The Coriolan Overture (Ouvertüre Coriolan), Op. 62, is a 1807 composition by Beethoven, based on Heinrich Joseph's von Collin's 1804 tragedy about the ancient Roman leader Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, not, as is sometimes claimed, for Shakespeare's play Coriolanus.
The structure and themes of the overture follow the play very generally, the main Cm theme represents Coriolanus' resolve and war-like tendencies, while the more tender Eb theme represents the pleadings of his mother to desist. The overture was premiered in March 1807 at a private concert of the home of Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz. The Symphony No. 4 in B flat and the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G were premiered in that same concert.
Beethoven - Coriolan Overture Op. 62
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#Coriolan
#Beethoven
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
The sonatina op. 100, written during Dvorák's stay in the USA in 1893, is dedicated to his six children. On January 2, 1894, the composer wrote to his publisher Simrock: "Thank God, I am healthy and well, having just completed my 100th work, a sonatina for violin and piano.
It is intended for the youth (dedicated to my children), but grown-ups, adults, shall enjoy themselves with it as they see fit."
It was the last chamber composition he wrote during his sojourn in the United States. Dvořák catered the sonatina to the gradually developing musical abilities of his children, especially those of his 15-year-old daughter Otilie and 10-year-old son Toník, who played piano and violin respectively.
Inspired by the fascinating landscape of Northern America and by meetings with the native Indian inhabitants, a wealth of impressions has found its way into the movements of this sonatina. And that, accordingly, makes it a part of the teaching canon that is not only useful, but also very attractive.
The sonatina was published by Simrock in Berlin in 1894. It also exists in a version for cello and piano.
The four short movements of the sonatina each exhibit a simple and clear, formal structure (hence the diminutive, cf. sonata). They all contain themes, which, like those already found in his other American chamber works (the String Quartet in F and the String Quintet in E♭), owe their inspiration to Indian melodies and Negro spirituals, which are characterized by pentatonic scales and syncopated rhythm, among other traits. The mood of the composition is fresh and joyful. Only the second movement and part of the last movement are nostalgic; they are inspired by the composer's longing for his home country.
A motive for the slow movement Larghetto was hurriedly noted down on Dvořák's shirt sleeve while on a visit to Minnehaha Falls, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Simrock sold this movement separately, without the composer's permission, and Fritz Kreisler often performed it as Indian Lament. It also appeared as Indian Canzonetta; such romantic titles were not the composer's, but were added subsequently by publishers.
Dvorak - Sonatina for Violin and Piano Op. 100
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#ViolinSonata
#Dvorak
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
The two Nocturnes, Op. 55 by Frédéric François Chopin, the fifteenth and sixteenth of his nocturnes, were composed between 1842 and 1844, and published in August 1844.
Composed in 1842-1844, the F minor nocturne has an average duration of about 5 minutes.
The second nocturne in E♭ major features a 12/8 time signature, triplet quavers in the bass, and a lento sostenuto tempo marking. The left-hand features sweeping legato arpeggi from the bass to the tenor, while the right-hand often plays a contrapuntal duet and a soaring single melody. There is a considerable amount of ornamentation in the right hand, for instance the prolonged trills in measures 34 and 52-54. The characteristic chromatic ornaments, in measures 7, 25, 36, and 50, often subdivide the beats in a syncopated fashion in contrast with the steady triplets in the left hand.
Of this nocturne, Niecks wrote:
The second nocturne (in E flat major) differs in form from the other nocturnes in...that it has no contrasting second section, the melody flowing onward from beginning to end in a uniform manner. The monotony of the unrelieved sentimentality does not fail to make itself felt. One is seized by an ever-increasing longing to get out of this oppressive atmosphere, to feel the fresh breezes and warm sunshine, to see smiling faces and the many-coloured dress of Nature, to hear the rustling of leaves, the murmuring of streams, and voices which have not yet lost the clear, sonorous ring that joy in the present and hope in the future impart.
