Various recorders (second from the bottom disassembled into its three parts)
The recorder is a family of
woodwindmusical instruments in the group known as internal duct flutes:
flutes with a
whistle mouthpiece, also known as
fipple flutes. A recorder can be distinguished from other duct flutes by the presence of a thumb-hole for the upper hand and seven finger-holes: three for the upper hand and four for the lower. It is the most prominent duct flute in the
western classical tradition.
Recorders are made in various sizes with names and compasses roughly corresponding to various vocal ranges. The sizes most commonly in use today are the soprano (also known as descant, lowest note
C5), alto (also known as treble, lowest note F4), tenor (lowest note C4), and bass (lowest note F3). Recorders were traditionally constructed from wood or ivory. Modern professional instruments are almost invariably of wood, often
boxwood; student and scholastic recorders are commonly of moulded plastic. The recorders' internal and external proportions vary, but the bore is generally reverse conical (i.e. tapering towards the foot) to cylindrical, and all recorder fingering systems make extensive use of
forked fingerings. (Full article...)
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The violin, colloquially known as a fiddle, is a wooden
chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (
soprano) in regular use in the
violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the
violino piccolo and the
pochette, but these are virtually unused. Most violins have a hollow wooden body, and commonly have four
strings (sometimes
five), usually tuned in
perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and are most commonly played by drawing a
bow across the strings. The violin can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (
pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (
col legno).
The composer
Sergei Rachmaninoff produced a number of solo
piano pieces that were either lost, unpublished, or not assigned an
opus number. While often disregarded in the concert repertoire, they are nevertheless part of his oeuvre. Sixteen of these pieces are extant; all others are lost. Ten of these pieces were composed before he completed his
Piano Concerto No. 1, his first opus, and the rest interspersed throughout his later life. In these casual works, he draws upon the influence of other composers, including
Frédéric Chopin and
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The more substantial works, the Three Nocturnes and Four Pieces, are sets of well-thought out pieces that are his first attempts at cohesive structure among multiple pieces. Oriental Sketch and Prelude in D minor, two pieces he composed very late in his life, are short works that exemplify his style as a mature composer. Whether completed as a child or adult, these pieces cover a wide spectrum of forms while maintaining his characteristic Russian style. (Full article...)
Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy
Esterházy family at their
Eszterháza Castle. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. (Full article...)
The Symphony No. 5 in
C minor,
Op. 67, also known as the Fate Symphony (German: Schicksalssinfonie), is a
symphony composed by
Ludwig van Beethoven between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known compositions in
classical music and one of the most frequently played symphonies, and it is widely considered one of
the cornerstones of
western music. First performed in Vienna's
Theater an der Wien in 1808, the work achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterward.
E. T. A. Hoffmann described the symphony as "one of the most important works of the time". As is typical of symphonies during the
Classical period, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony has four
movements.
It begins with a distinctive four-note "short-short-short-long"
motif, often characterized as "
fate knocking at the door", the Schicksals-Motiv (
fate motif): (Full article...)
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Franz Schubert's final chamber work, the String Quintet in C major (
D. 956,
Op. posth. 163) is sometimes called the "Cello Quintet" because it is scored for a standard
string quartet plus an extra cello instead of the extra viola which is more usual in conventional string quintets. It was composed in 1828 and completed just two months before the composer's death. The first public performance of the piece did not occur until 1850, and publication occurred three years later in 1853. Schubert's only full-fledged string quintet, it has been praised as "sublime" or "extraordinary" and as possessing "bottomless pathos," and is generally regarded as Schubert's finest chamber work as well as one of the greatest compositions in all
chamber music. (Full article...)
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The Mozart family grand tour was a journey through
western Europe, undertaken by
Leopold Mozart, his wife
Anna Maria, and their musically gifted children
Maria Anna (Nannerl) and
Wolfgang Theophilus (Wolferl) from 1763 to 1766. At the start of the tour the children were aged eleven and seven respectively. Their extraordinary skills had been demonstrated during a visit to Vienna in 1762, when they had played before the Empress
Maria Theresa at the
Imperial Court. Sensing the social and pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip embracing the capitals and main cultural centres of Europe, Leopold obtained an extended leave of absence from his post as deputy
Kapellmeister to the
Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg. Throughout the subsequent tour, the children's Wunderkind status was confirmed as their precocious performances consistently amazed and gratified their audiences.
The first stage of the tour's itinerary took the family, via Munich and
Frankfurt, to
Brussels and then on to Paris where they stayed for five months. They then departed for London, where during a stay of more than a year Wolfgang made the acquaintance of some of the leading musicians of the day, heard much music, and composed his first
symphonies. The family then moved on to the Netherlands, where the schedule of performances was interrupted by the illnesses of both children, although Wolfgang continued to compose prolifically. The homeward phase incorporated a second stop in Paris and a trip through Switzerland, before the family's return to
Salzburg in November 1766. (Full article...)
Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer's and librettist's original wishes were carried out and "
realistic" productions were staged. La traviata has become immensely popular and is among the most frequently performed of all operas. (Full article...)
