thenameisgsarci"The Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio in G major, Op. 129, is a piano rondo by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is better known by the title Rage Over a Lost Penny, Vented in a Caprice (from German: Die Wut über den verlorenen Groschen, ausgetobt in einer Caprice). This title appears on the autograph manuscript, but not in Beethoven's hand, and has been attributed to his friend Anton Schindler. It is a favourite with audiences and is frequently performed as a show piece. Despite the late opus number, the work is now dated between 1795 and 1798. Beethoven left the piece unpublished and incomplete; it was published in 1828 by Anton Diabelli, who obscured the fact that it had been left unfinished. The manuscript disappeared for many years and was considered lost until it turned up in the United States just after World War II. From the original manuscript, musicologist Erich Hertzmann prepared a new edition, published in 1949.
The performance time runs between five and six minutes; the tempo of the piece is Allegro vivace (132--160 quarter notes a minute). The indication alla ingharese is of interest, as no such word as "ingharese" exists in standard Italian. To people of Beethoven's day, "gypsy music" and "Hungarian music" were synonymous terms. Beethoven seems to have conflated alla zingarese (in the gypsy style) and all'ongarese (in the Hungarian style) to come up with a unique term alla ingharese. Robert Schumann wrote of the work that "it would be difficult to find anything merrier than this whim... It is the most amiable, harmless anger, similar to that felt when one cannot pull a shoe from off the foot", citing the work as an instance of Beethoven's earthliness against those fixated upon a transcendental image of the composer."
Marked Allegro vivace and in 2/4, the Rondo a capriccio combines a familiar rondo scheme with Beethoven's singular variation technique. The Rondo theme itself has two parts, each consisting of an eight-measure antecedent-consequent phrase. The statements of this darting, quicksilver theme are separated by episodes that are just as frenetic. In one of the Rondo's most distinct features, each return of the main theme is different from its initial presentation. Such alterations range from graceful ornamentation of the melodic line to changes of mode from major to minor. During one statement, the tune appears in the left hand, while in the lengthy coda, Beethoven's treatment of the material becomes conspicuously developmental. It is possibly this departure from a more conventional conception of the rondo that led Beethoven to use the expression "quasi un capriccio" (like a fantasy).
(Wikipedia, AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND the sheet music ARE NOT mine. Change the quality to a minimum of 480p if the video is blurry.
Ludwig van Beethoven - Rage over a lost penny Op. 129 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2012-10-25 | "The Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio in G major, Op. 129, is a piano rondo by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is better known by the title Rage Over a Lost Penny, Vented in a Caprice (from German: Die Wut über den verlorenen Groschen, ausgetobt in einer Caprice). This title appears on the autograph manuscript, but not in Beethoven's hand, and has been attributed to his friend Anton Schindler. It is a favourite with audiences and is frequently performed as a show piece. Despite the late opus number, the work is now dated between 1795 and 1798. Beethoven left the piece unpublished and incomplete; it was published in 1828 by Anton Diabelli, who obscured the fact that it had been left unfinished. The manuscript disappeared for many years and was considered lost until it turned up in the United States just after World War II. From the original manuscript, musicologist Erich Hertzmann prepared a new edition, published in 1949.
The performance time runs between five and six minutes; the tempo of the piece is Allegro vivace (132--160 quarter notes a minute). The indication alla ingharese is of interest, as no such word as "ingharese" exists in standard Italian. To people of Beethoven's day, "gypsy music" and "Hungarian music" were synonymous terms. Beethoven seems to have conflated alla zingarese (in the gypsy style) and all'ongarese (in the Hungarian style) to come up with a unique term alla ingharese. Robert Schumann wrote of the work that "it would be difficult to find anything merrier than this whim... It is the most amiable, harmless anger, similar to that felt when one cannot pull a shoe from off the foot", citing the work as an instance of Beethoven's earthliness against those fixated upon a transcendental image of the composer."
Marked Allegro vivace and in 2/4, the Rondo a capriccio combines a familiar rondo scheme with Beethoven's singular variation technique. The Rondo theme itself has two parts, each consisting of an eight-measure antecedent-consequent phrase. The statements of this darting, quicksilver theme are separated by episodes that are just as frenetic. In one of the Rondo's most distinct features, each return of the main theme is different from its initial presentation. Such alterations range from graceful ornamentation of the melodic line to changes of mode from major to minor. During one statement, the tune appears in the left hand, while in the lengthy coda, Beethoven's treatment of the material becomes conspicuously developmental. It is possibly this departure from a more conventional conception of the rondo that led Beethoven to use the expression "quasi un capriccio" (like a fantasy).
(Wikipedia, AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND the sheet music ARE NOT mine. Change the quality to a minimum of 480p if the video is blurry.
also what the heck am i doing at this time, i need to go to bedgsarci plays lupang hinirang on kalimbathenameisgsarci2024-06-12 | HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAYthe s-e-g-g-s motifthenameisgsarci2024-06-09 | don't worry, the video will explain everything.Sketch for an artist for @FAACgaming (Synthesia + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-06-04 | A piano piece that I want to dedicate to a person who has done a lot in his field.To Rat A-Round for four solo SATB voices (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-05-29 | another attempt at a vocal canon-type composition.
yes, it's based on the "crazy, i was crazy once" copypasta.
and yes, it's intended to be sung in the mood of a gregorian chant.
and yes, it's intended for the vocalists to play this forever until they actually go crazy.Sonatine facile for toy piano (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-05-23 | my first proper attempt at a piece in sonata form.
and once again, it took longer than it should to write down.Capriccietto in G major (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-05-12 | once again, another piece that i should have worked on a long time ago, the product of a sketch written as far back as 2016. (youtube.com/watch?v=fJqW_x7u1dg -- jump to 2:38)
for filipinos listening to this who are born in the 90s, you might be thinking that the tune sounds familiar to you. that's because you might be right that you heard it somewhere for some reason. it sounds like the tune of the 2002 gma-7 art show "art is kool" hosted by robert alejandro. (you can listen to the full theme here: youtube.com/watch?v=cULt0pMomPE -- jump to 8:50)
i can assure you that the resemblance is unintentional... or... you know what, it might as well be intentional. a lot of my output has references of certain melodies that i might've heard of somewhere and trying to chase what those actual melodies are... it's like i'm randomly accessing parts of my memory trying to make sense out of them.
oh yeah. the first title draft was "theme for an arts and crafts show".Aubade for two kalimbas (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-05-07 | And once again, another original composition... that I should've definitely finished sooner, considering its simplicity. Argh.surprise chat stream (try not to heatstroke edition)thenameisgsarci2024-05-02 | ...Siblings Suite for piano (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-04-27 | I apologize for the lack of upload the past few days. Why was I gone for so long? Because of this. XDRodion Shchedrin - Humoresque (sheet music + Synthesia)thenameisgsarci2024-04-16 | Soviet composer Rodion Shchedrin (born 1932) went back to the original meaning of the word when he put together his little Humoresque for piano: this is two minutes of musical slapstick, "con buffo e elegante," as Shchedrin describes it at the top of the four-page score. The "elegante" doesn't mean that there is really anything elegant, in the proper sense, about the piece. It's just that the Humoresque's comedy works so much better when done with a straight face.
The piece is a little polka dance. A punchy (and paunchy) left-hand bass line provides a solid D flat major foundation for a hapless offbeat-driven tune above; but some of the middle voices can't quite get a handle on the simple D flat major harmonic scheme, and the result is a graceless series of tone clusters whose pungent aroma can be dispelled only by an occasional angry outburst in the low register. The opening material is repeated after a ridiculous interlude, and a little countermelody is added -- but this countermelody really belongs in some other piece, and it disappears after just four bars, never to return. After a while, the crude, repetitive, multi-tonal polka humor grows old, but Shchedrin has saved his best joke for last: after an endless run at this farcical D flat major, he suddenly shoots up, for the final closing "burst" (that one last, loud chord that marks the end of a dance), to E flat major. It is a crude, boorish trick (intentionally so, of course), and so absurdly not funny that one cannot help but chuckle for a few moments. As with so much vintage comedy, the humor here is made by inversion: the gag is such an old one (every music student in history, it seems, has pulled the old "slip-into-the-wrong-key-at-the-end" trick when entertaining friends at the piano) that it has become funny just because it isn't anymore.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND program ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to 1080p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: MIDIEdward German - Humoresque in E major (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-04-09 | Sir Edward German (February 17, 1862 - November 11, 1936) was one of the most popular English composers of the first decade of the twentieth century, renowned particularly in the fields of comic opera, incidental theater music, and light classical works.
He was born Edward German Jones, the second of five children. German began learning the organ and piano at age five from his father, a church organist, and taught himself the violin. Overcoming his family's insistence that he pursue an engineering career, he entered the Royal Academy of Music at age eighteen. It was during his time at the Royal Academy that, in order to avoid confusion with another student named Edward Jones, he changed his name to J. E. German and later Edward German. He won medals both as a violinist and a composer, and showed a strong facility for writing programmatic music, as well as an operetta entitled The Two Poets. His output during the 1880s and 1890s included a good share of concert music, including a symphony, but he also played violin in theater orchestras. In 1888 became the conductor at the Globe Theater, where his music for a stage production of Richard III won over the public and critics alike. His overture to Richard III quickly took on a life of its own in the concert hall, which heralded the public acceptance of his symphony as well. The dances from a score he wrote for a production of Henry VIII also became extremely popular and established German's reputation for writing orchestral music utilizing traditional old English dance elements. German continued writing for the concert hall in the 1890s, but it was his theatrical work that attracted an ever wider following, culminating with his incidental music for English Nell, a play by Anthony Hope, the author best remembered for the novel The Prisoner of Zenda. After the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan in 1900, German was commissioned to complete Sullivan's score for the operetta The Emerald Isle, which became a major hit. Soon after, he wrote his most enduring work, Merrie England, a lushly tuneful light opera. Steeped in English myth and German's deliberately archaic, old English style, Merrie England was a huge hit and seemed to establish German as the successor to Sullivan, but his follow-up work, A Princess of Kensington, wasn't nearly as well received. During a break from the theater, he wrote his one enduring concert work, the Welsh Rhapsody, and a series of settings for Kipling's Just So Stories. He enjoyed one more great theatrical success, Tom Jones, which he brought to America (where he also conducted his Welsh Rhapsody with the New York Symphony Orchestra). After the failure of the operetta Fallen Faeries (co-authored with W.S. Gilbert), however, German abandoned his career as a composer, apart from pieces written for the 1911 coronation of King George V, one concert work, a set of dances, for the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1919, and one final orchestral piece, The Willow Song.
