From 721f6321dea974483674307df0a00c631763fefa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: DaeWook Kim Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2026 01:10:06 +0900 Subject: [PATCH] Upload week3 domain rag assignment --- assignments/daexvk/data/README.md | 8 + .../daexvk/data/raw/01_classical_music.txt | 176 +++++ .../daexvk/data/raw/02_concert_etiquette.txt | 41 ++ assignments/daexvk/data/raw/03_orchestra.txt | 186 +++++ assignments/daexvk/data/raw/04_symphony.txt | 78 ++ assignments/daexvk/data/raw/05_concerto.txt | 687 ++++++++++++++++++ .../daexvk/data/raw/06_chamber_music.txt | 286 ++++++++ assignments/daexvk/data/raw/07_sonata.txt | 269 +++++++ .../daexvk/data/raw/08_string_quartet.txt | 153 ++++ .../data/raw/09_ludwig_van_beethoven.txt | 227 ++++++ .../data/raw/10_wolfgang_amadeus_mozart.txt | 240 ++++++ .../data/raw/11_johann_sebastian_bach.txt | 226 ++++++ .../daexvk/data/raw/12_gustav_mahler.txt | 200 +++++ .../daexvk/data/raw/13_claude_debussy.txt | 158 ++++ .../data/raw/14_pyotr_ilyich_tchaikovsky.txt | 197 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insertions(+) create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/README.md create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/01_classical_music.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/02_concert_etiquette.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/03_orchestra.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/04_symphony.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/05_concerto.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/06_chamber_music.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/07_sonata.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/08_string_quartet.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/09_ludwig_van_beethoven.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/10_wolfgang_amadeus_mozart.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/11_johann_sebastian_bach.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/12_gustav_mahler.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/13_claude_debussy.txt create mode 100644 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assignments/daexvk/data/raw/27_messiah_handel.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/raw/28_carmina_burana_orff.txt create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/data/sources.json create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/week3/README.md create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/week3/rag_pipeline.py create mode 100644 assignments/daexvk/week3/week3_mission.ipynb diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/README.md b/assignments/daexvk/data/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c1ff14 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@ +# Week 3 Raw RAG Data + +RAG에 넣을 원문 텍스트는 `raw/*.txt`에만 있습니다. + +- 기존 요약/가공 Markdown 문서는 제거했습니다. +- `raw/*.txt` 파일은 Wikipedia API의 plain text extract 원문입니다. +- 출처와 라이선스 정보는 `sources.json`에 분리했습니다. +- Wikipedia text license: CC BY-SA 4.0 / GFDL. diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/01_classical_music.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/01_classical_music.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f6bb6c --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/01_classical_music.txt @@ -0,0 +1,176 @@ +Classical music is a tradition of art music in the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" can also be applied to non-Western art musics. Classical music is often characterized by formality and complexity in its musical form and harmonic organization, particularly with the use of polyphony. Since at least the ninth century, it has been primarily a written tradition, spawning a sophisticated notational system, as well as accompanying literature in analytical, critical, historiographical, musicological and philosophical practices. +Rooted in the patronage of churches and royal courts in Europe, surviving early medieval music is chiefly religious, monophonic and vocal. The earliest extant music manuscripts date from the Carolingian Empire (800–887), around the time which Western plainchant gradually unified into what is termed Gregorian chant. Musical centers existed at the Abbey of Saint Gall, the Abbey of Saint Martial and Saint Emmeram's Abbey, while the 11th century saw the development of staff notation and increasing output from medieval music theorists. By the mid-12th century, France became the major European musical center: the religious Notre-Dame school first fully explored organized rhythms and polyphony, while secular music flourished with the troubadour and trouvère traditions led by poet-musician nobles. This culminated in the court-sponsored French ars nova and Italian Trecento, which evolved into ars subtilior, a stylistic movement of extreme rhythmic diversity. Beginning in the early 15th century, Renaissance composers of the influential Franco-Flemish School built on the harmonic principles in the English contenance angloise, bringing choral music to new standards, particularly the mass and motet. Northern Italy soon emerged as the central musical region, where the Roman School engaged in highly sophisticated methods of polyphony in genres such as the madrigal, which inspired the brief English Madrigal School. +The Baroque period (1580–1750) saw the relative standardization of common-practice tonality, as well as the increasing importance of musical instruments, which grew into ensembles of considerable size. Italy remained dominant, being the birthplace of opera, the soloist centered concerto genre, the organized sonata form as well as the large scale vocal-centered genres of oratorio and cantata. The fugue technique championed by Johann Sebastian Bach exemplified the Baroque tendency for complexity, and as a reaction the simpler and song-like galant music and empfindsamkeit styles were developed. In the shorter but pivotal Classical period (1750–1820), composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven created widely admired representatives of absolute music, including symphonies, string quartets and concertos. The subsequent Romantic music (1800–1910) focused instead on programmatic music, for which the art song, symphonic poem and various piano genres were important vessels. During this time virtuosity was celebrated, immensity was encouraged, while philosophy and nationalism were embedded—all aspects that converged in the operas of Richard Wagner. +By the 20th century, stylistic unification gradually dissipated while the prominence of popular music greatly increased. Many composers actively avoided past techniques and genres in the lens of modernism, with some abandoning tonality in place of serialism, while others found new inspiration in folk melodies or impressionist sentiments. After World War II, for the first time audience members valued older music over contemporary works, a preference which has been catered to by the emergence and widespread availability of commercial recordings. Trends of the mid-20th century to the present day include New Simplicity, New Complexity, Minimalism, Spectral music, and more recently Postmodern music and Postminimalism. Increasingly global, practitioners from the Americas, Africa and Asia have obtained crucial roles, while symphony orchestras and opera houses now appear across the world. + + +== Terminology and definition == + + +=== Ideological origins === + +Both the English term classical and the German equivalent Klassik developed from the French classique, itself derived from the Latin word classicus, which originally referred to the highest class of Ancient Roman citizens. In Roman usage, the term later became a means to distinguish revered literary figures; the Roman author Aulus Gellius commended writers such as Demosthenes and Virgil as classicus. By the Renaissance, the adjective had acquired a more general meaning: an entry in Randle Cotgrave's 1611 A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues is among the earliest extant definitions, translating classique as "classical, formall [sic], orderlie, in due or fit ranke. Also, approved, authenticall, chiefe, principall". The musicologist Daniel Heartz summarizes this into two definitions: 1) a "formal discipline" and 2) a "model of excellence". Like Gellius, later Renaissance scholars who wrote in Latin used classicus in reference to writers of classical antiquity; however, this meaning only gradually developed, and was for a while subordinate to the broader classical ideals of formality and excellence. Literature and visual arts, for which substantial Ancient Greek and Roman examples existed, did eventually adopt the term "classical" as relating to classical antiquity, but virtually no music of that time was available to Renaissance musicians, limiting the connection between classical music and the Greco-Roman world. +It was in 18th-century England that the term 'classical' "first came to stand for a particular canon of works in performance." London had developed a prominent public concert music scene, unprecedented and unmatched by other European cities. The royal court had gradually lost its monopoly on music, in large part from instability that the Commonwealth of England's dissolution and the Glorious Revolution enacted on court musicians. In 1672, the former court musician John Banister began giving popular public concerts at a London tavern; his popularity rapidly inaugurated the prominence of public concerts in London. The conception of "classical", or more often "ancient music", emerged, which was still built on the principles of formality and excellence, and according to Heartz "civic ritual, religion and moral activism figured significantly in this novel construction of musical taste". The performance of such music was specialized by the Academy of Ancient Music and later at the Concerts of Antient Music series, where the work of select 16th- and 17th-century composers was featured, especially George Frideric Handel. In France, the reign of Louis XIV (r. 1638–1715) saw a cultural renaissance, by the end of which writers such as Molière, Jean de La Fontaine and Jean Racine were considered to have surpassed the achievements of classical antiquity. They were thus characterized as "classical", as was the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully (and later Christoph Willibald Gluck), being designated as "l'opéra française classique". In the rest of continental Europe, the abandonment of defining "classical" as analogous to the Greco-Roman World was slower, primarily because the formation of canonical repertoires was either minimal or exclusive to the upper classes. +Many European commentators of the early 19th century found new unification in their definition of classical music: to juxtapose the older composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and (excluding some of his later works) Ludwig van Beethoven as "classical" against the emerging style of Romantic music. These three composers in particular were grouped into the First Viennese School, sometimes called the "Viennese classics", a coupling that remains problematic by reason of none of the three being born in Vienna and the minimal time Haydn and Mozart spent in the city. While this was an often expressed characterization, it was not a strict one. In 1879 the composer Charles Kensington Salaman defined the following composers as classical: Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Spohr and Mendelssohn. More broadly, some writers used the term "classical" to generally praise well-regarded outputs from various composers, particularly those who produced many works in an established genre. + + +=== Contemporary understanding === +The contemporary understanding of the term "classical music" remains vague and multifaceted. Other terms such as "art music", "canonic music", "cultivated music" and "serious music" are largely synonymous. The term "classical music" is often indicated or implied to concern solely the Western world, and conversely, in many academic histories the term "Western music" excludes non-classical Western music. Another complication lies in that "classical music" is sometimes used to describe non-Western art music exhibiting similar long-lasting and complex characteristics; examples include Indian classical music, Gamelan music, and various styles of the court of Imperial China (see yayue for instance). Thus in the later 20th century terms such as "Western classical music" and "Western art music" came in use to address this. The musicologist Ralph P. Locke notes that neither term is ideal, as they create an "intriguing complication" when considering "certain practitioners of Western-art music genres who come from non-Western cultures". +Complexity in musical form and harmonic organization are typical traits of classical music. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) offers three definitions for the word "classical" in relation to music: + +"of acknowledged excellence" +"of, relating to, or characteristic of a formal musical tradition, as distinguished from popular or folk music" +and more specifically, "of or relating to formal European music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, characterized by harmony, balance, and adherence to established compositional forms". +The last definition concerns what is now termed the Classical period, a specific stylistic era of European music from the second half of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. + + +== History == + + +=== Roots === + +The Western classical tradition formally begins with music created by and for the early Christian Church. It is probable that the early Church wished to disassociate itself from the predominant music of ancient Greece and Rome, as it was a reminder of the pagan religion it had persecuted and by which it had been persecuted. As such, it remains unclear as to what extent the music of the Christian Church, and thus Western classical music as a whole, was influenced by preceding ancient music. The general attitude towards music was adopted from the Ancient Greek and Roman music theorists and commentators. Just as in Greco-Roman society, music was considered central to education; along with arithmetic, geometry and astronomy, music was included in the quadrivium, the four subjects of the upper division of a standard liberal arts education in the Middle Ages. This high regard for music was first promoted by the scholars Cassiodorus, Isidore of Seville, and particularly Boethius, whose transmission and expansion on the perspectives of music from Pythagoras, Aristotle and Plato were crucial in the development of medieval musical thought. However, scholars, medieval music theorists and composers regularly misinterpreted or misunderstood the writings of their Greek and Roman predecessors. This was due to the complete absence of surviving Greco-Roman musical works available to medieval musicians, to the extent that Isidore of Seville (c. 559 – 636) stated "unless sounds are remembered by man, they perish, for they cannot be written down", unaware of the systematic notational practices of Ancient Greece centuries before. The musicologist Gustave Reese notes, however, that many Greco-Roman texts can still be credited as influential to Western classical music, since medieval musicians regularly read their works—regardless of whether they were doing so correctly. +However, there are some indisputable musical continuations from the ancient world. Basic aspects such as monophony, improvisation and the dominance of text in musical settings are prominent in both early medieval and music of nearly all ancient civilizations. Greek influences in particular include the church modes (which were descendants of developments by Aristoxenus and Pythagoras), basic acoustical theory from pythagorean tuning, as well as the central function of tetrachords. Ancient Greek instruments such as the aulos (a reed instrument) and the lyre (a stringed instrument similar to a small harp) eventually led to several modern-day instruments of a symphonic orchestra. However, Donald Jay Grout notes that attempting to create a direct evolutionary connection from the ancient music to early medieval is baseless, as it was almost solely influenced by Greco-Roman music theory, not performance or practice. + + +=== Early music === + + +==== Medieval ==== + +Medieval music includes Western European music from after the fall of the Western Roman Empire by 476 to about 1400. Monophonic chant, also called plainsong or Gregorian chant, was the dominant form until about 1100. Christian monks developed the first forms of European musical notation in order to standardize liturgy throughout the Church. Polyphonic (multi-voiced) music developed from monophonic chant throughout the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, including the more complex voicings of motets. During the earlier medieval period, the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant, was monophonic, using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the high medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th and early 14th century. Notable medieval composers include Hildegard of Bingen, Léonin, Pérotin, Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut, Francesco Landini, and Johannes Ciconia. +Many medieval musical instruments still exist, but in different forms. Medieval instruments included the flute, the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute. As well, early versions of the organ and fiddle (or vielle) existed. Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self-accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century, there was a division of instruments into haut (loud, shrill, outdoor instruments) and bas (quieter, more intimate instruments). A number of instruments have roots in Eastern predecessors that were adopted from the medieval Islamic world. For example, the Arabic rebab is the ancestor of all European bowed string instruments, including the lira, rebec and violin. + + +==== Renaissance ==== + +The musical Renaissance era lasted from 1400 to 1600. It was characterized by greater use of instrumentation, multiple interweaving melodic lines, and the use of earlier forms of bass instruments. Social dancing became more widespread, so musical forms appropriate to accompanying dance began to standardize. It is in this time that the notation of music on a staff and other elements of musical notation began to take shape. This invention made possible the separation of the composition of a piece of music from its transmission; without written music, transmission was oral, and subject to change every time it was transmitted. With a musical score, a work of music could be performed without the composer's presence. The invention of the movable-type printing press in the 15th century had far-reaching consequences on the preservation and transmission of music. + +Many instruments originated during the Renaissance; others were variations of, or improvements upon, instruments that had existed previously. Some have survived to the present day; others have disappeared, only to be re-created in order to perform music on period instruments. As in the modern day, instruments may be classified as brass, strings, percussion, and woodwind. Brass instruments in the Renaissance were traditionally played by professionals who were members of Guilds and they included the slide trumpet, the wooden cornet, the valveless trumpet and the sackbut. Stringed instruments included the viol, the rebec, the harp-like lyre, the hurdy-gurdy, the lute, the guitar, the cittern, the bandora, and the orpharion. Keyboard instruments with strings included the harpsichord and the clavichord. Percussion instruments include the triangle, the Jew's harp, the tambourine, the bells, the rumble-pot, and various kinds of drums. Woodwind instruments included the double-reed shawm (an early member of the oboe family), the reed pipe, the bagpipe, the transverse flute, the recorder, the dulcian, and the crumhorn. Simple pipe organs existed, but were largely confined to churches, although there were portable varieties. Printing enabled the standardization of descriptions and specifications of instruments, as well as instruction in their use. +Vocal music in the Renaissance is noted for the flourishing of an increasingly elaborate polyphonic style. The principal liturgical forms which endured throughout the entire Renaissance period were masses and motets, with some other developments towards the end, especially as composers of sacred music began to adopt secular forms (such as the madrigal) for their own designs. Towards the end of the period, the early dramatic precursors of opera such as monody, the madrigal comedy, and the intermedio are seen. Around 1597, Italian composer Jacopo Peri wrote Dafne, the first work to be called an opera today. He also composed Euridice, the first opera to have survived to the present day. +Notable composers of the Renaissance include Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, John Dunstaple, Johannes Ockeghem, Orlande de Lassus, Guillaume Du Fay, Gilles Binchois, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Giovanni Gabrieli, Carlo Gesualdo, John Dowland, Jacob Obrecht, Adrian Willaert, Jacques Arcadelt, Cipriano de Rore, and Francesco da Milano. + + +=== Common-practice period === +The common practice period is typically defined as the era between the formation and the dissolution of common-practice tonality. The term usually spans roughly two-and-a-half centuries, encompassing the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. + + +==== Baroque ==== + +Baroque music is characterized by the use of complex tonal counterpoint and the use of a basso continuo, a continuous bass line. Music became more complex in comparison with the simple songs of all previous periods. The beginnings of the sonata form took shape in the canzona, as did a more formalized notion of theme and variations. The tonalities of major and minor as means for managing dissonance and chromaticism in music took full shape. +During the Baroque era, keyboard music played on the harpsichord and pipe organ became increasingly popular, and the violin family of stringed instruments took the form generally seen today. Opera as a staged musical drama began to differentiate itself from earlier musical and dramatic forms, and vocal forms like the cantata and oratorio became more common. For the first time, vocalists began adding ornamentals to the music. +The theories surrounding equal temperament began to be put in wider practice, as it enabled a wider range of chromatic possibilities in hard-to-tune keyboard instruments. Although J.S. Bach did not use equal temperament, changes in the temperaments from the then-common meantone system to various temperaments that made modulation between all keys musically acceptable made possible his Well-Tempered Clavier. +Baroque instruments included some instruments from the earlier periods (e.g., the hurdy-gurdy and recorder) and a number of new instruments (e.g., the oboe, bassoon, cello, contrabass and fortepiano). Some instruments from previous eras fell into disuse, such as the shawm, cittern, rackett, and the wooden cornet. The key Baroque instruments for strings included the violin, viol, viola, viola d'amore, cello, contrabass, lute, theorbo (which often played the basso continuo parts), mandolin, Baroque guitar, harp and hurdy-gurdy. Woodwinds included the Baroque flute, Baroque oboe, recorder and the bassoon. Brass instruments included the cornett, natural horn, natural trumpet, serpent and the trombone. Keyboard instruments included the clavichord, the tangent piano, the harpsichord, the pipe organ, and, later in the period, the fortepiano (an early version of the piano). Percussion instruments included the timpani, snare drum, tambourine and the castanets. +One major difference between Baroque music and the classical era that followed it is that the types of instruments used in Baroque ensembles were much less standardized. A Baroque ensemble could include one of several different types of keyboard instruments (e.g., pipe organ or harpsichord), additional stringed chordal instruments (e.g., a lute), bowed strings, woodwinds, and brass instruments, and an unspecified number of bass instruments performing the basso continuo,(e.g., a cello, contrabass, viola, bassoon, serpent, etc.). +Vocal oeuvres of the Baroque era included suites such as oratorios and cantatas. Secular music was less common, and was typically characterized only by instrumental music. Like Baroque art, themes were generally sacred and for the purpose of a catholic setting. +Notable composers of the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Johann Pachelbel, Henry Purcell, Claudio Monteverdi, Barbara Strozzi, Domenico Scarlatti, Georg Philipp Telemann, Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean-Baptiste Lully, and Heinrich Schütz. + + +==== Classical ==== + +Though the term "classical music" includes all Western art music from the medieval era to the 21st century, the Classical era is the period of Western art music from the 1750s to the early 1820s—the era of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven. +The Classical era established many of the norms of composition, presentation, and style, and when the piano became the predominant keyboard instrument. The basic forces required for an orchestra became somewhat standardized (though they would grow as the potential of a wider array of instruments was developed). Chamber music grew to include ensembles with as many as 8–10 performers for serenades. Opera continued to develop, with regional styles in Italy, France, and German-speaking lands. The opera buffa, a form of comic opera, rose in popularity. The symphony came into its own as a musical form, and the concerto was developed as a vehicle for displays of virtuoso playing skill. Orchestras no longer required a harpsichord, and were often led by the lead violinist (now called the concertmaster). +Classical era musicians continued to use many of the instruments from the Baroque era, such as the cello, contrabass, recorder, trombone, timpani, fortepiano (the precursor to the modern piano) and organ. While some Baroque instruments fell into disuse e.g. the theorbo and rackett, many Baroque instruments were changed into the versions still in use today, such as the Baroque violin (which became the violin), Baroque oboe (which became the oboe) and Baroque trumpet, which transitioned to the regular valved trumpet. During the Classical era, the stringed instruments used in orchestra and chamber music such as string quartets were standardized as the four instruments which form the string section of the orchestra: the violin, viola, cello, and double bass. Baroque-era stringed instruments such as fretted, bowed viols were phased out. Woodwinds included the basset clarinet, basset horn, clarinette d'amour, the Classical clarinet, the chalumeau, the flute, oboe and bassoon. Keyboard instruments included the clavichord and the fortepiano. While the harpsichord was still used in basso continuo accompaniment in the 1750s and 1760s, it fell out of use at the end of the century. Brass instruments included the buccin, the ophicleide (a replacement for the bass serpent, which was the precursor of the tuba) and the natural horn. +Wind instruments became more refined in the Classical era. While double-reed instruments like the oboe and bassoon became somewhat standardized in the Baroque, the clarinet family of single reeds was not widely used until Mozart expanded its role in orchestral, chamber, and concerto settings. +Notable composers of the Classical era include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Luigi Boccherini, Antonio Salieri, Carl Czerny, and Pierre Rode. Ludwig van Beethoven is commonly regarded as a transitional composer whose music combines both late Classical and early Romantic elements. + + +==== Romantic ==== + +The music of the Romantic era, from roughly the first decade of the 19th century to the early 20th century, was characterized by increased attention to an extended melodic line, as well as expressive and emotional elements, paralleling romanticism in other art forms. Musical forms began to break from the Classical era forms (even as those were being codified), with free-form pieces like nocturnes, fantasias, and preludes being written where accepted ideas about the exposition and development of themes were ignored or minimized. The music became more chromatic, dissonant, and tonally colorful, with tensions (with respect to accepted norms of the older forms) about key signatures increasing. The art song (or Lied) came to maturity in this era, as did the epic scales of grand opera, ultimately transcended by Richard Wagner's Ring cycle. +In the 19th century, musical institutions emerged from the control of wealthy patrons, as composers and musicians could construct lives independent of the nobility. Increasing interest in music by the growing middle classes throughout western Europe spurred the creation of organizations for the teaching, performance, and preservation of music. The piano, which achieved its modern construction in this era (in part due to industrial advances in metallurgy) became widely popular with the middle class, whose demands for the instrument spurred many piano builders. Many symphony orchestras date their founding to this era. Some musicians and composers were the stars of the day; some, like Franz Liszt and Niccolò Paganini, fulfilled both roles. +European cultural ideas and institutions began to follow colonial expansion into other parts of the world. There was also a rise, especially toward the end of the era, of nationalism in music (echoing, in some cases, political sentiments of the time), as composers such as Edvard Grieg, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Antonín Dvořák echoed traditional music of their homelands in their compositions. +In the Romantic era, the modern piano, with a more powerful, sustained tone and a wider range took over from the more delicate-sounding fortepiano. In the orchestra, the existing Classical instruments and sections were retained (string section, woodwinds, brass, and percussion), but these sections were typically expanded to make a fuller, bigger sound. For example, while a Baroque orchestra may have had two double bass players, a Romantic orchestra could have as many as ten. "As music grew more expressive, the standard orchestral palette just wasn't rich enough for many Romantic composers." +The families of instruments used, especially in orchestras, grew larger; a process that climaxed in the early 20th century with very large orchestras used by late romantic and modernist composers. A wider array of percussion instruments began to appear. Brass instruments took on larger roles, as the introduction of rotary valves made it possible for them to play a wider range of notes. The size of the orchestra (typically around 40 in the Classical era) grew to be over 100. Gustav Mahler's 1906 Symphony No. 8, for example, has been performed with over 150 instrumentalists and choirs of over 400. New woodwind instruments were added, such as the contrabassoon, bass clarinet and piccolo and new percussion instruments were added, including xylophones, snare drums, celestas (a bell-like keyboard instrument), bells, and triangles, large orchestral harps, and even wind machines for sound effects. Saxophones appear in some scores from the late 19th century onwards, usually featured as a solo instrument rather than as an integral part of the orchestra. +The Wagner tuba, a modified member of the horn family, appears in Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. It also has a prominent role in Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E Major and is also used in several late romantic and modernist works by Richard Strauss, Béla Bartók, and others. Cornets appear regularly in 19th century scores, alongside trumpets which were regarded as less agile, at least until the end of the century. +Notable composers of the Romantic era include Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Frédéric Chopin, Hector Berlioz, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Hensel, Franz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms, Alexander Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner, Edvard Grieg, and Johann Strauss II. Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss are commonly regarded as transitional composers whose music combines both late Romantic and early modernist elements. + + +=== 20th and 21st centuries === + +At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late romantic in style with its expressive melodies, complex harmonies, and expansive forms. This era was marked by the works of several composers who pushed forward post-romantic symphonic writing. Composers such as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss continued to develop the western classical tradition with expansive symphonies and operas, while the likes of Jean Sibelius and Vaughan Williams infused their compositions with nationalistic elements and influences from folk songs. Sergei Prokofiev began in this tradition but soon ventured into modernist territories. At the same time, the impressionist movement, spearheaded by Claude Debussy, was being developed in France, with Maurice Ravel as another notable pioneer. + + +==== Modernist ==== + +Modernist classical music encompasses many styles of composition that can be characterised as post romantic, impressionist, expressionist, and neoclassical. Modernism marked an era when many composers rejected certain values of the common practice period, such as traditional tonality, melody, instrumentation, and structure. Some music historians regard musical modernism as an era extending from about 1890 to 1930. Others consider that modernism ended with one or the other of the two world wars. Still other authorities claim that modernism is not associated with any historical era, but rather is "an attitude of the composer; a living construct that can evolve with the times". Despite its decline in the last third of the 20th century, there remained at the end of the century an active core of composers who continued to advance the ideas and forms of modernism, such as Pierre Boulez, Pauline Oliveros, Toru Takemitsu, George Benjamin, Jacob Druckman, Brian Ferneyhough, George Perle, Wolfgang Rihm, Richard Wernick, Richard Wilson, and Ralph Shapey. +Two musical movements that were dominant during this time were the impressionist beginning around 1890 and the expressionist that started around 1908. It was a period of diverse reactions in challenging and reinterpreting older categories of music, innovations that lead to new ways of organizing and approaching harmonic, melodic, sonic, and rhythmic aspects of music, and changes in aesthetic worldviews in close relation to the larger identifiable period of modernism in the arts of the time. The operative word most associated with it is "innovation". Its leading feature is a "linguistic plurality", which is to say that no single music genre ever assumed a dominant position. +The orchestra continued to grow during the early years modernist era, peaking in the first two decades of the 20th century. Saxophones that appeared only rarely during the 19th century became more commonly used as supplementary instruments, but never became core members of the orchestra. While appearing only as featured solo instruments in some works, for example Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, the saxophone is included in other works such as Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 and 2 and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. In some compositions such as Ravel's Boléro, two or more saxophones of different sizes are used to create an entire section like the other sections of the orchestra. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th century works, usually playing parts marked "tenor tuba", including Gustav Holst's The Planets, and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. +Similarly, in the 20th century, both the accordion and its cousin the Free Bass Accordion were occasionally scored as a respected "legitimate instrument" within compositions of classical music for the symphonic orchestra and the chamber music ensemble. Significant works for the accordion included: Paul Creston's Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra, Op. 75, Robert Davine's Divertimento for Flute, Clarinet,Bassoon and Accordion, Anthony Galla-Rini's Accordion Concerto in G Minor No. 1 +and John Serry's Concerto for Free Bass Accordion. +Prominent composers of the early 20th century include Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, Arnold Schoenberg, Nikos Skalkottas, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Karol Szymanowski, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Cécile Chaminade, Paul Hindemith, Aram Khachaturian, George Gershwin, Amy Beach, Béla Bartók, and Dmitri Shostakovich, along with the aforementioned Mahler and Strauss as transitional figures who carried over from the 19th century. + + +==== Post-modern/contemporary ==== + +Postmodern music is a period of music that began as early as 1930 according to some authorities. It shares characteristics with postmodernist art – that is, art that comes after and reacts against modernism. +Some other authorities have more or less equated postmodern music with the "contemporary music" composed well after 1930, from the late 20th century through to the early 21st century. Some of the diverse movements of the postmodern/contemporary era include the neoromantic, neomedieval, minimalist, and post minimalist. +Contemporary classical music at the beginning of the 21st century was often considered to include all post-1945 musical forms. A generation later, this term now properly refers to the music of today written by composers who are still alive; music that came into prominence in the mid-1970s. It includes different variations of modernist, postmodern, neoromantic, and pluralist music. + + +== Performance == + +Performers who have studied classical music extensively are said to be "classically trained". This training may come from private lessons from instrument or voice teachers or from completion of a formal program offered by a Conservatory, college or university, such as a Bachelor of Music or Master of Music degree (which includes individual lessons from professors). In classical music, "...extensive formal music education and training, often to postgraduate [Master's degree] level" is required. +Performance of classical music repertoire requires a proficiency in sight-reading and ensemble playing, harmonic principles, strong ear training (to correct and adjust pitches by ear), knowledge of performance practice (e.g., Baroque ornamentation), and a familiarity with the style/musical idiom expected for a given composer or musical work (e.g., a Brahms symphony or a Mozart concerto). +The key characteristic of European classical music that distinguishes it from popular music, folk music, and some other classical music traditions such as Indian classical music, is that the repertoire tends to be written down in musical notation, creating a musical part or score. This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, where two or more musicians (whether singers or instrumentalists) are involved, how the various parts are coordinated. The written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them: fugues, for instance, achieve a remarkable marriage of boldly distinctive melodic lines weaving in counterpoint yet creating a coherent harmonic logic. The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works and enables Classical musicians to perform music from many centuries ago. +Although classical music in the 2000s has lost most of its tradition for musical improvisation, from the Baroque era to the Romantic era, there are examples of performers who could improvise in the style of their era. In the Baroque era, organ performers would improvise preludes, keyboard performers playing harpsichord would improvise chords from the figured bass symbols beneath the bass notes of the basso continuo part and both vocal and instrumental performers would improvise musical ornaments. Johann Sebastian Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations. During the Classical era, the composer-performer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto. During the Romantic era, Ludwig van Beethoven would improvise at the piano. + + +== Relationship to other music traditions == + + +=== Popular music === +Classical music has often incorporated elements or material from popular music of the composer's time. Examples include occasional music such as Brahms's use of student drinking songs in his Academic Festival Overture, genres exemplified by Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, and the influence of jazz on early and mid-20th-century composers including Maurice Ravel, exemplified by the movement entitled "Blues" in his sonata for violin and piano. Some postmodern, minimalist and postminimalist classical composers acknowledge a debt to popular music. +George Gershwin's 1924 orchestral composition Rhapsody in Blue has been described as orchestral jazz or symphonic jazz. The composition combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. +Numerous examples show influence in the opposite direction, including popular songs based on classical music, the use to which Pachelbel's Canon has been put since the 1970s, and the musical crossover phenomenon, where classical musicians have achieved success in the popular music arena. In heavy metal, a number of lead guitarists (playing electric guitar), including Ritchie Blackmore and Randy Rhoads, modeled their playing styles on Baroque or Classical-era instrumental music. + + +=== Folk music === +Composers of classical music have often made use of folk music (music created by musicians who are commonly not classically trained, often from a purely oral tradition). Some composers, like Dvořák and Smetana, have used folk themes to impart a nationalist flavor to their work, while others like Bartók have used specific themes lifted whole from their folk-music origins. Khachaturian widely incorporated into his work the folk music of his native Armenia, but also other ethnic groups of the Middle East and Eastern Europe. + + +== Commercialization == + +Certain staples of classical music are often used commercially (either in advertising or in movie soundtracks). In television commercials, several passages have become clichéd, particularly the opening of Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra (made famous in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey) and the opening section "O Fortuna" of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana; other examples include the "Dies irae" from the Verdi Requiem, Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt, the opening bars of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance", Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre, Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee", and excerpts of Aaron Copland's Rodeo. Several works from the Golden Age of Animation matched the action to classical music. Notable examples are Walt Disney's Fantasia, Tom and Jerry's Johann Mouse, and Warner Bros.' Rabbit of Seville and What's Opera, Doc? +Similarly, movies and television often use standard, clichéd excerpts of classical music to convey refinement or opulence: some of the most-often heard pieces in this category include Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain (as orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov), and Rossini's "William Tell Overture". Shawn Vancour argues the commercialization of classical music in the 1920s may have harmed the music industry. + + +== Education == + +During the 1990s, several research papers and popular books wrote on what came to be called the "Mozart effect": an observed temporary, small elevation of scores on spatial reasoning tests as a result of listening to Mozart's music. The approach has been popularized in a book by Don Campbell, and is based on an experiment published in Nature suggesting that listening to Mozart temporarily boosted students' IQ by 8 to 9 points. This popularized version of the theory was expressed succinctly by the New York Times music columnist Alex Ross: "researchers... have determined that listening to Mozart actually makes you smarter." Promoters marketed CDs claimed to induce the effect. Florida passed a law requiring toddlers in state-run schools to listen to classical music every day, and in 1998 the governor of Georgia budgeted $105,000 per year to provide every child born in Georgia with a tape or CD of classical music. One of the co-authors of the original studies of the Mozart effect commented "I don't think it can hurt. I'm all for exposing children to wonderful cultural experiences. But I do think the money could be better spent on music education programs." + + +== See also == +Classical music of the United Kingdom +Classical music of the United States +Italian classical music +Russian classical music +Women in classical music + + +== References == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== Citations === + + +=== Sources === + + +==== Books ==== + + +==== Journal and encyclopedia articles ==== + + +== Further reading == + + +== External links == +Grove Music Online – online version of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. +MGG Online – online version of Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart +Historical classical recordings from the British Library Sound Archive +Official ClassicalMusicOnly WebSite diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/02_concert_etiquette.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/02_concert_etiquette.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c78f3a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/02_concert_etiquette.txt @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +Concert etiquette refers to a set of social norms observed by those attending musical performances. These norms vary depending upon the type of music performance and can be stringent, with dress codes and conduct rules, or relaxed and informal. The rules or expectations for concert etiquette may be informally communicated by word-of-mouth by attendees or participants or they may be printed on tickets or signs. + + +== Genres == + + +=== Classical music === + +At classical music concerts, the cardinal principle is to let others listen to the music undisturbed. Instruments and voices are typically unamplified, and the music is rich in detail and includes passages played very softly. Many audience members want to hear everything, and the normal standard of courtesy is simply to be entirely silent while the music is playing. Thus, during this time experienced concertgoers avoid conversation, try to suppress coughs and sneezes, muffling these with handkerchiefs. Electronic devices are turned off. Concertgoers try to arrive and take seats before the music begins; late arrivals wait until a break between pieces allows seating by an usher. +Dress expectations for the audience are today rather informal in English-speaking countries. Audiences usually meet "smart casual" standards, with some performance companies explicitly telling audiences to wear whatever makes them comfortable. Hats are removed as they block others' view of the stage. Dress expectations may still be very formal for special events, events that are difficult to attend, or that take place in traditional venues. Additionally, concertgoers are expected to dress more formally in certain countries than in others. +Concert etiquette has, like the music, evolved over time. Late eighteenth-century composers such as Mozart expected that people would talk, particularly when audience members took dinner (which many had served during the performance), and took delight in audiences clapping at once in response to a nice musical effect. Individual movements were encored in response to audience applause. Robert Bedont notes that “Mozart...would have expected food, drink, gossip, and a rowdy 18th-century crowd.” +The nineteenth century brought a shift in venue from aristocratic gatherings to public concerts along with works featuring an unprecedentedly wide dynamic range. Mahler clamped down on claques paid to applaud a particular performer, and specified in the score of his Kindertotenlieder that its movements should not be punctuated by applause. +With the arrival of recording technology in the twentieth century, applause between the movements of a symphony or suite came to be regarded as a distraction from the momentum and unity of a work. Bedont states that “...with Wagner and Mahler insisting on attentive listening and the background silence of 20th-century recording studios, audience noise has come to be viewed as intrusive to the performers and patrons alike.” +In the 2020s, applause between movements is usually considered something of a faux pas, though a minor and well-meaning one. +Sacred works offered as worship are not applauded. Such works include settings of requiem, Passion, mass, or Kaddish prayer. Presented in an artistic context, such works, along with secular works of comparable gravity, still often get respectful silence for a long moment before any applause. +Collapses of decorum have occurred often in music history. In 1861 a Paris performance of Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser was deliberately sabotaged by audience members bringing noisemakers. The premiere of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring in 1913 prompted catcalls and whistles from the crowd that degenerated into fistfights in the aisles and police intervention. Steve Reich's Four Organs at Carnegie Hall in 1973 featured audience members sarcastically applauding and shouting to hasten the end of the performance. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas recalls a woman walking down the aisle and beating her head against the front of the stage, and making negative comments implying that she was being tortured by the music. +Kate Molleson states that the “classical music community gives mixed messages”, as “[a]ccessibility is the industry catchword” (e.g., concert venues encourage casual attire), and yet audiences “demand sanctimonious listening environments of silence and absolute stillness” in classical venues, which “alienates those not in the know.” + + +=== Jazz === + +Jazz clubs are as much a social event as they are a musical one, with clubs featuring seats around tables rather than a more traditional line of seats, beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and in some cases, restaurant meals are served in clubs. The clubs are generally intimate, small buildings with seats spaced close together with the stage never too far away. Discussion between audience members is common, so long as it does not distract other listeners from the music, with the energy of the audience even potentially bringing out more from the performers. +Performers are even expected to engage with the audience more closely, relying on their reactions to form their performance. Audience members take note of the interactions between performers, such as cues and encouraging gestures, despite not always knowing ahead how the improvised performance will be laid out. With regards to applause, the audience usually claps after each solo within the jazz tune in order to recognize the soloist. As well, the audience may applaud and cheer at the end of a song. This type of engagement is common throughout jazz performances regardless of the setting and shares the same basic ideas as other clapping procedures: show appreciation for the musicians’ efforts. + + +=== Rock === + +Sometimes at rock concerts, lighters are held or waved in the air to signal an encore or a power ballad. With the decline of smokers, the restrictions placed on carrying lighters during air travel, and the increase of mobile phones in the early 21st century, cell phones (specifically the camera flash) are often used in place of lighters, and as a way to take personal pictures and videos. As early as 2001, cell phones were waved in the air during a Philippine concert by the Corrs. While this is frowned upon by some fans, cell phone use is fairly commonplace at concerts. Several artists, such as Björk, Prince, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Jack White have requested that audience members refrain from using their cell phones during their concerts. + + +== See also == +Gottfried van Swieten - an 18th-century pioneer of modern forms of classical music concert etiquette +Concert abuse in the 2020s + + +== References == + + +== External links == +Opera protocol +Guide des difficultés de rédaction en musique (GDRM): Étiquette du concert (musiciens, public), in French diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/03_orchestra.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/03_orchestra.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5d01fd --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/03_orchestra.txt @@ -0,0 +1,186 @@ +An orchestra ( ; OR-ki-strə) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music or jazz, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: + +The string section, including the violin, viola, cello, and double bass +The woodwind section, including the flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, and sometimes piccolo, cor anglais, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, and saxophone +The brass section, including the French horn (commonly known as the "horn"), trumpet, trombone, and tuba, and sometimes cornet and euphonium +The percussion section, including the timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, tam-tam and mallet percussion instruments +The harp is fairly regularly included in modern orchestras, especially for romantic period music. Keyboard instruments such as the piano, harpsichord, pipe organ, free-bass accordion and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone as soloist instruments. For performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments and guitars may also be included. +A full-size Western orchestra may sometimes be called a symphony orchestra or philharmonic orchestra (from Greek phil-, "loving", and "harmony"). The number of musicians employed in a given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred, depending on the work being played and the venue size. A chamber orchestra (sometimes a concert orchestra) is a smaller ensemble of not more than around fifty musicians. Orchestras that specialize in the Baroque music of, for example, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, or Classical repertoire, such as that of Haydn and Mozart, tend to be smaller than orchestras performing a Romantic music repertoire such as the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. The typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras of as many as 120 players called for in the works of Richard Wagner and later Gustav Mahler. +Orchestras are usually led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms, often made easier for the musicians to see by using a short wooden rod known as a conductor's baton. The conductor unifies the orchestra, sets the tempo, and shapes the sound of the ensemble. The conductor also prepares the orchestra by leading rehearsals before the public concert, in which the conductor provides instructions to the musicians on their interpretation of the music being performed. +The leader of the first violin section – commonly called the concertmaster – also plays an important role in leading the musicians. In the Baroque music era (1600–1750), orchestras were often led by the concertmaster, or by a chord-playing musician performing the basso continuo parts on a harpsichord or pipe organ, a tradition that some 20th-century and 21st-century early music ensembles continue. +Orchestras play a wide range of repertoire, including symphonies, opera and ballet overtures, concertos for solo instruments, and pit ensembles for operas, ballets, and some types of musical theatre (e.g., Gilbert and Sullivan operettas). +Amateur orchestras include youth orchestras made up of students from an elementary school, a high school, or a university, and community orchestras; typically they are made up of amateur musicians from a particular city or region. +The term orchestra derives from the Greek ὀρχήστρα (orchestra), the name for the area in front of a stage in ancient Greek theatre reserved for the Greek chorus. + + +== History == + + +=== Baroque and classical eras === +In the Baroque era, the size and composition of an orchestra were not standardised. There were large differences in size, instrumentation and playing styles—and therefore in orchestral soundscapes and palettes — between the various European regions. The Baroque orchestra ranged from smaller orchestras (or ensembles) with one player per part, to larger-scale orchestras with many players per part. Examples of the smaller variety were Bach's orchestras, for example in Koethen, where he had access to an ensemble of up to 18 players. Examples of large-scale Baroque orchestras would include Corelli's orchestra in Rome which ranged between 35 and 80 players for day-to-day performances, being enlarged to 150 players for special occasions. +In the classical era, the orchestra became more standardized with a small to medium-sized string section and a core wind section consisting of pairs of oboes, flutes, bassoons and horns, sometimes supplemented by percussion and pairs of clarinets and trumpets. + + +=== Beethoven's influence === +The so-called "standard complement" of doubled winds and brass in the orchestra pioneered in the late 18th century and consolidated during the first half of the 19th century is generally attributed to the forces called for by Beethoven after Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven's instrumentation almost always included paired flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets. The exceptions are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, and Piano Concerto No. 4, which each specify a single flute. Beethoven carefully calculated the expansion of this particular timbral "palette" in Symphonies 3, 5, 6, and 9 for an innovative effect. The third horn in the "Eroica" Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility but also the effect of "choral" brass in the Trio movement. Piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones add to the triumphal finale of his Symphony No. 5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver the effect of storm and sunshine in the Sixth, also known as the Pastoral Symphony. The Ninth asks for a second pair of horns, for reasons similar to the "Eroica" (four horns has since become standard); Beethoven's use of piccolo, contrabassoon, trombones, and untuned percussion—plus chorus and vocal soloists—in his finale, are his earliest suggestion that the timbral boundaries of the symphony might be expanded. For several decades after his death, symphonic instrumentation was faithful to Beethoven's well-established model, with few exceptions. + + +=== Instrumental technology === + +The invention of the piston and rotary valve by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel, both Silesians, in 1815, was the first in a series of innovations which impacted the orchestra, including the development of modern keywork for the flute by Theobald Boehm and the innovations of Adolphe Sax in the woodwinds, notably the invention of the saxophone. These advances would lead Hector Berlioz to write a landmark book on instrumentation, which was the first systematic treatise on using instrumental sound as an expressive element of music. + + +=== Wagner's influence === +The next major expansion of symphonic practice came from Richard Wagner's Bayreuth orchestra, founded to accompany his musical dramas. Wagner's works for the stage were scored with unprecedented scope and complexity: indeed, his score to Das Rheingold calls for six harps. Thus, Wagner envisioned an ever-more-demanding role for the conductor of the theatre orchestra, as he elaborated in his influential work On Conducting. This brought about a revolution in orchestral composition and set the style for orchestral performance for the next eighty years. Wagner's theories re-examined the importance of tempo, dynamics, bowing of string instruments and the role of principals in the orchestra. + + +=== 20th-century orchestra === +At the beginning of the 20th century, symphony orchestras were larger, better funded, and better trained than previously; consequently, composers could compose larger and more ambitious works. The works of Gustav Mahler were particularly innovative; in his later symphonies, such as the mammoth Symphony No. 8, Mahler pushes the furthest boundaries of orchestral size, employing large forces. By the late Romantic era, orchestras could support the most enormous forms of symphonic expression, with huge string and brass sections and an expanded range of percussion instruments. With the recording era beginning, the standards of performance were pushed to a new level, because a recorded symphony could be listened to closely and even minor errors in intonation or ensemble, which might not be noticeable in a live performance, could be heard by critics. As recording technologies improved over the 20th and 21st centuries, eventually small errors in a recording could be "fixed" by audio editing or overdubbing. Some older conductors and composers could remember a time when simply "getting through" the music as well as possible was the standard. Combined with the wider audience made possible by recording, this led to a renewed focus on particular star conductors and on a high standard of orchestral execution. + + +== Instrumentation == + +The typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. Other instruments such as the piano, accordion, and celesta may sometimes be grouped into a fifth section such as a keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and electric and electronic instruments. The orchestra, depending on the size, contains almost all of the standard instruments in each group. +In the history of the orchestra, its instrumentation has been expanded over time, often agreed to have been standardized by the classical period and Ludwig van Beethoven's influence on the classical model. In the 20th and 21st century, new repertory demands expanded the instrumentation of the orchestra, resulting in a flexible use of the classical-model instruments and newly developed electric and electronic instruments in various combinations. In the mid 20th century, several attempts were made in Germany and the United States to confine the instrumentation of the symphonic orchestra exclusively to groups of one instrument. In this configuration, the symphonic orchestra consisted entirely of free-reed chromatic accordions which were modified to recreate the full range of orchestral sounds and timbres during the performance of orthodox Western classical music. +The terms symphony orchestra and philharmonic orchestra may be used to distinguish different ensembles from the same locality, such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A symphony or philharmonic orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue. +A chamber orchestra is usually a smaller ensemble; a major chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians, but some are much smaller. Concert orchestra is an alternative term, as in the BBC Concert Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. + + +=== Expanded instrumentation === +Apart from the core orchestral complement, various other instruments are called for occasionally. These include the flugelhorn and cornet. Saxophones and classical guitars, for example, appear in some 19th- through 21st-century scores. While appearing only as featured solo instruments in some works, for example Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, the saxophone is included in other works, such as Ravel's Boléro, Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 and 2, Vaughan Williams' Symphonies No. 6 and No. 9, and William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th century works, usually playing parts marked "tenor tuba", including Gustav Holst's The Planets, and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. The Wagner tuba, a modified member of the horn family, appears in Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and several other works by Strauss, Igor Stravinsky (as featured in The Rite of Spring), Béla Bartók, and others; it also has a notably prominent role in Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E Major. Cornets appear in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, Claude Debussy's La Mer, and several orchestral works by Hector Berlioz. Unless these instruments are played by members "doubling" on another instrument (for example, a trombone player changing to euphonium or a bassoon player switching to contrabassoon for a certain passage), orchestras typically hire freelance musicians to augment their regular ensemble. +The 20th century orchestra was far more flexible than its predecessors. In Beethoven's and Felix Mendelssohn's time, the orchestra was composed of a fairly standard core of instruments, which was very rarely modified by composers. As time progressed, and as the Romantic period saw changes in accepted modification with composers such as Berlioz and Mahler; some composers used multiple harps and sound effect such as the wind machine. During the 20th century, the modern orchestra was generally standardized with the modern instrumentation listed below. Nevertheless, by the mid- to late 20th century, with the development of contemporary classical music, instrumentation could practically be hand-picked by the composer (e.g., to add electric instruments such as electric guitar, electronic instruments such as synthesizers, +ondes martenot, or trautonium, as well as other non-Western instruments, or other instruments not traditionally used in orchestras including the: bandoneon, free bass accordion, harmonica, jews harp, mandola and water percussion. +With this history in mind, the orchestra can be analysed in five eras: the Baroque era, the Classical era, early/mid-Romantic music era, late-Romantic era and combined Modern/Postmodern eras. The first is a Baroque orchestra (i.e., J.S. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi), which generally had a smaller number of performers, and in which one or more chord-playing instruments, the basso continuo group (e.g., harpsichord or pipe organ and assorted bass instruments to perform the bassline), played an important role; the second is a typical classical period orchestra (e.g., early Beethoven along with Mozart and Haydn), which used a smaller group of performers than a Romantic music orchestra and a fairly standardized instrumentation; the third is typical of an early/mid-Romantic era (e.g., Schubert, Berlioz, Schumann, Brahms); the fourth is a late-Romantic/early 20th-century orchestra (e.g., Wagner, Mahler, Stravinsky), to the common complement of a 2010-era modern orchestra (e.g., Adams, Barber, Aaron Copland, Glass, Penderecki). + + +==== Late Baroque orchestra ==== + + +==== Classical orchestra ==== + + +==== Early Romantic orchestra ==== + + +==== Late Romantic orchestra ==== + + +==== Modern/Postmodern orchestra ==== + + +== Organization == + +Among the instrument groups and within each group of instruments, there is a generally accepted hierarchy. Every instrumental group (or section) has a principal who is generally responsible for leading the group and playing orchestral solos. The violins are divided into two groups, first violin and second violin, with the second violins playing in lower registers than the first violins, playing an accompaniment part, or harmonizing the melody played by the first violins. The principal first violin is called the concertmaster (or orchestra "leader" in the U.K.) and is not only considered the leader of the string section, but the second-in-command of the entire orchestra, behind only the conductor. The concertmaster leads the pre-concert tuning and handles musical aspects of orchestra management, such as determining the bowings for the violins or the entire string section. The concertmaster usually sits to the conductor's left, closest to the audience. There is also a principal second violin, a principal viola, a principal cello, and a principal bass. +The principal trombone is considered the leader of the low brass section, while the principal trumpet is generally considered the leader of the entire brass section. While the oboe often provides the tuning note for the orchestra (due to a 300-year-old convention), there is generally no designated principal of the woodwind section (though in woodwind ensembles, the flute is often the presumptive leader). Instead, each principal confers with the others as equals in the case of musical differences of opinion. Most sections also have an assistant principal (or co-principal or associate principal), or in the case of the first violins, an assistant concertmaster, who often plays a tutti part in addition to replacing the principal in their absence. +A section string player plays in unison with the rest of the section, except in the case of divided (divisi) parts, where upper and lower parts in the music are often assigned to "outside" (nearer the audience) and "inside" seated players. Where a solo part is called for in a string section, the section leader invariably plays that part. The section leader (or principal) of a string section is also responsible for determining the bowings, often based on the bowings set out by the concertmaster. In some cases, the principal of a string section may use a slightly different bowing than the concertmaster, to accommodate the requirements of playing their instrument (e.g., the double-bass section). Principals of a string section will also lead entrances for their section, typically by lifting the bow before the entrance, to ensure the section plays together. Tutti wind and brass players generally play a unique but non-solo part. Section percussionists play parts assigned to them by the principal percussionist. +In modern times, the musicians are usually directed by a conductor, although early orchestras did not have one, giving this role to the concertmaster or the harpsichordist playing the continuo. Some modern orchestras also do without conductors, particularly smaller orchestras and those specializing in historically accurate (so-called "period") performances of baroque and earlier music. +The most frequently performed repertoire for a symphony orchestra is Western classical music or opera. However, orchestras are used sometimes in popular music (e.g., to accompany a rock or pop band in a concert), extensively in film music, and increasingly often in television and video game music. Orchestras are also used in the symphonic metal genre. The term "orchestra" can also be applied to a jazz ensemble, for example in the performance of big-band music. + + +=== Selection and appointment of members === +In the 2000s, all tenured members of a professional orchestra normally audition for positions in the ensemble. Performers typically play one or more solo pieces of the auditionee's choice, such as a movement of a concerto, a solo Bach movement, and a variety of excerpts from the orchestral literature that are advertised in the audition poster (so the auditionees can prepare). The excerpts are typically the most technically challenging parts and solos from the orchestral literature. Orchestral auditions are typically held in front of a panel that includes the conductor, the concertmaster, the principal player of the section for which the auditionee is applying, and possibly other principal players. +The most promising candidates from the first round of auditions are invited to return for a second or third round of auditions, which allows the conductor and the panel to compare the best candidates. Performers may be asked to sight read orchestral music. The final stage of the audition process in some orchestras is a test week, in which the performer plays with the orchestra for a week or two, which allows the conductor and principal players to see if the individual can function well in an actual rehearsal and performance setting. +There are a range of different employment arrangements. The most sought-after positions are permanent, tenured positions in the orchestra. Orchestras also hire musicians on contracts, ranging in length from a single concert to a full season or more. Contract performers may be hired for individual concerts when the orchestra is doing an exceptionally large late-Romantic era orchestral work, or to substitute for a permanent member who is sick. A professional musician who is hired to perform for a single concert is sometimes called a "sub". Some contract musicians may be hired to replace permanent members for the period that the permanent member is on parental leave or disability leave. + + +==== History of gender in ensembles ==== +Historically, major professional orchestras have been mostly or entirely composed of men. The first women members hired in professional orchestras have been harpists. The Vienna Philharmonic, for example, did not accept women to permanent membership until 1997, far later than comparable orchestras (the other orchestras ranked among the world's top five by Gramophone in 2008). The last major orchestra to appoint a woman to a permanent position was the Berlin Philharmonic. In February 1996, the Vienna Philharmonic's principal flute, Dieter Flury, told Westdeutscher Rundfunk that accepting women would be "gambling with the emotional unity (emotionelle Geschlossenheit) that this organism currently has". In April 1996, the orchestra's press secretary wrote that "compensating for the expected leaves of absence" of maternity leave would be a problem. +In 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic was "facing protests during a [US] tour" by the National Organization for Women and the International Alliance for Women in Music. Finally, "after being held up to increasing ridicule even in socially conservative Austria, members of the orchestra gathered [on 28 February 1997] in an extraordinary meeting on the eve of their departure and agreed to admit a woman, Anna Lelkes, as harpist." As of 2013, the orchestra has six female members; one of them, violinist Albena Danailova, became one of the orchestra's concertmasters in 2008, the first woman to hold that position in that orchestra. In 2012, women made up 6% of the orchestra's membership. VPO president Clemens Hellsberg said the VPO now uses completely screened blind auditions. +In 2013, an article in Mother Jones stated that while "[m]any prestigious orchestras have significant female membership — women outnumber men in the New York Philharmonic's violin section — and several renowned ensembles, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and the Minnesota Symphony, are led by women violinists", the double bass, brass, and percussion sections of major orchestras "... are still predominantly male." A 2014 BBC article stated that the "... introduction of 'blind' auditions, where a prospective instrumentalist performs behind a screen so that the judging panel can exercise no gender or racial prejudice, has seen the gender balance of traditionally male-dominated symphony orchestras gradually shift." + + +== Amateur ensembles == +There are also a variety of amateur orchestras: + +School orchestras +These orchestras consist of students from elementary or secondary school. They may be students from a music class or program or they may be drawn from the entire school body. School orchestras are typically led by a music teacher. In some cases, school orchestras are string orchestras, consisting only of students playing string instruments, with students playing woodwinds, brass and percussion grouped together as a concert band. +University or conservatory orchestras +These orchestras consist of students from a university or music conservatory. In some cases, university orchestras are open to all students from a university, from all programs. Larger universities may have two or more university orchestras: one or more orchestras made up of music majors (or, for major music programs, several tiers of music major orchestras, ranked by skill level) and a second orchestra open to university students from all academic programs (e.g., science, business, etc.) who have previous classical music experience on an orchestral instrument. University and conservatory orchestras are led by a conductor who is typically a professor or instructor at the university or conservatory. +Youth orchestras +These orchestras consist of teens and young adults drawn from an entire city or region. The age range in youth orchestras varies between different ensembles. In some cases, youth orchestras may consist of teens or young adults from an entire country (e.g., Canada's National Youth Orchestra). +Community orchestras +These orchestras consist of amateur performers drawn from an entire city or region. Community orchestras typically consist mainly of adult amateur musicians. Community orchestras range in level from beginner-level orchestras which rehearse music without doing formal performances in front of an audience to intermediate-level ensembles to advanced amateur groups which play standard professional orchestra repertoire. In some cases, university or conservatory music students may also be members of community orchestras. While community orchestra members are mostly unpaid amateurs, in some orchestras, a small number of professionals may be hired to act as principal players and section leaders. + + +== Repertoire and performances == +Orchestras play a wide range of repertoire ranging from 17th-century dance suites, 18th century divertimentos to 20th-century film scores and 21st-century symphonies. Orchestras have become synonymous with the symphony, an extended musical composition in Western classical music that typically contains multiple movements which provide contrasting keys and tempos. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. The conductor uses the score to study the symphony before rehearsals and decide on their interpretation (e.g., tempos, articulation, phrasing, etc.), and to follow the music during rehearsals and concerts, while leading the ensemble. Orchestral musicians play from parts containing just the notated music for their instrument. A small number of symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). +Orchestras also perform overtures, a term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn began to use the term to refer to independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that presaged genres such as the symphonic poem, a form devised by Franz Liszt in several works that began as dramatic overtures. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme". In the 1850s the concert overture began to be supplanted by the symphonic poem. +Orchestras also play with instrumental soloists in concertos. During concertos, the orchestra plays an accompaniment role to the soloist (e.g., a solo violinist or pianist) and, at times, introduces musical themes or interludes while the soloist is not playing. Orchestras also play during operas, ballets, some musical theatre works and some choral works (both sacred works such as Masses and secular works). In operas and ballets, the orchestra accompanies the singers and dancers, respectively, and plays overtures and interludes where the melodies played by the orchestra take centre stage. + + +=== Performances === +In the Baroque era, orchestras performed in a range of venues, including at the fine houses of aristocrats, in opera halls and in churches. Some wealthy aristocrats had an orchestra in residence at their estate, to entertain them and their guests with performances. During the Classical era, as composers increasingly sought out financial support from the general public, orchestra concerts were increasingly held in public concert halls, where music lovers could buy tickets to hear the orchestra. Aristocratic patronage of orchestras continued during the Classical era, but this went on alongside public concerts. In the 20th and 21st century, orchestras found a new patron: governments. Many orchestras in North America and Europe receive part of their funding from national, regional level governments (e.g., state governments in the U.S.) or city governments. These government subsidies make up part of orchestra revenue, along with ticket sales, charitable donations (if the orchestra is registered as a charity) and other fundraising activities. With the invention of successive technologies, including sound recording, radio broadcasting, television broadcasting and Internet-based streaming and downloading of concert videos, orchestras have been able to find new revenue sources. + + +=== Issues in performance === + + +==== Faking ==== + +One of the "great unmentionable [topics] of orchestral playing" is "faking", the process by which an orchestral musician gives the false "... impression of playing every note as written", typically for a very challenging passage that is very high or very fast, while not actually playing the notes that are in the printed music part. An article in The Strad states that all orchestral musicians, even those in the top orchestras, occasionally fake certain passages. One reason that musicians fake is because there are not enough rehearsals. Another factor is the extreme challenges in 20th century and 21st century contemporary pieces; some professionals said "faking" was "necessary in anything from ten to almost ninety per cent of some modern works". Professional players who were interviewed were of a consensus that faking may be acceptable when a part is not written well for the instrument, but faking "just because you haven't practised" the music is not acceptable. + + +=== Counter-revolution === +With the advent of the early music movement, smaller orchestras where players worked on execution of works in styles derived from the study of older treatises on playing became common. These include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the London Classical Players under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington and the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood, among others. + + +=== Recent trends in the United States === +In the United States, the late 20th century saw a crisis of funding and support for orchestras. The size and cost of a symphony orchestra, compared to the size of the base of supporters, became an issue that struck at the core of the institution. Few orchestras could fill auditoriums, and the time-honored season-subscription system became increasingly anachronistic, as more and more listeners would buy tickets on an ad-hoc basis for individual events. Orchestral endowments and — more centrally to the daily operation of American orchestras — orchestral donors have seen investment portfolios shrink, or produce lower yields, reducing the ability of donors to contribute; further, there has been a trend toward donors finding other social causes more compelling. While government funding is less central to American than European orchestras, cuts in such funding are still significant for American ensembles. Finally, the drastic drop in revenues from recording, related to changes in the recording industry itself, began a period of change that has yet to reach its conclusion. +U.S. orchestras that have gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy include the Philadelphia Orchestra (April 2011), and the Louisville Orchestra (December 2010); orchestras that have gone into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and have ceased operations include the Northwest Chamber Orchestra in 2006, the Honolulu Orchestra in March 2011, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in April 2011, and the Syracuse Symphony in June 2011. The Festival of Orchestras in Orlando, Florida, ceased operations at the end of March 2011. +One source of financial difficulties that received notice and criticism was high salaries for music directors of US orchestras, which led several high-profile conductors to take pay cuts in recent years. Music administrators such as Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen argued that new music, new means of presenting it, and a renewed relationship with the community could revitalize the symphony orchestra. The American critic Greg Sandow has argued in detail that orchestras must revise their approach to music, performance, the concert experience, marketing, public relations, community involvement, and presentation to bring them in line with the expectations of 21st century audiences immersed in popular culture. +It is not uncommon for contemporary composers to use unconventional instruments, including various synthesizers, to achieve desired effects. Many, however, find more conventional orchestral configuration to provide better possibilities for color and depth. Composers like John Adams often employ Romantic-size orchestras, as in Adams' opera Nixon in China; Philip Glass and others may be more free, yet still identify size-boundaries. Glass in particular has recently turned to conventional orchestras in works like the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra and the Violin Concerto No. 2. +Along with a decrease in funding, some U.S. orchestras have reduced their overall personnel, as well as the number of players appearing in performances. The reduced numbers in performance are usually confined to the string section, since the numbers here have traditionally been flexible (as multiple players typically play from the same part). + + +== Role of conductor == + +Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. The primary duties of the conductor are to set the tempo, ensure correct entries by various members of the ensemble, and "shape" the phrasing where appropriate. To convey their ideas and interpretation, a conductor communicates with their musicians primarily through hand gestures, typically (though not invariably) with the aid of a baton, and may use other gestures or signals, such as eye contact with relevant performers. A conductor's directions will almost invariably be supplemented or reinforced by verbal instructions or suggestions to their musicians in rehearsal prior to a performance. +The conductor typically stands on a raised podium with a large music stand for the full score, which contains the musical notation for all the instruments and voices. Since the mid-18th century, most conductors have not played an instrument when conducting, although in earlier periods of classical music history, leading an ensemble while playing an instrument was common. In Baroque music from the 1600s to the 1750s, the group would typically be led by the harpsichordist or first violinist (see concertmaster), an approach that in modern times has been revived by several music directors for music from this period. Conducting while playing a piano or synthesizer may also be done with musical theatre pit orchestras. Communication is typically non-verbal during a performance (this is strictly the case in art music, but in jazz big bands or large pop ensembles, there may be occasional spoken instructions, such as a "count in"). However, in rehearsals, frequent interruptions allow the conductor to give verbal directions as to how the music should be played or sung. +Conductors act as guides to the orchestras or choirs they conduct. They choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make certain adjustments (e.g., regarding tempo, articulation, phrasing, repetitions of sections, and so on), work out their interpretation, and relay their vision to the performers. They may also attend to organizational matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions and selecting members, and promoting their ensemble in the media. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other sizable musical ensembles such as big bands are usually led by conductors. + + +=== Conductorless orchestras === + +In the Baroque music era (1600–1750), most orchestras were led by one of the musicians, typically the principal first violin, called the concertmaster. The concertmaster would lead the tempo of pieces by lifting their bow in a rhythmic manner. Leadership might also be provided by one of the chord-playing instrumentalists playing the basso continuo part which was the core of most Baroque instrumental ensemble pieces. Typically, this would be a harpsichord player, a pipe organist, or a lutist or theorbo player. A keyboard player could lead the ensemble with their head, or by taking one of the hands off the keyboard to lead a more difficult tempo change. A lutenist or theorbo player could lead by lifting the instrument neck up and down to indicate the tempo of a piece, or to lead a ritard during a cadence or ending. In some works which combined choirs and instrumental ensembles, two leaders were sometimes used: A concertmaster to lead the instrumentalists and a chord-playing performer to lead the singers. During the Classical music period (c. 1720–1800), the practice of using chordal instruments to play basso continuo was gradually phased out, and it disappeared completely by 1800. Instead, ensembles began to use conductors to lead the orchestra's tempos and playing style, while the concertmaster played an additional leadership role for the musicians, especially the string players, who imitate the bowstroke and playing style of the concertmaster, to the degree that is feasible for the different stringed instruments. +In 1922, the idea of a conductor-less orchestra was revived in post-revolutionary Soviet Union. The symphony orchestra Persimfans was formed without a conductor, because the founders believed that the ensemble should be modeled on the ideal Marxist state, in which all people are equal. As such, its members felt that there was no need to be led by the dictatorial baton of a conductor; instead they were led by a committee, which determined tempos and playing styles. Although it was a partial success within the Soviet Union, the principal difficulty with the concept was in changing tempo during performances, because even if the committee had issued a decree about where a tempo change should take place, there was no leader in the ensemble to guide this tempo change. The orchestra survived for ten years before Stalin's cultural politics disbanded it by taking away its funding. +In Western nations, some ensembles, such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, based in New York City, have had more success with conductorless orchestras, although decisions are likely to be deferred to some sense of leadership within the ensemble (for example, the principal wind and string players, notably the concertmaster). Others have returned to the tradition of a principal player, usually a violinist, being the artistic director and running rehearsal and leading concerts. Examples include the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta & Candida Thompson and the New Century Chamber Orchestra. As well, as part of the early music movement, some 20th and 21st century orchestras have revived the Baroque practice of having no conductor on the podium for Baroque pieces, using the concertmaster or a chord-playing basso continuo performer (e.g., harpsichord or organ) to lead the group. + + +=== Multiple conductors === + + +==== Offstage instruments ==== +Some orchestral works specify that an offstage trumpet should be used or that other instruments from the orchestra should be positioned off-stage or behind the stage, to create a haunted, mystical effect. To ensure that the offstage instrumentalist(s) play in time, sometimes a sub-conductor will be stationed offstage with a clear view of the principal conductor. Examples include the ending of "Neptune" from Gustav Holst's The Planets. The principal conductor leads the large orchestra, and the sub-conductor relays the principal conductor's tempo and gestures to the offstage musician (or musicians). One of the challenges with using two conductors is that the second conductor may get out of synchronization with the main conductor, or may mis-convey (or misunderstand) the principal conductor's gestures, which can lead to the offstage instruments being out of time. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, some orchestras use a video camera pointed at the principal conductor and a closed-circuit TV set in front of the offstage performers, instead of using two conductors. + + +==== Contemporary music ==== +The techniques of polystylism and polytempo music have led a few 20th and 21st century composers to write music where multiple orchestras or ensembles perform simultaneously. These trends have brought about the phenomenon of polyconductor music, wherein separate sub-conductors conduct each group of musicians. Usually, one principal conductor conducts the sub-conductors, thereby shaping the overall performance. In Percy Grainger's The Warriors which includes three conductors: the primary conductor of the orchestra, a secondary conductor directing an off-stage brass ensemble, and a tertiary conductor directing percussion and harp. One example in the late-century orchestral music is Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen, for three orchestras, which are placed around the audience. This way, the "sound masses" could be spatialized, as in an electroacoustic work. Gruppen was premiered in Cologne, in 1958, conducted by Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna and Pierre Boulez. It has been performed in 1996 by Simon Rattle, John Carewe and Daniel Harding. + + +== See also == +Chinese orchestra +Gamelan +List of symphony orchestras +Orchestral enhancement +Orchestration +Radio orchestra +Rhythm section +Shorthand for orchestra instrumentation +String orchestra + + +== Notes == + + +== References == + + +== Further reading == +Raynor, Henry (1978). The Orchestra: A history. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-684-15535-7. +Singleton, Esther (1917). The orchestra and its instruments, New York: The Symphony society of New York +Spitzer, John; Zaslaw, Neal (2004). The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an institution, 1650–1815. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-816434-0. + + +== External links == + +Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Orchestra" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/04_symphony.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/04_symphony.