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The composer (
c. 1900)
Finlandia,
Op. 26, is a
tone poem by the
Finnish composer
Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the
Russian Empire, and was the last of seven pieces performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from
Finnish history. The premiere was on 2 July 1900 in
Helsinki with the
Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by
Robert Kajanus. A typical performance takes between 7½ and 9 minutes depending on how it is performed.
In order to avoid Russian censorship, Finlandia had to be performed under alternative names at various musical concerts. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous and often confusing—famous examples include Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring, and A Scandinavian Choral March. According to Finland's tourism website, "While Finland was still a Grand Duchy under Russia performances within the empire had to take place under the covert title of 'Impromptu'." (Full article...)
Picander included a quotation from
Genesis 32:26–32 in the first movement, and the last stanza of Christian Keymann's "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" in the closing chorale. The contemplation begins with the
Old Testament quotation being applied to Jesus, and leads to the last aria expressing an eager wish for death to arrive soon. The closing
chorale picks up the first line. (Full article...)
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Brahms in 1885
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in
B♭ major,
Op. 83, by
Johannes Brahms is separated by a gap of 22 years from his
first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in
Pressbaum near
Vienna. It took him three years to work on this concerto, which indicates that he was always self-critical. He wrote to Clara Schumann: "I want to tell you that I have written a very small piano concerto with a very small and pretty scherzo." Ironically, he was describing a huge piece. This concerto is dedicated to his teacher,
Eduard Marxsen. The public premiere of the concerto was given in
Budapest on 9 November 1881, with Brahms as soloist and the
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, and was an immediate success. He proceeded to perform the piece in many cities across Europe.
The piece is scored for 2
flutes, 2
oboes, 2
clarinets (B♭), 2
bassoons, 4
horns (initially 2 in B♭ bass, 2 in F), 2
trumpets (B♭),
timpani (B♭ and F, A and D in second movement) and
strings. (The trumpets and timpani are used only in the first two movements, which is unusual.) (Full article...)
Image 13Portion of Du Fay's setting of Ave maris stella, in fauxbourdon. The top line is a paraphrase of the chant; the middle line, designated "fauxbourdon", (not written) follows the top line but exactly a perfect fourth below. The bottom line is often, but not always, a sixth below the top line; it is embellished, and reaches cadences on the octave.Play (from Renaissance music)
Image 34Musicians from 'Procession in honour of Our Lady of Sablon in Brussels.' Early 17th-century Flemish
alta cappella. From left to right: bass
dulcian, alto
shawm, treble cornett, soprano shawm, alto shawm, tenor
sackbut. (from Renaissance music)
Image 37A modern string quartet. In the 2000s,
string quartets from the Classical era are the core of the chamber music literature. From left to right: violin 1, violin 2, cello, viola (from Classical period (music))
Entries here consist of
Good and
Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Image 1
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron BrittenOMCH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945).
Born in
Lowestoft,
Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early age. He studied at the
Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer
Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-scale operas for
Sadler's Wells and
Covent Garden, he wrote
chamber operas for small forces, suitable for performance in venues of modest size. Among the best known of these is The Turn of the Screw (1954). Recurring themes in his operas include the struggle of an outsider against a hostile society and the corruption of innocence. (Full article...)
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Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of The Crucifixion, still heard at
Passiontide in some
Anglican churches), was very popular during his lifetime. His work as choir trainer and organist set standards for
Anglican church music that are still influential. He was also active as an academic, becoming Heather Professor of Music at
Oxford.
Stainer was born in
Southwark, London, in 1840, the son of a schoolmaster. He became a
chorister at
St Paul's Cathedral when aged ten and was appointed to the position of organist at
St Michael's College, Tenbury, at the age of sixteen. He later became organist at
Magdalen College, Oxford, and subsequently organist at St Paul's Cathedral. When he retired owing to his poor eyesight and deteriorating health, he returned to Oxford to become Professor of Music at the university. He died unexpectedly while on holiday in Italy in 1901. (Full article...)
Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. Sousa's father enlisted him in the
United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868. He left the band in 1875, and over the next five years, Sousa performed as a violinist and learned to conduct. In 1880, he rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director, after which Sousa was hired to conduct a band organized by David Blakely,
P.S. Gilmore's former agent. Blakely wanted to compete with Gilmore. From 1880 until his death, Sousa focused exclusively on conducting and writing music. He aided in the development of the
sousaphone, a large brass instrument similar to the
helicon and
tuba. (Full article...)
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Jean Sibelius (forename in theFrench pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃]surname in theFinland Swedish:[siˈbeːliʉs]ⓘ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and
early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped
Finland develop a stronger
national identity when his country was struggling from several
attempts at Russification in the late 19th century.
Leonard Joseph Tristano (March 19, 1919 – November 18, 1978) was an American
jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher of jazz improvisation.
