Ludwig van Beethoven

Painting and relevance: Jacques-Louis David’s “Oath of the Horatii” was painted in 1784 and it was commissioned by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on behalf of the Kind Louis XVI. The inspiration of the painting had to come by Corneille’s Play “Horace” which was being performed in Paris during that time. In 1785 the painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon. The painting shows a decisive moment of will as well as a great family tragedy resulting from political consequences. The…

emotions in his works. His main influence is evident in the works of next generations of composers who looked at Mozart's works and tried to create some works of the same quality. His mastery was recognized by many people, and it is not strange that Beethoven was sent to Mozart in Vienna so that he would improve his compositional skills (Raptusassociation.org). In general, he was the first to break into the Classical Era of music because of the complexity and level of sophistication of his…

John Cage was an incredibly impactful and controversial American composer of the 20th century. He was the forerunner for the avant-garde, significantly developing nonstandard styles of music such as electroacoustic music and aleatoric music (chance-controlled). His musical developments were largely influenced by Indian philosophies like Buddhism, and his internal anarchy was influenced by Henry David Thoreau. This and his works with modern dance, helped to distinguish him as a very pivotal…

Berlin is a city located in the east of Germany. To the east, Germany borders Poland and the Czech Republic, to the west, it borders France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and to the south it borders Austria and Switzerland. Germany’s northern border accesses the North and Baltic Sea and Denmark. Germany is located in the College Board region of Western Europe. The first place I would visit would be the Philharmonie to see the Berlin Philharmonic perform there. The Philharmonie is home to some…

From the 12th century to the 21st century music has been a way of living. People around the world listen to music every day, even though music has changed drastically over the years. But why did this happen? Music has been changed in many ways and this tells the difference of classical and modern music. For example music has changed by the: adding of effects, change of message and change of purpose. Classical and modern music are both a huge part of music as a whole. Both of these genres…

On Sunday, June 21st, I went to see the Dallas Symphony Orchestra perform “The Music of John Williams and Hollywood’s Great Composers” at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco. The concert was held in the church’s worship room at 6:30pm. This was a great place for the DSO to perform because the audience and the orchestra were very close and, in a way, felt more personal. The show included fourteen pieces: “Overture to Captain Blood by Korngold, ‘Tara’ – A Short Poem for Orchestra from Gone with…

In the first movement of his Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra Op. 31, Gerald Finzi utilizes downward bass motion, disagreeing key areas, and ambiguous cadences for the purpose of establishing a sense of wandering and despair. Much like other well-known British composers of mid-twentieth century, Gerald Finzi’s music takes advantage of dissonant and dense orchestration, as well as reflections upon political turmoil and personal ailment of the period. During World War II, Finzi became…

It is worth mentioning that most of the quotations are from large Symphonic works of composers who were living and writing concomitantly with Mahler. Berio himself in an interview assumes the emphasis placed on 20th century music, most specifically in the last one hundred years. Although the preference for modern works points towards a post-tonal harmonic structure, the majority of quotations are of a more moderate nature, such as Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy rather than the full-blown…

Opera means work in Italian and is the name given to a dramatic play set to music where the performers sing their parts accompanied or unaccompanied by music in solos called arias and two or more singers called ensembles. The sixteenth century saw the beginning of operas which started as poems sung by musicians called Camerata (“society”). In 1607 Claudio Monteverdi first used an orchestra to accompany his opera, La favola d’Orfeo, creating the modern opera we know today. (London: Octopus…

For my concert critique, I went to Jason Terry’s Doctoral Piano Recital on Tuesday, December 1st at the School of Music in room 206. Because Terry was able to pick the pieces he played, he picked a range of different pieces to emphasize his wide range of talent. He included older and modern pieces including Bach, Godowsky, Balakirev, Zorn, and Liszt. The first piece he played was “Prelude & Fugue, BWV 872” composed by Bach. I was a little unsure about the nature and form of this piece because…