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a70102 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/04_symphony.txt @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work typically consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often three or four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, or Mahler's Second Symphony). + + +== Etymology and origins == +The word symphony is derived from the Greek word συμφωνία (symphōnía), meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of vocal or instrumental music", from σύμφωνος (sýmphōnos), "harmonious". The word referred to a variety of different concepts before ultimately settling on its current meaning designating a musical form. +In late Greek and medieval theory, the word was used for consonance, as opposed to διαφωνία (diaphōnía), which was the word for "dissonance". In the Middle Ages and later, the Latin form symphonia was used to describe various instruments, especially those capable of producing more than one sound simultaneously. Isidore of Seville was the first to use the word symphonia as the name of a two-headed drum, and from c. 1155 to 1377 the French form symphonie was the name of the organistrum or hurdy-gurdy. In late medieval England, symphony was used in both of these senses, whereas by the 16th century it was equated with the dulcimer. In German, Symphonie was a generic term for spinets and virginals from the late 16th century to the 18th century. +In the sense of "sounding together", the word begins to appear in the titles of some works by 16th- and 17th-century composers including Giovanni Gabrieli's Sacrae symphoniae, and Symphoniae sacrae, liber secundus, published in 1597 and 1615, respectively; Adriano Banchieri's Eclesiastiche sinfonie, dette canzoni in aria francese, per sonare, et cantare, Op. 16, published in 1607; Lodovico Grossi da Viadana's Sinfonie musicali, Op. 18, published in 1610; and Heinrich Schütz's Symphoniae sacrae, Op. 6, and Symphoniarum sacrarum secunda pars, Op. 10, published in 1629 and 1647, respectively. Except for Viadana's collection, which contained purely instrumental and secular music, these were all collections of sacred vocal works, some with instrumental accompaniment. + + +== Baroque era == +In the 17th century, for most of the Baroque era, the terms symphony and sinfonia were used for a range of different compositions, including instrumental pieces used in operas, sonatas and concertos—usually part of a larger work. The opera sinfonia, or Italian overture had, by the 18th century, a standard structure of three contrasting movements: fast, slow, fast and dance-like. It is this form that is often considered as the direct forerunner of the orchestral symphony. The terms "overture", "symphony" and "sinfonia" were widely regarded as interchangeable for much of the 18th century. +In the 17th century, pieces scored for large instrumental ensemble did not precisely designate which instruments were to play which parts, as is the practice from the 19th century to the current period. When composers from the 17th century wrote pieces, they expected that these works would be performed by whatever group of musicians were available. To give one example, whereas the bassline in a 19th-century work is scored for cellos, double basses and other specific instruments, in a 17th-century work, a basso continuo part for a sinfonia would not specify which instruments would play the part. A performance of the piece might be done with a basso continuo group as small as a single cello and harpsichord. However, if a bigger budget was available for a performance and a larger sound was required, a basso continuo group might include multiple chord-playing instruments (harpsichord, lute, etc.) and a range of bass instruments, including cello, double bass, bass viol or even a serpent, an early bass wind instrument. + + +== Galant and classical eras == +LaRue, Bonds, Walsh, and Wilson write in the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians that "the symphony was cultivated with extraordinary intensity" in the 18th century. It played a role in many areas of public life, including church services, but a particularly strong area of support for symphonic performances was the aristocracy. In Vienna, perhaps the most important location in Europe for the composition of symphonies, "literally hundreds of noble families supported musical establishments, generally dividing their time between Vienna and their ancestral estate [elsewhere in the Empire]". Since the normal size of the orchestra at the time was quite small, many of these courtly establishments were capable of performing symphonies. The young Joseph Haydn, taking up his first job as a music director in 1757 for the Morzin family, found that when the Morzin household was in Vienna, his own orchestra was only part of a lively and competitive musical scene, with multiple aristocrats sponsoring concerts with their own ensembles. +LaRue, Bonds, Walsh, and Wilson's article traces the gradual expansion of the symphonic orchestra through the 18th century. At first, symphonies were string symphonies, written in just four parts: first violin, second violin, viola, and bass (the bass line was taken by cello(s), double bass(es) playing the part an octave below, and perhaps also a bassoon). Occasionally the early symphonists even dispensed with the viola part, thus creating three-part symphonies. A basso continuo part including a bassoon together with a harpsichord or other chording instrument was also possible. +The first additions to this simple ensemble were a pair of horns, occasionally a pair of oboes, and then both horns and oboes together. Over the century, other instruments were added to the classical orchestra: flutes (sometimes replacing the oboes), separate parts for bassoons, clarinets, and trumpets and timpani. Works varied in their scoring concerning which of these additional instruments were to appear. The full-scale classical orchestra, deployed at the end of the century for the largest-scale symphonies, has the standard string ensemble mentioned above, pairs of winds (flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons), a pair of horns, and timpani. A keyboard continuo instrument (harpsichord or piano) remained an option. +The "Italian" style of symphony, often used as overture and entr'acte in opera houses, became a standard three-movement form: a fast movement, a slow movement, and another fast movement. Over the course of the 18th century it became the custom to write four-movement symphonies, along the lines described in the next paragraph. The three-movement symphony died out slowly; about half of Haydn's first thirty symphonies are in three movements; and for the young Mozart, the three-movement symphony was the norm, perhaps under the influence of his friend Johann Christian Bach. An outstanding late example of the three-movement Classical symphony is Mozart's Prague Symphony, from 1786. +The four-movement form that emerged from this evolution was as follows: + +Variations on this layout, like changing the order of the middle movements or adding a slow introduction to the first movement, were common. Haydn, Mozart and their contemporaries restricted their use of the four-movement form to orchestral or multi-instrument chamber music such as quartets, though since Beethoven solo sonatas are as often written in four as in three movements. +The composition of early symphonies was centred on Milan, Vienna, and Mannheim. The Milanese school centred around Giovanni Battista Sammartini and included Antonio Brioschi, Ferdinando Galimberti and Giovanni Battista Lampugnani. Early exponents of the form in Vienna included Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Wenzel Raimund Birck and Georg Matthias Monn, while later significant Viennese composers of symphonies included Johann Baptist Wanhal, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf and Leopold Hofmann. The Mannheim school included Johann Stamitz. +The most important symphonists of the latter part of the 18th century are Haydn, who wrote at least 106 symphonies over the course of 36 years, and Mozart, with at least 47 symphonies in 24 years. + + +== Romantic era == + +At the beginning of the 19th century, Beethoven elevated the symphony from an everyday genre produced in large quantities to a supreme form in which composers strove to reach the highest potential of music in just a few works. Beethoven began with two works directly emulating his models Mozart and Haydn, then seven more symphonies, starting with the Third Symphony ("Eroica") that expanded the scope and ambition of the genre. His Symphony No. 5 is perhaps the most famous symphony ever written; its transition from the emotionally stormy C minor opening movement to a triumphant major-key finale provided a model adopted by later symphonists such as Brahms and Mahler. His Symphony No. 6 is a programmatic work, featuring instrumental imitations of bird calls and a storm; and, unconventionally, a fifth movement (symphonies at that time usually had at most four movements). His Symphony No. 9 includes parts for vocal soloists and choir in the last movement, making it a choral symphony. +Of the symphonies by Schubert, two are core repertory items and are frequently performed. Of the Eighth Symphony (1822), Schubert completed only the first two movements; this highly Romantic work is usually called by its nickname "The Unfinished". His last completed symphony, the Ninth (1826) is a massive work in the Classical idiom. +Of the early Romantics, Felix Mendelssohn (five symphonies, plus thirteen string symphonies) and Robert Schumann (four) continued to write symphonies in the classical mould, though using their own musical language. In contrast, Berlioz favored programmatic works, including his "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette, the viola symphony Harold en Italie and the highly original Symphonie fantastique. The latter is also a programme work and has both a march and a waltz and five movements instead of the customary four. His fourth and last symphony, the Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale (originally titled Symphonie militaire) was composed in 1840 for a 200-piece marching military band, to be performed out of doors, and is an early example of a band symphony. Berlioz later added optional string parts and a choral finale. In 1851, Richard Wagner declared that all of these post-Beethoven symphonies were no more than an epilogue, offering nothing substantially new. Indeed, after Schumann's last symphony, the "Rhenish" composed in 1850, for two decades the Lisztian symphonic poem appeared to have displaced the symphony as the leading form of large-scale instrumental music. However, Liszt also composed two programmatic choral symphonies during this time, Faust and Dante. If the symphony had otherwise been eclipsed, it was not long before it re-emerged in a "second age" in the 1870s and 1880s, with the symphonies by Bruckner, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Borodin, Dvořák, and Franck—works which largely avoided the programmatic elements of Berlioz and Liszt and dominated the concert repertory for at least a century. +Over the course of the 19th century, composers continued to add to the size of the symphonic orchestra. Around the beginning of the century, a full-scale orchestra would consist of the string section plus pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, and lastly a set of timpani. This is, for instance, the scoring used in Beethoven's symphonies numbered 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8. Trombones, which had previously been confined to church and theater music, came to be added to the symphonic orchestra, notably in Beethoven's 5th, 6th, and 9th symphonies. The combination of bass drum, triangle, and cymbals (sometimes also: piccolo), which 18th-century composers employed as a coloristic effect in so-called "Turkish music", came to be increasingly used during the second half of the 19th century without any such connotations of genre. By the time of Mahler (see below), it was possible for a composer to write a symphony scored for "a veritable compendium of orchestral instruments". In addition to increasing in variety of instruments, 19th-century symphonies were gradually augmented with more string players and more wind parts, so that the orchestra grew substantially in sheer numbers, as concert halls likewise grew. + + +== Late-Romantic, Modernist and Postmodernist eras == +Towards the end of the 19th century, Gustav Mahler began writing long, large-scale symphonies that he continued composing into the early 20th century. His Third Symphony, completed in 1896, is one of the longest regularly performed symphonies at around 100 minutes in length for most performances. The Eighth Symphony was composed in 1906 and is nicknamed the "Symphony of a Thousand" because of the large number of voices required to perform the work. +The 20th century saw further diversification in the style and content of works that composers labeled symphonies. Some composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Carl Nielsen, continued to write in the traditional four-movement form, while other composers took different approaches: Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 7, his last, is in one movement; Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony is in one movement split into twenty-two parts, detailing an eleven hour hike through the mountains; and Alan Hovhaness's Symphony No. 9, Saint Vartan—originally Op. 80, changed to Op. 180—composed in 1949–50, is in twenty-four. +A concern with unification of the traditional four-movement symphony into a single, subsuming formal conception had emerged in the late 19th century. This has been called a "two-dimensional symphonic form", and finds its key turning point in Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (1909), which was followed in the 1920s by other notable single-movement German symphonies, including Kurt Weill's First Symphony (1921), Max Butting's Chamber Symphony, Op. 25 (1923), and Paul Dessau's 1926 Symphony. +Alongside this experimentation, other 20th-century symphonies deliberately attempted to evoke the 18th-century origins of the genre, in terms of form and even musical style, with prominent examples being Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 "Classical" of 1916–17 and the Symphony in C by Igor Stravinsky of 1938–40. +There remained, however, certain tendencies. Designating a work a "symphony" still implied a degree of sophistication and seriousness of purpose. The word sinfonietta came into use to designate a work that is shorter, of more modest aims, or "lighter" than a symphony, such as Sergei Prokofiev's Sinfonietta for orchestra. +In addition to those composers listed above, other symphonists from the first half of the twentieth century include Edward Elgar, Bohuslav Martinů, Roger Sessions, William Walton, and Rued Langgaard. The symphonies of this period were "extraordinary in scope, richness, originality, and urgency of expression". One measure of a symphony's significance is how much it reflects contemporaraneous ideas about time. Twentieth-century composers who fulfil this measure include Jean Sibelius, Igor Stravinsky, Luciano Berio (in his Sinfonia, 1968–69), Elliott Carter (in his Symphony of Three Orchestras, 1976), and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (in Symphony/Antiphony, 1980). +From the mid-20th century into the 21st there has been a resurgence of interest in the symphony with many postmodernist composers adding substantially to the canon, not least in the United Kingdom: Peter Maxwell Davies (10), Robin Holloway (1), David Matthews (9), James MacMillan (5), Peter Seabourne (6), and Philip Sawyers (6). British composer Derek Bourgeois has surpassed the number of symphonies written by Haydn, with 116 symphonies. The greatest number of symphonies to date has been composed by the Finn Leif Segerstam, whose list of works includes 371 symphonies. The four movement Symphony No. 1 "The Ganesha" by Dave Soldier was recorded by the Thai Elephant Orchestra, the largest orchestra by weight, with the fourteen members each weighing up to 10,000 pounds (about 4500 kg). + + +== Symphonies for concert band == +Hector Berlioz originally wrote the Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale for military band in 1840. Anton Reicha had composed his four-movement 'Commemoration' Symphony (also known as Musique pour célébrer la Mémoire des Grands Hommes qui se sont Illustrés au Service de la Nation Française) for large wind ensemble even earlier, in 1815, for ceremonies associated with the reburial of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette +After those early efforts, few symphonies were written for wind bands until the 20th century when more symphonies were written for concert band than in past centuries. Although examples exist from as early as 1932, the first such symphony of importance is Nikolai Myaskovsky's Symphony No. 19, Op. 46, composed in 1939. Some further examples are Paul Hindemith's Symphony in B-flat for Band, composed in 1951; Morton Gould's Symphony No. 4 "West Point", composed in 1952; Vincent Persichetti's Symphony No. 6, Op. 69, composed in 1956; Vittorio Giannini's Symphony No. 3, composed in 1958; Alan Hovhaness's Symphonies No. 4, Op. 165, No. 7, "Nanga Parvat", Op. 175, No. 14, "Ararat", Op. 194, and No. 23, "Ani", Op. 249, composed in 1958, 1959, 1961, and 1972 respectively; John Barnes Chance's Symphony No. 2, composed in 1972; Alfred Reed's 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th symphonies, composed in 1979, 1988, 1992, and 1994 respectively; eight of the ten numbered symphonies of David Maslanka; six symphonies to date by Julie Giroux (although she is currently working on a seventh); Johan de Meij's Symphony No. 1 "The Lord of the Rings", composed in 1988, and his Symphony No. 2 "The Big Apple", composed in 1993; Yasuhide Ito's Symphony in Three Scenes 'La Vita', composed in 1998, which is his third symphony for wind band; John Corigliano's Symphony No. 3 'Circus Maximus, composed in 2004; Denis Levaillant's PachaMama Symphony, composed in 2014 and 2015, and James M. Stephenson's Symphony No. 2 which was premiered by the United States Marine Band ("The President's Own") and received both the National Band Association's William D. Revelli (2017) and the American Bandmasters Association's Sousa/Ostwald (2018) awards. + + +== Other modern usages of "symphony" == +In some forms of English, the word "symphony" is also used to refer to the orchestra, the large ensemble that often performs these works. The word "symphony" appears in the name of many orchestras, for example, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the Houston Symphony, or Miami's New World Symphony. For some orchestras, "(city name) Symphony" provides a shorter version of the full name; for instance, the OED gives "Vancouver Symphony" as a possible abbreviated form of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, in common usage, a person may say they are going out to hear a symphony perform, a reference to the orchestra and not the works on the program. These usages are not common in British English. + + +== See also == + +Choral symphony +Curse of the ninth +List of symphony composers +Organ symphony +Piano symphony +Symphonies for concert band + + +== References == + + +=== Sources === + + +== Further reading == + + +== External links == + +"Symphony" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 290–291. +Gann, Kyle. "A Chronology of the Symphony 1730–2005". Archived from the original on 4 August 2015. A list of selected major symphonies composed 1800–2005, with composers of 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st century symphonies +The Symphony – Interactive Guide +"List of symphonists, mostly active after 1800", compiled by Thanh-Tâm Lê: "A to D". "E to J". "K to O". "P to Z". diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/05_concerto.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/05_concerto.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..42d58a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/05_concerto.txt @@ -0,0 +1,687 @@ +A concerto (; plural concertos, or concerti from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement (e.g., lento or adagio) preceded and followed by fast movements (e.g., presto or allegro), became a standard from the early 18th century. +The concerto originated as a genre of vocal music in the late 16th century: the instrumental variant appeared around a century later, when Italians such as Arcangelo Corelli and Giuseppe Torelli started to publish their concertos. A few decades later, Venetian composers, such as Antonio Vivaldi, had written hundreds of violin concertos, while also producing solo concertos for other instruments such as a cello or a woodwind instrument, and concerti grossi for a group of soloists. The first keyboard concertos, such as George Frideric Handel's organ concertos and Johann Sebastian Bach's harpsichord concertos, were written around the same time. +In the second half of the 18th century, the piano became the most used keyboard instrument, and composers of the Classical Era such as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven each wrote several piano concertos, and, to a lesser extent, violin concertos, and concertos for other instruments. In the Romantic Era, many composers, including Giuseppe Verdi,Niccolò Paganini, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff, continued to write solo concertos, and, more exceptionally, concertos for more than one instrument; 19th century concertos for instruments other than the piano, violin and cello remained comparatively rare, however. In the first half of the 20th century, concertos were written by, among others, Maurice Ravel, Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss, Sergei Prokofiev, George Gershwin, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Joaquín Rodrigo and Béla Bartók, the latter also composing a concerto for orchestra, that is without soloist. During the 20th century concertos appeared by major composers for orchestral instruments which had been neglected in the 19th century such as the clarinet, viola and French horn. +In the second half of the 20th century and onwards into the 21st a great many composers have continued to write concertos, including Alfred Schnittke, György Ligeti, Dmitri Shostakovich, Philip Glass and James MacMillan among many others. An interesting feature of this period is the proliferation of concerti for less usual instruments, including orchestral ones such as the double bass (by composers like Eduard Tubin or Peter Maxwell Davies) and cor anglais (like those by MacMillan and Aaron Jay Kernis), but also folk instruments (such as Tubin's concerto for Balalaika, Serry's Concerto in C Major for Bassetti Accordion, or the concertos for Harmonica by Villa-Lobos and Malcolm Arnold), and even Deep Purple's Concerto for Group and Orchestra, a concerto for a rock band. +Concertos from previous ages have remained a conspicuous part of the repertoire for concert performances and recordings. Less common has been the previously common practice of the composition of concertos by a performer to be performed personally, though the practice has continued via certain composer-performers such as Daniil Trifonov. + + +== Genre == +The Italian word concerto, meaning accord or gathering, derives from the Latin verb concertare, which indicates a competition or battle. + + +=== Baroque Era === + +Compositions were for the first time indicated as concertos in the title of a music print when the Concerti by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli were published in 1587. + + +==== Concerto as a genre of vocal music ==== + +In the 17th century, sacred works for voices and orchestra were typically called concertos, as reflected by J. S. Bach's usage of the title "concerto" for many of the works that are now known as cantatas. The term "concerto" was initially used to denote works that involved voices and instruments in which the instruments had independent parts—as opposed to the Renaissance common practice in which instruments that accompanied voices only doubled the voice parts. Examples of this earlier form of concerto include Giovanni Gabrieli's "In Ecclesiis" or Heinrich Schütz's "Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich". + + +==== Instrumental concerto ==== + +The concerto began to take its modern shape in the late-Baroque period, beginning with the concerto grosso form developed by Arcangelo Corelli. Corelli's concertino group was two violins, a cello and basso continuo. In J. S. Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, for example, the concertino is a flute, a violin, and a harpsichord; although the harpsichord is a featured solo instrument, it also sometimes plays with the ripieno, functioning as a continuo keyboard accompaniment. +Later, the concerto approached its modern form, in which the concertino usually reduces to a single solo instrument playing with (or against) an orchestra. The main composers of concertos of the baroque were Tommaso Albinoni, Antonio Vivaldi (e.g., published in L'estro armonico, La stravaganza, Six Violin Concertos, Op. 6, Twelve Concertos, Op. 7, Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, Six Flute Concertos, Op. 10, Six Concertos, Op. 11 and Six Violin Concertos, Op. 12), Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Pietro Locatelli, Jean-Marie Leclair, Giuseppe Tartini, Francesco Geminiani and Johann Joachim Quantz. +The concerto was intended as a composition typical of the Italian style of the time, and all the composers were studying how to compose in the Italian fashion (all'Italiana). +The Baroque concerto was mainly for a string instrument (violin, viola, cello, seldom viola d'amore or harp) or a wind instrument (flute, recorder, oboe, bassoon, horn, or trumpet). Bach also wrote a concerto for two violins and orchestra. During the Baroque period, before the invention of the piano, keyboard concertos were comparatively rare, with the exception of the twelve organ concertos by George Frideric Handel and the thirteen harpsichord concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach. + + +=== Classical era === + +The concertos of the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, such as C. P. E. Bach, are perhaps the best links between those of the Baroque period and those of the Classical era. It is conventional to state that the first movements of concertos from the Classical period onwards follow the structure of sonata form. Final movements are often in rondo form, as in J.S. Bach's E Major Violin Concerto. +Mozart wrote five violin concertos, all in 1775, except the first in 1773. They show a number of influences, notably Italian and Austrian. Several passages have leanings towards folk music, as manifested in Austrian serenades. Mozart also wrote the Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra. Haydn wrote three concertos for violin and above all two for cello. Beethoven wrote only one violin concerto that remained obscure until revealed as a masterpiece in a performance by violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim on 27 May 1844. +C.P.E. Bach's keyboard concertos contain some virtuosic solo writing. Some of them have movements that run into one another without a break, and there are frequent cross-movement thematic references. Mozart, as a child, made arrangements for keyboard and orchestra of four sonatas by now little-known composers. Then he arranged three sonata movements by Johann Christian Bach. By the time he was twenty, Mozart was able to write concerto ritornelli that gave the orchestra admirable opportunity for asserting its character in an exposition with some five or six sharply contrasted themes, before the soloist enters to elaborate on the material. Of his 27 piano concertos, the last 17 are highly appreciated. Eleven cataloged keyboard concertos are attributed to Haydn, of which seven are considered genuine. Beethoven wrote five concertos for piano and orchestra. +C. P. E. Bach wrote five flute concertos and two oboe concertos. Mozart wrote four horn concertos, two for flute, one for oboe (later rearranged for flute and known as Flute Concerto No. 2), one for clarinet, one for bassoon, one for flute and harp, and Exsultate, jubilate, a de facto concerto for soprano voice. They all exploit and explore the characteristics of the solo instrument(s). Haydn wrote an important trumpet concerto and a Sinfonia Concertante for violin, cello, oboe, bassoon and orchestra, as well as one horn concerto. Haydn also wrote a concerto for double bass, but it was lost to history in the great fire of Eszterháza in 1779. + + +=== Romantic era === + +In the 19th century, the concerto as a vehicle for virtuosic display flourished, and concertos became increasingly complex and ambitious works. Whilst performances of typical concertos in the baroque era lasted about ten minutes, those by Beethoven could last half an hour or longer. The term concertino, or the German Konzertstuck ("Concert Piece") began to be used to designate smaller pieces not considered large enough to be considered a full concerto, though the distinction has never been formalised and many Concertinos are still longer than the original Baroque concertos. +During the Romantic era the cello became increasingly used as a concerto instrument; though the violin and piano remained the most frequently used. Beethoven contributed to the repertoire of concertos for more than one soloist with a Triple Concerto for piano, violin, cello and orchestra while later in the century, Brahms wrote a Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra. + + +=== 20th and 21st century === + +Many of the concertos written in the early 20th century belong more to the late Romantic school, hence modernistic movement. Masterpieces were written by Edward Elgar (a violin concerto and a cello concerto), Sergei Rachmaninoff and Nikolai Medtner (four and three piano concertos, respectively), Jean Sibelius (a violin concerto), Frederick Delius (a violin concerto, a cello concerto, a piano concerto and a double concerto for violin and cello), Karol Szymanowski (two violin concertos and a "Symphonie Concertante" for piano), and Richard Strauss (two horn concertos, a violin concerto, Don Quixote—a tone poem that features the cello as a soloist—and among later works, an oboe concerto). +However, in the first decades of the 20th century, several composers such as Debussy, Schoenberg, Berg, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Bartók started experimenting with ideas that were to have far-reaching consequences for the way music is written and, in some cases, performed. Some of these innovations include a more frequent use of modality, the exploration of non-western scales, the development of atonality and neotonality, the wider acceptance of dissonances, the invention of the twelve-tone technique of composition and the use of polyrhythms and complex time signatures. +These changes also affected the concerto as a musical form. Beside more or less radical effects on musical language, they led to a redefinition of the concept of virtuosity that included new and extended instrumental techniques and a focus on previously neglected aspects of sound such as pitch, timbre and dynamics. In some cases, they also brought about a new approach to the role of soloists and their relation to the orchestra. +Two great innovators of early 20th-century music, Schoenberg and Stravinsky, both wrote violin concertos. The material in Schoenberg's concerto, like that in Berg's, is linked by the twelve-tone serial method. In the 20th century, particularly after the Second World War, the cello enjoyed an unprecedented popularity. As a result, its concertante repertoire caught up with those of the piano and the violin both in terms of quantity and quality. +The 20th century also witnessed a growth of the concertante repertoire of instruments, some of which had seldom or never been used in this capacity, and even a concerto for wordless coloratura soprano by Reinhold Glière. As a result, almost all classical instruments now have a concertante repertoire. Among the works of the prolific composer Alan Hovhaness may be noted Prayer of St. Gregory for trumpet and strings, though it is not a concerto in the usual sense of the term. In the later 20th century the concerto tradition was continued by composers such as Maxwell Davies, whose series of Strathclyde Concertos exploit some of the instruments less familiar as soloists. +In addition, the 20th century gave rise to several composers who experimented further by showcasing a variety of nontraditional orchestral instruments within the center of the orthodox concerto form. Included within this group are: Paul Hindemith (Concerto for Trautonium and String Orchestra in 1931), Andre Jolivet (Concerto of Ondes Martenot in 1947), Heitor Villa-Lobos (Concerto for Harmonica in 1956), John Serry Sr. (Concerto in C Major for Bassetti Accordion in 1966), Astor Piazzolla (Concerto for Bandoneon, String Orchestra and Percussion, "Aconcagua" in 1979), Peter Maxwell Davies (Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra, Op. 182 in 1996), and Tan Dun (Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra in 1998) +Other composers of this era adopted a neoclassical rejection of specific features which typically characterized the concerto form during the Baroque or Romantic periods. Several of them achieved this objective by incorporating various musical elements from the realm of jazz within the structure of the concerto. Included in this group were: Aaron Copland (Concerto for Piano, 1926), Maurice Ravel (Concerto for the Left Hand, 1929), Igor Stravinsky (Ebony Concerto for clarinet and jazz band, 1945) and George Gershwin (Concerto in F, 1925). Still others called upon the orchestra itself to function as the primary virtuosic force within the concerto form. This approach was adopted by Béla Bartók in his Concerto for Orchestra as well by other composers of the period including: Walter Piston (1933), Zoltan Kodaly (1939), Michael Tippet (1962) and Elliott Carter (1969). +Concertos with concert band include: + +Bryant – 2007–2010 +Foss – 2002 +Husa – 1982 +Jacob – 1974 +Jager – 1982 + + +== By type == + + +=== Vocal concerto === + +20th century: + +Coloratura soprano Concerto: Reinhold Glière + + +=== Without orchestra === + + +==== Single solo instrument ==== + +Baroque era: + +Bach: +Italian Concerto +Weimar concerto transcriptions +20th century: + +Serry's Concerto In C Major For Free Bass Accordion + + +==== Multiple instruments ==== +Baroque era: + +Bach's concerto for two harpsichords, BWV 1061.1 +Telemann's concertos for four violins +20th century: + +Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments +Stravinsky's Concerto for Two Pianos + + +=== For one instrumental soloist and orchestra === + + +==== For bowed string instrument and orchestra ==== + + +===== Violin concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi: +Nos. 3, 6, 9 and 12 of L'estro armonico +La stravaganza +Six Violin Concertos, Op. 6 +Ten of the Twelve Concertos, Op. 7 +Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, which includes The Four Seasons +Five of the Six Concertos, Op. 11 +Six Violin Concertos, Op. 12 +Grosso mogul +Bach: +Violin Concerto in A minor +Violin Concerto in E major +Classical era: + +Mozart: +No. 1 in B flat major, K. 207 +No. 2 in D major, K. 211 +No. 3 in G major, K. 216 (Straßburg) +No. 4 in D major, K. 218 +No. 5 in A major, K. 219 (Turkish) +Early Romantic traits can be found in the violin concertos of Viotti, but it is Spohr's twelve violin concertos, written between 1802 and 1827, that truly embrace the Romantic spirit with their melodic as well as their dramatic qualities. +20th century: + +Arnold Schoenberg +Igor Stravinsky +Alban Berg +Bartók wrote two concertos for violin. +Russian composers Prokofiev and Shostakovich each wrote two concertos while Khachaturian wrote a concerto and a Concerto-Rhapsody for the instrument. +Hindemith's concertos hark back to the forms of the 19th century, even if the harmonic language he used was different. +Three violin concertos from David Diamond show the form in neoclassical style. +In 1950 Carlos Chávez completed a substantial Violin Concerto with an enormous central cadenza for the unaccompanied violin. +Dutilleux's L'Arbre des songes has proved an important addition to the repertoire and a fine example of the composer's atonal yet melodic style. +Other composers of major violin concertos include John Adams, Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, Peter Maxwell Davies, Miguel del Aguila, Philip Glass, Cristóbal Halffter, György Ligeti, Frank Martin, Bohuslav Martinů, Carl Nielsen, Walter Piston, Alfred Schnittke, Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, John Williams and Roger Sessions. +21st century: + +Elfman's violin concerto + + +===== Viola concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Viola Concerto in G major (Telemann) +Classical era: + +Franz Anton Hoffmeister +Viola Concerto in D major +Viola Concerto in B-flat major +Viola Concerto in D major, Op. 1 (Carl Stamitz) +Viola Concerto in E♭ major, ICZ 17 (Carl Friedrich Zelter) +20th century: + +Viola concerto: Aho, Arnold, Bartók, del Aguila, Denisov, Gagneux, Gubaidulina, Hindemith, Kancheli, Martinů, Milhaud, Murail, Penderecki, Schnittke, Takemitsu, Walton + + +===== Cello concerto ===== + +The 'core' repertoire—performed the most of any cello concertos—are by Elgar, Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Haydn, Shostakovich and Schumann, but many more concertos are performed nearly as often. +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi's cello concertos RV 398–403, 405–414 and 416–424 +Classical era: + +Haydn wrote two cello concertos (for cello, oboes, horns, and strings), which are the most important works in that genre of the classical era. +Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote three cello concertos and Luigi Boccherini wrote twelve cello concertos. +Romantic era: + +Antonín Dvořák's cello concerto ranks among the supreme examples from the Romantic era while Robert Schumann's focuses on the lyrical qualities of the instrument. +The instrument was also popular with composers of the Franco-Belgian tradition: Saint-Saëns and Vieuxtemps wrote two cello concertos each and Lalo and Jongen one. +Tchaikovsky's contribution to the genre is a series of Variations on a Rococo Theme. He also left very fragmentary sketches of a projected Cello Concerto. Cellist Yuriy Leonovich and Tchaikovsky researcher Brett Langston published their completion of the piece in 2006. +Carl Reinecke, David Popper and Julius Klengel also wrote cello concertos that were popular in their time and are still played occasionally nowadays. +Elgar's popular concerto, while written in the early 20th century, belongs to the late romantic period stylistically. +20th century: + +An important factor for the 20th-century cello concerto was the rise of virtuoso cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. His outstanding technique and passionate playing prompted dozens of composers to write pieces for him, first in his native Soviet Union and then abroad. Among such compositions may be listed Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto, Dmitri Shostakovich's two cello concertos, Benjamin Britten's Cello-Symphony (which emphasizes, as its title suggests, the equal importance of soloist and orchestra), Henri Dutilleux' Tout un monde lointain..., Cristóbal Halffter's two cello concertos, Witold Lutosławski's cello concerto, Dmitry Kabalevsky's two cello concertos, Aram Khachaturian's Concerto-Rhapsody, Arvo Pärt's Pro et Contra, Alfred Schnittke, André Jolivet and Krzysztof Penderecki second cello concertos, Sofia Gubaidulina's Canticles of the Sun, Luciano Berio's Ritorno degli Snovidenia, Leonard Bernstein's Three Meditations, James MacMillan's cello concerto and Olivier Messiaen's Concert à quatre (a quadruple concerto for cello, piano, oboe, flute and orchestra). +In addition, several important composers who were not directly influenced by Rostropovich wrote cello concertos: Samuel Barber, Elliott Carter, Carlos Chávez, Miguel del Aguila, Alexander Glazunov, Hans Werner Henze, Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, György Ligeti, Bohuslav Martinů, Darius Milhaud, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Joaquín Rodrigo, Toru Takemitsu, William Walton, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann for instance. + + +===== Double bass concerto ===== + +20th century: + +Double bass concerto: Aho, Gagneux, Dittersdorf, Henze, Koussevitsky, Davies, Ohzawa, Rautavaara, Skalkottas, Tubin + + +===== Other bowed string instruments ===== +20th century: + +Viola d'amore concerto: Hindemith + + +==== For plucked string instrument and orchestra ==== + + +===== Harp concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Handel's Harp Concerto, HWV 294 (a.k.a. Op. 4 No. 6) +Classical era: + +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra +Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz: Harp Concertos Op. 7 and Op. 9 +Francesco Petrini: Harp Concertos Op. 25, Op. 27 and Op. 29 +Ernst Eichner's Harp Concerto in D major, Op. 9 +Jan Ladislav Dussek: Harp Concertos Op. 15, Op. 30 and Craw 264 +François-Adrien Boieldieu's Harp Concerto in C major +Romantic era: + +Nicolas-Charles Bochsa: Harp Concertos Op. 15 No. 1 and Op. 295 +Elias Parish Alvars: Harp Concertos Op. 81 and Op. 98 +Carl Reinecke's Harp Concerto, Op. 182 +John Thomas's Harp Concerto No. 1 +Henriette Renié's Harp Concerto in C minor +20th century: + +Reinhold Glière's Harp Concerto +Joseph Jongen's Harp Concerto +Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto serenata +André Jolivet's Concerto for Harp and Chamber Orchestra (1952) +Darius Milhaud's Harp Concerto, Op. 323 (1953) +Heitor Villa-Lobos's Harp Concerto +Alberto Ginastera's Harp Concerto +Einojuhani Rautavaara's Harp Concerto (2000) + + +===== Mandolin concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto, RV 425 +20th century: + +Thile, Dorman + + +===== Guitar concerto ===== +20th century: + +Guitar Concerto: Arnold, E. Bernstein, Brouwer, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Hovhaness, Malmsteen, Ohana, Ponce, Rodrigo, Trigos, Villa-Lobos + + +===== Other plucked string instruments ===== +Baroque era: + +Lute concerto in D major (Vivaldi) +20th century: + +Kanun Concerto: Alnar + + +==== For woodwind instrument and orchestra ==== + + +===== Flute concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi: +Six Flute Concertos, Op. 10 +Il gran mogol +Classical era: + +Mozart: +Flute Concerto No. 1 +Flute Concerto No. 2 +20th century: + +Western concert flute Concerto: Aho, Arnold, Chaminade, Corigliano, Davies, Denisov, Dusapin, Harman, Hétu, Ibert, Jolivet, Landowski, Nielsen, Penderecki, Piston, Rautavaara, Rodrigo, Takemitsu, J. Williams +Contrabass flute Concerto: McGowan +Piccolo Concerto: Davies, Liebermann +Recorder concerto: Malcolm Arnold, Richard Harvey +Shakuhachi Concerto: Takemitsu + + +===== Oboe concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi: +Two of the Twelve Concertos, Op. 7 +One of the Six Concertos, Op. 11 +Handel: +Oboe Concerto No. 1 +Oboe Concerto No. 2 +Oboe Concerto No. 3 +Classical era: + +Mozart: Oboe Concerto +Romantic era: + +Vincenzo Bellini: Oboe Concerto +20th century: + +Oboe concerto: Aho, Arnold, Bouliane, Corigliano, Davies, Denisov, Harman, MacMillan, Maderna, Martinů, Penderecki, Shchedrin, Strauss, Vaughan Williams, Zimmermann +Bass oboe concerto: Bryars + + +===== English horn ===== + +20th century: + +English Horn Concerto: Bernard Hoffer, William Kraft, Nicholas Maw, Vazgen Muradian, Vincent Persichetti, Ned Rorem, Pēteris Vasks, Henk de Vlieger + + +===== Bassoon concerto ===== + +20th century: + +Bassoon concerto: Aho, Butterworth, Davies, del Aguila, Donatoni, Eckhardt-Gramatté, Fujikura, Gubaidulina, Hétu, Jolivet, Kaipainen, Knipper, Landowski, Panufnik, Rihm, Rota, Sæverud, J. Williams +Contrabassoon Concerto: Aho, Erb + + +===== Clarinet concerto ===== + +20th century: + +Clarinet concerto: Aho, Arnold, Chin, Copland, Davies, del Aguila, Denisov, Dusapin, Fairouz, Finzi, Françaix, Hartke, Hétu, Hindemith, Nielsen, Penderecki, Piston, Rautavaara, Shapey, Stravinsky, Takemitsu, Ticheli, Tomasi, J. Williams +Bass clarinet Concerto: Bouliane +21st century: + +Lindberg's clarinet concerto + + +===== Saxophone concerto ===== + +20th century: + +Soprano saxophone Concerto: Aho, Higdon, Hovhaness, Mackey, Torke, Yoshimatsu. +Alto saxophone Concerto: Adams, Creston, Dahl, Denisov, Dubois, Glazunov, Husa, Ibert, Koch, Larsson, Maslanka, Muczynski, Salonen, Ticheli, Tomasi, J. Williams, Worley, Yoshimatsu +Tenor saxophone Concerto: Bennett, Ewazen, Gould, Nicolau, Ward, Wilder. +Baritone saxophone Concerto: Gaines, Glaser, Haas, van Beurden + + +===== Other woodwind instruments ===== +20th century: + +Bagpipe: Chieftain's Salute by Graham Waterhouse + + +==== For brass instrument and orchestra ==== + + +===== Trumpet concerto ===== + +20th century: + +Trumpet Concerto: + + +===== Horn concerto ===== +Classical era: + +Bohemian composer Francesco Antonio Rosetti composed several solo and double horn concertos. He was a significant contributor to the genre of horn concertos in the 18th century. Most of his outstanding horn concertos were composed between 1782 and 1789 for the Bohemian duo Franz Zwierzina and Joseph Nage while at the Bavarian court of Oettingen-Wallerstein. One of his best-known works in this genre is his Horn Concerto in E flat major C49/K III:36. It consists of three movements: 1. Allegro moderato 2. Romance 3. Rondo. Many common features of the galant style are present in Rosetti's music and composing style. In his E-flat horn concerto, we hear periodic and short phrases, galant harmonic rhythm and melodic line reduction. Rosetti's influence on the 18th century composers, musicians and music was considerable. At the Bavarian court of Oettingen-Wallerstein, his music was often performed by the Wallerstein ensembles. In Paris, his compositions were performed by the best ensembles of the city, including the orchestra of the Concert Spirituel. His publishers were Le Menu et Boyer and Sieber. According to H. C. Robbins Landon (Mozart scholar), Rosetti's horn concertos might have been a model for Mozart's horn concertos. +20th century: + +French horn Concerto: Aho, Arnold, Arutiunian, Atterberg, Bowen, Carter, Davies, Glière, Gipps, Hindemith, Hovhaness, Jacob, Knussen, Ligeti, Murail, Penderecki, Strauss, Tomasi, J. Williams + + +===== Trombone concerto ===== + +20th century: + +Trombone Concerto: Aho, Bourgeois, David, Dusapin, Gagneux, Grøndahl, Holmboe, Larsson, Milhaud, Nyman, Olsen, Rota, Rouse, Sandström, Tomasi + + +===== Other brass instruments ===== +20th century: + +Cornet Concerto: Bourgeois, Corder, Ellerby, Gregson, Howarth, Tomlinson, Wright +Euphonium Concerto: Bach, Ball, Bourgeois, Brusick, Clarke, Cosma, Curnow, Day, Jager, De Meij, Downie, Ellerby, Ewazen, Feinstein, Filas, Gaines, Gillingham, Golland, Graham, Gregson, Groslot, Hoddinott, Horovitz, Jansa, Jenkins, Lindberg, Linkola, Lisjak, Mealor, Meechan, O'Toole, Roberts, Scott, Sparke, Stevens, Wesolowski, Wilby. +Tuba Concerto: Aho, Arutiunian, Broughton, Gagneux, Holmboe, Vaughan Williams, J. Williams + + +==== Keyboard concerto ==== + + +===== Harpsichord concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052–1059 (Bach) +20th century: + +Harpsichord Concerto: Falla, Glass, Górecki, Nyman, Martinů, Poulenc + + +===== Organ concerto ===== + +Baroque era: + +Handel: +Organ concertos, Op.4 +Organ concertos, Op.7 +20th century: + +Organ concerto: Arnold, Hanson, Harrison, Hétu, Hindemith, Jongen, MacMillan, Peeters, Poulenc, Rorem, Sowerby + + +===== Piano concerto ===== + +Classical era: + +Mozart: +Three Concertos after J.C. Bach, K. 107 +No. 1 in F major, K. 37 +No. 2 in B♭ major, K. 39 +No. 3 in D major, K. 40 +No. 4 in G major, K. 41 +No. 5 in D major, K. 175 +No. 6 in B♭ major, K. 238 +No. 8 in C major, K. 246 (Lützow) +No. 9 in E♭ major, K. 271 (Jeunehomme / Jenamy) +No. 11 in F major, K. 413 +No. 12 in A major, K. 414 +No. 13 in C major, K. 415 +No. 14 in E♭ major, K. 449 +No. 15 in B♭ major, K. 450 +No. 16 in D major, K. 451 +No. 17 in G major, K. 453 +No. 18 in B♭ major, K. 456 +No. 19 in F major, K. 459 +No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 +No. 21 in C major, K. 467 +No. 22 in E♭ major, K. 482 +No. 23 in A major, K. 488 +No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 +No. 25 in C major, K. 503 +No. 26 in D major, K. 537 (Coronation) +No. 27 in B♭ major, K. 595 +Romantic era: + +Beethoven's five piano concertos increase the technical demands made on the soloist. The last two are particularly remarkable, integrating the concerto into a large symphonic structure with movements that frequently run into one another. His Piano Concerto No. 4 starts with a statement by the piano, after which the orchestra enters in a foreign key, to present what would normally be the opening tutti. The work has a lyrical character. The slow movement is a dramatic dialogue between the soloist and the orchestra. His Piano Concerto No. 5 has the basic rhythm of a Viennese military march. There is no lyrical second subject, but in its place a continuous development of the opening material. +The piano concertos of Cramer, Field, Düssek, Woelfl, Ries, and Hummel provide a link from the Classical concerto to the Romantic concerto. +Chopin wrote two piano concertos in which the orchestra is relegated to an accompanying role. Schumann, despite being a pianist-composer, wrote a piano concerto in which virtuosity is never allowed to eclipse the essential lyrical quality of the work. The gentle, expressive melody heard at the beginning on woodwind and horns (after the piano's heralding introductory chords) bears the material for most of the argument in the first movement. In fact, argument in the traditional developmental sense is replaced by a kind of variation technique in which soloist and orchestra interweave their ideas. +Liszt's mastery of piano technique matched that of Paganini for the violin. His concertos No. 1 and No. 2 left a deep impression on the style of piano concerto writing, influencing Rubinstein, and especially Tchaikovsky, whose First Piano Concerto's rich chordal opening is justly famous. +Grieg's concerto likewise begins in a striking manner after which it continues in a lyrical vein. +Saint-Saëns wrote five piano concertos and orchestra between 1858 and 1896, in a classical vein. +Brahms's First Piano Concerto in D minor (pub 1861) was the result of an immense amount of work on a mass of material originally intended for a symphony. His Second Piano Concerto in B♭ major (1881) has four movements and is written on a larger scale than any earlier concerto. Like his violin concerto, it is symphonic in proportions. +Fewer piano concertos were written in the late Romantic Period. But Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote four piano concertos between 1891 and 1926. His Second and Third, being the most popular of the four, went on to become among the most famous in the piano repertoire. +Other romantic piano concertos, like those by Kalkbrenner, Henri Herz, Moscheles and Thalberg were also very popular in the Romantic era, but not today. +20th century: + +Maurice Ravel wrote two pianos concertos, one in G-major (1931) and the second for the left hand in D-major (date of creation1932). +Igor Stravinsky wrote three works for solo piano and orchestra: +Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments +Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra +Movements for Piano and Orchestra +Sergei Prokofiev, another Russian composer, wrote five piano concertos, which he himself performed. +Dmitri Shostakovich composed two piano concertos. +Aram Khachaturian contributed to the repertoire with a piano concerto and a Concerto-Rhapsody. +Arnold Schoenberg's Piano Concerto is a well-known example of a dodecaphonic piano concerto. +Béla Bartók also wrote three piano concertos. Like their violin counterparts, they show the various stages in his musical development. Bartok's also rearranged his chamber piece, Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, into a Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion, adding orchestral accompaniment. +Cristóbal Halffter wrote a prize-winning neoclassical Piano Concerto in 1953, and a second Piano Concerto in 1987–88. +Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a concerto for piano, though it was later reworked as a concerto for two pianos and orchestra—both versions have been recorded +Benjamin Britten's concerto for piano (1938) is a prominent work from his early period. +Piano concertos by Latin-American composers include one by Carlos Chávez, two by Alberto Ginastera, and five by Heitor Villa-Lobos. +György Ligeti's concerto (1988) has a synthetic quality: it mixes complex rhythms, the composer's Hungarian roots and his experiments with micropolyphony from the 1960s and 1970s. +Witold Lutosławski's piano concerto, completed in the same year, alternates between playfulness and mystery. It also displays a partial return to melody after the composer's aleatoric period. +Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin has written six piano concertos. +Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara wrote three piano concertos, the third one dedicated to Vladimir Ashkenazy, who played and conducted the world première. +French composer Germaine Tailleferre and Czech composers Bohuslav Martinů and Vítězslava Kaprálová wrote piano concertos. + + +===== Accordion concerto ===== + +20th century: + +Accordion concerto: Hovhaness, Sofia Gubaidulina, Toshio Hosokawa, Kalevi Aho +Free bass accordion Concerto: John Serry Sr. + + +===== Other keyboard instruments ===== +20th century: + +Bandoneón Concerto: Piazzolla +Clavinet concerto: Woolf +Yamaha GX-1: Akutagawa + + +==== Other instrumental soloist ==== + + +===== Percussion instrument ===== + +20th century: + +Percussion concerto: Aho, Dorman, Glass, Jolivet, MacMillan, Milhaud, Rautavaara, Susman +Timpani concerto: Aho, Druschetzky, Glass, Kraft, Rosauro +Xylophone concerto: Mayuzumi +Marimba concerto: Creston, Larsen, Milhaud, Rosauro (Concerto No.1 and No.2), Svoboda, Viñao +Vibraphone: Rosauro (Concerto No.1 and Concerto No.2) + + +===== Free reed aerophone ===== + +20th century: + +Harmonica concerto: Arnold, Hovhaness, Vaughan Williams, Villa-Lobos +Sheng Concerto: Unsuk Chin, Bernd Richard Deutsch, Jukka Tiensuu, Man Fang . + + +===== Electronic musical instrument ===== +20th century: + +Ondes Martenot concerto: Jolivet, Rozsa +Theremin concerto: Aho + + +=== For multiple instruments and orchestra === + +In the Baroque era, two violins and one cello formed the standard concertino of a concerto grosso. In the classical era, the sinfonia concertante replaced the concerto grosso genre, although concertos for two or three soloists were still composed too. From the Romantic era works for multiple instrumental soloists and orchestra were again commonly called concerto. + + +==== Two soloists ==== + +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi's concertos for 2 violins, for 2 cellos, for 2 mandolins, for 2 trumpets, for 2 flutes, for oboe and bassoon, for cello and bassoon (etc.) +Bach: +Concerto for Two Violins +Concertos for two harpsichords: BWV 1060, 1061 and 1062 +Telemann's Concerto for Two Violas +Classical era: + +Haydn's concerto for violin and keyboard (usually referred to as the Keyboard Concerto No. 6) +Mozart: +Piano Concerto No. 10 +Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra +Salieri's double concerto for flute and oboe +Romantic era: + +Felix Mendelssohn: +Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E major +Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in A-flat major +Johannes Brahms's Double Concerto for violin and cello +Max Bruch: +Concerto for Clarinet, Viola, and Orchestra +Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra +20th century: + +Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 (soloists: piano, trumpet) +Malcolm Arnold's Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra +Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra +Ralph Vaughan Williams's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra +Elliott Carter's Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras +Peter Maxwell Davies's Strathclyde Concerto No. 3 for horn, trumpet and orchestra, and No. 4 for violin, viola and string orchestra + + +==== Three soloists ==== + +Baroque era: + +Arcangelo Corelli's twelve concerti grossi, Op. 6 for two violins and cello +Vivaldi's concertos for 3 violins +Bach: +Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4 (BWV 1049) and 5 (BWV 1050) +Concertos for three harpsichords: BWV 1063 and 1064 +Triple Concerto, BWV 1044, for harpsichord, flute and violin +Classical era: + +Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 7 +Romantic era: + +Beethoven's Triple Concerto for piano, violin, and cello. +21st century: + +Smirnov's Triple Concerto No. 2 + + +==== Four or more soloists ==== +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi: +L'estro armonico Nos. 1, 4, 7 and 10 +RV 555, featuring 3 violins, an oboe, 2 recorders, 2 viole all'inglese, a chalumeau, 2 cellos, 2 harpsichords and 2 trumpets. +Concerto for Diverse Instruments in C major, RV 558 +Concerto in C major, RV 559, for two oboes, two clarinets, strings and continuo +Bach: +Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1 (BWV 1046) and 2 (BWV 1047) +Concerto for 4 harpsichords, BWV 1065 (after a concerto for four violins by Vivaldi) +20th century: + +Arnold Schoenberg's Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra +Maxwell Davies's Strathclyde Concerto and No. 9 for piccolo, alto flute, cor anglais, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabassoon and string orchestra. +Frank Martin's Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion, and string orchestra. +Jon Lord's Concerto for Group and Orchestra for rock band. +Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto Andaluz for 4 guitars. +Alfred Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 3 +Olivier Messiaen's Concert à quatre for piano, cello, oboe and flute. + + +=== Concerto for orchestra === + + +==== Symphonic orchestra ==== +In the 20th and 21st centuries, several composers wrote concertos for orchestra. In these works, different sections and/or instruments of the orchestra or concert band are treated at one point or another as soloists with emphasis on solo sections and/or instruments changing during the piece. Some examples include those written by: + +Hindemith – Op. 38, 1925 +Kodály – 1940 +Bartók – Concerto for Orchestra – 1945 +Lutoslawski – Concerto for Orchestra – 1954 +Shchedrin +No. 1 Naughty Limericks (1963) +No. 2 The Chimes (1968) +No. 3 Old Russian Circus Music (1989) +No. 4 Round Dances (Khorovody) (1989) +No. 5 Four Russian Songs (1998) +Carter – 1969 +Knussen – 1969 +Lindberg – 2003 +Dutilleux has also described his Métaboles as a concerto for orchestra. + + +==== Chamber orchestra or string orchestra ==== +Baroque era: + +Vivaldi's Concerto alla rustica +Bach's Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 (BWV 1048) and 6 (BWV 1051) +20th century: + +Stravinsky: +Concerto in D +Dumbarton Oaks concerto + + +==== More than one orchestra ==== +Baroque era: + +Handel's Concerti a due cori, HWV 332–334 +20th century: + +Michael Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra + + +== References == + + +== Sources == +Bertensson, Sergei (2001). Sergei Rachmaninoff : a lifetime in music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 164–170. ISBN 0-253-21421-1. +Bovermann, Till (2018). MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY : identities, configurations. Springer. pp. 264–270. ISBN 978-981-10-9748-5. +Brodbeck, David (2015). "Music and the Marketplace: On the Backstory of Carlos Chávez's Violin Concerto". In Saavedra, Leonora (ed.). Carlos Chávez and His World. Princeton University Press. p. 84. doi:10.1515/9781400874200-013. ISBN 978-1-4008-7420-0. +Brown, Clive (1984). Louis Spohr, a critical biography. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press. pp. 50–53. ISBN 978-0-521-23990-5. +Burns, Kevin (2000). Karel Husa's Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band: a Performer's Analysis (DMA dissertation). Louisiana: Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College. pp. 1–69. doi:10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.7245. S2CID 194618582. +Cuming, Geoffrey (1949). "Haydn: Where to Begin". Music & Letters. 30 (4): 364–375. doi:10.1093/ml/XXX.4.364. ISSN 0027-4224. JSTOR 730678. +Eggink, J.; Brown, G.J. (2004). "Instrument recognition in accompanied sonatas and concertos". 2004 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing. Vol. 4. pp. iv–217–iv-220. doi:10.1109/ICASSP.2004.1326802. ISBN 0-7803-8484-9. S2CID 13003660. +Erlebach, Rupert (1936). "Style in Pianoforte Concerto Writing". Music & Letters. 17 (2): 131–139. doi:10.1093/ml/XVII.2.131. ISSN 0027-4224. JSTOR 728791. Retrieved 9 April 2021. +Holman, Peter (2004). "Serenades and Sammartini". Early Music. 32 (1): 151–153. ISSN 0306-1078. JSTOR 3519434. +Hopkins, Antony (2019). The seven concertos of Beethoven. London. ISBN 978-0-429-77369-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) +Kearns, Andrew (1 January 1997). "The Orchestral Serenade in eighteenth-Century Salzburg". Journal of Musicological Research. 16 (3): 163–197. doi:10.1080/01411899708574730. ISSN 0141-1896. +Kijas, Anna E. (2013). ""A Suitable Soloist for My Piano Concerto": Teresa Carreño as a Promoter of Edvard Grieg's Music". Notes. 70 (1): 37–58. doi:10.1353/not.2013.0121. ISSN 0027-4380. JSTOR 43672696. S2CID 187606895. +Kory, Agnes (November 2005). "Boccherini and the Cello". Early Music. 33 (4): 750. doi:10.1093/em/cah182. JSTOR 3519618. +Lee, Douglas A. (2002). Masterworks of 20th-century music : the modern repertory of the symphony orchestra (1 ed.). New York: Routledge. pp. 387–400. ISBN 978-0-415-93847-1. +Lihua, Pu (2018). Violin Technique in Jenő Hubay's Four Violin Concertos (Doctoral project paper). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. hdl:2142/99733 – via IDEALS. +McClary, Susan (1986). "A Musical Dialectic from the Enlightenment: Mozart's "Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453", Movement 2". Cultural Critique. 1 (4): 129–169. doi:10.2307/1354338. ISSN 0882-4371. JSTOR 1354338. Retrieved 9 April 2021. +Paumgartner, Bernhard (2010). "Mozart's Oboe Concerto". Tempo (18): 4–7. doi:10.1017/S0040298200054565. ISSN 1478-2286. S2CID 144679576. +Peterson, Stephen; Galván, Janet; Stout, Gordon (13 May 2006). "Concert: Commencement Eve". All Concert & Recital Programs. 1 (1): 1–14. +Robinson, Harlow (2002). Sergei Prokofiev : a biography. Boston: Northeastern University Press. pp. 256–263. ISBN 1-55553-517-8. +Sadler, Graham (1975). "Rameau's Last Opera: Abaris, ou Les Boréades". The Musical Times. 116 (1586): 327–329. doi:10.2307/960326. ISSN 0027-4666. JSTOR 960326. +Steinberg, Michael (2000). "Johann Sebastian Bach". The Concerto: A Listener's Guide. Oxford University Press. pp. 11–19. ISBN 0-19-513931-3. +Stowell, Robin (2009). Beethoven: Violin Concerto. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 33. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511605703. ISBN 978-0-521-45159-8. +Talbot, Michael (27 October 2005). "The Italian concerto in the Late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries". The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto. Cambridge Companions to Music. ISBN 978-0-521-83483-4. +Threasher, David (May 2013). "HAYDN Keyboard Concertos Nos 3, 4 & 11". gramophone.co.uk. +Tovey, Donald Francis (1911). "Concerto". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 825–826. +White, Chappell (1972). "The Violin Concertos of Giornovichi". The Musical Quarterly. 58 (1): 30. +White, John David (1976). The Analysis of Music. Prentice-Hall. p. 62. ISBN 0-13-033233-X. +Wolf, Eugene K. [at Wikidata] (1986). "Concerto". In Randel, Don Michael; Apel, Willi (eds.). The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 186–191. ISBN 0674615255. +Wörner, Karl Heinrich; et al. (1993). Meierott, Lenz [in German] (ed.). Geschichte der Musik: ein Studien- und Nachschlagebuch [History of Music: A Study and Reference Book] (in German) (8th ed.). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-27811-X. + + +== Further reading == +Hill, Ralph, Ed., 1952, The Concerto, Penguin Books. +Hutchings, Arthur; Talbot, Michael; Eisen, Cliff; Botstein, Leon; Griffiths, Paul (2001). "Concerto". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription, Wikilibrary access, or UK public library membership required) +Randel, Don Michael, Ed., 1986, The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA and London. +Tovey, Donald Francis, 1936, Essays in Musical Analysis, Volume III, Concertos, Oxford University Press. + + +== External links == + +Concertos: scores at the International Music Score Library Project diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/06_chamber_music.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/06_chamber_music.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be39451 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/06_chamber_music.txt @@ -0,0 +1,286 @@ +Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music, in which each string part is played by a number of performers). However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances. +Because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as "the music of friends". For more than 100 years, chamber music was played primarily by amateur musicians in their homes, and even today, when chamber music performance has migrated from the home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and professional, still play chamber music for their own pleasure. Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for playing solo or symphonic works. +Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described chamber music (specifically, string quartet music) as "four rational people conversing". This conversational paradigm – which refers to the way one instrument introduces a melody or motif and then other instruments subsequently "respond" with a similar motif – has been a thread woven through the history of chamber music composition from the end of the 18th century to the present. The analogy to conversation recurs in descriptions and analyses of chamber music compositions. + + +== History == +From its earliest beginnings in the Medieval period to the present, chamber music has been a reflection of the changes in the technology and the society that produced it. + + +=== Early beginnings === + +During the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, instruments were used primarily as accompaniment for singers. String players would play along with the melody line sung by the singer. There were also purely instrumental ensembles, often of stringed precursors of the violin family, called consorts. +Some analysts consider the origin of classical instrumental ensembles to be the sonata da camera (chamber sonata) and the sonata da chiesa (church sonata). These were compositions for one to five or more instruments. The sonata da camera was a suite of slow and fast movements, interspersed with dance tunes; the sonata da chiesa was the same, but the dances were omitted. These forms gradually developed into the trio sonata of the Baroque – two treble instruments and a bass instrument, often with a keyboard or other chording instrument (harpsichord, organ, harp or lute, for example) filling in the harmony. Both the bass instrument and the chordal instrument would play the basso continuo part. +During the Baroque period, chamber music as a genre was not clearly defined. Often, works could be played on any variety of instruments, in orchestral or chamber ensembles. The Art of Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, can be played on a keyboard instrument (harpsichord or organ) or by a string quartet or a string orchestra. The instrumentation of trio sonatas was also often flexibly specified; some of Handel's sonatas are scored for "German flute, Hoboy [oboe] or Violin" Bass lines could be played by violone, cello, theorbo, or bassoon, and sometimes three or four instruments would join in the bass line in unison. Sometimes composers mixed movements for chamber ensembles with orchestral movements. Telemann's 'Tafelmusik' (1733), for example, has five sets of movements for various combinations of instruments, ending with a full orchestral section. + +Baroque chamber music was often contrapuntal; that is, each instrument played the same melodic materials at different times, creating a complex, interwoven fabric of sound. Because each instrument was playing essentially the same melodies, all the instruments were equal. In the trio sonata, there is often no ascendent or solo instrument, but all three instruments share equal importance. + +The harmonic role played by the keyboard or other chording instrument was subsidiary, and usually the keyboard part was not even written out; rather, the chordal structure of the piece was specified by numeric codes over the bass line, called figured bass. +In the second half of the 18th century, tastes began to change: many composers preferred a new, lighter Galant style, with "thinner texture, ... and clearly defined melody and bass" to the complexities of counterpoint. Now a new custom arose that gave birth to a new form of chamber music: the serenade. Patrons invited street musicians to play evening concerts below the balconies of their homes, their friends and their lovers. Patrons and musicians commissioned composers to write suitable suites of dances and tunes, for groups of two to five or six players. These works were called serenades, nocturnes, divertimenti, or cassations (from gasse=street). The young Joseph Haydn was commissioned to write several of these. + + +=== Haydn, Mozart, and the classical style === +Joseph Haydn is generally credited with creating the modern form of chamber music as we know it, although scholars today such as Roger Hickman argue "the idea that Haydn invented the string quartet and single-handedly advanced the genre is based on only a vague notion of the true history of the eighteenth-century genre." A typical string quartet of the period would consist of + +An opening movement in sonata form, usually with two contrasting themes, followed by a development section where the thematic material is transformed and transposed, and ending with a recapitulation of the initial two themes. +A lyrical movement in a slow or moderate tempo, sometimes built out of three sections that repeat themselves in the order A–B–C–A–B–C, and sometimes a set of variations. +A minuet or scherzo, a light movement in three quarter time, with a main section, a contrasting trio section, and a repeat of the main section. +A fast finale section in rondo form, a series of contrasting sections with a main refrain section opening and closing the movement, and repeating between each section. +Haydn was by no means the only composer developing new modes of chamber music. Even before Haydn, many composers were already experimenting with new forms. Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Ignaz Holzbauer, and Franz Xaver Richter wrote precursors of the string quartet. Franz Ignaz von Beecke (1733-1803), with his Piano Quintet in A minor (1770) and 17 string quartets was also one of the pioneers of chamber music of the Classical period. +Another renowned composer of chamber music of the period was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's seven piano trios and two piano quartets were the first to apply the conversational principle to chamber music with piano. Haydn's piano trios are essentially piano sonatas with the violin and cello playing mostly supporting roles, doubling the treble and bass lines of the piano score. But Mozart gives the strings an independent role, using them as a counter to the piano, and adding their individual voices to the chamber music conversation. + +Mozart introduced the newly invented clarinet into the chamber music arsenal, with the Kegelstatt Trio for viola, clarinet and piano, K. 498, and the Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet, K. 581. He also tried other innovative ensembles, including the quintet for violin, two violas, cello, and horn, K. 407, quartets for flute and strings, and various wind instrument combinations. He wrote six string quintets for two violins, two violas and cello, which explore the rich tenor tones of the violas, adding a new dimension to the string quartet conversation. +Mozart's string quartets are considered the pinnacle of the classical art. The six string quartets that he dedicated to Haydn, his friend and mentor, inspired the elder composer to say to Mozart's father, "I tell you before God as an honest man that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by reputation. He has taste, and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition." +Many other composers wrote chamber compositions during this period that were popular at the time and are still played today. Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer and cellist, wrote nearly a hundred string quartets, and more than one hundred quintets for two violins, viola and two cellos. In this innovative ensemble, later used by Schubert, Boccherini gives flashy, virtuosic solos to the principal cello, as a showcase for his own playing. Violinist Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf and cellist Johann Baptist Wanhal, who both played pickup quartets with Haydn on second violin and Mozart on viola, were popular chamber music composers of the period. + + +=== From home to hall === + +The turn of the 19th century saw dramatic changes in society and in music technology which had far-reaching effects on the way chamber music was composed and played. + + +==== Collapse of the aristocratic system ==== +Throughout the 18th century, the composer was normally an employee of an aristocrat, and the chamber music he or she composed was for the pleasure of aristocratic players and listeners. Haydn, for example, was an employee of Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, a music lover and amateur baryton player, for whom Haydn wrote many of his string trios. Mozart wrote three string quartets for the King of Prussia, Frederick William II, a cellist. Many of Beethoven's quartets were first performed with patron Count Andrey Razumovsky on second violin. Boccherini composed for the king of Spain. +With the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of new social orders throughout Europe, composers increasingly had to make money by selling their compositions and performing concerts. They often gave subscription concerts, which involved renting a hall and collecting the receipts from the performance. Increasingly, they wrote chamber music not only for rich patrons, but for professional musicians playing for a paying audience. + + +==== Changes in the structure of stringed instruments ==== +At the beginning of the 19th century, luthiers developed new methods of constructing the violin, viola and cello that gave these instruments a richer tone, more volume, and more carrying power. Also at this time, bowmakers made the violin bow longer, with a thicker ribbon of hair under higher tension. This improved projection, and also made possible new bowing techniques. In 1820, Louis Spohr invented the chinrest, which gave violinists more freedom of movement in their left hands, for a more nimble technique. These changes contributed to the effectiveness of public performances in large halls, and expanded the repertoire of techniques available to chamber music composers. + + +==== Invention of the pianoforte ==== +Throughout the Baroque era, the harpsichord was one of the main instruments used in chamber music. The harpsichord used quills to pluck strings, and it had a delicate sound. Due to the design of the harpsichord, the attack or weight with which the performer played the keyboard did not change the volume or tone. Between about 1750 and the late 1700s, the harpsichord gradually fell out of use. By the late 1700s, the pianoforte became more popular as an instrument for performance. Even though the pianoforte was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori at the beginning of the 1700s, it did not become widely used until the end of that century, when technical improvements in its construction made it a more effective instrument. Unlike the harpsichord, the pianoforte could play soft or loud dynamics and sharp sforzando attacks depending on how hard or soft the performer played the keys. The improved pianoforte was adopted by Mozart and other composers, who began composing chamber ensembles with the piano playing a leading role. The piano was to become more and more dominant through the 19th century, so much so that many composers, such as Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin, wrote almost exclusively for solo piano (or solo piano with orchestra). + + +=== Beethoven === +Ludwig van Beethoven straddled this period of change as a giant of Western music. Beethoven transformed chamber music, raising it to a new plane, both in terms of content and in terms of the technical demands on performers and audiences. His works, in the words of Maynard Solomon, were "...the models against which nineteenth-century romanticism measured its achievements and failures." His late quartets, in particular, were considered so daunting an accomplishment that many composers after him were afraid to try composing quartets; Johannes Brahms composed and tore up 20 string quartets before he dared publish a work that he felt was worthy of the "giant marching behind". + +Beethoven made his formal debut as a composer with three Piano Trios, Op. 1. Even these early works, written when Beethoven was only 22, while adhering to a strictly classical mold, showed signs of the new paths that Beethoven was to forge in the coming years. When he showed the manuscript of the trios to Haydn, his teacher, prior to publication, Haydn approved of the first two, but warned against publishing the third trio, in C minor, as too radical, warning it would not "...be understood and favorably received by the public." +Haydn was wrong—the third trio was the most popular of the set, and Haydn's criticisms caused a falling-out between him and the sensitive Beethoven. The trio is, indeed, a departure from the mold that Haydn and Mozart had formed. Beethoven makes dramatic deviations of tempo within phrases and within movements. He greatly increases the independence of the strings, especially the cello, allowing it to range above the piano and occasionally even the violin. +If his Op. 1 trios introduced Beethoven's works to the public, his Septet, Op. 20, established him as one of Europe's most popular composers. The septet, scored for violin, viola, cello, contrabass, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, was a huge hit. It was played in concerts again and again. It appeared in transcriptions for many combinations – one of which, for clarinet, cello and piano, was written by Beethoven himself – and was so popular that Beethoven feared it would eclipse his other works. So much so that by 1815, Carl Czerny wrote that Beethoven "could not endure his septet and grew angry because of the universal applause which it has received." The septet is written as a classical divertimento in six movements, including two minuets, and a set of variations. It is full of catchy tunes, with solos for everyone, including the contrabass. + +In his 17 string quartets, composed over the course of 37 of his 56 years, Beethoven goes from classical composer par excellence to creator of musical Romanticism, and finally, with his late string quartets, he transcends classicism and romanticism to create a genre that defies categorization. Stravinsky referred to the Große Fuge, of the late quartets, as, "...this absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever." +The string quartets 1–6, Op. 18, were written in the classical style, in the same year that Haydn wrote his Op. 76 string quartets. Even here, Beethoven stretched the formal structures pioneered by Haydn and Mozart. In the quartet Op. 18, No. 1, in F major, for example, there is a long, lyrical solo for cello in the second movement, giving the cello a new type of voice in the quartet conversation. And the last movement of Op. 18, No. 6, "La Malincolia", creates a new type of formal structure, interleaving a slow, melancholic section with a manic dance. Beethoven was to use this form in later quartets, and Brahms and others adopted it as well. + +In the years 1805 to 1806, Beethoven composed the three Op. 59 quartets on a commission from Count Razumovsky, who played second violin in their first performance. These quartets, from Beethoven's middle period, were pioneers in the romantic style. Besides introducing many structural and stylistic innovations, these quartets were much more difficult technically to perform – so much so that they were, and remain, beyond the reach of many amateur string players. When first violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh complained of their difficulty, Beethoven retorted, "Do you think I care about your wretched violin when the spirit moves me?" Among the difficulties are complex syncopations and cross-rhythms; synchronized runs of sixteenth, thirty-second, and sixty-fourth notes; and sudden modulations requiring special attention to intonation. In addition to the Op. 59 quartets, Beethoven wrote two more quartets during his middle period – Op. 74, the "Harp" quartet, named for the unusual harp-like effect Beethoven creates with pizzicato passages in the first movement, and Op. 95, the "Serioso". + +The Serioso is a transitional work that ushers in Beethoven's late period – a period of compositions of great introspection. "The particular kind of inwardness of Beethoven's last style period", writes Joseph Kerman, gives one the feeling that "the music is sounding only for the composer and for one other auditor, an awestruck eavesdropper: you." In the late quartets, the quartet conversation is often disjointed, proceeding like a stream of consciousness. Melodies are broken off, or passed in the middle of the melodic line from instrument to instrument. Beethoven uses new effects, never before essayed in the string quartet literature: the ethereal, dreamlike effect of open intervals between the high E string and the open A string in the second movement of quartet Op. 132; the use of sul ponticello (playing on the bridge of the violin) for a brittle, scratchy sound in the Presto movement of Op. 131; the use of the Lydian mode, rarely heard in Western music for 200 years, in Op. 132; a cello melody played high above all the other strings in the finale of Op. 132. Yet for all this disjointedness, each quartet is tightly designed, with an overarching structure that ties the work together. +Beethoven wrote eight piano trios, five string trios, two string quintets, and numerous pieces for wind ensemble. He also wrote ten sonatas for violin and piano and five sonatas for cello and piano. + + +=== Franz Schubert === + +As Beethoven, in his last quartets, went off in his own direction, Franz Schubert carried on and established the emerging romantic style. In his 31 years, Schubert devoted much of his life to chamber music, composing 15 string quartets, two piano trios, string trios, a piano quintet commonly known as the Trout Quintet, an octet for strings and winds, and his famous quintet for two violins, viola, and two cellos. + +Schubert's music, as his life, exemplified the contrasts and contradictions of his time. On the one hand, he was the darling of Viennese society: he starred in soirées that became known as Schubertiaden, where he played his light, mannered compositions that expressed the gemütlichkeit of Vienna of the 1820s. On the other hand, his own short life was shrouded in tragedy, wracked by poverty and ill health. Chamber music was the ideal medium to express this conflict, "to reconcile his essentially lyric themes with his feeling for dramatic utterance within a form that provided the possibility of extreme color contrasts." The String Quintet in C, D.956, is an example of how this conflict is expressed in music. After a slow introduction, the first theme of the first movement, fiery and dramatic, leads to a bridge of rising tension, peaking suddenly and breaking into the second theme, a lilting duet in the lower voices. The alternating Sturm und Drang and relaxation continue throughout the movement. +These contending forces are expressed in some of Schubert's other works: in the quartet Death and the Maiden, the Rosamunde quartet and in the stormy, one-movement Quartettsatz, D. 703. + + +=== Felix Mendelssohn === + +Unlike Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn had a life of peace and prosperity. Born into a wealthy Jewish family in Hamburg, Mendelssohn proved himself a child prodigy. By the age of 16, he had written his first major chamber work, the String Octet, Op. 20. Already in this work, Mendelssohn showed some of the unique style that was to characterize his later works; notably, the gossamer light texture of his scherzo movements, exemplified also by the Canzonetta movement of the String Quartet, Op. 12, and the scherzo of the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49. +Another characteristic that Mendelssohn pioneered is the cyclic form in overall structure. This means the reuse of thematic material from one movement to the next, to give the total piece coherence. In his second string quartet, he opens the piece with a peaceful adagio section in A major, that contrasts with the stormy first movement in A minor. After the final, vigorous Presto movement, he returns to the opening adagio to conclude the piece. This string quartet is also Mendelssohn's homage to Beethoven; the work is studded with quotes from Beethoven's middle and late quartets. + +During his adult life, Mendelssohn wrote two piano trios, seven works for string quartet, two string quintets, the octet, a sextet for piano and strings, and numerous sonatas for piano with violin, cello, and clarinet. + + +=== Robert Schumann === + +Robert Schumann continued the development of cyclic structure. In his Piano Quintet in E flat, Op. 44, Schumann wrote a double fugue in the finale, using the theme of the first movement and the theme of the last movement. Both Schumann and Mendelssohn, following the example set by Beethoven, revived the fugue, which had fallen out of favor since the Baroque period. However, rather than writing strict, full-length fugues, they used counterpoint as another mode of conversation between the chamber music instruments. Many of Schumann's chamber works, including all three of his string quartets and his piano quartet have contrapuntal sections interwoven seamlessly into the overall compositional texture. +The composers of the first half of the 19th century were acutely aware of the conversational paradigm established by Haydn and Mozart. Schumann wrote that in a true quartet "everyone has something to say ... a conversation, often truly beautiful, often oddly and turbidly woven, among four people." Their awareness is exemplified by composer and virtuoso violinist Louis Spohr. Spohr divided his 36 string quartets into two types: the quatuor brillant, essentially a violin concerto with string trio accompaniment; and quatuor dialogue, in the conversational tradition. + + +=== Chamber music and society in the 19th century === + +During the 19th century, with the rise of new technology driven by the Industrial Revolution, printed music became cheaper and thus more accessible while domestic music making gained widespread popularity. Composers began to incorporate new elements and techniques into their works to appeal to this open market, since there was an increased consumer desire for chamber music. While improvements in instruments led to more public performances of chamber music, it remained very much a type of music to be played as much as performed. Amateur quartet societies sprang up throughout Europe, and no middling-sized city in Germany or France was without one. These societies sponsored house concerts, compiled music libraries, and encouraged the playing of quartets and other ensembles. In European countries, in particular Germany and France, like minded musicians were brought together and started to develop a strong connection with the community. Composers were in high favor with orchestral works and solo virtuosi works, which made up the largest part of the public concert repertoire. Early French composers including Camille Saint-Saëns and César Franck. +Apart from the "central" Austro-Germanic countries, there was an occurrence of the subculture of chamber music in other regions such as Britain. There chamber music was often performed by upper- and middle-class men with less advanced musical skills in an unexpected setting such as informal ensembles in private residence with few audience members. In Britain, the most common form of chamber music compositions are the string quartets, sentimental songs and piano chamber works like the piano trio, in a way depicts the standard conception of the conventional "Victorian music making". With the emergence of feminism in the mid-1800s, it became increasingly acceptable for women to perform chamber music. +Thousands of quartets were published by hundreds of composers; between 1770 and 1800, more than 2000 quartets were published, and the pace did not decline in the next century. Throughout the 19th century, composers published string quartets now long neglected: George Onslow wrote 36 quartets and 35 quintets; Gaetano Donizetti wrote dozens of quartets, Antonio Bazzini, Anton Reicha, Carl Reissiger, Joseph Suk and others wrote to fill an insatiable demand for quartets. In addition, there was a lively market for string quartet arrangements of popular and folk tunes, piano works, symphonies, and opera arias. +But opposing forces were at work. The middle of the 19th century saw the rise of superstar virtuosi, who drew attention away from chamber music toward solo performance. The piano, which could be mass-produced, became an instrument of preference, and many composers, like Chopin and Liszt, composed primarily if not exclusively for piano. + +The ascendance of the piano, and of symphonic composition, was not merely a matter of preference; it was also a matter of ideology. In the 1860s, a schism grew among romantic musicians over the direction of music. Many composers tend to express their romantic persona through their works. By the time, these chamber works are not necessarily dedicated for any specific dedicatee. Famous chamber works such as Fanny Hensel's Piano Trio in D minor, Ludwig van Beethoven's Trio in E-flat major, and Franz Schubert's Piano Quintet in A major are all highly personal. Liszt and Richard Wagner led a movement that contended that "pure music" had run its course with Beethoven, and that new, programmatic forms of music–in which music created "images" with its melodies–were the future of the art. The composers of this school had no use for chamber music. Opposing this view was Johannes Brahms and his associates, especially the powerful music critic Eduard Hanslick. This War of the Romantics shook the artistic world of the period, with vituperative exchanges between the two camps, concert boycotts, and petitions. +Although amateur playing thrived throughout the 19th century, this was also a period of increasing professionalization of chamber music performance. Professional quartets began to dominate the chamber music concert stage. The Hellmesberger Quartet, led by Joseph Hellmesberger, and the Joachim Quartet, led by Joseph Joachim, debuted many of the new string quartets by Brahms and other composers. Another famous quartet player was Vilemina Norman Neruda, also known as Lady Hallé. Indeed, during the last third of the century, women performers began taking their place on the concert stage: an all-women string quartet led by Emily Shinner, and the Lucas quartet, also all women, were two notable examples. +Meanwhile in the New World parlour music was a its high point in the late 19th century. + + +=== Toward the 20th century === + +It was Johannes Brahms who carried the torch of Romantic music toward the 20th century. Heralded by Robert Schumann as the forger of "new paths" in music, Brahms's music is a bridge from the classical to the modern. On the one hand, Brahms was a traditionalist, conserving the musical traditions of Bach and Mozart. Throughout his chamber music, he uses traditional techniques of counterpoint, incorporating fugues and canons into rich conversational and harmonic textures. On the other hand, Brahms expanded the structure and the harmonic vocabulary of chamber music, challenging traditional notions of tonality. An example of this is in the Brahms second string sextet, Op. 36. +Traditionally, composers wrote the first theme of a piece in the key of the piece, firmly establishing that key as the tonic, or home, key of the piece. The opening theme of Op. 36 starts in the tonic (G major), but already by the third measure has modulated to the unrelated key of E-flat major. As the theme develops, it ranges through various keys before coming back to the tonic G major. This "harmonic audacity", as Swafford describes it, opened the way for bolder experiments to come. + +Not only in harmony, but also in overall musical structure, Brahms was an innovator. He developed a technique that Arnold Schoenberg described as "developing variation". Rather than discretely defined phrases, Brahms often runs phrase into phrase, and mixes melodic motives to create a fabric of continuous melody. Schoenberg, the creator of the 12-tone system of composition, traced the roots of his modernism to Brahms, in his essay "Brahms the Progressive". +All told, Brahms published 24 works of chamber music, including three string quartets, five piano trios, the quintet for piano and strings, Op. 34, and other works. Among his last works were the clarinet quintet, Op. 115, and a trio for clarinet, cello and piano. He wrote a trio for the unusual combination of piano, violin and horn, Op. 40. He also wrote two songs for alto singer, viola and piano, Op. 91, reviving the form of voice with string obbligato that had been virtually abandoned since the Baroque. + +The exploration of tonality and of structure begun by Brahms was continued by composers of the French school. César Franck's piano quintet in F minor, composed in 1879, further established the cyclic form first explored by Schumann and Mendelssohn, reusing the same thematic material in each of the three movements. Claude Debussy's string quartet, Op. 10, is considered a watershed in the history of chamber music. The quartet uses the cyclic structure, and constitutes a final divorce from the rules of classical harmony. "Any sounds in any combination and in any succession are henceforth free to be used in a musical continuity", Debussy wrote. Pierre Boulez said that Debussy freed chamber music from "rigid structure, frozen rhetoric and rigid aesthetics". + +Debussy's quartet, like the string quartets of Maurice Ravel and of Gabriel Fauré, created a new tone color for chamber music, a color and texture associated with the Impressionist movement. Violist James Dunham, of the Cleveland and Sequoia Quartets, writes of the Ravel quartet, "I was simply overwhelmed by the sweep of sonority, the sensation of colors constantly changing ..." For these composers, chamber ensembles were the ideal vehicle for transmitting this atmospheric sense, and chamber works constituted much of their oeuvre. + + +=== Nationalism in chamber music === + +Parallel with the trend to seek new modes of tonality and texture was another new development in chamber music: the rise of nationalism. Composers turned more and more to the rhythms and tonalities of their native lands for inspiration and material. "Europe was impelled by the Romantic tendency to establish in musical matters the national boundaries more and more sharply", wrote Alfred Einstein. "The collecting and sifting of old traditional melodic treasures ... formed the basis for a creative art-music." For many of these composers, chamber music was the natural vehicle for expressing their national characters. + +Czech composer Antonín Dvořák created in his chamber music a new voice for the music of his native Bohemia. In 14 string quartets, three string quintets, two piano quartets, a string sextet, four piano trios, and numerous other chamber compositions, Dvořák incorporates folk music and modes as an integral part of his compositions. For example, in the piano quintet in A major, Op. 81, the slow movement is a Dumka, a Slavic folk ballad that alternates between a slow expressive song and a fast dance. Dvořák's fame in establishing a national art music was so great that the New York philanthropist and music connoisseur Jeannette Thurber invited him to America, to head a conservatory that would establish an American style of music. There, Dvořák wrote his string quartet in F major, Op. 96, nicknamed "The American". While composing the work, Dvořák was entertained by a group of Kickapoo Indians who performed native dances and songs, and these songs may have been incorporated in the quartet. +Bedřich Smetana, another Czech, wrote a piano trio and string quartet, both of which incorporate native Czech rhythms and melodies. In Russia, Russian folk music permeated the works of the late 19th-century composers. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky uses a typical Russian folk dance in the final movement of his string sextet, Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70. Alexander Borodin's second string quartet contains references to folk music, and the slow Nocturne movement of that quartet recalls Middle Eastern modes that were current in the Muslim sections of southern Russia. Edvard Grieg used the musical style of his native Norway in his string quartet in G minor, Op. 27 and his violin sonatas. +In Hungary, composers Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók pioneered the science of ethnomusicology by performing one of the first comprehensive studies of folk music. Ranging across the Magyar provinces, they transcribed, recorded, and classified tens of thousands of folk melodies. They used these tunes in their compositions, which are characterized by the asymmetrical rhythms and modal harmonies of that music. Their chamber music compositions, and those of the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, combined the nationalist trend with the 20th century search for new tonalities. Janáček's string quartets not only incorporate the tonalities of Czech folk music, they also reflect the rhythms of speech in Czech. + + +=== New sounds for a new world === +The end of western tonality, begun subtly by Brahms and made explicit by Debussy, posed a crisis for composers of the 20th century. It was not merely an issue of finding new types of harmonies and melodic systems to replace the diatonic scale that was the basis of western harmony; the whole structure of western music – the relationships between movements and between structural elements within movements – was based on the relationships between different keys. So composers were challenged with building a whole new structure for music. +This was coupled with the feeling that the era that saw the invention of automobiles, the telephone, electric lighting, and world war needed new modes of expression. "The century of the aeroplane deserves its music", wrote Debussy. + + +==== Inspiration from folk music ==== + +The search for a new music took several directions. The first, led by Bartók, was toward the tonal and rhythmic constructs of folk music. Bartók's research into Hungarian and other eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music revealed to him a musical world built of musical scales that were neither major nor minor, and complex rhythms that were alien to the concert hall. In his fifth quartet, for example, Bartók uses a time signature of 3+2+2+38, "startling to the classically-trained musician, but second-nature to the folk musician." Structurally, also, Bartók often invents or borrows from folk modes. In the sixth string quartet, for example, Bartók begins each movement with a slow, elegiac melody, followed by the main melodic material of the movement, and concludes the quartet with a slow movement that is built entirely on this elegy. This is a form common in many folk music cultures. + +Bartók's six string quartets are often compared with Beethoven's late quartets. In them, Bartók builds new musical structures, explores sonorities never previously produced in classical music (for example, the snap pizzicato, where the player lifts the string and lets it snap back on the fingerboard with an audible buzz), and creates modes of expression that set these works apart from all others. "Bartók's last two quartets proclaim the sanctity of life, progress and the victory of humanity despite the anti-humanistic dangers of the time", writes analyst John Herschel Baron. The last quartet, written when Bartók was preparing to flee the Nazi invasion of Hungary for a new and uncertain life in the U.S., is often seen as an autobiographical statement of the tragedy of his times. +Bartók was not alone in his explorations of folk music. Igor Stravinsky's Three Pieces for String Quartet is structured as three Russian folksongs, rather than as a classical string quartet. Stravinsky, like Bartók, used asymmetrical rhythms throughout his chamber music; the Histoire du soldat, in Stravinsky's own arrangement for clarinet, violin and piano, constantly shifts time signatures between two, three, four and five beats to the bar. In Britain, composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Benjamin Britten drew on English folk music for much of their chamber music: Vaughan Williams incorporates folksongs and country fiddling in his first string quartet. American composer Charles Ives wrote music that was distinctly American. Ives gave programmatic titles to much of his chamber music; his first string quartet, for example, is called "From the Salvation Army", and quotes American Protestant hymns in several places. + + +==== Serialism, polytonality and polyrhythms ==== + +A second direction in the search for a new tonality was twelve-tone serialism. Arnold Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone method of composition as an alternative to the structure provided by the diatonic system. His method entails building a piece using a series of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, permuting it and superimposing it on itself to create the composition. + +Schoenberg did not arrive immediately at the serial method. His first chamber work, the string sextet Verklärte Nacht, was mostly a late German romantic work, though it was bold in its use of modulations. The first work that was frankly atonal was the second string quartet; the last movement of this quartet, which includes a soprano, has no key signature. Schoenberg further explored atonality with Pierrot Lunaire, for singer, flute or piccolo, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The singer uses a technique called Sprechstimme, halfway between speech and song. +After developing the twelve-tone technique, Schoenberg wrote a number of chamber works, including two more string quartets, a string trio, and a wind quintet. He was followed by a number of other twelve-tone composers, the most prominent of whom were his students Alban Berg, who wrote the Lyric Suite for string quartet, and Anton Webern, who wrote Five Movements for String Quartet, op. 5. +Twelve-tone technique was not the only new experiment in tonality. Darius Milhaud developed the use of polytonality, that is, music where different instruments play in different keys at the same time. Milhaud wrote 18 string quartets; quartets number 14 and 15 are written so that each can be played by itself, or the two can be played at the same time as an octet. Milhaud also used jazz idioms, as in his Suite for clarinet, violin and piano. +The American composer Charles Ives used not only polytonality in his chamber works, but also polymeter. In his first string quartet he writes a section where the first violin and viola play in + + + + + + + 3 + 4 + + + + + + {\displaystyle {\tfrac {3}{4}}} + + time while the second violin and cello play in + + + + + + + 4 + 4 + + + + + + {\displaystyle {\tfrac {4}{4}}} + +. + + +==== Neoclassicism ==== +The plethora of directions that music took in the first quarter of the 20th century led to a reaction by many composers. Led by Stravinsky, these composers looked to the music of preclassical Europe for inspiration and stability. While Stravinsky's neoclassical works – such as the 'Concertino for String Quartet' – sound contemporary, they are modeled on Baroque and early classical forms – the canon, the fugue, and the Baroque sonata form. + +Paul Hindemith was another neoclassicist. His many chamber works are essentially tonal, though they use many dissonant harmonies. Hindemith wrote seven string quartets and two string trios, among other chamber works. At a time when composers were writing works of increasing complexity, beyond the reach of amateur musicians, Hindemith explicitly recognized the importance of amateur music-making, and intentionally wrote pieces that were within the abilities of nonprofessional players. +The works that the composer summarised as Kammermusik, a collection of eight extended compositions, consists mostly of concertante works, comparable to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. + +Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the most prolific of chamber music composers of the 20th century, writing 15 string quartets, two piano trios, the piano quintet, and numerous other chamber works. Shostakovich's music was for a long time banned in the Soviet Union and Shostakovich himself was in personal danger of deportation to Siberia. His eighth quartet is an autobiographical work, that expresses his deep depression from his ostracization, bordering on suicide: it quotes from previous compositions, and uses the four-note motif DSCH, the composer's initials. + + +=== Stretching the limits === +As the century progressed, many composers created works for small ensembles that, while they formally might be considered chamber music, challenged many of the fundamental characteristics that had defined the genre over the last 150 years. + + +==== Music of friends ==== +The idea of composing music that could be played at home has been largely abandoned. Bartók was among the first to part with this idea. "Bartók never conceived these quartets for private performance but rather for large, public concerts." Aside from the many almost insurmountable technical difficulties of many modern pieces, some of them are hardly suitable for performance in a small room. For example, Different Trains by Steve Reich is scored for live string quartet and recorded tape, which layers together a carefully orchestrated sound collage of speech, recorded train sounds, and three string quartets. + + +==== Relation of composer and performer ==== +Traditionally, the composer wrote the notes, and the performer interpreted them. But this is no longer the case in much modern music. In Für kommende Zeiten (For Times to Come), Stockhausen writes verbal instructions describing what the performers are to play. "Star constellations/with common points/and falling stars ... Abrupt end" is a sample. +Composer Terry Riley describes how he works with the Kronos Quartet, an ensemble devoted to contemporary music: "When I write a score for them, it's an unedited score. I put in just a minimal amount of dynamics and phrasing marks ...we spend a lot of time trying out different ideas in order to shape the music, to form it. At the end of the process, it makes the performers actually own the music. That to me is the best way for composers and musicians to interact." + + +==== New sounds ==== +Composers seek new timbres, remote from the traditional blend of strings, piano and woodwinds that characterized chamber music in the 19th century. This search led to the incorporation of new instruments in the 20th century, such as the theremin and the synthesizer in chamber music compositions. +Many composers sought new timbres within the framework of traditional instruments. "Composers begin to hear new timbres and new timbral combinations, which are as important to the new music of the twentieth century as the so-called breakdown of functional tonality," writes music historian James McCalla. Examples are numerous: Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937), Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, Charles Ives's Quartertone Pieces for two pianos tuned a quartertone apart. Other composers used electronics and extended techniques to create new sonorities. An example is George Crumb's Black Angels, for electric string quartet (1970). The players not only bow their amplified instruments, they also beat on them with thimbles, pluck them with paper clips and play on the wrong side of the bridge or between the fingers and the nut. Still other composers have sought to explore the timbres created by including instruments which are not often associated with a typical orchestral ensemble. For example, Robert Davine explores the orchestral timbres of the accordion when it is included in a traditional wind trio in his Divertimento for accordion, flute, clarinet and bassoon. and Karlheinz Stockhausen wrote a Helicopter String Quartet. + +What do these changes mean for the future of chamber music? "With the technological advances have come questions of aesthetics and sociological changes in music", writes analyst Baron. "These changes have often resulted in accusations that technology has destroyed chamber music and that technological advance is in inverse proportion to musical worth. The ferocity of these attacks only underscores how fundamental these changes are, and only time will tell if humankind will benefit from them." + + +=== In contemporary society === +Analysts agree that the role of chamber music in society has changed profoundly in the last 50 years; yet there is little agreement as to what that change is. On the one hand, Baron contends that "chamber music in the home ... remained very important in Europe and America until the Second World War, after which the increasing invasion of radio and recording reduced its scope considerably." This view is supported by subjective impressions. "Today there are so many more millions of people listening to music, but far fewer playing chamber music just for the pleasure of it", says conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. +However, recent surveys suggest there is, on the contrary, a resurgence of home music making. In the radio program "Amateurs Help Keep Chamber Music Alive" from 2005, reporter Theresa Schiavone cites a Gallup poll showing an increase in the sale of stringed instruments in America. Joe Lamond, president of the National Association of Music Manufacturers (NAMM) attributes the increase to a growth of home music-making by adults approaching retirement. "I would really look to the demographics of the [baby] boomers", he said in an interview. These people "are starting to look for something that matters to them ... nothing makes them feel good more than playing music." +A study by the European Music Office in 1996 suggests that not only older people are playing music. "The number of adolescents today to have done music has almost doubled by comparison with those born before 1960", the study shows. While most of this growth is in popular music, some is in chamber music and art music, according to the study. +While there is no agreement about the number of chamber music players, the opportunities for amateurs to play have certainly grown. The number of chamber music camps and retreats, where amateurs can meet for a weekend or a month to play together, has burgeoned. Music for the Love of It, an organization to promote amateur playing, publishes a directory of music workshops that lists more than 500 workshops in 24 countries for amateurs in 2008 The Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP) offers a directory of over 5,000 amateur players worldwide who welcome partners for chamber music sessions. +Regardless of whether the number of amateur players has grown or shrunk, the number of chamber music concerts in the west has increased greatly in the last 20 years. Concert halls have largely replaced the home as the venue for concerts. Baron suggests that one of the reasons for this surge is "the spiraling costs of orchestral concerts and the astronomical fees demanded by famous soloists, which have priced both out of the range of most audiences." The repertoire at these concerts is almost universally the classics of the 19th century. However, modern works are increasingly included in programs, and some groups, like the Kronos Quartet, devote themselves almost exclusively to contemporary music and new compositions; and ensembles like the Turtle Island String Quartet, that combine classical, jazz, rock and other styles to create crossover music. Cello Fury and Project Trio offer a new spin to the standard chamber ensemble. Cello Fury consists of three cellists and a drummer and Project Trio includes a flutist, bassist, and cellist. + +Several groups such as Classical Revolution and Simple Measures have taken classical chamber music out of the concert hall and into the streets. Simple Measures, a group of chamber musicians in Seattle (Washington, US), gives concerts in shopping centers, coffee shops, and streetcars. The Providence (Rhode Island, US) String Quartet has started the "Storefront Strings" program, offering impromptu concerts and lessons out of a storefront in one of Providence's poorer neighborhoods. "What really makes this for me", said Rajan Krishnaswami, cellist and founder of Simple Measures, "is the audience reaction ... you really get that audience feedback." + + +== Performance == +Chamber music performance is a specialized field, and requires a number of skills not normally required for the performance of symphonic or solo music. Many performers and authors have written about the specialized techniques required for a successful chamber musician. Chamber music playing, writes M. D. Herter Norton, requires that "individuals ... make a unified whole yet remain individuals. The soloist is a whole unto himself, and in the orchestra individuality is lost in numbers ...". + + +=== "Music of friends" === + +Many performers contend that the intimate nature of chamber music playing requires certain personality traits. +David Waterman, cellist of the Endellion Quartet, writes that the chamber musician "needs to balance assertiveness and flexibility." Good rapport is essential. Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet, notes that many professional quartets suffer from frequent turnover of players. "Many musicians cannot take the strain of going mano a mano with the same three people year after year." +Mary Norton, a violinist who studied quartet playing with the Kneisel Quartet at the beginning of the last century, goes so far that players of different parts in a quartet have different personality traits. "By tradition the first violin is the leader" but "this does not mean a relentless predominance." The second violinist "is a little everybody's servant." "The artistic contribution of each member will be measured by his skill in asserting or subduing that individuality which he must possess to be at all interesting." + + +=== Interpretation === +"For an individual, the problems of interpretation are challenging enough", writes Waterman, "but for a quartet grappling with some of the most profound, intimate and heartfelt compositions in the music literature, the communal nature of decision-making is often more testing than the decisions themselves." + +The problem of finding agreement on musical issues is complicated by the fact that each player is playing a different part, that may appear to demand dynamics or gestures contrary to those of other parts in the same passage. Sometimes these differences are even specified in the score – for example, where cross-dynamics are indicated, with one instrument crescendoing while another is getting softer. +One of the issues that must be settled in rehearsal is who leads the ensemble at each point of the piece. Normally, the first violin leads the ensemble. By leading, this means that the violinist indicates the start of each movement and their tempos by a gesture with her head or bowing hand. However, there are passages that require other instruments to lead. For example, John Dalley, second violinist of the Guarneri Quartet, says, "We'll often ask [the cellist] to lead in pizzicato passages. A cellist's preparatory motion for pizzicato is larger and slower than that of a violinist." +Players discuss issues of interpretation in rehearsal; but often, in mid-performance, players do things spontaneously, requiring the other players to respond in real time. "After twenty years in the [Guarneri] Quartet, I'm happily surprised on occasion to find myself totally wrong about what I think a player will do, or how he'll react in a particular passage", says violist Michael Tree. + + +=== Ensemble, blend, and balance === + +Playing together constitutes a major challenge to chamber music players. Many compositions pose difficulties in coordination, with figures such as hemiolas, syncopation, fast unison passages and simultaneously sounded notes that form chords that are challenging to play in tune. But beyond the challenge of merely playing together from a rhythmic or intonation perspective is the greater challenge of sounding good together. +To create a unified chamber music sound – to blend – the players must coordinate the details of their technique. They must decide when to use vibrato and how much. They often need to coordinate their bowing and "breathing" between phrases, to ensure a unified sound. They need to agree on special techniques, such as spiccato, sul tasto, sul ponticello, and so on. +Balance refers to the relative volume of each of the instruments. Because chamber music is a conversation, sometimes one instrument must stand out, sometimes another. It is not always a simple matter for members of an ensemble to determine the proper balance while playing; frequently, they require an outside listener, or a recording of their rehearsal, to tell them that the relations between the instruments are correct. + + +=== Intonation === +Chamber music playing presents special problems of intonation. The piano is tuned using equal temperament, that is, the 12 notes of the scale are spaced exactly equally. This method makes it possible for the piano to play in any key; however, all the intervals except the octave sound very slightly out of tune. String players can play with just intonation, that is, they can play specific intervals (such as fifths) exactly in tune. Moreover, string and wind players can use expressive intonation, changing the pitch of a note to create a musical or dramatic effect. "String intonation is more expressive and sensitive than equal-tempered piano intonation." +However, using true and expressive intonation requires careful coordination with the other players, especially when a piece is going through harmonic modulations. "The difficulty in string quartet intonation is to determine the degree of freedom you have at any given moment", says Steinhardt. + + +== The chamber music experience == +Players of chamber music, both amateur and professional, attest to a unique enchantment with playing in ensemble. "It is not an exaggeration to say that there opened out before me an enchanted world", writes Walter Willson Cobbett, instigator of the Cobbett Competition, Cobbett Medal and editor of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. +Ensembles develop a close intimacy of shared musical experience. "It is on the concert stage where the moments of true intimacy occur", writes Steinhardt. "When a performance is in progress, all four of us together enter a zone of magic somewhere between our music stands and become a conduit, messenger, and missionary ... It is an experience too personal to talk about and yet it colors every aspect of our relationship, every good-natured musical confrontation, all the professional gossip, the latest viola joke." +The playing of chamber music has been the inspiration for numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth, explores the life and love of the second violinist of a fictional quartet, the Maggiore. Central to the story is the tensions and the intimacy developed between the four members of the quartet. "A strange composite being we are [in performance], not ourselves any more, but the Maggiore, composed of so many disjunct parts: chairs, stands, music, bows, instruments, musicians ..." The Rosendorf Quartet, by Nathan Shaham, describes the trials of a string quartet in Palestine, before the establishment of the state of Israel. For the Love of It by Wayne Booth is a nonfictional account of the author's romance with cello playing and chamber music. + + +== Festivals == + + +== Ensembles == +This is a partial list of the types of ensembles found in chamber music. The standard repertoire for chamber ensembles is rich, and the totality of chamber music in print in sheet music form is nearly boundless. See the articles on each instrument combination for examples of repertoire. + + +== Notes == + + +=== Bibliography === + + +== Further reading == +Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1984). The New Grove Violin Family. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-02556-X. +The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (ed. Stanley Sadie, 1980) +Sicca, Luigi Maria (2000). "Chamber music and organization theory: some typical organizational phenomena seen under the microscope". Studies in Cultures, Organizations and Societies. 6 (2). Taylor & Francis: 145–168. doi:10.1080/10245280008523545. ISSN 1024-5286. S2CID 145538145. +Sumner Lott, Marie (2015). The Social Worlds of Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music: Composers, Consumers, Communities. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03922-5. Retrieved 12 February 2017. +Thompson, Oscar (1940). Debussy: Man and Artist. Tudor Publishing. +Vernon, David (5 September 2023). Beethoven: The String Quartets. Edinburgh: Candle Row Press, 2023. ISBN 978-1739659929. + + +== External links == + +Chamber Music America +earsense chamberbase, an online database of over 50,000 chamber works +Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, sponsor of the chamber music competitions and a supporter of chamber music education. +Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP), New York City +Annotated bibliography of double wind quintet music diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/07_sonata.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/07_sonata.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b42ea55 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/07_sonata.txt @@ -0,0 +1,269 @@ +In music, a sonata (; pl. sonate) is a piece that consists of 3 or 4 movements that can be for different musical instruments. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance. Sonata is a vague term, with varying meanings depending on the context and time period. By the early 19th century it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas maintain the overarching structure. +The term sonatina, pl. sonatine, the diminutive form of sonata, is often used for a short or technically easy sonata. + + +== Instrumentation == +In the Baroque period, a sonata was for one or more instruments, almost always with continuo. After the Baroque period most works designated as sonatas specifically are performed by a solo instrument, most often a keyboard instrument, or by a solo instrument accompanied by a keyboard instrument. +Sonatas for a solo instrument other than keyboard have been composed, as have sonatas for other combinations of instruments. +There are some general guidelines a typical sonata might follow, however, the term sonata still hadn’t taken shape yet in the 17th century because of the sinfonia conflating the term. Sinfonia were pieces played by multiple instruments together, upholding the characteristics of the imitative canzona. The sinfonia showed precursors to the introductory movement of sonata form today. As newer types of canzonas and concertos began to form (called stile moderno), the sonata was still an ambiguous genre because many characteristics of other forms became entangled with early sonatas. +The sonata finally began to become a separate entity starting in the 17th to 18th centuries when the canzona became less popular and the suite, concerto, and sonata all developed in different directions. In short, a suite is a sequence of movements based on dance movements, whereas sonatas do not possess complete dance like movements. Sonatas can contain movements assembled from parts of dance movements, but the passages are not formal enough to be called a suite. Sonatas were standardized to either fall into being a sonata da camera, “chamber sonata,” or a sonata da chiesa, “church sonata.” Corelli’s twelve trio sonatas, Op. 2, were foundational to the development of the sonata and an example of 12 chamber trio sonatas, Op. 2, in 1685. Corelli’s prolific work in his trio sonatas inspired Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and Telemann. +The sonata and the suite were two forms that experienced overlap in France, Germany, and England; however, they remained separate in Italy because the scoring criteria were different. Beste writes that during this time period, the keyboard repertoire evolved with the sonata as Bach was writing his keyboard suites, with BWV 825-30 being called “partitas.” Beste writes on the partita that “By the late seventeenth century, however, [the partita] had come to denote a multi-movement instrumental cycle, either still as a set of variations or as a succession of dances. Only in its latter connotation does it overlap with the sonata, and only in a specific instrumental and geographical context: its widespread currency is limited to Germany, and to the solo keyboard repertoire (12). The overlap between sonata and partita is interesting to consider looking at Bach’s unaccompanied sonatas for violin, as Beste writes “they conform to the four-movement ‘church sonata’ pattern established by Corelli, for which no other generic term was available. The partitas, on the other hand, borrow their designation from the keyboard repertoire, as multi-movement dance cycles for solo instrument.” + + +== History == + + +=== Baroque === + +In the works of Arcangelo Corelli and his contemporaries, two broad classes of sonata were established, and were first described by Sébastien de Brossard in his Dictionaire de musique (third edition, Amsterdam, ca. 1710): the sonata da chiesa (that is, suitable for use in church), which was the type "rightly known as Sonatas", and the sonata da camera (proper for use at court), which consists of a prelude followed by a succession of dances, all in the same key. Although the four, five, or six movements of the sonata da chiesa are also most often in one key, one or two of the internal movements are sometimes in a contrasting tonality. +The sonata da chiesa, generally for one or two violins and basso continuo, consisted normally of a slow introduction, a loosely fugued allegro, a cantabile slow movement, and a lively finale in some binary form suggesting affinity with the dance-tunes of the suite. This scheme, however, was not very clearly defined, until the works of Arcangelo Corelli when it became the essential sonata and persisted as a tradition of Italian violin music. +The sonata da camera consisted almost entirely of idealized dance-tunes. On the other hand, the features of sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera then tended to be freely intermixed. Although nearly half of Johann Sebastian Bach's 1,100 surviving compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions are instrumental works, only about 4% are sonatas. +The term sonata is also applied to the series of over 500 works for harpsichord solo, or sometimes for other keyboard instruments, by Domenico Scarlatti, originally published under the name Essercizi per il gravicembalo (Exercises for the Harpsichord). Most of these pieces are in one binary-form movement only, with two parts that are in the same tempo and use the same thematic material, though occasionally there will be changes in tempo within the sections. They are frequently virtuosic, and use more distant harmonic transitions and modulations than were common for other works of the time. They were admired for their great variety and invention. +Both the solo and trio sonatas of Vivaldi show parallels with the concerti he was writing at the same time. He composed over 70 sonatas, the great majority of which are of the solo type; most of the rest are trio sonatas, and a very small number are of the multivoice type. +The sonatas of Domenico Paradies are mild and elongated works with a graceful and melodious little second movement included. + + +=== Classical period === +The practice of the Classical period would become decisive for the sonata; the term moved from being one of many terms indicating genres or forms, to designating the fundamental form of organization for large-scale works. This evolution stretched over fifty years. The term came to apply both to the structure of individual movements (see Sonata form and History of sonata form) and to the layout of the movements in a multi-movement work. In the transition to the Classical period there were several names given to multimovement works, including divertimento, serenade, and partita, many of which are now regarded effectively as sonatas. The usage of sonata as the standard term for such works began somewhere in the 1770s. Haydn labels his first piano sonata as such in 1771, after which the term divertimento is used sparingly in his output. The term sonata was increasingly applied to either a work for keyboard alone (see piano sonata), or for keyboard and one other instrument, often the violin or cello. It was less and less frequently applied to works with more than two instrumentalists; for example, piano trios were not often labelled sonata for piano, violin, and cello. +Initially the most common layout of movements was: + +Allegro, which at the time was understood to mean not only a tempo, but also some degree of "working out", or development, of the theme. +A middle movement, most frequently a slow movement: an Andante, an Adagio or a Largo; or less frequently a Minuet or Theme and Variations form. +A closing movement was generally an Allegro or a Presto, often labeled Finale. The form was often a Rondo or Minuet. +However, two-movement layouts also occur, a practice Haydn uses as late as the 1790s. There was also in the early Classical period the possibility of using four movements, with a dance movement inserted before the slow movement, as in Haydn's piano sonatas No. 6 and No. 8. Mozart's sonatas were also primarily in three movements. Of the works that Haydn labelled piano sonata, divertimento, or partita in Hob XIV, seven are in two movements, thirty-five are in three, and three are in four; and there are several in three or four movements whose authenticity is listed as "doubtful." Composers such as Boccherini would publish sonatas for piano and obbligato instrument with an optional third movement—–in Boccherini's case, 28 cello sonatas. +But increasingly instrumental works were laid out in four, not three movements, a practice seen first in string quartets and symphonies, and reaching the sonata proper in the early sonatas of Beethoven. But two- and three-movement sonatas continued to be written throughout the Classical period: Beethoven's opus 102 pair has a two-movement C major sonata and a three-movement D major sonata. Nevertheless, works with fewer or more than four movements were increasingly felt to be exceptions; they were labelled as having movements "omitted," or as having "extra" movements. +The four-movement layout was by this point standard for the string quartet, and overwhelmingly the most common for the symphony. The usual order of the four movements was: + +An allegro, which by this point was in what is called sonata form, complete with exposition, development, and recapitulation. +A slow movement: an andante, an adagio, or a largo. +A dance movement, frequently minuet and trio or—especially later in the classical period—a scherzo and trio. +A finale in faster tempo, often in a sonata–rondo form. +When movements appeared out of this order they would be described as "reversed", such as the scherzo coming before the slow movement in Beethoven's 9th Symphony. This usage would be noted by critics in the early 19th century, and it was codified into teaching soon thereafter. +It is difficult to overstate the importance of Beethoven's output of sonatas: 32 piano sonatas, plus sonatas for cello and piano or violin and piano, forming a large body of music that would over time increasingly be thought essential for any serious instrumentalist to master. + + +=== Romantic period === +In the early 19th century, the current usage of the term sonata was established, both as regards form per se, and in the sense that a fully elaborated sonata serves as a norm for concert music in general, which other forms are seen in relation to. From this point forward, the word sonata in music theory labels as much the abstract musical form as particular works. Hence there are references to a symphony as a sonata for orchestra. This is referred to by William Newman as the sonata idea. +Among works expressly labeled sonata for the piano, there are the three of Frédéric Chopin, those of Felix Mendelssohn, the three of Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt's Sonata in B minor, and later the sonatas of Johannes Brahms and Sergei Rachmaninoff. +In the early 19th century, the sonata form was defined, from a combination of previous practice and the works of important Classical composers, particularly Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, but composers such as Clementi also. It is during this period that the differences between the three- and the four-movement layouts became a subject of commentary, with emphasis on the concerto being laid out in three movements, and the symphony in four. +Ernest Newman wrote in the essay "Brahms and the Serpent": + +That, perhaps, will be the ideal of the instrumental music of the future; the way to it, indeed, seems at last to be opening out before modern composers in proportion as they discard the last tiresome vestiges of sonata form. This, from being what it was originally, the natural mode of expression of a certain eighteenth century way of thinking in music, became in the nineteenth century a drag upon both individual thinking and the free unfolding of the inner vital force of an idea, and is now simply a shop device by which a bad composer may persuade himself and the innocent reader of textbooks that he is a good one. + + +=== After the Romantic period === +The role of the sonata as an extremely important form of extended musical argument would inspire composers such as Hindemith, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tailleferre, Ustvolskaya, and Williams to compose in sonata form, and works with traditional sonata structures continue to be composed and performed. + + +== Scholarship and musicology == + + +=== Sonata idea or principle === +Research into the practice and meaning of sonata form, style, and structure has been the motivation for important theoretical works by Heinrich Schenker, Arnold Schoenberg, and Charles Rosen among others; and the pedagogy of music continued to rest on an understanding and application of the rules of sonata form as almost two centuries of development in practice and theory had codified it. +The development of the classical style and its norms of composition formed the basis for much of the music theory of the 19th and 20th centuries. As an overarching formal principle, sonata was accorded the same central status as Baroque fugue; generations of composers, instrumentalists, and audiences were guided by this understanding of sonata as an enduring and dominant principle in Western music. The sonata idea begins before the term had taken on its present importance, along with the evolution of the Classical period's changing norms. The reasons for these changes, and how they relate to the evolving sense of a new formal order in music, is a matter to which research is devoted. Some common factors which were pointed to include: the shift of focus from vocal music to instrumental music; changes in performance practice, including the loss of the continuo. +Crucial to most interpretations of the sonata form is the idea of a tonal center; and, as the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music puts it: "The main form of the group embodying the 'sonata principle', the most important principle of musical structure from the Classical period to the 20th century: that material first stated in a complementary key be restated in the home key". +The sonata idea has been thoroughly explored by William Newman in his monumental three-volume work Sonata in the Classic Era (A History of the Sonata Idea), begun in the 1950s and published in what has become the standard edition of all three volumes in 1972. + + +=== 20th-century theory === +Heinrich Schenker argued that there was an Urlinie or basic tonal melody, and a basic bass figuration. He held that when these two were present, there was basic structure, and that the sonata represented this basic structure in a whole work with a process known as interruption. +As a practical matter Schenker applied his ideas to the editing of the piano sonatas of Beethoven, using original manuscripts and his own theories to "correct" the available sources. The basic procedure was the use of tonal theory to infer meaning from available sources as part of the critical process, even to the extent of completing works left unfinished by their composers. While many of these changes were and are controversial, that procedure has a central role today in music theory, and is an essential part of the theory of sonata structure as taught in most music schools. + + +== Notable sonatas == + + +=== Baroque (c. 1600 – c. 1760) === +Johann Sebastian Bach +Sonatas for solo violin (BWV 1001, 1003 and 1005) +Sonatas for violin and continuo (BWV 1021, 1023), and the doubtful 1024 +Sonatas for flute and continuo (BWV 1034, 1035) +Trio sonatas: for organ (BWV 525–530); for violin and harpsichord (BWV 1014–1019); for viola da gamba and harpsichord (BWV 1027–1029); for flute and harpsichord (BWV 1030, 1032); for flute, violin and continuo (Sonata sopr'il Soggetto Reale included in The Musical Offering) +Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber +Rosary Sonatas +George Frideric Handel +Sonata for Violin and Continuo in D major (HWV 371) +Giuseppe Tartini +Devil's Trill Sonata +Domenico Scarlatti +555 sonatas for harpsichord solo + + +=== Classical (c. 1760 – c. 1830) === +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart +Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor (K. 310) +Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major (K. 331/300i) +Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major (K. 332) +Piano Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major (K. 333) +Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor (K. 457) +Piano Sonata No. 15 in F major (K. 533/494) +Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major (K. 545) +Sonata in A for Violin and Keyboard (K. 526) +Joseph Haydn +Sonata No. 1 in C major, Hob. XVI:1 – Piano Sonata No. 62, Hob.XVI:52 +Franz Schubert +Sonata in C minor, D. 958 +Sonata in A major, D. 959 +Sonata in B♭ major, D. 960 + + +=== Romantic (c. 1795 – c. 1900) === +Ludwig van Beethoven +Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathétique" +Piano Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight" (Sonata quasi una fantasia) +Piano Sonata No. 17 "Tempest" +Piano Sonata No. 19 "Leichte" +Piano Sonata No. 21 "Waldstein" +Piano Sonata No. 23 "Appassionata" +Piano Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier" +Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 +Violin Sonata No. 5 "Spring" +Violin Sonata No. 9 "Kreutzer" +Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major Op. 5 +Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor Op. 5 +Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major Op. 69 +Johannes Brahms +Cello Sonata No. 1 +Cello Sonata No. 2 +Clarinet Sonatas No. 1 and No.2 +Violin Sonata No. 1 +Violin Sonata No. 2 +Violin Sonata No. 3 +Johannes Brahms, Albert Dietrich, and Robert Schumann +'F-A-E' Sonata +Frédéric Chopin +Piano Sonata No. 2 in B♭ minor +Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor +Paul Dukas +Piano Sonata in E-flat minor (1900) +George Enescu +Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano in D major, Op. 2 (1897) +Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano in F minor, Op. 6 (1899) +Edvard Grieg +Three sonatas for Violin and Piano +Cello Sonata in a-minor +Franz Liszt +Sonata after a Reading of Dante (Fantasia Quasi Sonata) +Sonata in B minor +Robert Schumann +Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105 + + +=== 20th-century and contemporary (c. 1910–present) === +Samuel Barber +Cello Sonata Op. 6 +Piano Sonata Op. 26 (1949) +Jean Barraqué +Piano Sonata (1950–52) +Béla Bartók +Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion +Sonata for Piano (1926) +Sonata for Solo Violin +Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano +Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano +Alban Berg +Sonata for Piano, Op. 1 +Leonard Bernstein +Sonata for Clarinet and Piano +Pierre Boulez +Piano Sonata No. 1 +Piano Sonata No. 2 +Piano Sonata No. 3 +Benjamin Britten +Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 65 +John Cage +Sonata for Unaccompanied Clarinet +Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (1946–48) +Claude Debussy +Sonata No. 1, for cello and piano (1915) +Sonata No. 2, for flute, viola and harp (1915) +Sonata No. 3, for violin and piano (1916–1917) +George Enescu +Sonata No. 3 for violin and piano, in A minor, dans le caractère populaire roumain Op. 25 (1926) +Sonata No. 2 for cello and piano in C major, Op. 26, No. 2 (1935) +Piano Sonata No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 24, No. 1 (1924) +Piano Sonata No. 3 in D major, Op. 24, No. 3 (1933–1935) +Karel Goeyvaerts +Sonata for Two Pianos, Op. 1 +Hans Werner Henze +Royal Winter Music, Guitar Sonatas No. 1 and 2 +Paul Hindemith +Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4 (1919) +Charles Ives +Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840–60 +Leoš Janáček +1. X. 1905 (Janáček's Sonata for Piano) +Ben Johnston +Sonata for Microtonal Piano +György Ligeti +Sonata, for solo cello (1948/1953) +Nikolai Medtner +Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 5 (1901-3) +Piano Sonata No. 2 in A♭, Op. 11 (1904-7) +Piano Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Sonate-Elegie, Op. 11 (1904-7) +Piano Sonata No. 4 in C, Op. 11 (1904-7) +Piano Sonata No. 5 in G minor, Op. 22 (1909–10) +Piano Sonata No. 6 in C minor, Sonata-Skazka, Op. 22 (1910–11) +Piano Sonata No. 7 in E minor, Night Wind, Op. 22 (1910–11) +Piano Sonata No. 8 in F♯, Sonata-Ballade, Op. 27 (1912–14) +Piano Sonata No. 9 in A minor, War Sonata , Op. 30 (1914–17) +Piano Sonata No. 10 in A minor, Sonata-reminiscenza, Op. 38 No. 1 (1920) +Piano Sonata No. 11 in C minor, Sonata Tragica, Op. 39, No. 5 (1920) +Piano Sonata No. 12 in B♭ minor, Romantica, Op. 53 No. 1 (1930) +Piano Sonata No. 13 in F minor, Minacciosa, Op. 53, No. 2 (1930) +Piano Sonata No. 14 in G, Sonata-Idyll, Op. 56 (1937) +Darius Milhaud +Sonata for flute, oboe, clarinet, and piano, Op. 47 (1918) +Sergei Prokofiev +Piano Sonatas—six juvenile (1904, 1907, 1907, 1907–08, 1908, 1908–09) +Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 1 (1907–09) +Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14 (1912) +Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 (1907–17) +Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29 (1917) +Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (original version), Op. 38 (1923) +Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80 (1938–46) +Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 (1939–40) +Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Stalingrad, Op. 83 (1939–42) +Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat major, Op. 84 (1939–44) +Flute Sonata in D major, Op. 94 (1943) +Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 94 bis (1943) +Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103 (1947) +Sonata for Solo Violin (Unison Violins) in D major, Op. 115 +Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 119 +Sonata for Solo Cello in C-sharp minor, Op. 133 +Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (revised version), Op. 135 (1952–53) +Sergei Rachmaninoff +Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36 (1913, revised in 1931) +Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19 (1901) +Alexander Scriabin +Piano Sonata No. 2 (Sonata-Fantasy) +Piano Sonata No. 3 +Piano Sonata No. 4 +Piano Sonata No. 5 +Piano Sonata No. 6 +Piano Sonata No. 7 "White Mass" +Piano Sonata No. 8 +Piano Sonata No. 9 "Black Mass" +Piano Sonata No. 10 +Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji +Piano Sonata No. 0 +Piano Sonata No. 1 +Piano Sonata No. 2 +Piano Sonata No. 3 +Piano Sonata No. 4 +Piano Sonata No. 5 "Opus Archimagicum" +Igor Stravinsky +Sonata for Two Pianos (1943) +Eugène Ysaÿe +Six Sonatas for solo violin (1923) + + +== Notes == + + +== References == + +Sources + + +== Further reading == diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/08_string_quartet.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/08_string_quartet.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7e191b --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/08_string_quartet.txt @@ -0,0 +1,153 @@ +The term string quartet is a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play the quartets. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists, a violist, and a cellist. +The string quartet was developed into its present form by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, whose works in the 1750s established the ensemble as a group of four more-or-less equal partners. Since that time, the string quartet has been considered a prestigious form; writing for four instruments with broadly similar characteristics both constrains and tests a composer. String quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, and Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert each wrote a number of them. Many Romantic and early-twentieth-century composers composed string quartets, including Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Dvořák, Janáček, and Debussy. There was a slight lull in string quartet composition later in the 19th century, but it received a resurgence in the 20th century, with the Second Viennese School, Bartók, Shostakovich, Babbitt, and Carter producing highly regarded examples of the genre, and it remains an important and refined musical form. +The standard structure for a string quartet as established in the Classical era is four movements, with the first movement in sonata form, allegro, in the tonic key; a slow movement in a related key and a minuet and trio follow; and the fourth movement is often in rondo form or sonata rondo form, in the tonic key. +Some string quartet ensembles play together for many years and become established and promoted as an entity in a manner similar to an instrumental soloist or an orchestra. + + +== History and development == + + +=== Early history === + +The early history of the string quartet is in many ways the history of the development of the genre by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. There had been examples of divertimenti for two solo violins, viola and cello by the Viennese composers Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Ignaz Holzbauer; and there had long been a tradition of performing orchestral works one instrument to a part. The British musicologist David Wyn Jones cites the widespread practice of four players, one to a part, playing works written for string orchestra, such as divertimenti and serenades, there being no separate (fifth) contrabass part in string scoring before the 19th century. However, these composers showed no interest in exploring the development of the string quartet as a medium. +The origins of the string quartet can be further traced back to the Baroque trio sonata, in which two solo instruments performed with a continuo section consisting of a bass instrument (such as the cello) and keyboard. A very early example is a four-part sonata for string ensemble by the Italian composer Gregorio Allegri that might be considered an important prototype. By the early 18th century, composers were often adding a third soloist; and moreover it became common to omit the keyboard part, letting the cello support the bass line alone. Thus when Alessandro Scarlatti wrote a set of six works entitled Sonata à Quattro per due Violini, Violetta [viola], e Violoncello senza Cembalo (Sonata for four instruments: two violins, viola, and cello without harpsichord), this was a natural evolution from the existing tradition. + + +=== Haydn's impact === +The musicologist Hartmut Schick has suggested that Franz Xaver Richter invented the "classical" string quartet around 1757, but the consensus amongst most authorities is that Haydn is responsible for the genre in its currently accepted form. The string quartet enjoyed no recognized status as an ensemble in the way that two violins with basso continuo – the so-called 'trio sonata' – had for more than a hundred years. Even the composition of Haydn's earliest string quartets owed more to chance than artistic imperative. +During the 1750s, when the young composer was still working mainly as a teacher and violinist in Vienna, he would occasionally be invited to spend time at the nearby castle at Weinzierl of the music-loving Austrian nobleman Karl Joseph Weber, Edler von Fürnberg. There he would play chamber music in an ad hoc ensemble consisting of Fürnberg's steward, a priest, and a local cellist, and when the Baron asked for some new music for the group to play, Haydn's first string quartets were born. It is not clear whether any of these works ended up in the two sets published in the mid-1760s and known as Haydn's Opp. 1 and 2 ('Op. 0' is a quartet included in some early editions of Op. 1, and only rediscovered in the 1930s), but it seems reasonable to assume that they were at least similar in character. +Haydn's early biographer Georg August Griesinger tells the story thus: + +The following purely chance circumstance had led him to try his luck at the composition of quartets. A Baron Fürnberg had a place in Weinzierl, several stages from Vienna, and he invited from time to time his pastor, his manager, Haydn, and Albrechtsberger (a brother of the celebrated contrapuntist Albrechtsberger) in order to have a little music. Fürnberg requested Haydn to compose something that could be performed by these four amateurs. Haydn, then eighteen years old [sic], took up this proposal, and so originated his first quartet which, immediately it appeared, received such general approval that Haydn took courage to work further in this form. +Haydn went on to write nine other quartets around this time. These works were published as his Op. 1 and Op. 2; one quartet went unpublished, and some of the early "quartets" are actually symphonies missing their wind parts. They have five movements and take the form: fast movement, minuet and trio I, slow movement, minuet and trio II, and fast finale. As Ludwig Finscher notes, they draw stylistically on the Austrian divertimento tradition. +After these early efforts, Haydn did not return to the string quartet for several years, but when he did so, it was to make a significant step in the genre's development. The intervening years saw Haydn begin his employment as Kapellmeister to the Esterházy princes, for whom he was required to compose numerous symphonies and dozens of trios for violin, viola, and the bass instrument called the baryton (played by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy himself). The opportunities for experiment which both these genres offered Haydn perhaps helped him in the pursuit of the more advanced quartet style found in the eighteen works published in the early 1770s as Opp. 9, 17, and 20. These are written in a form that became established as standard both for Haydn and for other composers. Clearly composed as sets, these quartets feature a four-movement layout having broadly conceived, moderately paced first movements and, in increasing measure, a democratic and conversational interplay of parts, close-knit thematic development, and skillful though often restrained use of counterpoint. The convincing realizations of the progressive aims of the Op. 20 set of 1772, in particular, makes them the first major peak in the history of the string quartet. Certainly they offered to their own time state-of-the art models to follow for the best part of a decade; the teenage Mozart, in his early quartets, was among the composers moved to imitate many of their characteristics, right down to the vital fugues with which Haydn sought to bring greater architectural weight to the finales of nos. 2, 5 and 6. +After Op. 20, it becomes harder to point to similar major jumps in the string quartet's development in Haydn's hands, though not due to any lack of invention or application on the composer's part. As Donald Tovey put it: "with Op. 20 the historical development of Haydn's quartets reaches its goal; and further progress is not progress in any historical sense, but simply the difference between one masterpiece and the next." + +The musicologist Roger Hickman has however dissented from this consensus view. He notes a change in string quartet writing towards the end of the 1760s, featuring characteristics which are today thought of as essential to the genre – scoring for two violins, viola and cello, solo passages, and absence of actual or potential basso continuo accompaniment. Noting that at this time other composers than Haydn were writing works conforming to these 'modern' criteria, and that Haydn's earlier quartets did not meet them, he suggests that "one casualty [of such a perspective] is the notion that Haydn "invented" the string quartet... Although he may still be considered the 'father' of the 'Classical' string quartet, he is not the creator of the sting quartet genre itself... This old and otiose myth not only misrepresents the achievements of other excellent composers, but also distorts the character and qualities of Haydn's opp. 1, 2 and 9". +The musicologist Cliff Eisen contextualizes the Op. 20 quartets as follows: "Haydn's quartets of the late 1760s and early 1770s [opp. 9, 17, and 20] are high points in the early history of the quartet. Characterized by a wide range of textures, frequent asymmetries and theatrical gestures...these quartets established the genre's four-movement form, its larger dimensions, and ...its greater aesthetic pretensions and expressive range." +That Haydn's string quartets were already "classics" that defined the genre by 1801 can be judged by Ignaz Pleyel's publication in Paris of a "complete" series that year, and the quartet's evolution as vehicle for public performance can be judged by Pleyel's ten-volume set of miniature scores intended for hearers rather than players – early examples of this genre of music publishing. Since Haydn's day, the string quartet has been prestigious and considered one of the true tests of a composer's art. This may be partly because the palette of sound is more restricted than with orchestral music, forcing the music to stand more on its own rather than relying on tonal color; or from the inherently contrapuntal tendency in music written for four equal instruments. + + +=== After Haydn === +Quartet composition flourished in the Classical era. Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert each composed a number of quartets: "Beethoven in particular is credited with developing the genre in an experimental and dynamic fashion, especially in his later series of quartets written in the 1820s up until his death. Their forms and ideas inspired and continue to inspire musicians and composers, such as Wagner and Bartók." Schubert's last musical wish was to hear Beethoven's Quartet in C♯ minor, Op. 131, which he heard on 14 November 1828, just five days before his death. Upon listening to an earlier performance of this quartet, Schubert had remarked, "After this, what is left for us to write?" Wagner, when reflecting on Op. 131's first movement, said that it "reveals the most melancholy sentiment expressed in music". Of the late quartets, Beethoven cited his own favorite as Op. 131, which he saw as his most perfect single work. +Mendelssohn's six string quartets span the full range of his career, from 1828 to 1847; Schumann's three string quartets were all written in 1842 and dedicated to Mendelssohn, whose quartets Schumann had been studying in preparation, along with those of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Several Romantic-era composers wrote only one quartet, while Dvořák wrote 14. + + +=== In the 20th century === +In the modern era, the string quartet played a key role in the development of Schoenberg (who added a soprano in his String Quartet No. 2), Bartók, and Shostakovich especially. After the Second World War, some composers, such as Messiaen questioned the relevance of the string quartet and avoided writing them. However, from the 1960s onwards, many composers have shown a renewed interest in the genre. +During his tenure as Master of the Queen's Music, Peter Maxwell Davies produced a set of ten entitled the Naxos Quartets (to a commission from Naxos Records) from 2001 to 2007. Margaret Jones Wiles composed over 50 string quartets. David Matthews has written eleven, and Robin Holloway both five quartets and six "quartettini". Over nearly five decades, Elliott Carter wrote a total of five string quartets, winning Pulitzer Prizes for two of them, No. 2 and No. 3. Three important string quartets were written by Helmut Lachenmann. The late 20th century also saw the string quartet expand in various ways: Morton Feldman's vast Second String Quartet is one of the longest ever written, and Karlheinz Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett is to be performed by the four musicians in four helicopters. + + +== String quartets of the classical period == + +Quartets written during the classical period usually had four movements, with a structure similar to that of a symphony: + +The positions of the slow movement and third movement are flexible. For example, in Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn, three have a minuet followed by a slow movement and three have the slow movement before the minuet. +Substantial modifications to the typical structure were already present by the time of Beethoven's late quartets, and despite some notable examples to the contrary, composers writing in the twentieth century increasingly abandoned this structure. Bartók's fourth and fifth string quartets, written in the 1930s, are five-movement works, symmetrical around a central movement. Shostakovich's final quartet, written in the 1970s, comprises six slow movements. + + +== Variations of string quartet == + +Many other chamber groups can be seen as modifications of the string quartet: + +The string quintet is a string quartet augmented by a fifth string instrument. Mozart employed two violas in his string quintets, while Schubert's string quintet utilized two cellos. Boccherini wrote a few quintets with a double bass as the fifth instrument. Most of Boccherini's string quintets are for two violins, viola, and two cellos. Another composer who wrote a string quintet with two cellos is Ethel Smyth. +The string trio has one violin, a viola, and a cello. +The piano trio has a piano, a violin, and a cello. +The piano quintet is a string quartet with an added piano. +The piano quartet is a string quartet with one of the violins replaced by a piano. +The clarinet quintet is a string quartet with an added clarinet, such as those by Mozart and Brahms. +The string sextet contains two each of violins, violas, and cellos. Brahms, for example, wrote two string sextets. +Further expansions have also produced works such as the String octet by Mendelssohn, consisting of the equivalent of two string quartets. Notably, Schoenberg included a soprano in the last two movements of his second string quartet, composed in 1908. Adding a voice has since been done by Milhaud, Ginastera, Ferneyhough, Davies, İlhan Mimaroğlu and many others. Another variation on the traditional string quartet is the electric string quartet with players performing on electric instruments. + + +== Notable string quartets == + +Notable works for string quartet include: + +Joseph Haydn's 68 string quartets, in particular Op. 20, Op. 33, Op. 76, Op. 64, No. 5 ("The Lark") and the string quartet version of "The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour On the Cross" (Op. 51) +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 23 string quartets, in particular the set of six dedicated to Haydn, including K. 465 ("Dissonance") +Ludwig van Beethoven's 16 string quartets, in particular the five "middle" quartets Op. 59 nos 1–3 (“Rasumovsky”), Op. 74 and Op. 95; as well as the five late quartets, Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, and 135, plus the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, the original final movement of Op. 130. +Franz Schubert's 15 string quartets, in particular the String Quartet No. 12 in C minor ("Quartettsatz"), String Quartet No. 13 in A minor ("Rosamunde"), String Quartet No. 14 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"), and String Quartet No. 15 in G major +Felix Mendelssohn's 6 numbered string quartets, in particular the String Quartet No. 2 (early example of cyclic form), and the early unnumbered string quartet in E♭ major +Robert Schumann's three string quartets, Op. 41, in A minor, F major and A major (1842) +Johannes Brahms's three string quartets, Op. 51 No. 1 (in C minor), Op. 51 No. 2 (in A minor) and Op. 67 (in B♭ major) +Giuseppe Verdi's String Quartet in E minor (1873) +Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's three string quartets (1871, 1873/74, 1876) +Anton Arensky's Second String Quartet in A minor, unusually scored for violin, viola and two cellos (1894) +Antonín Dvořák's String Quartets Nos. 9–14, particularly String Quartet No. 12 in F major, "American"; also No. 3 is an exceptionally long quartet (lasting 65 minutes) +Bedřich Smetana's two quartets, especially String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, "From my Life" (1876), considered the first piece of chamber programme music +César Franck's String Quartet in D major (1889–1890) +Claude Debussy's String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893) +Maurice Ravel's String Quartet, in F major (1903) +Max Reger's six string quartets (including an early unnumbered one), especially long Quartet No. 3 in D minor, Op. 74 (1903-04), Quartet No. 4 in E♭ major, Op. 109 (1909), and the last, Quartet No. 5 in F♯ minor, Op. 121 (1911) +Jean Sibelius's String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56, Voces intimae (1909) +Alexander Zemlinsky's Second String Quartet, Op. 15 (1913–15) +Edward Elgar’s String Quartet op. 83 in E minor (1918) +Gabriel Fauré’s String Quartet op. 121 in E minor (1924), the composer’s last work +Leoš Janáček's two string quartets, String Quartet No. 1, "Kreutzer Sonata" (1923), inspired by Leo Tolstoy's novel The Kreutzer Sonata, itself named after Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata; and his second string quartet, Intimate Letters (1928) +Béla Bartók's six string quartets (1909, 1915–17, 1926, 1927, 1934, 1939) +Arnold Schoenberg's four string quartets – No. 1 Op. 7 (1904–05) No. 2 Op. 10 (1907–08, noteworthy for its first ever inclusion of the human voice in a string quartet), No. 3 Op. 30 (1927) and No. 4 Op. 37 (1936) +Alban Berg's String Quartet, Op. 3 (1910) and Lyric Suite (1925–26), later adapted for string orchestra +Anton Webern's Five Movements, Op.5 (1909), Six Bagatelles, Op.9 (1913), and Quartet, Op. 28 (1937–38) +Darius Milhaud's set of 18 string quartets written between 1912 and 1950, particularly nos. 14 and 15 op. 291 (1948–49), which can be played simultaneously as a string octet +Heitor Villa-Lobos's 17 string quartets (1915–57), in particular the Fifth ("Popular"), Sixth ("Brazilian"), and Seventeenth String Quartets. +Ruth Crawford-Seeger's string quartet (1931) +Alois Hába's 16 string quartets (1919–67), some of them in quarter-tone tuning, the last in fifth-tone tuning +Dmitri Shostakovich's 15 string quartets, in particular the No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 (1960), and No. 15 Op. 144 (1974) in six Adagio movements +John Cage's String Quartet in Four Parts (1950) +Elliott Carter's five string quartets (1951, 1959, 1971, 1986, 1995) +Iannis Xenakis's ST/4 (1962), Tetras (1983), Tetora (1990) and Ergma (1994) +Karlheinz Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett (1992–93), to be played by the four musicians in four helicopters +Brian Ferneyhough's six string quartets (1963, 1980, 1987, 1989–90, 2006, 2010) as well as his Sonatas for String Quartet (1967), Adagissimo (1983), Dum transisset I–IV (2007), Exordium (2008) and Silentium (2014) +Salvatore Sciarrino's eight string quartets (1967–2008) +Wolfgang Rihm's 13 string quartets (1970–2011) +Helmut Lachenmann's three string quartets (Gran Torso, 1972; Reigen seliger Geister, 1989; Grido, 2001) +Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2 (1983), which typically takes about five hours in performance +Georges Lentz's 43-hour digital String Quartet(s) (2000–2023), a vast four-channel multi-disciplinary work permanently played in the Cobar Sound Chapel + + +== String quartets (ensembles) == + +Whereas individual string players often group together to make ad hoc string quartets, others continue to play together for many years in ensembles which may be named after the first violinist (e.g. the Takács Quartet), a composer (e.g. the Borodin Quartet) or a location (e.g. the Budapest Quartet). Established quartets may undergo changes in membership whilst retaining their original name. + + +== References == + + +=== Sources === +Baldassarre, Antonio : "String Quartet: §4", in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). +Beaumont, Antony. 2001. "Zemlinsky [Zemlinszky], Alexander (von). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers. +Eisen, Cliff: "String Quartet: §§1–3", in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). +Finscher, Ludwig: Joseph Haydn und seine Zeit (Laaber, Germany: Laaber, 2000). +Griesinger, Georg August: Biographical Notes Concerning Joseph Haydn (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, [1810] 1963). English translation by Vernon Gotwals, in Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits (Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press). +Griffiths, Paul (1983). The String Quartet: A History. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27383-9. +Griffiths, Paul: "String Quartet: §§5–9", in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). +Scholes, Percy A. (1938). The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press. +Tovey, Donald: Essays in Musical Analysis. +Webster, James & Feder, Georg: "Joseph Haydn", article in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London & New York: Macmillan, 2001). Published separately as a book: The New Grove Haydn (New York: Macmillan 2002, ISBN 0-19-516904-2). +Wyn Jones, David: "The Origins of the Quartet", in Robin Stowell (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); ISBN 0-521-00042-4. + + +== Further reading == +Barrett-Ayres, Reginald: Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet (New York: Schirmer Books, 1974); ISBN 0-02-870400-2. +Blum, David: The Art of Quartet Playing: The Guarneri Quartet in Conversation with David Blum (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986); ISBN 0-394-53985-0. +Eisler, Edith: 21st-Century String Quartets (String Letter Publishing, 2000); ISBN 1-890490-15-6. +Keller, Hans: The Great Haydn Quartets. Their Interpretation (London: J. M. Dent, 1986); ISBN 0-460-86107-7. +Krummacher, Friedhelm (2005). Geschichte des Streichquartetts [History of the String Quartet] (in German). Vol. 3 vols: Volume 1, Die Zeit der Wiener Klassik, volume 2, Romantik und Moderne, volume 3, Neue Musik und Avantgarde (2nd ed.). Laaber: Laaber-Verlag. +Rounds, David: The Four & the One: In Praise of String Quartets (Fort Bragg, California: Lost Coast Press, 1999); ISBN 1-882897-26-9. +Rosen, Charles: The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (London: Faber and Faber, 1971); ISBN 0-571-10234-4 (soft covers), ISBN 0-571-09118-0 (hardback). +Steinhardt, Arnold: Indivisible by Four (Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1998); ISBN 0-374-52700-8. +Vernon, David (5 September 2023). Beethoven: The String Quartets. Edinburgh: Candle Row Press, 2023. ISBN 978-1739659929. +Vuibert, Francis: Répertoire universel du quatuor à cordes (2009) ProQuartet-CEMC; ISBN 978-2-9531544-0-5. +Winter, Robert (ed.): The Beethoven Quartet Companion (University of California Press, 1996). + + +== External links == +Greg Sandow – Introducing String Quartets at the Wayback Machine (archived July 18, 2011) +A brief history of the development of the String Quartet up to Beethoven +Beethoven's string quartets +Art of the States: string quartet works for string quartet by American composers +String Quartet Sound-bites from lesser known composers E.G. Onslow, Viotti, Rheinberger, Gretchaninov, A.Taneyev, Kiel, Busoni & many more. +European archive String quartet recordings on copyright free LPs at the European Archive (for non-American users only). +Shostakovich: the string quartets +String quartet compositions and performers since about 1914 and the connections between them diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/09_ludwig_van_beethoven.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/09_ludwig_van_beethoven.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc9e974 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/09_ludwig_van_beethoven.txt @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@ +Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer, conductor, and pianist. Mentored during the Classical period, Beethoven's musical style was a key driver of the transition to Romantic music, and the expansion of popular forms such as the symphony and string quartet. His compositions have attracted casual and scholarly interest, and remain among the most performed in the world. +Born in Bonn, Beethoven was a musical prodigy. He was initially taught intensively by his father, Johann van Beethoven, and later by Christian Gottlob Neefe. He found relief from a dysfunctional home life with the family of Helene von Breuning, whose children he loved, befriended, and taught piano. At age 21, he moved to Vienna, which subsequently became his base, and studied composition with Joseph Haydn. Beethoven gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist, and was soon patronized by Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky for compositions, which resulted in his three Piano Trios, Op. 1, (the earliest works to which he accorded an opus number) in 1795. His Pathétique Sonata was composed in 1798. Around this time, Beethoven began experiencing symptoms of hearing loss. +His career is divided into three periods. In the first, he composed in the classical style of Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Beethoven's First Symphony premiered in 1800, and his first set of string quartets was published in 1801. The Moonlight Sonata, dedicated to his pupil Julie Guicciardi, is one of his most popular works. In the middle period (1802–1812), he developed a distinctive style. His Third (Eroica) and Fifth Symphonies premiered in 1805 and 1808, respectively. The former was unprecedented in scale and scope. His opera, Fidelio, premiered in 1805, and was later revised. His Violin Concerto appeared in 1806. His Razumovsky quartets were published in 1808. Other middle works include the Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas for piano, the Kreutzer sonata for violin and his Seventh Symphony. His Emperor piano concerto premiered in 1811, without the composer as soloist. +His late period (1812–1827) included some of his most innovative works. His Missa solemnis and his final symphony, the Ninth, premiered in 1824. The latter was the first major example of a choral symphony. His Diabelli Variations and late piano sonatas, particularly the Hammerklavier, are summits of the keyboard literature. His late string quartets, including the Große Fuge, of 1825–1826, are considered pinnacles of the genre. After several months of illness, which left him bedridden, Beethoven died on 26 March 1827 at the age of 56. + + +== Life and career == + + +=== Early life and education === + +Beethoven was the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician from the city of Mechelen in Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium), who moved to Bonn at the age of 21. Ludwig was employed as a bass singer at the court of Clemens August, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761, Kapellmeister (music director) and hence a preeminent musician in Bonn. The portrait he commissioned of himself toward the end of his life remained displayed in his grandson's rooms as a talisman of his musical heritage. Ludwig had two sons, the younger of whom, Johann, worked as a tenor in the same musical establishment and gave keyboard and violin lessons to supplement his income. +Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767; she was the daughter of Heinrich Keverich (1701–1751), who was head chef at the court of Johann IX Philipp von Walderdorff, Archbishop of Trier. Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn, at what is now the Beethoven House Museum, Bonngasse 20. There is no authentic record of the date of his birth; but the registry of his baptism, in the Catholic Parish of St. Remigius on 17 December 1770, survives, and the custom in the region at the time was to carry out baptism within 24 hours of birth. There is a consensus (with which Beethoven himself agreed) that his birth date was 16 December, but there is no documented proof of this. +Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only Ludwig, the second-born, and two younger brothers survived infancy. Kaspar Anton Karl (generally known as Karl) was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, who was generally known as Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776. +Johann was Beethoven's first music teacher. He later had other local teachers, including the court organist Gilles van den Eeden (d. 1782), Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, a family friend, who provided keyboard tuition, Franz Rovantini, a relative who instructed him in playing the violin and viola, and court concertmaster Franz Anton Ries, who instructed Beethoven on the violin. His tuition began in his fifth year. The regime was harsh and intensive, often reducing him to tears. With the involvement of Pfeiffer, who was an insomniac, there were irregular late-night sessions with the young Beethoven dragged from his bed to the keyboard. Beethoven's musical talent became obvious at a young age. Aware of Leopold Mozart's successes in this area with his son Wolfgang and daughter Nannerl, Johann attempted to promote his son as a child prodigy, claiming that Ludwig was six (he was seven) on the posters for his first public performance in March 1778. +Beethoven's musical abilities far exceeded his mathematical capabilities. As a student at the Tirocinium, Beethoven learned how to add numbers but he could neither divide nor multiply. Throughout Beethoven's life, he instead used addition as a means of simulating multiplication (thus adding up a column of sixteen sevens, rather than multiplying 16 × 7). + + +=== 1780–1792: Bonn === + +In 1780 or 1781, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe. Neefe taught him composition; in March 1783, Beethoven's first published work appeared, a set of keyboard variations (WoO 63). Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, at first unpaid (1782), and then as a paid employee (1784) of the court chapel. His first three piano sonatas, WoO 47, sometimes known as Kurfürst (Elector) for their dedication to Elector Maximilian Friedrich, were published in 1783. In the same year, the first printed reference to Beethoven appeared in the Magazin der Musik – "Louis van Beethoven [sic] ... a boy of 11 years and most promising talent. He plays the piano very skilfully and with power, reads at sight very well ... the chief piece he plays is Das wohltemperierte Klavier of Sebastian Bach, which Herr Neefe puts into his hands". Maximilian Friedrich's successor as Elector of Cologne was Maximilian Franz. He gave some support to Beethoven, appointing him Court Organist and assisting financially with Beethoven's move to Vienna in 1792. + +Beethoven developed a close relationship with the upper-class von Breuning family, and gave piano lessons to some of the children. The widowed Helene von Breuning became a "second mother" to Beethoven, taught him more refined manners and nurtured his passion for literature and poetry. The warmth and closeness of the von Breuning family offered the young Beethoven a retreat from his unhappy home life, dominated by Johann's's decline due to alcoholism. Beethoven also met Franz Wegeler, a young medical student, who became a lifelong friend and married one of the von Breuning daughters. Another frequenter of the von Breunings was Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, who became a friend and financial supporter of Beethoven during this period. In 1791, Waldstein commissioned Beethoven's first work for the stage, the ballet Musik zu einem Ritterballett (WoO 1). +The period of 1785 to 1790 includes virtually no record of Beethoven's activity as a composer. This may be attributed to the varied response his initial publications attracted, and also to ongoing issues in his family. While passing through Augsburg, Beethoven visited with composer Anna von Schaden and her husband, who gave him money to return to Bonn to be with his ailing mother. Beethoven's mother died in July 1787, shortly after his return from Vienna, where he stayed for around two weeks. In 1789, due to his chronic alcoholism, Johann was forced to retire from the service of the Court and it was ordered that half of his father's pension be paid directly to Ludwig for support of the family. Ludwig contributed further to the family's income by teaching (to which Wegeler said he had "an extraordinary aversion") and by playing viola in the court orchestra. This familiarised him with a variety of operas, including works by Mozart, Gluck and Paisiello. There he also befriended Anton Reicha, a composer, flutist, and violinist of about his own age who was a nephew of the court orchestra's conductor, Josef Reicha. +From 1790 to 1792, Beethoven composed several works, only one of which (the piano variation set on Righini's "Venni amore", WoO 65) was published at the time; they showed a growing range and maturity. It was perhaps on Neefe's recommendation that Beethoven received his first commissions; the Literary Society in Bonn commissioned a cantata to mark the recent death of Joseph II (WoO 87), and a further cantata, to celebrate the subsequent accession of Leopold II as Holy Roman Emperor (WoO 88), may have been commissioned by the Elector. These two Emperor Cantatas were not performed during Beethoven's lifetime and became lost until the 1880s. +Beethoven was probably first introduced to Joseph Haydn in late 1790, when Haydn was travelling to London and made a brief stop in Bonn around Christmastime. In July 1792, they met again in Bonn on Haydn's return trip from London to Vienna, when Beethoven played in the orchestra at the Redoute in Godesberg. Arrangements were likely made at that time for Beethoven to study with Haydn. Waldstein wrote to Beethoven before his departure: "You are going to Vienna in fulfilment of your long-frustrated wishes ... With the help of assiduous labour you shall receive Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands." + + +=== 1792–1802: Vienna – the early years === +Beethoven left Bonn for Vienna in November 1792 amid rumours of war spilling out of France. Shortly after departing, Beethoven learned that his father had died. Over the next few years, he responded to the widespread feeling that he was a successor to the recently deceased Mozart by studying Mozart's work and writing works with a distinctly Mozartian flavour; see Beethoven and Mozart. + +Beethoven did not immediately set out to establish himself as a composer but rather devoted himself to study and performance. Working under Haydn's direction, he sought to master counterpoint. He also studied violin under Ignaz Schuppanzigh. Early in this period, he also began receiving occasional instruction from Antonio Salieri, primarily in Italian vocal composition style; this relationship persisted until at least 1802, and possibly as late as 1809. +With Haydn's departure for England in 1794, Beethoven was expected by the Elector to return home to Bonn. He chose instead to remain in Vienna, continuing his instruction in counterpoint with Johann Albrechtsberger and other teachers. In any case, by this time it must have seemed clear to his employer that Bonn would fall to the French, as it did in October 1794, effectively leaving Beethoven without a stipend or the necessity to return. But several Viennese noblemen had already recognised his ability and offered him financial support, among them Prince Joseph Franz Lobkowitz, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, and Baron Gottfried van Swieten. +Assisted by his connections with Haydn and Waldstein, Beethoven began to develop a reputation as a performer and improviser in the salons of the Viennese nobility. His friend Nikolaus Simrock began publishing his compositions, starting with a set of keyboard variations on a theme of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (WoO 66). By 1793, he had established a reputation in Vienna as a piano virtuoso, but he apparently withheld works from publication so that their eventual appearance would have greater impact. +In 1795, Beethoven made his public debut in Vienna over three days, beginning with a performance of one of his own piano concertos on 29 March at the Burgtheater and ending with an unspecified Mozart concerto on 31 March. By this year he had two piano concertos available for performance, one in B♭ major he had begun composing before moving to Vienna and had worked on for over a decade, and one in C major composed for the most part during 1795. Viewing the latter as the more substantive work, he chose to designate it his first piano concerto, publishing it in March 1801 as Opus 15, before publishing the former as Opus 19 the following December. He wrote new cadenzas for both in 1809. +Shortly after his public debut, Beethoven arranged for the publication of the first of his compositions to which he assigned an opus number, the three piano trios, Opus 1. These works were dedicated to his patron Prince Lichnowsky and were a financial success; Beethoven's profits were nearly sufficient to cover his living expenses for a year. In 1799, Beethoven participated in (and won) a notorious piano 'duel' at the home of Baron Raimund Wetzlar (a former patron of Mozart) against the virtuoso Joseph Wölfl; and the next year he similarly triumphed against Daniel Steibelt at the salon of Count Moritz von Fries. Beethoven's eighth piano sonata, the Pathétique (Op. 13, published in 1799), is described by the musicologist Barry Cooper as "surpass[ing] any of his previous compositions, in strength of character, depth of emotion, level of originality, and ingenuity of motivic and tonal manipulation". + +Between 1798 and 1800, Beethoven composed his first six string quartets (Op. 18) (commissioned by, and dedicated to, Prince Lobkowitz), published in 1801. He also completed his Septet (Op. 20) in 1799, a work which was extremely popular during Beethoven's lifetime. With premieres of his First and Second Symphonies in 1800 and 1803, Beethoven became regarded as one of the most important of a generation of young composers following Haydn and Mozart. But his melodies, musical development, use of modulation and texture, and characterisation of emotion all set him apart from his influences, and heightened the impact some of his early works made when they were first published. For the premiere of his First Symphony, he hired the Burgtheater on 2 April 1800, and staged an extensive programme, including works by Haydn and Mozart, as well as his Septet, the Symphony, and one of his piano concertos (the latter three works all then unpublished). The concert, which the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung called "the most interesting concert in a long time", was not without difficulties; among the criticisms was that "the players did not bother to pay any attention to the soloist". By the end of 1800, Beethoven and his music were already much in demand from patrons and publishers. + +In May 1799, Beethoven taught piano to the daughters of Hungarian Countess Anna Brunsvik. During this time, he fell in love with the younger daughter, Josephine. Among his other students, from 1801 to 1805, he tutored Ferdinand Ries, who went on to become a composer and later wrote about their encounters. The young Carl Czerny, who later became a renowned pianist and music teacher himself, studied with Beethoven from 1801 to 1803. Czerny described his teacher at their initial meeting in 1801: Beethoven was dressed in a jacket of shaggy dark grey material and matching trousers, and he reminded me immediately of Campe's Robinson Crusoe, whose book I was reading just then. His jet-black hair bristled shaggily around his head. His beard, unshaven for several days, made the lower part of his swarthy face still darker. In late 1801, Beethoven met a young countess, Julie Guicciardi, through the Brunsvik family; he mentions his love for Julie in a November 1801 letter to a friend, but class difference prevented any consideration of pursuing it. He dedicated his 1802 Sonata Op. 27 No. 2, now commonly known as the Moonlight, to her. +In the spring of 1801, Beethoven completed a ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus (Op. 43). The work received numerous performances in 1801 and 1802 and he rushed to publish a piano arrangement to capitalise on its early popularity. Beethoven completed his Second Symphony in 1802, intended for performance at a concert that was cancelled. The symphony received its premiere one year later, at a subscription concert in April 1803 at the Theater an der Wien, where Beethoven had been appointed composer in residence. In addition to the Second Symphony, the concert featured the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto, and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. Reviews of the concert were mixed, but it was a financial success; Beethoven was able to charge three times the cost of a typical concert ticket. +In 1802, Beethoven's brother Kaspar began to assist the composer in handling his affairs, particularly his business dealings with music publishers. In addition to successfully negotiating higher payments for Beethoven's latest works, Kaspar also began selling several of Beethoven's earlier unpublished compositions and encouraged his brother (against Beethoven's preference) to make arrangements and transcriptions of his more popular works for other instruments and combinations. Beethoven decided to accede to these requests, as he was powerless to prevent publishers from hiring others to do similar arrangements of his works. + + +=== 1802–1812: The "heroic" period === + + +==== Deafness ==== + +Beethoven told the English pianist Charles Neate (in 1815) that his hearing loss began in 1798, during a heated quarrel with a singer. During its gradual decline, his hearing was further impeded by a severe form of tinnitus. As early as 1801, he wrote to close friends Wegeler and Carl Amenda describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings (although it is likely some of his other close friends were already aware of the issues). The cause was probably otosclerosis, possibly accompanied by degeneration of the auditory nerve. +On his doctor's advice, Beethoven moved to the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote the document now known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers that records his thoughts of suicide due to his growing deafness and his resolution to continue living for and through his art. The letter was never sent and was discovered in his papers after his death. The letters to Wegeler and Amenda were not so despairing; in them Beethoven commented on his ongoing professional and financial success at this period, and his determination, as he expressed it to Wegeler, to "seize Fate by the throat; it shall certainly not crush me completely". In 1806, Beethoven noted on one of his musical sketches: "Let your deafness no longer be a secret—even in art." +Although Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent him from composing music, it made playing at concerts, an important source of income at this phase of his life, increasingly difficult. It also contributed substantially to his social withdrawal. Czerny remarked that Beethoven could still hear speech and music normally until 1812. Contrary to common belief, Beethoven never became totally deaf; in his final years, he was still able to distinguish low tones and sudden loud sounds. + + +==== Heroic style ==== + +Beethoven's return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt was marked by a change in musical style, and is now often designated as the start of his middle or "heroic" period, characterised by many original works composed on a grand scale. According to Czerny, Beethoven said: "I am not satisfied with the work I have done so far. From now on I intend to take a new way." A work employing this new style was the Third Symphony in E♭, Op. 55, known as the Eroica, written in 1803–04. The idea of creating a symphony based on the career of Napoleon may have been suggested to Beethoven by General Bernadotte in 1798. Sympathetic to the ideal of the revolutionary leader, Beethoven originally titled the symphony the "Bonaparte" but, disillusioned by Napoleon declaring himself Emperor in 1804, he scratched Napoleon's name from the manuscript's title page, and the symphony was published in 1806 with its present title, subtitled "to celebrate the memory of a great man". The Eroica was longer and larger in scope than any previous symphony. When it premiered in early 1805 it received a mixed reception. Some listeners objected to its length or disliked its structure, while others viewed it as a masterpiece. In 1807, after a performance in Leipzig, the public demanded it to be played again a week later. +Other middle-period works extend in the same dramatic manner the musical language Beethoven had inherited. The Razumovsky string quartets and the Waldstein and Appassionata piano sonatas share the Third Symphony's heroic spirit. Other works of this period include the Fourth through Eighth Symphonies, the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives, the opera Fidelio, and the Violin Concerto. The violinist Felix Radicati said that the Razumovsky quartets were "not music". Beethoven replied, "Oh, they are not for you, but for a later age!" +Beethoven was hailed in 1810 by E. T. A. Hoffmann, in an influential review in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, as the greatest of (what he considered) the three Romantic composers (that is, ahead of Haydn and Mozart). Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, wrote Hoffmann, "sets in motion terror, fear, horror, pain, and awakens the infinite yearning that is the essence of romanticism". + +During this time, Beethoven's income came from publishing his works, from performances of them, and from his patrons, for whom he gave private performances and copies of works they commissioned for an exclusive period before their publication. Some of his early patrons, including Lobkowitz and Lichnowsky, gave him annual stipends in addition to commissioning works and purchasing published works. Perhaps his most important aristocratic patron was Archduke Rudolf of Austria, the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II, who in 1803 or 1804 began to study piano and composition with him. They became friends, and their meetings continued until 1824. Beethoven dedicated 14 compositions to Rudolf, including such major works as the Archduke Trio Op. 97 (1811). +His position at the Theater an der Wien was terminated when the theatre changed management in early 1804, and he was forced to move temporarily to the suburbs of Vienna with his friend Stephan von Breuning. This slowed work on Leonore (his original title for his opera), his largest work to date, for a time. It was delayed again by the Austrian censor and finally premiered, under its present title of Fidelio, in November 1805 to houses that were nearly empty because of the French occupation of the city. This version of Fidelio was a critical and financial failure, and Beethoven began revising it. +Despite this failure, Beethoven continued to attract recognition. In 1807 the musician and publisher Muzio Clementi secured the rights to publish his works in England, and Haydn's former patron Prince Esterházy commissioned the Mass in C, Op. 86, for his wife's name-day. But he could not count on such recognition alone. A colossal benefit concert he organised in December 1808, widely advertised, included the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth (Pastoral) symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto, extracts from the Mass in C, the scena and aria "Ah! perfido" Op. 65 and the Choral Fantasy op. 80. There was a large audience (including Czerny and the young Ignaz Moscheles), but it was under-rehearsed, involved many stops and starts, and during the Fantasia Beethoven was noted shouting at the musicians "badly played, wrong, again!" The financial outcome is unknown. +In the autumn of 1808, after having been rejected for a position at the Royal Theatre, Beethoven received an offer from Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte, then king of Westphalia, for a well-paid position as Kapellmeister at the court in Cassel. To persuade him to stay in Vienna, Archduke Rudolf, Prince Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz, after receiving representations from Beethoven's friends, pledged to pay him a pension of 4000 florins a year. In the event, Rudolf paid his share of the pension on the agreed date. Kinsky, immediately called to military duty, did not contribute and died in November 1812 after falling from his horse. The Austrian currency destabilised and Lobkowitz went bankrupt in 1811 so that to benefit from the agreement Beethoven eventually had recourse to the law, which in 1815 brought him some recompense. +The imminence of war reaching Vienna itself was felt in early 1809. In April, Beethoven completed writing his Piano Concerto No. 5 in E♭ major, Op. 73, which the musicologist Alfred Einstein has called "the apotheosis of the military concept" in Beethoven's music. Rudolf left the capital with the Imperial family in early May, prompting Beethoven's piano sonata Les Adieux (Sonata No. 26, Op. 81a), actually titled by Beethoven in German Das Lebewohl (The Farewell), of which the final movement, Das Wiedersehen (The Return), is dated in the manuscript with the date of Rudolf's homecoming of 30 January 1810. During the French bombardment of Vienna in May, Beethoven took refuge in the cellar of his brother Kaspar's house. The subsequent occupation of Vienna and disruptions to cultural life and to Beethoven's publishers, together with Beethoven's poor health at the end of 1809, explain his significantly reduced output during this period, although other notable works of the year include his String Quartet No. 10 in E♭ major, Op. 74 (The Harp) and the Piano Sonata No. 24 in F♯ major, Op. 78, dedicated to Josephine's sister Therese Brunsvik. + + +==== Goethe ==== + +At the end of 1809, Beethoven was commissioned to write incidental music for Goethe's play Egmont. The result (an overture, and nine additional entractes and vocal pieces, Op. 84), which appeared in 1810, fit well with Beethoven's heroic style and he became interested in Goethe, setting three of his poems as songs (Op. 83) and learning about him from a mutual acquaintance, Bettina Brentano (who also wrote to Goethe at this time about Beethoven). Other works of this period in a similar vein were the F minor String Quartet Op. 95, to which Beethoven gave the subtitle Quartetto serioso, and the Op. 97 Piano Trio in B♭ major, known from its dedication to his patron Rudolph, as the Archduke Trio. +In the spring of 1811, Beethoven became seriously ill, with headaches and high fever. His doctor Johann Malfatti recommended he take a cure at the spa of Teplitz (now Teplice in the Czech Republic), where he wrote two more overtures and sets of incidental music for dramas, this time by August von Kotzebue – King Stephen Op. 117 and The Ruins of Athens Op. 113. Advised again to visit Teplitz in 1812, he met there with Goethe, who wrote: "His talent amazed me; unfortunately he is an utterly untamed personality, who is not altogether wrong in holding the world to be detestable, but surely does not make it any more enjoyable ... by his attitude." Beethoven wrote to his publishers Breitkopf and Härtel, "Goethe delights far too much in the court atmosphere, far more than is becoming in a poet." But following their meeting he began a setting for choir and orchestra of Goethe's Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage), Op. 112, completed in 1815. After it was published in 1822 with a dedication to the poet, Beethoven wrote to him: "The admiration, the love and esteem which already in my youth I cherished for the one and only immortal Goethe have persisted." + + +==== The Immortal Beloved ==== + +While Beethoven was at Teplitz in 1812, he wrote a ten-page love letter to his "Immortal Beloved", which he never sent. The identity of the intended recipient was long a subject of debate, although the musicologist Maynard Solomon has argued that the intended recipient was Antonie Brentano; other candidates included Julie Guicciardi, Therese Malfatti, Anna Maria Erdődy, and Josephine Brunsvik. +All of these had been regarded by Beethoven as possible soulmates during his first decade in Vienna. Guicciardi, although she flirted with Beethoven, never had any serious interest in him and married Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg in November 1803. (Beethoven insisted to his later secretary and biographer, Anton Schindler, that Guicciardi had "sought me out, crying, but I scorned her".) Josephine had, since Beethoven's initial infatuation with her, married the elderly Count Joseph Deym, who died in 1804. Beethoven began to visit her and commenced a passionate correspondence. Initially, he accepted that Josephine could not love him, but he continued to address himself to her even after she had moved to Budapest. Only by 1807, in his last correspondence with her, did he acknowledge that she held little feeling for him in his statement "I thank you for wishing still to appear as if I were not altogether banished from your memory". Malfatti was the niece of Beethoven's doctor, and he had proposed to her in 1810. He was 40, and she was 19. The proposal was rejected. She is now remembered as the possible recipient of the piano bagatelle known as "Für Elise". +Antonie (Toni) Brentano (née von Birkenstock), ten years younger than Beethoven, was the wife of Franz Dominicus Brentano, the half-brother of Bettina Brentano, who provided Beethoven's introduction to the family. It would seem that Antonie and Beethoven had an affair during 1811–1812. Antonie left Vienna with her husband in late 1812 and never met with (or apparently corresponded with) Beethoven again, although in her later years, she wrote and spoke fondly of him. Some speculate that Beethoven was the father of Antonie's son Karl Josef; "the boy, born in 1813 and never seen by the composer, became ill aged four with a condition that limited his movements and mental capacity." +After 1812 there are no reports of any romantic liaisons of Beethoven's; however, it is clear from his correspondence of the period and, later, from the conversation books, that he occasionally had sex with prostitutes. + + +=== 1813–1822: Acclaim === + + +==== Family issues ==== + +In early 1813, Beethoven apparently went through a difficult emotional period, and his compositional output dropped. His personal appearance degraded, as did his manners in public, notably when dining. +Family issues could have played a part in this. Beethoven had visited his brother Johann at the end of October 1812. He wished to end Johann's cohabitation with Therese Obermayer, a woman who already had an illegitimate child. He was unable to convince Johann to end the relationship and appealed to the local civic and religious authorities, but Johann and Therese married on 8 November. +The illness and eventual death of his brother Kaspar from tuberculosis became an increasing concern. Kaspar had been ill for some time; in 1813 Beethoven lent him 1500 florins, to procure the repayment of which he was ultimately led to complex legal measures. After Kaspar died on 15 November 1815, Beethoven immediately became embroiled in a protracted legal dispute with Kaspar's widow Johanna over custody of their son Karl, then nine years old. Beethoven had successfully applied to Kaspar to have himself named the sole guardian of the boy. A late codicil to Kaspar's will gave him and Johanna joint guardianship. While Beethoven was successful at having his nephew removed from her custody in January 1816 and had him removed to a private school, in 1818, he was again preoccupied with the legal processes around Karl. While giving evidence to the court for the nobility, the Landrechte, Beethoven was unable to prove that he was of noble birth and as a consequence, on 18 December 1818 the case was transferred to the civil magistrate of Vienna, where he lost sole guardianship. He regained custody after intensive legal struggles in 1820. During the years that followed, Beethoven frequently interfered in his nephew's life in what Karl perceived as an overbearing manner. + + +==== Post-war Vienna ==== +Beethoven was finally motivated to begin significant composition again in June 1813 when news arrived of the French defeat at the Battle of Vitoria by a coalition led by the Duke of Wellington. The inventor Johann Nepomuk Maelzel persuaded him to write a work commemorating the event for his mechanical instrument the Panharmonicon. This Beethoven also transcribed for orchestra as Wellington's Victory (Op. 91, also known as the Battle Symphony). It was first performed on 8 December, along with his +Seventh Symphony, Op. 92, at a charity concert for victims of the war, a concert whose success led to its repeat on 12 December. The orchestra included several leading and rising musicians who happened to be in Vienna at the time, including Giacomo Meyerbeer and Domenico Dragonetti. The work received repeat performances at concerts staged by Beethoven in January and February 1814. These concerts were the most profitable of Beethoven's career and enabled him to buy the bank shares that were the most valuable assets in his estate at his death. The Allegretto proved particularly popular. In response to Gottfried Weber's negative review, Beethoven wrote "What I shit is better than anything you have ever thought." +Beethoven's renewed popularity led to demands for a revival of Fidelio, which, in its third revised version, was well received at its July opening in Vienna, and was frequently staged there during the following years. Beethoven's publisher, Artaria, commissioned the 20-year-old Moscheles to prepare a piano score of the opera, which he inscribed "Finished, with God's help!"