Tristano studied for bachelor's and master's degrees in music in Chicago before moving to New York City in 1946. He played with leading
bebop musicians and formed his own small bands, which soon displayed some of his early interests –
contrapuntal interaction of instruments, harmonic flexibility, and rhythmic complexity. His quintet in 1949 recorded the first
free group improvisations. Tristano's innovations continued in 1951, with the first
overdubbed, improvised jazz recordings, and two years later, when he recorded an
atonal improvised solo piano piece that was based on the development of motifs rather than on harmonies. He developed further via
polyrhythms and
chromaticism into the 1960s, but was infrequently recorded. (Full article...)
Strauss was the son of
Johann Strauss I and his first wife Maria Anna Streim. Two younger brothers,
Josef and
Eduard Strauss, also became composers of light music, although they were never as well known as their brother. (Full article...)
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Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with
Impressionism along with his elder contemporary
Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.
Born to a music-loving family, Ravel attended France's premier music college, the
Paris Conservatoire; he was not well regarded by its conservative establishment, whose biased treatment of him caused a scandal. After leaving the conservatoire, Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity and incorporating elements of
modernism,
baroque,
neoclassicism and, in his later works,
jazz. He liked to experiment with musical form, as in his best-known work, Boléro (1928), in which repetition takes the place of development. Renowned for his abilities in
orchestration, Ravel made some orchestral arrangements of other composers' piano music, of which his 1922 version of
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known. (Full article...)
In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than in the art of war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father,
Frederick William I of Prussia. However, upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he attacked and annexed the rich
Austrian province of
Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim for himself and Prussia. He became an influential military theorist, whose analyses emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. (Full article...)
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Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 1894 – 17 December 1930), known by the
pseudonymPeter Warlock, was a British
composer and music critic. The
Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in
occult practices, was used for all his published musical works. He is best known as a composer of songs and other vocal music; he also achieved notoriety in his lifetime through his unconventional and often scandalous lifestyle.
As a schoolboy at
Eton College, Heseltine met the British composer
Frederick Delius, with whom he formed a close friendship. After a failed student career in Oxford and London, Heseltine turned to musical journalism, while developing interests in folk-song and
Elizabethan music. His first serious compositions date from around 1915. Following a period of inactivity, a positive and lasting influence on his work arose from his meeting in 1916 with the Dutch composer
Bernard van Dieren; he also gained creative impetus from a year spent in Ireland, studying
Celtic culture and language. On his return to England in 1918, Heseltine began composing songs in a distinctive, original style, while building a reputation as a combative and controversial music critic. During 1920–21 he edited the music magazine The Sackbut. His most prolific period as a composer came in the 1920s, when he was based first in Wales and later at
Eynsford in
Kent. (Full article...)
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Guto Pryderi Puw (2018)
Guto Pryderi Puw (born 1971) is a Welsh composer, university lecturer and
conductor. He is considered to be one of the most prominent Welsh composers of his generation and a key figure in current Welsh music. Puw's music has been broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 and been featured on television programmes for the
BBC and
S4C. He has twice been awarded the Composer's Medal at the
National Eisteddfod.
Puw's works include pieces for unusual combinations of instruments, such as a
tuba quartet or a trio consisting of
harp, cello and
double-bass, as well as more traditional forces such as solo
baritone and piano,
choir or orchestra. He was associated with the
BBC National Orchestra of Wales as its Resident Composer, the first holder of this title, from 2006 to 2010. Puw's own Welsh identity is a recurrent theme in his music: some of his pieces set Welsh-language poetry to music and one of his pieces, Reservoirs, is written about the flooding of Welsh valleys to provide water for England. (Full article...)
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Wagner in 1871
Wilhelm Richard Wagner (/ˈvɑːɡnər/VAHG-nər; German:[ˈʁɪçaʁtˈvaːɡnɐ]ⓘ; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director,
polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his
operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the
libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of
Carl Maria von Weber and
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the
Nibelung).
His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex
textures, rich
harmonies and
orchestration, and the elaborate use of
leitmotifs—musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas, or plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as extreme
chromaticism and quickly shifting
tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of
modern music. (Full article...)
Born in
Oldham,
Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at
Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary
Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His earliest work of note was a collaboration with
Edith Sitwell, Façade, which at first brought him notoriety as a
modernist, but later became a popular ballet score. (Full article...)
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Frederik Magle conducting on 20 September 2011, in the DRs
Koncerthuset.
Frederik Reesen Magle (Danish pronunciation:[ˈfʁeðˀʁekˈmɑwlə]; born 17 April 1977) is a
Danishcomposer,
concert organist, and
pianist. He writes
contemporary classical music as well as
fusion of classical music and other genres. His compositions include orchestral works, cantatas, chamber music, and solo works (mainly for
organ), including several compositions commissioned by the
Danish royal family. Magle has gained a reputation as an organ virtuoso, and as a composer and performing artist who does not refrain from venturing into more experimental projects – often with improvisation – bordering jazz, electronica, and other non-classical genres.
His best-known works include his concerto for organ and orchestra The Infinite Second, his brass quintet piece Lys på din vej (Light on your path), composed for the christening of
Prince Nikolai,
The Hope for brass band and choir, his
symphonic suite Cantabile, a collection of improvisations for organ titled Like a Flame, and his fanfare for two trumpets and organ
The Fairest of Roses. (Full article...)
