Johann Sebastian Bach

Stony Brook Symphony Concert Report The orchestra is an aspect of music that dates back several centuries. Due to it’s long history and various advancements in musical instruments, the orchestra has evolved tremendously. Today, a typical orchestra contains a vast amount of instruments from the string, woodwind, brass, and percussion families. This is no different for the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra. I had the pleasure of attending one of this ensembles breathtaking concerts on November 7,…

Whether it be French, Italian, or English Opera, it’s very dramatic. Handel’s “Piangeró La Sorte Mia” is no exception. George Frideric Handel (Georg Friedrich Händel) like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy. Born in Halle, Germany in 1685, began studying music at the very early age of 7 under organist Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow despite his father’s disapproval. The young Handel then began composing music at the age of 10 which mostly composed of church cantatas and chamber music. From his…

Thomas Tallis was one of England’s main composers of Medieval church music. He lived during the Tudor period of England, a time of which the national religious stance swung back and forth from Protestant to Catholic due to the various monarchs that held the throne. As a matter of fact, Tallis saw 5 different monarchs hold and pass on the throne during his life. But even if Tallis was a true Catholic, he possessed the skill to compose music to suit whomever his liege was. During his lifetime, he…

Hallelujah Handel George Frideric Handel was a world famous baroque composer, and is best known for his works ranging from operas, instrument compositions, and oratorios. Handel composed the most famous oratorios of all time, The Messiah. (Hogwood). In his lifetime, Handel composed almost 30 oratorios and nearly 50 operas. He was born in Halle, Brandenburg, Germany on February 23, 1685. He died April 14, 1759 in London, England. Handel had a gift for composing and playing instruments even…

You Us We All is a contemporary spin on the classical court masques of the 16th and 17th century. Court masques were a combination of music, drama, dance, and extravagant sets and costumes. These masques were mainly performed for the high nobles and aristocrats in the 16th and 17th centuries throughout Western Europe. This opera is classified as an allegory. According to the Carolina Performing Arts Website, an allegory is defined as a “literary device that conveys often abstract ideas beyond…

The year of the 1721 dates the submission of Christoph Gottlieb Schroter hammer-keyboard designs to the Saxon Court in Dresden. He was born on August 10, 1699, in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany, and died on May 20, 1782, Nordhausen, Germany. The year of 1725 dates the translation of Maffei's article into German stimulates widespread interest, and the pianos advertised in Vienna. The time of 1730 dates the Gottfried Silbermann explores in Dresden, Germany with pianos gotten from Cristofori, and…

George Frideric Handel is one of the best composers of the Baroque era. He is best known for being the master of oratorios. G.F. Handel was born in Halle, Germany on February 23, 1685. He was known as being a “boy genius” of his time (Sherrane). “Handel was very brilliant in several different musical works, including operas, oratorios, and concertos grossos. In the late Baroque period he combined German, French, Italian, and English musical styles in his operas (40), oratorios (20), and…

England’s premiere Renaissance composer, William Byrd, “lead the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries” (Burkholder, Grout, Palisca 224) well before Purcell and was best known for secular vocal and instrumental music. William Byrd was famous as a religious composer, writing for many church services including both Anglican and Catholic. England’s most prolific composer, William Byrd, was “the first English composer to absorb Continental imitative techniques.” (Burkholder, Grout, Palisca…

The Baroque Harpsichord During the Baroque-era, the harpsichord was an extremely popular instrument. It was heard in many musical pieces throughout the 1600’s. Harpsichord is defined as “a keyboard instrument that produces sound by depressing a key that drives a lever upward and forces a pick to pluck the string” (Wright 462). Harpsichords all work the same way, no matter the size. With each string connecting to a key, a piece of material is placed in a small and thin piece of wood called a…

Alban Berg born in 1885 through 1935 was one of the composers of the Second Viennese School founded by Arnold Schoenberg. The most Romantic of these tokened European modern composers like Berg, he successfully combined late Romanticism elements with adaptations of Schoenberg’s twelve tone techniques. Berg wrote his most famous and widely performed instrumental work, the Violin Concerto, in 1935 and it’s premiere was held shortly after his death in 1936 by renowned violinist Louis Krasner. His…