From 1911 onward, he busied himself primarily with preparing the published scores of his works, conducting concerts, walking and bicycling around the countryside, and following the cricket matches. His knighthood was awarded in 1928, and he received a medal from the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1934. German's closest peer as a composer was Sullivan, and much as the latter's concert works fell into neglect after his death, German's concert music (apart from the Welsh Rhapsody) has been forgotten, but his incidental music has its admirers. Merrie England is a staple of British amateur opera companies and was recorded by EMI in 1960.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Alan Cuckston (Marco Polo, 1991) (youtube.com/watch?v=8FCvCaM8ET8) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Humoresque_(German%2C_Edward) (Edwin Ashdown, 1913)Hugo Wolf - Humoresque in G minor (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-04-04 | Hugo Wolf, a native of Windischgraz (now Slovenjgradec, Slovenia), in the Austro-Hungarian province of Styria, was born on March 13, 1860 and died on February 22, 1903, three weeks before his 43rd birthday -- like Schubert, German music's first great lieder composer, of tertiary syphilis. Like Schumann, the other great lieder composer (also syphilitic), Wolf died in an insane asylum after trying to drown himself in October 1898. (He had committed himself a year earlier, but
was discharged after four months.) Also like Schumann, he composed in manic bursts between periods of depression, once the disease entered its second
stage, and like two predecessors, was an unsuccessful composer of stage music.
Wolf completed only one opera, Der Corregidor (1895-1896), based on the same Spanish comedy Falla later used in The Three-Cornered Hat. Indifferently and with difficulty he also composed incidental music for two plays long forgotten. As a teenager, he began but never finished a violin concerto and two symphonies
(in 1879 he lost the manuscript of a third symphony while traveling). His orchestral repertory amounts to Penthesilea (after Kleist; 1883-1885), a turbidly scored,
Liszt-Wagnerian symphonic poem; Christnacht, a choral work both naive and sublime (1886-1889), and the Italian Serenade (a 1892 arrangement of his charming
1887 Serenade in G for String Quartet).
Despite haphazard education that ended in a series of expulsions, Wolf the lieder composer was possessed of (and by) a psychological insight that revealed as early as 1878 what poured forth later between arid stretches -- some 300 songs, the finest of them both emotionally penetrating and musically profound. Mörike,
Goethe (the Mignon - Lieder are incomparable), Kleist, Lenau, and Heine were his favorite German poets, plus Eichendorff when Wolf reached the expressive summit in 1887. For three years prior he had been an outspoken critic -- the only job he ever held -- in Vienna's weekly Salonblatt. Pro-Wagner and anti-Brahms,
he was as honest as Berlioz had been, and thus made powerful enemies who took revenge later on. Wolf habitually lived hand to mouth, supported by a circle of
friends who provided shelter and sustenance for ten years, and finally in 1896 gave him his own apartment. By then, however, the disease had entered its third
stage, and his mood swings alienated many who cared deeply. On September 19, 1897, he cracked -- blaming Mahler, his friend of 20 years and onetime
roommate, of sabotaging Der Corregidor at the Hofoper.
In October 1889, Wolf had turned his attention from German poetry to translations of Spanish poets. Between Halloween and the following May, he composed 44 songs called the Spanish Songbook. Then, between September 1890 and December 1891, he composed 22 song translations comprising Part I of an Italian
Songbook. Thereafter he didn't write a note of original music until March 1895, when he undertook Der Corregidor, completing all four acts in piano score within
twelve weeks. After laboriously scoring it, he wrote twenty-four songs in isolation between 25 March and 30 April 1896 -- Part II of the Italian Songbook. He spent
the next months revising Der Corregidor. After setting his last songs in March 1897, three somber sonnets by Michelangelo, Wolf worked tirelessly on another
Spanish opera, Manuel Venegas, which amounted to 60 pages of piano score, before his breakdown. Following his death, he was buried alongside Beethoven and Schubert in Vienna's Central Cemetery, impoverished to the end but officially a cultural hero.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Ana-Marija Markovina (Genuin, 2007) (youtube.com/watch?v=4h6y5xtpE4I) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Humoreske_(Wolf%2C_Hugo) (Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag, 1974)Jules Massenet - Valse folle for piano solo (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-04-01 | To those who know Massenet as the composer of Manon, Werther and the ‘Méditation’ from Thaïs, his Valse folle is the aural equivalent of being hit in the face with a brick. Composed in 1898 (by which time Massenet had become wildly wealthy and famous from his success as an opera composer), the ‘Mad Waltz’ was dedicated to his friend Raoul Pugno (1852–1914). Pugno himself, one of the first internationally acclaimed lions of the keyboard to commit his art to disc, recorded the work in April 1903 for the Gramophone and Typewriter label. Its innocent main theme contrasts with abrupt changes of tempo and (for Massenet) unexpected discords and harmonies, to say nothing of the violent ending, providing a brief glimpse of an unexpected side to the elegant, urbane Massenet.
(Hyperion)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Aldo Ciccolini (EMI France, 1992) (youtube.com/watch?v=1R6wT0UugpI) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Valse_folle_(Massenet%2C_Jules) (Heugel, 1898)Friedrich Kalkbrenner - 3 Romances sans paroles Op. 189 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-03-30 | Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (November 2, 1785 - June 10, 1849) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer of the Romantic period known for his piano concertos, chamber music, and numerous works for piano. As a pianist, he was admired for his brilliant tone, virtuosity, and highly refined finger control.
Kalkbrenner was born in 1785, while his parents were traveling from Kassel to Berlin. He began studying music at a very young age from his father, who was the kapellmeister to the queen of Prussia. He received a privileged schooling at Rheinsberg Castle, and when he was six years old, he performed a concerto by Haydn for the queen. He enrolled at the Paris Conservatory in 1796, where he studied with François Nicodami, Louis Adam, and Charles-Simon Catel. He was an excellent student and received first prizes in both piano and harmony when he graduated in 1801. For the next few years, Kalkbrenner supported himself by touring and performing in Germany and he became very well-known as a virtuoso pianist.
He settled in Vienna in 1803 and studied composition with Antonio Salieri, Johann Albrechtsberger, and Joseph Haydn, and he also befriended Beethoven, Clementi, and Hummel. After completing his studies in 1805, Kalkbrenner resumed his career as a pianist in Germany. He returned to Paris in the following year, where he became more focused on composing but saw less activity as a performer. In 1814, he moved to England and quickly rose to the upper ranks of the musical community there. His sensational style attracted a large following of both students and patrons, and he quickly became very wealthy. Kalkbrenner's success and popularity peaked from 1825 to 1835, and it was also around this time that he published his famous Méthode pour apprendre le piano-forte à l’aide du guide-mains, Op. 108. He started teaching his piano training course, which he recommended to the young Frédéric Chopin in 1831, but Chopin politely declined. However, the composer had great admiration for Kalkbrenner, and they remained friendly and supportive of each other's careers.
As Liszt, Chopin, and Thalberg ascended to fame in the late 1830s, Kalkbrenner's popularity declined, but he was a shrewd entrepreneur and became a partner in the successful Pleyel piano manufacturing company. He retired from performing in 1839 due to poor health, but he composed and taught until he died from cholera in 1849.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Sayuko Someya youtube.com/watch?v=uqLqAh3rCM8 youtube.com/watch?v=ASTGErJUv68 youtube.com/watch?v=H688ShV1Fuc Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/3_Romances_sans_Paroles%2C_Op.189_(Kalkbrenner%2C_Friedrich_Wilhelm) (Prilipp et Cie, 1849)Clara Schumann - 3 Romances for piano Op. 11 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-03-26 | Clara Wieck Schumann has often been misleadingly referred to as the wife of composer Robert Schumann, and as one of the leading pianists of her day, rather than as a composer in her own right. Beginning in the last quarter of the twentieth century however, her stature as a composer finally became recognized. Still, she cannot by any reasonable measure be ranked as a major composer, owing in great part to her relatively small output. She nonetheless wrote significant
compositions in both the keyboard and vocal realms. Had she been able to devote more time to composition -- she was occupied by maternal matters much of
the time, having given birth to eight children -- she might well have risen to the artistic heights of her husband. Some of her later works -- the Six Lieder, Op. 23, for
instance -- demonstrate considerable subtlety and depth.
Clara Wieck was born on September 13, 1819, in Leipzig. She began studying the piano with her domineering and difficult father, whom her mother, a talented singer, later divorced. Mr. Wieck was a piano teacher of high repute. Clara gave her debut concert in Leipzig at the age of seven playing Kalkbrenner's duet,
Variations on a March from Moses, with him.
In 1830, Robert Schumann began study with Wieck, at which time he first met Clara. At twelve Clara toured Europe with her father, achieving great success in Paris and throughout Germany. By 1837 she was recognized as one of the leading virtuosos in Europe, and her career as a composer was blossoming as well.
Her first compositions date from 1830, but her 1836 Soirées musicales, Op. 6, already shows considerable sophistication. In 1837 she and Schumann became
engaged, with boisterous objections from her father.
Clara seems to have broken from her father's influence when she toured Paris alone in 1839. The break was made complete the following year when she married Robert Schumann. They would have eight children, and Clara would slowly watch her sensitive husband lose his sanity. The couple at first lived in Leipzig, where
both taught at the University.
Clara did not write much in the early years of her marriage, though she did complete the Six Lieder, Op. 13 (1842-1843), and some piano pieces, including the Three Preludes and Fugue (1845). In 1853, the Schumanns moved to Düsseldorf, and Clara had a very productive summer, producing several significant works,
including her Op. 20 Variations on a theme of Robert Schumann and the aforementioned Op. 23. In 1854, Robert Schumann suffered a mental collapse and
attempted suicide, after which he was committed to an asylum where he lived for the rest of his life. He passed away in 1856.
Johannes Brahms, who had been introduced to the Schumanns in 1853 through the violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim, became an increasingly important figure in Clara's life. To this day, their exact relationship is unclear, but it is difficult to refute claims they had an affair. Brahms was 14 years Clara's junior, and possibly felt
their age difference too great an obstacle for marriage.
Clara composed little in the years following Robert's death, even after her children were grown. She lived in Berlin from 1857 to 1863, at which time she moved to Baden-Baden. After briefly returning to Berlin in 1873, she took a teaching post at the Frankfurt Hoch Conservatory (1878). She continued to concertize until 1891.
She died of a stroke on May 20, 1896.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Yoshiko Iwai (Naxos, 1999) youtube.com/watch?v=YmaX4tNyJL0 youtube.com/watch?v=KKU18ScyQzM youtube.com/watch?v=0-igegLjhbU Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/3_Romances%2C_Op.11_(Schumann%2C_Clara) (G. Henle Verlag, 1986)Charles Gounod - 6 Romances sans paroles (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-03-21 | Charles Gounod is best known for his operas Faust and Romeo et Juliette and for his Ave Maria based on the first Prelude of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (1859). Except for concertos, he composed music in the major genres, but with varying success in the instrumental realm. Gounod was more at home in the vocal arena, particularly in opera and sacred music. Though his reputation began to fade even before he died, he is still generally regarded as a major figure
in 19th century French music. Stylistically, he was a conservative whose influence nevertheless extended to Bizet, Saint-Saëns, and Massenet, although he could
not be called a trailblazer or the founder of any movement or school. His works are tuneful, his vocal writing imaginative, and orchestral scoring masterly. Gounod's compositions, even his two symphonies and lesser known operas, are occasionally explored today, and the aforementioned Faust and Romeo et
Juliette and, particularly, the Ave Maria are widely performed and recorded.
