Constanze Mozart

A choice has been made to pick this delicate instrument, a weapon of my choice—the violin. Carefully, one removes the seals from the case it has been resting in—it made a soft clicking sound like the locks from a prisoner’s cage. The case opens slowly revealing what was inside of it. The instrument patiently waits for its master as it lays on its furry navy blue bed. Silence filled the room as each one stare at each other and talk with their amazed eyes. The violin was glistening with beauty;…

Even though Mozart himself, who was only 32 years old at the time and had every reason to expect to live to see the dawn of the 19th century, certainly did not expect this to be the last symphony he ever composed, Symphony No. 41 could not have been a more perfect and appropriate summation and culmination of Mozart’s genius. This is an opinion shared by many scholars. One important reason for this argument is Mozart’s juxtaposition and integration of Learned and Galant style in the finale of…

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning over six decades, Williams has composed some of the most popular and recognizable film scores in cinematic history, including the Star Wars series, the first two Jaws films, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones series, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, the first two Home Alone films, Hook, the first two Jurassic Park films, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan,…

Romeo and Juliet by Peter Tchaikovsky comprises of different events from the original play by William Shakespeare (Adagietto 2013). Tchaikovsky used many characters as well as moods with melodies that provided efficient musical differences. This play begins with an excellent clarinet and bassoon melody that indicates the two individuals’ relationship, somber as well as the friar Laurance. It is based on the Overture Fantasy; however it does not have the opus number Everybody can relate to the…

CANTATA In music, a chorale cantata is a sacred composition for voices and instruments, principally from the German Baroque era, in which the organizing principle is the words and music to a chorale. Usually, a chorale cantata is in multiple movements or parts. Most chorale cantatas were written between approximately 1650 and 1750. By far the most famous is by J. S. Bach, especially the cantatas composed in his second annual cycle of cantatas started in Leipzig in 1724. The dates of the…

I, Randy Rivas, attended a performance with two separate chamber groups and a soloist. One of the chamber groups was Christine S. Lopez and Sung Ae Lee both performing on piano, the other was Paul Da Silva playing piano and Manon Robertshaw on cello, and lastly Sung Ae Lee doing a solo performance. This was performed at Cerritos College in the music building at BC-51. It began at eleven in the morning on February twenty sixth. First musical performance was the piece of Muzio Clementi’s sonata in…

Biography Scot Joplin was an African-American pianist and a composer who was born in between 1867/68 and died on the 1st of April 1917. Scot Joplin was born into a musical family of railway laborers in Texas. He was greatly helped by his teachers to develop and understand his knowledge of music in his early years. In his young age, the composer grew up in Texarkana where he was involved in the formation of a vocal quartet and also taught guitar and mandolin (Berlin, 1996). In the late 1880’s,…

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Rich Matteson’s Jazz Corner. I listened to two other tapes, and they were all equally interesting. Rich Matteson’s broadcast had a very relaxed feel; even the tone of his voice is relaxing! I really like that he knew exactly what he was talking about; considering his prolific career and vast knowledge of music and jazz, everything he said was relevant, and he was very well-spoken. His broadcast is excellent for discovering jazz songs and jazz artists, as well as…

Romanticism was a period that started in the early 19th century, primarily in England and Germany. At first Romanticism influenced the literature world, but by 1820s musicians started to adopt the style in their music as well. Hector Berlioz was a French composer during the Early Romantics period in the 1830s. He is most famously known for his piece “Symphony Fantastique” 5th Movement composed in 1830, where he tells about his own personal love for an Irish Actress, Harriet Smithson. Hector…

The first Horn Concerto, Op. 11, by Richard Strauss is one of the most notorious pieces in horn literature. The concerto was written in 1882 and is a standard example of the Romantic era. Strauss created both the piano and orchestral versions, with the orchestra score calling for solo horn, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings (Steinberg). The orchestral version was premiered on March 4, 1885. Richard Struss’ father, Franz, was the…