Vocal duets

Research Essay Portfolio Task 5 Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story”-1957 is a landmark composition in the development of the American musical and it took many years for the idea to be developed into a musical. They had the idea of writing a deep meaning musical which would show people what real life was all about. The original idea was for a Jewish girl and a Catholic boy to fall in love. This theme however changed when the Puerto Ricans moved into New York and the story line was altered to…

April 29th 1996, Broadway’s Nederland theatre is sold out to capacity and the audience is gritting their teeth with excitement, but an overture is nowhere to be heard, the curtains are missing and the haphazardly placed lighting rigs have not yet dimmed. All at once, the stage erupts with cast members running in-between and out of the industrial themed set, a strum of a guitar is heard and a critically acclaimed overnight sensation is born in the image of Jonathon Larson. Adapted from the…

Sonata in A minor, K. 110 Domenico Scarlatti Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, Italy, on October 26, 1685. A brilliant musician at an early age, Scarlatti followed in the compositional footsteps of his father, Alessandro Scarlatti. In 1708, Scarlatti moved to Rome to become maestro di cappella to the exiled queen of Poland, Maria Casimira. He later became head of the Cappella Giulia, the choir of St. Peter’s Basilica that sings for all solemn functions of the Vatican. While in Rome,…

The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto was written for western style orchestra and features a solo violin played using some Chinese techniques. This piece retains the Chinese flavor but however to some extent. The reason why I have chosen this question and this piece is because as a violinist, I have the interest in how the violin in The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto is a western instrument, but however it is still able to capture some of the Chinese style. In this essay, I will be comparing…

prolific composers of the nineteenth century, reaching into almost all genres of music from piano miniatures to comprehensively conceived vocal-orchestra compositions. His output encompasses nine symphonies and fifty-five other orchestral pieces, eleven opera, eleven works for chorus and orchestra, nine small choral works, thirty-five sets of songs and duets, fifty-five chamber works for various combinations of instruments, and thirty-two sets of short pieces for piano. In each of these areas…

most exceptional popular music singer of the 20th century. She wrote few songs; but when she sang, she took on a deep, personal and intimate approach” (Listverse). Billie was energetic, young, and new. Everyone loved her voice even though she had no vocal or musical training, unlike so many of the other famous jazz musicians in her time period. She was known for her ability to get emotional and personal with her songs. “Her recording of the song “Strange Fruit” is considered one of the most…

'The idea is to produce things that are as strange and mysterious to you as the first music you ever heard.' Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de La Salle Eno or, as more commonly known to the world, just Brian Eno, can be unbiasedly described as an iconic contemporary British artist. He began his music career with guitarist Anthony Grafton in 1968 in Maxwell Demon, and was influenced by such bands as The Velvet Underground (Independent.co.uk, 1998) his real legacy began in 1971, as a…