Gounod was born on June 17, 1818. His mother was a pianist who served as the young boy's first teacher. While still in his youth she arranged for him to receive composition lessons from Anton Reicha. After Reicha's death, Gounod began studies at the Paris Conservatory, where he won a Grand Prix in 1839 for his
cantata Fernand.
After further composition studies in Rome, where he focused on 16th century church music, particularly the works of Palestrina, he became deeply interested in religion and by 1845 was contemplating the priesthood. Though he would eventually reject the idea and marry, he remained religious throughout his life and
wrote many sacred works, including masses, the most popular being the 1855 St. Cecilia Mass. In that year Gounod also turned out two symphonies, which
achieved attention, but not lasting success. It was the 1859 opera Faust, however, that, after a slow start, became Gounod's calling card and is now core to the
operatic repertoire. Mireille (1864) and especially Romeo et Juliette (1867) added to his reputation, not only in France, but throughout Europe.
From 1870-1875 Gounod lived in England owing to the exigencies of the Franco-Prussian War. In his years there and in the period following his return to France, Gounod wrote much music, especially religious music, but never again attained the kind of success he experienced in the 1850s and '60s. Among his more
compelling and imaginative late works is the 1885 Petite Symphonie, scored for nine wind instruments. Gounod died in St. Cloud on October 18, 1893.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Godard was born in Paris. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1863 where he studied under Henri Vieuxtemps (violin) and Napoléon Henri Reber (harmony) and accompanied Vieuxtemps twice to Germany. In 1876, his Concerto romantique was performed at the Concerts Populaires, and other of his large works were also performed at these concerts. In 1878, Godard was the co-winner of the Prix de la Ville de Paris. His winning composition, a dramatic symphony entitled Le Tasso, remains one of his most admired works. From that time until his death Godard wrote a large number of compositions. These include eight operas, among them: Jocelyn (the "Berceuse" from which remains Godard's best-known composition), performed in Paris in 1888; Dante, played at the Opéra-Comique two years later; and La Vivandière, left unfinished and completed by Paul Vidal (1863–1931). The last of these was heard at the Opéra-Comique in 1895, and was played in England by the Carl Rosa Opera Company. He became a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1887, and was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 1889. He died at the age of 45 in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes) of tuberculosis and was buried in the family tomb in Taverny in the French department of Val-d'Oise.
Godard's long list of works includes five symphonies: Symphonie gothique (1883), Symphonie orientale (1884), and Symphonie légendaire (1886); Concerto romantique for violin and orchestra (1876), two piano concertos, three string quartets, four sonatas for violin and piano, a sonata for cello and piano, two piano trios, and various other orchestral works. Among his piano pieces may be mentioned Mazurka No. 2, Valse No. 2, Au Matin, Postillon, En Courant, En Train, and Les Hirondelles. Florian's Song is also very popular and has been arranged for many instruments. Godard's fourth sonata for violin and piano contains a scherzo written in the unusual time signature of 5/4. He wrote more than 100 songs. Godard was opposed to the music of Richard Wagner and also highly critical of Wagner's antisemitism. Godard's musical style was more in tune with those of Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.
(Wikipedia)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Aaron Rosand (violin), Luxembourg Radio Orchestra (cond. Louis de Froment) (Vox Box, 1993) (youtube.com/watch?v=HmXj8Y2fTDA) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Concerto_romantique,_Op.35_(Godard,_Benjamin) (Bote & Bock, ca. 1877)Manuel Ponce - Trio romantico for violin, cello and piano (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-03-12 | One of the first Mexican composers to achieve international acclaim, Manuel Ponce (December 8, 1882 - April 24, 1948) was a Mexican pianist and composer whose style underwent a profound change in midlife; his works are clearly divisible into two types. The earlier style was derived primarily from the brilliant salon style of Moszkowski and Chaminade, and is represented by numerous light works for the piano and a huge quantity of sentimental songs. After studying with
Dukas, Ponce developed a style that combined French Impressionism and neo-Classical contrapuntal techniques. Most of his guitar music and the majority of his more serious and larger works were written in this style. In addition to the songs and early piano works, Ponce composed a piano concerto, several large symphonic works for orchestra, the Concierto del sur for guitar and orchestra, which was premiered by Segovia, some chamber music, two piano sonatas, and
a large quantity of guitar music.
Born in 1882, Ponce had no important teachers during his childhood in Mexico. In 1895 he was made organist of Saint Diego, Aguascalientes, and in 1900 he went to Mexico City to study piano with Vicente Mañes. From 1901 until 1904 he supported himself as an organist, teacher and music critic back in Aguascalientes. Ponce left for Europe in 1904, giving his first recital abroad in St. Louis on the way. He stayed in Berlin, teaching and concertizing until his return to Mexico City in 1909 to succeed Castro as the piano instructor at the Mexico City Conservatory. During this time, his compositions became fairly popular in Latin countries, and his renown grew; he became conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1917-1919. In 1925, Ponce moved to Paris and edited a music periodical; it was during this period that he studied with Dukas and reformulated his compositional style. He returned to Mexico in 1933, and remained there until his death. Many of Ponce's earlier works have faded into obscurity, but some of his songs, particularly Estrellita (1914), became enormously popular, and are still occasionally performed. Although most of his guitar pieces have become part of the standard repertory, his major works are seldom performed outside of Mexico.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Kazimierz Olechowski (violin) Bozena Slawinska (cello) Josef Olechowski (piano) (youtube.com/watch?v=uWayKEFP44o) (youtube.com/watch?v=p--gsFh9Kb8) (youtube.com/watch?v=Zjby_-60Bhg) (youtube.com/watch?v=ZmjmWZTCCvM) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Trio_'Romantico'_(Ponce%2C_Manuel) (Clema M. de Ponce, 1948)Édouard Lalo - Romance-sérénade for violin and orchestra (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-03-08 | Author of the popular Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra, a work which captivates the listener with its melodic charm and great passion, Édouard Lalo (January 27, 1823 - April 22, 1892) was a major composer of orchestral and chamber music at a time when French musicians were dominated by an impulse to compose for the theater. His lesser known, but by
no means little accomplished, works include the powerfully emotional Cello Concerto in D
minor, a work which aptly makes use of the instrument's expressive potential, and the ballet,
Namouna.
Lalo left home at the age of 16 because his father did not want him to be a professional musician. He studied the violin at the Paris Conservatoire, also learning composition privately.
While supporting himself as a violinist, performing and giving lessons, Lalo also composed.
His early works, published in the 1840s, include pieces for the violin. In the 1850s, Lalo
became an important member of a movement to revive chamber music in France. By the
mid-1850s, he had already composed two piano trios, which show a considerable mastery of that form. In 1855, Lalo helped found the Armingaud Quartet; this ensemble was created to promote the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Mendelssohn. Lalo, who
was the quartet's violist and second violinist, composed a string quartet in 1859, thus
enhancing his stature as a composer of chamber music. In 1865, Lalo married Julie Bernier de Maligny, a singer who eventually became a leading performer of his songs.
Nevertheless, Lalo wished to compose for the stage, and in 1866 he started writing Fiesque, an opera based on Friedrich Schiller's play Fiesko. While Lalo was pleased by his opera, the
Paris Opera decided against producing this work. However, despite this setback, Lalo's career
flourished. The creation, in 1871, of the Societe Nationale de Musique, whose program was to
promote the works of contemporary composers, provided Lalo with an impetus to continue
composing for the orchestra. Thus, during the 1870s, Lalo composed several impressive
works, including a Violin Concerto in F major, the famous Symphonie espagnole, the Cello
Concerto, and the Fantaisie norvegienne for violin and orchestra.
In 1875, Lalo started work on Le Roi d'Ys, an opera based on a Breton legend. Feeling that his work was nearing completion, Lalo offered it to the Opera in 1881. Once again, theaters
refused to produce Lalo's work; however, perhaps wishing to somehow compensate the
composer, the Opera asked him to compose a ballet. During 1881 and 1882 Lalo wrote Namouna, based on a story from Casanova's Memoires, and the ballet was performed in 1883
to a less-than-appreciative audience. Throughout the 1880s, however, Lalo continued
promoting Le Roi d'Ys. The opera was finally performed at the Opera-Comique in 1888, and
the reception was extremely favorable. Following this belated triumph, Lalo embarked on several new projects, including Neron, a pantomime, which was performed in 1891. A new opera, La jacquerie, remained unfinished.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Juri Toschmakov (violin), Frankfurt Brandenburg State Orchestra (cond. Nikos Athinaos) (Christophorus, 2011) (youtube.com/watch?v=mN9x5k2B5oE) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Romance-s%C3%A9r%C3%A9nade_(Lalo%2C_%C3%89douard) (G. Schirmer, 1908)Max Bruch - Romance for viola and orchestra Op. 85 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-03-05 | It was to be expected that Bruch would write a Romance for violin (his Op 42), given that he was so famous for his violin concertos; but a romance for viola was unheard-of when he essayed Op 85 in 1911. Product of a late love affair with this most plangent-sounding of the stringed instruments, it was intended for Maurice Vieux (1884-1951), the father of the modern viola in France, who received the dedication; but the first performance was actually given by
the great violinist Willy Hess, a champion of Bruch’s music, at a private concert in Berlin on 25 April 1911, attended by the composer. Bruch then made revisions during the summer. The
romance is best heard in his sensitive orchestration, but like other works of similar length, it fits
awkwardly into today’s concert programmes.
The composition is in F major, in one movement marked Andante con moto. However, during the movement Bruch makes the viola express a variety of moods, more and more agitated,
through the use of mixed rhythms, triplets and dotted notes, a series of fast arpeggios and
abrupt chords, with the head of the theme always recognisable throughout the piece, played
by one instrument or the other one, whilst the viola elaborates.
After only two bars of introduction played by the strings of the orchestra, the viola starts with a very melodic, calm and romantic character, marked dolce (sweet). After the exposition, the
beginning of the theme is repeated by the violins and the flute, with the whole orchestra
playing forte.
Then the viola starts a sort of throbbing phrase, gently accompanied by the strings playing pizzicato and long notes in the woodwinds. All this becomes more intense and all winds join
in.
Then there is a serene, new theme all in triplets, presented by the viola and taken by the whole orchestra. Soon the character changes again, with a faster pace in the viola part, going
through many distant keys, to culminate in the slightly faster and agitated section of the
arpeggios and chords, all the time with different instruments in turn reminding us of the initial
theme.
After all this tension, the first theme comes again, initially only mentioned by the viola with the other instruments replying to it, then played nearly completely as it was at the beginning. Also
the other musical ideas are repeated here, as a summary of the whole work, to end with less
and less energy in a pianissimo long chord.
(Hyperion, Potter Violins)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Gérard Caussé (viola), Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon (cond. Kent Nagano) (Erato Classics S.N.C., 1990) (youtube.com/watch?v=jLvlmCxarYY) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Romanze,_Op.85_(Bruch,_Max) (B. Schott's Söhne, 1911)Richard Strauss - Romance for clarinet and orchestra (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-03-02 | This romance for clarinet is an important work because it is the composer's first attempt at writing a concert piece with orchestra. Richard Strauss wrote it in 1879 for a fellow pupil. In a letter to Ludwig
Thuille he remarked: 'I have been very industrious - maybe I have told you already - composing a romance in E flat major for clarinet and orchestra, which has turned out quite well; the continuous theme turns after the cantilena into a 6-part orchestral fugato.'