The second and third duets of the ballet In the Night by Jerome Robbins (1970) were choreographed to this music.
Chopin - Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#Nocturne
#Chopin
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 855, is the 10th prelude and fugue for keyboard (harpsichord) in the first book of The Well Tempered Clavier, composed in 1722 by Johann Sebastian Bach. The Prelude in E minor, BWV 855a, features as No. 18 ("Praeludium 5") in the 1720 Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. BWV 855a may also refer to both this Prelude and a Fughetta in the same key, an early version of BWV 855. Alexander Siloti made a piano arrangement in B minor of the Prelude BWV 855a.
Where the 1998 version of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV2a) described BWV 855a as only a Prelude, based on its appearance in the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, BWV 855a may also refer to both this Prelude and a Fughetta in E minor, found in a manuscript copy made between 1750 and the early 19th century, once owned by F. Konwitschny but later lost. The Prelude and Fughetta were published in Series V, Volume 6.1 of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, based on various sources for the Prelude, and on the Konwitschny source (of which a film copy had been preserved) for the Fughetta. BWV 855a is an early version of BWV 855, No. 10 in the 1722 first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
This arrangement has been described as "perhaps Siloti's most tender and perfect" transcription. It transposes Bach's original down from the original E minor into B minor, with the steady sixteenth note figuration that was originally given by Bach to the left hand being instead assigned to the right hand. Siloti also adds a repeat of the entire work, in order to allow for a change of voicing where the melody in the left hand is emphasized. The chords in the left hand are arpeggiated; however according to Siloti's daughter Kyriena (to whom the work was dedicated), he would omit the arpeggiation on the first pass and restore it on the repeat in order to heighten the effect of the left-hand melody. It has been performed by many pianists, most famously Emil Gilels.
The date of the arrangement is uncertain: it was first published by A. Gutheil of Moscow, and was performed by Siloti in public for the "first time" (according to an announcement in the Manchester Guardian) in February 1912.
Bach - Prelude in B minor, based in BWV 855a
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#Prelude
#Bach
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
The Serenade no. 13, K. 525, is a 1787 composition for chamber ensemble by W.A. Mozart. The title means 'a little serenade', though it is often rendered more literally but less accurately as A little night music (which has become a common nickname for the piece).
There are no records of its first performance, but it is suggested that -as with his other serenades- Mozart wrote it on comission. The traditionally used name of the work comes from the entry Mozart made for it in his personal catalog, which begins, "Eine kleine Nachtmusik."
It has been pointed out that Mozart was not giving the piece a special title, but only entering in his records that he had completed a little serenade. The work is written for an ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello with optional double bass, but is often performed by string orchestras.
In the catalog entry mentioned above, Mozart listed the work as having five movements The second movement in his listing, a minuet and trio, was long thought lost and no one knows if it was Mozart or someone else who removed it.
In the catalog entry mentioned above, Mozart listed the work as having five movements ("Allegro – Minuet and Trio – Romance – Minuet and Trio – Finale."). The second movement in his listing — a minuet and trio — was long thought lost, and no one knows if Mozart or someone else removed it. In his 1984 recording, Christopher Hogwood used a minuet of Thomas Attwood (found in his sketchbooks used while he took lessons from Mozart), and an additional newly composed trio to substitute the missing movement. Musicologist Alfred Einstein suggested, however, that a minuet in the Piano Sonata in B♭ major, K. 498a, is the missing movement. K. 498a, which is credited to the composer August Eberhard Müller, incorporates significant amounts of Mozart's work in the form of reworkings of material from the piano concertos K. 450, K. 456, and K. 595, leading Einstein to suggest that the minuet in Müller's sonata might be an arrangement of the missing movement from Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
In 1971, this movement was incorporated into a recording of the work prepared by the musicologist and performer Thurston Dart. In 1989, the minuet and trio of K. 498a was again recorded as part of an arrangement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik made by Jonathan Del Mar for Nimbus Records.
