Simon Morrison
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195181678
- eISBN:
- 9780199870806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181678.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter chronicles Prokofiev's two summers in Ivanovo, where he composed his illustrious Fifth Symphony, the prizes and medals awarded to him by Stalinist cultural agencies, his largely futile ...
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This chapter chronicles Prokofiev's two summers in Ivanovo, where he composed his illustrious Fifth Symphony, the prizes and medals awarded to him by Stalinist cultural agencies, his largely futile efforts to bring War and Peace to the stage, and the serious illness (ventricular hypertrophy) that would periodically incapacitate him. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the conception and reception of his Sixth Symphony, and the darkening of the political and cultural climate on the eve of the anti-formalist campaign of 1948.Less
This chapter chronicles Prokofiev's two summers in Ivanovo, where he composed his illustrious Fifth Symphony, the prizes and medals awarded to him by Stalinist cultural agencies, his largely futile efforts to bring War and Peace to the stage, and the serious illness (ventricular hypertrophy) that would periodically incapacitate him. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the conception and reception of his Sixth Symphony, and the darkening of the political and cultural climate on the eve of the anti-formalist campaign of 1948.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Here indeed was the quintessence of Donald Tovey: unfailing memory, encyclopadic knowledge, and unerring artistic insight. Add to this a delightful literary style and a rare sense of humor, and one ...
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Here indeed was the quintessence of Donald Tovey: unfailing memory, encyclopadic knowledge, and unerring artistic insight. Add to this a delightful literary style and a rare sense of humor, and one can understand why the Reid professor has put the town of Edinburgh on the musical map. The programmes of the Reid concerts alone are enough to prove this. Therefore people all rush out to buy, beg, borrow, or steal each of his volumes of essays as fast as they come out; that on the ninth symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven reaches the summit of artistic analysis. Tovey's playing is said sometimes to be “unpianistic.” When he plays, the music seems almost to take visual shape. As a composer, his love and knowledge of the classics has led him along the great lines of musical thought by the narrow way right up the hill, and not along the way of destruction, to stumble, fall, and rise no more.Less
Here indeed was the quintessence of Donald Tovey: unfailing memory, encyclopadic knowledge, and unerring artistic insight. Add to this a delightful literary style and a rare sense of humor, and one can understand why the Reid professor has put the town of Edinburgh on the musical map. The programmes of the Reid concerts alone are enough to prove this. Therefore people all rush out to buy, beg, borrow, or steal each of his volumes of essays as fast as they come out; that on the ninth symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven reaches the summit of artistic analysis. Tovey's playing is said sometimes to be “unpianistic.” When he plays, the music seems almost to take visual shape. As a composer, his love and knowledge of the classics has led him along the great lines of musical thought by the narrow way right up the hill, and not along the way of destruction, to stumble, fall, and rise no more.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0024
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter describes the experience of participating in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). There was the famous horn quartet, led by Adolf Borsdorf. There was John Solomon, the infallible ...
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This chapter describes the experience of participating in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). There was the famous horn quartet, led by Adolf Borsdorf. There was John Solomon, the infallible trumpeter. One has to confess that he was fully aware of his infallibility. The chapter also describes the experience of conducting the first performance of the Sea Symphony at Leeds. There are players in the orchestra today whose names will be equally famous, 50 years hence, with those of the great men of old. However, the LSO know well that an orchestra does not depend entirely on the artistic insight and skilled craftsmanship of individual players. The members of this orchestra know then that all their art and skill are valueless without that corporate imagination which distinguishes an orchestra from a fortuitous collection of players.Less
This chapter describes the experience of participating in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). There was the famous horn quartet, led by Adolf Borsdorf. There was John Solomon, the infallible trumpeter. One has to confess that he was fully aware of his infallibility. The chapter also describes the experience of conducting the first performance of the Sea Symphony at Leeds. There are players in the orchestra today whose names will be equally famous, 50 years hence, with those of the great men of old. However, the LSO know well that an orchestra does not depend entirely on the artistic insight and skilled craftsmanship of individual players. The members of this orchestra know then that all their art and skill are valueless without that corporate imagination which distinguishes an orchestra from a fortuitous collection of players.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0094
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The Ninth Symphony was begun early in 1956, and was finished, so far as a composition is ever finished, in November 1957. It was written chiefly in London, but partly in Majorca and partly at ...