(Schott)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Sabine Meyer (clarinet), Munich Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra (cond. Michael Helmrath) (youtube.com/watch?v=8j7FnUZxxqw) Original sheet music:
imslp.org/wiki/Romanze_for_Clarinet_and_Orchestra%2C_TrV_80_ (Strauss%2C_Richard) (Schott, 1991)Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Romance for violin and orchestra Op. 39 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-29 | Remembered today as the composer of the once enormously popular cantata Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, the career and music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (August 15, 1875 - September 1, 1912) are -- more, even, than Elgar's -- emblematic of the Edwardian era in its opulence and its squalor. The son of a Krio doctor from Sierra Leone and an Englishwoman, he rose above the constrictions of class and race to become one of the most acclaimed composers of his time.
Coleridge-Taylor was born in the Holborn district of London. Musically precocious, his talent was recognized early and supported by a series of patrons who saw him through composition studies with Sir Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music. While still a student, his Clarinet Quintet (1895) achieved critical
praise and, through the good offices of Stanford, performance in Berlin by the Joseph Joachim Quartet. A meeting with the Black American poet Paul Laurence
Dunbar -- on a reading tour in England in 1896 -- prompted a lifelong preoccupation with "African" themes, including a number of songs to lyrics by Dunbar. Upon
graduation from the RCM in 1897, Coleridge-Taylor embarked upon the poorly paid, precarious career of composer, teacher, adjudicator of musical competitions, and conductor, which took him throughout England and Wales and led, eventually, to visits to the United States in 1904, 1906, and 1910. His marriage to Jessie
Walmisley on December 30, 1899, and the birth of their children, Hiawatha in 1900 and Gwendolen Avril in 1903, brought, with happiness, increased
responsibilities.
His first break came when Elgar suggested Coleridge-Taylor for a commission from the prestigious Three Choirs Festival to be held at Gloucester in 1898. The performance there of his attractive orchestral Ballade in A minor proved a decisive hit while demonstrating a ready assimilation of Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and, above all, Dvorák. Meanwhile, Coleridge-Taylor had composed Hiawatha's Wedding Feast for chorus and orchestra and -- still an obscure musician -- accepted the sum
of £15.15 outright for it from the music publishing firm Novello. Its premiere in a Stanford-led concert at the RCM on November 11, 1898, launched what may be
said to have been a cataclysmic success, with performances following rapidly in England, throughout the United States and Canada, and in venues as unlikely as
New Zealand and South Africa. Commissions and invitations to conduct poured in, though small fees and the composer's carelessness with money kept financial
security an elusive goal. Pressure to produce yet other large, earnest works for the great choral festivals resulted in such stillborn efforts as The Blind Girl of Castel
Cuille (1901) and Meg Blane (1902). From 1900 through 1911, he also wrote incidental music for some half-dozen plays, five of which were staged by Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Innumerable practical details inseparable from concert-giving, and the constant uphill struggle against rank amateurism, also took their toll. The
year 1905 saw the publication of 24 Negro Melodies for piano by the American firm Oliver Ditson, with a long, glowing preface by Booker T. Washington. In the final years of Coleridge-Taylor's brief life, the spontaneity of his early music returned with a new deftness in handling -- an impassioned blitheness rife with happy
invention -- in such things as the cantata Bon-bon Suite (1909), the Petite Suite de concert (1910), and the Violin Concerto. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor died of
pneumonia, exacerbated by chronic overwork.
If his best music hovers between the concert hall, the palm court, and the drawing room, it may nevertheless be said to represent a gentility and graciousness, poise and sentiment, elegance and flair for which there will always be an ardently nostalgic audience.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Rachel Barton Pine (violin), Encore Chamber Orchestra (cond. Daniel Hege) (Cedille Records, 2000) (youtube.com/watch?v=ziV99r2mRSI) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Romance_for_Violin%2C_Op.39_(Coleridge-Taylor%2C_Samuel) (Novello & Co., Ltd., 1900)Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély - Le chant du cygne for harmonium Op. 190 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-26 | Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely (November 13, 1817 - December 31, 1869) is historically associated with the development of French organ music, as well as with organ technique. As a composer he was instrumental in the evolution of the French symphonic organ style and his works include many pieces for church use, and lighter fare like marches and sorties. It is probably in the latter genre that Lefebure-Wely scored his most enduring successes on the organ, with pieces like the sorties in B flat and E flat. But Lefebure-Wely's output also includes works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, harmonium, and for the theater, most notably the opéra comique Les recruteurs (1861), probably the composer's most ambitious work. Lefebure-Wely inaugurated many organs built by his friend, the iconic Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who had few, if any, peers in the realm of organ building in the nineteenth century. Throughout his life Lefebure-Wely remained active as both an organist and composer: he held some of the most prestigious organ posts in Paris and produced more than 200 compositions. In addition, he often gave harmonium recitals and was also a gifted pianist. While his reputation as a composer faded after his death, Lefebure-Wely was one of the most respected and popular artistic figures on the Parisian scene of his day, with composers like Franck and Alkan dedicating works to his memory.
Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely was born in Paris. His father, Isaac-François, was a talented organist who was the boy's first teacher. Young Louis caught on quickly and began serving as a substitute organist for his father at Saint-Roch in Paris from the age of 11, the time when his father had suffered a stroke. In 1833 young Louis was appointed to replace his father at Saint-Roch.
Lefebure-Wely enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire around this time to study organ with François Benoist and composition with Jacques-François Halevy and Henri-Montan Berton. At 17 Lefebure-Wely won first prize in organ performance at the Conservatory.
From 1847-1858 Lefebure-Wely served as organist at L'Église de la Madeleine in Paris. He produced many compositions during his decade there, including the Six Offertories and Six Grande Offertories (Opp. 34 & 35, respectively), circa 1857. In 1863 Lefebure-Wely was appointed organist at Saint-Sulpice, also in Paris. He held the post until his death. Among his more important later works are Hommage à Mr. l'Abbé Hamon, Curé de St. Sulpice (1867-1869).
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Christian Ott (IFO Classics, 2009) (youtube.com/watch?v=ickbJnycdRY) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Le_chant_du_cygne%2C_Op.190_(Lef%C3%A9bure-W%C3%A9ly%2C_Louis_James_Alfred) (Charles Gambogi et Cie., 1870)Louis Moreau Gottschalk - The Dying Swan Op. 100 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-24 | American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 - December 18, 1869) was a virtuoso pianist and the first American composer to establish a reputation overseas. Gottschalk garnered fame through such American-styled works as Bamboula (1845). In the United States, his pieces Le Banjo (1855) and The Dying Poet (1853) proved enormously popular. The impact of Gottschalk's music on the later development of ragtime might seem obvious, yet there is no proven link from him to the syncopated popular music he anticipated in works like Bamboula. The music of Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton show traces of his melodic shape and rhythmic pulse. Nickelodeon pianists did a great disservice to Gottschalk by loving him too well; pieces like The Dying Poet and Morte!! turned many a dramatic corner in silent movie houses, and the public began to identify these themes as cliché. By the 1940s, Gottschalk was condemned as hopelessly old-fashioned, and it would take decades of work by scholars to improve his fortunes. In his best music, Gottschalk was an American original; masterpieces like Souvenir de Porto Rico, L'Union, and O Ma Charmant, Épargnez-Moi! transcend time through their emotional power, technical mastery, audacity, wit, and charm.
Louis Gottschalk was the eldest son of a Jewish-English New Orleans real estate speculator and his French-Creole bride. Gottschalk may have heard the drums at Place Congo in New Orleans, but his exposure to Creole melody likely came through his own household. Piano study was undertaken with Narcisse Lettellier (who would also teach Morton), and at age 11, Gottschalk was sent to Paris. Denied entrance to the Conservatoire, he continued with Charles Hallé and Camille Stamaty, adding composition with Pierre Maleden. His Paris debut at the Salle Pleyel in 1845 earned praise from Chopin. By the end of the 1840s, Gottschalk's first works, such as Bamboula, appeared. These syncopated pieces based on popular Creole melodies rapidly gained popularity worldwide. Gottschalk left Paris in 1852 to join his father in New York, only to encounter stiff competition from touring foreign artists. With his father's death in late 1853, Gottschalk inherited support of his mother and six siblings. In 1855, he signed a contract with publisher William Hall to issue several pieces, including The Banjo and The Last Hope. The latter is a sad and sweetly melancholy piece, and it proved hugely popular. Gottschalk found himself obliged to repeat it at every concert, and wrote "even my paternal love for The Last Hope has succumbed under the terrible necessity of meeting it at every step." With an appearance at Dodsworth Hall in December 1855, Gottschalk finally found his audience. For the first time he was solvent, and after his mother's death in 1857, he was released from his familial obligations. He embarked on a tour of the Caribbean and didn't return for five years. When this ended, America was in the midst of the Civil War. He supported the north, touring Union states until 1864. Gottschalk wearied of the horrors surrounding him, becoming an avid proponent of education, playing benefit concerts for public schools and libraries. During a tour to California in 1865, he entered into an involvement with a young woman attending a seminary school in Oakland, and the press excoriated him. He escaped on a steamer bound for Panama City. Instead of returning to New York, he pressed on to Peru, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, staying one step ahead of revolutions, rioting, and cholera epidemics, but he began to break down under the strain. Gottschalk contracted malaria in Brazil in August 1869; still recovering, he was hit in the abdomen by a sandbag thrown by a student in São Paolo. In a concert at Rio de Janeiro on November 25, he collapsed at the keyboard. He had appendicitis, which led to peritonitis. Gottschalk died at the age of 40.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Patrice Reich (youtu.be/1U50HicdKrA) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/The_Dying_Swan%2C_Op.100_(Gottschalk%2C_Louis_Moreau) (Kunkel Brothers, 1870)Fritz Kreisler - Romance for violin and piano Op. 4 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-22 | Violinist Fritz Kreisler (February 2, 1875 - January 29, 1962) was one of the most beloved and best known of early recording-era musicians. His burnished tone and patrician phrasing were quintessentially Viennese, and the warmth of his playing won him devoted followers wherever he appeared. So great was his fame and the affection in which he was held that
he survived a blaze of controversy when he revealed in 1935 that many of
the short pieces he had performed as transcriptions of such composers as
Couperin, Vivaldi, and Pugnani were, in fact, his own work. While the critics
fumed, the public expressed little concern and continued to pack his
concert appearances.
Kreisler was the son of a famous surgeon, a good amateur musician who gave young Fritz his first violin lessons. Kreisler made his public debut at seven in a collection of short works. Shortly thereafter, he was permitted to
enter the Vienna Conservatory despite a policy that no one younger than 14
be accepted. After three years of study with Joseph Hellmesberger, he was
awarded a gold medal. Kreisler was sent to Paris for further studies with
Delibes and Massart. At the age of 12, he won the Premier Grand Prix de
Rome gold medal, competing against 40 other players, all of whom were at
least 20 years old.
