Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Famous Pieces of 8 composers in the Classical Era

I listened to the various popular pieces of each of these composers, and finalised one piece for each composers. I preferred the pieces shown below because they were the most popular and all seemed to somehow captivate me.

-Franz Joesph Hadyn: "Le matin"
Le matin is a miniature symphony (sixth symphony) that glows from pianissimo to fortissimo and as many musicians have commented "it paints a tone of magic". This is what inspired the title of the piece.

-Wolfgang Amadeus  Mozart: "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"
Eline Kleine Nachtmusik is one of Mozart's most well-known works. This piece mirrors the tempo markings that one would find in a typical four-movement symphony. It was originally written for a string quartet but has been arranged for many other ensembles since its creation.

-Antonio Salieri: "Les Danaïdes"
Les Danaïdes is an opera by Antonio Saileri, in 5 acts. More specifically, it is a tragédie lyrique.

-Christoph Willibald Gluck: "Dance of the blessed spirits"
This piece is an opera composed by Gluck. It belongs to the genre of azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing.

-Muzio Clementi: "Allegro"
Towards the end of the 18th century, Clementi increasingly advocated the piano as the successor to the harpsichord. He composed expressly for the new instrument. His interest in teaching is demonstrated in his piece by the Six progressive Sonatinas- six sonatinas in ascending order of difficulty.

-Luigi Boccherini: "Minuetto"
The Minuetto was Boccherini's most famous piece and frequently used in modern advertising and film. His music is slightly idiosyncratic and known for being highly repetitive or "cyclic" and sensitive to subtle changes in timbre and volume. The scores have specific performance instructions indicating the character, style tempo and technique.

-Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: "Solfeggietto"
Solfeggietto is a short solo keyboard piece in C minor composed by Carl. His work is correctly called Solfeggio, although Solfeggietto is the title widely used today. Other refer to his work as a toccata (a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument). The piece is unusual for a keyboard piece in that the main theme and some other passages are fully monophonic, i.e. music with a single part.

-Ludwig Van Beethoven: "Für Elise"
Fur Elise is one of the most famous pieces of piano history composed by Beethoven, a musician who became completely deaf in the last years of his life; in spite of this oppressive obstacle, he composed a beautiful and symphonic piece.

References: 

  • http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/oct/15/symphony-guide-haydn-sixth-tom-service
  • http://study.com/academy/lesson/eine-kleine-nachtmusik-history-analysis-composer.html
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Dana%C3%AFdes
  • http://www.allmusic.com/composition/dance-of-the-blessed-spirits-melody-arrangement-from-orfeo-ed-euridice-mc0002376017
  • http://www.alfred.com/Products/Six-Sonatinas-Op-36--00-22525.aspx 
  • http://mattwells.tripod.com/lyrics1.htm
  • http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/934491/Solfeggietto.html
  • http://www.8notes.com/scores/fur_elise_beethoven_ludwig_van.asp

1 comment:

  1. A good bank of listening there. Which was your favourite out of all of them & why? Whilst Mozart is possibly my more favourite composer, I like Fur Elise as I like how Beethoven uses the piano.

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