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The Ninth Symphony was begun early in 1956, and was finished, so far as a composition is ever finished, in November 1957. It was written chiefly in London, but partly in Majorca and partly at Ashmansworth, the home of Gerald and Joyce Finzi. The symphony is dedicated to the Royal Philharmonic Society and was first played at a concert on the 2 April 1958 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. The usual symphony orchestra is used, with the addition of three saxophones and flügel horn. This beautiful and neglected instrument is not usually allowed in the select circles of the orchestra and has been banished to the brass band, where it is allowed to indulge in the bad habit of vibrato to its heart's content. There are four movements, as is usual in a symphony: Allegro Moderato, Andante Sostenuto, Allegro Pesante, and Andante Tranquillo.Less
The Ninth Symphony was begun early in 1956, and was finished, so far as a composition is ever finished, in November 1957. It was written chiefly in London, but partly in Majorca and partly at Ashmansworth, the home of Gerald and Joyce Finzi. The symphony is dedicated to the Royal Philharmonic Society and was first played at a concert on the 2 April 1958 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. The usual symphony orchestra is used, with the addition of three saxophones and flügel horn. This beautiful and neglected instrument is not usually allowed in the select circles of the orchestra and has been banished to the brass band, where it is allowed to indulge in the bad habit of vibrato to its heart's content. There are four movements, as is usual in a symphony: Allegro Moderato, Andante Sostenuto, Allegro Pesante, and Andante Tranquillo.
Donald Maurice
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195156904
- eISBN:
- 9780199868339
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156904.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
When Béla Bartók died in September of 1945, he left a partially completed viola concerto commissioned by the violist William Primrose. While no definitive version of the work exists, this concerto ...
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When Béla Bartók died in September of 1945, he left a partially completed viola concerto commissioned by the violist William Primrose. While no definitive version of the work exists, this concerto has become arguably the most-performed viola concerto in the world. After Bartók's death, his family asked the composer's friend, Tibor Serly, to look over the sketches of the concerto and to prepare it for publication. While a draft was ready, it took Serly years to assemble the sketches into a complete piece. In 1949, Primrose finally unveiled it at a premiere performance with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. For almost half a century, the Serly version enjoyed great popularity among the viola community, even while it faced charges of inauthenticity. In the 1990s, several revisions appeared and, in 1995, the composer's son, Peter Bartók, released a revision and a facsimile of the original manuscript, opening the way for an intensified debate on the authenticity of the multiple versions. This debate continues as violists and Bartók scholars seek the definitive version of this final work of Hungary's greatest composer. This book tells the story of the genesis and completion of the work (including detailed analysis of its musical elements), from its commissioning by Primrose to its first performance, its reception over the second half of the 20th century, its revisions, and future possibilities.Less
When Béla Bartók died in September of 1945, he left a partially completed viola concerto commissioned by the violist William Primrose. While no definitive version of the work exists, this concerto has become arguably the most-performed viola concerto in the world. After Bartók's death, his family asked the composer's friend, Tibor Serly, to look over the sketches of the concerto and to prepare it for publication. While a draft was ready, it took Serly years to assemble the sketches into a complete piece. In 1949, Primrose finally unveiled it at a premiere performance with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. For almost half a century, the Serly version enjoyed great popularity among the viola community, even while it faced charges of inauthenticity. In the 1990s, several revisions appeared and, in 1995, the composer's son, Peter Bartók, released a revision and a facsimile of the original manuscript, opening the way for an intensified debate on the authenticity of the multiple versions. This debate continues as violists and Bartók scholars seek the definitive version of this final work of Hungary's greatest composer. This book tells the story of the genesis and completion of the work (including detailed analysis of its musical elements), from its commissioning by Primrose to its first performance, its reception over the second half of the 20th century, its revisions, and future possibilities.