In 1888, Kreisler sailed to the United States for a concert tour with pianist Moriz Rosenthal, earning many complimentary reviews. When he returned to Vienna, he applied to the Vienna Philharmonic for a position but was turned down. Feeling discouraged, he resolved to abandon music and chose to pursue a career in medicine. After several years, he rejected that course and began the study of painting. First in Paris, then in Rome, he worked toward mastering his technique, but soon this, too, became tiresome. He returned to Vienna and enlisted in the army.
A full year as a soldier was sufficient to cause yet more rethinking, and Kreisler resigned his commission and returned to the study of violin. He spent eight weeks in country solitude, readying himself for his return to the
concert stage. His "second debut" in Berlin was successful, but widespread
acclaim came during several American tours between 1901 and 1903. In the
U.S., he was hailed as one of the foremost violinists of his time, and, soon after, Europe followed suit in recognizing his extraordinary artistry.
In 1910 in London, Kreisler gave the premiere performance of Elgar's Violin Concerto, a work dedicated to the composer. While vacationing in Switzerland in 1914, Kreisler received the news that Austria was at war. Returning to his native country, he rejoined his former division, now stationed in Galicia. An attack by the Russians resulted in an injury and his discharge with high honors. Wishing to help his country, Kreisler embarked on a lengthy concert tour of America. U.S. entry into the war, however, put him in the awkward position of being an ex-Austrian officer aiding what was
now an enemy nation. Negative reaction obliged him to withdraw from
concertizing and retire to Maine to pass the remaining period of hostilities.
At his return to the New York concert stage in 1919, however, he was given a tumultuous reception. He took up residence in Berlin for ten years, beginning in 1924. With the Anschluss in 1938, he moved to France but returned to the U.S. before the Nazi invasion and lived his remaining years in America, where he gave his final public concert in 1947. He continued to perform on broadcasts until 1950.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Itzhak Perlman (violin), Samuel Sanders (piano) (Warner Classics, 1987) (youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzflhDPPzE) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Romanze,_Op.4_(Kreisler,_Fritz (Charles Foley, 1910)Miguel Llobet - Romanza in C minor for guitar (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-20 | During his time, Miguel Llobet (October 18, 1878 - February 22, 1938) was better known for his virtuosity on the guitar than for his compositions. He was instrumental in establishing the classical guitar on the international concert scene; hitherto, it had typically been regarded as a novelty to audiences. Llobet pioneered the way for guitarists in succeeding generations, not least of whom was Andrés Segovia, an admirer of Llobet's virtuosity, as well as of his compositional skills: Segovia often programmed Llobet's arrangement of the Catalan folk song El mestre, from the collection Diez canciones populares catalanas. Llobet was a trailblazer on other fronts: though his acoustical recordings of 1915 did not satisfy him and were not released, his electrical recordings of 1925 were the first ever made by a guitarist. These and several later recordings have been reissued now, and, since the 1990s, a number of modern guitarists have been reviving interest in Llobet's original compositions and arrangements via both the concert hall and the recording studio.
Llobet was born in Barcelona, Spain. Though he turned to the guitar at the relatively late age of 11, he had studied both piano and violin from his early childhood. His first teacher was Magín Alegre; by 16 Llobet was studying with Francisco Tárrega at the Barcelona Municipal Conservatory of Music.
Llobet launched his concert career in 1898 and, with the aid of Tárrega's patron Concepción Jacoby, embarked on his international career with a series of Paris concerts in 1904. The following year Llobet apparently relocated to Paris, using it as a base of operations from which to tour Europe until 1910.
That year he seemed to have moved to Buenos Aires and thereafter made numerous tours of Central and South America. His U.S. debut came in 1912 and included performances in New York and Boston. Although accounts differ, Llobet seems to have spent the war years in the U.S. where his concert schedule was quite full.
In the postwar era, Llobet was active touring Germany, Austria, England, Italy, Hungary, and other European locales, as well as the U.S. He resettled in Barcelona in the 1930s, primarily to teach. Among his students was the talented Cuban José Rey de la Torre. Llobet rarely concertized in his last years, his last major tour coming in 1934 with appearances in Germany, Austria, and the U.S. Llobet died in Barcelona.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Michael Tröster (Thorofon Records, 1998) (youtube.com/watch?v=MvWyyhXFeBM) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Romanza_(Llobet,_Miguel) (Juan Carlos Anido, 1923)Victor Herbert - Devotion: A Love Sonnet (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-17 | Victor Herbert (February 1, 1859 - May 26, 1924) was arguably the most important theatrical composer of the early 20th century, spearheading the transformation from the traditional Viennese operetta form of the past to the Americanized musical comedies which dominated the decades to follow. Herbert was born in Dublin, Ireland; after his father's death, at age three he was sent to live with his grandmother in Kent, England, before re-joining his mother in
Stuttgart in 1867. After playing cello in orchestras throughout Europe -- including Eduard Strauss' in Vienna -- he returned home to study composition at the
Stuttgart Conservatory. Upon marrying Therese Forster, a soprano with the Stuttgart Opera, Herbert followed his bride to the U.S. after she signed on with the New
York Metropolitan Opera. With bandleader Patrick S. Gilmore's 1892 death, Herbert took over direction of his 22nd Regiment Band, which he helmed until
accepting the position of principal conductor with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1898. In the intervening years, he completed his first operetta, 1894's
Prince Ananias, for the Boston Ideal Opera Company.
Although early Herbert productions like 1897's The Serenade (his first major success), 1898's The Fortune Teller, and 1899's Cyrano de Bergerac remained steeped in operetta tradition, over time his work adopted an increasingly modernized American sensibility anticipating the breakthroughs of Jerome Kern.
Broadway hits including 1903's Babes in Toyland, 1906's Mlle. Modiste, 1910's Naughty Marietta, and 1913's Sweethearts launched a number of popular favorites
like "Gypsy Love," "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!," "Every Day Is Ladies' Day With Me," "Because You're You," "Kiss Me Again," "Indian Summer," "A Kiss in the Dark,"
and "Moonbeams"; authored with a series of lyricists including Rida Johnson Young, Buddy De Sylva, Harry B. Smith, and Gene Buck. In 1916, Herbert also
composed music for the film The Fall of a Nation, believed to be the first American score ever written specifically as accompaniment for a silent movie. He was
working on music for the next Ziegfeld Follies when he suffered a fatal heart attack on May 26, 1924; the 1939 film biopic The Great Victor Herbert starred Walter
Connolly in the title role.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Victor Herbert and his Orchestra (1924 recording) (youtube.com/watch?v=EHEs7APT1tI) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Devotion_(Herbert%2C_Victor) (T.B. Harms and Francis, Day & Hunter, 1921)[twitch archive] cooking livestream 02-14-2024thenameisgsarci2024-02-14 | Broadcasted live on Twitch -- Watch live at twitch.tv/thenameisgsarciCarmencita G. Arambulo - Poeme: A Song Without Words (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-13 | “Poeme: A Song Without Words” was composed in 1957 by Carmencita G. Arambulo, who was then only 19 years old and studying at the St. Paul College of Music, Manila under Sr. Vincent Llamzon. She also composed a three-movement piano work titled “Oriental Gems” when she was 18 years old.
About the composer: Carmencita G. Arambulo (1938–2023) received her Bachelor of Music, majoring in Piano and minoring in Voice (Magna Cum Laude) from St. Paul College, Manila in 1958 and her Masters in Music finishing Outstanding Graduate of the Year (Highest Distinction) majoring in Piano and minoring in Theory and Pedagogy from New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts in 1961. Affectionately called Mrs. A, she actively taught music for 60 years, training a total of 308 Suzuki piano teachers internationally and having taught 372 students in piano, Electone, and theory. Some of her renowned students include: Rowena Arrieta, Louie Ocampo, Oliver Salonga, Marites Salientes, Carolyn Kleiner, Allier Manahan, Fr. Manoling Francisco SJ, and Philippine National Artist for Music, Ryan Cayabyab.
About the performer: Hailed by the judges of the highly prestigious 1982 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow as the youngest and most promising of 82 contestants, Rowena Arrieta was given the title of Laureate, winning Fifth Prize and a Special Prize. To this date, Rowena is the only Filipino who attained this honor. In 1986, Rowena won 1st Prize at the Jose Iturbi International Piano Competition in Spain and 1st Prize in the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York. In 1985, she received her Masters Degree from the renowned Moscow State Conservatory with highest honors as student of Russian National Artist Yevgeny Malinin. In her New York debut recital at the Alice Tully Hall, at Lincoln Center, The New York Times described her playing as having a fevered demonic intensity and a gentle, sublime introspection.
Ferdinand David (June 19, 1810 - July 18, 1873) was a highly respected violinist in his day, perhaps more in an academic way than through performance: as professor of violin at the Leipzig Academy, he is credited with elevating that institute to one of the foremost in Europe for violinists in his day. His compositions showed great skill, but lacked the individual stamp of contemporaries like Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt. Nevertheless, this collection offers a fair measure of interest, not least because Liszt combines the violin line with that of the piano, resulting in considerable challenge for the soloist. Moreover, the music may actually be better in Liszt's colorful transcription, than in David's original, somewhat strait-laced scoring.
Of the twenty-four pieces here all are light, many of a sentimental bent. The Scherzo in C, that opens the set, is charming in its delicate yet slightly stiff cuteness. Erinnerung in C minor follows, divulging a Schumannesque nostalgia. The same description largely applies to No. 5, Kinderlied in D, a piece whose innocence and charm nearly elevate it to the artistic level of Kinderszenen. The Bolero in E flat (No. 7) calls Chopin to mind, most notably from the Polonaise Militaire, though here the mood is light and hardly martial.
The ensuing Elegie in E flat minor is more vaguely related to Chopin, but is one of the most compelling pieces in the set. No. 10, the Toccata in E minor, offers strong appeal, not least because of its technical challenges and range of color. Much the same can be said for Im Sturm in F minor (No. 12), though there is greater brilliance in the writing here, and for once the music sounds truly Lisztian in places.
At over four minutes, the Menuetto in G (No. 15) is one of the longer items in the set and also one of the more attractive, despite its allusions to Schumann and Schubert. The Serenade in G minor (No. 18) is the longest, at about five minutes, and in its understated manner charms with its delicate moods and deftly-wrought themes. The two versions of Ungarisch in A follow, the second being longer and the more effective and dramatic. Apparently using Hungarian folk material, David shows he was no Liszt in incarnating music from ethnic sources, and Liszt shows that he could not always refrain from adding his own brilliant touches to enliven the notes.
There is also much virtuosity in the next piece, the Tarantelle in A minor (No. 21). Song in B (No. 24) and Capriccio in B minor are the closing pieces, and both offer considerable appeal, the former owing to its Schumannesque thematic allure and the latter to the delicate busyness of the brilliant writing, where, once again, Liszt shows his hand.
A complete performance of this collection will generally run slightly over seventy minutes. Liszt published the set in Leipzig and Paris in 1851.