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Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian
composer,
pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary figures of his time, and he was a sought-after keyboard instructor and a teacher of composition.
From an early age, Busoni was an outstanding, if sometimes controversial, pianist. He studied at the
Vienna Conservatory and then with
Wilhelm Mayer and
Carl Reinecke. After brief periods teaching in
Helsinki, Boston, and Moscow, he devoted himself to composing, teaching, and touring as a virtuoso pianist in Europe and the United States. His writings on music were influential, and covered not only
aesthetics but considerations of
microtones and other innovative topics. He was based in Berlin from 1894 but spent much of
World War I in Switzerland. (Full article...)
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Between 1769 and 1773, the young
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father
Leopold Mozart made three Italian journeys. The first, an extended tour of 15 months, was financed by performances for the
nobility and by public concerts, and took in the most important Italian cities. The second and third journeys were to
Milan, for Wolfgang to complete operas that had been commissioned there on the first visit. From the perspective of Wolfgang's musical development the journeys were a considerable success, and his talents were recognised by honours which included a
papal knighthood and memberships in leading philharmonic societies.
Leopold Mozart had been employed since 1747 as a musician in the
Archbishop of Salzburg's court, becoming deputy
Kapellmeister in 1763, but he had also devoted much time to Wolfgang's and sister
Nannerl's musical education. He took them on a
European tour between 1763 and 1766, and spent some of 1767 and most of 1768 with them in the
imperial capital,
Vienna. The children's performances had captivated audiences, and the pair had made a considerable impression on European society. By 1769, Nannerl had reached adulthood, but Leopold was anxious to continue 13-year-old Wolfgang's education in Italy, a crucially important destination for any rising composer of the 18th century. (Full article...)
... that the conductor Im Won-sik is considered the "father of Korea's classical music world"?
... that the choral music of Artemy Vedel, who is regarded as one of the Golden Three composers of 18th-century Ukrainian classical music, was censored but performed from handwritten copies?
... that
WFMT classical music radio host Don Tait owned such a large collection of recordings that he had to buy a house and have its floor reinforced to accommodate the weight?
... that, according to its owner, KLEF in
Anchorage, Alaska, was one of just three remaining commercially operated
classical-music radio stations in the United States, as of 2013?
... that opera singer Charles Holland spent much of his career in Europe as opportunities in classical music for African Americans were limited?
Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the
Romantic era, best known for his operas. Between 1867 and his death, he wrote more than forty stage works in a wide variety of styles, from opéra comique to grand depictions of classical myths, romantic comedies and lyric dramas, as well as oratorios, cantatas and ballets. Massenet had a good sense of the theatre and of what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he produced a series of successes that made him the leading opera composer in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the time of his death, he was regarded as old-fashioned; his works, however, began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, and many have since been staged and recorded. This photograph of Massenet was taken by French photographer
Eugène Pirou in 1875.
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall, seating a maximum of 5,272, on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. Constructed beginning in 1867, the hall was inaugurated on 29 March 1871. Since 1941 it has held
The Proms, an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events.
Johann Christian Bach (5 September 1735 – 1 January 1782) was a composer of the Classical era, the eighteenth child of
Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. Bach was taught by his father and then, after the latter's death, by his half-brother
C. P. E. Bach. Bach moved to Italy in 1754, and then to London in 1762, where he became known as the "London Bach". Bach's compositions include eleven operas, as well as chamber music, orchestral music and compositions for keyboard music. In 1764 Bach met
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was eight at the time, and spent five months teaching him composition. He had considerable influence on Mozart, and was later described by scholars as his "only, true teacher".
The anatomy of a Périnet piston valve, this one taken from a
B♭trumpet. When depressed, the valve diverts the air stream through additional tubing, thus lengthening the instrument and lowering the
harmonic series on which the instrument is vibrating (i.e., it lowers the
pitch). Trumpets generally use three valves, with some variations, such as a
piccolo trumpet, having four. When used singly or in combination, the valves make the instrument fully
chromatic, or capable of playing all twelve pitches of
classical music. Trumpets may also use
rotary valves instead.
Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian
Stradivari family, particularly
Antonio Stradivari.
Sheet music for the Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53, a solo
piano piece written by
Frédéric Chopin in 1842. This work is one of Chopin's most admired compositions and has long been a favorite of the classical piano repertoire. The piece, which is very difficult, requires exceptional pianistic skills and great
virtuosity to be interpreted. A typical performance of the
polonaise lasts seven minutes.
Billy Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American
jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, best remembered for his long-time collaboration with bandleader and composer
Duke Ellington that lasted nearly three decades. Though classical music was Strayhorn's first love, his ambition to become a classical composer went unrealized because of the harsh reality of a black man trying to make his way in the world of classical music, which at that time was almost completely white. He was introduced to the music of pianists like
Art Tatum and
Teddy Wilson at age 19, and the artistic influence of these musicians guided him into the realm of jazz, where he remained for the rest of his life. This photograph of Strayhorn was taken by
William P. Gottlieb in the 1940s.
