Chamber music

Arizona State University (ASU). It really surprised me because it wasn’t like any of the classical music concerts I had ever seen before. It was a medium sized venue and very casual. There was no program handed out but the name, composer and type of piece it was, projected on the screen behind the musicians. The theme of the concert was back to the future. It focused on the 20th century chamber music and was very contemporary. The ensemble for the men was simple, black tuxedo but the women wore…

the romantic music period. Many people associate him with Bach and Beethoven, considering them the three biggest influences in classical music. Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and voice and chorus. His technique roots from the Baroque and Classical styles. He is known as the master of counterpoint, symphonic, and sonata style, approaching harmony and melody in a new and different way. As Johannes Brahms grew up he developed a profound passion for music that led…

Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is scored for piano, clarinet, violin, and cello. It was premiered in a WWII POW camp where Messiaen was held. Messiaen had begun sketches of the piece before being captured, and he finished the piece in the POW camp for musicians that were present. The quartet was premiered in the camp for the prisoners. The piece is in eight movements, and Messiaen wrote an introduction describing the movements. His signature birdsong is featured prominently, as well as…

In 1839, Breitkopf & Härtel published Robert Schumann’s Fantasie in C major, Op. 17. Schumann conceived the piece in early 1836. The first iteration of Op. 17 was a one movement piece titled Ruines. Ruines was Schumann’s cathartic expression of the fatigue of separation from his love, Clara Wieck. After several alterations of the piece--in the effort to raise funds for a monument to Beethoven--Schumann expanded Ruines to three movements, mulled over a series of titles, and ultimately settled on…

The appoggiaturas rarely impact the main character of the piece. But in Sarcasms No. 2, the writer uses an extensive amount of appoggiaturas and they function as the main body of the piece, propelling the music to develop and expand. Prokofiev’s use of appoggiatura in Sarcasms Op. 17 No. 2 is so specific that, unlike the fantastic and romantic arpeggios in the earlier pieces he had composed, the appoggiaturas in Sarcasms Op. 17 No. 2 stand out as remarkably…

“I have never drawn a distinction between music for films and for operas or concerts” –– Erich Wolfgang Korngold Many conclude that Korngold was born in the wrong era. Instead of his romantic concepts excelling, his ideals and concepts were overshadowed not only by the vogue of the Second Viennese school composers: Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern, he was also amidst an era of chaos, including the happenings of the first World War. In addition, the rise of Nazism turned his move to…

Pianist and composer, Cecile Chaminade is the only female composer represented in the Flute Music by French Composers collection, and is one the early emerging female composers of this era, though not very well known. Born in Paris in 1857, “Chaminade received her earliest instruction from her mother, a pianist and singer” (Citron). With both parents amateur musicians, Chaminade was showed early talent, with her earliest compositions date to the mid-1860s. Her father did not want her to attend…

The first performance, Mozart, I would say was my favorite of the two. The part that was most memorable to me was the last movement which included the Turkish style music with added marching sounds. The second performance, Brahms, was all over the place. At times it felt as though it can easily put an infant to sleep, to something more dark, then cheery and full of energy. Although, I still do not feel as though it…

The music concert 9066 Music Behind Barbed Wire was the ending cumulation of the events done throughout the semester to honor the 75th anniversary of Manzanar. Inside the university theatre the crowd was coming in, soon the theater was packed with a variety of people from the community and students. The evening event started fifteen minutes late, and then we were welcomed by the Dean of the college of arts and humanities Mitch Avila. He discussed how throughout the semester they had several…

Joseph Willcox Jenkins was born to William Jenkins and Genevieve Brosseau in the city of Philadelphia in 1928. Jenkins was exposed to music starting at a young age, likely receiving interest and exposer from his mother, who played piano and sang. Beginning at age six, Jenkins took piano lessons from his mother. As part of his piano instruction, Jenkins recited melodies on the piano and transposed the melodies into different keys as. This practice gave Jenkins a great leap into aural skills…