Structures I for Piano (1951) Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez is a French composer, conductor, and music theorist born in 1925 . As a child Boulez demonstrated a formidable aptitude in mathematics, but left for Paris in 1942 to enroll in the Paris Conservatoire. His studies there often ran into difficulties, as he was rapidly developing revolutionary -- "Praise be to amnesia"1 -- attitudes towards all things traditional. But two decisive influences during those years helped to shape his musical personality. The first was Messiaen's famous analysis course, the other was René Leibowitz, who introduced him to serial music, where Boulez found "a harmonic and contrapuntal richness and a capacity for development an extension of a kind I have never found anywhere else."2 The first book of Structures was begun in early 1951, as Boulez was completing his orchestral work Polyphonie X, and finished in 1952. It consists of three movements, or "chapters", labelled Ia, Ib, and Ic, composed in the order a, c, b. The first of the second book's two "chapters" was composed in 1956, but chapter 2 was not ...
The author compares Berlioz, a man of music to Cooper, a man of anatomy and surgery, to show that it is the desire for knowledge of interest that drove them to the peak of success in their respective fields. The author cites what William Hazlitt, an opponent of the romantic age said about the anatomist ’s that he likes to see the objects related to their subject as it create new thoughts in the student's minds that ultimately overcomes the pain but he dislikes the prospect of the corpse that presents to ordinary
As a boy Johannes worked and studied with his father and learnt lessons from books with his mother, with whom he would play ?four-hands? at the piano, ?just for fun.? There were never any doubts as to his becoming a musician. From early childhood he learn everything his father could teach him, read everything he could lay hands on, practiced with undeviating enthusiasm, and filled reams of paper with exercises and variations. The soul of the child went out in music. He played scales long before he knew the notes, and great was his joy when at the age of six he discovered the possibility of making a melody visible by placing black dots on lines at different intervals, inventing a system of notation of his own before he had been made acquainted with the method which the musical world had been using for some centuries.
Gottschalk was a child prodigy, showing astonishing musical abilities at a young age. His father, against his mother’s wishes, sent him off to study music more intensively in Paris. During his time in Paris, Gottschalk studied piano with Charles Hallé, Camille Stamaty, and later studied composition with Pierre Maleden. Paris was just the beginning of the many places where he would compose some of his finest works.
William Henry Hadow and Charles Rosen are two historians who talk primarily about musical context. Hadow sets his discussion in the framework of classical composers' movement away from Baroque forms. He says that when Beethoven and his contemporaries chose ternary form over Baroque binary, typified in the dance suite, they chose a structure that was then used successfully into the twentieth century. This was only poss...
Hector Berlioz (December 11, 1803 – March 8, 1869) was a French Romantic composer. Not a musical prodigy, nor professionally trained at any instrument, Berlioz was a self directed learner and studied the guitar and flute from books. He was sent to Paris to study medicine at age eighteen, but became repulsed by the medical profession after witnessing a human corpse being dissected. He strayed from that career path and took advantage of the many musical institutions he now had access to in the city. Berlioz went on to become a prolific composer, writing fifty pieces; the most widely appreciated of these being the Symphonie Fantastique. This piece is still recognised as one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period. Comprised of five movements, Sypmphonie Fantastique is a piece of programme music composed for 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling English horn), 2 clari...
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.
In the play “The Piano Lesson”, August Wilson utilizes two main characters Boy Willie and Berniece to present the theme of gender roles and sexual politics. The reaction of the siblings toward the piano illustrates the role of a man and woman during the conflict. Throughout the entire play they argue over the piano and struggle with an underlying problem of choosing to honor their ancestors or leaving the family’s history in the past. Boy Willie wants to show respect to his ancestors by selling the piano to continue the Charles’s family legacy. He wants to buy Sutter’s land because Sutter was a white slave master who forced his ancestors to work on the land. However, Berniece wants to keep the piano and doesn’t want to use it because of fear. The disagreement between the siblings shows the play’s representation of gender differences.