Various recorders (second from the bottom disassembled into its three parts)
The recorder is a family of
woodwindmusical instruments in the group known as internal duct flutes:
flutes with a
whistle mouthpiece, also known as
fipple flutes. A recorder can be distinguished from other duct flutes by the presence of a thumb-hole for the upper hand and seven finger-holes: three for the upper hand and four for the lower. It is the most prominent duct flute in the
western classical tradition.
Recorders are made in various sizes with names and compasses roughly corresponding to various vocal ranges. The sizes most commonly in use today are the soprano (also known as descant, lowest note
C5), alto (also known as treble, lowest note F4), tenor (lowest note C4), and bass (lowest note F3). Recorders were traditionally constructed from wood or ivory. Modern professional instruments are almost invariably of wood, often
boxwood; student and scholastic recorders are commonly of moulded plastic. The recorders' internal and external proportions vary, but the bore is generally reverse conical (i.e. tapering towards the foot) to cylindrical, and all recorder fingering systems make extensive use of
forked fingerings. (Full article...)
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The violin, colloquially known as a fiddle, is a wooden
chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (
soprano) in regular use in the
violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the
violino piccolo and the
pochette, but these are virtually unused. Most violins have a hollow wooden body, and commonly have four
strings (sometimes
five), usually tuned in
perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and are most commonly played by drawing a
bow across the strings. The violin can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (
pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (
col legno).
The composer
Sergei Rachmaninoff produced a number of solo
piano pieces that were either lost, unpublished, or not assigned an
opus number. While often disregarded in the concert repertoire, they are nevertheless part of his oeuvre. Sixteen of these pieces are extant; all others are lost. Ten of these pieces were composed before he completed his
Piano Concerto No. 1, his first opus, and the rest interspersed throughout his later life. In these casual works, he draws upon the influence of other composers, including
Frédéric Chopin and
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The more substantial works, the Three Nocturnes and Four Pieces, are sets of well-thought out pieces that are his first attempts at cohesive structure among multiple pieces. Oriental Sketch and Prelude in D minor, two pieces he composed very late in his life, are short works that exemplify his style as a mature composer. Whether completed as a child or adult, these pieces cover a wide spectrum of forms while maintaining his characteristic Russian style. (Full article...)
Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy
Esterházy family at their
Eszterháza Castle. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. (Full article...)
The Symphony No. 5 in
C minor,
Op. 67, also known as the Fate Symphony (German: Schicksalssinfonie), is a
symphony composed by
Ludwig van Beethoven between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known compositions in
classical music and one of the most frequently played symphonies, and it is widely considered one of
the cornerstones of
western music. First performed in Vienna's
Theater an der Wien in 1808, the work achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterward.
E. T. A. Hoffmann described the symphony as "one of the most important works of the time". As is typical of symphonies during the
Classical period, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony has four
movements.
It begins with a distinctive four-note "short-short-short-long"
motif, often characterized as "
fate knocking at the door", the Schicksals-Motiv (
fate motif): (Full article...)
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Franz Schubert's final chamber work, the String Quintet in C major (
D. 956,
Op. posth. 163) is sometimes called the "Cello Quintet" because it is scored for a standard
string quartet plus an extra cello instead of the extra viola which is more usual in conventional string quintets. It was composed in 1828 and completed just two months before the composer's death. The first public performance of the piece did not occur until 1850, and publication occurred three years later in 1853. Schubert's only full-fledged string quintet, it has been praised as "sublime" or "extraordinary" and as possessing "bottomless pathos," and is generally regarded as Schubert's finest chamber work as well as one of the greatest compositions in all
chamber music. (Full article...)
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The Mozart family grand tour was a journey through
western Europe, undertaken by
Leopold Mozart, his wife
Anna Maria, and their musically gifted children
Maria Anna (Nannerl) and
Wolfgang Theophilus (Wolferl) from 1763 to 1766. At the start of the tour the children were aged eleven and seven respectively. Their extraordinary skills had been demonstrated during a visit to Vienna in 1762, when they had played before the Empress
Maria Theresa at the
Imperial Court. Sensing the social and pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip embracing the capitals and main cultural centres of Europe, Leopold obtained an extended leave of absence from his post as deputy
Kapellmeister to the
Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg. Throughout the subsequent tour, the children's Wunderkind status was confirmed as their precocious performances consistently amazed and gratified their audiences.
The first stage of the tour's itinerary took the family, via Munich and
Frankfurt, to
Brussels and then on to Paris where they stayed for five months. They then departed for London, where during a stay of more than a year Wolfgang made the acquaintance of some of the leading musicians of the day, heard much music, and composed his first
symphonies. The family then moved on to the Netherlands, where the schedule of performances was interrupted by the illnesses of both children, although Wolfgang continued to compose prolifically. The homeward phase incorporated a second stop in Paris and a trip through Switzerland, before the family's return to
Salzburg in November 1766. (Full article...)
Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer's and librettist's original wishes were carried out and "
realistic" productions were staged. La traviata has become immensely popular and is among the most frequently performed of all operas. (Full article...)