(AllMusic)
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Original audio: Valerie Tryon (Naxos, 2000) (youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lE04NciHIsVDbTM4H5zseIJcAARs0AbZ8) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Bunte_Reihe%2C_Op.30_(David%2C_Ferdinand) (Kistner, ca. 1851)Marcel Dupré - 24 Inventions for organ Op. 50 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-02-03 | At the age of 68 Dupre was named Director of the Paris Conservatoire, a post he held for only two years until mandatory retirement. During this time he was again drawn to pedagogical organ composition, resulting in the 24 Inventions, Op. 50. Dupre adopted the term "invention" from Bach and other earlier composers who used the title for brief pieces which display inventiveness of compositional technique. J. S. Bach's miniature keyboard masterpieces in two- and three-part counterpoint were intended as examples to teach the student "not alone to have good inventions (ideas), but to develop the same well." Similarly, the Dupre Inventions are based on unusual and surprising melodic ideas. Most are developed contrapuntally, with the musical lines imitating one another. Dupre also follows Bach's example (The We/I-Tempered Clavier) by writing pieces in all of the major and minor keys. A wide variety of moods are explored: serious (nos. 2, 4, 16), mystical (nos. 7, 11, 15, 22), playful and humorous (nos. 3 and 13), virtuosic (nos. 6 and 12), even heroic (no.18). Many of the pieces are composed in trio form, using different sounds for the two hands and a third for the feet. Among the sounds employed are flutes in various combinations (nos. l, 7, 11, 17), foundation stops (nos. 2, 4), solo reed voices (nos. 3, 10, 24), mutation stops (nos. 5,9, 13, 20, 23), sparkling mixtures (no. 12), strings (no.15), and occasionally a principal chorus sound (no.6 and 18). Nos. 11 and 23 make use of the sonority possible when two voices are sounded simultaneously in the pedals.
(Naxos Music Library)
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Performer: James Biery (Naxos, 1997) (youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nx4aGMQ7bvTnW8KfOCZODGG9FUKj_tsGA) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/24_Inventions%2C_Op.50_(Dupr%C3%A9%2C_Marcel) (S. Bornemann, 1956)Louis Vierne - 24 Pièces en style libre for organ Op. 31 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-01-31 | Titular organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death in 1937, and master of its superb 1867 Cavaillé-Coll instrument, Louis Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) confided to it his closest thoughts. Following the eldritch splendors of the Third Symphony for organ (1911), the Pièces en style libre, composed in 1913, work a vein of intimate fantasy often laced with Vierne's penchant for the grotesque and bizarre. Specified as suitable for performance on a harmonium, the composer's registrations nevertheless indicate a variety of coloristic effects which come off adequately only on large instruments, while the grandeurs of several demonstrative numbers -- e.g., the Cortège, or the Carillon -- exceed the harmonium's modest capacity. The collection runs the gamut of major and minor keys in order -- C major, C minor, D flat major, etc. -- in a salute to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.
But the Pièces en style libre have neither the inexhaustible variety of that work, nor its revealing exploration of musical processes. Seldom lasting more than three or four minutes, these are very personal, occasionally confessional, mood and genre pieces. The "Préambule" (No. 1), for instance, is ruminative and serenely flowing, the "Complainte" (No. 3), "Épitaphe" (No. 4), "Méditation" (No. 7), and the like, meet conventional expectations. Some numbers -- e.g., the "Prélude" (No. 5), "Madrigal" (No. 9), "Rêverie" (No. 10 -- a daydream after the manner of Franck's Cantabile), or the "Lied" (No. 22) -- disarm one with an ingenuously overflowing lyric charm. And to charm a certain strangeness adheres in such numbers as the archaizing "Canon" (No. 6), the seductively dance-like "Canzona" (No. 12 -- which recalls Franck's little Andantino), or the chromatically inflected "Arabesque" (No. 15). Even the naïve diatonic melody of the "Berceuse" (No. 19) -- dedicated to Vierne's daughter, Colette -- soon acquires an oddly piquant chromatic sophistication. Playing around nine minutes, the longest piece in the collection, the obsessive, grimly grinding "Marche funèbre" (No. 18), takes one aback by a brief central chorale of stunningly glib optimism. Finally, there are the handful of brilliant showpieces without which no Vierne collection would be complete -- an elfin "Scherzetto" (No. 14), the dramatically careening, starkly powerful "Cortège" (No. 2), the virtuosic, calliope-like "Divertissement" (No. 11), an animated "Carillon de Longpoint" (No. 21 -- one of the grandest of the several carillon evocations which dot Vierne's organ works), and the "Postlude" (No. 24) with its large, peremptory, conclusive gestures.
(AllMusic)
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Goldenweiser was born in Kishinev, Bessarabia, Russia. In 1889, he was admitted to the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Alexander Siloti (also Ziloti). He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1895 in the piano class of Pavel Pabst (previously with A.I.Siloti), winning the Gold Medal for Piano, in 1897 – in the composition class of Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. He also studied composition with Anton Arensky and counterpoint with Sergei Taneyev (1892–1893).
He joined the faculty of the Conservatory shortly afterward, where he worked as the dean, and during his tenure there, his pupils included Grigory Ginzburg, Lazar Berman, Samuil Feinberg, Rosa Tamarkina, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Galina Eguiazarova, Nikolai Kapustin, Alexander Braginsky, Sulamita Aronovsky, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Dmitry Paperno, Nodar Gabunia, Oxana Yablonskaya, Nelly Akopian-Tamarina, Dmitri Bashkirov, Dmitry Blagoy and many others.
Rachmaninoff's Second Suite, Op. 17, was dedicated to him as well as Medtner's Lyric Fragments, Op. 23.
He was a close friend of Leo Tolstoy. He published memories of his relationship with Tolstoy in his book Vblizi Tolstogo.
He made a number of renowned recordings as a pianist, including four recordings on piano roll for the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano in 1910. He died in 1962, in Moscow Oblast.
(Wikipedia)
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Alard was born in Bayonne, the son of an amateur violinist. From 1827 he was a pupil of F. A. Habeneck at the Paris Conservatoire, where he succeeded Pierre Baillot as professor in 1843, retaining the post till 1875. He was also a pupil of François-Joseph Fétis.
His playing was full of fire and point, and his compositions had a great success in France, while his violin school had a wider vogue and considerably greater value. He was a representative of the modern French school of violin playing, composed nocturnes, duets, études, etc., for the violin, and was the author of an Ecole du violon, which was adopted by the Conservatoire. Mention should also be made of his edition in 40 parts of a selection of violin compositions by the most eminent masters of the 18th century, Les Maitres classiques du violon (Schott). Alard died in Paris.
(Wikipedia)
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Performer: Bernard Chevalier (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLANsNQxncQtjirNs3rfZZzcFbJRHnXmUC) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/24_Etudes-Caprices,_Op.41_(Alard,_Jean_Delphin) (B. Schott's Söhne, 1910)Theobald Boehm - 24 Caprices for flute Op. 26 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2024-01-17 | Theobald Böhm (or Boehm) (9 April 1794 – 25 November 1881) was a German inventor and musician, who greatly improved the modern Western concert flute and its fingering system (now known as the "Boehm system") that has also been adapted to other instruments, such as the oboe and the clarinet. He was a Bavarian court musician, a virtuoso flautist and a renowned composer.
Born in Munich in the Electorate of Bavaria in the family of goldsmith Carl Friedrich Böhm and Anna Franziska, née Sulzbacher, daughter of a court haberdasher. Boehm learned his father's trade of goldsmithing. After making his own flute, he quickly became proficient enough to play in an orchestra at the age of seventeen, and at twenty-one he was first flautist in the Royal Bavarian Orchestra. Meanwhile, he experimented with constructing flutes out of many different materials—tropical hardwoods (usually Grenadilla wood), silver, gold, nickel and copper—and with changing the positions of the flute's tone holes.
After studying acoustics at the University of Munich, he began experimenting on improving the flute in 1832, first patenting his new fingering system in 1847. He published Über den Flötenbau ("On the construction of flutes"), also in 1847. His new flute was first displayed in 1851 at the London Exhibition. In 1871 Boehm published Die Flöte und das Flötenspiel ("The Flute and Flute-Playing"), a treatise on the acoustical, technical and artistic characteristics of the Boehm system flute.
Boehm's experience as a goldsmith was a key factor in his ability to redesign the flute. For example, in The Flute and Flute-Playing he recounts having made a flute with moveable tone holes, in order to determine the proper location of each hole for correct intonation—a remarkable piece of metal-working.
Traditional flutes were limited in size because the player had to be able to reach all the tone holes in the span of two hands. By substituting mechanically covered tone holes, Boehm eliminated this limitation, and was able to make larger, deeper flutes, such as the alto flute. Boehm was very fond of the alto flute, and recounts a time he was playing it when someone mistook it for a french horn.
Some of the flutes he made are still being played. The fingering system he devised has also been adapted to other instruments, such as the oboe and the clarinet.
He inspired Hyacinthe Klosé, the inventor of the modern clarinet fingering system. Klosé invented a system for the clarinet that today is the standard nearly worldwide (except Austria, Germany and others). Boehm was his inspiration, and so Klosé named the new system the Boehm system just like the modern western flute. The Boehm system clarinet and flute are not exactly the same. If one plays the clarinet with the register key on, the fingerings are the same as the flute when the flute is in the lower and middle register. The main differences between the fingering systems of Boehm system clarinets and flutes are overblowing and key. The clarinet's second register is a twelfth above its lowest register, unlike the flute's which is an octave higher. The B♭ clarinet is a transposing instrument, so a C on a clarinet is played as a B♭ on the flute.
(Wikipedia)
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Born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, Pierre Rode traveled in 1787 to Paris and soon became a favourite pupil of the great Giovanni Battista Viotti, who found the boy so talented that he charged him no fee for the lessons. Rode inherited his teacher's style, to which he added more mildness and a more refined tone. It is also recorded that he made extensive use of portamento. He collaborated with Baillot and Kreutzer on the official Violin Method of the Conservatoire de Paris, published in 1802.
Rode served as violin soloist to Napoleon and toured extensively in the Netherlands, Germany, England and Spain, staying with François-Adrien Boieldieu in Saint Petersburg from 1804 until 1809, and later spending much time in Moscow.
When he returned to Paris, he found that the public no longer responded with much enthusiasm to his playing. Spohr, who heard him both before and after his Russian sojourn, wrote that Rode's playing had become “cold and full of mannerism”. However, according to some sources, he suffered from a lymphatic infection caused by streptococcus bacteria that affected his right arm, reducing his ability to bow with any force or rapidity.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his last violin sonata (Op. 96) for Rode when the violinist was visiting Vienna. He also performed chamber music, but the backbone of his repertoire was formed by Viotti's concertos, which served as models for his own concertos. These, as well as the 24 Caprices in all the major and minor keys, were written from 1814 to 1819 when he lived in Berlin.
In 1828 Rode made a last attempt at a public concert in Paris. It was such a fiasco that it was widely believed (as reported by Schuenemana, in citation above) that it hastened his death, on 25 November 1830 at Château de Bourbon near Damazan, Lot-et-Garonne, in his native Aquitaine.
In all, Pierre Rode composed 13 violin concertos and many other works for violin, including at least four Quatuors brillants for violin and string trio. Although Rode's violin concertos have some significance in the development of the Romantic concerto, they are nowadays rarely performed. His major enduring contribution to the literature are his 24 Caprices, which are a standard part of the repertoire for advanced study of the violin. He also had a major influence on younger violinists, such as Louis Spohr, who adopted his style and developed it further.
