different from Americans.
As time went on, Boulez decided to write more music for voice accompanying small group. For example, in his piece “Le Marteau sans maître”, Boulez creates a piece for an alto voice accompanying 6 instruments that came from a setting of three different poems written by Rene Char, a surrealist poet. As this piece demonstrates a structural foundation and serial music, it is actually known for it’s luscious sound. Two other pieces that Boulez has graciously used this form include Le Soleil des eaux of 1957 and Improvisations sur Mallarmé of
Claude Monet played an essential role in a development of Impressionism. He created many paintings by capturing powerful art from the world around him. He was born on November 14, 1840, in Paris, France. Later, his family moved to Le Havre, Normandy, France because of his father’s business. Claude Monet did drawings of the nature of Normandy and time spent along the beaches and noticing the nature. As a child, his father had always wanted him to go into the family grocery business, but he was interested in becoming an artist. He was known by people for his charcoal caricatures, this way he made money by selling them by the age of 15. Moreover, Claude went to take drawing lessons with a local artist, but his career in painting had not begun yet. He met artist Eugène Boudin, who became his teacher and taught him to use oil paints. Claude Monet
Count Basie, or William Basie, was born on August 21, 1904 in Red Banks, New Jersey. William grew up with an influential musical background. At a young age Basie learned how to play piano, as his mother would sit down and teach him. While Basie had a natural born talent for the piano, his first preference was the drums. After being discouraged however as not making it as the...
Igor was born and raised in Oranienbaum. Stravinsky was born on June 17th in 1882. All his life he was surrounded by music. His parents were into music as well, his
Gustav Mahler was born in 1860 in the small town of Kalischt, Bohemia. He was a late romantic-era composer. He was one of the leading conductors of his generation. Mahler was a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. In 1897 he was the director of the Vienna Court Opera. He stayed in Vienna for 10 years, but during that time he got a lot of opposition from the Anti- Semitic Press. His awesome productions and high production standards gave him the name of Greatest of Opera Conductors. Composing was only his part time job as living as a conductor was his full time. Most of his pieces are for large orchestra forces, symphonic choruses, and operatic soloists.
A Technique developed over the musical periods is figuration or the smallest musical idea repeated or looped to maintain interest. In the early 16th Century Through Composed music was far more common due to its use in musical theatre and operas, Claudio Monteverdi is an excllent example of this, where is comparision to Mozart. Monteverdi's work tend to be continus and uninterrupted where Mozart's work consisted of a collection of songs containing minimal repetition and progressed with interruptions for dialogue.
Born Gustavus Theodore von Holst in Cheltenham, England on September 21, 1874, Gustav Holst was a famous popular modern composer of the early 20th century. He is best known for the First and Second Suites for Military Band, and his most famous work of all, The Planets suite, which left him as one of the most influential contemporary composers of the 20th century.
Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers of music history. Bach was born in Eisenach
During the nineteenth and the twenty centuries musicians adopted new rules. Some of the rules would be not to follow rules or some composers would follow the rule that required them to return to emotional restrains. Whether it was the Impressionistic composer Claude Debussy performing La Mer or the Neoclassical composer Igor Stravinsky performing The Rite of Spring, the composers of this time period certainly had noteworthy ideas.
Bigo’s beers had been turning sour and he did not know why so Pasteur began to do research. According to www.historylearningsite.co.uk, after observing the beer, he discovered that there were tiny organisms in the liquid, and he determined that those microbes were responsible for the beer going sour. He continued this research with other liquids than just beer, such as, wine, milk, and vinegar. Regardless of ...
Pierre Bourdieu, born and raised in France was a sociologist, anthropologist and philosopher. He was well educated and came from a modest social background. While working as a teacher he was deployed to Algeria during its War of Independence. After serving his time in Algeria, he stayed there and wrote his first book, Sociologie de l’Algeria. It was an instant hit.
Philippe Petit changed numerous peoples’ thoughts about the Twin Towers when he performed his high wire walk between them in 1974. Before Philippe Petit walked the high wire between the Twin Towers in 1974, people weren’t certain how they felt about the construction of the World Trade Center. After Philippe performed, people began to warm up to the idea of the towers. Philippe Petit walked the high wire between the Twin Towers on August 7, 1974. This event prompted Andrew McMahon to write the song “Platform Fire” about this event for his band, Jack’s Mannequin. This song was not a hit for the band; however, fans of Jack’s Mannequin seem to have a special place in their heart for it.
Debussy was born in 1862 in the town of St. Germain-en-Laye , a town near Paris. When he was eleven, he entered the Paris Conservatory. Instead of following music ideas and structure that done by his predecessors, he started to compose and play harmonies that defied the rules. These strange, peculiar sounding harmonies shocked his lecturers. By that time, he already started trying on new harmonies that was something different.
Bach had a pulchritudinous soprano singing voice, which availed him land a place at a school in Lüneburg. Sometime after his advent, his voice transmuted and Bach switched to playing the violin and the harpsichord. Bach was greatly influenced by a local organist denominated George Böhm. In 1703, he landed his first job as a musician at the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar. There he was a...
The musical genius came into this world on May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany to a poor family. Considering the fact that his father played various instruments, he got a musical start at a very young age. After proving his talents in music with his father, he studied under various tutors learning the piano, cello, and horn. In his studies, books opened up a completely new world for him and learning about folklore became his favorite. Playing for various places around his home helped supplement his family’s income during tight times. In 1853, at age 20, he met the legendary Robert Schumann who rightly prophesied him as the composer of the future. Shortly after, Robert dies and Brahms a...
Beethoven was born in Bonn Germany. At 14, he held the occupation of a court organist. Sadly, his father was a drunken singer, and barely supported his family. Consequently, the money Beethoven earned assisted his family. In 1778, he traveled to Vienna and met Wolfgang A. Mozart who instantly acknowledged his brilliance. However, on account of his mother’s illness, he returned to his home town, and had to support his brothers after her death. He gave music lessons in Bonn, in addition to playing the viola in the theater orchestra. Settling in Vienna in 1792, he studied with masters such as Joseph Haydn. He appeared as a pianist and gaine...