Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Draghi (4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (Italian: [perɡoˈleːzi; -eːsi]), was an Italian composer, violinist and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera La serva padrona (The Maid Turned Mistress). His compositions include operas and sacred music. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.
Born in Jesi in what is now the Province of Ancona (but was then part of the Papal States), he was commonly given the nickname "Pergolesi", a demonym indicating in Italian the residents of Pergola, Marche, the birthplace of his ancestors. He studied music in Jesi under a local musician, Francesco Santi, before going to Naples in 1725, where he studied under Gaetano Greco and Francesco Feo among others. On leaving the conservatory in 1731, he won some renown by performing the oratorio in two parts La fenice sul rogo, o vero La morte di San Giuseppe [it] ("The Phoenix on the Pyre, or The Death of Saint Joseph"), and the dramma sacro in three acts, Li prodigi della divina grazia nella conversione e morte di san Guglielmo duca d’Aquitania ("The Miracles of Divine Grace in the Conversion and Death of Saint William, Duke of Aquitaine"). He spent most of his brief life working for aristocratic patrons like Ferdinando Colonna, Prince of Stigliano, and Domenico Marzio Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni.
Pergolesi was one of the most important early composers of opera buffa (comic opera). His opera seria, Il prigionier superbo, contained the two-act buffa intermezzo, La serva padrona (The Servant Mistress, 28 August 1733), which became a very popular work in its own right. When it was performed in Paris in 1752, it prompted the so-called Querelle des Bouffons ("quarrel of the comic actors") between supporters of serious French opera by the likes of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau and supporters of new Italian comic opera. Pergolesi was held up as a model of the Italian style during this quarrel, which divided Paris's musical community for two years.
Among Pergolesi's other operatic works are his first opera La Salustia (1732), Lo frate 'nnamorato (The brother in love, 1732, to a text in the Neapolitan language), L'Olimpiade (January 1735) and Il Flaminio (1735, to a text in the Neapolitan language). All his operas were premiered in Naples, apart from L'Olimpiade, which was first given in Rome.
Pergolesi also wrote sacred music, including a Mass in F and three Salve Regina settings. The Lenten Hymn ‘God of Mercy and Compassion’ by Redemptorist priest Edmund Vaughan is most commonly set to a tune adapted by Pergolesi. It is his Stabat Mater (1736), however, for soprano, alto, string orchestra and basso continuo, which is his best-known sacred work. It was commissioned by the Confraternita dei Cavalieri di San Luigi di Palazzo, which presented an annual Good Friday meditation in honor of the Virgin Mary. Pergolesi's work replaced one composed by Alessandro Scarlatti only nine years before, but which was already perceived as "old-fashioned," so rapidly had public tastes changed.
While classical in scope, the opening section of the setting demonstrates Pergolesi's mastery of the Italian baroque durezze e ligature style, characterized by numerous suspensions over a faster, conjunct bassline. The work remained popular, becoming the most frequently printed musical work of the 18th century, and being arranged by a number of other composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, who reorchestrated and adapted it for a non-Marian text in his cantata Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden (Root out my sins, Highest One), BWV 1083.
Pergolesi wrote a number of secular instrumental works, including a violin sonata and a violin concerto. A considerable number of instrumental and sacred works once attributed to Pergolesi have since been shown to be misattributed. Much of Igor Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella, which ostensibly reworks pieces by Pergolesi, is actually based on works by other composers, especially Domenico Gallo. The Concerti Armonici are now known to have been composed by Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. Many colorful anecdotes related by Pergolesi's 19th-century biographer, Francesco Florimo, were later revealed as hoaxes.
Magnificat in C major
1. Magnificat 2:49
2. Et misericordia 1:44
3. Deposuit 1:47
4. Suscepit Israel 1:51
5. Sicut locutus est... Gloria 3:34
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Bedřich Smetana
Má vlast is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. While it is often presented as a single work in six movements and – with the exception of Vltava – is almost always recorded that way, the six pieces were conceived as individual works. They had their own separate premieres between 1875 and 1880; the premiere of the complete set took place on 5 November 1882 in Žofín Palace, Prague, under Adolf Čech, who had also conducted two of the individual premieres.
In these works Smetana combined the symphonic poem form pioneered by Franz Liszt with the ideals of nationalistic music which were current in the late nineteenth century. Each poem depicts some aspect of the countryside, history, or legends of Bohemia.
Since 1952 the works have been performed to open the Prague Spring International Music Festival on 12 May, the anniversary of the death of their composer.
Pergolesi died on 16 or 17 March 1736 at the age of 26 in Pozzuoli from tuberculosis and was buried at the Franciscan monastery one day later.