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The composer (
c. 1900)
Finlandia,
Op. 26, is a
tone poem by the
Finnish composer
Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the
Russian Empire, and was the last of seven pieces performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from
Finnish history. The premiere was on 2 July 1900 in
Helsinki with the
Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by
Robert Kajanus. A typical performance takes between 7½ and 9 minutes depending on how it is performed.
In order to avoid Russian censorship, Finlandia had to be performed under alternative names at various musical concerts. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous and often confusing—famous examples include Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring, and A Scandinavian Choral March. According to Finland's tourism website, "While Finland was still a Grand Duchy under Russia performances within the empire had to take place under the covert title of 'Impromptu'." (Full article...)
Picander included a quotation from
Genesis 32:26–32 in the first movement, and the last stanza of Christian Keymann's "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" in the closing chorale. The contemplation begins with the
Old Testament quotation being applied to Jesus, and leads to the last aria expressing an eager wish for death to arrive soon. The closing
chorale picks up the first line. (Full article...)
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Brahms in 1885
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in
B♭ major,
Op. 83, by
Johannes Brahms is separated by a gap of 22 years from his
first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in
Pressbaum near
Vienna. It took him three years to work on this concerto, which indicates that he was always self-critical. He wrote to Clara Schumann: "I want to tell you that I have written a very small piano concerto with a very small and pretty scherzo." Ironically, he was describing a huge piece. This concerto is dedicated to his teacher,
Eduard Marxsen. The public premiere of the concerto was given in
Budapest on 9 November 1881, with Brahms as soloist and the
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, and was an immediate success. He proceeded to perform the piece in many cities across Europe.
The piece is scored for 2
flutes, 2
oboes, 2
clarinets (B♭), 2
bassoons, 4
horns (initially 2 in B♭ bass, 2 in F), 2
trumpets (B♭),
timpani (B♭ and F, A and D in second movement) and
strings. (The trumpets and timpani are used only in the first two movements, which is unusual.) (Full article...)
Image 13Portion of Du Fay's setting of Ave maris stella, in fauxbourdon. The top line is a paraphrase of the chant; the middle line, designated "fauxbourdon", (not written) follows the top line but exactly a perfect fourth below. The bottom line is often, but not always, a sixth below the top line; it is embellished, and reaches cadences on the octave.Play (from Renaissance music)
Image 34Musicians from 'Procession in honour of Our Lady of Sablon in Brussels.' Early 17th-century Flemish
alta cappella. From left to right: bass
dulcian, alto
shawm, treble cornett, soprano shawm, alto shawm, tenor
sackbut. (from Renaissance music)
Image 37A modern string quartet. In the 2000s,
string quartets from the Classical era are the core of the chamber music literature. From left to right: violin 1, violin 2, cello, viola (from Classical period (music))
Entries here consist of
Good and
Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Image 1
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron BrittenOMCH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945).
Born in
Lowestoft,
Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early age. He studied at the
Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer
Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-scale operas for
Sadler's Wells and
Covent Garden, he wrote
chamber operas for small forces, suitable for performance in venues of modest size. Among the best known of these is The Turn of the Screw (1954). Recurring themes in his operas include the struggle of an outsider against a hostile society and the corruption of innocence. (Full article...)
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Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of The Crucifixion, still heard at
Passiontide in some
Anglican churches), was very popular during his lifetime. His work as choir trainer and organist set standards for
Anglican church music that are still influential. He was also active as an academic, becoming Heather Professor of Music at
Oxford.
Stainer was born in
Southwark, London, in 1840, the son of a schoolmaster. He became a
chorister at
St Paul's Cathedral when aged ten and was appointed to the position of organist at
St Michael's College, Tenbury, at the age of sixteen. He later became organist at
Magdalen College, Oxford, and subsequently organist at St Paul's Cathedral. When he retired owing to his poor eyesight and deteriorating health, he returned to Oxford to become Professor of Music at the university. He died unexpectedly while on holiday in Italy in 1901. (Full article...)
Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. Sousa's father enlisted him in the
United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868. He left the band in 1875, and over the next five years, Sousa performed as a violinist and learned to conduct. In 1880, he rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director, after which Sousa was hired to conduct a band organized by David Blakely,
P.S. Gilmore's former agent. Blakely wanted to compete with Gilmore. From 1880 until his death, Sousa focused exclusively on conducting and writing music. He aided in the development of the
sousaphone, a large brass instrument similar to the
helicon and
tuba. (Full article...)
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Jean Sibelius (forename in theFrench pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃]surname in theFinland Swedish:[siˈbeːliʉs]ⓘ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and
early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped
Finland develop a stronger
national identity when his country was struggling from several
attempts at Russification in the late 19th century.
Leonard Joseph Tristano (March 19, 1919 – November 18, 1978) was an American
jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher of jazz improvisation.