Mozart - Serenade in G major - Music | History
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#Serenade
#Mozart
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
The Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, is the last of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas. Along with Beethoven's 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120 (1823) and his two collections of bagatelles—Op. 119 (1822) and Op. 126 (1823)—this was one of Beethoven's last compositions for piano. The work was written between 1821 and 1822. Like other "late period" sonatas, it contains fugal elements. It was dedicated to his friend, pupil, and patron, Archduke Rudolf.
The Sonata comprises only two very contrasting movements, with the second, an Arietta with variations, being consecrated in the words of Thomas Mann as a 'farewell to the Sonata'. Nearly ignored by contemporaries, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that it found its way into the repertoire of most leading pianists. Rhythmically visionary and technically demanding, it is one of the most discussed of Beethoven's works.
Beethoven conceived of the plan for his final three piano sonatas (Op. 109, 110 and 111) during the summer of 1820, while he worked on his Missa Solemnis. Although the work was only seriously outlined by 1819, the famous first theme of the allegro ed appassionato was found in a draft book dating from 1801–1802, contemporary to his Second Symphony.
Moreover, the study of these draft books implies that Beethoven initially had plans for a sonata in three movements, quite different from that which we know: it is only thereafter that the initial theme of the first movement became that of the String Quartet No. 13, and that what should have been used as the theme with the adagio—a slow melody in A♭—was abandoned. Only the motif planned for the third movement, the famous theme mentioned above, was preserved to become that of the first movement.
The Arietta, too, offers a considerable amount of research on its themes; the drafts found for this movement seem to indicate that as the second movement took form, Beethoven gave up the idea of a third movement, the sonata finally appearing to him as ideal.
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 32 In C Minor, Op. 111
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#PianoSonata
#Beethoven
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music written, according to its oldest extant sources, by Johann Sebastian Bach. The piece opens with a toccata section, followed by a fugue that ends in a coda. It is one of the most famous works in the organ repertoire.
Scholars differ as to when it was composed. It could have been as early as c.1704 (when the presumed composer was still in his teens), which would be one explanation for the unusual features; alternatively, a date as late as the 1750s has been suggested (Bach died in 1750). To a large extent, the piece conforms to the characteristics deemed typical for the north German organ school of the Baroque era with divergent stylistic influences, such as south German characteristics.
Despite a profusion of educated guesswork, there is not much that can be said with certainty about the first century of the composition's existence other than that it survived that period in a manuscript written by Johannes Ringk. The first publication of the piece, in the Bach Revival era, was in 1833, through the efforts of Felix Mendelssohn, who also performed the piece in an acclaimed concert in 1840. Familiarity with the piece was enhanced in the second half of the 19th century by a fairly successful piano version by Carl Tausig, but it was not until the 20th century that its popularity rose above that of other organ compositions by Bach. That popularity further increased, due for example to its inclusion in Walt Disney's Fantasia (in Stokowski's orchestral transcription), until this composition came to be considered the most famous work in the organ repertoire.
A wide, and often conflicting, variety of analyses has been published about the piece: for instance, in literature on organ music, it is often described as some sort of program music depicting a storm, while in the context of Disney's Fantasia, it was promoted as absolute music, nothing like program music depicting a storm. In the last quarter of the 20th century, scholars such as Peter Williams and Rolf-Dietrich Claus published their studies on the piece and argued against its authenticity. Bach scholars like Christoph Wolff defended the attribution to Bach. Other commentators ignored the authenticity doubts or considered the attribution issue undecided. No edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis listed the Toccata and Fugue among the doubtful works, nor does its entry on the website of the Bach Archiv Leipzig even mention alternative views on the attribution issue.
Bach - Toccata and Fugue BWV 565
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#ToccataandFugue
#Bach
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
The String Quartet in F major, Op. 96, nicknamed the American Quartet, is the 12th string quartet composed by Antonín Dvořák. It was written in 1893, during Dvořák's time in the United States. The quartet is one of the most popular in the chamber music repertoire.
