Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák's Requiem in B♭ minor, Op. 89, B. 165, is a funeral Mass scored for soloists, choir and orchestra. It was composed in 1890 and performed for the first time on 9 October 1891, in Birmingham, England, with the composer conducting.
Requiem Op. 89
1. I Requiem aeternam 10:37
2. II Graduale 5:08
3. III Dies irae 2:09
4. IV Tuba mirum 8:35
5. V Quid sum miser 6:02
6. VI Recordare 6:59
7. VII Confutatis maledictis 4:15
8. VIII Lacrimosa 6:11
9. IX Offertorium 11:12
10. X Hostias 11:14
11. XI Sanctus 5:58
12. XII Pie Jesu 5:12
13. XIII Agnus Dei 10:49
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Johann Sebastian Bach
The Christmas Oratorio (German: Weihnachts-Oratorium), BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander).
The work belongs to a group of three oratorios written in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the other two works being the Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). All three of these oratorios to some degree parody earlier compositions. The Christmas Oratorio is by far the longest and most complex work of the three.
The Christmas Oratorio is in six parts, each part being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of the Christmas period. The piece is often presented as a whole or split into two equal parts. The total running time for the entire work is nearly three hours.
The first part (for Christmas Day) describes the Birth of Jesus, the second (for December 26) the annunciation to the shepherds, the third (for December 27) the adoration of the shepherds, the fourth (for New Year's Day) the circumcision and naming of Jesus, the fifth (for the first Sunday after New Year) the journey of the Magi, and the sixth (for Epiphany) the adoration of the Magi.
Weihnachts Oratorium BWV 248
Part I 'For the First Day of Christmas'
Part II 'For the Second Day of Christmas'
Part III 'For the Third Day of Christmas'
Part IV 'For the Feast of the Circumcision'
Part V 'For the First Sunday in the New Year'
Part VI 'For the Feats of Epiphany'
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) K 620
The Magic Flute (K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form during the time it was written that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work was premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before the composer's premature death.
In this opera, the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro; instead, he learns the high ideals of Sarastro's community and seeks to join it. Separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his ideal female companion, Papagena.
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Ludwig van Beethoven - Mass In C Flat Opus 86
Ludwig van Beethoven composed the Mass in C major, Op. 86, to a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II in 1807. The mass, scored for four vocal soloists, choir and orchestra, was premiered that year by the Prince's musical forces in Eisenstadt. Beethoven performed parts of it in his 1808 concert featuring the premieres of four major works including his Fifth Symphony. The mass was published in 1812 by Breitkopf & Härtel.
While the Prince who commissioned the mass was not pleased, the contemporary critic E. T. A. Hoffmann appreciated the "expression of a childlike serene mind", and Michael Moore notes the music's "directness and an emotional content".
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Johann Strauss - Annen Polka Op. 117
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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Franz Schubert - Mass in E flat major D 950
Mass No. 6 in E-flat major, D 950, is a mass composed by Franz Schubert. It is scored for two tenor soloists, soprano, alto and bass soloists, SATB choir with divisi, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, violin I and II, viola, cello, and double bass. It was Schubert's final setting of the order of Mass, and is classified as a missa solemnis.
The first date to appear on the score is June 1828, although evidence exists that Schubert had begun to sketch it earlier than this. It was completed by July. It was composed in response to a commission or request from Michael Leitermayer, choirmaster of the Church of the Holy Trinity (Alserkirche) in Alsergrund, Vienna. The mass was not performed until after Schubert's death, with a premiere in the Alserkirche on October 4, 1829. Ferdinand Schubert conducted the premiere, as well as a second performance in the Church of Maria Trost on November 15, 1829.
The influence of Beethoven is felt in the mass, particularly in the "ambitious Beethovenian architecture". Schubert had been a torchbearer at Beethoven's funeral, which had been held in the Alserkirche. References to Bach's fugues are present in the Gloria and Agnus Dei, as well as Mozart's Requiem and Haydn's Heiligmesse.
This setting and the earlier Mass in A-flat major are regarded as Schubert's "late masses". These are distinguished from his four early masses by their "musically interpretive stance to the words"; Schubert began to take advantage of an overall maturation in his technical capabilities and knowledge of harmony, coupled with his experience in composing both sacred and secular music, to add further meaning to the standard text. Already known for consistently omitting certain passages from the text, Schubert took even greater freedoms in the late masses, adding and removing text in a bid to "deepen expression or enhance a particular aspect of meaning".