William Kinderman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195342369
- eISBN:
- 9780199851744
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342369.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The Thirty-three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, represent Beethoven's most extraordinary achievement in the art of variation-writing. In their originality and power of invention, they ...
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The Thirty-three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, represent Beethoven's most extraordinary achievement in the art of variation-writing. In their originality and power of invention, they stand beside other late Beethoven masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, and the last quartets. This study of the compositional history of the work includes the first extended investigation and reconstruction of the sketches and drafts, and reveals, contrary to earlier views of its chronology, that it was actually begun in 1819, then put aside, and completed in 1822–3. The author provides an analytical discussion of the complete work, and demonstrates how insights derived from a close study of the sketches can illuminate Beethoven's compositional ideas and attitudes and contribute substantially to a better understanding of this massive and complex set of variations. The book includes complete transcriptions of the two central documents in the genesis of the Diabelli variations: the reconstructed Wittgenstein Sketchbook and the Paris–Landsberg–Montauban Draft.Less
The Thirty-three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, represent Beethoven's most extraordinary achievement in the art of variation-writing. In their originality and power of invention, they stand beside other late Beethoven masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, and the last quartets. This study of the compositional history of the work includes the first extended investigation and reconstruction of the sketches and drafts, and reveals, contrary to earlier views of its chronology, that it was actually begun in 1819, then put aside, and completed in 1822–3. The author provides an analytical discussion of the complete work, and demonstrates how insights derived from a close study of the sketches can illuminate Beethoven's compositional ideas and attitudes and contribute substantially to a better understanding of this massive and complex set of variations. The book includes complete transcriptions of the two central documents in the genesis of the Diabelli variations: the reconstructed Wittgenstein Sketchbook and the Paris–Landsberg–Montauban Draft.
Roger Keys
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198151609
- eISBN:
- 9780191672767
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198151609.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism, European Literature
Between December 1899 and July 1902 Andrei Belyi went on to produce four symphonies: the Northern or Heroic Symphony, the Dramatic Symphony, The Return, and The Goblet of Blizzards. The Northern ...
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Between December 1899 and July 1902 Andrei Belyi went on to produce four symphonies: the Northern or Heroic Symphony, the Dramatic Symphony, The Return, and The Goblet of Blizzards. The Northern Symphony is a fairy tale about shadowy characters living in a vaguely medieval past. It appears to be simplest of the four symphonies because it has a simple, unlinear story-line, which is easily retold.Less
Between December 1899 and July 1902 Andrei Belyi went on to produce four symphonies: the Northern or Heroic Symphony, the Dramatic Symphony, The Return, and The Goblet of Blizzards. The Northern Symphony is a fairy tale about shadowy characters living in a vaguely medieval past. It appears to be simplest of the four symphonies because it has a simple, unlinear story-line, which is easily retold.
John Daverio
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195132960
- eISBN:
- 9780199867059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195132960.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The publication of several large-scale instrumental works by Franz Schubert in the late 1920s and 1930s elicited little reaction from contemporary critics. However, the critical voice that broke the ...
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The publication of several large-scale instrumental works by Franz Schubert in the late 1920s and 1930s elicited little reaction from contemporary critics. However, the critical voice that broke the near silence with the greatest regularity belonged to Robert Schumann. Between 1834 and 1840, Schumann turned repeatedly to Schubert's instrumental music, illuminating the special magic of pieces that ranged in weight from the comparatively slight 16 Deutsche und 2 Ecossaisen to the colossal Symphony in C major. This chapter speculates on what is was that drew Schumann to Schubert's music.Less
The publication of several large-scale instrumental works by Franz Schubert in the late 1920s and 1930s elicited little reaction from contemporary critics. However, the critical voice that broke the near silence with the greatest regularity belonged to Robert Schumann. Between 1834 and 1840, Schumann turned repeatedly to Schubert's instrumental music, illuminating the special magic of pieces that ranged in weight from the comparatively slight 16 Deutsche und 2 Ecossaisen to the colossal Symphony in C major. This chapter speculates on what is was that drew Schumann to Schubert's music.