—to which Beethoven added "O Man, help thyself." That summer Beethoven composed a piano sonata for the first time in five years, his Sonata in E minor, Opus 90. He was one of many composers who produced music in a patriotic vein to entertain the many heads of state and diplomats who came to the Congress of Vienna that began in November 1814, with the cantata Der glorreiche Augenblick (The Glorious Moment) (Op. 136) and similar choral works which, in the words of Maynard Solomon, "broadened Beethoven's popularity, [but] did little to enhance his reputation as a serious composer". +In April and May 1814, playing in his Archduke Trio, Beethoven made his last public appearances as a soloist. The composer Louis Spohr noted: "the piano was badly out of tune, which Beethoven minded little, since he did not hear it ... there was scarcely anything left of the virtuosity of the artist ... I was deeply saddened." From 1814 onward, Beethoven used for conversation ear-trumpets designed by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (a number of these are on display at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn). +His 1815 compositions include an expressive second setting of the poem An die Hoffnung (Op. 94) in 1815. Compared to its first setting in 1805 (a gift for Josephine Brunsvik), it was "far more dramatic ... The entire spirit is that of an operatic scena." But his energy seemed to be dropping: apart from these works, he wrote the two Cello Sonatas Op. 102 nos. 1 and 2, and a few minor pieces, and began but abandoned a sixth piano concerto. + + +==== Pause ==== + +Between 1815 and 1819, Beethoven's output dropped again to a level unique in his mature life. He attributed part of this to a lengthy illness that he called an inflammatory fever that he had for more than a year starting in October 1816. Solomon suggests it is also doubtless a consequence of the ongoing legal problems concerning his nephew Karl, and of Beethoven finding himself increasingly at odds with current musical trends. Unsympathetic to developments in German romanticism that featured the supernatural (as in operas by Spohr, Heinrich Marschner and Carl Maria von Weber), he also "resisted the impending Romantic fragmentation of the ... cyclic forms of the Classical era into small forms and lyric mood pieces" and turned towards study of Bach, Handel and Palestrina. An old connection was renewed in 1817 when Maelzel sought, and obtained, Beethoven's endorsement for his newly developed metronome. During these years he completed his settings of poems by Alois Jeitteles, An die ferne Geliebte Op. 98 (1816), which introduced the song cycle into classical repertoire. The Hammerklavier Sonata (1818) is considered a summit of the piano literature; the first public performance was in 1836 by Franz Liszt. Upon finishing it, Beethoven wrote "Now I know how to write music." +By early 1818, Beethoven's health had improved, and his nephew Karl, now aged 11, moved in with him in January (although within a year Karl's mother had won him back in the courts). By now, Beethoven's hearing had again seriously deteriorated, necessitating that he and his interlocutors write in notebooks to carry out conversations. These 'conversation books' are a rich written resource for his life from this period onward. They contain discussions about music, business, and personal life; they are also a valuable source for his contacts and for investigations into how he intended his music should be performed, and of his opinions of the art of music. His household management had also improved somewhat with the help of Nannette Streicher. A proprietor of the Stein piano workshop and a personal friend, Streicher had assisted in Beethoven's care during his illness; she continued to provide some support, and in her he finally found a skilled cook. A testimonial to the esteem in which Beethoven was held in England was the presentation to him in this year by Thomas Broadwood, the proprietor of the company, of a Broadwood piano, for which Beethoven expressed thanks. He was not well enough, however, to carry out a visit to London that year which had been proposed by the Philharmonic Society. + + +==== Resurgence ==== +Despite the time occupied by his ongoing legal struggles over Karl, which involved continuing extensive correspondence and lobbying, two events sparked off Beethoven's major composition projects in 1819. The first was the announcement of Archduke Rudolf's promotion to Cardinal-Archbishop as Archbishop of Olomouc (now in the Czech Republic), which triggered the Missa solemnis Op. 123, intended to be ready for his installation in Olomouc in March 1820. The other was the invitation by the publisher Antonio Diabelli to 50 Viennese composers, including Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Czerny and the 8-year-old Franz Liszt, to compose a variation each on a theme which he provided. Beethoven was spurred to outdo the competition and by mid-1819 had already completed 20 variations of what were to become the 33 Diabelli Variations Op. 120. Neither of these works was completed for a few years. A significant tribute of 1819, however, was Archduke Rudolf's set of 40 piano variations on a theme written for him by Beethoven (WoO 200) and dedicated to the master. Beethoven's portrait by Ferdinand Schimon of this year, which was one of the most familiar images of him for the next century, was described by Schindler as, despite its artistic weaknesses, "in the rendering of that particular look, the majestic forehead ... the firmly shut mouth and the chin shaped like a shell, ... truer to nature than any other picture". Joseph Karl Stieler also created his own portrait of Beethoven. +Beethoven's determination over the following years to write the Mass for Rudolf was likely not motivated by any devout Catholicism. Although he had been born a Catholic, the form of religion as practised at the court in Bonn where he grew up was, in the words of Solomon, "a compromise ideology that permitted a relatively peaceful coexistence between the Church and rationalism". Beethoven's Tagebuch (a diary he kept on an occasional basis between 1812 and 1818) shows his interest in a variety of religious philosophies, including the Rig-Veda. In a letter to Rudolf of July 1821, Beethoven shows his belief in a personal God: "God ... sees into my innermost heart and knows that as a man I perform most conscientiously and on all occasions the duties which Humanity, God, and Nature enjoin upon me." On one of the sketches for the Missa solemnis he wrote "Plea for inner and outer peace". In this same regard, it is of further interest that when A. C. Kalischer posthumously published a volume on the personal letters of Beethoven, he was advised by the curators of the British Museum's Oriental Department to consult texts by the German-British philologist Max Müller for his translations of the Upanishads, as well as a German book on Indian Philosophy published at Jena in 1816, because "many sentences [were] very similar to those in the Beethoven document". +Beethoven's status was confirmed by the series of Concerts sprituels given in Vienna by the choirmaster Franz Xaver Gebauer in the 1819/1820 and 1820/1821 seasons, during which all eight of his symphonies to date, plus the oratorio Christus and the Mass in C, were performed. Beethoven was typically underwhelmed: when in an April 1820 conversation book a friend mentioned Gebauer, Beethoven wrote in reply "Geh! Bauer" (Begone, peasant!) +In 1819, Beethoven was first approached by the publisher Moritz Schlesinger, who won the suspicious composer round, while visiting him at Mödling, by procuring for him a plate of roast veal. One consequence of this was that Schlesinger secured Beethoven's three last piano sonatas and his final quartets; part of the attraction to Beethoven was that Schlesinger had publishing facilities in Germany and France, and connections in England, which could overcome problems of copyright piracy. The first of the three sonatas, for which Beethoven contracted with Schlesinger in 1820 at 30 ducats per sonata (further delaying completion of the Mass), was sent to the publisher at the end of that year (the Sonata in E major, Op. 109, dedicated to Maximiliane von Blittersdorf, Antonie Brentano's daughter). + +In early 1821, Beethoven was once again in poor health with rheumatism and jaundice. Despite this, he continued work on the remaining piano sonatas he had promised to Schlesinger (the Sonata in A♭ major Op. 110 was published in December), and on the Mass. In early 1822 Beethoven sought a reconciliation with his brother Johann, whose marriage in 1812 had met with his disapproval, and Johann now became a regular visitor (as witnessed by the conversation books of the period) and began to assist him in his business affairs, including lending him money against ownership of some of his compositions. He also sought some reconciliation with the mother of his nephew, including supporting her income, although this did not meet with the approval of the contrary Karl. Two commissions at the end of 1822 improved Beethoven's financial prospects. In November the Philharmonic Society of London offered a commission for a symphony, which he accepted with delight, as an appropriate home for the Ninth Symphony on which he was working. Also in November Prince Nikolai Galitzin of Saint Petersburg offered to pay Beethoven's asking price for three string quartets. Beethoven set the price at the high level of 50 ducats per quartet in a letter dictated to his nephew Karl, who was then living with him. +During 1822, Anton Schindler, who in 1840 became one of Beethoven's earliest and most influential (but not always reliable) biographers, began to work as the composer's unpaid secretary. He later claimed that he had been a member of Beethoven's circle since 1814, but there is no evidence for this. Cooper suggests that "Beethoven greatly appreciated his assistance, but did not think much of him as a man". + + +=== 1823–1827: final years === + +The year 1823 saw the completion of three notable works, all of which had occupied Beethoven for some years: the Missa solemnis, the Ninth Symphony, and the Diabelli Variations. +Beethoven at last presented the manuscript of the completed Missa solemnis to Rudolph on 19 March (more than a year after the archduke's enthronement as archbishop). But he was in no hurry to get it published or performed as he had formed a notion that he could profitably sell manuscripts of the work to various courts in Germany and Europe at 50 ducats each. One of the few who took up this offer was Louis XVIII of France, who also sent Beethoven a heavy gold medallion. The Symphony and the variations took up most of the rest of Beethoven's working year. Diabelli hoped to publish both works, but the potential prize of the Mass excited many other publishers to lobby Beethoven for it, including Schlesinger and Carl Friedrich Peters. (In the end, it was obtained by Schotts). +Beethoven had become critical of the Viennese reception of his works. He told the visiting Johann Friedrich Rochlitz in 1822: + +You will hear nothing of me here ... Fidelio? They cannot give it, nor do they want to listen to it. The symphonies? They have no time for them. My concertos? Everyone grinds out only the stuff he himself has made. The solo pieces? They went out of fashion long ago, and here fashion is everything. At the most, Schuppanzigh occasionally digs up a quartet. +He therefore inquired about premiering the Missa and the Ninth Symphony in Berlin. When his Viennese admirers learnt of this, they pleaded with him to arrange local performances. Beethoven was won over, and the symphony was first performed, along with sections of the Missa solemnis, on 7 May 1824, to great acclaim at the Kärntnertortheater. Beethoven stood by the conductor Michael Umlauf during the concert beating time (although Umlauf had warned the singers and orchestra to ignore him). Harold C. Schonberg writes that "the chorus had trouble singing the music and pleaded for the high notes to be taken down, just as the contralto soloist, Caroline Unger, also begged for changes. Beethoven refused ... The scherzo made a big impression however, and Unger turned Beethoven around to see the applause he could not hear." +The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung gushed, "inexhaustible genius had shown us a new world", and Carl Czerny wrote that the Symphony "breathes such a fresh, lively, indeed youthful spirit ... so much power, innovation, and beauty as ever [came] from the head of this original man, although he certainly sometimes led the old wigs to shake their heads". The concert did not net Beethoven much money, as the expenses of mounting it were very high. A second concert on 24 May, in which the producer guaranteed him a minimum fee, was poorly attended; nephew Karl noted that "many people [had] already gone into the country". It was Beethoven's last public concert. Beethoven accused Schindler of either cheating him or mismanaging the ticket receipts; this led to the replacement of Schindler as Beethoven's secretary by Karl Holz, the second violinist in the Schuppanzigh Quartet, although by 1826 Beethoven and Schindler reconciled. The Missa was inscribed to Beethoven's foremost patron as well as pupil and friend. The copy presented to Rudolf was inscribed "Von Herzen—Möge es wieder—Zu Herzen gehn!" ("From the heart – may it return to the heart!") + +Beethoven then turned to writing the string quartets for Galitzin, despite failing health. The first of these, the String Quartet No. 12 was premiered by the Schuppanzigh Quartet in March 1825. While writing the next, the String Quartet No. 15, in April 1825, he was struck by a sudden illness. Recuperating in Baden, he included in the quartet its slow movement to which he gave the title "Holy song of thanks (Heiliger Dankgesang) to the Divinity, from a convalescent, in the Lydian mode". The next quartet to be completed was the String Quartet No. 13. In six movements, the last, contrapuntal movement proved very difficult for both the performers and the audience at its premiere in March 1826 (again by the Schuppanzigh Quartet). Beethoven was persuaded by the publisher Artaria to write a new finale, and to issue the last movement as a separate work (the Große Fuge, Op. 133). Beethoven's rated the String Quartet No. 14 as his most perfect single work. +Beethoven's relations with Karl had continued to be stormy; Beethoven's letters to him were demanding and reproachful. In August, Karl, who had been seeing his mother again against Beethoven's wishes, attempted suicide by shooting himself. He survived and after discharge from hospital went to recuperate in the village of Gneixendorf with Beethoven and his uncle Johann. In Gneixendorf, Beethoven completed the (Quartet in F major, Op. 135), which he sent to Schlesinger. Under the introductory slow chords in the last movement, Beethoven wrote in the manuscript "Muss es sein?" (Must it be?); the response, over the faster main theme of the movement, is "Es muss sein!" (It must be!). The whole movement is headed Der schwer gefasste Entschluss (The difficult decision). Following this in November Beethoven completed his final composition, the replacement finale for the Op. 130 quartet. Beethoven at this time was already ill and depressed; he began to quarrel with Johann, insisting that Johann make Karl his heir, in preference to Johann's wife. Submitting the late quartets to his publisher, Beethoven wrote "Thank God, there is less lack of imagination than ever before." + + +=== Death === + +On his return journey to Vienna from Gneixendorf in December 1826, illness struck Beethoven again. He was attended until his death by Andreas Ignaz Wawruch, who throughout December noticed symptoms including fever, jaundice and dropsy, with swollen limbs, coughing and breathing difficulties. Several operations were carried out to tap off the excess fluid from Beethoven's abdomen. Karl stayed by Beethoven's bedside during December but left after the beginning of January to join the army at Iglau and did not see his uncle again, although he wrote to him shortly afterwards: "My dear father ... I am living in contentment and regret only that I am separated from you." Immediately following Karl's departure, Beethoven wrote a will making his nephew his sole heir. +Later, in January 1827, Beethoven was attended by Dr. Malfatti, whose treatment (recognizing the seriousness of his patient's condition) was largely centred on alcohol. As the news spread of the severity of Beethoven's condition, many old friends came to visit, including Diabelli, Schuppanzigh, Lichnowsky, Schindler, the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and his pupil Ferdinand Hiller. Many tributes and gifts were also sent, including £100 from the Philharmonic Society in London and a case of expensive wine from Schotts. During this period, Beethoven was almost completely bedridden despite occasional efforts to rouse himself. On 24 March he was given the Last Rites by a Roman Catholic priest. +On 24 March 1827, he said to Schindler and the others present: "Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est" ("Applaud, friends, the comedy is over"). Later that day, when the wine from Schotts arrived, he whispered: "Pity – too late." + +On 26 March 1827, Beethoven died at the age of 56; only his friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner and a "Frau van Beethoven" (possibly his old enemy Johanna van Beethoven) were present. According to Hüttenbrenner, at about 5 pm local time (17:00), there was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder: "Beethoven opened his eyes, lifted his right hand and looked up for several seconds with his fist clenched ... not another breath, not a heartbeat more." +Many visitors came to the deathbed; some locks of the dead man's hair were retained by Hüttenbrenner and Hiller, among others. An autopsy revealed Beethoven had significant liver damage, which could have been due to his heavy alcohol consumption, and also considerable dilation of the auditory and other related nerves. +Beethoven's funeral procession in Vienna on 29 March 1827 was attended by an estimated 10,000 people. Franz Schubert and the violinist Joseph Mayseder were among the torchbearers. A funeral oration by the poet Franz Grillparzer (who would also write Schubert's epitaph) was read by the actor Heinrich Anschütz. +Beethoven was buried in the Währing cemetery, north-west of Vienna, after a requiem mass at the church of the Holy Trinity (Dreifaltigkeitskirche) on Alser Straße. Beethoven's remains were exhumed for study in 1863, and moved in 1888 to Vienna's Zentralfriedhof where they were reinterred in a grave adjacent to Schubert's. + + +== Music == + + +=== The three periods === + +The historian William Drabkin notes that as early as 1818 a writer had proposed a three-period division of Beethoven's works and that such a division (albeit often adopting different dates or works to denote changes in period) eventually became a convention adopted by all of Beethoven's biographers, starting with Schindler, F.-J. Fétis and Wilhelm von Lenz. Later writers sought to identify sub-periods within this generally accepted structure. Its drawbacks include that it generally omits a fourth period, that is, the early years in Bonn, whose works are less often considered; and that it ignores the differential development of Beethoven's composing styles over the years for different categories of work. The piano sonatas, for example, were written throughout Beethoven's life in a progression that can be interpreted as continuous development; the symphonies do not all demonstrate linear progress; of all of the types of composition, perhaps the quartets, which seem to group themselves in three periods (Op. 18 in 1801–1802, Opp. 59, 74 and 95 in 1806–1814, and the quartets, today known as 'late', from 1824 onwards) fit this categorisation most neatly. Drabkin concludes that "now that we have lived with them so long ... as long as there are programme notes, essays written to accompany recordings, and all-Beethoven recitals, it is hard to imagine us ever giving up the notion of discrete stylistic periods." + + +=== Bonn 1782–1792 === +Some forty compositions, including ten very early works written by Beethoven up to 1785, survive from the years that Beethoven lived in Bonn. It has been suggested that Beethoven largely abandoned composition between 1785 and 1790, possibly as a result of negative critical reaction to his first published works. A 1784 review in Johann Nikolaus Forkel's influential Musikalischer Almanack compared Beethoven's efforts to those of rank beginners. The three early piano quartets of 1785 (WoO 36), closely modelled on violin sonatas of Mozart, show his dependency on the music of the period. Beethoven himself was not to give any of the Bonn works an opus number, save for those which he reworked for use later in his career, for example, some of the songs in his Op. 52 collection (1805) and the Wind Octet reworked in Vienna in 1793 to become his String Quintet, Op. 4. Charles Rosen points out that Bonn was something of a backwater compared to Vienna; Beethoven was unlikely to be acquainted with the mature works of Haydn or Mozart, and Rosen opines that his early style was closer to that of Hummel or Muzio Clementi. Kernan suggests that at this stage Beethoven was not especially notable for his works in sonata style, but more for his vocal music; his move to Vienna in 1792 set him on the path to develop the music in the genres he became known for. + + +=== First period === + +The conventional first period began after Beethoven's arrival in Vienna in 1792. In the first few years, he seems to have composed less than he did at Bonn, and his Piano Trios, Op. 1 were not published until 1795. From this point onward, he had mastered the 'Viennese style' of Haydn and Mozart and was making it his own. His works from 1795 to 1800 are larger in scale than was the norm (writing sonatas in four movements, not three, for instance); typically he uses a scherzo rather than a minuet and trio; and his music often includes extreme dynamics and tempi and chromatic harmony. It was this that led Haydn to believe the third trio of Op. 1 was too difficult for an audience to appreciate. +He also explored new directions and gradually expanded the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces of the early period are the First and Second symphonies, the String Quartets Nos. 1–6, Op. 18, the first two piano concertos, and the first twenty piano sonatas, including the famous Pathétique, Op. 13. + + +=== Middle period === + +His middle period began shortly after the personal crisis brought on by his recognition of encroaching deafness. It includes large-scale works that express heroism and struggle. Middle-period works include Symphonies 3–8, the last two piano concertos, the Triple Concerto and Violin Concerto, five string quartets (Nos. 7–11), several piano sonatas (including the Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas), the Kreutzer violin sonata and his opera, Fidelio. +This period is sometimes associated with a heroic manner of composing, but the use of the term "heroic" has become increasingly controversial in Beethoven scholarship. The term is more frequently used as an alternative name for the middle period. The appropriateness of the term heroic to describe the whole middle period has been questioned as well: while some works, like the Third (Eroica) and Fifth Symphonies, are easy to describe as heroic, many others, like his Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral) or his Piano Sonata No. 24, are not. Schonberg notes that the Eroica was a landmark not only for Beethoven but for music: "a symphony longer than any previously written and much more difficult to play (it really was composed for an orchestra of the future); a symphony with complex harmonies; a symphony of titanic force; a symphony of fierce dissonances; a symphony with a funeral march that is paralyzing in its intensity.” + + +=== Late period === + +Beethoven's late period began in the decade 1810–1819. He began a renewed study of older music, including works by Palestrina, Bach, and George Frideric Handel, whom Beethoven considered "the greatest composer who ever lived". Beethoven's late works incorporated polyphony, church modes, and Baroque-era devices. For example, the overture The Consecration of the House (1822) included a fugue influenced by Handel. A new style emerged, as he returned to the keyboard to compose his first piano sonatas in almost a decade; the works of the late period include the last five piano sonatas and the Diabelli Variations, the last two sonatas for cello and piano, the late string quartets (including the massive Große Fuge), and two works for very large forces: the Missa solemnis and the Ninth Symphony. Works from this period are characterised by their intellectual depth, their formal innovations, and their intense, highly personal expression. The String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131 has seven linked movements, and the Ninth Symphony adds choral forces to the orchestra in the last movement. Schonberg writes that "he had started as a composer in the classic tradition and had ended as composer beyond time and space, using a language that he himself had forged, a language compressed, cryptic and explosive, expressed in forms of his own devising." + + +=== Beethoven's pianos === +Beethoven's earlier preferred pianos included those of Johann Andreas Stein; he may have been given a Stein piano by Count Waldstein. From 1786 onwards there is evidence of Beethoven's cooperation with Johann Andreas Streicher, who had married Stein's daughter Nannette. Streicher left Stein's business to set up his own firm in 1803, and Beethoven continued to admire his products, writing to him in 1817 of his "special preference" for his pianos. Among the other pianos Beethoven possessed was an Érard piano given to him by the manufacturer in 1803. The Érard piano, with its exceptional resonance, may have influenced Beethoven's piano style – shortly after receiving it he began writing his Waldstein Sonata – but despite initial enthusiasm he seems to have abandoned it before 1810 when he wrote that it was "simply not of any use any more"; in 1824 he gave it to his brother Johann. In 1818 Beethoven received, also as a gift, a grand piano by John Broadwood & Sons. Although Beethoven was proud to receive it, he seems to have been dissatisfied by its tone (a dissatisfaction which was perhaps also a consequence of his increasing deafness), and sought to get it remodelled to make it louder. In 1825 Beethoven commissioned a piano from Conrad Graf, which was equipped with quadruple strings and a special resonator to make it audible to him, but it failed in this task. + + +== Legacy == + + +=== Musical === +Alex Ross writes "He not only left his mark on all subsequent composers but also molded entire institutions. The professional orchestra arose, in large measure, as a vehicle for the incessant performance of Beethoven’s symphonies. The art of conducting emerged in his wake. The modern piano bears the imprint of his demand for a more resonant and flexible instrument. Recording technology evolved with Beethoven in mind: the first commercial 33⅓ r.p.m. LP, in 1931, contained the Fifth Symphony, and the duration of first-generation compact disks was fixed at seventy-five minutes so that the Ninth Symphony could unfurl without interruption. ... More than anything, the mesmerizing intricacy of Beethoven’s constructions—his way of building large structures from the obsessive development of curt motifs—that made the repertory culture of classical music possible." +Beethoven was a key influence on the Romantic generation. Schonberg writes that "The Ninth Symphony was the Beethoven work that most influenced Berlioz and Wagner. ... To the Romantics, and many people today, the Ninth Symphony is something more than music. It is an ethos." Johannes Brahms's First Symphony quotes the "Ode to Joy" theme from the Ninth Symphony; Hans von Bülow dubbed it "Beethoven's Tenth". + + +=== Museums === +There is a museum, the Beethoven House, in the place of his birth in Bonn. Bonn has also hosted a musical festival, the Beethovenfest, since 1845. The festival was initially irregular but since 2007 has been organised annually. +Two museums in Vienna are devoted to Beethoven. The Beethoven Museum in Probusgasse is where he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament and the first sketches for the Eroica symphony. The Pasqualatihaus (Mölker Bastei 8) was his most enduring place of residence in Vienna, and is where he wrote the final versions of his Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6. +The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, on the campus of San Jose State University, California, serves as a museum, research centre, and host of lectures and performances devoted solely to Beethoven's life and works. + + +=== Sculptures === + +The Beethoven Monument in Bonn was unveiled in August 1845, in honour of the 75th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. It was the first statue of a composer created in Germany, and the music festival that accompanied the unveiling was the impetus for the swift construction of the original Beethovenhalle in Bonn (it was designed and built within less than a month, on the urging of Franz Liszt). Vienna honoured Beethoven with a statue in 1880. + + +=== Other === +The Beethoven Conservatory in St. Louis, Missouri, was named for the composer. +In 2001, Beethoven's manuscript of the Ninth Symphony became the first musical score added to the Memory of the World International Register established by UNESCO. +The Voyager Golden Record, a sample of the sights and sounds of Earth sent into space with the Voyager spacecraft, includes the Allegro Con Brio from the Fifth Symphony, played by Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted by Otto Klemperer. The record closes with the Cavatina from the String Quartet No. 13, played by the Budapest String Quartet. + + +== References == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== Citations === + + +=== Sources === + + +== External links == + +Beethoven In Our Time. BBC Radio 4 +Beethoven-Haus Bonn +"Discovering Beethoven". BBC Radio 3. +Anthony Tommasini, The Greatest Composers Part Three: Schubert and Beethoven. The New York Times. +Scores + +Free scores by Ludwig van Beethoven at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) +Free scores by Ludwig van Beethoven in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) +Ludwig van Beethoven at the Musopen project +Books + +Works by Ludwig van Beethoven at Project Gutenberg +Works by or about Ludwig van Beethoven at the Internet Archive +Works by Ludwig van Beethoven at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/10_wolfgang_amadeus_mozart.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/10_wolfgang_amadeus_mozart.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..124313f --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/10_wolfgang_amadeus_mozart.txt @@ -0,0 +1,240 @@ +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a Classical composer and musician. He completed more than 800 works in his life—including outstanding examples of most of the genres of his time: symphonies, concertos, chamber music, opera, and choral music. +Born in Salzburg, Mozart quickly emerged as a child prodigy under the training of his father Leopold, a skilled pedagogue. At the age of five he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and had performed before European royalty. His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17 he was a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. A fruitless journey in search of employment (1777–1779) led him to Paris, Mannheim, Munich, and eventually back to Salzburg. During this time he wrote his five violin concertos, the Sinfonia Concertante, various masses, and the opera Idomeneo. +While he was visiting Vienna in 1781, Mozart's quarrels with his Salzburg employers came to a head and he was dismissed. He chose to remain in Vienna, where he stayed for the rest of his life, achieving fame and some financial success, but no long-term security. During Mozart's early years in Vienna he produced several notable works, such as the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Great Mass in C minor, the "Haydn" Quartets and a number of symphonies. Throughout his Vienna years Mozart composed more than a dozen piano concertos, many considered some of his greatest achievements. +In the final years of his life, he wrote many of his best-known works, including his last three symphonies, culminating in the Jupiter, the serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik, his Clarinet Concerto, the operas Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte, the Piano Concerto No. 27 and his Requiem. The Requiem was largely unfinished at the time of his death at the age of 35. + + +== Life and career == + + +=== The sources === +Modern scholars rely on various source materials in writing Mozart's biography. First, there are about 1500 pages of family letters, often vivid and entertaining, mostly written when travel separated Mozart from his kin. There are also early biographies, written with input from Mozart's sister Nannerl, his wife Constanze, and others who knew him well. Old documents, such as newspaper stories and government records, have been located in libraries and archives, annotated, and published. Lastly, the composer's surviving manuscripts shed light on the history and dating of his compositions: there are sketches, drafts, dated autographs of completed works, and Mozart's personal catalog. +Mozart biographers all work from these same sources, but they often disagree on crucial points. The disagreements arise in part from the need to judge how much to believe a source who had strong motivation to diverge from the truth. A source once widely used but now judged untruthful is the publisher Friedrich Rochlitz, who sought to increase posthumous sales of Mozart's works by publishing false, vivid stories about him. A trend across time, noted in Stafford (2003), is for biographers to be less credulous (e.g., in believing Rochlitz), less sentimental, and more sensitive to information about Mozart's own society and times. + + +=== Early life === + + +==== Family and childhood ==== + +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl, at Getreidegasse 9 in Salzburg. Salzburg was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastical principality within the Holy Roman Empire, located in what is now Austria. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy. His elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptised the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinised form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but his name had many variants. + +Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, then an Imperial Free City in the Holy Roman Empire, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as the fourth violinist in the musical establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg. Leopold became the orchestra's deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his son's birth, Leopold published a successful violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. +When Nannerl was seven, she began keyboard lessons with her father, while her three-year-old brother looked on. Years later, after her brother's death, she reminisced: + +He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. ... In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. ... He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. ... At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down. + +These early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the Nannerl Notenbuch. +Leopold was their only teacher. Along with music, he taught his children languages and academic subjects. While Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Mozart was keen to progress beyond what he was taught: his first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were of his own initiative and came as a surprise to Leopold, who eventually gave up composing when his son's musical talents became evident. Leopold dubbed Wolfgang "the miracle whom God allowed to be born in Salzburg." + + +==== 1762–1773: Travel ==== + +While Wolfgang was young, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the court of Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, spanning three and a half years, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip, Wolfgang met many musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly significant influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom he visited in London in 1764 and 1765. When he was eight years old, Mozart wrote his first symphony, most of which was probably transcribed by Leopold. + +The family trips were often challenging, and travel conditions were primitive. They had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility, and they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764), then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765). The family again went to Vienna in late 1767, where both Wolfgang and Nannerl caught smallpox during an outbreak, though they quickly recovered. They remained there until December 1768. +After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl at home. This tour lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a rapidly maturing composer. Wolfgang met Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. According to a letter Leopold wrote home to Salzburg, while in Rome Wolfgang heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere twice in performance in the Sistine Chapel. He subsequently wrote it out from memory, thus producing the "first unauthorised copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican". The details of this account are, however, disputed. +In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera commissions. He returned with his father twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772 – March 1773) for the composition and premieres of Ascanio in Alba (1771) and Lucio Silla (1772). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son, and indeed ruling Archduke Ferdinand contemplated hiring Mozart, but owing to his mother Empress Maria Theresa's reluctance to employ "useless people", the matter was dropped and Leopold's hopes were never realised. +Most of the music Mozart wrote at this early stage of his career is little known today, but there is one exception: toward the end of the last Italian journey, Mozart wrote the solo motet Exsultate, jubilate, K.165 for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini; this work is a favourite for performance by sopranos today. + + +=== 1773–1777: Employment at the Salzburg court === + +After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March 1773, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. The composer had many friends and admirers in Salzburg and had the opportunity to work in many genres, including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and a few minor operas. +An important part of Mozart's output at this time was violin concertos: he wrote one in 1773 and four more in 1775. These are the only violin concertos he ever wrote, and through the series they increase in their musical sophistication. The last three—K. 216, K. 218, K. 219—are staples of the modern repertoire. +In 1776 he turned his efforts to piano concertos, culminating in the E♭ concerto K. 271 of early 1777, considered by critics to be a breakthrough work. +Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontented with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere. One reason was his low salary, 150 florins a year; Mozart longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 when the court theatre was closed, especially since the other theatre in Salzburg was primarily reserved for visiting troupes. +Two long expeditions in search of work interrupted this long Salzburg stay. Mozart and his father visited Vienna from 14 July to 26 September 1773, and Munich from 6 December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera. + + +=== 1777–1778: Journey to Paris === + +In August 1777 Mozart resigned his position at Salzburg and on 23 September ventured out once more in search of employment, this time accompanied by his mother, with visits to Munich, Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris. + +The first stop, in Munich, proved to offer Mozart no sort of permanent position, and the mother and son moved on to Augsburg on 11 October. This was the city where Leopold had grown up, and still living there was Mozart's uncle Franz Aloys Mozart and his daughter, Mozart's first cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart. She and Mozart engaged in what Abert calls a "charming and innocent flirtation" and Solomon treats as a more serious and more sexual encounter. After Mozart departed Augsburg, the two exchanged letters, of which Mozart's have survived. These are mostly devoid of news and consistently silly. They contain some veiled sexual references, but mostly are scatological, with frequent mentions of what is translated in English as "muck". The letters have astonished, and sometimes dismayed, modern readers. While some scholars suggest some sort of mental disorder on the basis of Mozart's letters, others have noted the greater prevalence of scatological humour in Mozart's place and time, including among his own family members; see Mozart and scatology. +Mozart and his mother reached Mannheim on 30 October. There, Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family. There were prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing, and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment. He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother was taken ill and died on 3 July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds. Mozart stayed with Melchior Grimm at Marquise d'Épinay's residence, 5 rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin. +While Mozart was in Paris, his father was pursuing opportunities of employment for him in Salzburg. With the support of the local nobility, Mozart was offered a post as court organist and concertmaster. The annual salary was 450 florins, but he was reluctant to accept. By that time, relations between Grimm and Mozart had cooled, and Mozart moved out. After leaving Paris in September 1778 for Strasbourg, he lingered in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer, but she was no longer interested in him. Mozart finally returned to Salzburg on 15 January 1779 and took up his new appointment, but his discontent with Salzburg remained undiminished. +Among the better-known works which Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the Piano Sonata No. 8, K. 310/300d, the Symphony No. 31 (Paris), which were performed in Paris on 12 and 18 June 1778; and the Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299/297c. + + +=== Vienna === + + +==== 1781: Departure ==== +In January 1781 Mozart's opera Idomeneo premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March, Mozart was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne. For Colloredo, this was simply a matter of wanting his musical servant to be at hand (Mozart indeed was required to dine in Colloredo's establishment with the valets and cooks). He planned a bigger career as he continued in the archbishop's service; for example, he wrote to his father: + +My main goal right now is to meet the emperor in some agreeable fashion, I am absolutely determined he should get to know me. I would be so happy if I could whip through my opera for him and then play a fugue or two, for that's what he likes. +Mozart did indeed soon meet the Emperor, who was to support his career substantially with commissions and a part-time position. +In the same letter to his father just quoted, Mozart outlined his plans to participate as a soloist in the concerts of the Tonkünstler-Societät, a prominent benefit concert series; this plan as well came to pass after the local nobility prevailed on Colloredo to drop his opposition. +Colloredo's wish to prevent Mozart from performing outside his establishment was in other cases carried through, raising the composer's anger; one example was a chance to perform before the Emperor at Countess Thun's for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary. +The quarrel with the archbishop came to a head in May: Mozart attempted to resign and was refused. The following month, permission was granted, but in a grossly insulting way: the composer was dismissed literally "with a kick in the arse", administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco. Mozart decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer. +The quarrel with Colloredo was more difficult for Mozart because his father sided against him. Hoping fervently that he would obediently follow Colloredo back to Salzburg, Mozart's father exchanged intense letters with his son, urging him to reconcile with their employer. Mozart passionately defended his intention to pursue an independent career in Vienna. The debate ended when Mozart was dismissed by the archbishop, freeing himself both of his employer and of his father's demands to return. Solomon characterizes Mozart's resignation as a "revolutionary step" that significantly altered the course of his life. + + +==== Early years ==== +Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He often performed as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail which premiered on 16 July 1782 and achieved considerable success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", and established Mozart's reputation as a composer. + + +==== Marriage and children ==== + +Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The family's father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet. Mozart had previously wooed the second daughter of the family, Aloysia Weber, who was now a successful singer in Vienna, married to the actor and artist Joseph Lange. Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter, Constanze. As his interest became clear, Constanze's mother Cäcilia insisted that Mozart move out in the interest of propriety. +Mozart's courtship of Constanze did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that the couple briefly broke up in April 1782, over an episode involving jealousy: Constanze had permitted another young man to measure her calves in a parlour game. Mozart also faced a very difficult task getting permission for the marriage from his father. +The marriage took place in an atmosphere of crisis. A letter from Mozart to Leopold from 31 July 1782 has been interpreted as suggesting that Constanze had moved in with him, which would have placed her in disgrace by the mores of the time. Mozart wrote, "All the good and well-intentioned advice you have sent fails to address the case of a man who has already gone so far with a maiden. Further postponement is out of the question." Heartz relates, "Constanze's sister Sophie had tearfully declared that her mother would send the police after Constanze if she did not return home [presumably from Mozart's apartment]." On 4 August, Mozart wrote to Baroness von Waldstätten, asking, "Can the police here enter anyone's house in this way? Perhaps it is only a ruse of Madame Weber to get her daughter back. If not, I know no better remedy than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning or if possible today." The couple were finally married on 4 August 1782 in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before his father's consenting letter arrived in the mail. +The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy: + +Raimund Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783) +Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858) +Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October – 15 November 1786) +Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 December 1787 – 29 June 1788) +Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 16 November 1789) +Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844) +Eisen judges that the marriage was basically happy, based in part on Mozart's letters to Constanze, which are generally very affectionate, often funny, and occasionally erotic. There is one letter that suggests the family's precarious finances may have been a source of matrimonial tension. In a letter she wrote in old age Constanze described her marriage to Mozart as having been "completely happy". + + +=== 1782–1785 === +In 1782 and 1783 Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in the Baroque style and later influenced his musical language, for example in fugal passages in Die Zauberflöte. +In 1783 Mozart and his wife visited his family in Salzburg, for the first and only time after their marriage. It is possible that the visit was tense, since Leopold had been sharply opposed to the marriage, and Mozart's sister Nannerl had evidently snubbed Constanze in correspondence. Nannerl's diary records a busy agenda of socializing and tourism, but no information remains about how the family members got along. The visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor K. 527. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part. +Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna around 1784, and the two composers became friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played chamber music together with other friends. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781, and are today considered key works of the string quartet literature. Mozart wrote to Haydn, "A father, having decided to send his children out into the wide world, felt that he should entrust them to the protection and guidance of a famous Man who by good fortune also was his Friend.—Here they are, distinguished Man and dearest Friend, my six children." +Both Haydn and Mozart's father Leopold (visiting from Salzburg) were present in 1785 at a gathering where three of the quartets were played, and Haydn remarked to Leopold, "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition." +From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as piano soloist, presenting three or four new concertos in each season. Since space in the theatres was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof apartment building, and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube restaurant. The concerts were very popular, and his concertos premiered there are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Of these works, Solomon writes that Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre". +With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, Mozart and his wife adopted a more luxurious lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of 460 florins. Mozart bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school and kept servants. During this period Mozart saved little of his income. +On 14 December 1784 Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an essential role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions he composed Masonic music, e.g. the Maurerische Trauermusik. + + +==== 1786–1787: Return to opera ==== + +Despite the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. Around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The year 1786 saw the successful premiere of Le nozze di Figaro in Vienna. The work was then produced in Prague, with an invitation to Mozart to attend and give concerts. It was on this occasion that Mozart premiered his 38th symphony, now known as the Prague Symphony. Both the opera and the symphony were received enthusiastically, and the visit was an unusually happy episode in Mozart's life; see Mozart and Prague. +The success of Le Nozze di Figaro led to a commission for an opera to be performed by the resident opera company of Prague; the work thus spawned was Don Giovanni, Mozart's second collaboration with Da Ponte. It premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, and was produced again, though without the same degree of success, in Vienna during 1788. Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni are among Mozart's most famous works and are mainstays of operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty both for listeners and for performers. +In December 1787, Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Christoph Willibald Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal (see Mozart and dance). This modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph aimed to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects. +It is a biographical tradition to view this position as a mere sinecure; but a more recent view, put forth by Wolff (2012), is that Mozart's position was a more substantial one and that some of Mozart's chamber music from this time was written as part of his imperial duties. +In 1787 the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. Beethoven almost certainly heard Mozart perform, but (despite a widely told anecdote to this effect) it is not certain that the two actually met in person; see Beethoven and Mozart. +The same year was marked by the death of Leopold on 28 May 1787 – in a way, six months too early, since Leopold would never learn that his lifetime goal for his son, a paid court position, was finally achieved. Despite longstanding tensions with his father, Mozart had remained in contact by correspondence to the end of Leopold's life, and Leopold's death was likely a blow to him. Eisen suggests that the death "triggered a fallow period for the composer", noting that Mozart was similarly unproductive following the death of his mother in July 1778. The task of dealing with Leopold's estate was one of the last matters of mutual concern for Wolfgang and Nannerl; not long after, they became estranged and ceased to correspond. + + +=== Later years === + + +==== 1788–1790 ==== + +Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786, he ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because of the Austro-Turkish War: a corresponding economic decline meant most patrons could not afford ticket prices, and ever fewer could pay for commissions. According to Solomon, in 1788, Mozart saw a 66% decline in his income compared to his best years in 1781. +By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been suggested that Mozart aimed to reduce his rental expenses by moving to a suburb (he said this in a letter to his friend and fellow mason Michael von Puchberg), later research has shown that Mozart had not actually reduced his expenses but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began borrowing money, most often from Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and his musical output may have slowed. Yet the production of works considered as high points of Mozart's oeuvre continued, with work including the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from the summer of 1788), the Clarinet Quintet of 1789, and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte, premiered in 1790. +Around this time, Mozart made two long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes, visiting Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789 (see Mozart's Berlin journey), and Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790. Wolff (2012) emphasizes how these journeys improved Mozart's contacts and broadened his reputation, but they also involved setbacks and frustrations, and probably did not achieve the goals, particularly financial, that Mozart had set for them. + + +==== 1791 ==== +Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of high productivity—and by some accounts, one of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera Die Zauberflöte; his last piano concerto (No. 27 K. 595); the Clarinet Concerto K. 622; the last in his series of string quintets (K. 614 in E♭); the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618; and the unfinished Requiem K. 626. +Mozart's financial situation, a source of anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He is also thought to have benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. Mozart stopped asking for loans from Puchberg and probably made efforts to pay off some of his debts, though he was still largely impoverished by the time of his death. +He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably Die Zauberflöte (frequently performed to packed houses in Mozart's lifetime) and the Kleine Freimaurer-Kantate K. 623, premiered on 17 November 1791. + + +==== Final illness and death ==== + +Mozart fell seriously ill on 20 November 1791, and took to (what turned out to be) his deathbed; he suffered from swelling, pain, and vomiting. There is a serious controversy about whether his illness had started earlier, with a long and demoralizing period of decline, or was sudden. Mozart was nursed in his final days by his wife and her younger sister Sophie and was attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. By Sophie's testimony Mozart spent some of his final hours in conversation with his student and friend Süssmayr, discussing the problem of getting his Requiem completed. +Mozart died in his home on 5 December 1791(1791-12-05) (aged 35) at 12:55 am. The New Grove describes his funeral: + +Mozart was interred in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7 December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Otto Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild. +The expression "common grave" refers to neither a communal grave nor a pauper's grave, but an individual grave for a member of the common people (i.e., not the aristocracy). Common graves were subject to excavation after ten years; aristocrats' graves were not. +The cause of Mozart's death is not known with certainty. The official record of hitziges Frieselfieber ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds) is more a symptomatic description than a diagnosis. Researchers have suggested more than a hundred causes of death, including acute rheumatic fever, streptococcal infection, trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The contemporary Viennese public health official Eduard Guldener von Lobes, who consulted with Mozart's doctors at the time, insisted that Mozart most likely died in an epidemic, asserting that many people in Vienna had died at the same time with the same symptoms. Modern work by Zegers et al., tracing death records of the time, found a modest spike in the death rate for late 1791, supporting Guldener's claim. +Mozart's modest funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer, but memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. In the period immediately after his death, his reputation rose substantially. Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written first by Friedrich Schlichtegroll, Franz Xaver Niemetschek, and Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works. + + +== Appearance and character == + +Mozart's physical appearance was described by the tenor Michael Kelly in his Reminiscences: "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". His early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about [his] physique. ... He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. Of his voice, his wife later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic." +He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: "[He] was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." The surviving portraits suggest that Mozart often wore a powdered wig tied in a queue in line with the style of the 18th century for formal occasions. +Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often wrote sketches, from small snippets to extensive drafts, for his compositions. Though many of these were destroyed by his widow, about 320 sketches and drafts survive, covering about 10 percent of the composer's work. +Mozart lived at the centre of the Viennese musical world and knew a significant number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his elder colleague Joseph Haydn, the singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes. +He enjoyed billiards, dancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He had a startling fondness for scatological humour, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, and in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart also wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. He had an ear for languages, and having travelled all over Europe as a boy, was fluent in Latin, Italian, and French in addition to his native Salzburg dialect of German. He possibly also understood and spoke some English, having jokingly written "You are an ass" after his 19-year-old student Thomas Attwood made a thoughtless mistake on his exercise papers. +Mozart was raised a Catholic and remained a practicing Catholic throughout his life. He embraced Freemasonry in 1784 and remained a lodge member for the rest of his life; see Mozart and Freemasonry. + + +== Works, musical style, and innovations == + + +=== Style === + +Mozart's music, with Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galant, a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. The emerging classical style constituted a major reconception of how music ought to be composed, largely replacing polyphonic with homophonic textures, and it took some time for the new style to achieve the musical weight that had been attained by the Baroque masters; indeed, the period following the deaths of Bach and Handel produced rather little music that still commands the attention of modern listeners. Mozart, despite his genius, was a man of his time, and most of the music he wrote early in his career is influenced strongly by its models and is little performed today (the few exceptions are noted above). His Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271, from 1777, is sometimes described as a breakthrough work; it is characterized by Charles Rosen as "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece in [the] classical style". Harold C. Schonberg writes that "The piano concerto is a musical form developed by Mozart into symphonic breadth, and there is not one of his concertos after K. 271 in E flat without it special kind of eloquence, finish and virtuosity." Mozart's musical language continued to increase in its scope and complexity, notably in the use of chromatic harmony and reintroduction of counterpoint, partly inspired by the composer's relationship with Gottfried van Swieten noted above. The Jupiter Symphony is full of references to earlier works, including Mozart's own. +Mozart wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. From his earliest years to his last, he composed a varied number of vocal works – concert arias, songs and canons. He almost single-handedly developed and popularised the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, as well as dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment. +The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491; the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550; and the opera Don Giovanni. Rosen makes the point forcefully: + +It is only through recognising the violence and sensuality at the centre of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterisation of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous. +During his last decade, Mozart frequently exploited chromatic harmony. A notable instance is his String Quartet in C major, K. 465 (1785), whose introduction abounds in chromatic suspensions, giving rise to its nickname, the "Dissonance" quartet. +Mozart had a gift for absorbing and adapting the valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met Johann Christian Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy, he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J. C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers. + +As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque, particularly George Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example. Schonberg writes that "Mozartean polyphony is not Bachian polyphony, but Mozart was inspired by Bach to introduce all kinds of contrapuntal devices, all used with perfect security and confidence. The culmination is the last movement of the Jupiter Symphony, where contrasting themes are lined up, harnessed, and sent galloping down the final stretch of one of the most glorious, tingling and overwhelming passages in music." +Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, (Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte); opera seria, such as (Idomeneo); and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is the most famous example by any composer. + +Mozart employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone colour for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. He wrote of an aria in Entführung: there comes (just when the aria seems to be at an end) the allegro assai, which in a totally different measure and in a different key; this is bound to be very effective. For just as a man in such a towering rage oversteps the bounds of order, moderation, and propriety and completely forgets himself, so must the music too forget itself. But as passions, whether violent or not, must never be expressed in such a way as to excite disgust, and as music, even in the most terrible situations, must never offend the ear, but must please the hearer, or in other words must never cease to be music, I have gone from F (the key in which the aria is written) not into a remote key, but into a related one, not however, into the nearest relative D minor, but into the more remote A minor. +Of the aria "O wie ängstlich", he wrote "Would you like to know how I have expressed it—and even indicated his throbbing heart? By two violins playing octaves. ... You feel the trembling—the faltering—you see how his throbbing breast begins to swell; this I have expressed by a crescendo. You hear the whispering and the sighing—which I have indicated by the first violins with mutes and a flute playing in unison." +His advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions. + Alex Ross writes: "The golden mean runs through the Andante of the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, from 1779-80. A beguiling four-bar melody appears twice, in E-flat major in the middle and in C minor at the end. The first time, the major mode is briefly shadowed by a turn into the relative minor. The second time, minor is flecked by major, creating the effect of a light in the night. The two passages are more or less the same, but the space between them could contain a novel." + + +== Editions, catalogues, and recordings == +Shortly after Mozart's death in 1791, it became a goal of publishers to produce a complete printed edition of everything that he had written. Both Breitkopf & Härtel and Johann Anton André negotiated with Mozart's widow Constanze to this purpose, and both of them issued multiple works, though falling far short of completeness. The publication of this music helped rescue Constanze and her two children from poverty, enabling them to live in comfort. +During the first decades of the 19th century, the desire for a truly complete edition became apparent, and with extensive scholarly contributions (including from Johannes Brahms) this led to what is today called the Alte Mozart-Ausgabe (Old Mozart Edition), issued from 1877 until 1883. With time, the shortcomings of this edition became evident, and over a period of five decades (1956–2007) a new team of Mozart scholars collaborated to create the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, which sets the current standard. Thanks to grant support, the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe is available today on line. +Along with the creation of complete editions, musical scholarship has aspired to create musical catalogues, which provide descriptions, incipits, and the estimated date of completion for each work. A catalogue also provides information about works attributed to the composer that are actually not authentic, such as Mozart's putative 37th Symphony. The earliest catalog of Mozart's works was created by the composer himself, and covers the years 1784 to 1791. After Mozart's death, scholars such as Johann Anton André attempted to create a complete catalogue, but this was only accomplished in 1862 when Ludwig Ritter von Köchel completed the first edition of what is now called the Köchel catalogue. His "Köchel numbers", marked with K or KV, are a standard way to identify a work of Mozart unambiguously. Since Köchel's time, the catalog has gone through several editions. 2024 marked the completion of the current, ninth edition, edited by Neal Zaslaw. In this edition, many works have been redated, thanks to progress in the use of handwriting analysis (notably work of Wolfgang Plath), and the study of watermarks (Tyson 1987). These practices have provided concrete evidence for dating in cases where earlier scholars could only speculate. +The goal of a complete Mozart edition is shared by recording companies, several of whom who have issued massive recorded compilations (170–250 compact disks), aspiring to cover all of Mozart's work. + + +== Instruments == + +The child Mozart was trained on the harpsichord (he also became skilled at violin, singing, and dancing), and his earliest compositions were written for this instrument. A major change in European music, which roughly coincided with Mozart's lifetime, was the replacement of the harpsichord by the piano – not the modern grand as we know it today, but a much lighter version, today often referred to as the fortepiano. +Mozart's keyboard works up to a certain point (not easy to determine) were written with the harpsichord in mind. An early opportunity for Mozart to encounter pianos may have been his Munich journey of 1774–1775, when he may have encountered pianos made by the Regensburg builder Franz Jakob Späth. In 1777, when Mozart was visiting Augsburg on his long job-hunting tour, he was deeply impressed by Johann Andreas Stein's pianos and shared his admiration in detailed letter to his father. His mother wrote home a bit later that in Augsburg there were pianos everywhere and that her son's playing had come to sound quite different from the way he had played in Salzburg. Indeed, Maria Anna's letter goes on to say that Mozart's piano playing was a local sensation – Mozart, with Clementi and others, was becoming part of the first generation of celebrated piano virtuosos. +To this end, in 1783 when he was living in Vienna, Mozart purchased a fortepiano by Anton Walter, a leading builder, which he played frequently in concerts at various venues in the city. This important piano was preserved after his death and may be viewed today in the Tanzmeisterhaus (the former Mozart family residence, now a museum) in Salzburg. Starting in about 1967, modern craftsmen began to construct fortepianos modeled on the old instruments, and these have become widely used in the performance of Mozart's piano music. + + +== Legacy == + +Mozart's most famous pupil was Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of a classical musician's training. Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work. Many composers have paid homage to him, including Chopin (Variations on "Là ci darem la mano") and Tchaikovsky (Mozartiana). +Schonberg writes "Mozart was the first modern psychologist of opera... The Marriage of Figaro opens the door to a new world of opera. It is a scintillating work with real people in it, and the music exposes them for what they are—lovable, vain, capricious, selfish, ambitious, forgiving, philandering. Human beings, in short, are brought alive by the alchemy of a surpassingly inventive and sympathetic musical mind." He notes that many consider Don Giovanni the greatest opera. +Ross writes "As ever, the slow movement of the Piano Concerto No. 23 sends us into a wistful trance; the finale of the Jupiter Symphony wakes us up into a uniquely Mozartean kind of intelligent happiness; and the apocalyptic climax of Don Giovanni stirs our primal fear of being weighed in the balance and found wanting. The loss of innocence was Mozart's, too. Like the rest of us, he had to live outside the complex paradise that he created in sound." +Mozart's legacy is widely apparent in modern life, particularly in concert programming, broadcasts, recordings, and items of popular culture. The city of Salzburg, abandoned by Mozart in frustration in 1781, has today become pilgrimage destination for Mozart lovers: both of Mozart's homes have been converted into museums, there is a renowned music festival (see Salzburg Festival), and the city hosts a leading scholarly institute, the International Mozarteum Foundation, for the study of Mozart's life and works. The Queen of the Night Aria from The Magic Flute, performed by Edda Moser, and conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch, is included on the Voyager Golden Record, a sample of the sights and sounds of Earth sent into space with the Voyager spacecraft. + + +== Notes and references == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== References === + + +=== Sources === + + +== Further reading == +See Buch 2017 for an extensive bibliography + + +== External links == + +Homepage for the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation +"Discovering Mozart". BBC Radio 3. +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at IMDb +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Treasures from the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg 2026 exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum +Anthony Tommasini, Greatest Composers Part Two: Haydn and Mozart. The New York Times. +Digitized documents + +Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at Project Gutenberg +Works by or about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Internet Archive +Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) +"Mozart" Titles; Mozart as author at Google Books +Digital Mozart Edition Archived 18 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine (Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum) +"Mozart" titles from Gallica (in French) +From the British Library +Mozart's Thematic Catalogue Archived 7 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine +Mozart's Musical Diary Archived 24 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine +Background information on Mozart and the Thematic Catalogue Archived 14 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine +Letters of Leopold Mozart und Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (in German) (Baden State Library) +Sheet music + +Complete sheet music (scores) from the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, International Mozarteum Foundation +Mozart scores from the Munich Digitization Center (MDZ) +Mozart titles from the University of Rochester +Free scores by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) +Free scores by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) +Free typeset sheet music of Mozart's works from Cantorion.org +The Mutopia Project has compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Musopen project diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/11_johann_sebastian_bach.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/11_johann_sebastian_bach.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e86e924 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/11_johann_sebastian_bach.txt @@ -0,0 +1,226 @@ +Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers of classical music. +The Bach family had already produced several composers when Johann Sebastian was born in Eisenach, the youngest child of the city musician Johann Ambrosius Bach. After being orphaned at age 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph, then continued his musical education in Lüneburg. In 1703 he returned to Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. Around that time he also paid extended visits to the courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and the reformed court at Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. By 1723 he was hired as Thomaskantor, church music director of the city of Leipzig and thus responsible for music in four Lutheran city churches and for the St. Thomas School. He decided to compose annual cycles of church cantatas, and also wrote music for Leipzig University's student ensemble, Collegium Musicum. In 1726 he began publishing his organ and other keyboard music. In Leipzig, he had difficult relations with his employer, as he had during some of his earlier positions. This situation was somewhat remedied when his sovereign, Augustus III of Poland, granted him the title of court composer of the Elector of Saxony in 1736. In the last decades of his life, Bach reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died due to complications following eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65. Four of his twenty children, Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian, became composers. +Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France. His compositions include hundreds of cantatas, both sacred and secular. He composed Latin church music, Passions, oratorios, and motets. He adopted Lutheran hymns, not only in his larger vocal works but also in such works as his four-part chorales and his sacred songs. Bach wrote extensively for organ and other keyboard instruments. He composed concertos, for instance for violin and for harpsichord, and suites, as chamber music as well as for orchestra. Many of his works use contrapuntal techniques like canon and fugue. +Several decades after his death, in the 18th century, Bach was still primarily known as an organist. Several biographies of Bach were published in the 19th century, and by the end of that century all of his known music had been printed. Dissemination of Bach scholarship continued through periodicals (and later websites) devoted to him, other publications such as the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works), and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised by a multitude of arrangements, including the "Air on the G String" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", and recordings, among them three boxed sets of performances of his complete oeuvre marking the 250th anniversary of his death. + + +== Family and childhood == + + +=== Early life === + +Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany, on 21 March 1685 O.S. He was the eighth and youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, director of the town musicians, and Maria Elisabeth née Lämmerhirt, daughter of a town councillor. The Bach family, traditionally traced to the patriarch Vitus "Veit" Bach (d. 1619), produced three to four generations of musicians in the Thuringia region, whose insular cultural climate fostered conservative musicianship, with external influences arriving mainly via the courts. Nothing is definitively known about Bach's early years before 1693; his musical education in particular is highly conjectural. His family, particularly the uncles, were all professional musicians who worked as church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers. Bach's father presumably taught him the violin, Ambrosius' own primary instrument, along with basic music theory principles. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach (1645–1693), may have introduced him to the organ, though this is debated since the uncle may not have been close to Bach's immediate family. +Bach's mother died in 1694, and his father eight months later in February 1695. The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721), the organist at St. Michael's Church in Ohrdruf, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. There he studied, performed, and copied music, including his brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private and ledger paper was costly. He also received instruction on the clavichord from his brother. Johann Christoph exposed him to the works of composers of the day, including South Germans such as Johann Caspar Kerll, Johann Jakob Froberger, and Johann Pachelbel (under whom Johann Christoph had studied); North Germans such as Georg Böhm, Johann Reincken and Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns from Hamburg, and Dieterich Buxtehude; Frenchmen such as Jean-Baptiste Lully, Louis Marchand, and Marin Marais; and the Italian Girolamo Frescobaldi. He learned theology, Latin, and Greek at the local gymnasium. +By 3 April 1700 Bach had begun studies at St Michael's School in Lüneburg, two weeks' travel north of Ohrdruf. His journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot. He sang in the choir, at least until his voice broke, had access to the school's comprehensive musical library, and received organ lessons. He also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearby Ritter-Academie to prepare for careers in other disciplines. + + +=== Marriages and children === +Four months after arriving at Mühlhausen in 1707, Bach married his second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach. Later that year their first child, Catharina Dorothea, was born, and Maria Barbara's elder, unmarried sister joined them, remaining to help run the household until she died in 1729. Three sons were also born: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Johann Gottfried Bernhard. All became musicians, and the first two composers. Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara had seven children. Their twins born in 1713 died within a year, and their last son, Leopold, also died within a year of his birth. On 7 July 1720, while Bach was in Carlsbad with Prince Leopold, Maria Barbara died suddenly. The next year, he met Anna Magdalena Wilcke, a gifted soprano 16 years his junior, while she was performing at the court in Köthen; they married on 3 December 1721. Together they had 13 children, six of whom survived into adulthood: Gottfried Heinrich; Elisabeth Juliane Friederica (1726–1781); Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Christian, who both became musicians; Johanna Carolina (1737–1781); and Regina Susanna (1742–1809). + + +== Career == + + +=== Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen (1703–1708) === + +In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's in 1702 and being turned down for the post of organist at Sangerhausen, Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a keyboardist spread so widely that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (now Bach Church) in Arnstadt, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Weimar. On 14 August 1703 he became the organist at the New Church, with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and a new organ tuned in a temperament that allowed music written in a wider range of keys to be played. +Although Johann Ernst III was musically enthusiastic, the relationship grew tense. In 1705–1706, Bach upset the duke when, after obtaining a four-week leave of absence, he was away for about four months, taking lessons from the organist and composer Johann Adam Reincken and wanting to hear Reincken and Dieterich Buxtehude play in Lübeck. The visit to Buxtehude and Reincken involved a 450-kilometre (280 mi) journey each way, reportedly on foot. Buxtehude probably introduced Bach to his friend Reincken so that he could learn from his compositional technique (especially his mastery of fugue), his organ playing, and his improvisational skill. Bach knew Reincken's music very well; he copied Reincken's monumental An Wasserflüssen Babylon when he was 15 years old. When Bach revisited Reincken in 1720 and showed him his improvisational skill on the organ, Reincken reportedly remarked: "I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you." +In 1706 Bach applied for a post as organist at the Blasius Church in Mühlhausen. As part of his application, he had a cantata performed at Easter, 24 April 1707, that resembles his later Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4. Bach's application was accepted a month later, and he took up the post in July. The position included higher remuneration, improved conditions, and a better choir. Bach persuaded the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708 Bach wrote Gott ist mein König, BWV 71, a festive cantata for the inauguration of the new council, which was published at the council's expense. This is the only extant Bach cantata published in his lifetime. Bach returned to Weimar in 1708, after Johann Ernst's death, as court organist. He worked with one of Johann Ernst's sons, also named Johann Ernst, who had a keen interest in music. The prince's interest in collecting music was sufficiently well known that in 1713, when one of Bach's pupils, P. D. Kräuter, requested a leave of absence to study in Weimar, he mentioned the French and Italian music the prince was expected to introduce there. The prince also composed, and Bach wrote the Organ Concerto No.1 in G Major, BWV 592, and Concerto for Organ solo in C major, BWV 595, after a theme by the prince. + + +=== Return to Weimar (1708–1717) === + +Bach left Mühlhausen in 1708, returning to Weimar this time as organist and from 1714 Konzertmeister (director of music) at the ducal court, where he could work with a large, well-funded contingent of professional musicians. Bach and his wife moved into a house near the ducal palace. Bach's time in Weimar began a sustained period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. He attained the proficiency and confidence to extend the prevailing structures and include influences from abroad. He learned to write dramatic openings and employ the dynamic rhythms and harmonic schemes used by Italians such as Vivaldi, Corelli, and Torelli. Bach absorbed these stylistic aspects to a certain extent by transcribing Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ. He was particularly attracted to the Italian style, in which one or more solo instruments alternate section-by-section with the full orchestra throughout a movement. +In Weimar Bach continued to play and compose for the organ and perform concert music with the duke's ensemble. He also began to write the preludes and fugues that were later assembled into the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier ("clavier" meaning clavichord or harpsichord), which eventually comprised two volumes written over 20 years, each containing 24 pairings of preludes and fugues in every major and minor key. In Weimar, Bach also started work on the Little Organ Book, containing traditional Lutheran chorale tunes set in complex textures. In 1713 Bach was offered a post in Halle when he advised the authorities during a renovation by Christoph Cuntzius of the main organ in the west gallery of the Market Church of Our Dear Lady. +In early 1714 Bach was promoted to Konzertmeister, an honour that entailed performing a church cantata monthly in the castle church. The first three cantatas in the new series Bach composed in Weimar were Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182, for Palm Sunday, which coincided with the Annunciation that year; Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12, for Jubilate Sunday; and Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!, BWV 172, for Pentecost. Bach's first Christmas cantata, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63, premiered in 1714 or 1715. In 1717 Bach fell out of favour in Weimar and, according to the court secretary's report, was jailed for almost a month before being dismissed from his position: "On November 6, [1717,] the quondam concertmaster and organist Bach was confined to the County Judge's place of detention for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal and finally on December 2 was freed from arrest with notice of his unfavorable discharge." + + +=== Köthen (1717–1723) === + +Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, hired Bach to serve as his Kapellmeister (director of music) in 1717. Himself a musician, Leopold appreciated Bach's talents, paid him well, and gave him considerable latitude in composing and performing. Leopold was a Calvinist and thus did not use elaborate music in his form of worship, so most of Bach's work from this period is secular, including the orchestral suites, Cello Suites, Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, and the Brandenburg Concertos. Bach also composed secular cantatas for the court, such as Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a. +In 1719, Bach made the 35-kilometre (22 mi) journey from Köthen to Halle with the intention to meet Handel, but Handel had left town. In 1730, Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, travelled to Halle to invite Handel to visit the Bach family in Leipzig, but the visit did not take place. + + +=== Leipzig (1723–1750) === + + +==== Appointment ==== +In 1723 Bach was appointed Thomaskantor (director of church music) in Leipzig, a mercantile Saxon city with "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany". He was responsible for directing the St. Thomas School and for providing four churches with music, the St. Thomas Church, the St. Nicholas Church, and to a lesser extent the New Church and St. Peter's Church. A cantata was required for the church services on each Sunday and additional church holidays during the liturgical year. + +Johann Kuhnau had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1701 until his death on 5 June 1722. Bach had visited Leipzig during Kuhnau's tenure: in 1714 he attended the service at the St. Thomas Church on the first Sunday of Advent, and in 1717 he tested the organ at St. Paul's Church. In 1716 Bach and Kuhnau met on the occasion of the testing and inauguration of an organ in Halle. Bach was offered the position only after it had been offered to Georg Philipp Telemann and then Christoph Graupner—both of whom chose to stay where they were, Telemann in Hamburg and Graupner in Darmstadt—after using the Leipzig offer to negotiate better terms of employment. +Bach was required to instruct the Thomasschule students in singing. He was also assigned to teach Latin but was allowed to employ four "prefects" (deputies) to do that for him. The prefects also aided with musical instruction. Bach held the position for 27 years, until his death. During that time, he gained further prestige through honorary appointments at the courts of Köthen and Weissenfels, as well as that of the Elector Frederick Augustus (who was also King of Poland) in Dresden. Bach frequently disagreed with his employer, Leipzig's city council, whom he regarded as "penny-pinching". + + +==== Cantata cycle years (1723–1729) ==== + +In 1723, and until 1729, Bach was appointed as Thomaskantor and director musices in Leipzig, which made him responsible for the music at four churches. He provided church music for the two main churches, St. Thomas and St. Nicholas, and occasionally also for two others, the New Church and St. Peter. Bach took office in the middle of the liturgical year, on the first Sunday after Trinity. In Leipzig, cantata music was expected on Sundays and on feast days, except during the tempus clausum ("silent periods") of Advent and Lent. In 1725, the feast fell on Palm Sunday. Annunciation was the only occasion for festive music during Lent. The prescribed readings were, as the epistle, Isaiah's prophecy of the birth of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:10–16), and from the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel announcing the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:26–38). +In his first twelve months in office, Bach decided to compose new works for almost all liturgical occasions. These works became known as his first cantata cycle. In his second year in office, Bach composed a cycle of chorale cantatas, with each cantata based on one Lutheran hymn, for the liturgical occasions. The choice of hymn for each of the cantatas was probably made according to the wishes of a local minister, who based the choices upon the prescribed readings and his plans for sermons. Compared to the first cycle, the music has less emphasis on biblical texts, but more on the use of chorale text and melody. Bach's earliest extant chorale cantata, Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, written more than a decade before arriving in Leipzig, followed the per omnes versus principle, that is, it adopted the text of all stanzas of the hymn without modification, the hymn's melody being used throughout. Most of the chorale cantatas Bach wrote in his second year in Leipzig, including Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, were formatted differently. In this structure, the outer stanzas of the hymn, and its melody, were retained in the outer movements of the cantata: typically the first stanza was set as an opening chorale fantasia, and the last as a closing four-part chorale. The inner stanzas of the hymn were rephrased into recitatives and arias for the cantata's inner movements, their setting mostly not based on the hymn tune. + + +==== Middle years in Leipzig (1730–1739) ==== + +Before starting on the Gospel of Mark after 1730, Bach had composed the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion; the latter was first performed on Good Friday 11 April 1727. The 1731 St Mark Passion (German: Markus-Passion), BWV 247, is a lost Passion setting by Bach, first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday, 23 March 1731. Though Bach's music is lost, the libretto by Picander is extant, and the work can to some degree be reconstructed from it. In 1733 Bach composed a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in B minor for the court in Dresden, which had become Catholic, that he later used in his Mass in B minor. He presented the manuscript to the Elector in a successful bid to persuade the prince to give him the title of Court Composer. He later extended this work into a full mass by adding a Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original. Bach's appointment as Court Composer was part of his long struggle to achieve greater bargaining power with the Leipzig council. + +Bach composed his Christmas Oratorio for the 1734–35 Christmas season in Leipzig, by using works he had already composed such as the Christmas cantatas and other church music for all seven occasions of the Christmas season including part of his Weimar cantata cycle and Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63. In 1735 Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as the third Clavier-Übung in 1739. From around that year he started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that became the second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier. He received the title of "Royal Court Composer" from Augustus III of Poland in 1736. Between 1737 and 1739 Bach's former pupil Carl Gotthelf Gerlach held the directorship of the Collegium Musicum. + + +==== Final years (1740–1750) ==== +From 1740 to 1748 Bach copied, transcribed, expanded or programmed music in an older polyphonic style (stile antico) by, among others, Palestrina (BNB I/P/2), Kerll (BWV 241), Torri (BWV Anh. 30), Bassani (BWV 1081), Gasparini (Missa Canonica), and Caldara (BWV 1082). Bach's style shifted in the last decade of his life, showing an increased integration of elements of the stile antico, including polyphonic structures and canons. His fourth and last Clavier-Übung volume, the Goldberg Variations for two-manual harpsichord, contains nine canons and was published in 1741. During this period, Bach also continued to adapt music of contemporaries such as Handel (BNB I/K/2) and Stölzel (BWV 200), and gave many of his own earlier compositions, such as the St Matthew and St John Passions and the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, their final revisions. He also programmed and adapted music by composers of a younger generation, including Pergolesi (BWV 1083), and his own students, such as Goldberg (BNB I/G/2). +In 1746 Bach was preparing to enter Lorenz Christoph Mizler's Society of Musical Sciences. To be admitted, he had to submit a composition. He chose his Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", and a portrait painted by Elias Gottlob Haussmann that featured Bach's Canon triplex á 6 Voc. In May 1747, Bach visited the court of King Frederick the Great in Potsdam. The king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on it. Bach obliged, playing a three-part fugue on one of Frederick's early prototypes of a new instrument, the fortepiano. Upon his return to Leipzig he composed a set of fugues and canons and a trio sonata based on the Thema Regium ("King's Theme"). Within a few weeks this music was published as The Musical Offering and dedicated to Frederick. The Schübler Chorales, a set of six chorale preludes transcribed from cantata movements Bach had written two decades earlier, were published within a year. Around the same time, the set of five canonic variations Bach had submitted when entering Mizler's society in 1747 were also printed. +Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years. Beginning around 1742 he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues of The Art of Fugue, which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death. After extracting a cantata, BWV 191, from his 1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court in the mid-1740s, Bach expanded that setting into his Mass in B minor in the last years of his life. The complete mass was not performed during his lifetime. It is considered among the greatest choral works in history. In January 1749, with Bach in declining health, his daughter Elisabeth Juliane Friederica married his pupil Johann Christoph Altnickol. On 2 June Heinrich von Brühl wrote to one of the Leipzig burgomasters to request that his music director, Gottlob Harrer, fill the Thomaskantor and Director musices posts "upon the eventual ... decease of Mr. Bach". His eyesight failing, Bach underwent eye surgery in March 1750 and again in April by the British eye surgeon John Taylor, a man widely understood today as a charlatan and believed to have blinded hundreds of people, including Bach's contemporary George Frideric Handel. + + +== Death and burial == +Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to unsuccessful eye surgery. He had a stroke a few days before his death. He was originally buried at Old St John's Cemetery in Leipzig, where his grave went unmarked for nearly 150 years. In 1894, his remains were found and moved to a vault in St John's Church. This building was destroyed by Allied bombing during the Second World War, and in 1950 Bach's remains were taken to their present grave in St Thomas Church. Later research has called into question whether the remains in the grave are actually Bach's. +An inventory drawn up a few months after Bach's death shows that his estate included five harpsichords, two lute-harpsichords, three violins, three violas, two cellos, a viola da gamba, a lute, a spinet, and 52 "sacred books", including works by Martin Luther and Josephus. C. P. E. Bach saw to it that The Art of Fugue, though unfinished, was published in 1751. Together with one of J. S. Bach's former students, Johann Friedrich Agricola, C. P. E. Bach also wrote the obituary ("Nekrolog"), which was published in Mizler's Musikalische Bibliothek, a periodical journal produced by the Society of Musical Sciences, in 1754. + + +== Music == + +Bach's music encompasses every genre of his time aside from opera. His body of work includes more than 200 sacred and secular cantatas; dozens of other (often large-scale) vocal works, including oratorios, passions, motets, and various Latin church music; a large body of both organ and keyboard music; and several collections of orchestral and chamber music, which are often hard to distinguish. Musicologists often loosely link specific genres to different career stages: organ music during his positions as organist in Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen; chamber and orchestral works during his tenure as Kapellmeister in Köthen; and choral music during his years as cantor in Leipzig. Although these emphases reflected professional duties, Bach's artistic ambitions typically far exceeded the practical requirements of his positions. Wolff observes that Bach's career trajectory shows a deliberate progression from organist to Konzertmeister, reflecting his evolving musical interests. +Bach had extensive awareness of contemporary European music and developed his musical voice from a synthesized conglomerate of styles. Among his most important early influences were three Germans he knew personally, Dieterich Buxtehude, Georg Böhm, and Johann Reincken. C. P. E. Bach also gives as later influences the Germans Reinhard Keiser, Johann Adolph Hasse, Carl Heinrich Graun, Johann Gottlieb Graun, and Georg Philipp Telemann; the Bohemians active in Germany Jan Dismas Zelenka, and Franz Benda; and the British-German George Frideric Handel. Throughout his life, Bach was deeply interested in Italian and French music, seeking to unite the two traditions—particularly the Italian sonata and the French suite—into a “mixed style” (vermischte Geschmack). He often incorporated the clarity of Italian melodic structure and the dance forms of the French. Representative influences included the Frenchmen Nicolas de Grigny, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marin Marais, and André Raison; the Italians Luigi Battiferri and Girolamo Frescobaldi; the proponents of the so-called stile antico, Tomaso Albinoni, Antonio Caldara, and Antonio Lotti; and the latter group's Renaissance forebear Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. From c. 1712 onwards, Antonio Vivaldi's music was Bach's most important influence, having—according to Forkel—"taught him to think musically". +Only a small number of Bach's compositions were printed during his lifetime, mostly for keyboard or organ. His music for keyboard—and, to a somewhat lesser extent, for organ—also occupied him most consistently throughout his life. In addition, Bach's experience as a violinist, violist, and (at least early on) singer contributed to a versatile output that is frequently technically demanding and often virtuosic, although Wolff writes that "technical virtuosity never predominates; it becomes a functional element within the composition as a whole." Another essential component of Bach's style is his compositional craftsmanship, which spans a fluency of highly complex counterpoint and harmony in both homophonic and polyphonic textures. To this end, Bach's music incorporates frequent modulations, often achieved through harmonic sequences; intricate four-part harmony, including the more than 400 chorales throughout his output; and contrapuntal structures such as the canon and particularly fugue, which feature in many of his compositions. + + +=== Creative range === + +Bach's creative range and musical style encompassed four-part harmony, modulation, ornamentation, use of continuo instruments solos, virtuoso instrumentation, counterpoint, and a refined attention to structure and lyrics. Like his contemporaries Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi, Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives, da capo arias, and four-part choral music, and employed basso continuo. Most of the prints of Bach's music that appeared during his lifetime were commissioned by the composer. His music is harmonically more innovative than his peers', employing surprisingly dissonant chords and progressions, often extensively exploring harmonic possibilities within one piece. +Bach's hundreds of sacred works are usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but also a deep faith in God. His commitment to the Lutheran faith was reflected in his teaching Luther's Small Catechism as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and some of his pieces represent it. The contents of Luther's Small Catechism contain such religious themes as the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, the Office of the Keys and Confession, and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Lutheran chorale was the basis of much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale preludes, he wrote more cogent and tightly integrated works than most, even when they were massive and lengthy. The large-scale structure of every major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate planning to create religiously and musically powerful expression. Bach published or carefully compiled in manuscript many collections of pieces that explored the range of artistic and technical possibilities inherent in almost every genre of his time except opera. For example, The Well-Tempered Clavier comprises two books, each of which presents a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key. + + +=== Compositional style in the High Baroque === + + +==== Four-part harmony ==== + +Four-part harmony predates Bach, but he lived during a time when modal music in Western tradition was largely supplanted by the tonal system. In this system a piece of music progresses from one chord to the next according to certain rules, with each chord characterised by four notes. The principles of four-part harmony are found not only in Bach's four-part choral music; he also prescribes it for instance in figured bass accompaniment. The new system was at the core of Bach's style. Some examples of this characteristic of Bach's style and its influence: + +When in the 1740s Bach staged his arrangement of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, he upgraded the viola part (which in the original composition plays in unison with the bass part) to fill in the harmony, thus adapting the composition to four-part harmony. +When, starting in the 19th century in Russia, there was a discussion about the authenticity of four-part court chant settings compared to earlier Russian traditions, Bach's four-part chorale settings, such as those ending his Chorale cantatas, were considered foreign-influenced musical precedents, but such influence was deemed unavoidable. + +Bach's insistence on the tonal system and contribution to shaping it did not imply he was less at ease with the older modal system and the genres associated with it: more than his contemporaries (who had "moved on" to the tonal system without much exception), he often returned to the then-antiquated modes and genres. His Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, emulating the chromatic fantasia genre used by earlier composers such as John Dowland and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in D Dorian mode (comparable to D minor in the tonal system), is an example. Bach's first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, wrote of Bach's original approach to this: "I have expended much effort to find another piece of this type by Bach. But it was in vain. This fantasy is unique and has always been second to none." + + +==== Modulation ==== +Modulation, or changing key in the course of a piece, is another style characteristic where Bach goes beyond the norm in his time. Baroque instruments vastly limited modulation possibilities: keyboard instruments, before a workable system of temperament, limited the keys that could be modulated to, and wind instruments, especially brass instruments such as trumpets and horns, about a century before they were fitted with valves and crooks, were tied to the key of their tuning. Bach pushed the limits: he added "strange tones" in his organ playing, confusing the singers, according to an indictment he had to face in Arnstadt, and Louis Marchand, another early experimenter with modulation, seems to have avoided confrontation with Bach because the latter went further than anyone had done before. For example, in the Suscepit Israel of his 1723 Magnificat, he used a sophisticated compositional form in which the trumpets in E-flat play a melody in unfamiliar, variable-size quarter tones in the enharmonic scale of C minor. +The major development in Bach's time to which he was a significant contributor was a temperament for keyboard instruments that allowed their use in every key (12 major and 12 minor) and modulation without retuning. His Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother, a very early work, showed a gusto for modulation unlike any contemporary work it has been compared to, but the full expansion came with The Well-Tempered Clavier, using all keys, which Bach apparently had been developing since around 1720, the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach being one of its earliest examples. + + +==== Ornamentation ==== + +The second page of the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is an ornament notation and performance guide that Bach wrote for his eldest son, then nine years old. Bach was generally quite specific on ornamentation in his compositions (in his time, much ornamentation was not written out by composers but rather considered a liberty of the performer), and his ornamentation was often quite elaborate. For instance, the "Aria" of the Goldberg Variations has rich ornamentation in nearly every measure. Bach's approach to ornamentation can also be seen in a keyboard arrangement he made of Marcello's Oboe Concerto: he added explicit ornamentation, which centuries later is still played. +Although Bach wrote no formal operas, he was not averse to the genre or its ornamented vocal style, as in his Coffee Cantata. In church music, Italian composers had imitated the operatic vocal style in genres such as the Neapolitan mass. In Protestant surroundings, there was more reluctance to adopt such a style for liturgical music. Kuhnau had notoriously shunned opera and Italian virtuoso vocal music. Bach felt differently, and a performance of his St Matthew Passion was described as sounding like opera. + + +==== Continuo instrument solos ==== + +In concerted playing in Bach's time, the basso continuo, consisting of instruments such as viola da gamba or cello, and harpsichord or organ, usually had the role of accompaniment, providing a piece's harmonic and rhythmic foundation. Beginning in the 1720s Bach had the organ play concertante (i.e., as a soloist) with the orchestra in instrumental cantata movements, a decade before Handel published his first organ concertos. Apart from the fifth Brandenburg Concerto and the Triple Concerto, which already had harpsichord soloists in the 1720s, Bach wrote and arranged his harpsichord concertos in the 1730s, and in his sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord neither instrument plays a continuo part: they are treated as equal soloists, far beyond the figured bass. In this way, Bach played a key role in the development of genres such as the keyboard concerto. + + +==== Instrumentation ==== +Bach wrote virtuoso music for specific instruments as well as music independent of instrumentation. For instance, the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin are considered among the finest works written for violin, within reach of only accomplished players. The music fits the instrument, using the full gamut of its possibilities and requiring virtuosity but without bravura. Notwithstanding that the music and the instrument seem inseparable, Bach transcribed some pieces in this collection for other instruments. For example, Bach transcribed one of the Cello Suites for lute. In this sense, it is no surprise that Bach's music is easily and often performed on instruments it was not written for, that it is transcribed so often, and that his melodies turn up in unexpected places, such as jazz music. Apart from this, Bach left several compositions without specified instrumentation: the canons BWV 1072–1078 are in that category, as is the bulk of the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue. + + +==== Counterpoint ==== + +Another characteristic of Bach's style is his extensive use of counterpoint, as opposed to the homophony used in his four-part chorale settings, for example. Bach's canons, and especially his fugues, are the most characteristic of this style, which he did not invent but contributed to so fundamentally as to influence many followers. Fugues are as characteristic of Bach's style as, for instance, sonata form is of the composers of the Classical period. +These strictly contrapuntal compositions, and most of Bach's music in general, are characterised by distinct melodic lines for each voice, where the chords formed by the notes sounding at a given point follow the rules of four-part harmony. Forkel, Bach's first biographer, gives this description of this feature of Bach's music, which sets it apart from most other music: + +If the language of music is merely the utterance of a melodic line, a simple sequence of musical notes, it can justly be accused of poverty. The addition of a Bass puts it upon a harmonic foundation and clarifies it but defines rather than gives it added richness. A melody so accompanied—even though all the notes are not those of the true Bass—or treated with simple embellishments in the upper parts or with simple chords used to be called "homophony". But it is a very different thing when two melodies are so interwoven that they converse together like two persons upon a footing of pleasant equality/... From 1720, when he was thirty-five until he died in 1750, Bach's harmony consists in this melodic interweaving of independent melodies, so perfect in their union that each part seems to constitute the true melody... Even in his four-part writing, we can, not infrequently, leave out the upper and lower parts and still find the middle parts harmonious and agreeable. + + +==== Structure and lyrics ==== +Bach devoted more attention than his contemporaries to the structure of his compositions. This can be seen in minor adjustments he made when adapting someone else's work, such as his earliest version of the "Keiser" St Mark Passion, where he enhances scene transitions, and in the architecture of his own work, such as his Magnificat and Leipzig Passions. In his last years, Bach revised several of his compositions, sometimes by recasting them in an enhanced structure for emphasis, as with, for example, the Mass in B minor. Bach's known preoccupation with structure led to various numerological analyses of his compositions. These peaked around the 1970s. Many were later rejected, especially those that wandered into symbolism-ridden hermeneutics. +The librettos, or lyrics, of his vocal compositions played an essential role for Bach. He sought collaboration with various text authors for his cantatas and major vocal compositions, possibly writing or adapting such texts himself to make them fit the structure of the composition when he could not rely on the talents of other text authors. His collaboration with Picander for the St Matthew Passion libretto is best known, but there was a similar process in achieving a multi-layered structure for his St John Passion libretto a few years earlier. + + +==== Fugue structure ==== + +Among the compositional techniques Bach used, the form of the fugue recurs throughout his work; a fugue (derived from the Latin for "flight" or "escape") is a contrapuntal, polyphonic compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches), which recurs frequently throughout the composition. Most fugues open with the subject, which then sounds successively in each voice. When each voice has completed its entry of the subject, the exposition is complete. This is often followed by a connecting passage, or episode, developed from previously heard material; further "entries" of the subject are then heard in related keys. Episodes (if applicable) and entries are usually alternated until the final entry of the subject, at which point the music has returned to the opening key, or tonic, which is often followed by a coda. Bach was well known for his fugues and shaped his own works after those of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Johann Jakob Froberger, Johann Pachelbel, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Dieterich Buxtehude and others. + + +=== Copies, arrangements, and uncertain attributions === + +In his early youth, Bach copied pieces by other composers to learn from them. Later, he copied and arranged music for performance or as study material for his pupils. Some of these pieces, like "Bist du bei mir" (copied not by Bach but by Anna Magdalena), became famous before being associated with Bach. Bach copied and arranged Italian masters such as Vivaldi (e.g. BWV 1065), Pergolesi (BWV 1083) and Palestrina (Missa Sine nomine), French masters such as François Couperin (BWV Anh. 183), and various German masters, including Telemann (e.g. BWV 824=TWV 32:14) and Handel (arias from Brockes Passion), and music by members of his own family. He also often copied and arranged his own music (e.g. movements from cantatas for his short masses BWV 233–236), as his music was likewise copied and arranged by others. Some of these arrangements, like the late 19th-century "Air on the G String", helped to popularise Bach's music. +Who copied whom is sometimes unclear. For instance, Forkel mentions a Mass for double chorus among Bach's works. It was published and performed in the early 19th century. Although a score partially in Bach's handwriting exists, the work was later considered spurious. In 1950, the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis was designed to keep such works out of the main catalogue; if there was a strong association with Bach, they could be listed in its appendix (German: Anhang, abbreviated as Anh.). Thus, for instance, the Mass for double chorus became BWV Anh. 167. But this was far from the end of the attribution problems. For instance, Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde, BWV 53, was later attributed to Melchior Hoffmann. For other works, Bach's authorship was put in doubt: the best-known organ composition in the BWV catalogue, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, was one of these uncertain works in the late 20th century. + + +== Reception and legacy == + +In the 18th century Bach's music was appreciated mostly by distinguished connoisseurs. The first biography of Bach was published at the beginning of the 19th century and the Bach Gesellschaft completed and published all his known works at the end of the century. Starting with the Bach Revival, Bach began to be regarded as one of the greatest composers, a reputation he has maintained. The BACH motif, which he occasionally used in his compositions, has been used in dozens of tributes to him since the 19th century. + + +=== 18th century === + +Through the later half of the 18th century, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's reputation was very high, surpassing his father's. Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven admired him and "avidly" collected his music. Mozart said of Carl Philipp Emanuel, "Bach is the father, we are the children." But throughout his life, Carl Philipp Emanuel continued to recognize many aspects of his father's originality in his own compositions, which were often received in preference to his father's after his father died. +In his own time, Bach was highly regarded by his colleagues, but his reputation outside this small circle of connoisseurs was due not to his compositions (which had an extremely narrow circulation), but to his virtuosic abilities. Nevertheless, during his life, Bach received public recognition, such as the title of court composer by Augustus III of Poland and the appreciation he was shown by Frederick the Great and Hermann Karl von Keyserling. This appreciation contrasted with the humiliations he faced, for instance, in Leipzig. Bach also had detractors in the contemporary press (Johann Adolf Scheibe suggested he write less complex music) and supporters, such as Johann Mattheson and Lorenz Christoph Mizler. After his death, Bach's reputation as a composer initially declined: his work was regarded as old-fashioned compared to the emerging galant style. He was remembered more as a virtuoso organ player and a teacher. The bulk of the music printed during his lifetime was for organ or harpsichord. + +Bach's surviving family members, who inherited many of his manuscripts, were not all equally concerned with preserving them, leading to considerable losses. Carl Philipp Emanuel was most active in safeguarding his father's legacy: he co-authored his father's obituary, contributed to the publication of his four-part chorales, presented some of his works, and helped preserve the bulk of his previously unpublished work. In 1805, Abraham Mendelssohn, who had married one of the granddaughters of Daniel Itzig (an official of Frederick the Great who venerated Bach), bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C. P. E. Bach, and donated it to the Berlin Sing-Akademie. Wilhelm Friedemann, the eldest son, performed several of his father's cantatas in Halle but, after becoming unemployed, sold part of his large collection of his father's works. Several of Bach's students, such as his son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnickol, Johann Friedrich Agricola, Johann Kirnberger, and Johann Ludwig Krebs, contributed to the dissemination of his legacy. The early devotees were not all musicians; for example, Itzig, a high official, was not. His eldest daughters took lessons from Kirnberger and their sister Sara from Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, who was in Berlin from 1774 to 1784. Sara Itzig Levy became an avid collector of work by J. S. Bach and his sons and a patron of C. P. E. Bach. +While Bach was in Leipzig, performances of his church music were limited to some of his motets and, under his student cantor Johann Friedrich Doles, some of his Passions. A new generation of Bach aficionados emerged who studiously collected and copied his music, including some of his large-scale works, such as the Mass in B minor, and performed them privately. One was Gottfried van Swieten, a high-ranking Austrian official who was instrumental in passing Bach's legacy on to the composers of the Viennese school. Haydn owned manuscript copies of The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Mass in B minor and was influenced by Bach's music. Mozart owned a copy of one of Bach's motets, transcribed some of his instrumental works (Preludes and Fugues for Violin, Viola and Cello, K. 404a (1782), Fugues for 2 Violins, Viola and Cello, K. 405 (1782)), and wrote contrapuntal music influenced by his style. Beethoven had learned The Well-Tempered Clavier in its entirety by the time he was 11 in 1781 and called Bach the Urvater der Harmonie (progenitor of harmony). + + +=== 19th century === + +In 1802 Johann Nikolaus Forkel published Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work, the first Bach biography, dedicated to van Swieten. In 1805, Abraham Mendelssohn bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C. P. E. Bach, and donated it to the Berlin Sing-Akademie. The Sing-Akademie occasionally performed Bach's works in public concerts, for instance, his first keyboard concerto, with Sara Itzig Levy at the piano. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. +The first decades of the 19th century saw an increasing number of first publications of Bach's music: Breitkopf & Härtel started publishing chorale preludes, Hoffmeister harpsichord music, and The Well-Tempered Clavier was printed concurrently by N. Simrock (Germany), Hans Georg Nägeli (Switzerland) and Franz Anton Hoffmeister (Germany and Austria) in 1801. Vocal music was also published: motets in 1802 and 1803, followed by the E♭ major version of the Magnificat, the Kyrie-Gloria Mass in A major, and the cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80. In 1818 the publisher Hans Georg Nägeli called the Mass in B minor the greatest composition ever. Bach's influence was felt in the next generation of early Romantic composers. Abraham's son Felix, aged 13, produced his first Magnificat setting in 1822, and it is clearly inspired by the then-unpublished D major version of Bach's Magnificat. + +Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 performance of the St. Matthew Passion precipitated the Bach Revival. The St. John Passion saw its 19th-century premiere in 1833, and the first public performance of the Mass in B minor followed in 1844. Besides these and other public performances and increased coverage of the composer and his compositions in printed media, the 1830s and 1840s also saw the first publication of more Bach vocal works: six cantatas, the St. Matthew Passion, and the Mass in B minor. A series of organ compositions were first published in 1833. Frédéric Chopin started composing his 24 Preludes, Op. 28, inspired by The Well-Tempered Clavier, in 1835, and Robert Schumann published his Sechs Fugen über den Namen BACH in 1845. Bach's music was transcribed and arranged to suit contemporary tastes and performance practice by composers such as Carl Friedrich Zelter, Robert Franz, and Franz Liszt, or combined with new music such as the melody line of Charles Gounod's "Ave Maria". Liszt developed an interest in J. S. Bach's organ music in the early 1840s, probably due to Mendelssohn's influence, and commissioned a "piano-organ" from the Paris company Alexandre Père et Fils. The instrument was made in 1854 under Berlioz's supervision, using an 1853 Érard piano, and was a combination of piano and harmonium with three manuals and a pedal board; Liszt later transcribed works by Bach such as his Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 for solo piano performance as S.463. +In 1850 the Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) was founded to promote Bach's music. The Society chose Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1 as the first composition in the first volume of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA). Robert Schumann, the publisher of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Thomaskantor Moritz Hauptmann, and the philologist Otto Jahn initiated this first complete edition of Bach's works a century after his death. Its first volume was published in 1851, edited by Hauptmann. In the second half of the 19th century, the Society published a comprehensive edition of his works. In 1854, Bach was deemed one of the Three Bs by Peter Cornelius, the others being Beethoven and Berlioz. (Hans von Bülow later replaced Berlioz with Brahms.) From 1873 to 1880 Philipp Spitta published Johann Sebastian Bach, the standard work on Bach's life and music. During the 19th century, 200 books were published on Bach. By the end of the century, local Bach societies were established in several cities, and his music had been performed in all major musical centres. In 1870, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote to Erwin Rohde: "This week I heard the St. Matthew Passion three times and each time I had the same feeling of immeasurable admiration. One who has completely forgotten Christianity truly hears it here as Gospel." In 19th-century Germany, Bach was coupled with nationalist feeling. In England, Bach was coupled with a revival of religious and Baroque music. By the end of the century, Bach was firmly established as one of the greatest composers, recognised for both his instrumental and his vocal music. + + +=== 20th century === +During the 20th century, recognition of the musical and pedagogic value of Bach's works continued, as in the promotion of the Cello Suites by Pablo Casals, the first major performer to record them. Claude Debussy called Bach a "benevolent God" "to whom musicians should offer a prayer before setting to work so that they may be preserved from mediocrity." Glenn Gould's debut 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations transformed the work from an obscure piece often considered "esoteric" to part of the standard piano repertoire. The album had "astonishing" sales for a classical work: it was reported to have sold 40,000 copies by 1960, and had sold more than 100,000 by the time of Gould's death in 1982. Andres Segovia left behind a large body of edited works and transcriptions for classical guitar, notably a transcription of the Chaconne from the 2nd Partita for Violin (BWV 1004). +A significant development in the later 20th century was historically informed performance practice, with forerunners such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt acquiring prominence through their performances of Bach's music. Bach's keyboard music was again performed on the harpsichord and other Baroque instruments rather than on modern pianos and 19th-century romantic organs. Ensembles playing and singing Bach's music not only kept to the instruments and the performance style of his day but were also reduced to the size of the groups Bach used for his performances. But that was not the only way Bach's music came to the forefront in the 20th century: his music was heard in versions ranging from Ferruccio Busoni's late-romantic Bach-Busoni Editions for piano to the orchestrations of Leopold Stokowski, whose interpretation of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor opened Disney's Fantasia film. +Bach's music has influenced other genres. Jazz musicians have adapted it, with Jacques Loussier, Ian Anderson, Uri Caine, and the Modern Jazz Quartet among those creating jazz versions of his works. Several 20th-century composers referred to Bach or his music, for example Eugène Ysaÿe in Six Sonatas for solo violin, Dmitri Shostakovich in 24 Preludes and Fugues, and Heitor Villa-Lobos in Bachianas Brasileiras (tr. Bach-inspired Brazilian pieces). A wide variety of publications involved Bach: there were the Bach Jahrbuch publications of the Neue Bachgesellschaft and various other biographies and studies by, among others, Albert Schweitzer, Charles Sanford Terry, Alfred Dürr, Christoph Wolff, Peter Williams, and John Butt, and the 1950 first edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis. Books such as Gödel, Escher, Bach put the composer's art in a wider perspective. Bach's music was extensively listened to, performed, broadcast, arranged, adapted, and commented upon in the 1990s. Around 2000, the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, three record companies issued box sets of recordings of his complete works. +Three works by Bach are featured on the Voyager Golden Records, gramophone records containing a broad sample of the images, sounds, languages, and music of Earth, sent into space with the two Voyager probes: the first movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 (conducted by Karl Richter), the "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita for Violin No. 3 (played by Arthur Grumiaux), and the Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major from The Well-Tempered Clavier (played by Glenn Gould). Twentieth-century tributes to Bach include statues erected in his honour and things such as streets and space objects named after him. A multitude of musical ensembles, such as the Bach Aria Group, Deutsche Bachsolisten, Bachchor Stuttgart, and Bach Collegium Japan took the composer's name. Bach festivals were held on several continents, and competitions and prizes such as the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition (Washington D.C.), and the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize were named after him. While by the end of the 19th century, Bach had been inscribed in nationalism and religious revival, the late 20th century saw Bach as the subject of a secularised art-as-religion (Kunstreligion). + + +=== 21st century === +In the 21st century Bach's compositions have become available online, for instance at the International Music Score Library Project. High-resolution facsimiles of Bach's autographs became available at the Bach Digital website. 21st-century biographers include Christoph Wolff, Peter Williams, and John Eliot Gardiner. In 2011 Anthony Tommasini, chief classical music critic of The New York Times, ranked Bach the greatest composer of all time, "for his matchless combination of masterly musical engineering (as one reader put it) and profound expressivity. Since writing about Bach in the first article of this series I have been thinking more about the perception that he was considered old-fashioned in his day. Haydn was 18 when Bach died, in 1750, and Classicism was stirring. Bach was surely aware of the new trends. Yet he reacted by digging deeper into his way of doing things. In his austerely beautiful Art of Fugue, left incomplete at his death, Bach reduced complex counterpoint to its bare essentials, not even indicating the instrument (or instruments) for which these works were composed... through his chorales alone Bach explored the far reaches of tonal harmony." +Alex Ross wrote, "Bach became an absolute master of his art by never ceasing to be a student of it. His most exalted sacred works—the two extant Passions, from the seventeen-twenties, and the Mass in B Minor, completed not long before his death in 1750—are feats of synthesis, mobilizing secular devices to spiritual ends. They are rooted in archaic chants, hymns, and chorales. They honour, with consummate skill, the scholastic discipline of canon and fugue... Their furious development of brief motifs anticipates Beethoven, who worshipped Bach when he was young. And their most daring harmonic adventures—for example, the otherworldly modulations in the 'Confiteor' of the B-Minor Mass—look ahead to Wagner, even to Schoenberg." The liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church has a feast day for Bach on 28 July; on the same day, the Calendar of Saints of some Lutheran churches, such as the ELCA, remembers Bach, Handel, and Heinrich Schütz. As of 2013 over 150 recordings have been made of The Well-Tempered Clavier. In 2015 Bach's handwritten personal copy of the Mass in B minor, held by the Berlin State Library, was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. On 21 March 2019, Bach was celebrated in an interactive Google Doodle that used machine learning to synthesize a tune in his signature style. + + +== See also == +Portraits of Johann Sebastian Bach + + +== References == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== Citations === + + +=== Sources === + + +==== Early ==== + + +==== Modern ==== + +Articles + +Other + + +== External links == + +Bach: A Passionate Life. BBC Two, a documentary hosted by John Eliot Gardiner featuring artists from other fields who are enthusiasts of Bach's works. +"Discovering Bach". BBC Radio 3. +Bach-Leipzig website of the Bach Archive. +Yo Tomita's Bach Bibliography (23 March 2012) Archived 16 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine, mirror at the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. +Bach Cantatas Website, a comprehensive companion to Bach's cantatas. +Works by or about Johann Sebastian Bach at the Internet Archive. +Scores + +Free scores by Johann Sebastian Bach at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP). +Johann Sebastian Bach at the Musopen project. +Music manuscripts and early prints at Bach Digital website. +Recordings + +Johann Sebastian Bach recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. +Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) at Muziekweb website. +All of Bach website of the Netherlands Bach Society. diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/12_gustav_mahler.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/12_gustav_mahler.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..792be60 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/12_gustav_mahler.txt @@ -0,0 +1,200 @@ +Gustav Mahler (German: [ˈɡʊstaf ˈmaːlɐ] ; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. +Born in Bohemia to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts of rising importance in the opera houses of Europe, culminating in his appointment in 1897 as director of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler—who had converted to Catholicism to secure the post—experienced regular opposition and hostility from the anti-Semitic press. Nevertheless, his innovative productions and insistence on the highest performance standards ensured his reputation as one of the greatest of opera conductors, particularly as an interpreter of the stage works of Wagner, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. Late in his life he was briefly director of New York's Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. +Mahler's œuvre is relatively limited; for much of his life composing was necessarily a part-time activity while he earned his living as a conductor. Aside from early works such as a movement from a piano quartet composed when he was a student in Vienna, Mahler's works are generally designed for large orchestral forces, symphonic choruses and operatic soloists. These works were frequently controversial when first performed, and several were slow to receive critical and popular approval; exceptions included his Second Symphony, and the triumphant premiere of his Eighth Symphony in 1910. Some of Mahler's immediate musical successors included the composers of the Second Viennese School, notably Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. Dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten are among later 20th-century composers who admired and were influenced by Mahler. The International Gustav Mahler Society was established in 1955 to honour the composer's life and achievements. + + +== Early life == + + +=== Family background === + +The Mahler family came from eastern Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, and were of humble circumstances—the composer's grandmother had been a street pedlar. Bohemia was then part of the Austrian Empire; the Mahler family belonged to a German-speaking minority among Bohemians, and was also Jewish. From this background the future composer developed early on a permanent sense of exile, "always an intruder, never welcomed". The pedlar's son Bernhard Mahler, the composer's father, elevated himself to the ranks of the petite bourgeoisie by becoming a coachman and later an innkeeper. He bought a modest house in the village of Kaliště (German: Kalischt), and in 1857 married Marie Herrmann, the 19-year-old daughter of a local soap manufacturer. In the following year Marie gave birth to the first of the couple's 14 children, a son named Isidor, who died in infancy. Two years later, on 7 July 1860, their second son, Gustav, was born. + + +=== Childhood === +In December 1860, Bernhard Mahler moved with his wife and infant son to the city of Jihlava (German: Iglau), where Bernhard built up a successful distillery and tavern business. The family grew rapidly, but of the 12 children born to the family in the city, only six survived infancy. Jihlava was then a thriving commercial city of 20,000 people, in which Gustav was introduced to music through the street songs of the day, through dance tunes, folk melodies and the trumpet calls and marches of the local military band. All of these elements would later contribute to his mature musical vocabulary. +When he was four years old, Gustav discovered his grandparents' piano and took to it immediately. He developed his performing skills sufficiently to be considered a local Wunderkind and gave his first public performance at the town theatre when he was ten years old. Although Gustav loved making music, his school reports from the Jihlava Gymnasium portrayed him as absent-minded and unreliable in academic work. In 1871, in the hope of improving the boy's results, his father sent him to the New Town Gymnasium in Prague, but Gustav was unhappy there and soon returned to Jihlava. On 13 April 1875 he suffered a bitter personal loss when his younger brother Ernst (b. 18 March 1862) died after a long illness. Mahler sought to express his feelings in music: with the help of a friend, Josef Steiner, he began work on an opera, Herzog Ernst von Schwaben ("Duke Ernest of Swabia"), as a memorial to his lost brother. Neither the music nor the libretto of this work has survived. + + +=== Student days === +Bernhard Mahler supported his son's ambitions for a music career, and agreed that the boy should try for a place at the Vienna Conservatory. The young Mahler was auditioned by the renowned pianist Julius Epstein, and accepted for 1875–76. He made good progress in his piano studies with Epstein and won prizes at the end of each of his first two years. For his final year, 1877–78, he concentrated on composition and harmony under Robert Fuchs and Franz Krenn. Few of Mahler's student compositions have survived; most were abandoned when he became dissatisfied with them. He destroyed a symphonic movement prepared for an end-of-term competition, after its scornful rejection by the autocratic director Joseph Hellmesberger on the grounds of copying errors. Mahler may have gained his first conducting experience with the Conservatory's student orchestra, in rehearsals and performances, although it appears that his main role in this orchestra was as a percussionist. + +Among Mahler's fellow students at the Conservatory was the future song composer Hugo Wolf, with whom he formed a close friendship. Wolf was unable to submit to the strict disciplines of the Conservatory and was expelled. Mahler, while sometimes rebellious, avoided the same fate only by writing a penitent letter to Hellmesberger. He attended occasional lectures by Anton Bruckner and, though never formally his pupil, was influenced by him. On 16 December 1877, he attended the disastrous premiere of Bruckner's Third Symphony, at which the composer was shouted down, and most of the audience walked out. Mahler and other sympathetic students later prepared a piano version of the symphony, which they presented to Bruckner. Along with many music students of his generation, Mahler fell under the spell of Richard Wagner, though his chief interest was the sound of the music rather than the staging. It is not known whether he saw any of Wagner's operas during his student years. +Mahler left the conservatory in 1878 with a diploma but without the silver medal given for outstanding achievement. He then enrolled in the University of Vienna (he had, at his father's insistence, sat and with difficulty passed the Matura, a highly demanding final exam at a Gymnasium, which was a precondition for university studies) and followed courses which reflected his developing interests in literature and philosophy. After leaving the university in 1879, Mahler made some money as a piano teacher, continued to compose, and in 1880 finished a dramatic cantata, Das klagende Lied ("The Song of Lamentation"). This, his first substantial composition, shows traces of Wagnerian and Brucknerian influences, yet includes many musical elements which musicologist Deryck Cooke describes as "pure Mahler". Its first performance was delayed until 1901, when it was presented in a revised, shortened form. +Mahler developed interests in German philosophy, and was introduced by his friend Siegfried Lipiner to the works of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gustav Fechner and Hermann Lotze. These thinkers continued to influence Mahler and his music long after his student days were over. Mahler's biographer Jonathan Carr says that the composer's head was "not only full of the sound of Bohemian bands, trumpet calls and marches, Bruckner chorales and Schubert sonatas. It was also throbbing with the problems of philosophy and metaphysics he had thrashed out, above all, with Lipiner". + + +== Early conducting career 1880–1888 == + + +=== First appointments === +From June to August 1880, Mahler took his first professional conducting job, in a small wooden theatre in the spa town of Bad Hall, south of Linz. The repertory was exclusively operetta; it was, in Carr's words "a dismal little job", which Mahler accepted only after Julius Epstein told him he would soon work his way up. In 1881, he was engaged for six months (September to April) at the Landestheater in Laibach (now Ljubljana, in Slovenia), where the small but resourceful company was prepared to attempt more ambitious works. Here, Mahler conducted his first full-scale opera, Verdi's Il trovatore, one of 10 operas and a number of operettas that he presented during his time in Laibach. After completing this engagement, Mahler returned to Vienna and worked part-time as chorus-master at the Vienna Carltheater. +From the beginning of January 1883, Mahler became conductor at the Royal Municipal Theatre in Olmütz (now Olomouc) in Moravia. He later wrote: "From the moment I crossed the threshold of the Olmütz theatre I felt like one awaiting the wrath of God." Despite poor relations with the orchestra, Mahler brought nine operas to the theatre, including Bizet's Carmen, and won over the press that had initially been sceptical of him. After a week's trial at the Royal Theatre in the Hessian town of Kassel, Mahler became the theatre's "Musical and Choral Director" from August 1883. The title concealed the reality that Mahler was subordinate to the theatre's Kapellmeister, Wilhelm Treiber, who disliked him (and vice versa) and set out to make his life miserable. Despite the unpleasant atmosphere, Mahler had moments of success at Kassel. He directed a performance of his favourite opera, Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz, and 25 other operas. On 23 June 1884, he conducted his own incidental music to Joseph Victor von Scheffel's play Der Trompeter von Säckingen ("The Trumpeter of Säckingen"), the first professional public performance of a Mahler work. An ardent, but ultimately unfulfilled, love affair with soprano Johanna Richter led Mahler to write a series of love poems which became the text of his song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen ("Songs of a Wayfarer"). +In January 1884, the distinguished conductor Hans von Bülow brought the Meiningen Court Orchestra to Kassel and gave two concerts. Hoping to escape from his job in the theatre, Mahler unsuccessfully sought a post as Bülow's permanent assistant. However, in the following year his efforts to find new employment resulted in a six-year contract with the prestigious Leipzig Opera, to begin in August 1886. Unwilling to remain in Kassel for another year, Mahler resigned on 22 June 1885, and applied for, and through good fortune was offered, a standby appointment as conductor at the Royal Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague by the theatre's newly appointed director, the famous Angelo Neumann. + + +=== Prague and Leipzig === + +In Prague, the emergence of the Czech National Revival had increased the popularity and importance of the new Czech National Theatre, and had led to a downturn in the Neues Deutsches Theater's fortunes. Mahler's task was to help arrest this decline by offering high-quality productions of German opera. He enjoyed early success presenting works by Mozart and Wagner, composers with whom he would be particularly associated for the rest of his career, but his individualistic and increasingly autocratic conducting style led to friction, and a falling out with his more experienced fellow-conductor, Ludwig Slansky. During his 12 months in Prague he conducted 68 performances of 14 operas (12 titles were new in his repertory), and he also performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the first time in his life. By the end of the season, in July 1886, Mahler left Prague to take up his post at the Neues Stadttheater in Leipzig, where rivalry with his senior colleague Arthur Nikisch began almost at once. This conflict was primarily over how the two should share conducting duties for the theatre's new production of Wagner's Ring cycle. Nikisch's illness, from February to April 1887, meant that Mahler took charge of the whole cycle (except Götterdämmerung), and scored a resounding public success. This did not, however, win him popularity with the orchestra, who resented his dictatorial manner and heavy rehearsal schedules. +In Leipzig, Mahler befriended Captain Carl von Weber (1849–1897), grandson of the composer, and agreed to prepare a performing version of Weber's unfinished opera Die drei Pintos ("The Three Pintos"). Mahler transcribed and orchestrated the existing musical sketches, used parts of other Weber works, and added some composition of his own. The premiere at the Stadttheater, on 20 January 1888, was an important occasion at which several heads of various German opera houses were present. (The Russian composer Tchaikovsky attended the third performance on 29 January.) The work was well-received; its success did much to raise Mahler's public profile, and brought him financial rewards. Mahler's involvement with the Weber family was complicated by Mahler's alleged romantic attachment to Carl von Weber's wife Marion Mathilde (1857–1931) which, though intense on both sides – so it was rumoured by for example English composer Ethel Smyth – ultimately came to nothing. In February and March 1888 Mahler sketched and completed his First Symphony, then in five movements. At around the same time Mahler discovered the German folk-poem collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("The Youth's Magic Horn"), which would dominate much of his compositional output for the following 12 years. +On 17 May 1888, Mahler suddenly resigned his Leipzig position after a dispute with the Stadttheater's chief stage manager, Albert Goldberg. However, Mahler had secretly been invited by Angelo Neumann in Prague (and accepted the offer) to conduct the premiere there of "his" Die drei Pintos, and later also a production of Der Barbier von Bagdad by Peter Cornelius. This short stay (July to September) ended unhappily, with Mahler's dismissal following his outburst during a rehearsal. However, through the efforts of an old Viennese friend, Guido Adler, and cellist David Popper, Mahler's name went forward as a potential director of the Royal Hungarian Opera in Budapest. He was interviewed, made a good impression, and was offered and accepted (with some reluctance) the post from 1 October 1888. + + +=== Apprentice composer === + +In the early years of Mahler's conducting career, composing was a spare time activity. Between his Laibach and Olmütz appointments he worked on settings of verses by Richard Leander and Tirso de Molina, later collected as Volume I of Lieder und Gesänge ("Songs and Airs"). Mahler's first orchestral song cycle, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, composed at Kassel, was based on his own verses, although the first poem, "Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht" ("When my love becomes a bride") closely follows the text of a Wunderhorn poem. The melodies for the second and fourth songs of the cycle were incorporated into the First Symphony, which Mahler finished in 1888, at the height of his relationship with Marion von Weber. The intensity of Mahler's feelings is reflected in the music, which originally was written as a five-movement symphonic poem with a descriptive programme. One of these movements, the "Blumine", later discarded, was based on a passage from his earlier work Der Trompeter von Säckingen. After completing the symphony, Mahler composed a 20-minute symphonic poem, Totenfeier "Funeral Rites", which later became the first movement of his Second Symphony. +There has been frequent speculation about lost or destroyed works from Mahler's early years. The Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg believed that the First Symphony was too mature to be a first symphonic work, and must have had predecessors. In 1938, Mengelberg revealed the existence of the so-called "Dresden archive", a series of manuscripts in the possession of the widowed Marion von Weber. According to the Mahler historian Donald Mitchell, it was highly likely that important Mahler manuscripts of early symphonic works had been held in Dresden; this archive, if it existed, was almost certainly destroyed in the bombing of Dresden in 1945. + + +== Budapest and Hamburg, 1888–1897 == + + +=== Royal Opera, Budapest === + +On arriving in Budapest in October 1888, Mahler encountered a cultural conflict between conservative Hungarian nationalists who favoured a policy of Magyarisation, and progressives who wanted to maintain and develop the country's Austro-German cultural traditions. In the opera house a dominant conservative caucus, led by the music director Sándor Erkel, had maintained a limited repertory of historical and folklore opera. By the time that Mahler began his duties, the progressive camp had gained ascendancy following the appointment of the liberal-minded Ferenc von Beniczky as intendant. Aware of the delicate situation, Mahler moved cautiously; he delayed his first appearance on the conductor's stand until January 1889, when he conducted Hungarian-language performances of Wagner's Das Rheingold and Die Walküre to initial public acclaim. However, his early successes faded when plans to stage the remainder of the Ring cycle and other German operas were frustrated by a renascent conservative faction which favoured a more traditional "Hungarian" programme. In search of non-German operas to extend the repertory, Mahler visited in spring 1890 Italy where among the works he discovered was Mascagni's recent sensation Cavalleria rusticana (Budapest premiere on 26 December 1890). +On 18 February 1889, Bernhard Mahler died; this was followed later in the year by the deaths both of Mahler's sister Leopoldine (27 September) and his mother (11 October). From October 1889 Mahler took charge of his four younger brothers and sisters (Alois, Otto, Justine, and Emma). They were installed in a rented flat in Vienna. Mahler himself suffered poor health, with attacks of haemorrhoids and migraine and a recurrent septic throat. Shortly after these family and health setbacks the premiere of the First Symphony, in Budapest on 20 November 1889, was a disappointment. The critic August Beer's lengthy newspaper review indicates that enthusiasm after the early movements degenerated into "audible opposition" after the Finale. Mahler was particularly distressed by the negative comments from his Vienna Conservatory contemporary, Viktor von Herzfeld, who had remarked that Mahler, like many conductors before him, had proved not to be a composer. +In 1891, Hungary's move to the political right was reflected in the opera house when Beniczky on 1 February was replaced as intendant by Count Géza Zichy, a conservative aristocrat determined to assume artistic control over Mahler's head. However, Mahler had foreseen that and had secretly been negotiating with Bernhard Pollini, the director of the Stadttheater Hamburg since summer and autumn of 1890, and a contract was finally signed in secrecy on 15 January 1891. Mahler more or less "forced" himself to be sacked from his Budapest post, and he succeeded on 14 March 1891. By his departure he received a large sum of indemnity. One of his final Budapest triumphs was a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni (16 September 1890) which won him praise from Brahms, who was present at the performances on 16 December 1890. During his Budapest years Mahler's compositional output had been limited to a few songs from the Wunderhorn song settings that became Volumes II and III of Lieder und Gesänge, and amendments to the First Symphony. + + +=== Stadttheater Hamburg === + +Mahler's Hamburg post was as chief conductor, subordinate to the director, Bernhard Pohl (known as Pollini) who retained overall artistic control. Pollini was prepared to give Mahler considerable leeway if the conductor could provide commercial as well as artistic success. This Mahler did in his first season, when he conducted Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for the first time and gave acclaimed performances of the same composer's Tannhäuser and Siegfried. Another triumph was the German premiere of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, in the presence of the composer, who called Mahler's conducting "astounding", and later asserted in a letter that he believed Mahler was "positively a genius". Mahler's demanding rehearsal schedules led to predictable resentment from the singers and orchestra in whom, according to music writer Peter Franklin, the conductor "inspired hatred and respect in almost equal measure". He found support, however, from Hans von Bülow, who was in Hamburg as director of the city's subscription concerts. Bülow, who had spurned Mahler's approaches in Kassel, had come to admire the younger man's conducting style, and on Bülow's death in 1894 Mahler took over the direction of the concerts. + +In the summer of 1892 Mahler took the Hamburg singers to London to participate in an eight-week season of German opera—his only visit to Britain. His conducting of Tristan enthralled the young composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, who "staggered home in a daze and could not sleep for two nights." However, Mahler refused further such invitations as he was anxious to reserve his summers for composing. In 1893 he acquired a retreat at Steinbach, on the banks of Lake Attersee in Upper Austria, and established a pattern that persisted for the rest of his life; summers would henceforth be dedicated to composition, at Steinbach or its successor retreats. Now firmly under the influence of the Wunderhorn folk-poem collection, Mahler produced a stream of song settings at Steinbach, and composed his Second and Third Symphonies there. +Performances of Mahler works were still comparatively rare (he had not composed very much). On 27 October 1893, at Hamburg's Konzerthaus Ludwig, Mahler conducted a revised version of his First Symphony; still in its original five-movement form, it was presented as a Tondichtung (tone poem) under the descriptive name "Titan". This concert also introduced six recent Wunderhorn settings. Mahler achieved his first relative success as a composer when the Second Symphony was well-received on its premiere in Berlin, under his own baton, on 13 December 1895. Mahler's conducting assistant Bruno Walter, who was present, said that "one may date [Mahler's] rise to fame as a composer from that day." That same year Mahler's private life had been disrupted by the suicide of his younger brother Otto on 6 February. +At the Stadttheater Mahler's repertory consisted of 66 operas of which 36 titles were new to him. During his six years in Hamburg, he conducted 744 performances, including the debuts of Verdi's Falstaff, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, and works by Smetana. However, he was forced to resign his post with the subscription concerts after poor financial returns and an ill-received interpretation of his re-scored Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Already at an early age Mahler had made it clear that his ultimate goal was an appointment in Vienna, and from 1895 onward was manoeuvring, with the help of influential friends, to secure the directorship of the Vienna Hofoper. He overcame the bar that existed against the appointment of a Jew to this post by what may have been a pragmatic conversion to Catholicism in February 1897. Despite this event, Mahler has been described as a lifelong agnostic. + + +== Vienna, 1897–1907 == + + +=== Hofoper director === + +As he waited for the Emperor's confirmation of his directorship, Mahler shared duties as a resident conductor with Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. (son of the former conservatory director) and Hans Richter, an internationally renowned interpreter of Wagner and the conductor of the original Ring cycle at Bayreuth in 1876. Director Wilhelm Jahn had not consulted Richter about Mahler's appointment; Mahler, sensitive to the situation, wrote Richter a complimentary letter expressing unswerving admiration for the older conductor. Subsequently, the two were rarely in agreement, but kept their divisions private. +Vienna, the imperial Habsburg capital, had recently elected an anti-Semitic conservative mayor, Karl Lueger, who had once proclaimed: "I myself decide who is a Jew and who isn't." In such a volatile political atmosphere Mahler needed an early demonstration of his German cultural credentials. He made his initial mark in May 1897 with much-praised performances of Wagner's Lohengrin and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Shortly after the Zauberflöte triumph, Mahler was forced to take sick leave for several weeks, during which he was nursed by his sister Justine and his long-time companion, the viola player Natalie Bauer-Lechner. Mahler returned to Vienna in late July to prepare for Vienna's first uncut version of the Ring cycle. This performance took place on 24–27 August, attracting critical praise and public enthusiasm. Mahler's friend Hugo Wolf told Bauer-Lechner that "for the first time I have heard the Ring as I have always dreamed of hearing it while reading the score". + +On 8 October Mahler was formally appointed to succeed Jahn as the Hofoper's director. His first production in his new office was Smetana's Czech nationalist opera Dalibor, with a reconstituted finale that left the hero Dalibor alive. This production caused anger among the more extreme Viennese German nationalists, who accused Mahler of "fraternising with the anti-dynastic, inferior Czech nation." The Austrian author Stefan Zweig, in his memoirs The World of Yesterday (1942), described Mahler's appointment as an example of the Viennese public's general distrust of young artists: "Once, when an amazing exception occurred and Gustav Mahler was named director of the Court Opera at thirty-eight years old, a frightened murmur and astonishment ran through Vienna, because someone had entrusted the highest institute of art to 'such a young person' ... This suspicion—that all young people were 'not very reliable'—ran through all circles at that time." Zweig also wrote that "to have seen Gustav Mahler on the street [in Vienna] was an event that one would proudly report to his comrades the next morning as if it were a personal triumph." During Mahler's tenure a total of 33 new operas were introduced to the Hofoper; a further 55 were new or totally revamped productions. However, a proposal to stage Richard Strauss's controversial opera Salome in 1905 was rejected by the Viennese censors. +Early in 1902 Mahler met Alfred Roller, an artist and designer associated with the Vienna Secession movement. A year later, Mahler appointed him chief stage designer to the Hofoper, where Roller's debut was a new production of Tristan und Isolde. The collaboration between Mahler and Roller created more than 20 celebrated productions of, among other operas, Beethoven's Fidelio, Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. In the Figaro production, Mahler offended some purists by adding and composing a short recitative scene to Act III. + +In spite of numerous theatrical triumphs, Mahler's Vienna years were rarely smooth; his battles with singers and the house administration continued on and off for the whole of his tenure. While Mahler's methods improved standards, his histrionic and dictatorial conducting style was resented by orchestra members and singers alike. In December 1903 Mahler faced a revolt by stagehands, whose demands for better conditions he rejected in the belief that extremists were manipulating his staff. The anti-Semitic elements in Viennese society, long opposed to Mahler's appointment, continued to attack him relentlessly, and in 1907 instituted a press campaign designed to drive him out. By that time he was at odds with the opera house's administration over the amount of time he was spending on his own music, and was preparing to leave. In May 1907 he began discussions with Heinrich Conried, director of the New York Metropolitan Opera, and on 21 June signed a contract, on very favourable terms, for four seasons' conducting in New York. At the end of the summer he submitted his resignation to the Hofoper, and on 15 October 1907 conducted Fidelio, his 645th and final performance there. During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler had brought new life to the opera house and cleared its debts, but had won few friends—it was said that he treated his musicians in the way a lion tamer treated his animals. His departing message to the company, which he pinned to a notice board, was later torn down and scattered over the floor. After conducting the Hofoper orchestra in a farewell concert performance of his Second Symphony on 24 November, Mahler left Vienna for New York in early December. + + +=== Philharmonic concerts === + +When Richter resigned as head of the Vienna Philharmonic subscription concerts in September 1898, the concerts committee had unanimously chosen Mahler as his successor. The appointment was not universally welcomed; the anti-Semitic press wondered if, as a non-German, Mahler would be capable of defending German music. Attendances rose sharply in Mahler's first season, but members of the orchestra were particularly resentful of his habit of re-scoring acknowledged masterpieces, and of his scheduling of extra rehearsals for works with which they were thoroughly familiar. An attempt by the orchestra to have Richter reinstated for the 1899 season failed, because Richter was not interested. Mahler's position was weakened when, in 1900, he took the orchestra to Paris to play at the Exposition Universelle. The Paris concerts were poorly attended and lost money—Mahler had to borrow the orchestra's fare home from the Rothschilds. In April 1901, dogged by a recurrence of ill-health and wearied by more complaints from the orchestra, Mahler relinquished the Philharmonic concerts conductorship. In his three seasons he had performed around 80 different works, which included pieces by relatively unknown composers such as Hermann Goetz, Wilhelm Kienzl and the Italian Lorenzo Perosi. + + +=== Mature composer === + +The demands of his twin appointments in Vienna initially absorbed all Mahler's time and energy, but by 1899 he had resumed composing. The remaining Vienna years were to prove particularly fruitful. While working on some of the last of his Des Knaben Wunderhorn settings he started his Fourth Symphony, which he completed in 1900. By this time he had abandoned the composing hut at Steinbach and had acquired another, at Maiernigg on the shores of the Wörthersee in Carinthia, where he later built a villa. In this new venue Mahler embarked upon what is generally considered as his "middle" or post-Wunderhorn compositional period. Between 1901 and 1904 he wrote ten settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert, five of which were collected as Rückert-Lieder. The other five formed the song cycle Kindertotenlieder ("Songs on the Death of Children"). The trilogy of orchestral symphonies, the Fifth, the Sixth and the Seventh were composed at Maiernigg between 1901 and 1905, and the Eighth Symphony written there in 1906, in eight weeks of furious activity. +Within this same period Mahler's works began to be performed with increasing frequency. In April 1899 he conducted the Viennese premiere of his Second Symphony; 17 February 1901 saw the first public performance of his early work Das klagende Lied, in a revised two-part form. Later that year, in November, Mahler conducted the premiere of his Fourth Symphony, in Munich, and was on the rostrum for the first complete performance of the Third Symphony, at the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein festival at Krefeld on 9 June 1902. Mahler "first nights" now became increasingly frequent musical events; he conducted the first performances of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies at Cologne and Essen respectively, in 1904 and 1906. Four of the Rückert-Lieder, and Kindertotenlieder, were introduced in Vienna on 29 January 1905. + + +=== Marriage, family, tragedy === + +During his second season in Vienna, Mahler acquired a spacious modern apartment on the Auenbruggergasse and built a summer villa on land he had acquired next to his new composing studio at Maiernigg. In November 1901, he met Alma Schindler, the stepdaughter of painter Carl Moll, at a social gathering that included the theatre director Max Burckhard. Alma was not initially keen to meet Mahler, on account of "the scandals about him and every young woman who aspired to sing in opera." The two engaged in a lively disagreement about a ballet by Alexander von Zemlinsky (Alma was one of Zemlinsky's pupils), but agreed to meet at the Hofoper the following day. This meeting led to a rapid courtship; Mahler and Alma were married at a private ceremony on 9 March 1902. Alma was by then pregnant with her first child, a daughter Maria Anna, who was born on 3 November 1902. A second daughter, Anna, was born in 1904. + +Friends of the couple were surprised by the marriage and dubious of its wisdom. Burckhard called Mahler "that rachitic degenerate Jew", unworthy for such a good-looking girl of good family. On the other hand, Mahler's family considered Alma to be flirtatious, unreliable, and too fond of seeing young men fall for her charms. Mahler was by nature moody and authoritarian—Natalie Bauer-Lechner, his earlier partner, said that living with him was "like being on a boat that is ceaselessly rocked to and fro by the waves." Alma soon became resentful because of Mahler's insistence that there could only be one composer in the family and that she had given up her music studies to accommodate him. "The role of composer, the worker's role, falls to me, yours is that of a loving companion and understanding partner ... I'm asking a very great deal – and I can and may do so because I know what I have to give and will give in exchange." She wrote in her diary: "How hard it is to be so mercilessly deprived of ... things closest to one's heart." Mahler's requirement that their married life be organized around his creative activities imposed strains, and precipitated rebellion on Alma's part; the marriage was nevertheless marked at times by expressions of considerable passion, particularly from Mahler. +In the summer of 1907 Mahler, exhausted from the effects of the campaign against him in Vienna, took his family to Maiernigg. Soon after their arrival both daughters fell ill with scarlet fever and diphtheria. Anna recovered, but after a fortnight's struggle Maria died on 12 July. Immediately following this devastating loss, Mahler learned that his heart was defective, a diagnosis subsequently confirmed by a Vienna specialist, who ordered a curtailment of all forms of vigorous exercise. The extent to which Mahler's condition disabled him is unclear; Alma wrote of it as a virtual death sentence, though Mahler himself, in a letter written to her on 30 August 1907, said that he would be able to live a normal life, apart from avoiding over-fatigue. The illness was, however, a further depressing factor. Mahler and his family left Maiernigg and spent the rest of the summer at Schluderbach. At the end of the summer the villa at Maiernigg was closed and never revisited. + + +== Last years, 1908–1911 == + + +=== New York === + +Mahler made his New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 1 January 1908, when he conducted Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. In a busy first season Mahler's performances were widely praised, especially his Fidelio on 20 March 1908, in which he insisted on using replicas that were at the time being made of Alfred Roller's Vienna sets. On his return to Austria for the summer of 1908, Mahler established himself in the third and last of his composing studios, in the pine forests close to Toblach in Tyrol. Here, using a text by Hans Bethge based on ancient Chinese poems, he composed Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth"). Despite the symphonic nature of the work, Mahler refused to number it, hoping thereby to escape the "curse of the Ninth Symphony" that he believed had affected fellow-composers Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner. On 19 September 1908 the premiere of the Seventh Symphony, in Prague, was deemed by Alma Mahler a critical rather than a popular success. + +For its 1908–09 season the Metropolitan management brought in the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini to share duties with Mahler, who made only 19 appearances in the entire season. One of these was a much-praised performance of Smetana's The Bartered Bride on 19 February 1909. In the early part of the season Mahler conducted three concerts with the New York Symphony Orchestra. This renewed experience of orchestral conducting inspired him to resign his position with the opera house and accept the conductorship of the re-formed New York Philharmonic. He continued to make occasional guest appearances at the Met, his last performance being Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades on 5 March 1910. +Back in Europe for the summer of 1909, Mahler worked on his Ninth Symphony and made a conducting tour of the Netherlands. The 1909–10 New York Philharmonic season was long and taxing; Mahler rehearsed and conducted 46 concerts, but his programmes were often too demanding for popular tastes. His own First Symphony, given its American debut on 16 December 1909, was one of the pieces that failed with critics and public, and the season ended with heavy financial losses. The highlight of Mahler's 1910 summer was the first performance of the Eighth Symphony at Munich on 12 September, the last of his works to be premiered in his lifetime. The occasion was a triumph—"easily Mahler's biggest lifetime success", according to Carr—but it was overshadowed by the composer's discovery, before the event, that Alma had begun an affair with the young architect Walter Gropius. Greatly distressed, Mahler sought advice from Sigmund Freud, and appeared to gain some comfort from his meeting with the psychoanalyst. One of Freud's observations was that much damage had been done by Mahler's insisting that Alma give up her composing. Mahler accepted this, and started to positively encourage her to write music, even editing, orchestrating and promoting some of her works. Alma agreed to remain with Mahler, although the relationship with Gropius continued surreptitiously. In a gesture of love, Mahler dedicated his Eighth Symphony to her. + + +=== Illness and death === + +In spite of the emotional distractions, during the summer of 1910 Mahler worked on his Tenth Symphony, completing the Adagio and drafting four more movements. He and Alma returned to New York in late October 1910, where Mahler threw himself into a busy Philharmonic season of concerts and tours. Around Christmas 1910 he began suffering from a sore throat, which persisted. On 21 February 1911, with a temperature of 40 °C (104 °F), Mahler insisted on fulfilling an engagement at Carnegie Hall, with a program of mainly new Italian music, including the world premiere of Busoni's Berceuse élégiaque. This was Mahler's last concert. After weeks confined to bed he was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis, a disease to which people with defective heart valves were particularly prone and which could be fatal. Mahler did not give up hope; he talked of resuming the concert season, and took a keen interest when one of Alma's compositions was sung at a public recital by the soprano Frances Alda, on 3 March. On 8 April the Mahler family and a permanent nurse left New York on board SS Amerika bound for Europe. They reached Paris ten days later, where Mahler entered a clinic at Neuilly, but there was no improvement; on 11 May he was taken by train to the Löw sanatorium in Vienna, where he developed pneumonia and slipped into a coma. Hundreds had come to the sanatorium during this brief period to show their admiration for the great composer. After receiving treatments of radium to reduce swelling on his legs and morphine for his general ailments, he died on 18 May, aged 50. +On 22 May 1911 Mahler was buried in the Grinzing cemetery, as he had requested, next to his daughter Maria. His tombstone was inscribed only with his name because "any who come to look for me will know who I was and the rest don't need to know." Alma, on doctors' orders, was absent, but among the mourners at a relatively pomp-free funeral were Arnold Schoenberg (whose wreath described Mahler as "the holy Gustav Mahler"), Bruno Walter, Alfred Roller, the Secessionist painter Gustav Klimt, and representatives from many of the great European opera houses. The New York Times, reporting Mahler's death, called him "one of the towering musical figures of his day", but discussed his symphonies mainly in terms of their duration, incidentally exaggerating the length of the Second Symphony to "two hours and forty minutes". In London, The Times obituary said his conducting was "more accomplished than that of any man save Richter", and that his symphonies were "undoubtedly interesting in their union of modern orchestral richness with a melodic simplicity that often approached banality", though it was too early to judge their ultimate worth. +Alma Mahler survived her husband by more than 50 years, dying in 1964. She married Walter Gropius in 1915, divorced him five years later, and married the writer Franz Werfel in 1929. In 1940 she published a memoir of her years with Mahler, entitled Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters. This account was criticised by later biographers as incomplete, selective and self-serving, and for providing a distorted picture of Mahler's life. The composer's daughter Anna Mahler became a well-known sculptor; she died in 1988. The International Gustav Mahler Society was founded in 1955 in Vienna, with Bruno Walter as its first president and Alma Mahler as an honorary member. The Society aims to create a complete critical edition of Mahler's works, and to commemorate all aspects of the composer's life. + + +== Music == + + +=== Three creative periods === + +Deryck Cooke and other analysts have divided Mahler's composing life into three distinct phases: a long "first period", extending from Das klagende Lied in 1880 to the end of the Wunderhorn phase in 1901; a "middle period" of more concentrated composition ending with Mahler's departure for New York in 1907; and a brief "late period" of elegiac works before his death in 1911. +The main works of the first period are the first four symphonies, the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen song cycle and various song collections in which the Wunderhorn songs predominate. In this period songs and symphonies are closely related and the symphonic works are programmatic. Mahler initially gave the first three symphonies full descriptive programmes, all of which he later repudiated. He devised, but did not publish, titles for each of the movements for the Fourth Symphony; from these titles the German music critic Paul Bekker conjectured a programme in which Death appears in the Scherzo "in the friendly, legendary guise of the fiddler tempting his flock to follow him out of this world." +The middle period comprises a triptych of purely instrumental symphonies (the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh), the "Rückert" songs and the Kindertotenlieder, two final Wunderhorn settings and, in some reckonings, Mahler's last great affirmative statement, the choral Eighth Symphony. Cooke believes that the Eighth stands on its own, between the middle and final periods. Mahler had by now abandoned all explicit programmes and descriptive titles; he wanted to write "absolute" music that spoke for itself. Cooke refers to "a new granite-like hardness of orchestration" in the middle-period symphonies, while the songs have lost most of their folk character, and cease to fertilise the symphonies as explicitly as before. +The three works of the brief final period—Das Lied von der Erde, the Ninth and (incomplete) Tenth Symphonies—are expressions of personal experience, as Mahler faced death. Each of the pieces ends quietly, signifying that aspiration has now given way to resignation. Cooke considers these works to be a loving (rather than a bitter) farewell to life; the composer Alban Berg called the Ninth "the most marvellous thing that Mahler ever wrote". None of these final works were performed in Mahler's lifetime. + + +=== Antecedents and influences === +Mahler was a "late Romantic", part of an ideal that placed Austro-German classical music on a higher plane than other types, through its supposed possession of particular spiritual and philosophical significance. He was one of the last major composers of a line which includes, among others, Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, Wagner, Bruckner and Brahms. From these antecedents Mahler drew many of the features that were to characterise his music. Thus, from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony came the idea of using soloists and a choir within the symphonic genre. From Beethoven, Liszt and (from a different musical tradition) Berlioz came the concept of writing music with an inherent narrative or "programme", and of breaking away from the traditional four-movement symphony format. The examples of Wagner and Bruckner encouraged Mahler to extend the scale of his symphonic works well beyond the previously accepted standards, to embrace an entire world of feeling. +Early critics maintained that Mahler's adoption of many different styles to suit different expressions of feeling meant that he lacked a style of his own; Cooke on the other hand asserts that Mahler "redeemed any borrowings by imprinting his [own] personality on practically every note" to produce music of "outstanding originality." The music critic Harold Schonberg sees the essence of Mahler's music in the theme of struggle, in the tradition of Beethoven. However, according to Schonberg, Beethoven's struggles were those of "an indomitable and triumphant hero", whereas Mahler's are those of "a psychic weakling, a complaining adolescent who ... enjoyed his misery, wanting the whole world to see how he was suffering." Yet, Schonberg concedes, most of the symphonies contain sections in which Mahler the "deep thinker" is transcended by the splendour of Mahler the musician. + + +=== Genre === +Except for his juvenilia, little of which has survived, Mahler composed only in the media of song and symphony, with a close and complex interrelationship between the two. Donald Mitchell writes that this interaction is the backcloth against which all Mahler's music can be considered. The initial connection between song and symphony occurs with the song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and the First Symphony. Although this early evidence of cross-fertilisation is important, it is during Mahler's extended Wunderhorn phase, in which his Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies were written, that the song and symphony genres are consistently intermingled. Themes from the Wunderhorn song Das himmlische Leben ("The Heavenly Life"), composed in 1892, became a key element in the Third Symphony completed in 1896; the song itself forms the finale to the Fourth (1900) and its melody is central to the whole composition. For the Second Symphony, written between 1888 and 1894, Mahler worked simultaneously on the Wunderhorn song, Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt ("The Sermon of St Anthony of Padua to the Fishes"), and on the Scherzo based on it which became the symphony's third movement. Another Wunderhorn setting from 1892, Urlicht ("Primal Light"), is used as the Second Symphony's fourth (penultimate) movement. +In Mahler's middle and late periods, the song–symphony relationship is less direct. However, musicologist Donald Mitchell notes specific relationships between the middle period songs and their contemporaneous symphonies—the second Kindertotenlieder song and the Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony, the last Kindertotenlieder song and the Sixth Symphony finale. Mahler's last work employing vocal and orchestral forces, Das Lied von der Erde, is subtitled "A Symphony ..."—Mitchell categorises it as a "song and symphony." + + +=== Style === +The union of song and symphonic form in Mahler's music is, in Cooke's view, organic; "his songs flower naturally into symphonic movements, being already symphonic in cast." To Sibelius, Mahler expressed the belief that "The symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything." True to this belief, Mahler drew material from many sources into his songs and symphonic works: bird calls and cow-bells to evoke nature and the countryside, bugle fanfares, street melodies and country dances to summon the lost world of his childhood. Life's struggles are represented in contrasting moods: the yearning for fulfilment by soaring melodies and chromatic harmony, suffering and despair by discord, distortion and grotesquerie. Amid all this is Mahler's particular hallmark—the constant intrusion of banality and absurdity into moments of deep seriousness, typified in the second movement of the Fifth Symphony when a trivial popular tune suddenly cuts into a solemn funeral march. The trite melody soon changes its character, and in due course re-emerges as one of the majestic Brucknerian chorales which Mahler uses to signify hope and the resolution of conflict. Mahler himself recognised the idiosyncrasies in his work, calling the Scherzo in the Third Symphony "the most farcical and at the same time the most tragic piece that ever existed ... It is as though all nature is making faces and sticking out its tongue." +The range of musical moods, Cooke maintains, comes from Mahler's "amazing orchestration" which, in the writer's view, defies analysis—"it speaks for itself." Franklin lists specific features which are basic to Mahler's style: extremes of volume, the use of off-stage ensembles, unconventional arrangement of orchestral forces, and frequent recourse to popular music and dance forms such as the ländler and the waltz. Musicologist Vladimír Karbusický maintains that the composer's Jewish roots had lasting effects on his creative output; he pinpoints the central part of the third movement of the First Symphony as the most characteristically "Yiddish" music in Mahler's work. The Czech composer-journalist Max Brod has also identified Jewish tunes and rhythms in Mahler's music. +A technical device much used by Mahler is that of "progressive tonality", which Deryck Cooke describes as "the procedure of resolving a symphonic conflict in a different key from that in which it was stated", and which is often used "to symbolise the gradual ascendancy of a certain value by progress from one key to another over the whole course of a symphony". This technique was also used by Mahler's Danish contemporary Carl Nielsen. Mahler first employed the device in an early song, Erinnerung ("Memory"), and thereafter used it freely in his symphonies. For example, the predominant key of the First Symphony is D major; at the beginning of the Finale, the "conflict" movement, the key switches to F minor, and only after a lengthy battle gets back to D, near the end. The Second Symphony begins in C minor and ends in E-flat. The movements of the Fifth Symphony progress successively from C-sharp minor to A minor, then D major, F major and finally to D major. The Sixth Symphony, unusually for Mahler, begins and ends in the same key, A minor, signifying that in this case the conflict is unresolved. + + +=== Reception === + + +==== Early responses, 1889–1911 ==== + +Mahler's friend Guido Adler calculated that at the time of the composer's death in 1911 there had been more than 260 performances of the symphonies in Europe, Russia and America, the Fourth Symphony with 61 performances given most frequently (Adler did not enumerate performances of the songs). In his lifetime, Mahler's works and their performances attracted wide interest, but rarely unqualified approval; for years after its 1889 premiere critics and public struggled to understand the First Symphony, described by one critic after an 1898 Dresden performance as "the dullest [symphonic] work the new epoch has produced". The Second Symphony was received more positively, one critic calling it "the most masterly work of its kind since Mendelssohn". Such generous praise was rare, particularly after Mahler's accession to the Vienna Hofoper directorship. His many enemies in the city used the anti-Semitic and conservative press to denigrate almost every performance of a Mahler work; thus the Third Symphony, a success in Krefeld in 1902, was treated in Vienna with critical scorn: "Anyone who has committed such a deed deserves a couple of years in prison." +A mix of enthusiasm, consternation and critical contempt became the normal response to new Mahler symphonies, although the songs were better received. After his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies failed to gain general public approval, Mahler was convinced that his Sixth would finally succeed. However, its reception was dominated by satirical comments on Mahler's unconventional percussion effects—the use of a wooden mallet, birch rods and a huge square bass drum. Viennese critic Heinrich Reinhardt dismissed the symphony as "Brass, lots of brass, incredibly much brass! Even more brass, nothing but brass!" The one unalloyed performance triumph within Mahler's lifetime was the premiere of the Eighth Symphony in Munich, on 12 September 1910, advertised by its promoters as the "Symphony of a Thousand". At its conclusion, applause and celebrations reportedly lasted for half an hour. + + +==== Relative neglect, 1911–1950 ==== +Performances of Mahler's works became less frequent after his death. In the Netherlands the advocacy of Willem Mengelberg ensured that Mahler remained popular there, and Mengelberg's engagement with the New York Philharmonic from 1922 to 1928 brought Mahler regularly to American audiences. However, much American critical reaction in the 1920s was negative, despite a spirited effort by the young composer Aaron Copland to present Mahler as a progressive, 30 years ahead of his time and infinitely more inventive than Richard Strauss. Earlier, in 1916, Leopold Stokowski had given the American premieres of the Eighth Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde in Philadelphia. The Eighth was a sensationally successful performance that was immediately taken to New York where it scored a further triumph. +An early proponent of Mahler's work in Britain was Adrian Boult, who as conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra performed the Fourth Symphony in 1926 and Das Lied von der Erde in 1930. The Hallé Orchestra brought Das Lied and the Ninth Symphony to Manchester in 1931; Sir Henry Wood staged the Eighth in London in 1930, and again in 1938 when the young Benjamin Britten found the performance "execrable" but was nevertheless impressed by the music. British critics during this period largely treated Mahler with condescension and faint praise. Thus Dyneley Hussey, writing in 1934, thought the "children's songs" were delightful, but that the symphonies should be let go. Composer-conductor Julius Harrison described Mahler's symphonies as "interesting at times, but laboriously put together" and as lacking creative spark. Bernard Shaw reported that the younger generation of the 1930s found Mahler (and Bruckner) "expensively second-class". +Before Mahler's music was banned as "degenerate" during the Nazi era, the symphonies and songs were played in the concert halls of Germany and Austria, often conducted by Bruno Walter or Mahler's younger assistant Otto Klemperer, and also by Willem Mengelberg. In Austria, Mahler's work experienced a brief renaissance between 1934 and 1938, a period known today as 'Austrofascism', when the authoritarian regime with the help of Alma Mahler and Bruno Walter, who were both on friendly terms with the new chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, sought to make Mahler into a national icon (with a status comparable to that of Wagner in Germany). Mahler's music was performed during the Nazi era in Berlin in early 1941 and in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands by Jewish orchestras and for Jewish audiences alone; works performed included the Second Symphony (Berlin), the First and Fourth Symphonies, and the Songs of a Wayfarer (Amsterdam). + + +==== Modern revival ==== +According to American composer David Schiff, his compatriot Leonard Bernstein used to imply that he had single-handedly rescued Mahler from oblivion in 1960, after 50 years of neglect. Schiff points out that such neglect was only relative—far less than the (incomplete) disregard of Bach in the years after his death. Although Bernstein gave the Mahler revival further impetus, it was well under way before 1960, sustained by conductors such as Stokowski, Dimitri Mitropoulos and John Barbirolli, and by the long-time Mahler advocate Aaron Copland. Mahler himself predicted his place in history, once commenting: "Would that I could perform my symphonies for the first time 50 years after my death!" +Deryck Cooke argues that Mahler's popularity escalated when a new, postwar generation of music lovers arose, untainted by "the dated polemics of anti-romanticism" which had affected Mahler's reputation in the inter-war years. In this more-liberated age, enthusiasm for Mahler expanded even into places—Spain, France, Italy—which had long been resistant to him. Jonathan Carr's simpler explanation for the 1950s Mahler revival is that "it was the long-playing record [in the early 1950s] rather than the Zeitgeist which made a comprehensive breakthrough possible. Mahler's work became accessible and repeatable in the home." In the years following his centenary in 1960, Mahler rapidly became one of the most performed and most recorded of all composers, and has largely remained thus. In Britain and elsewhere, Carr notes, the extent of Mahler performances and recordings has replaced a relative famine with a glut, bringing problems of over-familiarity. Harold Schonberg comments that "it is hard to think of a composer who arouses equal loyalty", adding that "a response of anything short of rapture to the Mahler symphonies will bring [to the critic] long letters of furious denunciation." +In a letter to Alma dated 16 February 1902, Mahler wrote, with reference to Richard Strauss: "My day will come when his is ended. If only I might live to see it, with you at my side!" Carr observes that Mahler could conceivably have lived to see "his day"; his near-contemporary Richard Strauss survived until 1949, while Sibelius, just five years younger than Mahler, lived until 1957. + + +=== Later influence === + Donald Mitchell writes that Mahler's influence on succeeding generations of composers is "a complete subject in itself". Mahler's first disciples included Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern, who together founded the Second Viennese School. Mahler's music influenced the trio's move from progressive tonalism to atonality (music without a key); although Mahler rejected atonality, he became a fierce defender of the bold originality of Schoenberg's work. At the premiere of the latter's First String Quartet in February 1907, Mahler reportedly was held back from physically attacking the hecklers. Schoenberg's Serenade, Op. 24 (1923), Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra (1915) and Webern's Six Pieces (1928) all carry echoes of Mahler's Seventh Symphony. Mahler has also influenced the film scores of John Williams and other Hollywood composers. +Among other composers whose work carries the influence of Mahler, Mitchell lists America's Aaron Copland, the German song and stage composer Kurt Weill, Italy's Luciano Berio, Russia's Dmitri Shostakovich and England's Benjamin Britten. The American composers Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber were also influenced by Mahler's work. In a 1989 interview the pianist-conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy said that the connection between Mahler and Shostakovich was "very strong and obvious"; their music represented "the individual versus the vices of the world." Mitchell highlights Britten's "marvellously keen, spare and independent writing for the wind in ... the first movement of the Cello Symphony of 1963 [which] clearly belongs to that order of dazzling transparency and instrumental emancipation which Mahler did so much to establish." Mitchell concludes with the statement: "Even were his own music not to survive, Mahler would still enjoy a substantial immortality in the music of these pre-eminent successors who have embraced his art and assimilated his techniques." A 2016 BBC Music Magazine survey of 151 conductors ranked three of his symphonies in the top ten symphonies of all time. + + +== Memorials and museums == +In Hamburg, the Gustav Mahler Museum is dedicated to Gustav Mahler's life and work. It is situated in the Composers Quarter. In Altschluderbach, near Toblach in South Tyrol, Italy, there remains a little museum and memorial in the former composer's hut of Mahler. It is situated in the animal park next to the Gustav Mahler Stube. The Stube formerly had a museum on the first floor. There, Mahler and his wife Alma resided from 1907 to 1910. +Two of the other composer's huts used by Mahler still exist; both are equipped as little museums. There is one composing hut at the Attersee, Upper Austria, and one at the Wörthersee in Carinthia. Mount Mahler in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is named in honour of the composer. + + +== References == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== Citations === + + +=== Sources === + + +== Further reading == +"Gustav Mahler's Untimely Death". Musical America. XIV (3): 2. 27 May 1911. +Bauer-Lechner, Natalie (2013). Recollections of Gustav Mahler. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0571305209. +Specht, Richard (June 1911). "Gustav Mahler". Die Musik (in German). 10 (18): 335–341. +Bekker, Paul (11 June 1911). "Gustav Mahler". Mississippi Blätter (in German). St. Louis, Missouri. p. 18. +Vernon, David (2022). Beauty & Sadness: Mahler's 11 Symphonies. Edinburgh: Candle Row Press. ISBN 978-1739659905. + + +== External links == +Mahler Foundation +Free scores by Gustav Mahler at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) +Works by or about Gustav Mahler at the Internet Archive diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/13_claude_debussy.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/13_claude_debussy.