Dvořák composed the quartet in 1893 during a summer vacation from his position as director (1892–1895) of the National Conservatory in New York City. He spent his vacation in the town of Spillville, Iowa, which was home to a Czech immigrant community. Dvořák had come to Spillville through Josef Jan Kovařík who had finished violin studies at the Prague Conservatory and was about to return to Spillville, his home in the United States, when Dvořák offered him a position as secretary, which Josef Jan accepted, so he came to live with the Dvořák family in New York. He told Dvořák about Spillville, where his father Jan Josef was a schoolmaster, which led to Dvořák deciding to spend the summer of 1893 there.
In that environment, and surrounded by beautiful nature, Dvořák felt very much at ease. Writing to a friend he described his state of mind, away from hectic New York: "I have been on vacation since 3 June here in the Czech village of Spillville and I won’t be returning to New York until the latter half of September. The children arrived safely from Europe and we’re all happy together. We like it very much here and, thank God, I am working hard and I’m healthy and in good spirits." He composed the quartet shortly after the New World Symphony, before that work had been performed.
Dvořák sketched the quartet in three days and completed it in thirteen more days, finishing the score with the comment "Thank God! I am content. It was fast." It was his second attempt to write a quartet in F major: his first effort, 12 years earlier, produced only one movement. The American Quartet proved a turning point in Dvořák's chamber music output: for decades he had toiled unsuccessfully to find a balance between his overflowing melodic invention and a clear structure. In the American Quartet it finally came together. Dvořák defended the apparent simplicity of the piece: "When I wrote this quartet in the Czech community of Spillville in 1893, I wanted to write something for once that was very melodious and straightforward, and dear Papa Haydn kept appearing before my eyes, and that is why it all turned out so simply. And it’s good that it did."
For his symphony Dvořák gave the subtitle himself: "From the New World". To the quartet he gave no subtitle himself, but there is the comment "The second composition written in America."
Dvorak - String Quartet No. 12 in F major
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#StringQuartet
#Dvorak
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is a 3-act romantic opera in English with spoken dialogue and music by Carl Maria von Weber. The libretto by James Robinson Planché was based on a German poem, Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland, which itself was based on the epic romance Huon de Bordeaux, a French medieval tale.
Against his doctor's advice, Weber undertook the project commissioned by the actor-impresario Charles Kemble for financial reasons. Having been offered the choice of Faust or Oberon as subject matter, he travelled to London to complete the music, learning English to be better able to follow the libretto, before the premiere of the opera. However, the pressure of rehearsals, social engagements and composing extra numbers destroyed his health, and Weber died in London on 5 June 1826.
First performed at Covent Garden, London, on 12 April 1826, with Miss Paton as Reiza, Mme. Vestris as Fatima, Braham as Huon, Bland as Oberon and the composer conducting, it was a triumph with many encores, and the production was frequently revived. The libretto was later translated into German by Theodor Hell, and it is in this German translation that the opera is most frequently performed. While it is logical to assume that the German translation would have had the composer's approval - and that it would have been in that language that revisions would have been made - he heard it only in English, and did not work on a translation before his death.
The opera was soon mounted elsewhere: Leipzig in 1826, Dublin, Edinburgh and Vienna in 1827, Prague in 1828 and Budapest in 1829, with many other performances in western Europe from the 1830s to the 1860s.
Weber was dissatisfied by the structure of the opera as it was produced in London, and intended to revise the work on his return to Germany, but died in London before starting work on the revision. Since then, other composers and librettists have revised the work, notably Franz Wüllner, Gustav Mahler (who, preparing a new performing version, rearranged some of the numbers and composed some linking music based on material from the existing score) and novelist-composer Anthony Burgess, who wrote a new libretto for Oberon and arranged the overture for guitar quartet. Franz Liszt made an arrangement of the overture in 1846 for solo piano (S.574).