John Daverio
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195132960
- eISBN:
- 9780199867059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195132960.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter focuses on the relationship between Brahms and Schumann. It suggests that what Brahms learned from Schumann arose from the interplay of strategy and affect, of technique and expression. ...
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This chapter focuses on the relationship between Brahms and Schumann. It suggests that what Brahms learned from Schumann arose from the interplay of strategy and affect, of technique and expression. It argues that for Brahms, the essence of the Requiem idea lay not in maudlin lamentation but in the situation of death in a cycle of dissolution and renewal. Nowhere is this outlook more apparent than in his musical eulogies for Schumann, both texted and untexted, of which the most profound perhaps occurs at the conclusion of his Third Symphony.Less
This chapter focuses on the relationship between Brahms and Schumann. It suggests that what Brahms learned from Schumann arose from the interplay of strategy and affect, of technique and expression. It argues that for Brahms, the essence of the Requiem idea lay not in maudlin lamentation but in the situation of death in a cycle of dissolution and renewal. Nowhere is this outlook more apparent than in his musical eulogies for Schumann, both texted and untexted, of which the most profound perhaps occurs at the conclusion of his Third Symphony.
Steven Huebner
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195189544
- eISBN:
- 9780199868476
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195189544.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter focuses on Saint-SaËns's opera, Samson et Dalila. Relatively early on the composer had a premonition that this opera would be his finest accomplishment in the theatre. Like Massenet, he ...
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This chapter focuses on Saint-SaËns's opera, Samson et Dalila. Relatively early on the composer had a premonition that this opera would be his finest accomplishment in the theatre. Like Massenet, he sought to achieve musical and dramatic continuity across operatic acts, as well as a marriage between developmental techniques and number opera with voice-dominated, cantabile phrases. In this respect, the second act is a remarkable achievement: the imbrication of the symphonic-developmental and number-operatic is particularly tight and worked out with cogent dramatic effect. It is among the most successful examples of this synthesis in the fin-de-siècle repertory, all the more striking because of its early date of composition and a relatively limited use of leitmotifs in the opera as a whole.Less
This chapter focuses on Saint-SaËns's opera, Samson et Dalila. Relatively early on the composer had a premonition that this opera would be his finest accomplishment in the theatre. Like Massenet, he sought to achieve musical and dramatic continuity across operatic acts, as well as a marriage between developmental techniques and number opera with voice-dominated, cantabile phrases. In this respect, the second act is a remarkable achievement: the imbrication of the symphonic-developmental and number-operatic is particularly tight and worked out with cogent dramatic effect. It is among the most successful examples of this synthesis in the fin-de-siècle repertory, all the more striking because of its early date of composition and a relatively limited use of leitmotifs in the opera as a whole.
Margaret Notley
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195305470
- eISBN:
- 9780199866946
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305470.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
By Brahms's time, elaborate metaphors — symphonies as “plain speaking”, symphonic performances as Volksversammlungen — had developed around the genre. This chapter evaluates this patently ideological ...