Tristano studied for bachelor's and master's degrees in music in Chicago before moving to New York City in 1946. He played with leading
bebop musicians and formed his own small bands, which soon displayed some of his early interests –
contrapuntal interaction of instruments, harmonic flexibility, and rhythmic complexity. His quintet in 1949 recorded the first
free group improvisations. Tristano's innovations continued in 1951, with the first
overdubbed, improvised jazz recordings, and two years later, when he recorded an
atonal improvised solo piano piece that was based on the development of motifs rather than on harmonies. He developed further via
polyrhythms and
chromaticism into the 1960s, but was infrequently recorded. (Full article...)
Strauss was the son of
Johann Strauss I and his first wife Maria Anna Streim. Two younger brothers,
Josef and
Eduard Strauss, also became composers of light music, although they were never as well known as their brother. (Full article...)
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Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with
Impressionism along with his elder contemporary
Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.
Born to a music-loving family, Ravel attended France's premier music college, the
Paris Conservatoire; he was not well regarded by its conservative establishment, whose biased treatment of him caused a scandal. After leaving the conservatoire, Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity and incorporating elements of
modernism,
baroque,
neoclassicism and, in his later works,
jazz. He liked to experiment with musical form, as in his best-known work, Boléro (1928), in which repetition takes the place of development. Renowned for his abilities in
orchestration, Ravel made some orchestral arrangements of other composers' piano music, of which his 1922 version of
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known. (Full article...)
In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than in the art of war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father,
Frederick William I of Prussia. However, upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he attacked and annexed the rich
Austrian province of
Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim for himself and Prussia. He became an influential military theorist, whose analyses emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. (Full article...)
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Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 1894 – 17 December 1930), known by the
pseudonymPeter Warlock, was a British
composer and music critic. The
Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in
occult practices, was used for all his published musical works. He is best known as a composer of songs and other vocal music; he also achieved notoriety in his lifetime through his unconventional and often scandalous lifestyle.
As a schoolboy at
Eton College, Heseltine met the British composer
Frederick Delius, with whom he formed a close friendship. After a failed student career in Oxford and London, Heseltine turned to musical journalism, while developing interests in folk-song and
Elizabethan music. His first serious compositions date from around 1915. Following a period of inactivity, a positive and lasting influence on his work arose from his meeting in 1916 with the Dutch composer
Bernard van Dieren; he also gained creative impetus from a year spent in Ireland, studying
Celtic culture and language. On his return to England in 1918, Heseltine began composing songs in a distinctive, original style, while building a reputation as a combative and controversial music critic. During 1920–21 he edited the music magazine The Sackbut. His most prolific period as a composer came in the 1920s, when he was based first in Wales and later at
Eynsford in
Kent. (Full article...)
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Guto Pryderi Puw (2018)
Guto Pryderi Puw (born 1971) is a Welsh composer, university lecturer and
conductor. He is considered to be one of the most prominent Welsh composers of his generation and a key figure in current Welsh music. Puw's music has been broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 and been featured on television programmes for the
BBC and
S4C. He has twice been awarded the Composer's Medal at the
National Eisteddfod.
Puw's works include pieces for unusual combinations of instruments, such as a
tuba quartet or a trio consisting of
harp, cello and
double-bass, as well as more traditional forces such as solo
baritone and piano,
choir or orchestra. He was associated with the
BBC National Orchestra of Wales as its Resident Composer, the first holder of this title, from 2006 to 2010. Puw's own Welsh identity is a recurrent theme in his music: some of his pieces set Welsh-language poetry to music and one of his pieces, Reservoirs, is written about the flooding of Welsh valleys to provide water for England. (Full article...)
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Wagner in 1871
Wilhelm Richard Wagner (/ˈvɑːɡnər/VAHG-nər; German:[ˈʁɪçaʁtˈvaːɡnɐ]ⓘ; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director,
polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his
operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the
libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of
Carl Maria von Weber and
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the
Nibelung).
His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex
textures, rich
harmonies and
orchestration, and the elaborate use of
leitmotifs—musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas, or plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as extreme
chromaticism and quickly shifting
tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of
modern music. (Full article...)
Born in
Oldham,
Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at
Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary
Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His earliest work of note was a collaboration with
Edith Sitwell, Façade, which at first brought him notoriety as a
modernist, but later became a popular ballet score. (Full article...)
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Frederik Magle conducting on 20 September 2011, in the DRs
Koncerthuset.
Frederik Reesen Magle (Danish pronunciation:[ˈfʁeðˀʁekˈmɑwlə]; born 17 April 1977) is a
Danishcomposer,
concert organist, and
pianist. He writes
contemporary classical music as well as
fusion of classical music and other genres. His compositions include orchestral works, cantatas, chamber music, and solo works (mainly for
organ), including several compositions commissioned by the
Danish royal family. Magle has gained a reputation as an organ virtuoso, and as a composer and performing artist who does not refrain from venturing into more experimental projects – often with improvisation – bordering jazz, electronica, and other non-classical genres.
His best-known works include his concerto for organ and orchestra The Infinite Second, his brass quintet piece Lys på din vej (Light on your path), composed for the christening of
Prince Nikolai,
The Hope for brass band and choir, his
symphonic suite Cantabile, a collection of improvisations for organ titled Like a Flame, and his fanfare for two trumpets and organ
The Fairest of Roses. (Full article...)