(Wikipedia)
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Original audio: Axel Strauss (Naxos, 2009) (youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mfro24wkBcE3kLwCufQ0QOKlj3IPWRWv0) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/24_Caprices_for_Solo_Violin%2C_Op.22_(Rode%2C_Pierre) (Carl Fischer, 1901)gottschalks william tell overture for piano duo but the score video gave me a headachethenameisgsarci2024-01-05 | Rossini's oversized spectacle Guillaume Tell, his last opera, is not widely performed these days, but the famous overture lives on in countless orchestral performances, television reruns, and whistled renditions of its final section. Sometimes even that final section is excerpted from its surroundings, but listeners to such performances miss the scope and variety of color that give the overture its power. It begins with a celebrated quiet section for cellos and basses representing a peaceful sunrise in Switzerland; a storm then breaks out, followed by a wonderful English horn solo representing the pastoral scenes of mountain meadows. The famous trumpet call heralds the patriotic Swiss army, and leads to the equally famous double-time galop used as the theme to The Lone Ranger program on radio and television. Partly because he stopped composing while still a young man and partly because of his contemporaneity with late Beethoven and Schubert, one tends to think of Rossini as a musical conservative whose music harked back to a Classical ideal of natural melody. Yet Guillaume Tell was in many ways the first grand opera, and its overture, unprecedented in its time, was recognized as a cornerstone of the orchestral repertory well before the first Hollywood cowboy rode into the studio. In its vivid programmatic qualities and in its use of a rousing popular dance (the galop), the overture, chestnut though it may be, was once well ahead of its time.
(AllMusic)
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Born in Galatone, Southern Italy, Francesco Libetta studied music in Italy (piano with Vittoria De Donno; contrapoint with Cosimo Colazzo and Igino Ettorre; composition with Gino Marinuzzi; conducting with Alberto Maria Giuri) and in France (composition with Jacques Castérède). He moved to Lecce, where he has taught Chamber Music at the "T. Schipa" Conservatory.
Described as a "poet-aristocrat of the keyboard with the profile and the carriage of a Renaissance prince" (M. Gurewitsch, New York Times), he first came to the attention of piano cognoscenti after his live performance of 53 Studies by Godowsky based on the 27 Studies by Chopin. Libetta's repertoire now encompasses a very wide range, including all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas (performed first in Italy, 1993/94), several Mozart and Beethoven concertos, the complete Handel and Chopin works, as well as major works by Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, and Ravel.
He is active as a conductor (in symphonic repertoire, as well as collaborating with the Balletto del Sud in major Tchaikovsky ballets). He is also a composer. His works include three piano concertos, symphonic pieces, electronic music, and ballet and movie scores. His writings include historical and aesthetic essays.
In 2005 he had a short role in Franco Battiato's movie Musikanten, on Beethoven's life.
In 2009, his first opera was premiered. Ottocento ("Eight Hundred", about 800 victims of religious war in South Italy in 1480) was performed in Otranto and Rome. John Ardoin declared that among the new generation of pianists, Francesco Libetta is "the most inspired and creative".
One of his DVDs, with the recording of a recital held at the Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron (France), created by Bruno Monsaingeon, was awarded the Diapason d'Or and the "CHOC" of Le Monde de la musique.
Critics have praised his qualities: ". . .elegance and charm, (...), with a hint, a touch of aristocratic frivolity that we did not think we would ever witness again." (F. M. Colombo - Corriere della Sera); ". . . a breadth of knowledge that extends far beyond the world of music and the piano repertoire." (A. Mandelli - PianoTime); ". . . such miraculous virtuosity and such a delicate feel for melody that one cannot help wondering whether any other artist of his generation - whether in Italy or elsewhere - can be compared to him." (P. Isotta - Corriere della Sera).
He was Artistic Director of the Miami Piano Festival in Lecce (a summer festival which brings to Lecce musicians, professors and students from all over the world since July 2003) and of the Michelangeli Festival in Rabbi. He has published essays on history and aesthetics, including music by Renaissance composers, reconstructions of Madrigals, cultural life in the late eighteenth century, etc.
(Wikipedia)
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Original audio: Francesco Libetta (youtu.be/_ds2AxWCXbw) Original sheet music: http://en.scorser.com/I/Sheet+music/300196243.htmlLouis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely - 24 Etudes melodiques (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2023-12-22 | Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely (November 13, 1817 - December 31, 1869) is historically associated with the development of French organ music, as well as with organ technique. As a composer he was instrumental in the evolution of the French symphonic organ style and his works include many pieces for church use, and lighter fare like marches and sorties. It is probably in the latter genre that Lefebure-Wely scored his most enduring successes on the organ, with pieces like the sorties in B flat and E flat. But Lefebure-Wely's output also includes works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, harmonium, and for the theater, most notably the opéra comique Les recruteurs (1861), probably the composer's most ambitious work. Lefebure-Wely inaugurated many organs built by his friend, the iconic Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who had few, if any, peers in the realm of organ building in the nineteenth century. Throughout his life Lefebure-Wely remained active as both an organist and composer: he held some of the most prestigious organ posts in Paris and produced more than 200 compositions. In addition, he often gave harmonium recitals and was also a gifted pianist. While his reputation as a composer faded after his death, Lefebure-Wely was one of the most respected and popular artistic figures on the Parisian scene of his day, with composers like Franck and Alkan dedicating works to his memory.
Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely was born in Paris on November 13, 1817. His father, Isaac-François, was a talented organist who was the boy's first teacher. Young Louis caught on quickly and began serving as a substitute organist for his father at Saint-Roch in Paris from the age of 11, the time when his father had suffered a stroke. In 1833 young Louis was appointed to replace his father at Saint-Roch.
Lefebure-Wely enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire around this time to study organ with François Benoist and composition with Jacques-François Halevy and Henri-Montan Berton. At 17 Lefebure-Wely won first prize in organ performance at the Conservatory.
From 1847-1858 Lefebure-Wely served as organist at L'Église de la Madeleine in Paris. He produced many compositions during his decade there, including the Six Offertories and Six Grande Offertories (Opp. 34 & 35, respectively), circa 1857. In 1863 Lefebure-Wely was appointed organist at Saint-Sulpice, also in Paris. He held the post until his death on December 31, 1869. Among his more important later works are Hommage à Mr. l'Abbé Hamon, Curé de St. Sulpice (1867-1869).
(AllMusic)
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Original audio: Pascale Auffret (Editions Hortus, 2018) (youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l9A0LuYJ_UX7K0Kt_P0mze0ItuvcCywoY) Original sheet music: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k858549c.r=lefebure-wely%20etudes?rk=128756;0Ignaz Moscheles - 24 Etudes Op. 70 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2023-12-17 | Though he is generally regarded as a minor composer, Ignaz Moscheles (May 23, 1794 - March 10, 1870), who wrote in multiple genres, produced a substantial body of piano music worthy of attention, both for its masterly character and its imaginative sound world. His piano sonatas, held in high esteem by Schumann, are particularly of interest. The Op. 49 Sonate mélancolique may be among his finest works. Recent interest in his seven piano concertos (the score to the eighth is lost) was fueled by a complete cycle from Howard Shelley on Hyperion Records, the whole revealing works conservative in outlook, witty, highly individual, and skillfully scored. Moscheles is remembered for his brilliant pianistic talents, as well; he was also one of the finest piano pedagogues of his age, serving on the faculty of the Leipzig Conservatory as its leading professor of piano for almost 25 years. In addition, he was a gifted conductor.
Ignaz Moscheles was born in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). Though he took piano lessons in his early childhood, he began his first serious studies in 1804 with Prague Conservatory director B.D. Weber. In 1808 Moscheles left Prague for Vienna, where he studied composition with Antonio Salieri and theory and counterpoint with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger.
Moscheles soon launched his career in Europe and England as a touring virtuoso pianist. Shortly after his 1825 marriage to Charlotte Embden, he settled with her in London, where he had scored several previous notable successes in concert.
Moscheles not only performed as a pianist (both his and other composers' works), but he often conducted as well. Among his most notable achievements on the podium was the 1832 British premiere of the Beethoven Missa Solemnis. He also proselytized on behalf of Beethoven, championing both his piano and orchestral works. He led many acclaimed performances of the Ninth Symphony.
In 1846 Moscheles and his family relocated to Leipzig, where he accepted a faculty post at the Conservatory. He would remain there for the remainder of his life, striving to maintain high standards at the Conservatory, especially after the death of his friend and Conservatory founder, Felix Mendelssohn. Moscheles also remained quite active as a composer and pianist in his remaining years. In addition, he was compelled to become a defender against bigotry: Jewish by birth, he vigorously counterattacked against Wagner's anti-Semitic charges as set forth in the notorious 1850 article "Jewishness in Music."
(AllMusic)
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Original audio: Fausto Bongelli (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbeqyteIBcMtO0O4tiZ9Z8Y17h4oEld-i) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/24_Etudes%2C_Op.70_(Moscheles%2C_Ignaz) (H.A. Probst, 1827?)Friedrich Kalkbrenner - 24 Etudes Op. 20 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2023-12-09 | Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (November 2, 1785 - June 10, 1849) was one of a number of remarkable demon pianists who flourished, mostly around Paris, in the early couple of decades of the Romantic era in music. He wrote a large quantity of music, mostly flashy and some of which is still played.
His father was a musician who had served various members of the Prussian royal Hohenzollern family as concert master and had been a director of the Paris Opera Chorus. Frédéric was born in a stagecoach on the road to Berlin. The boy showed early musical talent, leading his father to enroll him in the Paris Conservatoire at age 12. He advanced rapidly in piano under the tutelage of Louis Adam and studied harmony with Charles-Simon Catel. He won first prizes in both subjects in 1801; however, he was mesmerized by the rising figure of Napoleon Bonaparte on the French scene and dreamed of somehow becoming an officer and marching to glory in the future Emperor's Grand Army.
His father alertly removed Frédéric from Paris, taking him to Vienna where he met Haydn (who seems to have talked some sense into him and gave him advice for a musical career), probably studied with Albrechtsberger, and met Clementi. On the way back to Paris, he gave concerts in the main German cities on the way, getting a taste of public adulation. For some reason, Kalkbrenner did not make a strong impression as a pianist in Paris. In 1806, his father died and Kalkbrenner retired to a country cottage with a mistress.
After Napoleon was ousted, Kalkbrenner moved to England in 1814, living there for ten years and establishing a reputation as one of the greatest pianists. He was able to amass a comfortable fortune on his playing and composing. In 1823, he made a huge sensation with his Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 61, which spread his fame as a player and composer across Europe. In the same year, he made his first return to the Continent and found himself enjoying great successes in Berlin and Vienna.
He and other virtuosi were popularizing the newer keyboard instrument, the pianoforte, particularly in the latest London models that featured numerous mechanical and structural improvements. He wisely invested in the Pleyel piano manufacturing firm.