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By Brahms's time, elaborate metaphors — symphonies as “plain speaking”, symphonic performances as Volksversammlungen — had developed around the genre. This chapter evaluates this patently ideological perspective, which was especially glaring in Vienna, a city where only an elite fraction of the populace could hear orchestral performances of symphonies. Perceptions of deficiencies in symphonies by Brahms, who was considered always to compose in chamber style, are evaluated in light of genre aesthetics in which a political outlook and conception of a genre merge. Ideas about symphonies reflected how the constituency of 19th-century Liberalism chose to regard itself: like the Parliament members elected by a well-to-do minority with voting rights, the select gatherings at Vienna Philharmonic concerts could represent “the people”. Habermas's conclusion that the public sphere was “mere ideology” is pertinent here. Symphonic monumentality and mid-century rejection of Romanticism, as well as the enhanced contemporary significance of slow movements are discussed.Less
By Brahms's time, elaborate metaphors — symphonies as “plain speaking”, symphonic performances as Volksversammlungen — had developed around the genre. This chapter evaluates this patently ideological perspective, which was especially glaring in Vienna, a city where only an elite fraction of the populace could hear orchestral performances of symphonies. Perceptions of deficiencies in symphonies by Brahms, who was considered always to compose in chamber style, are evaluated in light of genre aesthetics in which a political outlook and conception of a genre merge. Ideas about symphonies reflected how the constituency of 19th-century Liberalism chose to regard itself: like the Parliament members elected by a well-to-do minority with voting rights, the select gatherings at Vienna Philharmonic concerts could represent “the people”. Habermas's conclusion that the public sphere was “mere ideology” is pertinent here. Symphonic monumentality and mid-century rejection of Romanticism, as well as the enhanced contemporary significance of slow movements are discussed.
Floyd Grave and Margaret Grave
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195173574
- eISBN:
- 9780199872152
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173574.003.0016
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Dedicated to Count Apponyi and initially reserved for his private use, Op. 71/74 was eventually published by Corri, Dussek & Co. in London, and Artaria in Vienna. Conceived following the success of ...
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Dedicated to Count Apponyi and initially reserved for his private use, Op. 71/74 was eventually published by Corri, Dussek & Co. in London, and Artaria in Vienna. Conceived following the success of the London symphonies Nos. 93-98, they display sound-images that evoke the concert hall and were seemingly designed with public performance in mind. Distinctive traits include introductory “noise-killing” events, declamatory unisons, multiple-stopped chords, brilliant passagework, clear structural demarcations, and vivid contrasts in dynamics, texture, register, and harmony. Notwithstanding such features, which put the medium itself on display, these quartets stand as superlative examples of Haydn's string-quartet idiom, complete with decorative figuration, intricate motivic development, conversational dialogue, and thematic textures in which all instruments participate as equals.Less
Dedicated to Count Apponyi and initially reserved for his private use, Op. 71/74 was eventually published by Corri, Dussek & Co. in London, and Artaria in Vienna. Conceived following the success of the London symphonies Nos. 93-98, they display sound-images that evoke the concert hall and were seemingly designed with public performance in mind. Distinctive traits include introductory “noise-killing” events, declamatory unisons, multiple-stopped chords, brilliant passagework, clear structural demarcations, and vivid contrasts in dynamics, texture, register, and harmony. Notwithstanding such features, which put the medium itself on display, these quartets stand as superlative examples of Haydn's string-quartet idiom, complete with decorative figuration, intricate motivic development, conversational dialogue, and thematic textures in which all instruments participate as equals.
Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.003.0018
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Ellington's signature work, as a symphonic suite for the Chicago Symphony and reconstructed and returned to Carnegie Hall in its original form for a jazz band, was premiered in 1943. The chapter ...
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Ellington's signature work, as a symphonic suite for the Chicago Symphony and reconstructed and returned to Carnegie Hall in its original form for a jazz band, was premiered in 1943. The chapter reveals the work's unusual genesis — Ellington's own narrative poem about the history of the negro in America — and explores Ellington's extraordinary compositional techniques. It demonstrates how complex the compositional process was that created his seemingly happy-go-lucky music; how even the defining idea of jazz-inspired music — a tenor saxophonist “taking off” on an improvised flight for example — was controlled, bent, premeditated by Ellington in the service of his muse; and how he crafted his music from his own poetry.Less
Ellington's signature work, as a symphonic suite for the Chicago Symphony and reconstructed and returned to Carnegie Hall in its original form for a jazz band, was premiered in 1943. The chapter reveals the work's unusual genesis — Ellington's own narrative poem about the history of the negro in America — and explores Ellington's extraordinary compositional techniques. It demonstrates how complex the compositional process was that created his seemingly happy-go-lucky music; how even the defining idea of jazz-inspired music — a tenor saxophonist “taking off” on an improvised flight for example — was controlled, bent, premeditated by Ellington in the service of his muse; and how he crafted his music from his own poetry.