Pergolesi was the subject of a 1932 Italian film biopic Pergolesi. It was directed by Guido Brignone with Elio Steiner playing the role of the composer.
Má Vlast
1. Vysehrad 13:43
2. O Moldava 11:32
3. Sarka 9:40
4. Nos bosques e campos boêmios 12:22
5. Tábor 12:26
6. Blaník 13:13
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Georg Friedrich Händel
Israel in Egypt (HWV 54) is a biblical oratorio by the composer George Frideric Handel. Most scholars believe the libretto was prepared by Charles Jennens, who also compiled the biblical texts for Handel's Messiah. It is composed entirely of selected passages from the Old Testament, mainly from Exodus and the Psalms.
Israel in Egypt premiered at London's King's Theatre in the Haymarket on April 4, 1739 with Élisabeth Duparc "La Francesina", William Savage, John Beard (tenor), Turner Robinson, Gustavus Waltz, and Thomas Reinhold. Handel started it soon after the opera season at King's Theatre was cancelled for lack of subscribers. The oratorio was not well received by the first audience though commended in the Daily Post; the second performance was shortened, the mainly choral work now augmented with Italian-style arias.
The first version of the piece is in three parts rather than two, the first part more famous as "The ways of Zion do mourn", with altered text as "The sons of Israel do mourn" lamenting the death of Joseph. This section precedes the Exodus, which in the three-part version is Part II rather than Part I.
Israel in Egypt
Part I
1. Recitative: Now there arose a new King
2. Solo and Double Chorus
a. Solo: And the children of Israel sighed (Alto)
b. Double Chorus: And their cry came up to God
3. Recitative: Then sent he Moses (Tenor)
4. Chorus: They loathed to drink of the river
5. Aria: Their land brought forth frogs (Alto)
6. Double Chorus: He spake the word
7. Double Chorus: He gave them hailstones
8. Chorus: He sent a thick darkness
9. Chorus: He smote all the first-born of Egypt
10. Chorus: But for his people
11. Chorus: Egypt was glad
12. Double Chorus: He rebuked the Red Sea
13. Chorus: He led them through the deep
14. Chorus: But the waters overwhelmed
15. Double Chorus: And Israel saw that great work
16. Chorus: And believed the Lord
Part II
17. Double Chorus: Moses and the children of Israel
18. Double Chorus: I will sing unto the Lord
19. Duet: The Lord is my strength (2 Sopranos)
20. Double Chorus: He is my God
21. Chorus: And I will exalt Him
22. Duet: The Lord is a man of war (2 Basses)
23. Double Chorus: The depths have covered them
24. Double Chorus: Thy right hand, O Lord
25. Double Chorus: And in the greatness
26. Double Chorus: Thou sentest forth Thy wrath
27. Chorus: And with the blast of Thy nostrils
28. Aria: The enemy said (Tenor)
29. Aria: Thou didst blow (Soprano)
30. Double Chorus: Who is like unto Thee
31. Double Chorus: The earth swallow'd them
32. Duet: Thou in Thy mercy (Alto, Tenor)
33. Double Chorus: The people shall hear
34. Aria: Thou shalt bring them in (Alto)
35. Double Chorus: The Lord shall reign
36. Recitative: For the horse of Pharaoh (Tenor)
37. Double Chorus: The Lord shall reign
38. Recitative: And Miriam, the prophetess (Tenor)
39. Solo Soprano and Double Chorus: Sing ye to the Lord
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Johann Strauss - Rosen aus dem Süden Op. 388
Johann Strauss I (German: Johann Baptist Strauß, Johann Strauss (Vater); also Johann Baptist Strauss, Johann Strauss Sr., the Elder, the Father; March 14, 1804 – September 25, 1849) was an Austrian Romantic composer. He was famous for his waltzes, and he popularized them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty. He is perhaps best known for his composition of the Radetzky March (named after Joseph Radetzky von Radetz).
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ave verum corpus (Hail, true body), (K. 618), is a motet in D major composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791. It is a setting of the Latin hymn Ave verum corpus. Mozart wrote it for Anton Stoll, a friend who was the church musician of St. Stephan in Baden bei Wien. The motet was composed for the feast of Corpus Christi; the autograph is dated 17 June 1791. It is scored for SATB choir, string instruments and organ.
Mozart composed the motet in 1791 in the middle of writing his opera Die Zauberflöte.[1] He wrote it while visiting his wife Constanze, who was pregnant with their sixth child and staying in the spa Baden bei Wien. Mozart set the 14th century Eucharistic hymn in Latin "Ave verum corpus". He wrote the motet for Anton Stoll, a friend of his and of Joseph Haydn.[2] Stoll was the musical director of the parish St. Stephan, Baden. The setting was composed to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi; the autograph is dated 17 June 1791. (The Feast of Corpus Christi falls on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, and in 1791 was observed on June 23.) The composition is only forty-six bars long and is scored for SATB choir, string instruments, and organ. Mozart's manuscript contains minimal directions, with only a single sotto voce marking at the beginning.