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Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian
composer,
pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary figures of his time, and he was a sought-after keyboard instructor and a teacher of composition.
From an early age, Busoni was an outstanding, if sometimes controversial, pianist. He studied at the
Vienna Conservatory and then with
Wilhelm Mayer and
Carl Reinecke. After brief periods teaching in
Helsinki, Boston, and Moscow, he devoted himself to composing, teaching, and touring as a virtuoso pianist in Europe and the United States. His writings on music were influential, and covered not only
aesthetics but considerations of
microtones and other innovative topics. He was based in Berlin from 1894 but spent much of
World War I in Switzerland. (Full article...)
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Between 1769 and 1773, the young
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father
Leopold Mozart made three Italian journeys. The first, an extended tour of 15 months, was financed by performances for the
nobility and by public concerts, and took in the most important Italian cities. The second and third journeys were to
Milan, for Wolfgang to complete operas that had been commissioned there on the first visit. From the perspective of Wolfgang's musical development the journeys were a considerable success, and his talents were recognised by honours which included a
papal knighthood and memberships in leading philharmonic societies.
Leopold Mozart had been employed since 1747 as a musician in the
Archbishop of Salzburg's court, becoming deputy
Kapellmeister in 1763, but he had also devoted much time to Wolfgang's and sister
Nannerl's musical education. He took them on a
European tour between 1763 and 1766, and spent some of 1767 and most of 1768 with them in the
imperial capital,
Vienna. The children's performances had captivated audiences, and the pair had made a considerable impression on European society. By 1769, Nannerl had reached adulthood, but Leopold was anxious to continue 13-year-old Wolfgang's education in Italy, a crucially important destination for any rising composer of the 18th century. (Full article...)
... that the conductor Im Won-sik is considered the "father of Korea's classical music world"?
... that the choral music of Artemy Vedel, who is regarded as one of the Golden Three composers of 18th-century Ukrainian classical music, was censored but performed from handwritten copies?
... that
WFMT classical music radio host Don Tait owned such a large collection of recordings that he had to buy a house and have its floor reinforced to accommodate the weight?
... that, according to its owner, KLEF in
Anchorage, Alaska, was one of just three remaining commercially operated
classical-music radio stations in the United States, as of 2013?
... that opera singer Charles Holland spent much of his career in Europe as opportunities in classical music for African Americans were limited?
Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the
Romantic era, best known for his operas. Between 1867 and his death, he wrote more than forty stage works in a wide variety of styles, from opéra comique to grand depictions of classical myths, romantic comedies and lyric dramas, as well as oratorios, cantatas and ballets. Massenet had a good sense of the theatre and of what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he produced a series of successes that made him the leading opera composer in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the time of his death, he was regarded as old-fashioned; his works, however, began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, and many have since been staged and recorded. This photograph of Massenet was taken by French photographer
Eugène Pirou in 1875.
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall, seating a maximum of 5,272, on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. Constructed beginning in 1867, the hall was inaugurated on 29 March 1871. Since 1941 it has held
The Proms, an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events.
Johann Christian Bach (5 September 1735 – 1 January 1782) was a composer of the Classical era, the eighteenth child of
Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. Bach was taught by his father and then, after the latter's death, by his half-brother
C. P. E. Bach. Bach moved to Italy in 1754, and then to London in 1762, where he became known as the "London Bach". Bach's compositions include eleven operas, as well as chamber music, orchestral music and compositions for keyboard music. In 1764 Bach met
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was eight at the time, and spent five months teaching him composition. He had considerable influence on Mozart, and was later described by scholars as his "only, true teacher".
The anatomy of a Périnet piston valve, this one taken from a
B♭trumpet. When depressed, the valve diverts the air stream through additional tubing, thus lengthening the instrument and lowering the
harmonic series on which the instrument is vibrating (i.e., it lowers the
pitch). Trumpets generally use three valves, with some variations, such as a
piccolo trumpet, having four. When used singly or in combination, the valves make the instrument fully
chromatic, or capable of playing all twelve pitches of
classical music. Trumpets may also use
rotary valves instead.
Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian
Stradivari family, particularly
Antonio Stradivari.
Sheet music for the Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53, a solo
piano piece written by
Frédéric Chopin in 1842. This work is one of Chopin's most admired compositions and has long been a favorite of the classical piano repertoire. The piece, which is very difficult, requires exceptional pianistic skills and great
virtuosity to be interpreted. A typical performance of the
polonaise lasts seven minutes.
Billy Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American
jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, best remembered for his long-time collaboration with bandleader and composer
Duke Ellington that lasted nearly three decades. Though classical music was Strayhorn's first love, his ambition to become a classical composer went unrealized because of the harsh reality of a black man trying to make his way in the world of classical music, which at that time was almost completely white. He was introduced to the music of pianists like
Art Tatum and
Teddy Wilson at age 19, and the artistic influence of these musicians guided him into the realm of jazz, where he remained for the rest of his life. This photograph of Strayhorn was taken by
William P. Gottlieb in the 1940s.