R. Allen Lott
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195148831
- eISBN:
- 9780199869695
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195148831.003.0016
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
An artistic highlight of Anton Rubinstein's American tour was a series of more than forty appearances with Theodore Thomas and his orchestra. Rubinstein and Thomas had a successful musical rapport, ...
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An artistic highlight of Anton Rubinstein's American tour was a series of more than forty appearances with Theodore Thomas and his orchestra. Rubinstein and Thomas had a successful musical rapport, which inspired some of the pianist's best performances. Rubinstein conducted six performances of his Ocean Symphony in its then complete, six-movement version, four with Thomas's orchestra, one with the Harvard Musical Association, and one with the New York Philharmonic. Rubinstein's series of seven farewell recitals in New York (and three in Boston) that surveyed the history of keyboard literature is deservedly famous. Each recital was substantial and generally well performed, but Rubinstein's occasional memory lapses and technical slips were evident. By primarily performing the music of other composers, Rubinstein played a strategic role in the canonization of the standard piano repertoire, and his impassioned performances of these works made them palatable for the first time to the general public.Less
An artistic highlight of Anton Rubinstein's American tour was a series of more than forty appearances with Theodore Thomas and his orchestra. Rubinstein and Thomas had a successful musical rapport, which inspired some of the pianist's best performances. Rubinstein conducted six performances of his Ocean Symphony in its then complete, six-movement version, four with Thomas's orchestra, one with the Harvard Musical Association, and one with the New York Philharmonic. Rubinstein's series of seven farewell recitals in New York (and three in Boston) that surveyed the history of keyboard literature is deservedly famous. Each recital was substantial and generally well performed, but Rubinstein's occasional memory lapses and technical slips were evident. By primarily performing the music of other composers, Rubinstein played a strategic role in the canonization of the standard piano repertoire, and his impassioned performances of these works made them palatable for the first time to the general public.
Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
David Mannes, concertmaster of Walter Damrosch's New York Symphony and Director of the city's Musical Settlement Houses, engaged James Reese Europe, charismatic conductor and composer, and his ...
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David Mannes, concertmaster of Walter Damrosch's New York Symphony and Director of the city's Musical Settlement Houses, engaged James Reese Europe, charismatic conductor and composer, and his unusual Negro orchestra, the “Clef Club”, to play what turned out to be a triumphal benefit concert for the new Harlem branch, at Carnegie Hall — the first concert of its kind (1912). Europe was interviewed about his very specific ideas about the future of Negro music and musicians. Mannes described his own teacher, an African-American violinist, composer, John Thomas Douglas, as “the man who helped shape my life”.Less
David Mannes, concertmaster of Walter Damrosch's New York Symphony and Director of the city's Musical Settlement Houses, engaged James Reese Europe, charismatic conductor and composer, and his unusual Negro orchestra, the “Clef Club”, to play what turned out to be a triumphal benefit concert for the new Harlem branch, at Carnegie Hall — the first concert of its kind (1912). Europe was interviewed about his very specific ideas about the future of Negro music and musicians. Mannes described his own teacher, an African-American violinist, composer, John Thomas Douglas, as “the man who helped shape my life”.
Halina Goldberg
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195130737
- eISBN:
- 9780199867424
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195130737.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter places Chopin within Warsaw's lively concert scene. The concert life in Warsaw was dominated by virtuoso concerts, featuring local and foreign artists, Niccolò Paganini and Johann ...