At the end of 1824, he moved back to Paris, settling there for good. He married an ex-general's daughter, Marie d'Estaing, and they had one son. During the next decade, he reigned supreme over all pianists in Paris and was among the top draws on concert platforms all over Europe. He was given orders and decorations by crowned heads just about everywhere he went and was highly in demand as a piano teacher. He also became a great teacher's teacher, establishing a formal institute for finishing the training of young piano teachers. He published useful methods and a "hand-guide" to piano playing, as he called it.
The good nature of Frédéric Chopin averted what could have become a serious rivalry: When the Polish pianist/composer arrived in Paris in 1831, Kalkbrenner seriously suggested that Chopin take a course in his training school. Chopin did not take offense and the two became fast friends. Chopin, however, heralded the arrival of a new generation of pianists that also included Liszt and Thalberg, who were closer to the public fancy as it shifted in the last half of the decade of the 1830s. Moreover, Kalkbrenner began to suffer from gout and nervous conditions. He virtually withdrew from the concert stage by 1840, but remained active as a teacher and composer until he fell to a cholera epidemic in 1849.
His music is dramatic, with not much beneath the surface. His left-hand writing is well-developed and foreshadows Liszt's use of it, while his octaves and figurations also had an influence on Chopin. Virtuoso effects abound and the musical line is often heavily ornamented. Practically all his music features piano and includes a large number of concerted pieces. While the music did not strike listeners then or now as possessing any great originality, it is revived today, usually with pleasing results.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: John Khouri, performed on an 1813 Broadwood Grand fortepiano (youtube.com/watch?v=ohmfYgrqWw8) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/24_Etudes%2C_Op.20_(Kalkbrenner%2C_Friedrich_Wilhelm) (N. Simrock, ca. 1825)York Bowen - 24 Preludes Op. 102 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2023-12-05 | English pianist and composer York (or "Yorke") Bowen (February 22, 1884 - November 23, 1961) was one of the dominant figures in English music before World War I, though his celebrity began to fade not long after it concluded. Bowen was born in the Crouch Hill section of London to a prominent local distiller; his mother provided his first piano lessons and further encouragement. Bowen made his debut as pianist at age 8 and studied at local conservatories before entering the Royal Academy of Music on an Érard scholarship at 14. Bowen introduced his first piano concerto at age 19, earning the admiration of Camille Saint-Saëns; this and other developments touched off a string of successes in the way of concert engagements and publications, elevating Bowen to the status of a dynamic young composer and pianist on England's music scene. After teaching for some years as an assistant at his teacher Tobias Matthay's private piano school, at age 25 Bowen was named a professor at RAM and served in this position until the outbreak of World War I, when he volunteered as a horn player in the Scots Guards Regimental Band.
Upon his return from military service, Bowen picked up pretty much where he left off, winning some major prizes and publishing pieces through Chappell, the future Boosey and Hawkes, Chester, Oxford, and Stainer & Bell. But by the mid-'20s Bowen began to run into troubles with reviewers for sloppy keyboard technique and presenting recitals made up entirely of short pieces. In his compositions, Bowen preferred to pursue a predominantly post-romantic path colored to some extent by impressionism -- not wholly unlike his slightly older contemporary Cyril Scott, though certainly with a different approach within that area of endeavor -- and this manner fell increasingly out of favor after 1930. In later years, Bowen continued to teach at RAM and formed a piano duo with another professor, Henry Issacs, which helped restore some measure of acclaim to Bowen as a performer, though his music was forgotten by the time he died at age of 77 in 1961.
Bowen made his first recording in 1915, but most of his recording activity is concentrated between 1923 and 1927 in records made for British Vocalion; when the company reorganized that year, it appears he did not return to making records except in 1961, when Bowen made a final album for Lyrita. The rebirth of interest in Bowen began in the mid-'80s, largely through the efforts of musicologist Monica Watson; since there has been a York Bowen Society founded and RAM is offering a York Bowen Prize in his honor. Among his compositions, Bowen's Suite in D minor for violin and piano (1909), Fourth Piano Concerto (1929), Symphony No. 3 (1951), and the cycle of works for his friend violist Lionel Tertis, including a concerto (1907) are all regarded as especially significant in addition to some of the shorter piano works, of which there are indeed many. Kaikhosru Sorabji once commented about the "freedom (...) flexibility and elasticity" of Bowen's 24 Preludes, Op. 102 (1938), and dedicated his own Passeggiata veneziana (1955) to Bowen.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Marie-Catherine Girod (youtube.com/watch?v=UqKiJx1XZuU) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/24_Preludes_in_all_Major_and_Minor_Keys%2C_Op.102_(Bowen%2C_York) (Chester Music Limited, 1950)video making stream will i be able to complete it tonightthenameisgsarci2023-12-05 | Support the stream: streamlabs.com/thenameisgsarciErkki Melartin - 24 Preludes Op. 85 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2023-12-02 | Erkki Gustaf Melartin (7 February 1875, Käkisalmi – 14 February 1937, Helsinki) was a Finnish composer, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. Melartin is generally considered to be one of Finland's most significant national Romantic composers, although his music—then and now—largely has been overshadowed by that of his exact contemporary, Jean Sibelius, the country's most famous composer. The core of Melartin's oeuvre consists of a set of six (completed) symphonies, as well as is his opera, Aino, based on a story from the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, but nevertheless in the style of Richard Wagner.
Melartin's other notable works include the popular wedding tune, Festive March (1904; from the incidental music to the play, Sleeping Beauty); the symphonic poem, Traumgesicht (1910); the Violin Concerto in D minor (1913); the Kalevalic symphonic poem for soprano and orchestra, Marjatta (1914); The Blue Pearl, Finland's first large-scale ballet (1930); and a set of four string quartets, composed between 1896 and 1910. In addition, a number of Melartin's songs for solo voice and piano have found a lasting place in the Finnish repertoire. Two additional projected symphonies, the Seventh and Eighth, might have further solidified his reputation, both within Finland and internationally, but the development of each was cut short by Melartin's death, at age 62.
In the 24 Preludes Op. 85 (1913–1920), Melartin joins the tradition of many keyboard composers, and perhaps also plans to give a response to the challenge set by his Finnish colleague Selim Palmgren, a contemporary of his and a composer specialized in piano music, who had composed his 24 preludes already in 1907. Melartin started the work in 1913, but it took him seven years to complete the cycle. Stylistically, the preludes are connected both with classical and romantic models, but also with Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin and Sibelius. Each prelude has a descriptive title, which reflects the musical idea, like ‘Japanese Cherry Blossom’ or ‘Autumn Night’.
(Wikipedia, CD booklet)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Maria Lettberg (Delta Classics, 2012) (youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kan-gV-zMKNc0ZaZ_240J62LAK99PCCgA) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/Preludes,_Op.85_(Melartin,_Erkki)watch me cook... a late lunchthenameisgsarci2023-11-30 | ...[battle city] surprise surprise, gsarci plays a gamethenameisgsarci2023-11-30 | Support the stream: streamlabs.com/thenameisgsarciStefano Golinelli - 24 Preludes Op. 69 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2023-11-28 | Stefano Golinelli (26 October 1818 Bologna - 3 July 1891 Bologna) was an Italian piano virtuoso and composer. In 1840 he was appointed by Gioachino Rossini, then an Honorary Councillor of the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, professor for piano at the Liceo (now the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini), a post he held until 1871. He composed a large number of works for the piano, especially noteworthy 3 Sonatas, and 2 collections of 24 Preludios, op. 23 and 69. He is buried at the Certosa cemetery in his hometown. At his death, he left his Érard piano to the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna.
(Wikipedia)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.
Original audio: Giuseppe Fausto Modugno (Tactus, 2012) (youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k-749q4-2mJFeH25fn0c7K9nTlenE4QT8) Original sheet music: imslp.org/wiki/24_Preludes%2C_Op.69_(Golinelli%2C_Stefano) (Ricordi, 1884)Johann Nepomuk Hummel - 24 Preludes Op. 67 (audio + sheet music)thenameisgsarci2023-11-25 | A pianist and composer seen as an important transitional figure between Classicism and Romanticism, Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a student of Mozart and, with Beethoven, a student of Haydn, Albrechtsberger, and Salieri. In fact, Hummel is often cast as Beethoven's rival, but the two pianist/composers were respectful of each other's work. Most of his music is for piano, encompassing solo pieces, chamber music, and concertos, but he also wrote choral music and operas. He bridged the Classical and Romantic eras and is considered somewhat conservative in the 21st century, but Hummel's style was influential in the development of Mendelssohn's, and indirectly, Schumann's and Liszt's piano writing. He tended to write long-breathed melodies, often used Alberti bass accompaniments and dotted rhythms, and favored the sonata-allegro and rondo forms. He also wrote a highly regarded, three-volume treatise on pianism, entitled A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course on the Art of Pianoforte Playing. Despite the importance of Hummel's piano music, it is his chamber music and the Trumpet Concerto that are most often recorded.
Hummel was born on November 14, 1778, in Bratislava (then Pressburg), Slovakia. Young Johann's first musical studies came on the violin at the behest of his father, a player of string instruments himself, and director of the local Imperial School of Military Music. By the age of five Hummel could play the violin with proficiency, but he would abandon it in favor of the piano, on which he developed an astonishing technique by age six. When the family moved to Vienna in 1786, Johann studied with Mozart, with whom he lived for two years. After concert appearances throughout Europe at age ten, Hummel and his father traveled to London, where they settled temporarily. Johann met Clementi there and took private instruction from him. Hummel returned to Vienna in 1793 and began studies with Albrechtsberger. Now 14, the young composer largely turned away from the concert stage, in favor of teaching and composing. Among his works were a set of variations for piano in 1794, and, four years later, two sonatas for piano and violin, and one for piano and viola. But he struggled with opera: Il viaggiator ridicolo (1797), and Don Anchise (c. 1800) were left incomplete. He did, however, finish Dankgefühl einer Geretten (1799). His Piano Trio in E Flat and the Variations in G on a Romance by Méhul came in the early years of the next century, and he completed his opera Le vicende d'amore in 1804. Soon more operas would appear, as well as his Concerto in G, for piano and violin. His first major appointment came in April of 1804, when he accepted the post of Concertmaster to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy at his Eisenstadt court. Hummel also wrote several masses, including the Mass in E Flat (1804), and Mass in D (1808); and he composed a Te Deum (1806), and two Salve Reginas. More operas came, too: Der vereitelten Ränke (1806) and Mathilde von Guise (1810; revised in 1821). In May of 1811, Hummel was dismissed as Kapellmeister in a controversy and returned to Vienna to focus on composition. Two years later he married Elizabeth Röckel. Late the following year, at his wife's behest, he launched a concert tour in Vienna, scoring triumph after triumph. He subsequently toured Germany and Europe with great success, sometimes also assuming the role of conductor. Hummel accepted the Kapellmeister posts in Stuttgart (1816) and Weimar (1819). This was a most productive period for him, as many of his best works appeared, including the Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 83 (1819); the Sonata in A Flat, for piano four hands, Op. 92 (1820); and two "birthday" cantatas for the Duke (1823 and 1827). By 1832, Hummel's health was in decline, and he frequently took leave of his Kapellmeister duties in Weimar because of sickness. He died on October 17, 1837.
(AllMusic)
Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.