The motet was composed less than six months before Mozart's death. It foreshadows "aspects of the Requiem such as declamatory gesture, textures, and integration of forward- and backward-looking stylistic elements". While the Requiem is a dramatic composition, the motet expresses the Eucharistic thoughts with simple means, suited for the church choir in a small town.
Franz Liszt made transcriptions of Mozart's motet for piano solo [Searle 461a] and for organ [Searle 674d], and also quoted Mozart in his fantasie piece Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine [Searle 461], in versions for piano, organ, orchestra, and piano duet. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky incorporates an orchestration of Liszt's transcription in his fourth orchestral suite, Mozartiana, Op. 61, a tribute to Mozart's music
Ave Verum K 618
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219, often referred to by the nickname The Turkish, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1775, premiering during the Christmas season that year in Salzburg. It follows the typical fast-slow-fast musical structure.
Mozart composed the majority of his concertos for string instruments from 1773 to 1779, but it is unknown for whom, or for what occasion, he wrote them. Similarly, the dating of these works is unclear. Analysis of the handwriting, papers and watermarks has proved that all five violin concertos were re-dated several times. The year of composition of the fifth concerto "1775" was scratched out and replaced by "1780", and later changed again to "1775". Mozart would not use the key of A major for a concerto again until the Piano Concerto No. 12 (K. 414)..
Violin Concerto No. 5 K 219
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Frédéric Chopin - Impromptu No. 4 Op. 66
Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu (Polish: Fantazja-Impromptu) in C♯ minor Op. posth. 66 is a solo piano composition. It was composed in 1834 and published posthumously in 1855 despite Chopin's instruction that none of his unpublished manuscripts be published. The Fantaisie-Impromptu is one of Chopin's most frequently performed and popular compositions.
The Fantaisie-Impromptu was written in 1834, as were the Four Mazurkas (Op. 17) and the Grande valse brillante in E♭ major (Op. 18), but unlike these other works, Chopin never published the Fantaisie-Impromptu. Instead, Julian Fontana published it posthumously, along with other waltzes Opp. 69 and 70.[3] It is unknown why Chopin did not release the Fantaisie-Impromptu. James Huneker called parts of it "mawkish" and "without nobility". Ernst Oster conducted a technical examination of the piece which hints at similarities between the Fantaisie-Impromptu and Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata (Quasi una fantasia), which he cites as the reason for Chopin's reluctance to publish the piece.
The mystery may have been solved in 1960 when pianist Arthur Rubinstein acquired the "Album of the Baroness d'Este" which had been sold at auction in Paris. The album contained a manuscript of the Fantaisie-Impromptu in Chopin's own hand, dated 1835, stating on the title page in French "Composed for the Baroness d'Este by Frédéric Chopin". The facts of its authenticity having been "guaranteed by the French authorities" and that it shows "a delicate care for detail" and "many improvements in harmony and style" in comparison to the previously published version, Rubinstein considered absolute proof that it is the finished work. In his preface to the "Rubinstein Edition", published by G. Schirmer, Inc. in 1962, Rubinstein surmises that the words "Composed for" in place of a dedication imply that Chopin received a paid commission for the work, so he had actually sold it to the Baroness.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Great Mass in C minor (German: Große Messe in c-Moll), K. 427/417a, is the common name of the musical setting of the mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and considered one of his greatest works. He composed it in Vienna in 1782 and 1783 after his marriage when he moved to Vienna from Salzburg. This large-scale work, a missa solemnis, is scored for two soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, double chorus and large orchestra. It remained unfinished, missing large portions of the Credo and the complete Agnus Dei.
Great Mass in C minor K 427
1. Kyrie 6:52
2. Gloria 2:12
3. Laudamus te 4:52
4. Gratias 1:25
5. Domine 2:51
6. Qui tollis 5:20
7. Quoniam 4:21
8. Jesu Christe - Cum Sancto Spiritu 4:31
9. 3 Credo: Credo in unum Deum 3:25
10. Et incarnatus est 8:16
11. 4 Sanctus 3:34
12. Benedictus 5:34
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Divertimento in B Flat Major K 137 (Salzburg Symphony No. 2)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period.
Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his early death at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized.
He composed more than 600 works, many of which are acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is considered among the greatest classical composers of all time, and his influence is profound on subsequent Western art music. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote: "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years".
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Arcangelo Corelli - 12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 Concerto No. 4 in D major
Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of the violin, and as the first coalescing of modern tonality and functional harmony.
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