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This chapter places Chopin within Warsaw's lively concert scene. The concert life in Warsaw was dominated by virtuoso concerts, featuring local and foreign artists, Niccolò Paganini and Johann Nepomuk Hummel among them. The conventions and repertories associated with the virtuoso concerts, piano concertos in particular, as well as Chopin's earliest public concerts are discussed in detail. At the same time, music societies provided opportunities for performances on symphonic and chamber repertories that included the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. There were ambitious performances of sacred music in Warsaw churches, especially the Piarists' Church which hosted the Society for Church Music, and the Lutheran Church, which during the 1820s attracted Warsaw's best musicians, including the young Chopin. Musical performances also took place in many cafés. In some cafés, artistic projects were discussed and artistic events received the most candid reviews; others fostered an atmosphere of intense patriotism.Less
This chapter places Chopin within Warsaw's lively concert scene. The concert life in Warsaw was dominated by virtuoso concerts, featuring local and foreign artists, Niccolò Paganini and Johann Nepomuk Hummel among them. The conventions and repertories associated with the virtuoso concerts, piano concertos in particular, as well as Chopin's earliest public concerts are discussed in detail. At the same time, music societies provided opportunities for performances on symphonic and chamber repertories that included the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. There were ambitious performances of sacred music in Warsaw churches, especially the Piarists' Church which hosted the Society for Church Music, and the Lutheran Church, which during the 1820s attracted Warsaw's best musicians, including the young Chopin. Musical performances also took place in many cafés. In some cafés, artistic projects were discussed and artistic events received the most candid reviews; others fostered an atmosphere of intense patriotism.
Julian Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195372397
- eISBN:
- 9780199870844
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372397.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, Opera
This book explores the idea of expression and meaning in Mahler's music by examining its plural voices—their tone, manner, and historical resonance. Ranging across all the symphonies and songs, it ...
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This book explores the idea of expression and meaning in Mahler's music by examining its plural voices—their tone, manner, and historical resonance. Ranging across all the symphonies and songs, it considers how these works foreground the idea of artifice and irony while at the same time presenting themselves as acts of authentic expression and disclosure. While this music is shaped by strategies of calling forth its own mysterious voice—as if from nature or the Unconscious—at other times it reveals itself as something constructed, often self‐consciously assembled from familiar and well‐worn materials. It plays constantly with different musical genres and styles, moving between them in a way that often bewildered audiences. The result is that Mahler's symphonies exacerbate to breaking point their own inherited ideals of symphonic unity, narrative struggle, and transcendent affirmation. Their quality of radical self‐critique creates a link between the late‐18th‐century idea of romantic irony and the late‐20th‐century idea of deconstruction. But Mahler's music is not easily subsumed by either idea. While it acknowledges the conventionality of all its voices, at the same time, through the intensity of its tone, it speaks “as if” what it said were true. The urgency of this act, bound up with the Viennese modernism that Mahler prefigured, remains powerfully resonant for our own age.Less
This book explores the idea of expression and meaning in Mahler's music by examining its plural voices—their tone, manner, and historical resonance. Ranging across all the symphonies and songs, it considers how these works foreground the idea of artifice and irony while at the same time presenting themselves as acts of authentic expression and disclosure. While this music is shaped by strategies of calling forth its own mysterious voice—as if from nature or the Unconscious—at other times it reveals itself as something constructed, often self‐consciously assembled from familiar and well‐worn materials. It plays constantly with different musical genres and styles, moving between them in a way that often bewildered audiences. The result is that Mahler's symphonies exacerbate to breaking point their own inherited ideals of symphonic unity, narrative struggle, and transcendent affirmation. Their quality of radical self‐critique creates a link between the late‐18th‐century idea of romantic irony and the late‐20th‐century idea of deconstruction. But Mahler's music is not easily subsumed by either idea. While it acknowledges the conventionality of all its voices, at the same time, through the intensity of its tone, it speaks “as if” what it said were true. The urgency of this act, bound up with the Viennese modernism that Mahler prefigured, remains powerfully resonant for our own age.