The Schubert scholar Brian Newbould opined that the late masses were the composer's "two finest and most substantial settings",calling the Mass in E-flat "the triumph and swansong of [Schubert's] career (as far as the composition of masses is concerned)", although he also admits that it has "unevenness". Schubert's biographer Kreissle von Hellborn wrote that the Mass in E-flat "takes rank with the foremost compositions of the kind written at the time".
The late masses may have influenced the composition of Bruckner's Mass in F minor.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major K. 211 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1775. The concerto has the usual fast-slow-fast structure.
Violin Concerto No. 2 K 211
1. Allegro moderato 8:32
2. Andante 7:13
3. Rondeau, Allegro 4:30
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Georg Friedrich Händel
George Frideric (23 February 1685 (O.S.) [(N.S.) 5 March] – 14 April 1759) was a German, later British, Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.
Within fifteen years, Handel had started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. Musicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas show that "Handel was not only a great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first order." As Alexander's Feast (1736) was well received, Handel made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742) he never composed an Italian opera again. Almost blind, and having lived in England for nearly fifty years, he died in 1759, a respected and rich man. His funeral was given full state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey in London.
Born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, with works such as Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks remaining steadfastly popular. One of his four coronation anthems, Zadok the Priest (1727), composed for the coronation of George II, has been performed at every subsequent British coronation, traditionally during the sovereign's anointing. Another of his English oratorios, Solomon (1748), has also remained popular, with the Sinfonia that opens act 3 (known more commonly as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba") featuring at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Handel composed more than forty opera serias in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and historically informed musical performance, interest in Handel's operas has grown.
Laudate Pueri (Psalm 112)
1. Laudate Pueri 3:39
2. Sit Nomen Domini 2:29
3. A Solis Ortu 1:39
4. Excelsus Super Omnes 2:30
5. Quis Sicut 1:27
6. Suscitans a Terra 3:04
7. Qui Habitare 2:22
8. Gloria Patri 4:03
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Johann Strauss - Love Songs Op. 114
Liebeslieder op. 114 is a waltz by Johann Strauss II written in 1852 (not to be confused with Brahms's similarly titled Liebeslieder Walzer and Neue Liebeslieder). At the time it was conceived, the waltz was titled 'Liebesgedichte' or "Love Poems" and during its first performance, it was even announced as 'Liebesständchen' or "Love Serenade". The first performance was at the famed Vienna Volksgarten on 18 June 1852 under the composer's direction.
'Liebeslieder' stands among the master works of the Strauss Jr., who had, since 1849 an enduringly difficult time convincing the Viennese that his works deserve the attention it sought. The fierce and uncompromising Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick was even captivated by this waltz by writing in the journal "Wiener Zeitung" the following extract "Those bad-tempered old-fashioned people, whose narrow-mindedness goes far as to call today's dance music contemptible should be serenaded with ashaming generosity by the 'Liebeslieder' of the young Johann Strauss."
By essence, the waltz is a love serenade of sorts in 3/4 time. The waltz starts quietly with pizzicato on the strings section of the orchestra before a full-bodied 'forte' signals the beginning of the waltz sections. The first theme is that of a yearning feeling, before accelerating into a strong melody. The mood of the rest of the piece alternates between lushly romantic moods as well as light-heartedness, with the flute gently serenading the waltz sections 4 and 5. The piece ends dramatically, with a sense of anticipation, on a timpani drumroll and brass flourish.
The waltz also features on many arrangements with a string orchestra as well as a quintet of strings. Curiously, many of these arrangements are labelled as 'Music of the Old Vienna' when played with such an arrangement, as it could be possible that Strauss' melodies in this waltz invokes the feeling of the romance of the Old Vienna.
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Johann Strauss - Vienna Blood Op. 354
Wiener Blut ('Viennese Blood', 'Vienna Blood' or 'Viennese Spirit') Op. 354 is a waltz by Johann Strauss II first performed by the composer on 22 April 1873. The new dedication waltz was to celebrate the wedding of the Emperor Franz Joseph I's daughter Archduchess Gisela Louise Maria and Prince Leopold of Bavaria. However, the waltz was also chiefly noted by Strauss' biographers as the début of Strauss with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra where for many years, the Philharmonic had dismissed any association with the 'Waltz King' as it had not wished to be associated with mere 'light' or 'pops' music. The festival ball celebrating the event was held at the Musikverein Hall which is the venue for the present day Neujahrskonzert.
'Wiener Blut' is one of a handful of late works by Strauss that were not composed for the stage; at this point in his career he was concentrating on writing for the performing stage, and not for the ballroom, and had written at least two operettas before penning this waltz, with Die Fledermaus still to come.
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