The first performance of Oberon in America took place in New York at the Park Theatre on 20 September 1826. It was first seen in Paris in 1830 at the Théâtre Italien (in German). A lavish production was mounted in French at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris on 27 February 1857, conducted by Adolphe Deloffre, and was praised by Berlioz.
In the 20th century, the Metropolitan Opera premiere was on 28 December 1918 (accumulating 13 performances up to 1921) with Rosa Ponselle as Reiza, conducted Artur Bodanzky, who also composed recitatives in place of original spoken dialogue. The opera was staged at the Salzburg Festival in 1932 and 1934 under Walter, at the 1950 Holland Festival with Monteux conducting, the Florence Festival in 1952 under Stiedry and at the Paris Opera in 1953 with Cluytens. Although the opera has been staged intermittently in the 20th century, it has been often been performed successfully in concert.
Weber - Oberon (or The Elf King's Oath), J. 306 - Overture
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#Oberon
#Weber
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com
La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (French for The sea, three symphonic sketches for orchestra), or simply La mer (The Sea), L. 109, CD. 111, is an orchestral composition by the French composer Claude Debussy.
Composed between 1903 and 1905, the piece was premiered in Paris in October 1905. It was initially not well received. Even some who had been strong supporters of Debussy's work were unenthusiastic, even though La mer presented three key aspects of Debussy's aesthetic: Impressionism, Symbolism and Japonism. But the work was performed in the US in 1907 and Britain in 1908; after its second performance in Paris, in 1908, it quickly became one of Debussy's most admired and frequently performed orchestral works.
The first audio recording of the work was made in 1928. Since then, orchestras and conductors from around the world have set it down in many studio or live concert recordings.
La mer was the second of Debussy's three orchestral works in three sections, the other being Nocturnes (1892–1899) and Images pour orchestre (1905-1912). The first, the Nocturnes, was premiered in Paris in 1901, and though it had not made any great impact with the public it was well reviewed by musicians including Paul Dukas, Alfred Bruneau, and Pierre de Bréville. Debussy conceived the idea of a more complex tripartite orchestral piece, and began work in August 1903. He was usually a slow worker, and although the composition of La mer took him more than a year and a half, this was unusually quick progress by his standards, particularly at a time of upheaval in his personal life. He began composing the work while visiting his parents-in-law in Burgundy; by the time it was complete, he had left his wife and was living with Emma Bardac, who was pregnant with Debussy's child.
Debussy retained fond childhood memories of the beauties of the sea, but when composing La mer he rarely visited it, spending most of his time far away from large bodies of water. He drew inspiration from art, "preferring the seascapes available in painting and literature" to the physical sea. Although the detailed scheme of the work changed during its composition, Debussy decided from the outset that it was to be "three symphonic sketches" with the title La mer. In a letter to André Messager, he described the planned sections as "Mère belle aux Îles Sanguinaires", "Jeu de vagues", and "Le vent fait danser la mer". The first of these, inspired by a short story of the same name by Camille Mauclair, was abandoned in favour of a less restrictive theme, the sea from dawn to midday. The last was also dropped, as too reminiscent of ballet, and the less specific theme of the dialogue between the wind and the sea took its place.
Debussy completed La mer 5 March 1905 and took the proofs to correct on holiday at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne on the English Channel coast, at which he arrived 23 July 1905, he described Eastbourne to his publisher, Durand, as "a charming peaceful spot: the sea unfurls itself with an utterly British correctness." He arranged the piece for piano four hands in 1905, and in 1909 Durand published a second edition of La mer with the composer's revisions.
Debussy - La Mer - Music | History
We are a educational channel specializing in history of classical music.
Our goal is to spread classical music to the greatest number of people.
Explore our channel and listen to more works by Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Haydn, Schumann, Schubert, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Debussy and more! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Subscribe. 🎧
#MusicHistory
#LaMer
#Debussy
🔴 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopClassicalMusic
🔴 WebSite: http://www.melhoresmusicasclassicas.com