Steve Reich
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195151152
- eISBN:
- 9780199850044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195151152.003.0038
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about The Four Sections, which as commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in honor of its seventy-fifth Anniversary. The title refers to the four sections of ...
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This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about The Four Sections, which as commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in honor of its seventy-fifth Anniversary. The title refers to the four sections of the orchestra; strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. It also refers to the four movements of the piece; slow for strings (with woodwinds and brass), slow for percussion, moderate for woodwinds and brass (with strings), and fast for the full orchestra. And it also refers to the four harmonic sections into which each of the movements is divided.Less
This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about The Four Sections, which as commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in honor of its seventy-fifth Anniversary. The title refers to the four sections of the orchestra; strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. It also refers to the four movements of the piece; slow for strings (with woodwinds and brass), slow for percussion, moderate for woodwinds and brass (with strings), and fast for the full orchestra. And it also refers to the four harmonic sections into which each of the movements is divided.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0036
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Jean Sibelius defied tradition; indeed his harmonic vocabulary is in the direct line from Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. It is because he has never deviated from the strait path that he is ...
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Jean Sibelius defied tradition; indeed his harmonic vocabulary is in the direct line from Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. It is because he has never deviated from the strait path that he is truly original and will remain so when the 12-tone apostles have become mere commonplaces. Sibelius first achieved fame as a “popular” composer. Finlandia became a hymn tune, and Valse Triste was at one time played almost nightly by every restaurant band. Nowadays, Finlandia and Valse Triste are nearly forgotten and the symphonies obtain ever more adherents. Nevertheless, one must always remember that it was the same man, with the same outlook and the same mind, who wrote both Finlandia and the Fourth Symphony. Sibelius has his head and his heart in heaven, but his feet firmly planted on the ground. There is a popular element in all great music, and the music of Sibelius is no exception.Less
Jean Sibelius defied tradition; indeed his harmonic vocabulary is in the direct line from Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. It is because he has never deviated from the strait path that he is truly original and will remain so when the 12-tone apostles have become mere commonplaces. Sibelius first achieved fame as a “popular” composer. Finlandia became a hymn tune, and Valse Triste was at one time played almost nightly by every restaurant band. Nowadays, Finlandia and Valse Triste are nearly forgotten and the symphonies obtain ever more adherents. Nevertheless, one must always remember that it was the same man, with the same outlook and the same mind, who wrote both Finlandia and the Fourth Symphony. Sibelius has his head and his heart in heaven, but his feet firmly planted on the ground. There is a popular element in all great music, and the music of Sibelius is no exception.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0079
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The first sketches for A Sea Symphony were made in 1903, and it was gradually worked out during the next seven years. It was first produced at the Leeds Festival in 1910, and has since been performed ...
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The first sketches for A Sea Symphony were made in 1903, and it was gradually worked out during the next seven years. It was first produced at the Leeds Festival in 1910, and has since been performed at Oxford, Cambridge, and Bristol. The plan of the work is symphonic rather than narrative or dramatic, and this may be held to justify the frequent repetition of important words and phrases that occur in the poem. The words as well as the music are thus treated symphonically. The Symphony is written for soprano and baritone soli, chorus, and orchestra. The words are selected from various poems of Walt Whitman to be found in Leaves of Grass: “Sea Drift,” “Song of the Exposition,” and “Passage to India.”Less
The first sketches for A Sea Symphony were made in 1903, and it was gradually worked out during the next seven years. It was first produced at the Leeds Festival in 1910, and has since been performed at Oxford, Cambridge, and Bristol. The plan of the work is symphonic rather than narrative or dramatic, and this may be held to justify the frequent repetition of important words and phrases that occur in the poem. The words as well as the music are thus treated symphonically. The Symphony is written for soprano and baritone soli, chorus, and orchestra. The words are selected from various poems of Walt Whitman to be found in Leaves of Grass: “Sea Drift,” “Song of the Exposition,” and “Passage to India.”