When one considers the history of classical music, often images of Vienna, Prague, and other European cities come to mind. Centuries of European musical achievement and development have implanted in society the idea that classical music is an inherently European creation. Considering the accomplishments of countless composers such as J.S. Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Antonin Dvorak, this preconception is certainly not unfounded. However, Leonard Bernstein's rise to international fame proved that one cannot neglect American composers in a discussion of the development of Western music. Combining elements of a vast array of musical styles, Bernstein's unique compositions reached a wide variety of audiences and often bridged gaps between distinct musical genres. Through his long conducting career, profoundly influential compositional output, and televised music lectures, Leonard Bernstein left a lasting legacy which came to define American music in the 20th century.
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is taking place in Pittsburg because many Blacks travelled North to escape poverty and racial judgment in the South. This rapid mass movement in history is known as The Great migration. The migration meant African Americans are leaving behind what had always been their economic and social base in America, and having to find a new one. The main characters in this play are Berniece and Boy Willie who are siblings fighting over a piano that they value in different ways. Berniece wants to have it for sentimental reasons, while Boy Willie wants it so he can sell it and buy land. The piano teaches many lessons about the effects of separation, migration, and the reunion of
While this article offers much of the same biographical information as a few of the other ones, it centers on the rediscovery of Hummel. The point the author emphasizes is that Hummel was lost amid the many years of appreciating other classical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and others. However, in 1958, he was rediscovered and his trumpet concerto was the principal means by which people rediscovered this wonderful composer. It made his music accessible to many, and this opened up an archive of wonderful music that he wrote. This is a vital piece of information to the project because the concerto’s 1958 recording was the first in the history of the piece. Therefore, that recording could be quite useful in order to serve as a model for style.
Gustav Holst once said that, “Failure is the most important part of an artist's training, and one you cannot afford to do without”. A composer’s life is often one of many peaks and valleys that, in the end, help to forge them into a world renowned composer whose legacy stands the test of time. The life of composer Gustav Holst is no exception to this. From an early age he had to overcome several physical and emotional hurdles. However, by the time of his death Holst had become a mainly self-taught composer, who learned from experience and experimentation, constantly searching for the right sound.
In summation, Berlioz had a profound affect in showing the public the capabilities of emotion being represented in music, and his Symphonie fantastique was a turning point in his career as his first full-scale masterpiece. He expressed more intense emotion than had been done before through programmatic elements, the idée fixe, new combinations of instruments, as well as instruments not previously used in symphonic settings. He also employed tested techniques in new ways to achieve the individual expressionistic tendencies represented in the changes in society. The positive reception by his contemporary society as well as subsequent generations certainly qualifies this work to be included as a masterpiece.
In the following paper I will be exploring the beginning of Leonard Bernstein's career and his family background. I will also look into the influences he had in his life and look at two pieces that he composed, "Jeremiah Symphony No. 1", and "Candide". My reasons for choosing these two pieces is due to the fact that they are contrasting in genre, one being a symphony with orchestration and the other being an operetta, and that they were written at different stages in Bernstein's life. They both produced a number of responses and displayed his wide range of musical ability.
The concept of the Renaissance man is somewhat of a lost ideal, replaced by the specialized philosophy of the industrial era. From the 14th to 17th centuries; however, it would be common to find a man with a profound knowledge of both the Arts, music, poetry, literature, art, and the Sciences, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology. The Renaissance man embraced all forms of knowledge, and through a deep passion for both the Arts and Sciences, used each discipline to expand the other. Unfortunately, in the 21st century, this same philosophy is far gone. Where these two fields once were used together to create an ultimate beauty, they are now pitted against each other by many scholars. It is not uncommon now for a mathematician or physicist to dismiss the Arts as a waste of time; or for an artist or musician to proclaim the Sciences as useless to them. As both an avid blues guitarist and an IB math student, I aim to contrast this modern opinion. I will do so by exploring the relationship between the Arts and Sciences; specifically mathematics and music. On a personal level, I find this to be extremely important, as I hold a deep value for all means of human expression and learning. I believe also that the Arts and Sciences hold one great unifying thing together, which is the search for Truth and Beauty. In a modernized world where ideas and creations can be shared so quickly; the potential for a profound knowledge and passion of both these fields has never been greater. Concepts I plan to explore are: how musical scales can be made using Fibonacci ratios, the Golden Ratio’s relationship with music, equal temperament, where else the Fibonacci numbers occur in music, the exponential nature of octaves, and how exposure to music help...
The second period of time for music is the Renaissance period. During this time frame music was reborn and it went through a lot of changes and the way music was written and understood. In this period of time, the composers were expe...