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..41e7f48 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/13_claude_debussy.txt @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@ +Achille Claude Debussy (French: [aʃil klod dəbysi]; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. +Born to a family of modest means and little cultural involvement, Debussy showed enough musical talent to be admitted at the age of ten to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris. He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 when he achieved international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, Pelléas et Mélisande. +Debussy's orchestral works include Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899) and Images (1905–1912). His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. He regarded the classical symphony as obsolete and sought an alternative in his "symphonic sketches", La mer (1903–1905). His piano works include sets of 24 Préludes and 12 Études. Throughout his career he wrote mélodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own. He was greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement of the later 19th century. A small number of works, including the early La Damoiselle élue and the late Le Martyre de saint Sébastien have important parts for chorus. In his final years, he focused on chamber music, completing three of six planned sonatas for different combinations of instruments. +With early influences including Russian and Far Eastern music and works by Chopin and Liszt, Debussy developed his own style of harmony and orchestral colouring, derided – and unsuccessfully resisted – by much of the musical establishment of the day. His works have strongly influenced a wide range of composers including Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, George Gershwin, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and the jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. Debussy died from cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55 after a composing career of a little more than 30 years. + + +== Life and career == + + +=== Early life === +Debussy was born on 22 August 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Seine-et-Oise, on the north-west fringes of Paris. He was the eldest of the five children of Manuel-Achille Debussy and his wife, Victorine, née Manoury. Debussy senior ran a china shop and his wife was a seamstress. The shop was unsuccessful and closed in 1864; the family moved to Paris, first living with Victorine's mother, in Clichy, and, from 1868, in their own apartment in the Rue Saint-Honoré. Manuel worked in a printing factory. +In 1870, to escape the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, Debussy's pregnant mother took him and his sister Adèle to their paternal aunt's home in Cannes, where they remained until the following year. During his stay in Cannes, the seven-year-old Debussy had his first piano lessons; his aunt paid for him to study with an Italian musician, Jean Cerutti. Manuel Debussy remained in Paris and joined the forces of the Commune; after its defeat by French government troops in 1871 he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, of which he only served one year. His fellow Communard prisoners included his friend Charles de Sivry, a musician. Sivry's mother, Antoinette Mauté de Fleurville, gave piano lessons, and at his instigation the young Debussy became one of her pupils. +Debussy's talents soon became evident, and in 1872, aged ten, he was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris, where he remained a student for the next eleven years. He first joined the piano class of Antoine François Marmontel, and studied solfège with Albert Lavignac and, later, composition with Ernest Guiraud, harmony with Émile Durand, and organ with César Franck. The course included music history and theory studies with Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray, but it is not certain that Debussy, who was apt to skip classes, actually attended these. +At the Conservatoire, Debussy initially made good progress. Marmontel said of him, "A charming child, a truly artistic temperament; much can be expected of him". Another teacher was less impressed: Émile Durand wrote in a report, "Debussy would be an excellent pupil if he were less sketchy and less cavalier." A year later he described Debussy as "desperately careless". In July 1874 Debussy received the award of deuxième accessit for his performance as soloist in the first movement of Chopin's Second Piano Concerto at the Conservatoire's annual competition. He was a fine pianist and an outstanding sight reader, who could have had a professional career had he wished, but he was only intermittently diligent in his studies. He advanced to premier accessit in 1875 and second prize in 1877, but failed at the competitions in 1878 and 1879. These failures made him ineligible to continue in the Conservatoire's piano classes, but he remained a student for harmony, solfège and, later, composition. +With Marmontel's help Debussy secured a summer vacation job in 1879 as resident pianist at the Château de Chenonceau, where he rapidly acquired a taste for luxury that was to remain with him all his life. His first compositions date from this period, two settings of poems by Alfred de Musset: "Ballade à la lune" and "Madrid, princesse des Espagnes". The following year he secured a job as pianist in the household of Nadezhda von Meck, the patroness of Tchaikovsky. He travelled with her family for the summers of 1880 to 1882, staying at various places in France, Switzerland and Italy, as well as at her home in Moscow. He composed his Piano Trio in G major for von Meck's ensemble, and made a transcription for piano duet of three dances from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. + + +=== Prix de Rome === + +At the end of 1880 Debussy, while continuing his studies at the Conservatoire, was engaged as accompanist for Marie Moreau-Sainti's singing class; he took this role for four years. Among the members of the class was Marie Vasnier; Debussy was greatly taken with her, and she inspired him to compose: he wrote 27 songs dedicated to her during their seven-year relationship. She was the wife of Henri Vasnier, a prominent civil servant, and much younger than her husband. She soon became Debussy's lover as well as his muse. Whether Vasnier was content to tolerate his wife's affair with the young student or was simply unaware of it is not clear, but he and Debussy remained on excellent terms, and he continued to encourage the composer in his career. +At the Conservatoire, Debussy incurred the disapproval of the faculty, particularly his composition teacher, Guiraud, for his failure to follow the orthodox rules of composition then prevailing. Nevertheless, in 1884 Debussy won France's most prestigious musical award, the Prix de Rome, with his cantata L'enfant prodigue. The Prix carried with it a residence at the Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome, to further the winner's studies. Debussy was there from January 1885 to March 1887, with three or possibly four absences of several weeks when he returned to France, chiefly to see Marie Vasnier. +Initially Debussy found the artistic atmosphere of the Villa Medici stifling, the company boorish, the food bad, and the accommodation "abominable". Neither did he delight in Italian opera, as he found the operas of Donizetti and Verdi not to his taste. He was much more impressed by the music of the 16th-century composers Palestrina and Lassus, which he heard at Santa Maria dell'Anima: "The only church music I will accept". He was often depressed and unable to compose, but he was inspired by Franz Liszt, who visited the students and played for them. In June 1885, Debussy wrote of his desire to follow his own way, saying, "I am sure the Institute would not approve, for, naturally it regards the path which it ordains as the only right one. But there is no help for it! I am too enamoured of my freedom, too fond of my own ideas!" +Debussy finally composed four pieces that were submitted to the Academy: the symphonic ode Zuleima (based on a text by Heinrich Heine); the orchestral piece Printemps; the cantata La Damoiselle élue (1887–1888), the first piece in which the stylistic features of his later music began to emerge; and the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, which was heavily based on Franck's music and was eventually withdrawn by Debussy. The Academy chided him for writing music that was "bizarre, incomprehensible and unperformable". Although Debussy's works showed the influence of Jules Massenet, the latter concluded, "He is an enigma". During his years in Rome Debussy composed – not for the Academy – most of his Verlaine cycle, Ariettes oubliées, which made little impact at the time but was successfully republished in 1903 after the composer had become well known. + + +=== Return to Paris, 1887 === +A week after his return to Paris in 1887, Debussy heard the first act of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Concerts Lamoureux and judged it "decidedly the finest thing I know". In 1888 and 1889 he went to the annual festivals of Wagner's operas at Bayreuth. He responded positively to Wagner's sensuousness, mastery of form, and striking harmonies, and was briefly influenced by them, but, unlike some other French composers of his generation, he concluded that there was no future in attempting to adopt and develop Wagner's style. He commented in 1903 that Wagner was "a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn". + +In 1889, at the Paris Exposition Universelle, Debussy first heard Javanese gamelan music. The gamelan scales, melodies, rhythms, and ensemble textures appealed to him, and echoes of them are heard in "Pagodes" in his piano suite Estampes. He also attended two concerts of Rimsky-Korsakov's music, conducted by the composer. This too made an impression on him, and its harmonic freedom and non-Teutonic tone colours influenced his own developing musical style. +Marie Vasnier ended her liaison with Debussy soon after his final return from Rome, although they remained on good enough terms for him to dedicate to her one more song, "Mandoline", in 1890. Later in 1890 Debussy met Erik Satie, who proved a kindred spirit in his experimental approach to composition. Both were bohemians, enjoying the same café society and struggling to survive financially. In the same year Debussy began a relationship with Gabrielle (Gaby) Dupont, a tailor's daughter from Lisieux; in July 1893 they began living together. +Debussy continued to compose songs, piano pieces and other works, some of which were publicly performed, but his music made only a modest impact, although his fellow composers recognised his potential by electing him to the committee of the Société Nationale de Musique in 1893. His String Quartet was premiered by the Ysaÿe string quartet at the Société Nationale in the same year. In May 1893 Debussy attended a theatrical event that was of key importance to his later career – the premiere of Maurice Maeterlinck's play Pelléas et Mélisande, which he immediately determined to turn into an opera. He travelled to Maeterlinck's home in Ghent in November to secure his consent to an operatic adaptation. + + +=== 1894–1902: Pelléas et Mélisande === + +In February 1894 Debussy completed the first draft of Act I of his operatic version of Pelléas et Mélisande, and for most of the year worked to complete it. While still living with Dupont, he had an affair with the singer Thérèse Roger, and in 1894 he announced their engagement. His behaviour was widely condemned; anonymous letters circulated denouncing his treatment of both women, as well as his financial irresponsibility and debts. The engagement was broken off, and several of Debussy's friends and supporters disowned him, including Ernest Chausson, hitherto one of his strongest supporters. +In terms of musical recognition, Debussy made a step forward in December 1894, when the symphonic poem Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, based on Stéphane Mallarmé's poem of the same name, was premiered at a concert of the Société Nationale. The following year he completed the first draft of Pelléas and began efforts to get it staged. In May 1898 he made his first contacts with André Messager and Albert Carré, respectively the musical director and general manager of the Opéra-Comique, Paris, about presenting the opera. + +Debussy abandoned Dupont for her friend Marie-Rosalie Texier, known as "Lilly", whom he married in October 1899, after threatening suicide if she refused him. She was affectionate, practical, straightforward, and well liked by Debussy's friends and associates, but he became increasingly irritated by her intellectual limitations and lack of musical sensitivity. The marriage lasted barely five years. +From around 1900 Debussy's music became a focus and inspiration for an informal group of innovative young artists, poets, critics, and musicians who began meeting in Paris. They called themselves Les Apaches – roughly "The Hooligans" – to represent their status as "artistic outcasts". The membership was fluid, but at various times included Maurice Ravel, Ricardo Viñes, Igor Stravinsky and Manuel de Falla. In the same year the first two of Debussy's three orchestral Nocturnes were first performed. Although they did not make any great impact with the public they were well reviewed by musicians including Paul Dukas, Alfred Bruneau and Pierre de Bréville. The complete set was given the following year. +Like many other composers of the time, Debussy supplemented his income by teaching and writing. For most of 1901 he had a sideline as music critic of La Revue Blanche, adopting the pen name "Monsieur Croche". He expressed trenchant views on composers ("I hate sentimentality – his name is Camille Saint-Saëns"), institutions (on the Paris Opéra: "A stranger would take it for a railway station, and, once inside, would mistake it for a Turkish bath"), conductors ("Nikisch is a unique virtuoso, so much so that his virtuosity seems to make him forget the claims of good taste"), musical politics ("The English actually think that a musician can manage an opera house successfully!"), and audiences ("their almost drugged expression of boredom, indifference and even stupidity"). He later collected his criticisms with a view to their publication as a book; it was published posthumously as Monsieur Croche, Antidilettante. +In January 1902 rehearsals began at the Opéra-Comique for the opening of Pelléas et Mélisande. For three months, Debussy attended rehearsals practically every day. In February there was conflict between Maeterlinck on the one hand and Debussy, Messager and Carré on the other about the casting of Mélisande. Maeterlinck wanted his mistress, Georgette Leblanc, to sing the role, and was incensed when she was passed over in favour of the Scottish soprano Mary Garden. The opera opened on 30 April 1902, and although the first-night audience was divided between admirers and sceptics, the work quickly became a success. It made Debussy a well-known name in France and abroad; The Times commented that the opera had "provoked more discussion than any work of modern times, excepting, of course, those of Richard Strauss". The Apaches, led by Ravel (who attended every one of the 14 performances in the first run), were loud in their support; the conservative faculty of the Conservatoire tried in vain to stop its students from seeing the opera. The vocal score was published in early May, and the full orchestral score in 1904. + + +=== 1903–1918 === + +In 1903 there was public recognition of Debussy's stature when he was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, but his social standing suffered a great blow when another turn in his private life caused a scandal the following year. One of his pupils was Raoul Bardac, son of Emma and her husband, Parisian banker Sigismond Bardac. Raoul introduced his teacher to his mother, to whom Debussy quickly became greatly attracted. She was sophisticated, a brilliant conversationalist, an accomplished singer, and relaxed about marital fidelity, having been the mistress and muse of Gabriel Fauré a few years earlier. After despatching Lilly to her parental home at Bichain in Villeneuve-la-Guyard on 15 July 1904, Debussy took Emma away, staying incognito in Jersey and then at Pourville in Normandy. He wrote to his wife on 11 August from Dieppe, telling her that their marriage was over, but still making no mention of Bardac. When he returned to Paris he set up home on his own, taking a flat in a different arrondissement. On 14 October, five days before their fifth wedding anniversary, Lilly Debussy attempted suicide, shooting herself in the chest with a revolver; she survived, although the bullet remained lodged in her vertebrae for the rest of her life. The ensuing scandal caused Bardac's family to disown her, and Debussy lost many good friends including Dukas and Messager. His relations with Ravel, never close, were exacerbated when the latter joined other former friends of Debussy in contributing to a fund to support the deserted Lilly. +The Bardacs divorced in May 1905. Finding the hostility in Paris intolerable, Debussy and Emma (now pregnant) went to England. They stayed at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne in July and August, where Debussy corrected the proofs of his symphonic sketches La mer, celebrating his divorce on 2 August. After a brief visit to London, the couple returned to Paris in September, buying a house in a courtyard development off the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne (now Avenue Foch), Debussy's home for the rest of his life. + +In October 1905 La mer, Debussy's most substantial orchestral work, was premiered in Paris by the Orchestre Lamoureux under the direction of Camille Chevillard; the reception was mixed. Some praised the work, but Pierre Lalo, critic of Le Temps, hitherto an admirer of Debussy, wrote, "I do not hear, I do not see, I do not smell the sea". In the same month the composer's only child was born at their home. Claude-Emma, affectionately known as "Chouchou", was a musical inspiration to the composer (she was the dedicatee of his Children's Corner suite). She outlived her father by scarcely a year, succumbing to the diphtheria epidemic of 1919. Mary Garden said, "I honestly don't know if Debussy ever loved anybody really. He loved his music – and perhaps himself. I think he was wrapped up in his genius", but biographers are agreed that whatever his relations with lovers and friends, Debussy was devoted to his daughter. +Debussy and Emma Bardac eventually married in 1908, their troubled union enduring for the rest of his life. The following year began well, when at Fauré's invitation, Debussy became a member of the governing council of the Conservatoire. His success in London was consolidated in April 1909, when he conducted Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and the Nocturnes at the Queen's Hall; in May he was present at the first London production of Pelléas et Mélisande, at Covent Garden. In the same year, Debussy was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, from which he was to die nine years later. +Debussy's works began to feature increasingly in concert programmes at home and overseas. In 1910 Gustav Mahler conducted the Nocturnes and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune in New York in successive months. In the same year, visiting Budapest, Debussy commented that his works were better known there than in Paris. In 1912 Sergei Diaghilev commissioned a new ballet score, Jeux. That, and the three Images, premiered the following year, were the composer's last orchestral works. Jeux was unfortunate in its timing: two weeks after the premiere, in March 1913, Diaghilev presented the first performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, a sensational event that monopolised discussion in musical circles, and effectively sidelined Jeux along with Fauré's Pénélope, which had opened a week before. + +In 1915 Debussy underwent one of the earliest colostomy operations. It achieved only a temporary respite, and occasioned him considerable frustration ("There are mornings when the effort of dressing seems like one of the twelve labours of Hercules"). He also had a fierce enemy at this period in the form of Camille Saint-Saëns, who in a letter to Fauré condemned Debussy's En blanc et noir: "It's incredible, and the door of the Institut [de France] must at all costs be barred against a man capable of such atrocities". Saint-Saëns had been a member of the Institut since 1881: Debussy never became one. His health continued to decline; he gave his final concert on 14 September 1917 and became bedridden in early 1918. +Debussy died of colon cancer on 25 March 1918 at his home, aged 55. The First World War was still raging and Paris was under German aerial and artillery bombardment. The military situation did not permit the honour of a public funeral with ceremonious graveside orations. The funeral procession made its way through deserted streets to a temporary grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery as the German guns bombarded the city. Debussy's body was reinterred the following year in the small Passy Cemetery sequestered behind the Trocadéro, fulfilling his wish to rest "among the trees and the birds"; his wife and daughter are buried with him. + + +== Works == + +In a survey of Debussy's oeuvre shortly after the composer's death, the critic Ernest Newman wrote, "It would be hardly too much to say that Debussy spent a third of his life in the discovery of himself, a third in the free and happy realisation of himself, and the final third in the partial, painful loss of himself". Later commentators have rated some of the late works more highly than Newman and other contemporaries did, but much of the music for which Debussy is best known is from the middle years of his career. +The analyst David Cox wrote in 1974 that Debussy, admiring Wagner's attempts to combine all the creative arts, "created a new, instinctive, dreamlike world of music, lyrical and pantheistic, contemplative and objective – a kind of art, in fact, which seemed to reach out into all aspects of experience". In 1988 the composer and scholar Wilfrid Mellers wrote of Debussy: + +Because of, rather than in spite of, his preoccupation with chords in themselves, he deprived music of the sense of harmonic progression, broke down three centuries' dominance of harmonic tonality, and showed how the melodic conceptions of tonality typical of primitive folk-music and of medieval music might be relevant to the twentieth century +Debussy did not give his works opus numbers, apart from his String Quartet, Op. 10 in G minor (also the only work where the composer's title included a key). His works were catalogued and indexed by the musicologist François Lesure in 1977 (revised in 2003) and their Lesure number ("L" followed by a number) is sometimes used as a suffix to their title in concert programmes and recordings. + + +=== Early works, 1879–1892 === + +Debussy's musical development was slow, and as a student he was adept enough to produce for his teachers at the Conservatoire works that would conform to their conservative precepts. His friend Georges Jean-Aubry commented that Debussy "admirably imitated Massenet's melodic turns of phrase" in the cantata L'enfant prodigue (1884) which won him the Prix de Rome. A more characteristically Debussian work from his early years is La Damoiselle élue, recasting the traditional form for oratorios and cantatas, using a chamber orchestra and a small body of choral tone and using new or long-neglected scales and harmonies. His early mélodies, inspired by Marie Vasnier, are more virtuosic in character than his later works in the genre, with extensive wordless vocalise; from the Ariettes oubliées (1885–1887) onwards he developed a more restrained style. He wrote his own poems for the Proses lyriques (1892–1893) but, in the view of the musical scholar Robert Orledge, "his literary talents were not on a par with his musical imagination". +The musicologist Jacques-Gabriel Prod'homme wrote that, together with La Demoiselle élue, the Ariettes oubliées and the Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire (1889) show "the new, strange way which the young musician will hereafter follow". Newman concurred: "There is a good deal of Wagner, especially of Tristan, in the idiom. But the work as a whole is distinctive, and the first in which we get a hint of the Debussy we were to know later – the lover of vague outlines, of half-lights, of mysterious consonances and dissonances of colour, the apostle of languor, the exclusivist in thought and in style." During the next few years Debussy developed his personal style, without, at this stage, breaking sharply away from French musical traditions. Much of his music from this period is on a small scale, such as the Two Arabesques, Valse romantique, Suite bergamasque, and the first set of Fêtes galantes. Newman remarked that, like Chopin, the Debussy of this period appears as a liberator from Germanic styles of composition – offering instead "an exquisite, pellucid style" capable of conveying "not only gaiety and whimsicality but emotion of a deeper sort". In a 2004 study, Mark DeVoto comments that Debussy's early works are harmonically no more adventurous than existing music by Fauré; in a 2007 book about the piano works, Margery Halford observes that Two Arabesques (1888–1891) and "Rêverie" (1890) have "the fluidity and warmth of Debussy's later style" but are not harmonically innovative. Halford cites the popular "Clair de Lune" (1890), the third of the four movements of Suite Bergamasque, as a transitional work pointing towards the composer's mature style. + + +=== Middle works, 1893–1905 === + +Musicians from Debussy's time onwards have regarded Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894) as his first orchestral masterpiece. Newman considered it "completely original in idea, absolutely personal in style, and logical and coherent from first to last, without a superfluous bar or even a superfluous note"; Pierre Boulez observed, "Modern music was awakened by Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune". Most of the major works for which Debussy is best known were written between the mid-1890s and the mid-1900s. They include the String Quartet (1893), Pelléas et Mélisande (1893–1902), the Nocturnes for Orchestra (1899) and La mer (1903–1905). The suite Pour le piano (1894–1901) is, in Halford's view, one of the first examples of the mature Debussy as a composer for the piano: "a major landmark ... and an enlargement of the use of piano sonorities". +In the String Quartet (1893), the gamelan sonorities Debussy had heard four years earlier are recalled in the pizzicatos and cross-rhythms of the scherzo. Debussy's biographer Edward Lockspeiser comments that this movement shows the composer's rejection of "the traditional dictum that string instruments should be predominantly lyrical". The work influenced Ravel, whose own String Quartet, written ten years later, has noticeably Debussian features. The academic and journalist Stephen Walsh calls Pelléas et Mélisande (begun 1893, staged 1902) "a key work for the 20th century". The composer Olivier Messiaen was fascinated by its "extraordinary harmonic qualities and ... transparent instrumental texture". The opera is composed in what Alan Blyth describes as a sustained and heightened recitative style, with "sensuous, intimate" vocal lines. It influenced composers as different as Stravinsky and Puccini. +Orledge describes the Nocturnes as exceptionally varied in texture, "ranging from the Musorgskian start of 'Nuages', through the approaching brass band procession in 'Fêtes', to the wordless female chorus in 'Sirènes'". Orledge considers the last a pre-echo of the marine textures of La mer. Estampes for piano (1903) gives impressions of exotic locations, with further echoes of the gamelan in its pentatonic structures. Debussy believed that since Beethoven, the traditional symphonic form had become formulaic, repetitive and obsolete. The three-part, cyclic symphony by César Franck (1888) was more to his liking, and its influence can be found in La mer (1905); this uses a quasi-symphonic form, its three sections making up a giant sonata-form movement with, as Orledge observes, a cyclic theme, in the manner of Franck. The central "Jeux de vagues" section has the function of a symphonic development section leading into the final "Dialogue du vent et de la mer", "a powerful essay in orchestral colour and sonority" (Orledge) which reworks themes from the first movement. The reviews were sharply divided. Some critics thought the treatment less subtle and less mysterious than his previous works, and even a step backward; others praised its "power and charm", its "extraordinary verve and brilliant fantasy", and its strong colours and definite lines. + + +=== Late works, 1906–1917 === +Of the later orchestral works, Images (1905–1912) is better known than Jeux (1913). The former follows the tripartite form established in the Nocturnes and La mer, but differs in employing traditional British and French folk tunes, and in making the central movement, "Ibéria", far longer than the outer ones, and subdividing it into three parts, all inspired by scenes from Spanish life. Although considering Images "the pinnacle of Debussy's achievement as a composer for orchestra", Trezise notes a contrary view that the accolade belongs to the ballet score Jeux. The latter failed as a ballet because of what Jann Pasler describes as a banal scenario, and the score was neglected for some years. Recent analysts have found it a link between traditional continuity and thematic growth within a score and the desire to create discontinuity in a way mirrored in later 20th century music. In this piece, Debussy abandoned the whole-tone scale he had often favoured previously in favour of the octatonic scale with what the Debussy scholar François Lesure describes as its tonal ambiguities. + +Among the late piano works are two books of Préludes (1909–10, 1911–13), short pieces that depict a wide range of subjects. Lesure comments that they range from the frolics of minstrels at Eastbourne in 1905 and the American acrobat "General Lavine" "to dead leaves and the sounds and scents of the evening air". En blanc et noir (In white and black, 1915), a three-movement work for two pianos, is a predominantly sombre piece, reflecting the war and national danger. The Études (1915) for piano have divided opinion. Writing soon after Debussy's death, Newman found them laboured – "a strange last chapter in a great artist's life"; Lesure, writing eighty years later, rates them among Debussy's greatest late works: "Behind a pedagogic exterior, these 12 pieces explore abstract intervals, or – in the last five – the sonorities and timbres peculiar to the piano." In 1914 Debussy started work on a planned set of six sonatas for various instruments. His fatal illness prevented him from completing the set, but those for cello and piano (1915), flute, viola and harp (1915), and violin and piano (1917 – his last completed work) are all concise, three-movement pieces, more diatonic in nature than some of his other late works. +Le Martyre de saint Sébastien (1911), originally a five-act musical play to a text by Gabriele D'Annunzio that took nearly five hours in performance, was not a success, and the music is now more often heard in a concert (or studio) adaptation with narrator, or as an orchestral suite of "Fragments symphoniques". Debussy enlisted the help of André Caplet in orchestrating and arranging the score. Two late stage works, the ballets Khamma (1912) and La boîte à joujoux (1913), were left with the orchestration incomplete, and were completed by Charles Koechlin and Caplet, respectively. + + +== Style == + + +=== Debussy and Impressionism === + +The application of the term "Impressionist" to Debussy and the music he influenced has been much debated, both during his lifetime and since. The analyst Richard Langham Smith writes that Impressionism was originally a term coined to describe a style of late 19th-century French painting, typically scenes suffused with reflected light in which the emphasis is on the overall impression rather than outline or clarity of detail, as in works by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and others. Langham Smith writes that the term became transferred to the compositions of Debussy and others which were "concerned with the representation of landscape or natural phenomena, particularly the water and light imagery dear to Impressionists, through subtle textures suffused with instrumental colour". +Among painters, Debussy particularly admired Turner, but also drew inspiration from Whistler. With the latter in mind the composer wrote to the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe in 1894 describing the orchestral Nocturnes as "an experiment in the different combinations that can be obtained from one colour – what a study in grey would be in painting." +Debussy strongly objected to the use of the word "Impressionism" for his (or anybody else's) music, but it has continually been attached to him since the assessors at the Conservatoire first applied it, opprobriously, to his early work Printemps. Langham Smith comments that Debussy wrote many piano pieces with titles evocative of nature – "Reflets dans l'eau" (1905), "Les Sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir" (1910) and "Brouillards" (1913) – and suggests that the Impressionist painters' use of brush-strokes and dots is paralleled in the music of Debussy. Although Debussy said that anyone using the term (whether about painting or music) was an imbecile, some Debussy scholars have taken a less absolutist line. Lockspeiser calls La mer "the greatest example of an orchestral Impressionist work", and more recently in The Cambridge Companion to Debussy Nigel Simeone comments, "It does not seem unduly far-fetched to see a parallel in Monet's seascapes". +In this context may be placed Debussy's pantheistic eulogy to Nature, in a 1911 interview with Henry Malherbe: + +I have made mysterious Nature my religion ... When I gaze at a sunset sky and spend hours contemplating its marvellous ever-changing beauty, an extraordinary emotion overwhelms me. Nature in all its vastness is truthfully reflected in my sincere though feeble soul. Around me are the trees stretching up their branches to the skies, the perfumed flowers gladdening the meadow, the gentle grass-carpeted earth, ... and my hands unconsciously assume an attitude of adoration. +In contrast to the "impressionistic" characterisation of Debussy's music, several writers have suggested that he structured at least some of his music on rigorous mathematical lines. In 1983 the pianist and scholar Roy Howat published a book contending that certain of Debussy's works are proportioned using mathematical models, even while using an apparent classical structure such as sonata form. Howat suggests that some of Debussy's pieces can be divided into sections that reflect the golden ratio, which is approximated by ratios of consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. Simon Trezise, in his 1994 book Debussy: La Mer, finds the intrinsic evidence "remarkable", with the caveat that no written or reported evidence suggests that Debussy deliberately sought such proportions. Lesure takes a similar view, endorsing Howat's conclusions while not taking a view on Debussy's conscious intentions. + + +=== Musical idiom === + +Debussy wrote "We must agree that the beauty of a work of art will always remain a mystery [...] we can never be absolutely sure 'how it's made.' We must at all costs preserve this magic which is peculiar to music and to which music, by its nature, is of all the arts the most receptive." +Nevertheless, there are many indicators of the sources and elements of Debussy's idiom. Writing in 1958, the critic Rudolph Reti summarised six features of Debussy's music, which he asserted "established a new concept of tonality in European music": the frequent use of lengthy pedal points – "not merely bass pedals in the actual sense of the term, but sustained 'pedals' in any voice"; glittering passages and webs of figurations which distract from occasional absence of tonality; frequent use of parallel chords which are "in essence not harmonies at all, but rather 'chordal melodies', enriched unisons", described by some writers as non-functional harmonies; bitonality, or at least bitonal chords; use of the whole-tone and pentatonic scales; and unprepared modulations, "without any harmonic bridge". Reti concludes that Debussy's achievement was the synthesis of monophonic based "melodic tonality" with harmonies, albeit different from those of "harmonic tonality". +In 1889, Debussy held conversations with his former teacher Guiraud, which included exploration of harmonic possibilities at the piano. The discussion, and Debussy's chordal keyboard improvisations, were noted by a younger pupil of Guiraud, Maurice Emmanuel. The chord sequences played by Debussy include some of the elements identified by Reti. They may also indicate the influence on Debussy of Satie's 1887 Trois Sarabandes. A further improvisation by Debussy during this conversation included a sequence of whole tone harmonies which may have been inspired by the music of Glinka or Rimsky-Korsakov which was becoming known in Paris at this time. During the conversation, Debussy told Guiraud, "There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law!" – although he also conceded, "I feel free because I have been through the mill, and I don't write in the fugal style because I know it." + + +== Influences == + + +=== Musical === + +Among French predecessors, Chabrier was an important influence on Debussy (as he was on Ravel and Poulenc); Howat has written that Chabrier's piano music such as "Sous-bois" and "Mauresque" in the Pièces pittoresques explored new sound-worlds of which Debussy made effective use 30 years later. Lesure finds traces of Gounod and Massenet in some of Debussy's early songs, and remarks that it may have been from the Russians – Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Mussorgsky – that Debussy acquired his taste for "ancient and oriental modes and for vivid colorations, and a certain disdain for academic rules". Lesure also considers that Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov directly influenced Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. In the music of Palestrina, Debussy found what he called "a perfect whiteness", and he felt that although Palestrina's musical forms had a "strict manner", they were more to his taste than the rigid rules prevailing among 19th-century French composers and teachers. He drew inspiration from what he called Palestrina's "harmony created by melody", finding an arabesque-like quality in the melodic lines. +Debussy opined that Chopin was "the greatest of them all, for through the piano he discovered everything"; he professed his "respectful gratitude" for Chopin's piano music. He was torn between dedicating his own Études to Chopin or to François Couperin, whom he also admired as a model of form, seeing himself as heir to their mastery of the genre. Howat cautions against the assumption that Debussy's Ballade (1891) and Nocturne (1892) are influenced by Chopin – in Howat's view they owe more to Debussy's early Russian models – but Chopin's influence is found in other early works such as the Two arabesques (1889–1891). In 1914 the publisher A. Durand & fils began publishing scholarly new editions of the works of major composers, and Debussy undertook the supervision of the editing of Chopin's music. +Although Debussy was in no doubt of Wagner's stature, he was only briefly influenced by him in his compositions, after La damoiselle élue and the Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire (both begun in 1887). According to Pierre Louÿs, Debussy "did not see 'what anyone can do beyond Tristan'," although he admitted that it was sometimes difficult to avoid "the ghost of old Klingsor, alias Richard Wagner, appearing at the turning of a bar". After Debussy's short Wagnerian phase, he started to become interested in non-Western music and its unfamiliar approaches to composition. The piano piece "Golliwogg's Cakewalk", from the 1908 suite Children's Corner, contains a parody of music from the introduction to Tristan, in which, in the opinion of the musicologist Lawrence Kramer, Debussy escapes the shadow of the older composer and "smilingly relativizes Wagner into insignificance". +A contemporary influence was Erik Satie, according to Nichols Debussy's "most faithful friend" amongst French musicians. Debussy's orchestration in 1896 of Satie's Gymnopédies (which had been written in 1887) "put their composer on the map" according to the musicologist Richard Taruskin, and the Sarabande from Debussy's Pour le piano (1901) "shows that [Debussy] knew Satie's Trois Sarabandes at a time when only a personal friend of the composer could have known them." (They were not published until 1911). Debussy's interest in the popular music of his time is evidenced not only by the Golliwogg's Cakewalk and other piano pieces featuring rag-time, such as The Little Nigar (Debussy's spelling) (1909), but by the slow waltz La plus que lente (The more than slow), based on the style of the gipsy violinist at a Paris hotel (to whom he gave the manuscript of the piece). +In addition to the composers who influenced his own compositions, Debussy held strong views about several others. He was for the most part enthusiastic about Richard Strauss and Stravinsky, respectful of Mozart and was in awe of Bach, whom he called the "good God of music" (le Bon Dieu de la musique). His relationship to Beethoven was complex; he was said to refer to him as le vieux sourd ('the old deaf one') and asked one young pupil not to play Beethoven's music for "it is like somebody dancing on my grave;" but he believed that Beethoven had profound things to say, yet did not know how to say them, "because he was imprisoned in a web of incessant restatement and of German aggressiveness." He was not in sympathy with Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn, the latter being described as a "facile and elegant notary". +With the advent of the First World War, Debussy became ardently patriotic in his musical opinions. Writing to Stravinsky, he asked "How could we not have foreseen that these men were plotting the destruction of our art, just as they had planned the destruction of our country?" In 1915 he complained that "since Rameau we have had no purely French tradition [...] We tolerated overblown orchestras, tortuous forms [...] we were about to give the seal of approval to even more suspect naturalizations when the sound of gunfire put a sudden stop to it all." Taruskin writes that some have seen this as a reference to the composers Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg, both born Jewish. In 1912 Debussy had remarked to his publisher of the opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue by the (also Jewish) composer Paul Dukas, "You're right, [it] is a masterpiece – but it's not a masterpiece of French music." +On the other hand, Charles Rosen argued in a review of Taruskin's work that Debussy was instead implying "that [Dukas's] opera was too Wagnerian, too German, to fit his ideal of French style", citing Georges Liébert, one of the editors of Debussy's collected correspondence, as an authority, saying that Debussy was not antisemitic. + + +=== Literary === + +Despite his lack of formal schooling, Debussy read widely and found inspiration in literature. Lesure writes, "The development of free verse in poetry and the disappearance of the subject or model in painting influenced him to think about issues of musical form." Debussy was influenced by the Symbolist poets. These writers, who included Verlaine, Mallarmé, Maeterlinck and Rimbaud, reacted against the realism, naturalism, objectivity and formal conservatism that prevailed in the 1870s. They favoured poetry using suggestion rather than direct statement; the literary scholar Chris Baldrick writes that they evoked "subjective moods through the use of private symbols, while avoiding the description of external reality or the expression of opinion". Debussy was much in sympathy with the Symbolists' desire to bring poetry closer to music, became friendly with several leading exponents, and set many Symbolist works throughout his career. +Debussy's literary inspirations were mostly French, but he did not overlook foreign writers. As well as Maeterlinck for Pelléas et Mélisande, he drew on Shakespeare and Dickens for two of his Préludes for piano – "La Danse de Puck" (Book 1, 1910) and "Hommage à S. Pickwick Esq. P.P.M.P.C." (Book 2, 1913). He set Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The Blessed Damozel in his early cantata, La Damoiselle élue (1888). He wrote incidental music for King Lear and planned an opera based on As You Like It, but abandoned that once he turned his attention to setting Maeterlinck's play. In 1890 he began work on an orchestral piece inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher and later sketched the libretto for an opera, La chute de la maison Usher. Another project inspired by Poe – an operatic version of The Devil in the Belfry did not progress beyond sketches. French writers whose words he set include Paul Bourget, Alfred de Musset, Théodore de Banville, Leconte de Lisle, Théophile Gautier, Paul Verlaine, François Villon, and Mallarmé – the last of whom also provided Debussy with the inspiration for one of his most popular orchestral pieces, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. + + +== Influence on later composers == +Debussy is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. Roger Nichols writes that "if one omits Schoenberg ... a list of 20th-century composers influenced by Debussy is practically a list of 20th-century composers tout court." +Bartók first encountered Debussy's music in 1907 and later said that "Debussy's great service to music was to reawaken among all musicians an awareness of harmony and its possibilities". Not only Debussy's use of whole-tone scales, but also his style of word-setting in Pelléas et Mélisande, were the subject of study by Leoš Janáček while he was writing his 1921 opera Káťa Kabanová. Stravinsky was more ambivalent about Debussy's music (he thought Pelléas "a terrible bore ... in spite of many wonderful pages") but the two composers knew each other and Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) was written as a memorial for Debussy. +In the aftermath of the First World War, the young French composers of Les Six reacted against what they saw as the poetic, mystical quality of Debussy's music in favour of something more hard-edged. Their sympathiser and self-appointed spokesman Jean Cocteau wrote in 1918: "Enough of nuages, waves, aquariums, ondines and nocturnal perfumes," pointedly alluding to the titles of pieces by Debussy. Later generations of French composers had a much more positive relationship with his music. Messiaen was given a score of Pelléas et Mélisande as a boy and said that it was "a revelation, love at first sight" and "probably the most decisive influence I have been subject to". Boulez also discovered Debussy's music at a young age and said that it gave him his first sense of what modernity in music could mean. +Among contemporary composers George Benjamin has described Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune as "the definition of perfection"; he has conducted Pelléas et Mélisande and the critic Rupert Christiansen detects the influence of the work in Benjamin's opera Written on Skin (2012). Others have made orchestrations of some of the piano and vocal works, including John Adams's version of four of the Baudelaire songs (Le Livre de Baudelaire, 1994), Robin Holloway's of En blanc et noir (2002), and Colin Matthews's of both books of Préludes (2001–2006). +The pianist Stephen Hough believes that Debussy's influence also extends to jazz and suggests that Reflets dans l'eau can be heard in the harmonies of Bill Evans. + + +== Recordings == +In 1904, Debussy played the piano accompaniment for Mary Garden in recordings for the Compagnie française du Gramophone of four of his songs: three mélodies from the Verlaine cycle Ariettes oubliées – "Il pleure dans mon coeur", "L'ombre des arbres" and "Green" – and "Mes longs cheveux", from Act III of Pelléas et Mélisande. He made a set of piano rolls for the Welte-Mignon company in 1913. They contain fourteen of his pieces: "D'un cahier d'esquisses", "La plus que lente", "La soirée dans Grenade", all six movements of Children's Corner, and five of the Preludes: "Danseuses de Delphes", "Le vent dans la plaine", "La cathédrale engloutie", "La danse de Puck" and "Minstrels". The 1904 and 1913 sets have been transferred to compact disc. +Contemporaries of Debussy who made recordings of his music included the pianists Ricardo Viñes (in "Poissons d'or" from Images and "La soirée dans Grenade" from Estampes); Alfred Cortot (numerous solo pieces as well as the Violin Sonata with Jacques Thibaud and the Chansons de Bilitis with Maggie Teyte); and Marguerite Long ("Jardins sous la pluie" and "Arabesques"). Singers in Debussy's mélodies or excerpts from Pelléas et Mélisande included Jane Bathori, Claire Croiza, Charles Panzéra and Ninon Vallin; and among the conductors in the major orchestral works were Ernest Ansermet, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Pierre Monteux and Arturo Toscanini, and in the Petite Suite, Henri Büsser, who had prepared the orchestration for Debussy. Many of these early recordings have been reissued on CD. +In more recent times Debussy's output has been extensively recorded. In 2018, to mark the centenary of the composer's death, Warner Classics, with contributions from other companies, issued a 33-CD set that is claimed to include all the music Debussy wrote. + + +== Notes, references and sources == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== References === + + +=== Sources === + + +== External links == +Free scores by Claude Debussy at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) +Free scores by Claude Debussy in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) +"Discovering Debussy". BBC Radio 3. +Website of Debussy museum, St. Germain-en-Laye diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/14_pyotr_ilyich_tchaikovsky.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/14_pyotr_ilyich_tchaikovsky.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f02c3f --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/14_pyotr_ilyich_tchaikovsky.txt @@ -0,0 +1,197 @@ +Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( chy-KOF-skee; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the classical repertoire, including the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, the Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, the opera Eugene Onegin, and the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. +Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no public music education system. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five, with whom his professional relationship was mixed. +Tchaikovsky's training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices to which he had been exposed from childhood. From that reconciliation, he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style. The principles that governed melody, harmony, and other fundamentals of Russian music diverged from those that governed Western European music. There seemed to be little potential for using Russian music in large-scale Western composition or for forming a composite style, and this caused personal antipathies that dented Tchaikovsky's self-confidence. Russian culture exhibited a split personality, with its native and adopted elements having drifted apart increasingly since the time of Peter the Great. That resulted in uncertainty among the intelligentsia about the country's national identity, an ambiguity mirrored in Tchaikovsky's career. +Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. Contributory factors included his early separation from his mother for boarding school followed by her early death, the death of his close friend and colleague Nikolai Rubinstein, his failed marriage to Antonina Miliukova, and the collapse of his 13-year association with the wealthy patroness Nadezhda von Meck. Tchaikovsky's homosexuality, which he kept private, has traditionally also been considered a major factor, though some scholars have downplayed its importance. His dedication of his Sixth symphony to his nephew Vladimir Davydov and the feelings he expressed about Davydov in letters to others have been cited as evidence for romantic love between the two. Tchaikovsky's sudden death at the age of 53 is generally ascribed to cholera, but there is an ongoing debate as to whether cholera was indeed the cause and whether the death was intentional. +While his music has remained popular among audiences, critical opinions were initially mixed. Some Russians did not feel it sufficiently represented native musical values and expressed suspicion that Europeans accepted the music for its Western elements. In an apparent reinforcement of that claim, some Europeans lauded Tchaikovsky for offering music more substantive than exoticism, and said he transcended the stereotypes of Russian classical music. Others dismissed Tchaikovsky's music as deficient because it did not stringently follow Western principles. + + +== Early life and education == + +Tchaikovsky was born on 7 May 1840 in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate during the Russian Empire in present-day Udmurtia near the banks of the Kama River. His father, Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, served as a lieutenant colonel and engineer in the Department of Mines and managed the Ironworks in Kamsko-Votkinsk. His grandfather, Pyotr Fedorovich Tchaikovsky, was born in the village of Nikolaevka, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire in present-day Mykolaivka, Ukraine, and served first as a physician's assistant in the army and later as city governor of Glazov in Vyatka. His great-grandfather, a Zaporozhian Cossack named Fyodor Chaika, served in the Russian military at the Battle of Poltava in 1709. +Tchaikovsky's mother, Alexandra Andreyevna (née d'Assier), was the second of Ilya's three wives; his first wife died several years before Pyotr's birth. His mother was 18 years younger than her husband and was of French and German ethnicity through her paternal side. Both Ilya and Alexandra were trained in the arts, including music. Of his six siblings, Tchaikovsky was close to his sister Alexandra and twin brothers Anatoly and Modest. Alexandra's marriage to Lev Davydov produced seven children and lent Tchaikovsky the only real family life he knew as an adult, especially during his years of wandering. One of those children, Vladimir Davydov, who went by the nickname "Bob", became very close to him. +In 1844, the family hired Fanny Dürbach, a 22-year-old French governess. Four-and-a-half-year-old Tchaikovsky was initially thought too young to study alongside his older brother Nikolai and a niece of the family. His insistence convinced Dürbach otherwise. By age six, he was fluent in French and German. Tchaikovsky also became attached to Dürbach; her affection for him reportedly counterbalanced his mother's coldness and emotional distance, though others assert that the mother doted on her son. Dürbach saved much of Tchaikovsky's work from this period, including his earliest known compositions, and became a source of several childhood anecdotes. +Tchaikovsky began piano lessons at the age of five with Maria Palchikova. Within three years he had become as adept at reading sheet music as his teacher. Tchaikovsky's parents, initially supportive, hired a tutor, bought an orchestrion, a form of barrel organ that could imitate elaborate orchestral effects, and encouraged his piano study for both aesthetic and practical reasons. But in 1850 they sent Tchaikovsky to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg. They had both graduated from institutes in Saint Petersburg and the School of Jurisprudence, which mainly served the lesser nobility, and thought that this education would prepare Tchaikovsky for a career as a civil servant. Regardless of talent, the only musical careers available in Russia at that time—except for the affluent aristocracy—were as a teacher in an academy or as an instrumentalist in one of the Imperial Theaters. Both were considered on the lowest rank of the social ladder, with individuals in them enjoying no more rights than peasants. +Tchaikovsky's father's income was also growing increasingly uncertain, so both parents may have wanted Tchaikovsky to become independent as soon as possible. As the minimum age for acceptance was 12 and Tchaikovsky was only 10 at the time, he was required to spend two years boarding at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence's preparatory school, 1,300 kilometres (800 mi) from his family. Once those two years had passed, Tchaikovsky transferred to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence to begin a seven-year course of study. +Tchaikovsky's early separation from his mother, despite the aforementioned alleged distant relationship, caused emotional trauma that lasted the rest of his life and was intensified by her death from cholera in 1854, when he was 14. The loss of his mother also prompted Tchaikovsky to make his first serious attempt at composition, a waltz in her memory. Tchaikovsky's father, who had also contracted cholera but recovered, sent him back to school immediately in the hope that classwork would occupy the boy's mind. Isolated, Tchaikovsky compensated with friendships with fellow students that became lifelong; these included Aleksey Apukhtin and Vladimir Gerard. +Music, while not an official priority at school, also bridged the gap between Tchaikovsky and his peers. They regularly attended the opera and Tchaikovsky improvised at the school's harmonium on themes he and his friends had sung during choir practice. "We were amused", Gerard later remembered, "but not imbued with any expectations of his future glory". Tchaikovsky also continued his piano studies with Franz Becker, an instrument manufacturer who made occasional visits to the school, but the results, according to the musicologist David Brown, were "negligible". +In 1855, Tchaikovsky's father funded private lessons with Rudolph Kündinger and questioned him about a musical career for his son. While impressed with the boy's talent, Kündinger said he saw nothing to suggest a future composer or performer. He later admitted that his assessment was also based on his own bad experiences as a musician in Russia and his unwillingness for Tchaikovsky to be treated likewise. Tchaikovsky was told to finish his course and then try for a post in the Ministry of Justice. + + +== Career == +On 10 June 1859, the 19-year-old Tchaikovsky graduated as a titular counselor, a low rung on the civil service ladder. Appointed to the Ministry of Justice, he became a junior assistant within six months and a senior assistant two months after that. He remained a senior assistant for the rest of his three-year civil service career. + +Meanwhile, the Russian Musical Society (RMS) was founded in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (a German-born aunt of Tsar Alexander II) and her protégé, the pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. Previous tsars and the aristocracy had focused almost exclusively on importing European talent. The aim of the RMS was to fulfill Alexander II's wish to foster native talent. It hosted a regular season of public concerts (previously held only during the six weeks of Lent when the Imperial Theaters were closed) and provided basic professional training in music. In 1861, Tchaikovsky attended RMS classes in music theory taught by Nikolai Zaremba at the Mikhailovsky Palace (now the Russian Museum). These classes were a precursor to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, which opened in 1862. Tchaikovsky enrolled at the Conservatory as part of its premiere class. He studied harmony and counterpoint with Zaremba and instrumentation and composition with Rubinstein. He was awarded a silver medal for his thesis, a cantata on Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy". +The Conservatory benefited Tchaikovsky in two ways. It transformed him into a musical professional, with tools to help him thrive as a composer, and the in-depth exposure to European principles and musical forms gave him a sense that his art was not exclusively native or foreign. This mindset became important in Tchaikovsky's reconciliation of Russian and Western European influences in his compositional style. He believed and attempted to show that both these aspects were "intertwined and mutually dependent". His efforts became both an inspiration and a starting point for other Russian composers to build their own individual styles. +Rubinstein was impressed by Tchaikovsky's musical talent on the whole and cited him as "a composer of genius" in his autobiography. He was less pleased with the more progressive tendencies of some of Tchaikovsky's student work. Nor did he change his opinion as Tchaikovsky's reputation grew. He and Zaremba clashed with Tchaikovsky when he submitted his First Symphony for performance by the Russian Musical Society in Saint Petersburg. Rubinstein and Zaremba refused to consider the work unless substantial changes were made. Tchaikovsky complied but they still refused to perform the symphony. Tchaikovsky, distressed that he had been treated as though he were still their student, withdrew the symphony. It was given its first complete performance, minus the changes Rubinstein and Zaremba had requested, in Moscow in February 1868. +Once Tchaikovsky graduated in 1865, Rubinstein's brother Nikolai offered him the post of Professor of Music Theory at the soon-to-open Moscow Conservatory. While the salary for his professorship was only 50 rubles a month, the offer itself boosted Tchaikovsky's morale and he accepted the post eagerly. He was further heartened by news of the first public performance of one of his works, his Characteristic Dances, conducted by Johann Strauss II at a concert in Pavlovsk Park on 11 September 1865 (Tchaikovsky later included this work, re-titled Dances of the Hay Maidens, in his opera The Voyevoda). +From 1867 to 1878, Tchaikovsky combined his professorial duties with music criticism while continuing to compose. This activity exposed him to a range of contemporary music and afforded him the opportunity to travel abroad. In his reviews, he praised Ludwig van Beethoven, considered Johannes Brahms overrated and, despite his admiration, took Schumann to task for poor orchestration. He appreciated the staging of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at its première at the Bayreuth Festival, but not the music, calling Das Rheingold "unlikely nonsense, through which, from time to time, sparkle unusually beautiful and astonishing details". A recurring theme he addressed was the poor state of Russian opera. + + +=== Relationship with The Five === + +In 1856, while Tchaikovsky was still at the School of Jurisprudence and Anton Rubinstein lobbied aristocrats to form the Russian Musical Society, the critic Vladimir Stasov and an 18-year-old pianist, Mily Balakirev, met and agreed upon a nationalist agenda for Russian music, one that would take the operas of Mikhail Glinka as a model and incorporate elements from folk music, reject traditional Western practices and use non-Western harmonic devices such as the whole tone and octatonic scales. They saw Western-style conservatories as unnecessary and antipathetic to fostering native talent. +Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin became known as the moguchaya kuchka, translated into English as the "Mighty Handful" or "The Five". Rubinstein criticized their emphasis on amateur efforts in musical composition; Balakirev and later Mussorgsky attacked Rubinstein for his musical conservatism and his belief in professional music training. Tchaikovsky and his fellow conservatory students were caught in the middle. +While ambivalent about much of The Five's music, Tchaikovsky remained on friendly terms with most of its members. In 1869, he and Balakirev worked together on what became Tchaikovsky's first recognized masterpiece, the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet, a work which The Five wholeheartedly embraced. The group also welcomed his Second Symphony, later nicknamed the Little Russian. Despite their support, Tchaikovsky made considerable efforts to ensure his musical independence from the group as well as from the conservative faction at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. + + +=== Opera composer === + +The infrequency of Tchaikovsky's musical successes, won with tremendous effort, exacerbated his lifelong sensitivity to criticism. Nikolai Rubinstein's private fits of rage critiquing his music, such as attacking the First Piano Concerto, did not help matters. His popularity grew, however, as several first-rate artists became willing to perform his compositions. Hans von Bülow premiered the First Piano Concerto and championed other Tchaikovsky works both as pianist and conductor. Other artists included Adele aus der Ohe, Max Erdmannsdörfer, Eduard Nápravník and Sergei Taneyev. +Another factor that helped Tchaikovsky's music become popular was a shift in attitude among Russian audiences. Whereas they had previously been satisfied with flashy virtuoso performances of technically demanding but musically lightweight works, they gradually began listening with increasing appreciation of the composition itself. Tchaikovsky's works were performed frequently, with few delays between their composition and first performances; the publication from 1867 onward of his songs and great piano music for the home market also helped boost the composer's popularity. +During the late 1860s, Tchaikovsky began to compose operas. His first, The Voyevoda, based on a play by Alexander Ostrovsky, premiered in 1869. The composer became dissatisfied with it, however, and, having re-used parts of it in later works, destroyed the manuscript. Undina followed in 1870. Only excerpts were performed and it, too, was destroyed. Between these projects, Tchaikovsky started to compose an opera called Mandragora, to a libretto by Sergei Rachinskii; the only music he completed was a short chorus of Flowers and Insects. +The first Tchaikovsky opera to survive intact, The Oprichnik, premiered in 1874. During its composition, he lost Ostrovsky's part-finished libretto. Tchaikovsky, too embarrassed to ask for another copy, decided to write the libretto himself, modeling his dramatic technique on that of Eugène Scribe. Cui wrote a "characteristically savage press attack" on the opera. Mussorgsky, writing to Vladimir Stasov, disapproved of the opera as pandering to the public. Nevertheless, The Oprichnik continues to be performed from time to time in Russia. +The last of the early operas, Vakula the Smith (Op. 14), was composed in the second half of 1874. The libretto, based on Nikolai Gogol's Christmas Eve, was to have been set to music by Alexander Serov. With Serov's death, the libretto was opened to a competition with a guarantee that the winning entry would be premiered by the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. Tchaikovsky was declared the winner, but at the 1876 premiere, the opera enjoyed only a lukewarm reception. After Tchaikovsky's death, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the opera Christmas Eve, based on the same story. +Other works of this period include the Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra, the Third and Fourth Symphonies, the ballet Swan Lake, and the opera Eugene Onegin. +Tchaikovsky remained abroad for a year after the disintegration of his marriage. During this time, he completed Eugene Onegin, orchestrated his Fourth Symphony, and composed the Violin Concerto. He returned briefly to the Moscow Conservatory in the autumn of 1879. For the next few years, assured of a regular income from von Meck, he traveled incessantly throughout Europe and rural Russia, mainly alone, and avoided social contact whenever possible. +During this time, Tchaikovsky's foreign reputation grew and a positive reassessment of his music also took place in Russia, thanks in part to the novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky's call for "universal unity" with the West at the unveiling of the Pushkin Monument in Moscow in 1880. Before Dostoevsky's speech, Tchaikovsky's music had been considered "overly dependent on the West". As Dostoevsky's message spread throughout Russia, this stigma toward Tchaikovsky's music evaporated. The unprecedented acclaim for him even drew a cult following among the young intelligentsia of Saint Petersburg, including Alexandre Benois, Léon Bakst and Sergei Diaghilev. +Two musical works from this period stand out. With the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour nearing completion in Moscow in 1880, the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Alexander II in 1881, and the 1882 Moscow Arts and Industry Exhibition in the planning stage, Nikolai Rubinstein suggested that Tchaikovsky compose a grand commemorative piece. Tchaikovsky agreed and finished it within six weeks. He wrote to Nadezhda von Meck that this piece, the 1812 Overture, would be "very loud and noisy, but I wrote it with no warm feeling of love, and therefore there will probably be no artistic merits in it". He also warned the conductor Eduard Nápravník that "I shan't be at all surprised and offended if you find that it is in a style unsuitable for symphony concerts". Nevertheless, the overture became, for many, "the piece by Tchaikovsky they know best", particularly well-known for the use of cannon in the scores. +On 23 March 1881, Nikolai Rubinstein died in Paris. That December, Tchaikovsky started work on his Piano Trio in A minor, "dedicated to the memory of a great artist". First performed privately at the Moscow Conservatory on the first anniversary of Rubinstein's death, the piece became extremely popular during the composer's lifetime; in November 1893, it would become Tchaikovsky's own elegy at memorial concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg. + + +=== Return to Russia === + +In 1884, Tchaikovsky began to shed his unsociability and restlessness. That March, Emperor Alexander III conferred upon him the Order of Saint Vladimir (fourth class), which included a title of hereditary nobility and a personal audience with the Tsar. This was seen as a seal of official approval which advanced Tchaikovsky's social standing and might have been cemented in the composer's mind by the success of his Orchestral Suite No. 3 at its January 1885 premiere in Saint Petersburg. +In 1885, Alexander III requested a new production of Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg. By having the opera staged there and not at the Mariinsky Theatre, he served notice that Tchaikovsky's music was replacing Italian opera as the official imperial art. In addition, at the instigation of Ivan Vsevolozhsky, Director of the Imperial Theaters and a patron of the composer, Tchaikovsky was awarded a lifetime annual pension of 3,000 rubles from the Tsar. This made him the premier court composer, in practice if not in the actual title. +Despite Tchaikovsky's disdain for public life, he now participated in it as part of his increasing celebrity and out of a duty he felt to promote Russian music. He helped support his former pupil Sergei Taneyev, who was now director of Moscow Conservatory, by attending student examinations and negotiating the sometimes sensitive relations among various members of the staff. He served as director of the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society during the 1889–1890 season. In this post, he invited many international celebrities to conduct, including Brahms, Antonín Dvořák and Jules Massenet. +During this period, Tchaikovsky also began promoting Russian music as a conductor, In January 1887, he substituted, on short notice, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow for performances of his opera Cherevichki. Within a year, he was in considerable demand throughout Europe and Russia. These appearances helped him overcome life-long stage fright and boosted his self-assurance. In 1888, Tchaikovsky led the premiere of his Fifth Symphony in Saint Petersburg, repeating the work a week later with the first performance of his tone poem Hamlet. Although critics proved hostile, with César Cui calling the symphony "routine" and "meretricious", both works were received with extreme enthusiasm by audiences and Tchaikovsky, undeterred, continued to conduct the symphony in Russia and Europe. Conducting brought him to the United States in 1891, where he led the New York Music Society's orchestra in his Festival Coronation March at the inaugural concert of Carnegie Hall. + + +=== Belyayev circle and growing reputation === + +In November 1887, Tchaikovsky arrived at Saint Petersburg in time to hear several of the Russian Symphony Concerts, devoted exclusively to the music of Russian composers. One included the first complete performance of his revised First Symphony; another featured the final version of Third Symphony of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, with whose circle Tchaikovsky was already in touch. +Rimsky-Korsakov, with Alexander Glazunov, Anatoly Lyadov and several other nationalistically-minded composers and musicians, had formed a group known as the Belyayev circle, named after a merchant and amateur musician who became an influential music patron and publisher. Tchaikovsky spent much time in this circle, becoming far more at ease with them than he had been with the 'Five' and increasingly confident in showcasing his music alongside theirs. This relationship lasted until Tchaikovsky's death. +In 1892, Tchaikovsky was voted a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in France, only the second Russian subject to be so honored (the first was the sculptor Mark Antokolsky). The following year, the University of Cambridge in England awarded Tchaikovsky an honorary Doctor of Music degree. + + +== Personal life == + +Discussion of Tchaikovsky's personal life, especially his sexuality, has perhaps been among the most extensive of any composer in the 19th century and certainly of any Russian composer of his time. It has also at times caused considerable confusion, from Soviet efforts to expunge all references to homosexuality and portray him as a heterosexual, to efforts at analysis by Western biographers. +Biographers have generally agreed that Tchaikovsky was homosexual. He sought the company of other men in his circle for extended periods, "associating openly and establishing professional connections with them." His first love was reportedly Sergey Kireyev, a younger fellow student at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence. According to Modest Tchaikovsky, this was Pyotr Ilyich's "strongest, longest and purest love". His letters and his dedication of the Sixth Symphony to his 21-year-old nephew Vladimir "Bob" Davydov have been interpreted by scholars as evidence of a romantic attachment. The degree to which the composer might have felt comfortable with his sexual desires has, however, remained open to debate. It is still unknown whether Tchaikovsky, according to the musicologist and biographer David Brown, "felt tainted within himself, defiled by something from which he finally realized he could never escape" or whether, according to Alexander Poznansky, he experienced "no unbearable guilt" over his sexual desires and "eventually came to see his sexual peculiarities as an insurmountable and even natural part of his personality ... without experiencing any serious psychological damage". +Relevant portions of his brother Modest's autobiography, where he tells of the composer's same-sex attraction, have been published, as have letters previously suppressed by Soviet censors in which Tchaikovsky openly writes of it. Such censorship has persisted in the Russian government, resulting in many officials, including the former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, denying his homosexuality outright. Passages in Tchaikovsky's letters which reveal his homosexual desires have been censored in Russia. In one such passage he said of a homosexual acquaintance: "Petashenka used to drop by with the criminal intention of observing the Cadet Corps, which is right opposite our windows, but I've been trying to discourage these compromising visits—and with some success." In another one, he wrote: "After our walk, I offered him some money, which was refused. He does it for the love of art and adores men with beards." +Tchaikovsky lived as a bachelor for most of his life. In 1868, he met Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt with whom he considered marriage, but, owing to various circumstances, the relationship ended. Tchaikovsky later claimed she was the only woman he ever loved. In 1877, at the age of 37, he wed a former student, Antonina Miliukova. The marriage was a disaster. Mismatched psychologically and sexually, the couple lived together for only two and a half months before Tchaikovsky left, overwrought emotionally and suffering from acute writer's block. Tchaikovsky's family remained supportive of him during this crisis and throughout his life. Tchaikovsky's marital debacle may have forced him to face the full truth about his sexuality. He never blamed Antonina for the failure of their marriage. +Tchaikovsky was also aided by Nadezhda von Meck, the widow of a railway magnate, who had begun contact with him not long before the marriage. As well as an important friend and emotional support, she became his patroness for the next 13 years, which allowed him to focus exclusively on composition. Although Tchaikovsky called her his "best friend", they agreed never to meet. + + +== Death == + +On 6 November, Tchaikovsky died in Saint Petersburg, aged 53. He was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, near the graves of his fellow-composers Alexander Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, and Modest Mussorgsky; later, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Mily Balakirev were also buried nearby. +Tchaikovsky's death is attributed to cholera, caused by drinking unboiled water at a local restaurant. In the 1980s in Britain, however, there was academic speculation that he killed himself, either with poison or by contracting cholera intentionally; in the New Grove Dictionary of Music, Roland John Wiley wrote: "the polemics over Tchaikovsky's death have reached an impasse ... . As for illness, problems of evidence offer little hope of satisfactory resolution: the state of diagnosis; the confusion of witnesses; disregard of long-term effects of smoking and alcohol. We do not know how Tchaikovsky died. We may never find out." + + +== Music == + + +=== Antecedents and influences === + +Of Tchaikovsky's Western predecessors, Robert Schumann stands out as an influence in formal structure, harmonic practices, and piano writing, according to Brown and the musicologist Roland John Wiley. Boris Asafyev comments that Schumann left his mark on Tchaikovsky not just as a formal influence but also as an example of musical dramaturgy and self-expression. Leon Botstein argues the music of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner also left their imprints on Tchaikovsky's orchestral style. The late-Romantic trend for writing orchestral suites, begun by Franz Lachner, Jules Massenet, and Joachim Raff after the rediscovery of Johann Sebastian Bach's works in that genre, may have influenced Tchaikovsky to try his own hand at them. +Tchaikovsky's teacher Anton Rubinstein's opera The Demon became a model for the final tableau of Eugene Onegin. So did Léo Delibes' ballets Coppélia and Sylvia for The Sleeping Beauty and Georges Bizet's opera Carmen (a work Tchaikovsky admired tremendously) for The Queen of Spades. Otherwise, it was to composers of the past that Tchaikovsky turned—Beethoven, whose music he respected; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whom he considered his favourite composer; Glinka, whose opera A Life for the Tsar made an indelible impression on him as a child and whose scoring he studied assiduously; and Adolphe Adam, whose ballet Giselle was a favorite of his from his student days and whose score he consulted while working on The Sleeping Beauty. Beethoven’s symphonies and string quartets may have influenced Tchaikovsky's attempts in the mediums. Other composers whose work interested Tchaikovsky included Hector Berlioz, Felix Mendelssohn, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Vincenzo Bellini, Carl Maria von Weber and Henry Litolff. + + +=== Creative range === +Tchaikovsky displayed a wide stylistic and emotional range, from light salon works to grand symphonies. Some of his works, such as the Variations on a Rococo Theme, employ a Classical form reminiscent of 18th-century composers such as Mozart. Other compositions, such as his Little Russian symphony and his opera Vakula the Smith, flirt with musical practices more akin to those of The Five, especially in their use of folk song. Other works, such as Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies, employ a personal musical idiom that facilitated intense emotional expression. + + +=== Compositional style === + + +==== Melody ==== +The American music critic and journalist Harold C. Schonberg wrote of Tchaikovsky's "sweet, inexhaustible, supersensuous fund of melody", a feature that has ensured his music's continued success with audiences. Tchaikovsky's complete range of melodic styles was as wide as that of his compositions. Sometimes he used Western-style melodies, sometimes original melodies written in the style of Russian folk song; sometimes he used actual folk songs. According to The New Grove, Tchaikovsky's melodic gift could also become his worst enemy in two ways. +The first challenge arose from his ethnic heritage. Unlike Western themes, the melodies that Russian composers wrote tended to be self-contained: they functioned with a mindset of stasis and repetition rather than one of progress and ongoing development. On a technical level, it made modulating to a new key to introduce a contrasting second theme exceedingly difficult, as this was literally a foreign concept that did not exist in Russian music. +The second way melody worked against Tchaikovsky was a challenge that he shared with the majority of Romantic-age composers. They did not write in the regular, symmetrical melodic shapes that worked well with sonata form, such as those favored by Classical composers such as Joseph Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven; rather, the themes favored by Romantics were complete and independent in themselves. This completeness hindered their use as structural elements in combination with one another. This challenge was why the Romantics "were never natural symphonists". All a composer like Tchaikovsky could do with them was to essentially repeat them, even when he modified them to generate tension, maintain interest, and satisfy listeners. + + +==== Harmony ==== +Harmony could be a potential trap for Tchaikovsky, according to Brown, since Russian creativity tended to focus on inertia and self-enclosed tableaux, while Western harmony worked against this to propel the music onward and, on a larger scale, shape it. Modulation, the shifting from one key to another, was a driving principle in both harmony and sonata form, the primary Western large-scale musical structure since the middle of the 18th century. Modulation maintained harmonic interest over an extended time scale, provided a clear contrast between musical themes, and showed how those themes were related to each other. +One point in Tchaikovsky's favor was "a flair for harmony" that "astonished" Rudolph Kündinger, Tchaikovsky's music tutor during his time at the School of Jurisprudence. Added to what he learned at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory studies, this talent allowed Tchaikovsky to employ a varied range of harmony in his music, from the Western harmonic and textural practices of his first two string quartets to the use of the whole-tone scale in the center of the finale of the Second Symphony, a practice more typically used by The Five. + + +==== Rhythm ==== +Rhythmically, Tchaikovsky sometimes experimented with unusual meters. More often, he used a firm, regular meter, a practice that served him well in dance music. At times, his rhythms became pronounced enough to become the main expressive agent of the music. They also became a means, found typically in Russian folk music, of simulating movement or progression in large-scale symphonic movements—a "synthetic propulsion", as Brown phrases it, which substituted for the momentum that would be created in strict sonata form by the interaction of melodic or motivic elements. This interaction generally does not take place in Russian music. + + +==== Structure ==== +Tchaikovsky struggled with sonata form. Its principle of organic growth through the interplay of musical themes was alien to Russian practice. The traditional argument that Tchaikovsky seemed unable to develop themes in this manner fails to consider this point; it also discounts the possibility that Tchaikovsky might have intended the development passages in his large-scale works to act as "enforced hiatuses" to build tension, rather than grow organically as smoothly progressive musical arguments. +According to Brown and the musicologists Hans Keller and Daniel Zhitomirsky, Tchaikovsky found his solution to large-scale structure while composing the Fourth Symphony. He essentially sidestepped thematic interaction and kept sonata form only as an "outline", as Zhitomirsky phrases it. Within this outline, the focus centered on periodic alternation and juxtaposition. Tchaikovsky placed blocks of dissimilar tonal and thematic material alongside one another, with what Keller calls "new and violent contrasts" between musical themes, keys, and harmonies. This process, according to Brown and Keller, builds momentum and adds intense drama. While the result, John Warrack charges, is still "an ingenious episodic treatment of two tunes rather than a symphonic development of them" in the Germanic sense, Brown counters that it took the listener of the period "through a succession of often highly charged sections which added up to a radically new kind of symphonic experience" (italics Brown), one that functioned not on the basis of summation, as Austro-German symphonies did, but on one of accumulation. +Partly owing to the melodic and structural intricacies involved in this accumulation and partly due to the composer's nature, Tchaikovsky's music became intensely expressive. This intensity was entirely new to Russian music and prompted some Russians to place Tchaikovsky's name alongside that of Dostoevsky. The German musicologist Hermann Kretzschmar credits Tchaikovsky in his later symphonies with offering "full images of life, developed freely, sometimes even dramatically, around psychological contrasts ... This music has the mark of the truly lived and felt experience". Leon Botstein, in elaborating on this comment, suggests that listening to Tchaikovsky's music "became a psychological mirror connected to everyday experience, one that reflected on the dynamic nature of the listener's own emotional self". This active engagement with the music "opened for the listener a vista of emotional and psychological tension and an extremity of feeling that possessed relevance because it seemed reminiscent of one's own 'truly lived and felt experience' or one's search for intensity in a deeply personal sense". + + +==== Repetition ==== + +As mentioned above, repetition was a natural part of Tchaikovsky's music, just as it is an integral part of Russian music. His use of sequences within melodies (repeating a tune at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice) could go on for extreme length. The problem with repetition is that, over a period of time, the melody being repeated remains static, even when there is a surface level of rhythmic activity added to it. Tchaikovsky kept the musical conversation flowing by treating melody, tonality, rhythm and sound color as one integrated unit, rather than as separate elements. +By making subtle but noticeable changes in the rhythm or phrasing of a tune, modulating to another key, changing the melody itself or varying the instruments playing it, Tchaikovsky could keep a listener's interest from flagging. By extending the number of repetitions, he could increase the musical and dramatic tension of a passage, building "into an emotional experience of almost unbearable intensity", as Brown phrases it, controlling when the peak and release of that tension would take place. The musicologist Martin Cooper calls this practice a subtle form of unifying a piece of music and adds that Tchaikovsky brought it to a high point of refinement. (For more on this practice, see the next section.) + + +==== Orchestration ==== + +Like other late Romantic composers, Tchaikovsky relied heavily on orchestration for musical effects. Tchaikovsky, however, became noted for the "sensual opulence" and "voluptuous timbrel virtuosity" of his orchestration. Like Glinka, Tchaikovsky tended toward bright primary colors and sharply delineated contrasts of texture. However, beginning with the Third Symphony, Tchaikovsky experimented with an increased range of timbres. Tchaikovsky's scoring was noted and admired by some of his peers. Rimsky-Korsakov regularly referred his students at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory to it and called it "devoid of all striving after effect, [to] give a healthy, beautiful sonority". This sonority, the musicologist Richard Taruskin pointed out, is essentially Germanic in effect. Tchaikovsky's expert use of having two or more instruments play a melody simultaneously (a practice called doubling) and his ear for uncanny combinations of instruments resulted in "a generalized orchestral sonority in which the individual timbres of the instruments, being thoroughly mixed, would vanish". + + +==== Pastiche (Passé-ism) ==== +In works like the "Serenade for Strings" and the Variations on a Rococo Theme, Tchaikovsky showed he was highly gifted at writing in a style of 18th-century European pastiche. Tchaikovsky graduated from imitation to full-scale evocation in the ballet The Sleeping Beauty and the opera The Queen of Spades. This practice, which Alexandre Benois calls "passé-ism", lends an air of timelessness and immediacy, making the past seem as though it were the present. On a practical level, Tchaikovsky was drawn to past styles because he felt he might find the solution to certain structural problems within them. His Rococo pastiches also may have offered escape into a musical world purer than his own, into which he felt himself irresistibly drawn. (In this sense, Tchaikovsky operated in the opposite manner to Igor Stravinsky, who turned to Neoclassicism partly as a form of compositional self-discovery.) Tchaikovsky's attraction to ballet might have allowed a similar refuge into a fairy-tale world, where he could freely write dance music within a tradition of French elegance. + + +=== Aesthetic impact === +Maes maintains that, regardless of what he was writing, Tchaikovsky's main concern was how his music affected his listeners on an aesthetic level, at specific moments in the piece, and on a cumulative level once the music had finished. What his listeners experienced on an emotional or visceral level became an end in itself. Tchaikovsky's focus on pleasing his audience might be considered closer to that of Mendelssohn or Mozart. +And yet, even when writing so-called 'programme' music, for example, his Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture, he cast it in sonata form. His use of stylized 18th-century melodies and patriotic themes was geared toward the values of Russian aristocracy. He was aided in this by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, who commissioned The Sleeping Beauty from Tchaikovsky and the libretto for The Queen of Spades from Modest with their use of 18th-century settings stipulated firmly. Tchaikovsky also used the polonaise frequently, the dance being a musical code for the Romanov dynasty and a symbol of Russian patriotism. Using it in the finale of a work could assure its success with Russian listeners. + + +== Reception == + + +=== Dedicatees and collaborators === + +Tchaikovsky's relationship with collaborators was mixed. Like Nikolai Rubinstein with the First Piano Concerto, the virtuoso and pedagogue Leopold Auer rejected the Violin Concerto initially but changed his mind; he played it to great public success and taught it to his students, who included Jascha Heifetz and Nathan Milstein. Wilhelm Fitzenhagen "intervened considerably in shaping what he considered 'his' piece", the Variations on a Rococo Theme, according to the music critic Michael Steinberg. Tchaikovsky was angered by Fitzenhagen's license but did nothing; the Rococo Variations were published with the cellist's amendments. +His collaboration on the three ballets went better and in Marius Petipa, who worked with him on the last two, he might have found an advocate. When The Sleeping Beauty was seen by its dancers as needlessly complicated, Petipa convinced them to put in the extra effort. Tchaikovsky compromised to make his music as practical as possible for the dancers and was accorded more creative freedom than ballet composers were usually accorded at the time. He responded with scores that minimized the rhythmic subtleties normally present in his work but were inventive and rich in melody, with more refined and imaginative orchestration than in the average ballet score. + + +=== Critics === +Critical reception to Tchaikovsky's music was varied but also improved over time. Even after 1880, some inside Russia held it suspect for not being nationalistic enough and thought Western European critics lauded it for exactly that reason. There might have been a grain of truth in the latter, according to the musicologist and conductor Leon Botstein, as German critics especially wrote of the "indeterminacy of [Tchaikovsky's] artistic character ... being truly at home in the non-Russian". + +Of the foreign critics who did not care for his music, Eduard Hanslick lambasted the Violin Concerto as a musical composition "whose stink one can hear" and William Foster Apthorp wrote of the Fifth Symphony, "The furious peroration sounds like nothing so much as a horde of demons struggling in a torrent of brandy, the music growing drunker and drunker. Pandemonium, delirium tremens, raving, and above all, noise worse confounded!" +The division between Russian and Western critics remained through much of the 20th century but for a different reason. According to Brown and Wiley, the prevailing view of Western critics was that the same qualities in Tchaikovsky's music that appealed to audiences—its strong emotions, directness and eloquence and colorful orchestration—added up to compositional shallowness. The music's use in popular and film music, Brown says, lowered its esteem in their eyes still further. There was also the fact, pointed out earlier, that Tchaikovsky's music demanded active engagement from the listener and, as Botstein phrases it, "spoke to the listener's imaginative interior life, regardless of nationality". Conservative critics, he adds, may have felt threatened by the "violence and 'hysteria'" they detected and felt such emotive displays "attacked the boundaries of conventional aesthetic appreciation—the cultured reception of art as an act of formalist discernment—and the polite engagement of art as an act of amusement". +There has also been the fact that the composer did not follow sonata form strictly, relying instead on juxtaposing blocks of tonalities and thematic groups. Maes states this point has been seen at times as a weakness rather than a sign of originality. Even with what Schonberg termed "a professional reevaluation" of Tchaikovsky's work, the practice of faulting Tchaikovsky for not following in the steps of the Viennese masters has not gone away entirely, while his intention of writing music that would please his audiences is also sometimes taken to task. In an article in 1992, critic Allan Kozinn from the New York Times writes, "It is Tchaikovsky's flexibility, after all, that has given us a sense of his variability.... Tchaikovsky was capable of turning out music—entertaining and widely beloved though it is—that seems superficial, manipulative and trivial when regarded in the context of the whole literature. The First Piano Concerto is a case in point. It makes a joyful noise, it swims in pretty tunes and its dramatic rhetoric allows (or even requires) a soloist to make a grand, swashbuckling impression. But it is entirely hollow". +In the 21st century, however, critics are reacting more positively to Tchaikovsky's tunefulness, originality, and craftsmanship. "Tchaikovsky is being viewed again as a composer of the first rank, writing music of depth, innovation and influence," according to the cultural historian and author Joseph Horowitz. Important in this reevaluation is a shift in attitude away from the disdain for overt emotionalism that marked half of the 20th century. "We have acquired a different view of Romantic 'excess,'" Horowitz says. "Tchaikovsky is today more admired than deplored for his emotional frankness; if his music seems harried and insecure, so are we all". + + +=== Public === + +Horowitz maintains that, while the standing of Tchaikovsky's music has fluctuated among critics, for the public, "it never went out of style, and his most popular works have yielded iconic Sound bites, such as the love theme from Romeo and Juliet". Along with those tunes, Botstein adds, "Tchaikovsky appealed to audiences outside of Russia with an immediacy and directness that were startling even for music, an art form often associated with emotion". Tchaikovsky's melodies, stated with eloquence and matched by his inventive use of harmony and orchestration, have always ensured audience appeal. His popularity is considered secure, with his following in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, second only to that of Beethoven. His music has also been used frequently in popular music and film. + + +== Legacy == + +According to Wiley, Tchaikovsky was a pioneer in several ways. "Thanks in large part to Nadezhda von Meck", Wiley writes, "he became the first full-time professional Russian composer". This, Wiley adds, allowed him the time and freedom to consolidate the Western compositional practices he had learned at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with Russian folk song and other native musical elements to fulfill his own expressive goals and forge an original, deeply personal style. He made an impact in not only complete works such as the symphony but also program music and, as Wiley phrases it, "transformed Liszt's and Berlioz's achievements ... into matters of Shakespearean elevation and psychological import". Wiley and Holden both note that Tchaikovsky did all this without a native school of composition upon which to fall back. They point out that only Glinka had preceded him in combining Russian and Western practices and his teachers in Saint Petersburg had been thoroughly Germanic in their musical outlook. He was, they write, for all intents and purposes alone in his artistic quest. +Maes and Taruskin write that Tchaikovsky believed that his professionalism in combining skill and high standards in his musical works separated him from his contemporaries in The Five. Maes adds that, like them, he wanted to produce music that reflected Russian national character but which did so to the highest European standards of quality. Tchaikovsky, according to Maes, came along at a time when the nation itself was deeply divided as to what that character truly was. Like his country, Maes writes, it took him time to discover how to express his Russianness in a way that was true to himself and what he had learned. Because of his professionalism, Maes says, he worked hard at this goal and succeeded. The composer's friend the music critic Herman Laroche wrote of The Sleeping Beauty that the score contained "an element deeper and more general than color, in the internal structure of the music, above all in the foundation of the element of melody. This basic element is undoubtedly Russian". +Tchaikovsky was inspired to reach beyond Russia with his music, according to Maes and Taruskin. His exposure to Western music, they write, encouraged him to think it belonged to not just Russia but also the world at large. Solomon Volkov adds that this mindset made him think seriously about Russia's place in European musical culture—the first Russian composer to do so. It steeled him to become the first Russian composer to acquaint foreign audiences personally with his own works, Warrack writes, as well as those of other Russian composers. In his biography of Tchaikovsky, Anthony Holden recalls the dearth of Russian classical music before Tchaikovsky's birth, then places the composer's achievements into historical perspective: "Twenty years after Tchaikovsky's death, in 1913, Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring erupted onto the musical scene, signaling Russia's arrival into 20th-century music. Between these two very different worlds, Tchaikovsky's music became the sole bridge". + + +== Voice recording == +A recording was made in Moscow in January 1890, by Julius Block on behalf of Thomas Edison. A transcript of the recording follows (identification of the speakers is speculative): + +According to the musicologist Leonid Sabaneyev, Tchaikovsky was uncomfortable with being recorded for posterity and tried to shy away from it. On an apparently separate visit from the one related above, Block asked him to play something on the piano or at least say something. He refused, telling Block: "I am a bad pianist and my voice is raspy. Why should one eternalize it?" + + +== See also == +Tatiana Davydova +Aleksey Sofronov + + +== Notes == + + +== References == + + +=== Sources === + + +== Further reading == + + +== External links == + +Free scores by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) +Tchaikovsky Research +"Discovering Tchaikovsky". BBC Radio 3. +Works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky at Project Gutenberg +Works by or about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky at the Internet Archive diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c90631 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt @@ -0,0 +1,188 @@ +The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (occasionally known as the Fate Symphony, German: Schicksalssinfonie), is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known of all symphonies and one of the most frequently played. First performed in Vienna in 1808, the work achieved its strong critical reputation not long afterward; E. T. A. Hoffmann described it as "one of the most important works of the time". +The 5th Symphony has 4 movements. It begins with a distinctive 4-note "short-short-short-long" motif, often characterized as "fate knocking at the door", the Schicksals-Motiv (fate motif). Sometimes this motif is remembered as "da-da-da-dum" or "da da da DUM". + + +== History == + + +=== Composition === + +The 5th Symphony falls squarely within what is called Beethoven's "Middle Period" of composition, starting from about 1803, when Beethoven chose to launch new works of unprecedented scope and ambition, often emphasizing the musical portrayal of heroism, as in the 3rd Symphony and the opera Fidelio. The process of composition for the 5th Symphony was lengthy and had frequent interruptions; the first sketches date from 1804, following the completion of the 3rd Symphony. Beethoven repeatedly interrupted his work on the 5th to prepare other compositions, including the original version of Fidelio, the Appassionata piano sonata, the three Razumovsky string quartets, the Violin Concerto, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Fourth Symphony, and the Mass in C. The 5th and 6th Symphonies were completed simultaneously during 1807–1808, and both premiered at the same concert. +Beethoven was in his mid-30s during this time; his personal life was troubled by increasing deafness. In the world at large, the period was marked by the Napoleonic Wars, political turmoil in Austria, and the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon's troops in 1805. The symphony was written at his lodgings at the Pasqualati House in Vienna. + + +=== Premiere and dedication === + +The 5th Symphony premiered on 22 December 1808 at a mammoth concert at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna consisting entirely of Beethoven premieres and lasting more than 4 hours. Beethoven himself directed the music. +Beethoven dedicated the 5th Symphony to two of his patrons, Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz and Count Razumovsky. The dedication appeared in the first printed edition of April 1809. + + +=== Reception and influence === +There was little critical response to the premiere performance, which took place under adverse conditions. The orchestra did not play well—with only one rehearsal before the concert—and at one point, following a mistake by one of the performers in the Choral Fantasy, Beethoven had to stop the music and start again. The auditorium was extremely cold and the audience was exhausted by the length of the programme. +The critic for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung wisely withheld judgment, noting that the works were long and complex, and that informed judgment awaited further performances. +Soon, the celebrated critic E. T. A. Hoffmann in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung weighed in on the symphony. His discussions in print offered both extravagant praise and a detailed analysis, in order to show his readers the devices Beethoven used to arouse particular affects in the listener. In an essay titled "Beethoven's Instrumental Music", compiled from this 1810 review and another one from 1813 on the op. 70 string trios, published in three installments in December 1813, E.T.A. Hoffmann further praised the "indescribably profound, magnificent symphony in C minor": + +How this wonderful composition, in a climax that climbs on and on, leads the listener imperiously forward into the spirit world of the infinite!... No doubt the whole rushes like an ingenious rhapsody past many a man, but the soul of each thoughtful listener is assuredly stirred, deeply and intimately, by a feeling that is none other than that unutterable portentous longing, and until the final chord—indeed, even in the moments that follow it—he will be powerless to step out of that wondrous spirit realm where grief and joy embrace him in the form of sound.... +As time went on and performances accumulated, the symphony gradually rose to the status it holds today. Even highly musical listeners sometimes needed more than one exposure to take in the work and understand it properly. This included the distinguished violinist and conductor Johann Peter Salomon, who earlier in his career had been responsible for bringing Joseph Haydn to England and commissioning his last twelve symphonies. Of an early British performance under Salomon's direction (15 April 1815), Craig writes: + +When Salomon rehearsed this symphony with the Society members, he became frustrated and called it "rubbish." Sometime later, however, he retracted his statement before the members. After the first movement had been played in the rehearsal, Salomon laid down his violin and addressed the orchestra: "Gentlemen, some years ago I called this symphony rubbish; I wish to retract what I then said. I now consider it one of the great compositions I know." + +The first French performance was led by François-Antoine Habeneck in about 1828 with the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire. In the United States, it was played in the inaugural concerts of the New York Philharmonic on 7 December 1842, and the [US] National Symphony Orchestra on 2 November 1931. It was first recorded by the Odeon Orchestra under Friedrich Kark in 1910. +Groundbreaking in terms of both its technical and its emotional impact, the Fifth has had a large influence on composers and music critics, and inspired work by such composers as Brahms, Tchaikovsky (his 4th Symphony in particular), Bruckner, Mahler, and Berlioz. +Since the Second World War, it has sometimes been referred to as the "Victory Symphony". "V" is coincidentally also the Roman numeral character for the number 5 and the phrase "V for Victory" became a campaign of the Allies of World War II after Winston Churchill starting using it as a catchphrase in 1940. During the Second World War, the BBC prefaced its broadcasts to Special Operations Executives (SOE) across the world with those four notes, played on drums. This was at the suggestion of intelligence agent Courtenay Edward Stevens. The Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini also performed the first movement of this symphony following the fall of Benito Mussolini in September 1943, stating that he would perform the remaining movements after Germany was defeated. He completed the performance in May 1945. + + +== Instrumentation == +The symphony is scored for the following orchestra: + + +== Form == +A typical performance usually lasts around 30–40 minutes. The work is in four movements: + + +=== I. Allegro con brio === + +The 1st movement opens with the 4-note motif discussed above, one of the most famous motifs in Western music. + +The movement continues in sonata form, the standard form for first movements that Beethoven inherited from his Classical predecessors Haydn and Mozart. There is an exposition, which establishes a secondary key of E flat major and is repeated; a development section that recuts and redeploys the musical material in various ways; a recapitulation, which repeats the themes of the exposition largely in the home key of C; and a massive coda. The particular variety of sonata form Beethoven uses was earlier a favorite of Haydn: most of the themes are developed from one single motif, i.e. the 4-note passage heard at the opening. The movement is terse and is indeed the shortest of all of Beethoven's symphonic first movements. Different listeners will hear the affect of the movement differently, but a common perception is that it is intense, stormy and impassioned; one commentator suggests "The first movement erupts from the orchestra with alarming ferocity." +The recapitulation section involves one startling interruption: all but the first oboe player fall silent as the latter plays a brief and mournful recitative, marked adagio. + +The music then resumes at tempo with renewed intensity. +Conductors differ in how they direct the four opening bars. Many observe the composer's tempo mark, starting the movement at allegro con brio with two fermatas. Others seek to add weight by playing the motif in a slower and more stately tempo; still others add on to this approach a molto ritardando; i.e. slowing down. + + +=== II. Andante con moto === + +The 2nd movement, in A♭ major, the subdominant key of C minor's relative key (E♭ major), is a lyrical work in double variation form, which means that two themes are presented and varied in alternation. +The first theme, with which the movement opens, is given below. At its first appearance, it is given by violas and cellos, with accompaniment by the double basses. + +And the second theme is: + +Following the variations there is a long coda. + + +=== III. Scherzo: Allegro === + +The 3rd movement is in ternary form, consisting of a scherzo and trio. Beethoven started using a scherzo as a 3rd movement in his 2nd Symphony (breaking with the tradition of using a minuet as a 3rd movement). He retained the practice in all his later symphonies, with the exception of No. 8. +The movement returns to the opening key of C minor and begins with the following theme, played by the cellos and double basses: + + +The opening theme is answered by a contrasting theme played by the winds, and this sequence is repeated. Then the horns loudly announce the main theme of the movement, and the music proceeds from there. The trio section is in C major and is written in a contrapuntal texture, opening with a solo passage for the cellos and basses. + +When the scherzo returns for the final time, it is performed by the strings pizzicato and very quietly. "The scherzo offers contrasts that are somewhat similar to those of the slow movement [Andante con moto] in that they derive from extreme difference in character between scherzo and trio ... The Scherzo then contrasts this figure with the famous 'motto' (3 + 1) from the first movement, which gradually takes command of the whole movement." +The third movement does not end with a pause, but rather with a transition passage to the final movement. This transition begins pianissimo with a long sequence of repeated timpani notes, then shift to a tremendous crescendo, and the finale is played attacca. + + +=== IV. Allegro === + +The triumphant and exhilarating finale begins with the following theme: + +The sound becomes suddenly much louder: the first three movements were composed for a Classical orchestra, with the parts identical to those needed to perform (e.g.) Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, but at the outset of the finale 5 players join in who have hitherto been silent: 3 trombones, contrabassoon, and piccolo. The music is in the symphony's home key of C, but now in the major mode. Lewis Lockwood suggested that shifting to major mode for the final movement is unusual for Beethoven, though there are several precedents in Mozart and Haydn's work, and Beethoven himself continued the practice in his 9th Symphony and last piano sonata. +The 5th Symphony finale is written in an unusual variant of sonata form: at the end of the development section, the music halts on a dominant cadence, played fortissimo, and the music continues after a pause with a quiet reprise of the "horn theme" of the scherzo movement. The recapitulation is then introduced by a crescendo coming out of the last bars of the interpolated scherzo section, just as the same music was introduced at the opening of the movement. The interruption of the finale with material from the third "dance" movement was pioneered by Haydn, who had done the same in his Symphony No. 46 in B, from 1772. It is unknown whether Beethoven was familiar with this work or not. +The 5th Symphony finale includes a very long coda, in which the main themes of the movement are played in temporally compressed form. Towards the end the tempo is increased to presto. The symphony ends with 29 bars of C major chords, played fortissimo. In The Classical Style, Charles Rosen suggests that this ending reflects Beethoven's sense of proportion: the "unbelievably long" pure C major cadence is needed "to ground the extreme tension of [this] immense work." + + +== Influences == +The 19th century musicologist Gustav Nottebohm first pointed out that the third movement's theme has the same sequence of intervals as the opening theme of the final movement of Mozart's famous Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550. Here are the first eight notes of Mozart's theme: + + +While such resemblances sometimes occur by accident, this is unlikely to be so in the present case. Nottebohm discovered the resemblance when he examined a sketchbook used by Beethoven in composing the 5th Symphony: here, 29 bars of Mozart's finale appear, copied out by Beethoven. + + +== Critical commentary == + +Much has been written about the 5th Symphony in books, scholarly articles, and program notes for live and recorded performances. This section summarizes some themes that commonly appear in this material. + + +=== Fate motif === +The initial motif of the symphony has sometimes been credited with symbolic significance as a representation of Fate knocking at the door. This idea comes from Beethoven's secretary and factotum Anton Schindler, who wrote, many years after Beethoven's death: + +The composer himself provided the key to these depths when one day, in this author's presence, he pointed to the beginning of the first movement and expressed in these words the fundamental idea of his work: "Thus Fate knocks at the door!" +Schindler's testimony concerning any point of Beethoven's life is disparaged by many experts (Schindler is believed to have forged entries in Beethoven's so-called "conversation books", the books in which the deaf Beethoven got others to write their side of conversations with him). Moreover, it is often commented that Schindler offered a highly romanticized view of the composer. +There is another tale concerning the same motif; the version given here is from Antony Hopkins's description of the symphony. Carl Czerny (Beethoven's pupil, who premiered the "Emperor" Concerto in Vienna) claimed that "the little pattern of notes had come to [Beethoven] from a yellow-hammer's song, heard as he walked in the Prater-park in Vienna." Hopkins further remarks that "given the choice between a yellow-hammer and Fate-at-the-door, the public has preferred the more dramatic myth, though Czerny's account is too unlikely to have been invented." +In his Omnibus television lecture series in 1954, Leonard Bernstein likened the Fate Motif to the 4-note coda common to symphonies. These notes would terminate the symphony as a musical coda, but for Beethoven they become a motif repeating throughout the work for a very different and dramatic effect, he says. +Evaluations of these interpretations tend to be skeptical. "The popular legend that Beethoven intended this grand exordium of the symphony to suggest 'Fate Knocking at the gate' is apocryphal; Beethoven's pupil, Ferdinand Ries, was really author of this would-be poetic exegesis, which Beethoven received very sarcastically when Ries imparted it to him." Elizabeth Schwarm Glesner remarks that "Beethoven had been known to say nearly anything to relieve himself of questioning pests"; this might be taken to impugn both tales. + + +=== Beethoven's choice of key === +The key of the Fifth Symphony, C minor, is commonly regarded as a special key for Beethoven, specifically a "stormy, heroic tonality". Beethoven wrote a number of works in C minor whose character is broadly similar to that of the 5th Symphony. Pianist and writer Charles Rosen says, Beethoven in C minor has come to symbolize his artistic character. In every case, it reveals Beethoven as Hero. C minor does not show Beethoven at his most subtle, but it does give him to us in his most extroverted form, where he seems to be most impatient of any compromise. + + +=== Repetition of the opening motif throughout the symphony === +It is commonly asserted that the opening 4-note rhythmic motif (short-short-short-long; see above) is repeated throughout the symphony, unifying it. "It is a rhythmic pattern (dit-dit-dit-dot) that makes its appearance in each of the other 3 movements and thus contributes to the overall unity of the symphony" (Doug Briscoe); "a single motif that unifies the entire work" (Peter Gutmann); "the key motif of the entire symphony"; "the rhythm of the famous opening figure ... recurs at crucial points in later movements" (Richard Bratby). The New Grove encyclopedia cautiously endorses this view, reporting that "[t]he famous opening motif is to be heard in almost every bar of the first movement—and, allowing for modifications, in the other movements." +There are several passages in the symphony that have led to this view. For instance, in the third movement the horns play the following solo in which the short-short-short-long pattern occurs repeatedly: + +In the second movement, an accompanying line plays a similar rhythm: + +In the finale, Doug Briscoe suggests that the motif may be heard in the piccolo part, presumably meaning the following passage: + +Later, in the coda of the finale, the bass instruments repeatedly play the following: + +On the other hand, some commentators are unimpressed with these resemblances and consider them to be accidental. Antony Hopkins, discussing the theme in the scherzo, says "no musician with an ounce of feeling could confuse [the two rhythms]", explaining that the scherzo rhythm begins on a strong musical beat whereas the first-movement theme begins on a weak one. Donald Tovey pours scorn on the idea that a rhythmic motif unifies the symphony: "This profound discovery was supposed to reveal an unsuspected unity in the work, but it does not seem to have been carried far enough." Applied consistently, he continues, the same approach would lead to the conclusion that many other works by Beethoven are also "unified" with this symphony, as the motif appears in the "Appassionata" piano sonata, the Fourth Piano Concerto (), and in the String Quartet, Op. 74. Tovey concludes, "the simple truth is that Beethoven could not do without just such purely rhythmic figures at this stage of his art." +To Tovey's objection can be added the prominence of the short-short-short-long rhythmic figure in earlier works by Beethoven's older Classical contemporaries such as Haydn and Mozart. To give just two examples, it is found in Haydn's "Miracle" Symphony, No. 96 () and in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25, K. 503 (). Such examples show that "short-short-short-long" rhythms were a regular part of the musical language of the composers of Beethoven's day. + + +=== Use of La Folia === + +Folia is a dance form with a distinctive rhythm and harmony, which was used by many composers from the Renaissance well into the 19th and even 20th centuries, often in the context of a theme and variations. It was used by Beethoven in his 5th Symphony in the harmony midway through the slow movement (bars 166 to 177). Although some recent sources mention that the fragment of the Folia theme in Beethoven's symphony was detected only in the 1990s, Reed J. Hoyt analyzed some Folia-aspects in the oeuvre of Beethoven already in 1982 in his "Letter to the Editor", in the journal College Music Symposium 21, where he draws attention to the existence of complex archetypal patterns and their relationship. + + +=== New instrumentation === +The last movement of Beethoven's 5th is the first time the piccolo and contrabassoon were used in a symphony. While this was Beethoven's first use of the trombone in a symphony, in 1807 the Swedish composer Joachim Nicolas Eggert had specified trombones for his Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major. + + +== Textual questions == + + +=== Third movement repeat === +In the autograph score (that is, the original version from Beethoven's hand), the 3rd movement contains a repeat mark: when the scherzo and trio sections have both been played through, the performers are directed to return to the very beginning and play these two sections again. Then comes a third rendering of the scherzo, this time notated differently for pizzicato strings and transitioning directly to the finale (see description above). Most modern printed editions of the score do not render this repeat mark; and indeed, most performances of the symphony render the movement as ABA' (where A = scherzo, B = trio, and A' = modified scherzo), in contrast to the ABABA' of the autograph score. The repeat mark in the autograph is unlikely to be simply an error on the composer's part. The ABABA' scheme for scherzi appears elsewhere in Beethoven, in the Bagatelle for solo piano, Op. 33, No. 7 (1802), and in the 4th, 6th, and 7th Symphonies. However, it is possible that for the 5th Symphony, Beethoven originally preferred ABABA', but changed his mind in the course of publication in favor of ABA'. +Since Beethoven's day, published editions of the symphony have always printed ABA'. However, in 1978 an edition specifying ABABA' was prepared by Peter Gülke and published by Peters. In 1999, yet another edition, by Jonathan Del Mar, was published by Bärenreiter which advocates a return to ABA'. In the accompanying book of commentary, Del Mar defends in depth the view that ABA' represents Beethoven's final intention; in other words, that conventional wisdom was right all along. +In concert performances, ABA' prevailed until the 2000s. However, since the appearance of the Gülke edition, conductors have felt more free to exercise their own choice. Performances with ABABA' seem to be particularly favored by conductors who specialize in authentic performance or historically informed performance (that is, using instruments of the kind employed in Beethoven's day and playing techniques of the period). These include Caroline Brown, Christopher Hogwood, John Eliot Gardiner, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. ABABA' performances on modern instruments have also been recorded by the New Philharmonia Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under David Zinman, and the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado. + + +=== Reassigning bassoon notes to the horns === +In the first movement, the passage that introduces the second subject of the exposition is assigned by Beethoven as a solo to the pair of horns. + +At this location, the theme is played in the key of E♭ major. When the same theme is repeated later on in the recapitulation section, it is given in the key of C major. Antony Hopkins writes: + +This ... presented a problem to Beethoven, for the horns [of his day], severely limited in the notes they could actually play before the invention of valves, were unable to play the phrase in the 'new' key of C major—at least not without stopping the bell with the hand and thus muffling the tone. Beethoven therefore had to give the theme to a pair of bassoons, who, high in their compass, were bound to seem a less than adequate substitute. In modern performances the heroic implications of the original thought are regarded as more worthy of preservation than the secondary matter of scoring; the phrase is invariably played by horns, to whose mechanical abilities it can now safely be trusted. +In fact, even before Hopkins wrote this passage (1981), some conductors had experimented with preserving Beethoven's original scoring for bassoons. This can be heard on many performances including those conducted by Caroline Brown mentioned in the preceding section as well as in a 2003 recording by Simon Rattle with the Vienna Philharmonic. Although horns capable of playing the passage in C major were developed not long after the premiere of the Fifth Symphony (they were developed in 1814), it is not known whether Beethoven would have wanted to substitute modern horns, or keep the bassoons, in the crucial passage. + + +== Editions == +The edition by Jonathan Del Mar mentioned above was published as follows: Ludwig van Beethoven. Symphonies 1–9. Urtext. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1996–2000, ISMN M-006-50054-3. +An inexpensive version of the score has been issued by Dover Publications. This is a 1989 reprint of an old edition (Braunschweig: Henry Litolff, no date). + + +== As adapted by later composers == +Franz Liszt arranged the 5th Symphony for piano solo in his Symphonies de Beethoven, S. 464. + + +== References == + + +== Further reading == +Carse, Adam (July 1948). "The Sources of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony." Music & Letters, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 249–262. +Guerrieri, Matthew (2012). The First Four Notes: Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780307593283. +Knapp, Raymond (Summer 2000). "A Tale of Two Symphonies: Converging Narratives of Divine Reconciliation in Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth." Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 291–343. + + +== External links == + +Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 – A Beginners' Guide – Overview, analysis and the best recordings – The Classic Review +General discussion and reviews of recordings +Brief structural analysis +Analysis of the Beethoven 5th Symphony, The Symphony of Destiny on the All About Ludwig van Beethoven Page +Project Gutenberg has two MIDI-versions of Beethoven's 5th symphony: Etext No. 117 and Etext No. 156 +Program notes for a performance & lecture by Jeffrey Kahane and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. +Sketch to the Scherzo from op. 67 Fifth Symphony from Eroica Skbk (1803), MIDI, Unheard Beethoven Website +Original finale in C minor to Fifth Symphony op. 67, Gardi 23 (1804), MIDI, Unheard Beethoven Website +Symphony No. 5 on YouTube, played by British Symphony Orchestra, Felix Weingartner (rec. 1932) +Symphony No. 5 on YouTube, played by Berlin Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler (rec. 1947) + + +=== Scores === +Symphony No. 5: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Piano reduction of the 5th Symphony, Mutopia Project +Public domain sheet music both typset and scanned on Cantorion.org +Full Score of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony from Indiana University diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/16_symphony_no_9_beethoven.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/16_symphony_no_9_beethoven.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..635864f --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/16_symphony_no_9_beethoven.txt @@ -0,0 +1,228 @@ +The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and musicologists as a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the history of music. One of the best-known works in common practice music, it stands as one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world. +The Ninth was the first example of a major composer scoring vocal parts in a symphony. The final (4th) movement of the symphony, commonly known as the Ode to Joy, features four vocal soloists and a chorus in the parallel key of D major. The text was adapted from the "An die Freude (Ode to Joy)", a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with additional text written by Beethoven. In the 20th century, an instrumental arrangement of the chorus was adopted by the Council of Europe, and later the European Union, as the Anthem of Europe. +In 2001, Beethoven's original, hand-written manuscript of the score, held by the Berlin State Library, was added by UNESCO to its Memory of the World International Register, becoming the first musical score so designated. + + +== History == + + +=== Composition === +The Philharmonic Society of London originally commissioned the symphony in 1817. Beethoven made preliminary sketches for the work later that year with the key set as D minor and vocal participation also forecast. The main composition work was done between autumn, 1822 and the completion of the autograph in February, 1824. The symphony emerged from other pieces by Beethoven that, while completed works in their own right, are also in some sense forerunners of the future symphony. The Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, composed in 1808, basically an extended piano concerto movement, brings in a choir and vocal soloists for the climax. The vocal forces sing a theme first played instrumentally, and this theme is reminiscent of the corresponding theme in the Ninth Symphony. +Going further back, an earlier version of the Choral Fantasy theme is found in the song "Gegenliebe" ("Returned Love") for piano and high voice, which dates from before 1795. According to Robert W. Gutman, Mozart's Offertory in D minor, "Misericordias Domini", K. 222, written in 1775, contains a melody that foreshadows "Ode to Joy". + + +=== Premiere === +Although most of Beethoven's major works had been premiered in Vienna, the composer planned to have his latest compositions performed in Berlin as soon as possible, as he believed he had fallen out of favor with the Viennese and the current musical taste was now dominated by Italian operatic composers such as Rossini. When his friends and financiers learned of this, they pleaded with Beethoven to hold the concert in Vienna, in the form of a petition signed by a number of prominent Viennese music patrons and performers. + +Beethoven, flattered by the adoration of the Viennese, premiered the Ninth Symphony on 7 May 1824 in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna along with the overture The Consecration of the House (Die Weihe des Hauses) and three parts (Kyrie, Credo and Agnus Dei) of the Missa solemnis. This was Beethoven's first onstage appearance since 1814 and the hall was packed with an eager and curious audience with a number of noted musicians and figures in Vienna including Franz Schubert, Carl Czerny, and the Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich. +The premiere of the Ninth Symphony involved an orchestra nearly twice as large as usual and required the combined efforts of the Kärntnertor house orchestra, the Vienna Music Society (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde), and a select group of capable amateurs. While no complete list of premiere performers exists, many of Vienna's most elite performers are known to have participated. +The soprano and alto parts were sung by two famous young singers of the day, both recruited personally by Beethoven: Henriette Sontag and Caroline Unger. German soprano Henriette Sontag was 18 years old when Beethoven asked her to perform in the premiere of the Ninth. 20-year-old contralto Caroline Unger, a native of Vienna, had gained critical praise in 1821 appearing in Rossini's Tancredi. After performing in Beethoven's 1824 premiere, Unger then found fame in Italy and Paris. Italian opera composers Bellini and Donizetti were known to have written roles specifically for her voice. Anton Haizinger and Joseph Seipelt sang the tenor and bass/baritone parts, respectively. + +Although the performance was officially conducted by Michael Umlauf, the theatre's Kapellmeister, Beethoven shared the stage with him. However, two years earlier, Umlauf had watched the composer's attempt to conduct a dress rehearsal for a revision of his opera Fidelio end in disaster. For the Ninth's premiere, he instructed the singers and musicians to ignore the almost completely deaf Beethoven. At the beginning of every part, Beethoven, who sat by the stage, gave the tempos. He was turning the pages of his score and beating time for an orchestra he could not hear. +There are a number of anecdotes concerning the premiere of the Ninth. Based on the testimony of some of the participants, there are suggestions that the symphony was under-rehearsed (there were only two complete rehearsals) and somewhat uneven in execution. On the other hand, the premiere was a great success. In any case, Beethoven was not to blame, as violinist Joseph Böhm recalled: + +Beethoven himself conducted, that is, he stood in front of a conductor's stand and threw himself back and forth like a madman. At one moment he stretched to his full height, at the next he crouched down to the floor, he flailed about with his hands and feet as though he wanted to play all the instruments and sing all the chorus parts. – The actual direction was in [Louis] Duport's hands; we musicians followed his baton only. +Reportedly, the scherzo was completely interrupted at one point by applause. Either at the end of the scherzo or the end of the symphony (testimonies differ), Beethoven was several bars off and still conducting; the contralto Caroline Unger walked over and gently turned Beethoven around to accept the audience's cheers and applause. According to the critic for the Theater-Zeitung, "the public received the musical hero with the utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his wonderful, gigantic creations with the most absorbed attention and broke out in jubilant applause, often during sections, and repeatedly at the end of them." The audience acclaimed him through standing ovations five times; there were handkerchiefs in the air, hats, and raised hands, so that Beethoven, who they knew could not hear the applause, could at least see the ovations. +Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 was performed in the United States for the first time on May 20, 1846, by the New York Philharmonic in Castle Clinton, New York City. + + +=== Editions === +The first German edition was printed by B. Schott's Söhne (Mainz) in 1826. The Breitkopf & Härtel edition dating from 1864 has been used widely by orchestras. In 1997, Bärenreiter published an edition by Jonathan Del Mar. According to Del Mar, this edition corrects nearly 3,000 mistakes in the Breitkopf edition, some of which were "remarkable". David Levy, however, criticized this edition, saying that it could create "quite possibly false" traditions. Breitkopf also published a new edition by Peter Hauschild in 2005. + + +== Instrumentation == +The symphony is scored for the following orchestra. These are by far the largest forces needed for any Beethoven symphony; at the premiere, Beethoven augmented them further by assigning two players to each wind part. + + +== Form == +The symphony is in four movements. The structure of each movement is as follows: + +Beethoven changes the usual pattern of Classical symphonies in placing the scherzo movement before the slow movement (in symphonies, slow movements are usually placed before scherzi). This was the first time he did this in a symphony, although he had done so in some previous works, including the String Quartet Op. 18 no. 5, the "Archduke" piano trio Op. 97, the Hammerklavier piano sonata Op. 106. Haydn too had used this arrangement in a number of his own works such as the String Quartet No. 30 in E♭ major, as did Mozart in three of the Haydn Quartets and the G minor String Quintet. + + +=== I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso === +The first movement is in sonata form without an exposition repeat. It begins with open fifths (A and E) played pianissimo by tremolo strings. The opening, with its perfect fifth quietly emerging, resembles the sound of an orchestra tuning up, steadily building up until the first main theme in D minor at bar 17. + +Before the development enters, the tremolous introduction returns. The development can be divided into four subdivisions, with adheres strictly to the order of themes. The first and second subdivisions are the development of bars 1–2 of the first theme (bars 17–18 of the first movement) . The third subdivision develops bars 3–4 of the first theme (bars 19–20 of the first movement). The fourth subdivision that follows develops bars 1–4 of the second theme (bars 80–83 of the first movement) for three times: first in A minor, then to F major twice. +At the outset of the recapitulation (which repeats the main melodic themes) in bar 301, the theme returns, this time played fortissimo and in D major, rather than D minor. The movement ends with a massive coda that takes up nearly a quarter of the movement, as in Beethoven's Third and Fifth Symphonies. +A performance of the first movement typically lasts about 15 minutes. + + +=== II. Molto vivace === +The second movement is a scherzo and trio. Like the first movement, the scherzo is in D minor, with the introduction bearing a passing resemblance to the opening theme of the first movement, a pattern also found in the Hammerklavier piano sonata, written a few years earlier. At times during the piece, Beethoven specifies one downbeat every three bars—perhaps because of the fast tempo—with the direction ritmo di tre battute (rhythm of three beats) and one beat every four bars with the direction ritmo di quattro battute (rhythm of four beats). Normally, a scherzo is in triple time. Beethoven wrote this piece in triple time but punctuated it in a way that, when coupled with the tempo, makes it sound as if it is in quadruple time. +While adhering to the standard compound ternary design (three-part structure) of a dance movement (scherzo-trio-scherzo or minuet-trio-minuet), the scherzo section has an elaborate internal structure; it is a complete sonata form. Within this sonata form, the first group of the exposition (the statement of the main melodic themes) starts out with a fugue in D minor on the subject below. + +For the second subject, it modulates to the unusual key of C major. The exposition then repeats before a short development section, where Beethoven explores other ideas. The recapitulation (repeating of the melodic themes heard in the opening of the movement) further develops the exposition's themes, also containing timpani solos. A new development section leads to the repeat of the recapitulation, and the scherzo concludes with a brief codetta. +The contrasting trio section is in D major and in duple time. The trio is the first time the trombones play. Following the trio, the second occurrence of the scherzo, unlike the first, plays through without any repetition, after which there is a brief reprise of the trio, and the movement ends with an abrupt coda. +The duration of the complete second movement is about 14 minutes when two frequently omitted repeats are played. + + +=== III. Adagio molto e cantabile === +The third movement is a lyrical, slow movement in B♭ major—the subdominant of D minor's relative major key, F major. It is in a double variation form, with each pair of variations progressively elaborating the rhythm and melodic ideas. The first variation, like the theme, is in 44 time, the second in 128. The variations are separated by passages in 34, the first in D major, the second in G major, the third in E♭ major, and the fourth in B major. The final variation is twice interrupted by episodes in which loud fanfares from the full orchestra are answered by octaves by the first violins. A prominent French horn solo is assigned to the fourth player. +A typical performance of the third movement lasts around 15 minutes. + + +=== IV. Finale === +The choral finale is Beethoven's musical representation of universal brotherhood based on the "Ode to Joy" theme and is in theme and variations form. + +The movement starts with an introduction in which musical material from each of the preceding three movements—though none are literal quotations of previous music—are successively presented and then dismissed by instrumental recitatives played by the low strings. Following this, the "Ode to Joy" theme is finally introduced by the cellos and double basses. After three instrumental variations on this theme, the human voice is presented for the first time in the symphony by the baritone soloist, who sings words written by Beethoven himself: ''O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!' Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen, und freudenvollere.'' ("Oh friends, not these sounds! Let us instead strike up more pleasing and more joyful ones!"). + +At about 25 minutes in length, the finale is the longest of the four movements. Indeed, it is longer than several entire symphonies composed during the Classical era. Its form has been disputed by musicologists, as Nicholas Cook explains: + +Beethoven had difficulty describing the finale himself; in letters to publishers, he said that it was like his Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, only on a much grander scale. We might call it a cantata constructed round a series of variations on the "Joy" theme. But this is rather a loose formulation, at least by comparison with the way in which many twentieth-century critics have tried to codify the movement's form. Thus there have been interminable arguments as to whether it should be seen as a kind of sonata form (with the "Turkish" music of bar 331, which is in B♭ major, functioning as a kind of second group), or a kind of concerto form (with bars 1–207 and 208–330 together making up a double exposition), or even a conflation of four symphonic movements into one (with bars 331–594 representing a Scherzo, and bars 595–654 a slow movement). The reason these arguments are interminable is that each interpretation contributes something to the understanding of the movement, but does not represent the whole story. +Cook gives the following table describing the form of the movement: + +In line with Cook's remarks, Charles Rosen characterizes the final movement as a symphony within a symphony, played without interruption. This "inner symphony" follows the same overall pattern as the Ninth Symphony as a whole, with four "movements": + +Theme and variations with slow introduction. The main theme, first in the cellos and basses, is later recapitulated by voices. +Scherzo in a 68 military style. It begins at Alla marcia (bars 331–594) and concludes with a 68 variation of the main theme with chorus. +Slow section with a new theme on the text "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!" It begins at Andante maestoso (bars 595–654). +Fugato finale on the themes of the first and third "movements". It begins at Allegro energico (bars 655–762), and two canons on main theme and "Seid unschlungen, Millionen!" respectively. It begins at Allegro ma non tanto (bars 763–940). +Rosen notes that the movement can also be analysed as a set of variations and simultaneously as a concerto sonata form with double exposition (with the fugato acting both as a development section and the second tutti of the concerto). + + +==== Text of the fourth movement ==== + +The text is largely taken from Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy", with a few additional introductory words written specifically by Beethoven (shown in italics. The text, without repeats, is shown below, with a translation into English. The score includes many repeats. + +In the last two sections of the text, Beethoven goes back to the medieval sacred music tradition: the composer recalls a liturgical hymn, more specifically a psalmody, using the eighth mode of Gregorian chant, the Hypomixolydian. The religious questions, simultaneously with the affirmations and exhortations, are musically characterized by archaistic moments, veritable "Gregorian fossils" inserted into a "quasi-liturgical" structure based on the sequence first versicle (male chorus) – response (full chorus) – second versicle (male chorus) – response (full chorus) – main hymn. Beethoven's employment of this sacred music style has the effect of attenuating the interrogative nature of the text when is mentioned the prostration before the supreme being. +Towards the end of the movement, the choir sings the last four lines of the main theme, concluding with "Alle Menschen" before the soloists sing for one last time the song of joy at a slower tempo. The chorus repeats parts of "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!", then quietly sings, "Tochter aus Elysium", and finally, "Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Götterfunken!". + + +== Reception == +The symphony was dedicated to the King of Prussia, Frederick William III. +Music critics almost universally consider the Ninth Symphony one of Beethoven's greatest works, and among the greatest musical works ever written. The finale, however, has had its detractors: "Early critics rejected [the finale] as cryptic and eccentric, the product of a deaf and ageing composer." Verdi admired the first three movements but criticised the bad writing for the voices in the last movement: + +The alpha and omega is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, marvellous in the first three movements, very badly set in the last. No one will ever approach the sublimity of the first movement, but it will be an easy task to write as badly for voices as in the last movement. And supported by the authority of Beethoven, they will all shout: "That's the way to do it..." + + +== Performance challenges == + + +=== Metronome markings === +Conductors in the historically informed performance movement, notably Roger Norrington, have used Beethoven's suggested tempos, to mixed reviews. Benjamin Zander has made a case for following Beethoven's metronome markings, both in writing and in performances with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra of London. Beethoven's metronome still exists and was tested and found accurate, but the original heavy weight (whose position is vital to its accuracy) is missing and many musicians have considered his metronome marks to be unacceptably high. + + +=== Re-orchestrations and alterations === + +A number of conductors have made alterations in the instrumentation of the symphony. Notably, Richard Wagner doubled many woodwind passages, a modification greatly extended by Gustav Mahler, who revised the orchestration of the Ninth to make it sound like what he believed Beethoven would have wanted if given a modern orchestra. Wagner's Dresden performance of 1864 was the first to place the chorus and the solo singers behind the orchestra as has since become standard; previous conductors placed them between the orchestra and the audience. + + +==== 2nd bassoon doubling basses in the finale ==== +Beethoven's indication that the 2nd bassoon should double the basses in bars 115–164 of the finale was not included in the Breitkopf & Härtel parts, though it was included in the full score. + + +== Notable performances and recordings == +The British première of the symphony was presented on 21 March 1825 by its commissioners, the Philharmonic Society of London, at its Argyll Rooms conducted by Sir George Smart and with the choral part sung in Italian. The American première was presented on 20 May 1846 by the newly formed New York Philharmonic at Castle Garden (in an attempt to raise funds for a new concert hall), conducted by the English-born George Loder, with the choral part translated into English for the first time. Leopold Stokowski's 1934 Philadelphia Orchestra and 1941 NBC Symphony Orchestra recordings also used English lyrics in the fourth movement. +Richard Wagner inaugurated his Bayreuth Festspielhaus by conducting the Ninth; since then it a number of times during the Bayreuth Festival with a conductor and cast members performing at that year's festival. Following the festival's temporary suspension after World War II, Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra reinaugurated it with a performance of the Ninth. +Leonard Bernstein conducted a version of the Ninth Symphony at the Konzerthaus Berlin with Freiheit (Freedom) replacing Freude (Joy), to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall during Christmas of 1989. This concert was performed by an orchestra and chorus made up of many nationalities: from East and West Germany, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Chorus of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and members of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonischer Kinderchor Dresden (Philharmonic Children's Choir Dresden); from the Soviet Union, members of the orchestra of the Kirov Theatre; from the United Kingdom, members of the London Symphony Orchestra; from the US, members of the New York Philharmonic; and from France, members of the Orchestre de Paris. Soloists were June Anderson, soprano; Sarah Walker, mezzo-soprano; Klaus König, tenor; and Jan-Hendrik Rootering, bass. Bernstein conducted the Ninth Symphony one last time with soloists Lucia Popp, soprano; Ute Trekel-Burckhardt, contralto; Wiesław Ochman, tenor; and Sergej Kopčák, bass, at the Prague Spring Festival with the Czech Philharmonic and Prague Philharmonic Choir in June 1990; he died four months later. +In 1998, Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa conducted the fourth movement for the 1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, with six different choirs simultaneously singing from Japan, Germany, South Africa, China, the United States, and Australia. +In 1923, the first complete recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was made by the acoustic recording process conducted by Bruno Seidler-Winkler. The recording was issued by Deutsche Grammophon in Germany and in the United States on the Vocalion label. The first electrical recording of the Ninth was recorded in England in 1926 by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Felix Weingartner, issued by Columbia Records. In 1934, the first complete American recording was made by RCA Victor with Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since the late 20th century, the Ninth has been recorded regularly by period performers, including Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. +The BBC Proms Youth Choir performed the piece alongside Georg Solti's UNESCO World Orchestra for Peace at the Royal Albert Hall during the 2018 Proms at Prom 9, titled "War & Peace" as a commemoration to the centenary of the end of World War One. +At 79 minutes, one of the longest Ninths recorded is Karl Böhm's, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in 1981 with Jessye Norman and Plácido Domingo among the soloists. + + +== Influence == + +Many later composers of the Romantic period and beyond were influenced by the Ninth Symphony. +An important theme in the finale of Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor is related to the "Ode to Joy" theme from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. When this was pointed out to Brahms, he is reputed to have retorted "Any fool can see that!" Brahms's first symphony was, at times, both praised and derided as "Beethoven's Tenth". +The Ninth Symphony influenced the forms that Anton Bruckner used for the movements of his symphonies. His Symphony No. 3 is in the same key (D minor) as Beethoven's 9th and makes substantial use of thematic ideas from it. The slow movement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 uses the A–B–A–B–A form found in the 3rd movement of Beethoven's piece and takes various figurations from it. +In the opening notes of the third movement of his Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), Antonín Dvořák pays homage to the scherzo of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with his falling fourths and timpani strokes. +Béla Bartók borrowed the opening motif of the scherzo from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony to introduce the second movement (scherzo) in his own Four Orchestral Pieces, Op. 12 (Sz 51). +Michael Tippett in his Third Symphony (1972) quotes the opening of the finale of Beethoven's Ninth and then criticises the utopian understanding of the brotherhood of man as expressed in the Ode to Joy and instead stresses man's capacity for both good and evil. +In the film The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, the philosopher Slavoj Žižek comments on the use of the Ode by Nazism, Bolshevism, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the East-West German Olympic team, Southern Rhodesia, Abimael Guzmán (leader of the Shining Path), and the Council of Europe and the European Union. + + +=== Compact disc format === +One legend is that the compact disc was deliberately designed to have a 74-minute playing time so that it could accommodate Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Kees Immink, Philips' chief engineer, who developed the CD, recalls that a commercial tug-of-war between the development partners, Sony and Philips, led to a settlement in a neutral 12-cm diameter format. The 1951 performance of the Ninth Symphony conducted by Furtwängler was brought forward as the perfect excuse for the change, and was put forth in a Philips news release celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Compact Disc as the reason for the 74-minute length. + + +=== TV theme music === +The Huntley–Brinkley Report used the opening to the second movement as its theme music during the run of the program on NBC from 1956 until 1970. The theme was taken from the 1952 RCA Victor recording of the Ninth Symphony by the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini. A synthesized version of the opening bars of the second movement were also used as the theme for Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC and Current TV. A rock guitar version of the "Ode to Joy" theme was used as the theme for Suddenly Susan in its first season. + + +=== Use as (national) anthem === + +During the division of Germany in the Cold War, the "Ode to Joy" segment of the symphony was played in lieu of a national anthem at the Olympic Games for the United Team of Germany between 1956 and 1968. In 1972, the musical backing (without the words) was adopted as the Anthem of Europe by the Council of Europe and subsequently by the European Communities (now the European Union) in 1985. The "Ode to Joy" was used as the national anthem of Rhodesia between 1974 and 1979, as "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia". During the early 1990s, South Africa used an instrumental version of "Ode to Joy" in lieu of its national anthem at the time "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" at sporting events, though it was never actually adopted as an official national anthem. + + +=== Use as a hymn melody === +In 1907, the Presbyterian pastor Henry van Dyke Jr. wrote the hymn "Joyful, Joyful, we adore thee" while staying at Williams College. The hymn is commonly sung in English-language churches to the "Ode to Joy" melody from this symphony. +Josephine Daskam Bacon is credited with the poem that became the lyrics in Hymn for Nations (also called Hymn to Nations) set to the Ode to Joy melodic theme of the Finale of the Fourth Movement, as recorded by Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, and others. + + +=== Year-end tradition === +The German workers' movement began the tradition of performing the Ninth Symphony on New Year's Eve in 1918. Performances started at 11 p.m. so that the symphony's finale would be played at the beginning of the new year. This tradition continued during the Nazi period and was also observed by East Germany after the war. +The Ninth Symphony is traditionally performed throughout Japan at the end of the year. In December 2009, for example, there were 55 performances of the symphony by various major orchestras and choirs in Japan. It was introduced to Japan during World War I by German prisoners held at the Bandō prisoner-of-war camp. Japanese orchestras, notably the NHK Symphony Orchestra, began performing the symphony in 1925 and during World War II; the Imperial government promoted performances of the symphony, including on New Year's Eve. In an effort to capitalize on its popularity, orchestras and choruses undergoing economic hard times during Japan's reconstruction performed the piece at year's end. In the 1960s, these year-end performances of the symphony became more widespread, and included the participation of local choirs and orchestras, firmly establishing a tradition that continues today. Some of these performances feature massed choirs of up to 10,000 singers. +WQXR-FM, a classical radio station serving the New York metropolitan area, ends every year with a countdown of the pieces of classical music most requested in a survey held every December; though any piece could win the place of honor and thus welcome the New Year, i.e. play through midnight on January 1, Beethoven's Choral has won in every year on record. + + +=== Other choral symphonies === + +Prior to Beethoven's ninth, symphonies had not used choral forces and the piece thus established the genre of choral symphony. Numbered choral symphonies as part of a cycle of otherwise instrumental works have subsequently been written by numerous composers, including Felix Mendelssohn, Gustav Mahler, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Ives among many others. + + +=== Other ninth symphonies === +The scale and influence of Beethoven's ninth led later composers to ascribe a special significance to their own ninth symphonies, which may have contributed to the cultural phenomenon known as the curse of the ninth. A number of other composers' ninth symphonies also employ a chorus, such as those by Kurt Atterberg, Mieczysław Weinberg, Edmund Rubbra, Hans Werner Henze, and Robert Kyr. Anton Bruckner had not originally intended his unfinished ninth symphony to feature choral forces, but the use of his choral Te Deum in lieu of the uncompleted Finale was supposedly sanctioned by the composer. Dmitri Shostakovich had originally intended his Ninth Symphony to be a large work with chorus and soloists, although the symphony as it eventually appeared was a relatively short work without vocal forces. +Of his own Ninth Symphony, George Lloyd wrote: "When a composer has written eight symphonies he may find that the horizon has been blacked out by the overwhelming image of Beethoven and his one and only Ninth. There are other very good No. 5s and No. 3s, for instance, but how can one possibly have the temerity of trying to write another Ninth Symphony?" Niels Gade composed only eight symphonies, despite living for another twenty years after completing the eighth. He is believed to have replied, when asked why he did not compose another symphony, "There is only one ninth", in reference to Beethoven. + + +== References == +Notes + +Citations + +Sources + +Buch, Esteban (2003). Beethoven's Ninth: A Political History. Translated by Richard Miller. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-07812-0. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. +Cook, Nicholas (1993). Beethoven: Symphony No. 9. Cambridge Music Handbooks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611612. ISBN 978-0-521-39924-1. +Cook, Nicholas (1993b). "2. Early impressions". In Cook (1993), pp. 26–47. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511611612.003 +Hopkins, Antony (1981). The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven. London: Heinemann. +Symphony No. 9, Op. 125: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Levy, David Benjamin (2003). Beethoven: the Ninth Symphony (revised ed.). Yale University Press. +Makell, Talli (2002). "Ludwig van Beethoven". In Alexander J. Morin (ed.). Classical Music: The Listener's Companion. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. +Matthews, David (1980). Michael Tippett: An Introductory Study. London: Faber. +Noorduin, Marten (17 May 2021). "The metronome marks for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in context". Early Music. 49: 129–145. doi:10.1093/em/caab005. ISSN 0306-1078. +Sachs, Harvey (2010). The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824. Faber and Faber (Review by Philip Hensher, The Daily Telegraph (London), 5 July 2010). +Schenker, Heinrich (1992). Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, A Portrayal of Its Musical Content with Running Commentary on Performance and Literature As Well. Translated by Rothgeb, John. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05459-9. + + +== Further reading == +Albrecht, Theodore (2024). Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: Rehearsing and Performing Its 1824 Premiere. Martlesham, Suffolk, UK: Boydell & Brewer. doi:10.2307/jj.5806809. ISBN 978-1-83765-105-4. JSTOR jj.5806809. +Parsons, James (2002). "'Deine Zauber binden wieder': Beethoven, Schiller, and the Joyous Reconciliation of Opposites". Beethoven Forum. 9 (1): 1–53 – via Academia.edu. +Rasmussen, Michelle, "All Men Become Brothers: The Decades-Long Struggle for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony", Schiller Institute, June, 2015. +Taruskin, Richard, "Resisting the Ninth", in his Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance (Oxford University Press, 1995). +Wegner, Sascha (2018). Symphonien aus dem Geiste der Vokalmusik : Zur Finalgestaltung in der Symphonik im 18. und frühen 19. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler. + + +== External links == + +Scores, manuscripts and text + +Symphony No. 9, Op. 125: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Free sheet music of Symphony No. 9 from Cantorion.org +Original manuscript (site in German) +Score, William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana University School of Music +Text/libretto, with translation, in English and German +Sources for the metronome marks. +Analysis + +Analysis for students (with timings) of the final movement, at Washington State University +Hinton, Stephen (Summer 1998). "Not Which Tones? The Crux of Beethoven's Ninth". 19th-Century Music. 22 (1): 61–77. doi:10.1525/ncm.1998.22.1.02a00040. JSTOR 746792. +Signell, Karl, "The Riddle of Beethoven's Alla Marcia in his Ninth Symphony" (self-published) +Beethoven 9, Benjamin Zander advocating a stricter adherence to Beethoven's metronome indications, with reference to Jonathan del Mar's research (before the Bärenreiter edition was published) and to Stravinsky's intuition about the correct tempo for the Scherzo Trio +Audio + +Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra from National Public Radio +Felix Weingartner conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (1935 recording) from the Internet Archive +Otto Klemperer conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra (1956 live recording) from the Internet Archive +Video + +Furtwängler on 19 April 1942 on YouTube, Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic on the eve of Hitler's 53rd birthday +1st mvt. on YouTube, 2nd mvt. on YouTube, 3rd mvt. on YouTube, 4th mvt. on YouTube, Nicholas McGegan conducting the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, graphical score +Beethoven 9th on YouTube, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti conductor, Camilla Nylund soprano, Ekaterina Gubanova mezzo-soprano, Matthew Polenzani tenor, Eric Owens bass-baritone, anniversary May 2015 +Other material + +Official EU page about the anthem +Program note by Richard Freed, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, February 2004 +Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps of Beethoven's Final Symphony, Kerry Candaele's 2013 documentary film about the Ninth Symphony diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/17_symphony_no_5_mahler.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/17_symphony_no_5_mahler.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6aedab3 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/17_symphony_no_5_mahler.txt @@ -0,0 +1,126 @@ +The Symphony No. 5 in C# minor by Gustav Mahler was composed in 1901 and 1902, mostly during the summer months at Mahler's holiday cottage at Maiernigg. Among its most distinctive features are the trumpet solo that opens the work with a rhythmic motif similar to the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, the horn solos in the third movement and the frequently performed Adagietto. +The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work, which lasts nearly 70 minutes, are huge. The symphony is sometimes described as being in the key of C♯ minor since the first movement is in this key (the finale, however, is in D major). Mahler objected to the label: "From the order of the movements (where the usual first movement now comes second) it is difficult to speak of a key for the 'whole Symphony', and to avoid misunderstandings the key should best be omitted." + + +== Composition history == + +Mahler wrote his fifth symphony during the summers of 1901 and 1902. In February 1901 Mahler had suffered a sudden major hemorrhage and his doctor later told him that he had come within an hour of bleeding to death. The composer spent quite a while recuperating. He moved into his own lakeside villa in the southern Austrian province of Carinthia in June 1901. Mahler was delighted with his newfound status as the owner of a grand villa. According to friends, he could hardly believe how far he had come from his humble beginnings. He was director of the Vienna Court Opera and the principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. His own music was also starting to be successful. Later in 1901 he met Alma Schindler and by the time he returned to his summer villa in summer 1902, they were married and she was expecting their first child. +Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 and 7, which all belong to this period, have much in common and are markedly different from the first four, which all have strong links to vocal music. The middle symphonies, by contrast, are pure orchestral works and are, by Mahler's standards, taut and lean. +Counterpoint also becomes a more important element in Mahler's music from Symphony No. 5 onwards. The ability to write good counterpoint was highly cherished by Baroque composers, and Johann Sebastian Bach is generally regarded as the greatest composer of contrapuntal music. Bach played an important part in Mahler's musical life at this time. He subscribed to the edition of Bach's collected works that was being published at the turn of the century, and later conducted and arranged works by Bach for performance. Mahler's renewed interest in counterpoint can best be heard in the second, third and fifth movements of this symphony. + + +== Instrumentation == +The symphony is scored for large orchestra, consisting of the following: + + +== Revisions of the score == +The score appeared first in print in 1904 at Peters, Leipzig. A second "New Edition", incorporating revisions that Mahler made in 1904, appeared in 1905. Final revisions made by Mahler in 1911 (by which time he had completed his 9th Symphony) did not appear until 1964 (ed. Ratz), when the score was republished in the Complete Edition of Mahler's works. In 2002, Edition Peters published a further revised edition "Critical New Edition" (ed. Reinhold Kubik); however, this is still part of the "Old" Complete Edition. International Gustav Mahler Society is planning to publish a "New Critical Complete Edition" version of the 5th symphony (date unknown, in preparation) and therefore will be the most accurate edition, as other works from the New Critical Complete Edition. + + +== Structure == +The symphony is generally regarded as the most conventional symphony that he had yet written, but from such an unconventional composer it still had many peculiarities. It almost has a four-movement structure, as the first two can easily be viewed as essentially a whole. The symphony also ends with a rondo, in the classical style. Some peculiarities are the funeral march that opens the piece and the Adagietto for harp and strings that contrasts with the complex orchestration of the other movements. +A performance of the symphony lasts around 70 minutes. +The work is in five movements, though Mahler grouped the movements into bigger parts: + +Part I +1. Trauermarsch (Funeral march). In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt (At a measured pace. Strict. Like a funeral procession.) C♯ minor +2. Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz (Moving stormily, with the greatest vehemence) A minor +Part II +3. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell (Strong and not too fast) D major +Part III +4. Adagietto. Sehr langsam (Very slow) F major +5. Rondo-Finale. Allegro – Allegro giocoso. Frisch (Fresh) D major + + +=== Part I === + + +==== 1. Trauermarsch ==== + +The trumpet solo at the opening of the first movement which quotes the Generalmarsch of the Austro-Hungarian Army + +is followed by a somber, funeral march (the primary theme). + +The march is twice interrupted by a calmer secondary theme. + + +==== 2. Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz ==== + +There are many shared elements between the first and second movement. A sighing motif heard in the first movement + +becomes more prominent in the second movement + +and leads into the first theme. + +Rehearsal mark 5, marked im Tempo des ersten Satzes "Trauermarsch", introduces a theme accompanied by the sighing motif and a repeated quaver motif from the beginning of the movement. + +Later, another return to the Tempo des ersten Satzes: Trauermarsch, brings a return to the Secondary Theme of the first movement. +A triumphant chorale breaks forth but dissolves into a return of the tragic material of the opening of the movement. Mahler emphasized this point in the score by adding two arrows. + + +=== Part II === + + +==== 3. Scherzo ==== + +The central scherzo develops several waltz and ländler themes. The mood abruptly shifts from the pessimism and storminess of the first two movements to a lighter, affirmative disposition, aided by the dance rhythms. This sudden change in the musical temperament exposes the "schizophrenic character" of the symphony, since the tragic nature of the first two movements is not reconciled with the more joyful mood of the scherzo. An obbligato solo horn is featured so prominently throughout the movement that the player is often called to stand in front of the audience, similar to a soloist in a concerto. + + +=== Part III === + + +==== 4. Adagietto ==== + +The Adagietto is scored for only the string section and a solo harp. The themes are: + +The fourth movement may be Mahler's most famous composition and is the most frequently performed of his works. The British premiere of the entire Symphony No. 5 came in 1945, 36 years after that of the Adagietto, which was conducted by Henry Wood at a Proms concert in 1909. +It is said to represent Mahler's love song to his wife Alma. According to a letter she wrote to Willem Mengelberg, the composer left a small poem: + +This German text can easily be sung to the first theme of the Adagietto, beginning with the anacrusis to bar 3, reinforcing the suggestion that it is indeed intended as Mahler's love note to Alma and returning to the more vocal quality of the earlier symphonies. +Mahler's instruction is Sehr langsam (very slowly). Mahler and Mengelberg played it in about 7 minutes. Some conductors have taken tempos that extend it to nearly 12 minutes (viz. recordings by Eliahu Inbal, Herbert von Karajan, and Claudio Abbado), while Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic performed it in 9+1⁄2 minutes. The shortest recorded performance is from Mengelberg (Concertgebouw, 1926) at 7′04″. The longest commercial recording is Bernard Haitink (Berliner Philharmoniker, 1988) at 13′55″. A recording of a live performance with Hermann Scherchen conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1964 lasts 15′15″. +Leonard Bernstein conducted it during the funeral Mass for Robert F. Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan, on 8 June 1968, and he also briefly discusses this section along with the opening bars of the second movement in his Charles Eliot Norton Lectures from 1973. +Although the Adagietto had regularly been performed on its own, it came to popular (i.e. non-classical) prominence in the 1971 Luchino Visconti film Death in Venice. In that film, the lead character was modified from the novel's original conception of writer to that of composer, with elements in common with Mahler. Since then, the music has been used across many fields, from advertising and figure skating to television and further film uses, easily making it the most familiar piece of Mahler's musical output. +Music professor Jeremy Barham writes that the Adagietto has become the most "commercially prominent" of Mahler's symphonic movements, and that it has "accrued elegiac meaning" in the popular consciousness over the years, becoming particularly used in commemorative events following the September 11 attacks in the United States. + + +==== 5. Rondo finale ==== + +The final rondo is a contrapuntal tour de force. Several of the themes evolve out of the fragments heard in the opening measures. The last movement also utilizes themes from the Adagietto as well as the chorale from the second movement. + + +== Premieres == +World premiere: October 18, 1904, Cologne – Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne conducted by the composer. +United States premiere: March 24, 1905, Cincinnati – conducted by Frank Van der Stucken. +Belgian premiere: March 5, 1906, Antwerp – 'Nouveaux Concerts' conducted by the composer. +British premieres: +Of Adagietto only: August 31, 1909, London – conducted by Henry Wood during a Proms concert. +Of complete work: October 21, 1945, London – London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Heinz Unger. + + +== Reaction == +Herbert von Karajan once said that when you hear the symphony, "you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience." + + +== References == + + +== Further reading == +Aldrich, Richard (11 February 1906). "A New Symphony by Gustav Mahler". The New York Times. p. P1. Retrieved 12 July 2020. +Banks, Paul (May 1989) "Aspects of Mahler's Fifth Symphony: Performance Practice and Interpretation." The Musical Times, vol. 130, no. 1755, pp. 258–265. +Barham, Jeremy (December 2018). "'The Ghost in the Machine': Thomas Koschat and the volkstümlich in Mahler's Fifth Symphony." Nineteenth-Century Music Review, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 353–390. doi:10.1017/S1479409818000186 +Barry, Barbara R. (Spring 1993). "The Hidden Program in Mahler's Fifth Symphony." The Musical Quarterly, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 47–66. +Baxendale, Carolyn (1986–1987). "The Finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony: Long-Range Musical Thought." Journal of the Royal Musical Association, vol. 112, no. 2, pp. 257–279. +Buch, Esteban (Summer 2017). "Mahler's Fifth, Daniel Barenboim, and the Argentine Dictatorship: On Music, Meaning, and Politics." The Musical Quarterly, vol. 100, no. 2, pp. 122–154. doi:10.1093/musqtl/gdx015 +Forte, Allen (Autumn 1984). "Middleground Motives in the Adagietto of Mahler's Fifth Symphony." 19th-Century Music, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 153–163. +Kinderman, William (Summer 2005). "'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen': Mahler's Rückert Setting and the Aesthetics of Integration in the Fifth Symphony." The Musical Quarterly, vol. 88, no. 2, pp. 232–273. doi:10.1093/musqtl/gdi006 +Micznik, Vera (June 1996). "Textual and Contextual Analysis: Mahler's Fifth Symphony and Scientific Thought." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 13–29. +Pavlović, Milijana (2013). "Lost And Found – Mahler's 'Fifth in Trieste.'" Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, vol. 57, pp. 275–297. +Vernon, David (2022). Beauty and Sadness: Mahler's 11 Symphonies, Ch. 5 'Cosmic Expansion: The Fifth Symphony', pp. 173–202. +Hurwitz, David. (2004) "The Mahler Symphonies, An Owner's Manual." + + +== External links == +Symphony No. 5: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Mahler's Symphony No. 5 – A Beginners' Guide – Overview, analysis and the best recordings – The Classic Review +Analysis, by Walter, everything2.com, 15 March 2002 +Gilbert Kaplan: "In One Note of Mahler, a World of Meaning", The New York Times, 17 March 2002 diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/18_symphony_no_9_dvorak.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/18_symphony_no_9_dvorak.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99304ff --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/18_symphony_no_9_dvorak.txt @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 (Czech: Symfonie č. 9 e moll "Z nového světa"), also known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It premiered in New York City on 16 December 1893. It is one of the most popular of all symphonies. In older literature and recordings, this symphony was – as for its first publication – numbered as Symphony No. 5. + + +== Instrumentation == +This symphony is scored for the following orchestra: + +2 flutes (one doubling piccolo) +2 oboes (one doubling English horn) +2 clarinets in B♭ & A +2 bassoons +4 horns in E, C and F +2 trumpets in E +3 trombones: alto, tenor, bass +Tuba (second movement only) +Timpani +Triangle (third movement only) +Cymbals (fourth movement only) +Strings + + +== Form == + +A typical performance usually lasts around 40 minutes. The work is in four movements: + + +=== I. Adagio – Allegro molto === + +The movement is written in sonata form and begins with an introductory melody in Adagio. This melodic outline also appears in the third movement of Dvořák's String Quintet No. 3 in E♭ major and his Humoresque No. 1. The exposition is based on three thematic subjects. The first in E minor is notable for its announcing and responsive phrases. The second is in G minor and undergoes a transformation such that it resembles a Czech polka. The exposition's closing theme in G major is known for being similar to the African-American spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". The development primarily focuses on the main and closing themes, and the recapitulation consists of a repetition of the main theme as well as a transposition of the second and closing themes up a semitone. The movement is concluded with a coda, with the main theme stated by the brass above an orchestral tutti. + + +=== II. Largo === + +The second movement, written in ternary form, is introduced by a harmonic progression of chords in the wind instruments. Beckerman interprets these chords as a musical rendition of the narrative formula "Once upon a time". Then a solo cor anglais (English horn) plays the famous main theme in D♭ major accompanied by muted strings. Dvořák was said to have changed the theme from clarinet to cor anglais as it reminded him of the voice of Harry Burleigh. The movement's middle section contains a passage in C♯ minor evoking a nostalgic and desolate mood which eventually leads into a funeral march above pizzicato steps in the basses. It is followed by a quasi-scherzo that incorporates this movement's theme as well as the first movement's main and closing themes. The Largo is concluded with the soft return of the main theme and introductory chords. + + +=== III. Molto vivace === + +The movement is a scherzo written in ternary form, with influences from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha. The stirring rhythm of the first part is interrupted by a trio middle section. The first part is then repeated, followed by an echo in the coda of the first movement's main theme. + + +=== IV. Allegro con fuoco === + +The final movement is also written in sonata form. After a brief introduction, the horns and trumpets declare the movement's main theme against sharp chords played by the rest of the orchestra. The second theme is then presented by the clarinet above tremolos in the strings. The development not only works with these two themes but also recalls the main themes of the first and second movements and a fragment of the Scherzo. Following the recapitulation which begins in the unexpected key of G minor but later corrects itself back to the original key, the movement reaches its climax in the coda, in which materials from the first three movements are reviewed for a final time while the Picardy third is expanded after the orchestra triumphantly plays a "modally altered" plagal cadence. The main theme, especially its occurrence in bar 321, bears a close resemblance to the opening theme of the Hans Heiling Overture by Heinrich Marschner. + + +== Influences == +Dvořák was interested in Native American music and the African-American spirituals he heard in North America. While director of the National Conservatory he encountered an African-American student, Harry T. Burleigh, who sang traditional spirituals to him. Burleigh, later a composer himself, said that Dvořák had absorbed their "spirit" before writing his own melodies. Dvořák stated: + +I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. These can be the foundation of a serious and original school of composition, to be developed in the United States. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them. +The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered on 16 December 1893, at Carnegie Hall conducted by Anton Seidl. A day earlier, in an article published in the New York Herald on 15 December 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music influenced his symphony: + +I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral colour. +In the same article, Dvořák stated that he regarded the symphony's second movement as a "sketch or study for a later work, either a cantata or opera ... which will be based upon Longfellow's Hiawatha" (Dvořák never actually wrote such a piece). He also wrote that the third movement scherzo was "suggested by the scene at the feast in Hiawatha where the Indians dance". +In 1893, a newspaper interview quoted Dvořák as saying "I found that the music of the negroes and of the Indians was practically identical", and that "the music of the two races bore a remarkable similarity to the music of Scotland". Most historians agree that Dvořák is referring to the pentatonic scale, which is typical of each of these musical traditions. +In a 2008 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, prominent musicologist Joseph Horowitz states that African-American spirituals were a major influence on Dvořák's music written in North America, quoting him from an 1893 interview in the New York Herald as saying, "In the negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music." Dvořák did, it seems, borrow rhythms from the music of his native Bohemia, as notably in his Slavonic Dances, and the pentatonic scale in some of his music written in North America from African-American and/or Native American sources. Statements that he borrowed melodies are often made but seldom supported by specifics. One verified example is the song of the Scarlet Tanager in the Quartet . Michael Steinberg writes that a flute solo theme in the first movement of the symphony resembles the spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". Leonard Bernstein averred that the symphony was truly multinational in its foundations. +Dvořák was influenced not only by music he had heard but also by what he had seen in America. He wrote that he would not have composed his American pieces as he had if he had not seen America. It has been said that Dvořák was inspired by the "wide open spaces" of America, such as prairies he may have seen on his trip to Iowa in the summer of 1893. Notices about several performances of the symphony include the phrase "wide open spaces" about what inspired the symphony and/or about the feelings it conveys to listeners. +Dvořák was also influenced by the style and techniques used by earlier classical composers including Beethoven and Schubert. The falling fourths and timpani strokes in the New World Symphony's Scherzo movement evoke the Scherzo of Beethoven's Choral Symphony (Symphony No. 9). The use of quotations of prior movements in the symphony's final movement is reminiscent of Beethoven quoting prior movements in the opening Presto of the Choral Symphony's final movement. + + +== Reception == +At the premiere in Carnegie Hall, the end of every movement was met with thunderous clapping and Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow. This was one of the greatest public triumphs of Dvořák's career. When the symphony was published, several European orchestras soon performed it. Alexander Mackenzie conducted the London Philharmonic Society in the first London performance on 21 June 1894. Clapham says the symphony became "one of the most popular of all time" and at a time when the composer's main works were being welcomed in no more than ten countries, this symphony reached the rest of the musical world and has become a "universal favorite". As of 1978, it had been performed more often "than any other symphony at the Royal Festival Hall, London" and is in "tremendous demand in Japan". +The American astronaut Neil Armstrong took a tape recording including the New World Symphony along during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969. +In the UK, the largo became familiar to the general public after its use in a 1973 television advert directed by Ridley Scott for the Hovis bakery. The largo is the main music theme in Crimes of Passion (1984 film). +Austrian professional wrestler Gunther uses an excerpt from the fourth movement as his entrance music in WWE. + + +== Performance history == +List of performances during Dvořák's life. + +New York, United States of America: 16 December 1893 +London, Great Britain: 21 June 1894 +Carlsbad, Austria-Hungary: 20 July 1894 +Prague, Austria-Hungary: 13 October 1894, conducted by Dvořák himself at the National Theatre + + +== "Goin' Home" == + +The theme from the Largo was adapted into the spiritual-like song "Goin' Home" (often mistakenly considered a folk song or traditional spiritual) by Dvořák's pupil William Arms Fisher, who wrote the lyrics in 1922. + + +== See also == + + +== Footnotes == + + +== References == + + +== Further reading == +Beckerman, Michael, ed. (1993). "The Master's Little Joke". Dvořák and his World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 134–436. ISBN 0-691-03386-2. +Brown, A. Peter (2003). The symphonic repertoire. Vol. 4. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 410–436. ISBN 0-253-33488-8. +Philip Henry Goepp [in Catalan] (1913). Symphonies and their meaning: Third series: Modern symphonies. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. pp. 195–207. +Kurt Honolka (2004). Dvořák. London: Haus Publishing. ISBN 1-904341-52-7. + + +== External links == +Symphony No. 9: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Score from Indiana University +Score from Mutopia Project +A visual analysis of the first movement on YouTube +True Story of "Goin' Home" – From Bohemia to Boston +Performance of "Goin' Home" by the New York Festival of Song from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format +"New World Symphony : Complete listing of the recordings" (in French). MusicaBohemica. +Original manuscript parts at the New York Philharmonic Archives diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/19_requiem_mozart.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/19_requiem_mozart.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2952b12 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/19_requiem_mozart.txt @@ -0,0 +1,275 @@ +The Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is a Requiem Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Mozart composed part of the Requiem in Vienna in late 1791, but it was unfinished at his death on 5 December the same year. A completed version was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had commissioned the piece for a requiem service on 14 February 1792 to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of his wife Anna, who had died at the age of 20 on 14 February 1791. +The autograph manuscript shows the finished and orchestrated movement of the Introit in Mozart's hand, and detailed drafts of the Kyrie, the Sequence (the latter including the first eight bars of the Lacrimosa), and the Offertorium. First Joseph Eybler and then Franz Xaver Süssmayr filled in the rest, composed additional movements, and made a clean copy of the completed parts of the score for delivery to Walsegg, imitating Mozart's musical handwriting but clumsily dating it "1792." It cannot be shown to what extent Süssmayr may have depended on now lost "scraps of paper" for the remainder; he later claimed the Sanctus and Benedictus and the Agnus Dei as his own. +Walsegg probably intended to pass the Requiem off as his own composition, as he is known to have done with other works. This plan was frustrated by a public benefit performance for Mozart's widow Constanze. She was responsible for a number of stories surrounding the composition of the work, including the claims that Mozart received the commission from a mysterious messenger who did not reveal the commissioner's identity, and that Mozart came to believe that he was writing the Requiem for his own funeral. +In addition to the Süssmayr version, a number of alternative completions have been developed by composers and musicologists in the 20th and 21st centuries. At least 19 conjectural completions have been made, eleven of which date from after 2005. + + +== Instrumentation == +The Requiem is scored for two basset horns in F, two bassoons, two trumpets in D, three trombones (alto, tenor, and bass), timpani (two drums), violins, viola, and basso continuo (cello, double bass, and organ). The basset horn parts are sometimes played on conventional B♭ or A clarinets and sometimes the related alto clarinet, even though this changes the sonority. +The vocal forces consist of soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass soloists and an SATB mixed choir. + + +== Structure == + +Süssmayr's completion divides the Requiem into eight sections: + +All sections from the Sanctus onwards are not present in Mozart's manuscript fragment. Mozart may have intended to include the Amen fugue at the end of the Sequentia, but Süssmayr did not do so in his completion. +The following table shows for the eight sections in Süssmayr's completion with their subdivisions: the title, vocal parts (solo soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B) [in bold] and four-part choir SATB), tempo, key, and meter. + + +== Music == + + +=== I. Introitus === + +The Requiem begins with a seven-measure instrumental introduction, in which the woodwinds (first bassoons, then basset horns) present the principal theme of the work in imitative counterpoint. The first five measures of this passage (without the accompaniment) are shown below. + +This theme is modelled after Handel's opening chorus "The ways of Zion do mourn" from his 1737 Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, HWV 264. Many parts of the work make reference to this passage, notably in the coloratura in the Kyrie fugue and in the conclusion of the Lacrymosa. +The trombones then announce the entry of the choir, which breaks into the theme, with the basses alone for the first measure, followed by imitation by the other parts. The chords play off syncopated and staggered structures in the accompaniment, thus underlining the solemn and steady nature of the music. A soprano solo is sung to the Te decet hymnus text in the tonus peregrinus. The choir continues, repeating the psalmtone while singing the Exaudi orationem meam section. Then, the principal theme is treated by the choir and the orchestra in downward-gliding sixteenth-notes. The courses of the melodies, whether held up or moving down, change and interlace amongst themselves, while passages in counterpoint and in unison (e.g., Et lux perpetua) alternate; all this creates the charm of this movement, which finishes with a half cadence on the dominant. + + +=== II. Kyrie === + +The Kyrie follows without pause (attacca). It is a double fugue on a cruciform melody (connecting two of the theme's four notes shows a cross), as many composers used including Bach, Handel, and Haydn. The counter-subject comes from the final chorus of Handel's Dettingen Anthem, HWV 265. The first three measures of the basses (theme) and altos (countersubject) are shown below. + +The contrapuntal motifs of the theme of this fugue include variations on the two themes of the Introit. At first, upward diatonic series of sixteenth-notes are replaced by chromatic series, which has the effect of augmenting the intensity. This passage shows itself to be a bit demanding in the upper voices, particularly for the soprano voice. A final portion in a slower (Adagio) tempo ends on an "empty" fifth, a construction which had during the classical period become archaic, lending the piece an ancient air. + + +=== III. Sequentia === + + +==== a. Dies irae ==== + +The sequence Dies irae ("Day of Wrath") is a strophic hymn, which Mozart sets in six sections. The first verse opens with a show of orchestral and choral might with tremolo strings, syncopated figures and repeated chords in the brass. A rising chromatic scurry of sixteenth-notes leads into a chromatically rising harmonic progression with the chorus singing "Quantus tremor est futurus" ("what trembling there will be" in reference to the Last Judgment). This material is repeated with harmonic development before the texture suddenly drops to a trembling unison figure with more tremolo strings evocatively painting the "Quantus tremor" text. + + +==== b. Tuba mirum ==== + +Mozart's textual inspiration is again apparent in the Tuba mirum ("Hark, the trumpet") movement, which is introduced with a sequence of three notes in arpeggio, played in B♭ major by a solo tenor trombone, unaccompanied, in accordance with the usual German translation of the Latin tuba, Posaune (trombone). Two measures later, the bass soloist enters, imitating the same theme. At m. 7, there is a fermata, the only point in all the work at which a solo cadenza occurs. The final quarter notes of the bass soloist herald the arrival of the tenor, followed by the alto and soprano in dramatic fashion. +On the text Cum vix justus sit securus ("When only barely may the just one be secure"), there is a switch to a homophonic segment sung by the quartet at the same time, articulating, without accompaniment, the cum and vix on the "strong" (1st and 3rd), then on the "weak" (2nd and 4th) beats, with the violins and continuo responding each time; this "interruption" (which one may interpret as the interruption preceding the Last Judgment) is heard sotto voce, forte and then piano to bring the movement finally into a crescendo into a perfect cadence. + + +==== c. Rex tremendae ==== + +A descending melody composed of dotted notes is played by the orchestra to announce the Rex tremendae majestatis ("King of tremendous majesty", i.e., God), who is called by powerful cries from the choir on the syllable Rex during the orchestra's pauses. For a surprising effect, the Rex syllables of the choir fall on the second beats of the measures, even though this is the "weak" beat. The choir then adopts the dotted rhythm of the orchestra, forming what Wolff calls baroque music's form of "paying homage to princes", or, more simply put, that this musical style is a standard form of salute to royalty, or, in this case, divinity. This movement consists of only 22 measures, but this short stretch is rich in variation: homophonic writing and contrapuntal choral passages alternate many times and finish on a quasi-unaccompanied choral cadence, landing on an open D chord (as seen previously in the Kyrie). + + +==== d. Recordare ==== + +The Recordare ("Remember merciful Jesus") is a prayer not to be forgotten on the last day. At 130 measures, it is the work's longest movement, as well as the first in triple meter (34); the movement is a setting of no fewer than seven stanzas of the Dies irae. The form of this piece is somewhat similar to sonata form, with an exposition around two themes (mm. 1–37), a development of two themes (mm. 38–92) and a recapitulation (mm. 93–98). +In the first 13 measures, the basset horns are the first to present the first theme, clearly inspired by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Sinfonia in D minor, the theme is enriched by a magnificent counterpoint by cellos in descending scales that are reprised throughout the movement. This counterpoint of the first theme prolongs the orchestral introduction with chords, recalling the beginning of the work and its rhythmic and melodic shiftings (the first basset horn begins a measure after the second but a tone higher, the first violins are likewise in sync with the second violins but a quarter note shifted, etc.). The introduction is followed by the vocal soloists; their first theme is sung by the alto and bass (from m. 14), followed by the soprano and tenor (from m. 20). Each time, the theme concludes with a hemiola (mm. 18–19 and 24–25). The second theme arrives on Ne me perdas, in which the accompaniment contrasts with that of the first theme. Instead of descending scales, the accompaniment is limited to repeated chords. This exposition concludes with four orchestral measures based on the counter-melody of the first theme (mm. 34–37). +The development of these two themes begins in m. 38 on Quaerens me; the second theme is not recognizable except by the structure of its accompaniment. At m. 46, it is the first theme that is developed beginning from Tantus labor and concludes with two measures of hemiola at mm. 50–51. After two orchestral bars (mm. 52–53), the first theme is heard again on the text Juste Judex and ends on a hemiola in mm. 66–67. Then, the second theme is reused on ante diem rationis; after the four measures of orchestra from 68 to 71, the first theme is developed alone. +The recapitulation intervenes in m. 93. The initial structure reproduces itself with the first theme on the text Preces meae and then in m. 99 on Sed tu bonus. The second theme reappears one final time on m. 106 on Sed tu bonus and concludes with three hemiolas. The final measures of the movement recede to simple orchestral descending contrapuntal scales. + + +==== e. Confutatis ==== + +The Confutatis ("When the accursed have been confounded, summon me with the blessed") begins with a rhythmic and dynamic sequence of strong contrasts and surprising harmonic turns. Accompanied by the basso continuo, the tenors and basses burst into a forte vision of the infernal, on a dotted rhythm. The accompaniment then ceases alongside the tenors and basses, and the sopranos and altos enter softly and sotto voce, singing Voca me cum benedictis ("Call upon me with the blessed") with an arpeggiated accompaniment in strings. +Finally, in the following stanza (Oro supplex et acclinis), there is a striking modulation from A minor to A♭ minor. + +This descent from the opening key is repeated, now modulating to the key of F major. A final dominant seventh chord leads to the Lacrymosa. + + +==== f. Lacrimosa ==== + +The chords begin piano on a rocking rhythm in 128, intercut with quarter rests, which will be reprised by the choir after two measures, on Lacrimosa dies illa ("That tearful day"). Then, after two measures, the sopranos begin a diatonic progression, in disjointed eighth-notes on the text resurget ("will be reborn"), then legato and chromatic on a powerful crescendo. The choir is forte by m. 8, at which point Mozart's contribution to the movement was interrupted by his death. +Süssmayr brings the choir to a reference of the Introit and ends on an Amen cadence. Discovery of a fragmentary Amen fugue in Mozart's hand has led to speculation that it may have been intended for the Requiem. Indeed, many modern completions (such as Levin's) complete Mozart's fragment. Some sections of this movement are quoted in the Requiem Mass of Franz von Suppé, who was a great admirer of Mozart. Ray Robinson, the music scholar and president (from 1969 to 1987) of the Westminster Choir College, suggests that Süssmayr used materials from Credo of one of Mozart's earlier Masses, Mass in C major, K. 220 "Sparrow" in completing this movement. + + +=== IV. Offertorium === + + +==== a. Domine Jesu ==== + +The first movement of the Offertorium, the Domine Jesu, begins on a piano theme consisting of an ascending progression on a G minor triad. This theme will later be varied in various keys, before returning to G minor when the four soloists enter a canon on Sed signifer sanctus Michael, switching between minor (in ascent) and major (in descent). Between these thematic passages are forte phrases where the choir enters, often in unison and dotted rhythm, such as on Rex gloriae ("King of glory") or de ore leonis ("[Deliver them] from the mouth of the lion"). Two choral fugues follow, on ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum ("may Tartarus not absorb them, nor may they fall into darkness") and Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius ("What once to Abraham you promised and to his seed"). The movement concludes homophonically in G major. + + +==== b. Hostias ==== + +The Hostias opens in E♭ major in 34, with fluid vocals. After 20 measures, the movement switches to an alternation of forte and piano exclamations of the choir, while progressing from B♭ major towards B♭ minor, then F major, D♭ major, A♭ major, F minor, C minor and E♭ major. An overtaking chromatic melody on Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam ("Make them, O Lord, cross over from death to life") finally carries the movement into the dominant of G minor, followed by a reprise of the Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius fugue. + +The words "Quam olim da capo" are likely to have been the last Mozart wrote. This portion of the manuscript has been missing since it was stolen at 1958 World's Fair in Brussels by a person whose identity remains unknown. + + +=== Süssmayr's additions === + + +==== V. Sanctus ==== + +The Sanctus is the first movement written entirely by Süssmayr, and the only movement of the Requiem to have a key signature with sharps: D major, generally used for the entry of trumpets in the Baroque era. After a succinct glorification of the Lord follows a short fugue in 34 on Hosanna in excelsis ("Glory [to God] in the highest"), noted for its syncopated rhythm, and for its motivic similarity to the Quam olim Abrahae fugue. + + +==== VI. Benedictus ==== + +The Benedictus, a quartet, adopts the key of the submediant, B♭ major (which can also be considered the relative of the subdominant of the key of D minor). The Sanctus's ending on a D major cadence necessitates a mediant jump to this new key. +The Benedictus is constructed on three types of phrases: the (A) theme, which is first presented by the orchestra and reprised from m. 4 by the alto and from m. 6 by the soprano. The word benedictus is held, which stands in opposition with the (B) phrase, which is first seen at m. 10, also on the word benedictus but with a quick and chopped-up rhythm. The phrase develops and rebounds at m. 15 with a broken cadence. The third phrase, (C), is a solemn ringing where the winds respond to the chords with a staggering harmony, as shown in a Mozartian cadence at mm. 21 and 22, where the counterpoint of the basset horns mixes with the line of the cello. The rest of the movement consists of variations on this writing. At m. 23, phrase (A) is reprised on a F pedal and introduces a recapitulation of the primary theme from the bass and tenor from mm. 28 and 30, respectively. Phrase (B) follows at m. 33, although without the broken cadence, then repeats at m. 38 with the broken cadence once more. This carries the movement to a new Mozartian cadence in mm. 47 to 49 and concludes on phrase (C), which reintroduces the Hosanna fugue from the Sanctus movement, in the new key of the Benedictus. + + +==== VII. Agnus Dei ==== + +Homophony dominates the Agnus Dei. The text is repeated three times, always with chromatic melodies and harmonic reversals, going from D minor to F major, C major, and finally B♭ major. According to the musicologist Simon P. Keefe, Süssmayr likely referenced one of Mozart's earlier Masses, Mass in C major, K. 220 "Sparrow" in completing this movement. + + +==== VIII. Communio ==== +Süssmayr here reuses Mozart's first two movements, almost exactly note for note, with wording corresponding to this part of the liturgy. + + +== Liturgical texts == + + +=== I. Introitus === + + +=== II. Kyrie === + + +=== III. Sequentia === + + +=== IV. Offertorium === + + +=== V. Sanctus === + + +=== VI. Benedictus === + + +=== VII. Agnus Dei === + + +=== VIII. Communio === + + +== History == + + +=== Composition === + +At the time of Mozart's death on 5 December 1791, only the first movement, Introitus (Requiem aeternam) was completed in all of the orchestral and vocal parts. The Kyrie, Sequence and Offertorium were completed in skeleton, with the exception of the Lacrymosa, which breaks off after the first eight bars. The vocal parts and continuo were fully notated. Occasionally, some of the prominent orchestral parts were briefly indicated, such as the first violin part of the Rex tremendae and Confutatis, the musical bridges in the Recordare, and the trombone solos of the Tuba Mirum. +What remained to be completed for these sections were mostly accompanimental figures, inner harmonies, and orchestral doublings to the vocal parts. + + +=== Completion by Mozart's contemporaries === +The eccentric count Franz von Walsegg commissioned the Requiem from Mozart anonymously through intermediaries. The count, an amateur chamber musician who routinely commissioned works by composers and passed them off as his own, wanted a Requiem Mass he could claim he composed to memorialize the recent passing of his wife. Mozart received only half of the payment in advance, so upon his death his widow Constanze was keen to have the work completed secretly by someone else, submit it to the count as having been completed by Mozart and collect the final payment. Joseph von Eybler was one of the first composers to be asked to complete the score. He worked on the movements from the Kyrie up until the Lacrymosa, carefully adding his additions to the incomplete manuscript. He then felt unable to complete the remainder and gave the manuscript back to Constanze Mozart. +The task was then given to another composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Süssmayr added his own orchestration to the movements from the Kyrie onward, completed the Lacrymosa, and added several new movements which a Requiem would normally comprise: Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. He then added a final section, Lux aeterna by adapting the opening two movements which Mozart had written to the different words which finish the Requiem Mass, which according to both Süssmayr and Mozart's wife was done according to Mozart's directions. +Other composers may have helped Süssmayr. The Agnus Dei is suspected by some scholars to have been based on instruction or sketches from Mozart because of its similarity to a section from the Gloria of a previous Mass (Sparrow Mass, K. 220) by Mozart, as was first pointed out by Richard Maunder. Others have pointed out that at the beginning of the Agnus Dei, the choral bass quotes the main theme from the Introitus. Many of the arguments dealing with this matter, though, center on the perception that if part of the work is of high quality, it must have been written by Mozart (or from sketches), and if part of the work contains errors and faults, it must have been all Süssmayr's doing. +Another controversy is the suggestion (originating from a letter written by Constanze) that Mozart left explicit instructions for the completion of the Requiem on "a few scraps of paper with music on them... found on Mozart's desk after his death." The extent to which Süssmayr's work may have been influenced by these "scraps", if they existed at all, remains a subject of speculation amongst musicologists to this day. +The completed score, started by Mozart but largely finished by Eybler and Süssmayr, was then dispatched to Count Walsegg complete with a counterfeited signature of Mozart and dated 1792. The various complete and incomplete manuscripts eventually turned up in the 19th century, but many of the figures involved left ambiguous statements on record as to how they were involved in the affair. Despite the controversy over how much of the music is actually Mozart's, the commonly performed Süssmayr version has become widely accepted by the public. This acceptance is quite strong, even when alternative completions provide logical and compelling solutions for the work. + + +=== Promotion by Constanze Mozart === +The confusion surrounding the circumstances of the Requiem's composition was created in large part by Mozart's wife, Constanze. + +Constanze had a difficult task: she had to keep secret the fact that the Requiem was unfinished at Mozart's death, so she could collect the final payment from the commission. For a period of time, she also needed to keep secret that Süssmayr had anything to do with the composition of the Requiem, to allow Count Walsegg the impression that Mozart wrote the work entirely himself. Once she received the commission, she needed to carefully promote the work as Mozart's so she could continue to receive revenue from its publication and performance. During this phase of the Requiem's history, it was still important that the public accept that Mozart wrote the whole piece, as it would fetch larger sums from publishers and the public if it were completely by Mozart. +Constanze's efforts created many of the half-truths and myths about Mozart's death. According to Constanze, Mozart declared that he was composing the Requiem for himself and that he had been poisoned. His symptoms worsened, and he began to complain about the painful swelling of his body and high fever. Nevertheless, Mozart continued his work on the Requiem, and even on the last day of his life, he was explaining to his assistant how he intended to finish the Requiem. +With deception surrounding the Requiem's completion, a natural outcome is the mythologizing which occurred. One series of myths supposes that Mozart's colleague Antonio Salieri commissioned and completed the Requiem, and hence implicates him in Mozart's death. While a retelling of this myth is Peter Shaffer's 1979 play Amadeus and the movie made from it, the source of misinformation is ultimately an 1830 play by Alexander Pushkin, Mozart and Salieri, which was turned into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and subsequently used as the framework for Amadeus. + + +=== Conflicting accounts === +Source materials written soon after Mozart's death contain serious discrepancies, which leave a level of subjectivity when assembling the "facts" about Mozart's composition of the Requiem. For example, at least three of the conflicting sources, all dated within two decades following Mozart's death, cite Constanze as their primary source of interview information. + + +==== Friedrich Rochlitz ==== +In 1798, Friedrich Rochlitz, a German biographical author and amateur composer, published a set of Mozart anecdotes that he claimed to have collected during his meeting with Constanze in 1796. The Rochlitz publication makes the following statements: + +Mozart was unaware of his commissioner's identity at the time he accepted the project. +He was not bound to any date of completion of the work. +He stated that it would take him around four weeks to complete. +He requested, and received, 100 ducats at the time of the first commissioning message. +He began the project immediately after receiving the commission. +His health was poor from the outset; he fainted multiple times while working. +He took a break from writing the work to visit the Prater with his wife. +He shared the thought with his wife that he was writing this piece for his own funeral. +He spoke of "very strange thoughts" regarding the unpredicted appearance and commission of this unknown man. +He noted that the departure of Leopold II to Prague for the coronation was approaching. +The most highly disputed of these claims is the last one, the chronology of this setting. According to Rochlitz, the messenger arrives quite some time before the departure of Leopold for the coronation, yet there is a record of his departure occurring in mid-July 1791. However, as Constanze was in Baden during all of June to mid-July, she would not have been present for the commission or the drive they were said to have taken together. Furthermore, The Magic Flute (except for the Overture and March of the Priests) was completed by mid-July. La clemenza di Tito was commissioned by mid-July. There was no time for Mozart to work on the Requiem on the large scale indicated by the Rochlitz publication in the time frame provided. + + +==== Franz Xaver Niemetschek ==== + +Also in 1798, Constanze is noted to have given another interview to Franz Xaver Niemetschek, another biographer looking to publish a compendium of Mozart's life. He published his biography in 1808, containing a number of claims about Mozart's receipt of the Requiem commission: + +Mozart received the commission very shortly before the Coronation of Emperor Leopold II and before he received the commission to go to Prague. +He did not accept the messenger's request immediately; he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating his fee but urging that he could not predict the time required to complete the work. +The same messenger appeared later, paying Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work's completion. +He started composing the work upon his return from Prague. +He fell ill while writing the work. +He told Constanze "I am only too conscious... my end will not be long in coming: for sure, someone has poisoned me! I cannot rid my mind of this thought." +Constanze thought that the Requiem was overstraining him; she called the doctor and took away the score. +On the day of his death, he had the score brought to his bed. +The messenger took the unfinished Requiem soon after Mozart's death. +Constanze never learned the commissioner's name. +This account, too, has fallen under scrutiny and criticism of its accuracy. According to letters, Constanze most certainly knew the name of the commissioner by the time this interview was released in 1800. Additionally, the Requiem was not given to the messenger until some time after Mozart's death. This interview contains the only account from Constanze herself of the claim that she took the Requiem away from Wolfgang for a significant duration during his composition of it. Otherwise, the timeline provided in this account is historically probable. + + +==== Georg Nikolaus von Nissen ==== +However, the most highly accepted text attributed to Constanze is the interview to her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen. After Nissen's death in 1826, Constanze released the biography of Wolfgang (1828) that Nissen had compiled, which included this interview. Nissen states: + +Mozart received the commission shortly before the coronation of Emperor Leopold and before he received the commission to go to Prague. +He did not accept the messenger's request immediately; he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating his fee but urging that he could not predict the time required to complete the work. +The same messenger appeared later, paying Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work's completion. +He started composing the work upon his return from Prague. +The Nissen publication lacks information following Mozart's return from Prague. + + +== Influences == + +Mozart esteemed Handel and in 1789 he was commissioned by Baron Gottfried van Swieten to rearrange Messiah (HWV 56). This work likely influenced the composition of Mozart's Requiem; the Kyrie is based on the "And with His stripes we are healed" chorus from Handel's Messiah, since the subject of the fugato is the same with only slight variations by adding ornaments on melismata. However, the same four-note theme is also found in the finale of Joseph Haydn's String Quartet in F minor (Op. 20 No. 5) and in the first measure of the A minor fugue from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2 (BWV 889b) as part of the subject of Bach's fugue, and it is thought that Mozart transcribed some of the fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier for string ensemble (K. 404a Nos. 1–3 and K. 405 Nos. 1–5), but the attribution of these transcriptions to Mozart is not certain. +Some musicologists believe that the Introitus was inspired by Handel's Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, HWV 264. Another influence was Michael Haydn's Requiem in C minor; Mozart and his father were viola and violin players respectively at its first three performances in January 1772. Some have noted that Michael Haydn's Introitus sounds rather similar to Mozart's, and the theme for Mozart's "Quam olim Abrahae" fugue is a direct quote of the fugue theme from Haydn's Offertorium and Versus from his aforementioned requiem. In Introitus m. 21, the soprano sings "Te decet hymnus Deus in Zion". It is quoting the Lutheran hymn "Meine Seele erhebt den Herren". The melody is used by many composers e.g. in Bach's cantata Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10 but also in Michael Haydn's Requiem. +Felicia Hemans' poem "Mozart's Requiem" was first published in The New Monthly Magazine in 1828. + + +== Timeline == + + +== Modern completions == + +Since the 1970s several composers and musicologists, dissatisfied with the traditional "Süssmayr" completion, have attempted alternative completions of the Requiem. + + +== The "Amen" fugue == + +In the 1960s, a sketch for an Amen fugue was discovered, which some musicologists (Levin, Maunder) believe belongs to the Requiem at the conclusion of the sequence after the Lacrymosa. H. C. Robbins Landon argues that this Amen fugue was not intended for the Requiem, rather that it "may have been for a separate unfinished mass in D minor" to which the Kyrie K. 341 also belonged. +There is, however, compelling evidence placing the Amen fugue in the Requiem based on current Mozart scholarship. First, the principal subject is the main theme of the Requiem (stated at the beginning, and throughout the work) in strict inversion. Second, it is found on the same page as a sketch for the Rex tremendae (together with a sketch for the overture of his last opera The Magic Flute), and thus surely dates from late 1791. The only place where the word 'Amen' occurs in anything that Mozart wrote in late 1791 is in the sequence of the Requiem. Third, as Levin points out in the foreword to his completion of the Requiem, the addition of the Amen fugue at the end of the sequence results in an overall design that ends each large section with a fugue. + + +== Autograph at the 1958 World's Fair == + +The autograph of the Requiem was placed on display at the World's Fair in 1958 in Brussels. At some point during the fair, someone was able to gain access to the manuscript, tearing off the bottom right-hand corner of the second to last page (folio 99r/45r), containing the words "Quam olim d: C:" (an instruction that the "Quam olim" fugue of the Domine Jesu was to be repeated da capo, at the end of the Hostias). The perpetrator has not been identified, and the fragment has not been recovered. +If the most common authorship theory is true, then "Quam olim d: C:" were the last words Mozart wrote before he died. + + +== Recordings == + + +== Arrangements == +The Requiem and its individual movements have been repeatedly arranged for various instruments. The keyboard arrangements notably demonstrate the variety of approaches taken to translating the Requiem, particularly the Confutatis and Lacrymosa movements, in order to balance preserving the Requiem's character while also being physically playable. Karl Klindworth's piano solo (c.1900), Muzio Clementi's organ solo, and Renaud de Vilbac's harmonium solo (c.1875) are liberal in their approach to achieve this. In contrast, Carl Czerny wrote his piano transcription for two players, enabling him to retain the extent of the score, if sacrificing timbral character. Franz Liszt's piano solo (c.1865) departs the most in terms of fidelity and character of the Requiem, through its inclusion of composition devices used to showcase pianistic technique. + + +== References == + + +=== Cited sources === +Keefe, Simon P. (2012). Mozart's Requiem: Reception, Work, Completion. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19837-0. OCLC 804845569. +Moseley, Paul (1989). "Mozart's Requiem: A Revaluation of the Evidence". Journal of the Royal Musical Association. 114 (2). doi:10.1093/jrma/114.2.203. JSTOR 766531. +Wolff, Christoph (1994). Mozart's Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Translated by Mary Whittal. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520213890. + + +== Further reading == +Brendan Cormican (1991). Mozart's Death – Mozart's Requiem: An Investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-9510357-0-3. +Heinz Gärtner (1991). Constanze Mozart: after the Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-39-X. +C. R. F. Maunder (1988). Mozart's Requiem: On Preparing a New Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-316413-2. + + +== External links == + + Requiem: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe + + Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe +"Work details, sound sample", Köchel-Verzeichnis, International Mozarteum Foundation +Free scores of Requiem, K. 626 in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) +Requiem in D minor, K. 626: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Article on the Requiem at h2g2 +Michael Lorenz: "Freystädtler's Supposed Copying in the Autograph of K. 626: A Case of Mistaken Identity", Vienna 2013 +Mozart's Requiem, new completion of the score by musicologist Robert D. Levin, live concert diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/20_the_four_seasons_vivaldi.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/20_the_four_seasons_vivaldi.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f744ba3 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/20_the_four_seasons_vivaldi.txt @@ -0,0 +1,247 @@ +The Four Seasons (Italian: Le quattro stagioni) is a group of four violin concerti by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, each of which gives musical expression to a season of the year. These were composed around 1718–1723, when Vivaldi was the court chapel master in Mantua. They were published in 1725 in Amsterdam in what was at the time the Dutch Republic, together with eight additional concerti, as Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention). +The Four Seasons is the best known of Vivaldi's works. The inspiration for the concertos is not the countryside around Mantua, as initially supposed, where Vivaldi was living at the time, since according to Karl Heller they could have been written as early as 1716–1717, while Vivaldi was engaged with the court of Mantua only in 1718. +They were a revolution in musical conception: Vivaldi represented flowing creeks, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized), a shepherd and his barking dog, buzzing flies, storms, drunken dancers, hunting parties from both the hunters' and the prey's point of view, frozen landscapes, and warm winter fires. +Unusual for the period, Vivaldi published the concerti with accompanying sonnets (possibly written by the composer himself) that elucidated what it was in the spirit of each season that his music was intended to evoke. The concerti therefore stand as one of the earliest and most detailed examples of what would come to be called program music—in other words, music with a narrative element. Vivaldi took great pains to relate his music to the texts of the poems, translating the poetic lines themselves directly into the music on the page. For example, in the second movement of "Spring", when the goatherd sleeps, his barking dog can be heard in the viola section. The music is elsewhere similarly evocative of other natural sounds. Vivaldi divided each concerto into three movements (fast–slow–fast), and, likewise, each linked sonnet into three sections. + + +== Structure == + +Vivaldi's arrangement is as follows: + +Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "Spring" (La primavera) +Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "Summer" (L'estate) +Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "Autumn" (L'autunno) +Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, "Winter" (L'inverno) +A performance of all four concerti may take about 40–43 minutes. Approximate timings of the individual concerti: + +Spring: 10 minutes +Summer: 11 minutes +Autumn: 11 minutes +Winter: 9 minutes + + +== Sonnets and allusions == + +There is some debate as to whether the four concerti were written to accompany four sonnets or vice versa. Though it is not known who wrote the accompanying sonnets, the theory that Vivaldi wrote them is supported by the fact that each sonnet is broken into three sections, each neatly corresponding to a movement in the concerto. Regardless of the sonnets' authorship, The Four Seasons can be classified as program music, instrumental music intended to evoke something extra-musical, and an art form which Vivaldi was determined to prove sophisticated enough to be taken seriously. +In addition to these sonnets, Vivaldi provided instructions such as "The barking dog" (in the second movement of "Spring"), "Languor caused by the heat" (in the first movement of "Summer"), and "the drunkards have fallen asleep" (in the second movement of "Autumn"). +A new translation of the sonnets into English by Armand D'Angour was published in 2019. + + +=== Sonnet text === + + +== Recording history == + +The date and personnel on the first recording of The Four Seasons are disputed. There is a compact disc of a recording made by the violinist Alfredo Campoli taken from acetates of a French radio broadcast; these are thought to date from early in 1939. The first proper electrical recording was made in 1942 by Bernardino Molinari; though his is a somewhat different interpretation from modern performances, it is clearly recognisable as The Four Seasons. Molinari's recording was made for Cetra, and was issued in Italy and subsequently in the United States on six double-sided 78s, in the 1940s. It was then reissued on long-playing album in 1950, and, later, on compact disc. +The first American recording was made in the final week of 1947 by the violinist Louis Kaufman. The recording was made at Carnegie Hall in advance of a scheduled recording ban effective 1 January 1948. The performers were The Concert Hall Chamber Orchestra under Henry Swoboda, Edith Weiss-Mann (harpsichord) and Edouard Nies-Berger (organ). This recording helped the re-popularisation of Vivaldi's music in the mainstream repertoire of Europe and America following on the work done by Molinari and others in Italy. It won the French Grand Prix du Disque in 1950, was elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002, and was selected the following year for the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress. Kaufman, intrigued to learn that the four concertos were in fact part of a set of twelve, set about finding a full score and eventually recorded the other eight concertos in Zürich in 1950, making his the first recording of Vivaldi's complete Op. 8. +The ensemble I Musici has recorded The Four Seasons probably more often than any other established musical group to date: The debut recording in 1955 with Felix Ayo; again with Ayo in 1959, this time in stereo — the very first stereo recording of the work; subsequent recordings featuring Roberto Michelucci (1969), the highly acclaimed 1982 recording with Pina Carmirelli, Federico Agostini (1988), Mariana Sîrbu (1995), Antonio Anselmi (2012) and Marco Fiorini (2021). There is also a video recording of The Four Seasons performed by I Musici in Antonio Vivaldi's hometown of Venice, filmed by Anton van Munster in 1988. +The 1969 Argo recording by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Neville Marriner and featuring the soloist Alan Loveday sold over half a million copies; it became the ensemble's first gold record. +I Solisti di Zagreb, under the baton of Antonio Janigro with Jan Tomasow as violin soloist and Anton Heiller on harpsichord, followed in 1957 on the Vanguard label, further reissued under the Philips and other labels. Wilfrid Mellers, an English music critic, musicologist and composer wrote of this performance, "the soloists phrase their lyricism beautifully." John Thornton wrote about this recording, "Here is matchless ensemble playing, topped by Tomasow's secure playing. Janigro reveals his talent for conducting, which competes with his considerable talent for cello playing." +Ivan Supek wrote of this recording: + +I will attempt to convey to you how much this performance means to me, and might mean to you, as well. My first encounter with the records took place almost thirty years ago, when "our" Antonio revealed to me the true significance of the piece of another great Antonio, his famous namesake, whose Le Quattro Staggioni I could hardly listen any more because of the "grand", actually too grand, performances usual at that time, let alone enjoy them. What a change it was – a window into a new world; music is fast, precise and true to life, the intonation is correct, the continuo appropriate, and the violin of beautiful sound in fitting correlation with the Zagreb Soloists. The self-assured and fine tone of Jan Tomasow's solo violin relates perfectly with the Soloists; the entire performance is impregnated with the spirit of Janigro's perfectionism, leaving the music and its soul fully exposed. It had been for a long time the only performance I could listen to. Only during [the] last decade some new kids, playing authentic instruments, have offered to me similar pleasure and insights into the music of Antonio Vivaldi and, to my great pleasure, Janigro's performance is no longer the only choice for me. +In my opinion, this also shows how Janigro's performance in cooperation with the Zagreb Soloists was far ahead its time, as corroborated by Igor Stravinsky, who claimed that it was the most beautiful performance of Le Quattro Staggioni he had ever heard, a statement which I only recently learned about. No wonder, since such "bareness" and precision of Janigro's interpretation must have appealed to him. It was much later that I discovered the excellence of the recording as well. At that time, the Zagreb Soloists were recording for Vanguard, mostly in Vienna at various locations, and this particular recording was made in 1957 at Rotenturmstrassaal. Recording was produced by Seymour Solomon, chief producer of the entire edition, who would personally come from the USA to oversee every recording to be made by the Zagreb Soloists, whereas the Vanguard branch in Vienna "Amadeo" was in charge of the organisation. (My gratitude to one of the founders of the Zagreb Soloists, Mr. Stjepan Aranjoš, for providing me with some important insights). Janigro was a perfectionist, often rather merciless, not only in matters of music but also in terms of the sound, so he participated directly and intensely in [the] recording process, which was quite uncommon at that time. All that great care, by all participants in the project, is amply reflected in the recording itself, resulting in an airy performance of appropriate spaciousness and extension, with only occasional "congestion" of high tones in forte sections. +Paul Shoemaker wrote about this recording: + +Nothing I have heard changes my view that the best Seasons ever was performed by Jan Tomasow and I Solisti di Zagreb and beautifully recorded by Vanguard at the very beginning of the stereo era. If you have almost every other version of the Seasons, you'll want this one, too. If money and space are no obstacle, it might be worth having.Nigel Kennedy's 1989 recording of The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra sold over three million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling classical works ever. The marketing of Kennedy's record was described as "the first time that a classical artist had been given the full pop marketing treatment", with a promotional single, and advertisements on billboards, TV and radio. +Gil Shaham and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recorded The Four Seasons as well as a music video for the first movement of "Winter" that was featured regularly on The Weather Channel in the mid-1990s. +Surround sound versions of the piece have been issued on Super Audio CD by Richard Tognetti, Pinchas Zukerman, Jonathan Carney and Rachel Podger. +The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music in 1952 cites only two recordings of The Four Seasons – by Molinari and Kaufman. By 2011, approximately 1,000 recorded versions have been made since Campoli's in 1939. +In 2009, all four concertos were arranged for piano by pianist Jeffrey Biegel. +In 2023, Gramophone Magazine named La Serenissima's recording of the Manchester version of The Four Seasons as "potentially the most streamed interpretation ever." with over 165 million streams on Spotify alone. +Classical musicians have sought to distinguish their recordings of The Four Seasons, with historically informed performances, and embellishments, to the point of varying the instruments and tempi, or playing notes differently from the listener's expectation (whether specified by the composer or not). It is said that Vivaldi's work presents such opportunities for improvisation. Many period-based ensembles have recorded The Four Seasons, including La Serenissima under the direction of Adrian Chandler who recorded the Manchester version of The Four Seasons, The English Concert under the direction of Trevor Pinnock, the Academy of Ancient Music under the direction of Christopher Hogwood and Europa Galante under the direction of Fabio Biondi. + + +== Reception == + +The Four Seasons was voted #67 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. Three of the four concerti were included in the Classic 100 Concerto listing. + + +== Derivative works == + +Derivative works of these concerti include arrangements, transcriptions, covers, remixes, samples, and parodies in music — themes in theater and opera, soundtracks in films (or video games), and choreography in ballet (along with contemporary dance, figure skating, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, etc.) — either in their entirety, single movements, or medleys. Antonio Vivaldi appears to have started this trend of adapting music from The Four Seasons, and since then it has expanded into many aspects of the performing arts (as have other instrumental & vocal works by the composer). This contest between harmony and invention (as it were) now involves various genres around the world: +1726 (or 1734) + +Vivaldi re-scored the Allegro movement from the "Spring" concerto, both as the opening sinfonia (third movement), and chorus (adding lyrics) for his opera Dorilla in Tempe. +J. S. Bach used the initial motif of the first movement of the "Spring" concerto for the third movement (aria) of his cantata Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende? (BWV 27). +1727 (or 1730, 1731) + +Vivaldi based his setting of "Gelido in ogni vena", an aria from Metastasio's Siroe, re di Persia libretto, on the first movement of the "Winter" concerto. Vivaldi's Siroe, containing an aria on this text, premiered in 1727 (music lost). An aria on the "Gelido in ogni vena" text also appeared in his 1730 Argippo (music lost). In 1731, he inserted the extant version of this aria in his Farnace when this opera was restaged in Pavia. +1739 + +Nicolas Chédeville (France) arranged the concerti (as "Le printemps, ou Les saisons amusantes") for hurdy-gurdy or musette, violin, flute, and continuo. +1765 + +The French composer Michel Corrette composed and published a choral motet, Laudate Dominum de Coelis, subtitled Motet à Grand Chœur arrangé dans le Concerto de Printemps de Vivaldi. The work, for choir and orchestra, consists of the words of Psalm 148 set to the music from the Spring concerto with vocal soloists singing the solo concerto parts. +1775 + +Jean-Jacques Rousseau published his flute version of the "Spring" concerto. +1969 + +The Swingle Singers (France) recorded an album (The Joy of Singing) based on the work (and that of other composers). +1970 + +Astor Piazzolla (Argentina) published Estaciones Porteñas, "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires"; these have been included in "eight seasons" performances, along with Vivaldi's work, by various artists. +1972 + +Moe Koffman (Canada) recorded a jazz album of the concerti. +1976 + +The New Koto Ensemble (Japan) recorded the concerti on koto instruments. +1978 + +Michael Franks (United States) composed a vocal serenade based on the theme of the Adagio from the "Summer" concerto. This was subsequently covered by WoongSan (Korea) in 2010. +1981 + +The Four Seasons is used in the eponymous 1981 film, along with other Vivaldi concertos for flute. +1982 + +Patrick Gleeson (United States) recorded a "computer realization" of the concerti. +1984 + +Thomas Wilbrandt (West Germany) composed and recorded "The Electric V" (later adapted for film), which interprets Vivaldi's work with ambient electronics, vocals, and samples of the original concerti. +Roland Petit (France) choreographed a ballet (entitled "Les Quatre Saisons") to an I Musici performance of Vivaldi's work. +1987 + +Ben Shedd (United States) produced a scenic tour of nature with the concerti as background music (narrated by William Shatner). +1990 + +A MIDI arrangement of the "Spring" concerto by Passport Designs was included with Windows 3.0. +1993 + +Jean-Pierre Rampal (France) recorded arrangements of the concerti for flute; these were also recorded by Jadwiga Kotnowska. +1995 + +Arnie Roth (United States) recorded "The Four Seasons Suite", including sonnets (recited by Patrick Stewart). This may not qualify as a derivative work, depending on whether Vivaldi's translated sonnets were meant to be narrated with the music (versus being read in Italian, or silently by the audience). +1997 + +The Baronics (Canada) recorded surf guitar versions of one movement from each of the concerti. +French musician Jacques Loussier composed and recorded, with his trio, jazz-swing interpretations of the concerti. +1998 + +The Great Kat (England/United States) recorded a shred guitar (and violin) version of the Presto movement from the "Summer" concerto. +Vanessa-Mae (Singapore/Britain) recorded a crossover version of the same movement for electric violin. +1999 + +The Chinese Baroque Players recorded arrangements of the concerti for traditional Chinese instruments. +Petrova & Tikhonov (Russia) performed their long program to a medley of Vivaldi's seasons to win the European Figure Skating Championships. +2000 + +Venice Harp Quartet (Italy) recorded arrangements of the concerti for harp ensemble. +Gustavo Montesano (Argentina) recorded a tango guitar version of the "Spring" Allegro with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. +Jochen Brusch (Germany) & Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen (Denmark) recorded arrangements of the concerti for violin and organ. +2001 + +Ferhan & Ferzan Önder (Turkish twin sisters) recorded a transcription of the concerti for two pianos by Antun Tomislav Šaban. +Susan Osborn (United States) recorded a new-age vocal serenade based on the "Winter" Largo. +The Charades (Finland) recorded the Presto from the "Summer" concerto as "Summer Twist", for surf guitar ensemble. +2003 + +Red Priest (UK) recorded arrangements of the concerti for recorder. +RCA Records released Vivaldi's Greatest Hit: The Ultimate Four Seasons, a 23-track album containing all four violin concerti and eleven different musicians' cover versions of selected movements. The album cover was illustrated by MUTTS creator Patrick McDonnell. +A muzak version of the "Spring" concerto is heard in The Simpsons: Hit & Run when the player is in the Stonecutter's Tunnel. +Hayley Westenra (New Zealand) adapted the "Winter" concerto into a song titled "River of Dreams" which is sung in English. It was recorded for her Pure album on July 10. +2004 + +Tafelmusik (Canada) arranged a cross-cultural arts special based on the concerti, involving a Chinese pipa, Indian sarangi and Inuit throat-singing. +2005 + +Dark Moor (Spain) recorded an electric-guitar version of the Allegro non molto movement from the "Winter" concerto; this was later integrated into the Finnish video game Frets on Fire. +2006 +Accentus chamber choir (France) recorded a choral version of the "Winter" concerto. +2007 + +Celtic Woman (Ireland) recorded the "Winter" Largo with vocals (Italian lyrics). The youngest former member, Chloë Agnew, originally recorded it for her Walking in the Air album which was released in 2002. +PercaDu (Israel) performed an arrangement of the Allegro non molto movement from the "Winter" concerto, for marimbas with chamber orchestra. +Mauro Bigonzetti (Italy) choreographed a ballet of the concerti for a French-Canadian dance company. +Tim Slade (Australia) directed 4, a documentary which follows four classical violinists in their homelands (of Tokyo; Thursday Island, New York; and Lapland), as they relate to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. +Seoul Metropolitan Traditional Music Orchestra performed the concerti with arrangement for Korean traditional music (gugak) orchestra by Seong-gi Kim. It was recorded live and released with CD from Synnara Music same year. +2008 + +Sveceny & Dvorak (Czech Republic) produced both an album and stage production of world music based on the concerti. +Yves Custeau (Canada) recorded a rock & roll "one-man band" version of the "Spring" Allegro. +Daisy Jopling (England/United States) recorded a violin & hip-hop version of the Allegro non molto movement from the "Winter" concerto, and also performs it reggae-style. +Innesa Tymochko (Ukraine) performed her crossover version of the Presto from the "Summer" concerto, for violin. +Wez Bolton (Isle of Man) recorded a cover version of the Allegro non molto movement from the "Winter" concerto, based on the Japanese video game "Beatmania" remix. +Patrick Chan (Canada) performed his long program to a medley of the concerti to win the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. +2009 + +Absynth Against Anguish (Romania) produced an electronic (trance) version of the concerti. +Riccardo Arrighini (Italy) recorded the concerti for solo piano, in a jazz style. +Christophe Monniot recorded ambient-jazz interpretations of the concerti. +Christian Blind (France) recorded a surf guitar/acid rock version of the Allegro movement from the "Spring" concerto. +2010 + +Art Color Ballet (Poland) performed their "4 elements" show to the Presto movement from the "Summer" concerto, arranged by Hadrian Filip Tabęcki (Kameleon). +David Garrett (Germany) recorded a crossover version of Vivaldi's winter (allegro non molto), combining classical violin with modern rock music. +2011 + +Black Smith (Russia) performed the Presto movement from the "Summer" concerto in the style of thrash metal music (likewise, this movement has been covered numerous times by aspiring electric guitar virtuosos, and other crossover musicians). +Angels (Greece) performed their crossover version of the same movement, scored for electric strings. +Szentpeteri Csilla (Hungary) performed her crossover version of the same movement, scored for piano. +Leonel Valbom (Portugal) remixed the Presto movement from the "Summer" concerto with VST Synths. +Tim Kliphuis (Netherlands) performed the Allegro from the "Spring" movement as a crossover of world-music styles. +Niibori Guitar Ensemble (Japan) Performed the Presto from the "Summer" movement as an arrangement for their concert at the Minato Mirai Hall on 1 June 2011 +2012 + +Russian violinist Olga Kholodnaya and Argentinian drummer Marino Colina arranged and recorded live in Berlin a version for violin and drum kit. +German-born British composer Max Richter created a postmodern and minimalist recomposition, Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons. Working with solo violinist Daniel Hope, Richter discarded around 75 per cent of the original source material; the album is 44 minutes long. +Aura (Japan) recorded an a cappella arrangement of the concerti, and had also performed Vivaldi's Spring chorus (from Dorilla in Tempe) on a prior album. +Sinfonity (Spain) performed the concerti for "electric-guitar orchestra". +Bachod Chirmof (USA) produced a MIDI recording & animation of Vivaldi's winter (movements I & III). +Tornado Classic (Russia) performed the Presto movement from the "Summer" concerto, with electric guitar and slap bass. +The symphonic rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra used a portion of the first movement of the "Winter" concerto in their song "Dreams of Fireflies (On A Christmas Night)" on their Dreams of Fireflies EP. +2013 + +Richard Galliano (France) recorded the concerti for accordion, as well as a few of his opera arias on the instrument. +Vito Paternoster (Italy) recorded the concerti in the form of sonatas for cello. +Periodic (Germany) produced a megamix of the concerti, which incorporates electronica with samples of a classical recording. +Steven Buchanan (USA) produced a tetralogy of "midseasons" (slow movements and corresponding sonnets) from Vivaldi's program music. +William Harvey (USA) conducts the Afghan Youth Orchestra, the primary ensemble of Afghanistan National Institute of Music, in his composition "The Four Seasons of Afghanistan" at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. +2014 + +The Piano Guys (USA) recorded an arrangement for piano and cello, a crossover between the "Winter" concerto and "Let it Go" from the animated film Frozen. +2015 + +Zozimo Rech and Adrianne Simioni (Brazil) recorded the concerti on electric and acoustic guitar on the Astronomusic label. +2016 + +In April, violist David Aaron Carpenter recorded the concerti, arranged for viola and released with an arrangement of Piazzolla's Estaciones Porteñas and The Four Seasons of Manhattan by Alexey Shor. +Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite premiered her ballet based on the concerti, The Seasons' Canon, with the Paris Opera Ballet at the Palais Garnier before bringing it to the Royal Ballet in London. +2019 + +"For Seasons" is a recomposition of Vivaldi's concertos using algorithms to portray climate change from 1725 to 2019. Recomposed by the creative studio Kling Klang Klong, arranged by Simone Candotto and performed in November 2019 by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, under the direction of Alan Gilbert. +Portrait of a Lady on Fire used La Serenissima's Four Seasons as part of their film soundtrack. +Winter is used in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum during the assault in the Continental by Zero and his students +2021 + +Ballet Arizona performed original choreography by artistic director Ib Andersen in an outdoor performance set against the lush Southwest landscape of the Desert Botanical Gardens. +"The [Uncertain] Four Seasons" is a reworking of Vivaldi's original, by both human composers and AI algorithms based on climate predictions for the year 2050. Each performance is modified to fit the climatic predictions for the location of performance. The project includes a multi-orchestra, streamed event planned for November 1, 2021, in connection with the United Nations Climate Change conference held in Glasgow, Scotland. It was inspired by the 2019 performance, "For Seasons." +ATEEZ incorporated the "Summer" concerto into their cover of iKON's "Rhythm Ta" on Kingdom: Legendary War. +2022 + +The Brazilian telenovela Quanto Mais Vida, Melhor! covered the "Summer" concerto for a special sequence where the four main characters "switch bodies". For the scene, the compositions also had different rhythms involving rock, classical music, pop, and samba, respectively. +Vivaldi and Italian Baroque specialists, La Serenissima (UK), "Winter" from the Manchester version of The Four Seasons was sampled in a Beats by Dre advertisement. +The eponymous heroine of Wednesday plays Winter at the cello. (episode 3) +2023 + +A song "A Dramatic Irony" contains sampled elements mainly from Winter and parts of Summer can be heard in Kafka's character introduction trailer from the game Honkai: Star Rail. +2024 + +As part of The Poetic Edda, and EP released by American deathcore bands Disembodied Tyrant and Synestia, the song Winter was used and melded with the deathcore style. +2025 + +Commissioned to the mark the 300-year anniversary of the publication of the original concerti, 'A Season to Sing' is a choral reimagining of the work for SATB or upper voice choir by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange and published by the Royal School of Church Music. The work sets the melodies to seasonal texts from the Bible, poetry, and L'Estrange's own texts. +The Four Seasons is featured again in the Netflix series The Four Seasons based on the 1981 film. +"VIVA!", a song performed by Chiemi Tanaka and Moeka Koizumi as their respective characters from the anime franchise Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, is a re-arrangement of Spring. Vivaldi is credited as the song's composer, his first registered full composer credit since 1739's Feraspe (currently lost opera). +In December 2025 Opera Philadelphia staged an opera adaptation, The Seasons, at the Kimmel Center which expanded the work around the theme of climate change; crafting a pastiche by combing opera arias by Vivaldi with the complete music from The Four Seasons. It was conceptualized by the work's librettist, the playwright Sarah Ruhl, and Opera Philadelphia director, Anthony Roth Costanzo. The opera was directed by Zack Winokur; choreographed by Pam Tanowitz; conducted by Corrado Rovaris; and starred Costanzo as The Poet, Abigail Raiford as the Farmer, Kangmin Justin Kim as the Painter, Whitney Morrison as the Performing Artist, John Mburu as The Cosmic Weatherman, and Megan Moore as The Choreographer. There were also several dancers featured in the production. + + +== References == + + +== External links == + + Media related to The Four Seasons (Vivaldi) at Wikimedia Commons +The Four Seasons: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Scores, Mutopia Project diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/21_piano_concerto_no_2_rachmaninoff.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/21_piano_concerto_no_2_rachmaninoff.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5483f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/21_piano_concerto_no_2_rachmaninoff.txt @@ -0,0 +1,126 @@ +The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between June 1900 and April 1901. The piece established his fame as a concerto composer and is one of his most enduringly popular pieces. +After the failure of the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Op. 13) in March 1897, Rachmaninoff continued to compose some short pieces for piano, song and choral work while appearing in a number of concerts as an opera conductor. Just as he was finally beginning to recover from his ordeal, in January 1900, he had the opportunity to meet with the great Lev Tolstoy. However, he once again lost confidence after receiving harsh criticism for his original song "Fate" (Op. 21-1). After an unsuccessful meeting with Tolstoy meant to revoke his writer's block, relatives decided to introduce Rachmaninoff to the neurologist Nikolai Dahl. Between January and April 1900, Rachmaninoff underwent hypnotherapy and supportive therapy sessions with Dahl on a daily basis for over 3 months, specifically structured to improve his sleep patterns, mood, and appetite and reignite his desire to compose. That summer, Rachmaninoff felt that "new musical ideas began to stir" and successfully resumed composition. +In July 1900, Rachmaninoff finally composed the "Love Duet," a key scene in the opera Francesca da Rimini, which was to be completed in 1906. This song was written earlier than his Piano Concerto No. 2, which he began composing in the autumn of 1900, and the "Love Duet" became an important work that marked Rachmaninoff's rebirth as a composer. +He first worked on the second and third movements of the concerto, with the first movement causing him difficulties. Both movements of the unfinished concerto were first performed with him as soloist and his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting on 15 December [O.S. 2 December] 1900. The first movement was finished in 1901, and the complete work had an astoundingly successful premiere on 9 November [O.S. 27 October] 1901, again with the same duo. Gutheil published the concerto the same year. +Rachmaninoff dedicated the concerto to Dahl for successfully treating him by restoring his health and confidence in composition. + + +== History == + + +=== Background === +Sergei Rachmaninoff had been working on his First Symphony from January to September 1895. In 1896, after a long hiatus, the music publisher and philanthropist Mitrofan Belyayev agreed to include it at one of his Saint Petersburg Russian Symphony Concerts. However, there were setbacks: complaints were raised about the symphony by his teacher Sergei Taneyev upon receiving its score, which elicited revisions by Rachmaninoff, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov expressed dissatisfaction during rehearsal. Eventually, the symphony was scheduled to be premiered in March 1897. Before the due date, he was nervous but optimistic due to his prior successes, which included winning the Moscow Conservatory Great Gold Medal and earning the praise of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The premiere, however, was a disaster; Rachmaninoff listened to the cacophonous performance backstage to avoid getting humiliated by the audience and eventually left the hall when the piece finished. The symphony was brutally panned by critics, and apart from issues with the piece, the poor performance of the possibly drunk conductor, Alexander Glazunov, was also to blame. César Cui wrote: + +If there were a conservatoire in Hell, if one of its talented students were instructed to write a programme symphony on "The Seven Plagues of Egypt", and if he were to compose a symphony like Mr Rachmaninoff's, then he would have fulfilled his task brilliantly and delighted the inmates of Hell. +Rachmaninoff initially remained aloof to the failure of his symphony, but upon reflection, suffered a psychological breakdown that stopped his compositional output for three years. He adopted a lifestyle of heavy drinking to forget about his problems. Depression consumed him, and although he rarely composed, he still engaged in performance, accepting a conducting position by the Russian entrepreneur Savva Mamontov at the Moscow Private Russian Opera from 1897 to 1898. It provided income for the cash-strapped Rachmaninoff; he eventually left as it didn't allow time for other activities and due to the incompetence of the theater, which turned piano lessons into his main source of income. +At the end of 1898, Rachmaninoff was invited to perform in London in April 1899, where he was expected to play his Second Piano Concerto. However, he wrote to the London Philharmonic Society that he couldn't finish a second concerto due to illness. The society requested he play his First Piano Concerto, but he declined, dismissing it as a student piece. Instead, he offered to conduct one of his orchestral pieces, to which the society agreed, provided he also performed at the piano. He made a successful conducting debut, performing The Rock and playing piano pieces such as his popular Prelude in C-sharp minor. The society secretary, Francesco Berger invited him to return next year with a performance of the First Concerto. However, he promised to return with a newer and better one, although he did not perform it there until 1908. Alexander Goldenweiser, a peer from the same conservatory, wanted to play his new concerto at a Belyayev concert in Saint Petersburg, thinking its consummation was inevitable. Rachmaninoff, who had thoughts of composing it three years earlier, sent a letter to him stating that nothing had been penned so far. +For the rest of the summer and autumn of 1899, Rachmaninoff's unproductiveness worsened his depression. A friend of the Satins (relatives of Rachmaninoff), in an attempt to revoke the depressed composer's writer's block, suggested he visit Leo Tolstoy. However, his visit to the querulous author only increased his despondency, and he became so self-critical that he was rendered unable to compose. The Satins, anxious about his well-being, persuaded him to visit Nikolai Dahl, a neurologist who specialized in hypnosis, with whom they had a good experience. Desperate, he agreed without hesitation. From January to April 1900, he treated him daily free of charge using hypnotherapy. Dahl restored Rachmaninoff's health and his confidence to compose. Himself a musician, Dahl engaged in lengthy conversations surrounding music with Rachmaninoff, and would repeat a triptych formula while the composer was half-asleep: "You will begin to write your concerto ... You will work with great facility ... The concerto will be of an excellent quality". Even though the results were not readily evident, they were still successful. + + +=== Composition and premiere === + +In June 1900, after receiving an invitation to perform Mefistofele in La Scala, Feodor Chaliapin invited Rachmaninoff to live with him in Italy, where he sought his advice while studying the opera. During his stay, Rachmaninoff composed the love duet of his opera Francesca da Rimini and also began working on the second and third movements of his Second Piano Concerto. With newfound enthusiasm for composition, he resumed working on them after returning to Russia, which for the rest of the summer and the autumn were being finished "quickly and easily", although the first movement caused him difficulties. He told his biographer Oskar von Riesemann that "the material grew in bulk, and new musical ideas began to stir within me—far more than I needed for my concerto". +The two finished movements were to be performed in the Moscow Nobility Hall on 15 December [O.S. 2 December] at a concert arranged for the benefit of the Ladies' Charity Prison Committee. On the eve of the concert, Rachmaninoff caught a cold, prompting his friends and relatives to stuff him with remedies, filling him with an excess of mulled wine; he didn't want to admit his desire to cancel the performance. With him as soloist with an orchestra after an eight-year hiatus and his cousin Alexander Siloti making his conducting debut, it was an anxious event, but the concert was a great success, easing the worries of his close ones. Ivan Lipaev wrote: "it's been long since the walls of the Nobility Hall reverberated with such enthusiastic, storming applause as on that evening ... This work contains much poetry, beauty, warmth, rich orchestration, healthy and buoyant creative power. Rachmaninoff's talent is evident throughout." The German company Gutheil published the concerto as opus number 18 the following year. +Before continuing composition, Rachmaninoff received financial aid from Siloti to tide him over for the next three years, securing his ability to compose without worrying about rent. By April 1901, while staying with Goldenweiser, he finished the first movement of the concerto and subsequently premiered the full work at a Moscow Philharmonic Society concert on 9 November [O.S. 27 October], again with him at the piano and Siloti conducting. Five days before the premiere, however, Rachmaninoff received a letter from Nikita Morozov (his Conservatory colleague) pestering him regarding the structure of the concerto after receiving its score, commenting that the first subject seemed like an introduction to the second one. Frantic, he replied, writing that he concurred with his opinion and was pondering over the first movement. Regardless, it was an astounding success, and Rachmaninoff enjoyed wild acclaim. Even Cui, who previously scolded his First Symphony, displayed exuberance over the work in a letter from 1903. The piece established Rachmaninoff's fame as a concerto composer and is one of his most enduringly popular pieces. He dedicated it to Dahl for his treatment. + + +=== Subsequent performances === +The popularity of the Second Piano Concerto grew rapidly, developing global fame after its subsequent performances. Its international progress started with a performance in Germany, where Siloti played it with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Arthur Nikisch's baton in January 1902. In March, the same duo had a tremendously successful performance in Saint Petersburg; two days preceding this, the Rachmaninoff-Siloti duo performed back in Moscow, with the former conducting and the latter as soloist. May of the same year saw a performance at the Queen's Hall in London, the soloist being Wassily Sapellnikoff with the Philharmonic Society and Frederic Cowen conducting; London would wait until 1908 for Rachmaninoff to perform it there. "One was quickly persuaded of its genuine excellence and originality", The Guardian wrote of the concerto following the performance. England, however, had already heard the work twice prior to the London premiere, with performances by Siloti in Birmingham and Manchester. Rachmaninoff—enhanced by success from repossessing the ability to compose again, coupled with no more financial worries—repaid the loan from Siloti within one year of receiving the last installment. +After marrying his first cousin Natalia Satina, the newly-wed Rachmaninoff received an invitation to play his concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Vasily Safonov in December. Although the engagement guaranteed him a hefty fee, he was anxious that accepting it would show ingratitude towards Siloti. However, after seeking his help, Taneyev reassured Rachmaninoff that this did not offend Siloti. That was followed by concerts in both Vienna and Prague the following spring in 1903 under the same engagement. In late 1904, Rachmaninoff won the Glinka Awards, cash prizes established in Belyayev's will, receiving 500 rubles for his concerto. Throughout his life, Rachmaninoff soloed the concerto a total of 143 times. + + +=== Early reception === +After he fulfilled his 1908 London concert engagement at the Queen's Hall under Serge Koussevitzky, a flattering review by The Times emerged: "The direct expression of the work, the extraordinary precision and exactitude of Rachmaninoff's playing, and even the strict economy of movement of arms and hands which he exercises, all contributed to the impression of completeness of performance." + +His debut with an American orchestra occurred on 8 November 1909, performing the concerto at the Philadelphia Academy of Music with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Max Fiedler's baton, including repeat performances in Baltimore and New York City. Critics since the first performance were chiefly dismissive, echoing Philip Hale's program notes for the debut stating that "The concerto is of uneven worth. The first movement is labored and has little marked character. It might have been written by any German, technically well-trained, who was acquainted with the music of Tchaikovsky". Richard Aldrich, who was a music critic for The New York Times, murmured about the overperformance of the work in proportion to its worth, but complimented Rachmaninoff's playing, stating that, with the assistance of the orchestra, "he made it sound more interesting than it ever has before here". His last concert during the American tour was on 27 January 1910, performing the Isle of the Dead and his concerto under Modest Altschuler with his Russian Symphony Society, who farewelled the homesick Rachmaninoff with appraisal of his Isle of the Dead but dismissal of the concerto as "not in any way comparable to Rachmaninoff's third concerto". Rachmaninoff played the concerto eight times during the tour. Despite the concerto's popularity, its critical reception has often remained poor. +Following the 1917 October Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family escaped Russia, never to return, seeing the US as a haven for remedying his financial situation; they arrived there one day before Armistice Day, following their temporary stay in Scandinavia. Reginald De Koven praised a Rachmaninoff concerto performance under Walter Damrosch, writing that he rarely saw a New York audience "more moved, excited and wrought up". A 1927 Liverpool Post article called the concerto a "somewhat catchpenny work though it had plenty of rather cheap glitter". Rachmaninoff's last performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 was on 18 June 1942 with Vladimir Bakaleinikov leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Reviewing the performance in Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, Richard D. Saunders opined that the work is of a "songful quality, imbued with haunting melodies all tinged with sombre pathos and expressed with the graceful refinement characteristic of the composer". + + +=== Modern reception and legacy === +No other concerto by Rachmaninoff was as popular with audiences and pianists alike as his Second Concerto; the musicologist Glen Carruthers attributes this popularity with "memorable melodies [which] appear in each movement". Rachmaninoff's biographer Geoffrey Norris characterized the concerto as "notable for its conciseness and for its lyrical themes, which are just sufficiently contrasted to ensure that they are not spoilt either by overabundance or overexposure." Stephen Hough in an article with The Guardian posits that the composition is "his most popular, most often performed and, arguably, the most perfect structurally. It sounds as if it wrote itself, so naturally does the music flow". Another article by John Ezard and David Ward calls it one of the "most often performed concertos in the repertoire. Its emergence – in each year so far of the new century – as the British classical listening public's favourite tune indicates Rachmaninov's position as perhaps the most popular mainstream composer of the last 70 years." In 2023, 2024 and 2025, the piece was voted number one in the Classic FM annual Hall of Fame poll and has consistently ranked in the top three. +Many films—such as William Dieterle's September Affair (1950), Charles Vidor's Rhapsody (1954), and Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1955)—borrow themes from the concerto. David Lean's romantic drama Brief Encounter (1945) utilizes the music widely in its soundtrack, and Frank Borzage's I've Always Loved You (1946) features it heavily; this has further popularized the work. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's Inside No. 9 heavily utilized its soundtrack in the episode "A Quiet Night In", with almost the entire episode being devoid of speech, and the audio almost entirely following the concertos soundtrack. The concerto has also inspired numerous songs and is frequently used in figure skating programmes. + + +== Instrumentation == +The concerto is scored for piano and orchestra: + + +== Structure == + +The piece is written in three-movement concerto form: + + +=== I. Moderato === + +The opening movement begins with a series of chromatic bell-like tollings on the piano that build tension, eventually climaxing in the introduction of the main theme by the violins, violas, and first clarinet. The piano starts to play very low notes during the theme introduced by the strings and clarinet. + +In this first section, while the melody is stated by the orchestra, the piano takes on the role of accompaniment, consisting of rapid oscillating arpeggios between both hands which contribute to the fullness and texture of the section's sound. The theme soon goes into a slightly lower register, where it is carried on by the cello section, and then is joined by the violins and violas, soaring to a climactic C note. After the statement of the long first theme, a quick and virtuosic "piu mosso" pianistic figuration transition leads into a short series of authentic cadences, accompanied by both a crescendo and an accelerando; this then progresses into the gentle, lyrical second theme in E♭ major, the relative key. The second theme is first stated by the solo piano, with light accompaniment coming from the upper wind instruments. A transition which follows the chromatic scale eventually leads to the final reinstatement of the second theme, this time with the full orchestra at a piano dynamic. The exposition ends with an agitated closing section with scaling arpeggios on the E♭ major scale in both hands. +The agitated and unstable development borrows motifs from both themes, changing keys very often and giving the melody to different instruments while a new musical idea is slowly formed. The sound here, while focused on a particular tonality, has ideas of chromaticism. Two sequences of pianistic figurations lead to a placid, orchestral reinstatement of the first theme in the dominant 7th key of G. The development furthers with motifs from the previous themes, climaxing towards a B♭ major "più vivo" section. A triplet arpeggio section leads into the accelerando section, with the accompanying piano playing chords in both hands, and the string section providing the melody reminiscent of the second theme. The piece reaches a climax with the piano playing dissonant fortississimo (fff) chords, and with the horns and trumpets providing the syncopated melody. +While the orchestra restates the first theme, the piano, that on the other occasion had an accompaniment role, now plays the march-like theme that had been halfly presented in the development, thus making a considerable readjustment in the exposition, as in the main theme, the arpeggios in the piano serve as an accompaniment. This is followed by a piano-solo which continues the first theme and leads into a descending chromatic passage to a pianississimo A♭ major chord. Then the second theme is heard played with a horn solo. The entrance of the piano reverts the key back into C minor, with triplet passages played over a mysterious theme played by the orchestra. Briefly, the piece transitions to a C major glissando in the piano, and is placid until drawn into the coda based on the first subject, marked Meno mosso, in which the movement ends in a C minor fortissimo, with the same authentic cadence as those that followed the first statement of the first theme in the exposition. + + +=== II. Adagio sostenuto === +The second movement opens with a series of slow chords in the strings which modulate from the C minor of the previous movement to the E major of this movement. + +At the beginning of the A section, the piano enters, playing a simple arpeggiated figure. This opening piano figure was composed in 1891 as the opening of the Romance from Two Pieces For Six Hands. The main theme is initially introduced by the flute, before being developed by an extensive clarinet solo. The motif is passed between the piano and then the strings. +Then the B section is heard. It builds up to a short climax centered on the piano, which leads to a cadenza for the piano. +The original theme is repeated with various inversions of chords and lower arpeggios on the piano. The orchestra mainly plays very legato and sweet, however the flutes play staccato chords for most of the ending. After a climactic phrase with piano and strings together, the music starts to die away losing more instruments and focusing more on the piano over time, slowly descending to a finish with just the soloist in E major. + + +=== III. Allegro scherzando === +The last movement opens with a short orchestral introduction that modulates from E major (the key of the previous movement) to C minor, before a piano solo leads to the statement of the agitated first theme. + +After the original fast tempo and musical drama ends, a short transition from the piano solo leads to the oboe and violas introducing a second lyrical theme in B♭ major. This theme maintains the motif of the first movement's second theme. The exposition ends with a suspenseful closing section in B♭ major. +After that an extended and energetic development section is heard. The development is based on the first theme of the exposition. It maintains a very improvisational quality, as instruments take turns playing the stormy motifs. +In the recapitulation, the first theme is truncated to only 8 bars on the tutti, because it was widely used in the development section. After the transition, the recapitulation's 2nd theme appears, this time in D♭ major, half above the tonic. However, after the ominous closing section ends it then builds up into a triumphant climax in C major from the beginning of the coda. The movement ends very triumphantly in the tonic major with the same four-note rhythm ending the Third Concerto in D minor. + + +== Recordings == +Commercial recordings include: + +1929: Sergei Rachmaninoff with Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski +1956: Arthur Rubinstein with Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner +1959: Sviatoslav Richter with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Stanisław Wisłocki +1962: Van Cliburn with Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner +1965: Earl Wild with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jascha Horenstein +1970: Alexis Weissenberg with Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan +1971: Vladimir Ashkenazy with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn +1988: Evgeny Kissin with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev +2003: Krystian Zimerman with Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa +2004: Stephen Hough with Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton +2005: Leif Ove Andsnes with Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Antonio Pappano +2011: Yuja Wang with Verbier Festival Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov +2012: Valentina Lisitsa with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Francis +2013: Anna Fedorova with Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie conducted by Martin Panteleev +2017: Khatia Buniatishvili with the Czech Philharmonic conducted by Paavo Järvi +2018: Daniil Trifonov with Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin +2023: Yuja Wang with Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel + + +== Transcriptions and derivative works == +In 1901, Gutheil published the concerto along with the composer's two-piano arrangement. The Austrian violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler transcribed the second movement for violin and piano in 1940, named Preghiera (Prayer). In 1946, Percy Grainger made a concert transcription of the third movement for piano solo. The Classical Jazz Quartet's 2006 arrangement uses thematic sections derived from each movement as grounds for jazz improvisation. +Two songs recorded by Frank Sinatra have roots in the concerto: "I Think of You", from the second theme of the first movement, and "Full Moon and Empty Arms", from the second theme of the third movement. Eric Carmen's 1975 ballad "All by Myself" is based on the second movement. +The English rock band Muse have interpolated elements of the Moderato movement within their 2001 song "Space Dementia", and incorporated musical elements of the Adagio movement within their 2004 song "Butterflies and Hurricanes". + + +== Notes == + + +== References == + + +=== Sources === + + +==== Books and journals ==== + + +==== Other ==== + + +== Further reading == + + +== External links == +Piano Concerto No. 2: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Free sheet music of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 from Cantorion.org diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/22_violin_concerto_mendelssohn.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/22_violin_concerto_mendelssohn.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f72475 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/22_violin_concerto_mendelssohn.txt @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ +Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, MWV O 14, is his last concerto. It was well received at its premiere and has remained as one of the most prominent and highly regarded violin concertos in history. It holds a central place in violin repertoire and has developed a reputation as an essential concerto for all aspiring concert violinists to master. A typical performance lasts just under half an hour. +Mendelssohn originally proposed the idea of the violin concerto to Ferdinand David, a close friend and concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Although conceived in 1838, the work took another six years to complete and was not premiered until 1845. During this time, Mendelssohn maintained a regular correspondence with David as he gave him many suggestions throughout the creation process. The work itself was one of the foremost violin concertos of the Romantic era and was influential on many other composers. +Although the concerto consists of three movements in a standard fast–slow–fast structure that follow a traditional form, it was innovative and included many novel features for its time. Distinctive aspects include the almost immediate entrance of the violin at the beginning of the work and the through-composed form of the concerto as a whole, in which the three movements are melodically and harmonically connected and played attacca. +Many violinists have recorded this concerto and it is performed in concerts and classical music competitions. It was recorded by Nathan Milstein and the New York Philharmonic as an album and released as the first LP record upon the format's introduction in 1948. + + +== History == + +Following his appointment in 1835 as principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Mendelssohn named his childhood friend Ferdinand David as the orchestra's concertmaster. The work's origins derive from this professional collaboration. In a letter dated 30 July 1838, Mendelssohn wrote to David: I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my head, the beginning of which gives me no peace. +The concerto took another six years to complete. There are many possible reasons for the delay, including self-doubt, his third symphony and an unhappy period in Berlin after a request from King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Nevertheless, Mendelssohn and David kept up a regular correspondence during this time, as Mendelssohn sought technical and compositional advice from David. This violin concerto was the first of many to have been composed with the input of a professional violinist, and this choice would influence many future collaborations between violinists and composers. +The autograph score is dated 16 September 1844, but Mendelssohn was still seeking advice from David until its eventual premiere. The concerto was first performed in Leipzig on 13 March 1845 with Ferdinand David as soloist. Mendelssohn was unable to conduct due to illness and the premiere was conducted by the Danish composer Niels Gade. Mendelssohn first conducted the concerto on 23 October 1845 again with Ferdinand David as soloist. +An autograph manuscript of the concerto re-emerged in 1989 in the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Kraków, leading to some scholarly scepticism of the veracity of Breitkopf & Härtel's 1862 edition of the published score. Some notable differences include the tempo character of the first movement being handwritten as "Allegro con fuoco" (meaning: with fire) rather than the published "Allegro molto appassionato" (very impassioned) as well as significant differences in the solo violin's passage-work. + + +== Instrumentation == +The concerto is scored for solo violin and a standard orchestra of its period, consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, two natural horns, two natural trumpets, timpani, and strings. + + +== Movements == +The concerto consists of three movements with the following tempo markings: + + +=== I. Allegro molto appassionato === +12–14 minutes + +Instead of an orchestral tutti, the concerto opens with the almost immediate entry of the solo violin, playing the very tune in E minor that gave Mendelssohn no peace. Following a bravura of rapidly ascending notes, the opening theme is then restated by the orchestra. There is then a frenetic chromatic transition passage as the music subsides and modulates into a tranquil second subject theme in G major. The melody is initially played by the woodwinds with the soloist providing a pedal note on an open G string. The tune is played by the solo violin itself before a short codetta ends the exposition section of the opening movement. +The opening two themes are then combined in the development section, where the music builds up to the innovative cadenza, which Mendelssohn wrote out in full rather than allowing the soloist to improvise. The cadenza builds up speed through rhythmic shifts from quavers to quaver-triplets and finally to semiquavers that require ricochet bowing from the soloist. This serves as a link to the recapitulation, where the opening melody is played by the orchestra, accompanied by the continuing ricochet arpeggios by the soloist. During the recapitulation, the opening themes are repeated with the second theme being played in the E major before returning to E minor for the closing of the movement. The music gathers speed into the coda that is marked as "Presto", before a variant of the original chromatic transition passage ends the first movement. + + +=== II. Andante === +7–9 minutes + +The bassoon sustains its B from the final chord of the first movement before moving up a semitone to middle C. This serves as a key change from the fast-paced, intense E minor opening movement into the lyrical C major slow movement. The movement is in ternary form and is reminiscent of Mendelssohn's own Songs Without Words. The theme to the darker, middle section in A minor is first introduced by the orchestra before the violin then takes up both the melody and the accompaniment simultaneously. The tremulous accompaniment requires nimble dexterity from the soloist before the music returns to the main lyrical C major theme, this time leading towards a serene conclusion. + + +=== III. Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace === +6–7 minutes + +Following the second movement, there is a brief fourteen-bar transitional passage in E minor for solo violin and strings only. This leads into the lively and effervescent finale, the whole of which is in E major and whose opening is marked by a trumpet fanfare. This movement is in sonata rondo form with an opening theme requiring fast passage work from the soloist. The opening exposition leads into a brief second B major theme which is played by the soloist and builds to a series of rapidly ascending and descending arpeggios, reminiscent of the cadenza from the first movement. +The orchestra then plays a variation of the opening melody, after which the music moves into a short development section in G major. The recapitulation is essentially similar to the exposition apart from the addition of a counter-melody in the strings. The second theme is repeated, but this time in the home key of E major. There is almost a small cadenza near the end of the movement when the woodwinds play the main tune against prolonged trills from the solo violin. The concerto then concludes with a frenetic coda. + + +== Analysis == +This concerto is innovative in many respects. In the first movement alone, Mendelssohn departs from the typical form of a Classical concerto in many ways. The most immediate change is the entry of the soloist almost from the outset, which also occurs in his First Piano Concerto. Although the first movement is mostly in the conventional sonata form, Mendelssohn has the first theme played by the solo violin as the introduction which is followed by the orchestra. Classical concertos typically opened with an orchestral introduction followed by a version of the same material that incorporates the soloist. +The cadenza is also novel in that it is written out as part of the concerto and located before the recapitulation. In a typical Classical concerto, the cadenza is improvised by the performing soloist and is located at the end of a movement after the recapitulation while also just before the final coda. Mendelssohn's written cadenza was not included in the first published version of the concerto, but instead found in a "streamlined" version by Ferdinand David without the contrapuntal complexity of the original. This is the most played version today, although some artists, e.g. Arabella Steinbacher and Chouchane Siranossian, chose to play Mendelssohn's original. +This violin concerto stands out from previous concertos with its connected movements. There is no break between the first and second movements as a bassoon note is held between the two. The bridging passage between the last two movements begins almost immediately after the slow movement. The melody is similar to that of the opening, which hints at the cyclic form of the piece. The linking was designed to eliminate applause between movements. This would have come as a surprise to Mendelssohn's audience as they were used to applauding between movements. +The concerto also calls on the soloist to function as an accompanist to the orchestra for extended periods, such as the ricochet arpeggios at the start of the recapitulation. This too was novel for a violin concerto of its time. + + +== Legacy == +Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto influenced the concertos of many other composers, who adopted aspects of it in their own concertos. +For example, the unusual placement of the cadenza before the recapitulation is reflected in the violin concerto of Tchaikovsky where the cadenza is similarly placed and in the violin concerto of Sibelius where the cadenza serves to extend the development section. Moreover, following this concerto it was rare for a composer to leave a cadenza unwritten for the soloist to improvise such as in the classical works of Mozart and Beethoven. The linking of the three movements also influenced other concertos, such as Liszt's Second Piano Concerto. +The concerto itself was an instant success as it was warmly received at its premiere and well received by contemporary critics. By the end of the nineteenth century, the piece was already considered one of the greatest violin concertos in the repertoire. It would become one of Mendelssohn's most popular pieces, and was still regularly performed even when interest in his music declined in the early twentieth century. In 1906, the year before his death, the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim told the guests at his 75th birthday party: + +The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's. +The work has developed a reputation as an essential one for aspiring violin virtuosi to conquer. This has led to its becoming virtually ubiquitous in the discography of concert violinists. Today, the violin concerto remains technically challenging and is generally considered to be as difficult as many other famous counterparts. + + +== References == + + +== Bibliography == +Keefe, Simon P., ed. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/ccol9780521834834. ISBN 978-0-521-54257-9. +Kerman, Joseph (1999). Concerto conversations. The Charles Eliot Norton lectures. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-15891-7. +Lindeman, Steve (2004). "The works for solo instrument(s) and orchestra". In Mercer-Taylor, Peter (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/ccol9780521826037. ISBN 978-0-521-82603-7. +Mercer-Taylor, Peter, ed. (2004). The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/ccol9780521826037. ISBN 978-0-521-82603-7. +Steinberg, Michael (15 October 1998). The Concerto: A Listener's Guide. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780195103304.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-772934-2. +Stowell, Robin (1992). "The concerto". In Stowell, Robin (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Violin. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/ccol9780521390330. ISBN 978-0-521-39033-0. + + +== External links == + +Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +BBC Discovering Music (browse for .ram file containing discussion of this work) +ABC Classic FM Deep Listen guide based on a recording by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with Niki Vasilakis. diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/23_cello_concerto_elgar.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/23_cello_concerto_elgar.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52f0c21 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/23_cello_concerto_elgar.txt @@ -0,0 +1,83 @@ +Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, when his music had already become out of fashion with the concert-going public. In contrast with Elgar's earlier Violin Concerto, which is lyrical and passionate, the Cello Concerto is for the most part contemplative and elegiac. +The October 1919 premiere was a debacle because Elgar and the performers had been deprived of adequate rehearsal time. Elgar made two recordings of the work with Beatrice Harrison as soloist. Since then, leading cellists from Pablo Casals onward have performed the work in concert and in the studio, but the work did not achieve wide popularity until the 1960s, when a recording by Jacqueline du Pré caught the public imagination and became a classical best-seller. + + +== History == +Elgar is not known to have begun work on the concerto until 1919. In 1900 the cellist of the Brodsky Quartet, Carl Fuchs, had obtained the composer's agreement to write something for the cello one day. Fuchs and his friend the cellist Paul Grümmer later reminded Elgar of this. The composer's biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore speculates that Elgar may have recalled the promise when planning a new concerto in 1919. +In 1918 Elgar underwent an operation in London to have an infected tonsil removed. The night after his return from hospital to his London house he wrote down the melody that would become the first theme of the concerto. He and Alice, his wife (Lady Elgar), soon retired to their secluded country cottage "Brinkwells" near Fittleworth, Sussex. During 1918 Elgar composed three chamber works there which his wife commented were noticeably different in style and character from his previous compositions. After their premieres in the spring of 1919, he began realising his idea of a cello concerto. The work is dedicated to Sidney Colvin and his wife, who were his friends. +The concerto had a disastrous premiere, at the opening concert of the London Symphony Orchestra's 1919–20 season on 27 October 1919. Apart from the concerto, which the composer conducted, the rest of the programme was conducted by Albert Coates, who overran his rehearsal time at the expense of Elgar's. Lady Elgar wrote, "that brutal selfish ill-mannered bounder ... that brute Coates went on rehearsing." The critic of The Observer, Ernest Newman, wrote, "There have been rumours about during the week of inadequate rehearsal. Whatever the explanation, the sad fact remains that never, in all probability, has so great an orchestra made so lamentable an exhibition of itself. ... The work itself is lovely stuff, very simple – that pregnant simplicity that has come upon Elgar's music in the last couple of years – but with a profound wisdom and beauty underlying its simplicity." Elgar attached no blame to his soloist, Felix Salmond, who played for him again later. Elgar said that if it had not been for Salmond's diligent work in preparing the piece, he would have withdrawn it from the concert entirely. +In contrast with the First Symphony, which received a hundred performances worldwide in just over a year from its premiere, the Cello Concerto did not have a second performance in London for more than a year. Elgar's music was by this time widely seen as old-fashioned, less appropriate to the post-war era than to the Edwardian. The American premiere of the concerto was given in Carnegie Hall, New York on 21 November 1922 by Jean Gerardy with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski. It was received with little enthusiasm: The New York Herald found most of the work "reflective, melancholy and generally depressing"; The New York Times thought the thematic material "is not rich; it is spun out, sometimes pretty thin". Gerardy later introduced the concerto in Poland and Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald found the work original, musicianly and an admirable addition to the cello repertoire, but "without the qualities that kindle the imagination of the listener". +Later the concerto gained greater appreciation. In 1955 the authors of The Record Guide wrote of "the irresistible appeal of the Cello Concerto", although "the task of interpreting the solo is extremely difficult", requiring "a reserved dignity that is peculiarly English". By 1967, according to the critic Edward Greenfield, Jacqueline du Pré was "convincing audiences from New York to Moscow that Elgar is – on occasion at least – exportable". +The work has become, along with Dvořák's Op. 104, one of the two most frequently performed cello concertos in the international repertoire. + + +== Music == +This work is scored for solo cello, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings. +The work typically plays for a little under 30 minutes; it has four movements: + + +=== I. Adagio – Moderato === +The first movement is in ternary form with an introduction. It opens with a recitative for the solo cello, immediately followed by a short answer from the clarinets, bassoons and horn. + +An ad lib modified scale played by the solo cello follows. The viola section then presents a rendition of the main theme in Moderato, and passes it to the solo cello who repeats it. Elgar considered it to be his tune: "if you ever hear someone whistling this melody around the Malvern Hills, that will be me". + +The string section plays the theme a third time and then the solo cello modifies it into a fortissimo restatement. The orchestra reiterates, and the cello presents the theme a final time before moving directly into a lyrical E major middle section. + +This transitions into a similar repetition of the first section. This section omits the fortissimo modified theme in the solo cello. The slower first movement moves directly into the second movement. + + +=== II. Lento – Allegro molto === +The second movement opens with a fast crescendo with pizzicato chords in the cello. Then, the solo cello plays what will be the main motive of the Allegro molto section. + +Pizzicato chords follow. A brief cadenza is played, and sixteenth-note motive and chords follow. A ritardando leads directly to a scherzo-like section which remains until the end. + + +=== III. Adagio === +The slow third movement starts and ends with a lyrical melody, and one theme runs through the entire movement. + + +=== IV. Allegro – Moderato – Allegro, ma non-troppo – Poco più lento – Adagio === + +The fourth movement begins with another fast crescendo and ends at fortissimo. The solo cello follows with another recitative and cadenza. The movement's main theme is noble and stately, but with undertones and with many key-changes. + +Near the end of the piece, the tempo slows into a più lento section, in which a new set of themes appears. + +The tempo slows further, to the tempo of the third movement, and the theme from that movement is restated. This tempo continues to slow until it becomes stagnant, and the orchestra holds a chord. Then, at the very end of the piece, the recitative of the first movement is played again. This flows into a reiteration of the main theme of the fourth movement, with tension building until the final three chords, which close the piece. + + +== Recordings == + +Elgar and Beatrice Harrison made a truncated recording in 1920, using the acoustic recording process. The first complete recording was made in 1928, by Harrison, Elgar and the New Symphony Orchestra. There were later 78 rpm recordings with W. H. Squire and Pablo Casals as soloists, but the work was infrequently recorded until the LP era of the 1950s to the 1970s. +A key recording was made in 1965 by EMI, with British cellist Jacqueline du Pré as soloist and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. It was this recording that according to one critic "even persuaded the Americans to listen enraptured to Elgar". Since then there have been more than seventy recordings issued, with soloists including in the 1960s Pierre Fournier and Mstislav Rostropovich, in the 1970s Paul Tortelier, in the 1980s Lynn Harrell, Heinrich Schiff, Yo-Yo Ma and Steven Isserlis, in the 1990s Mischa Maisky, János Starker, Pieter Wispelwey and Truls Mørk, in the 2000s Anne Gastinel and Raphael Wallfisch, and later Sol Gabetta, Paul Watkins, Antonio Meneses and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. +In 1985 Julian Lloyd Webber recorded the concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yehudi Menuhin. For BBC Music Magazine Jerrold Northrop Moore chose this as the finest version to date and it won a Brit Award for "Best Classical Recording" of 1985. The BBC Radio 3 feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of the concerto on three occasions. The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2008, has three pages of reviews of the work. The only recording to receive the top recommendation of both the BBC and The Penguin Guide is du Pré's 1965 recording with the LSO and Barbirolli. Other recordings commended by both the BBC and The Penguin Guide are by Beatrice Harrison (1928); Stephen Isserlis (1988); Yo-Yo Ma (1985) and Truls Mørk (1999). +The German periodical Fono Forum in a 2022 discographic survey of the work recommends recordings featuring as soloists Harrison, du Pré, Tortelier, Robert Cohen, Michaela Fukačová, Daniel Müller-Schott and Watkins. + + +== Notes, references and sources == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== References === + + +=== Sources === +Anderson, Robert (1993). Elgar. London: J. M. Dent. ISBN 978-0-46-086054-3. +Clough, Francis F.; G. G. Cuming (1952). World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. OCLC 847382507. +Lebrecht, Norman (2007). The Life and Death of Classical Music. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-1-4000-9658-9. +March, Ivan, ed. (1967). The Great Records. Blackpool: Long Playing Record Library. OCLC 555041974. +March, Ivan, ed. (1977) [1975]. The Penguin Stereo Record Guide (second ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-046223-4. +March, Ivan, ed. (2007). The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-103336-5. +Moore, Jerrold Northrop (1999). Elgar – A Creative Life. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198163664. +Reed, W. H. (1946). Elgar. London: Dent. OCLC 8858707. +Sackville-West, Edward; Desmond Shawe-Taylor (1955). The Record Guide. London: Collins. OCLC 500373060. +Steinberg, Michael (1998). The Concerto: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510330-4. + + +== External links == +Cello Concerto: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Guide to the Concerto from Elgar.org – includes a Musical Tour and a History +Vdeo on YouTube, third movement performed by Julian Lloyd Webber, conducted by Yehudi Menuhin +Cello Elgar's Cello Concerto, BBC +Discovering Music – Elgar's Cello Concerto, BBC diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/24_la_mer_debussy.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/24_la_mer_debussy.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..98e7b20 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/24_la_mer_debussy.txt @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +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 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. 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. + + +== Background and composition == + +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, premiered in Paris in 1901 and though it had not made any great impact on 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 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 it was 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 on 5 March 1905 and took the proofs to correct on holiday at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne on the English Channel coast when he went there on 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; in 1909, Durand published a second edition of La mer with the composer's revisions. + + +== Analysis == +La mer is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in A, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets in F, 2 cornets in C (3rd movement only), 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tam tam, glockenspiel, 2 harps and strings. +A typical performance of the piece lasts about 23 or 24 minutes. It is in three movements: + +The titles are usually translated as: + +Debussy called La mer "three symphonic sketches," deliberately avoiding the term symphony. Simon Trezise, in his 1994 book Debussy: La Mer, comments: "He had not composed an orthodox symphony, but neither did he want La mer to be known as a symphonic poem ... [and by calling it] 'Three symphonic sketches' ... [Debussy] must have felt that he had deftly avoided association with either genre". The work has sometimes been called a symphony, including by Debussy himself. It consists of two powerful outer movements framing a lighter, faster piece which acts as a type of scherzo. Jean Barraqué described La mer as the first work to have an "open" form – a devenir sonore or "sonorous becoming... a developmental process in which the very notions of exposition and development coexist in an uninterrupted burst". Trezise says "motifs are constantly propagated by derivation from earlier motifs". +Trezise writes that "for much of La Mer, Debussy spurns the more obvious devices associated with the sea, wind, and concomitant storm in favour of his own, highly individual vocabulary". Caroline Potter, in The Cambridge Companion to Debussy, comments that Debussy's depiction of the sea "avoids monotony by using a multitude of water figurations that could be classified as musical onomatopoeia: they evoke the sensation of swaying movement of waves and suggest the pitter-patter of falling droplets of spray" (and so forth), and–significantly–avoid the arpeggiated triads used by Schubert and Wagner to evoke the movement of water. In The Cambridge Companion to Debussy, Mark DeVoto describes La mer as "much more complex than anything Debussy had written earlier", particularly the Nocturnes: + +…the phrases are more freely shaped and more smoothly blended from one to the next. Timbral and textural changes, with spare and widely spaced textures and abundant instrumental solos, occur in La mer more frequently than in 'Sirenes', often with dizzying rapidity. +The author, musicologist and pianist Roy Howat has observed, in his book Debussy in Proportion, that the formal boundaries of La mer correspond exactly to the mathematical ratios called the Golden Section. Trezise finds the intrinsic evidence "remarkable", but cautions that no written or reported evidence suggests that Debussy consciously sought such proportions. + + +== Reception == +The premiere was given on 15 October 1905 in Paris by the Orchestre Lamoureux under the direction of Camille Chevillard. The piece was initially not well received. Pierre Lalo, critic of Le Temps, hitherto an admirer of Debussy's work, wrote: "I do not hear, I do not see, I do not smell the sea". Another Parisian critic, Louis Schneider, wrote, "The audience seemed rather disappointed: they expected the ocean, something big, something colossal, but they were served instead with some agitated water in a saucer". When the conductor Karl Muck gave the first American performances of La mer, March 1907, the critic Henry Krehbiel wrote: + +Last night's concert began with a lot of impressionistic daubs of color smeared higgledy-piggledy on a tonal palette, with never a thought of form or purpose except to create new combinations of sounds. … One thing only was certain, and that was that the composer's ocean was a frog-pond and that some of its denizens had got into the throat of every one of the brass instruments. +The work was not performed in Britain until 1 February 1908, when the composer – though a reluctant conductor – gave a performance at the Queen's Hall; the work was enthusiastically reviewed in The Times, but The Observer thought it lacked "real force of elemental strength". The Manchester Guardian thought the work an advance on Debussy's earlier work in some respects, although "the vagueness of thematic outline is carried to hitherto unheard-of lengths", and found "moments of great beauty" in the work. The Musical Times reserved judgment but noted that the audience had been highly enthusiastic. Debussy commented that his music was more popular in London than in Paris. +One reason for the negative reception at the Paris premiere may have been public disapproval of Debussy's treatment of his wife, but another was the mediocre performance by the conductor and orchestra. Chevillard was a respected interpreter of the classics, but was not at home with new music. It was not until 19 January 1908, at the second performance of the work in Paris (conducted by the composer) that La mer became a success with the public. Trezise records that at the time, many felt the 1908 concert presented the real first performance of the piece. +Although some of Debussy's contemporaries drew analogies between La mer and French Impressionist paintings, much to the composer's irritation, others have detected the influence of his admiration for the English painter J. M. W. Turner and Debussy's choice of Hokusai's c. 1831 woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa for the cover of the printed score indicates the influence of Japanese art on him. Despite Debussy's scorn for the term "impressionism" applied to his or anyone else's music, a matter on which he and Ravel were of the same firm opinion, the term was used by some of his most devoted admirers. His biographer Edward Lockspeiser called La mer "the greatest example of an orchestral Impressionist work" and more recently, in The Cambridge Companion to Debussy, Nigel Simeone commented, "It does not seem unduly far-fetched to see a parallel in Monet's seascapes". + +Decades after its premiere, La mer established itself in the core orchestral repertoire. In 2018, the online archive of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra reported that the orchestra had played the work at 135 concert performances since 1917, under conductors including Willem Mengelberg, Arturo Toscanini, John Barbirolli, Pierre Monteux, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and Valery Gergiev. In 1979, The Musical Times rated La mer the composer's most important orchestral work. The pianist Sviatoslav Richter called La mer "A piece that I rank alongside the St Matthew Passion and the Ring cycle as one of my favourite works". + + +== Recordings == +The first recording of La mer was made by the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, conducted by Piero Coppola in 1928. It has been reissued on LP and CD. Recordings conducted by other musicians who had known and worked with Debussy include those by Monteux and Ernest Ansermet, who both conducted the work on more than one recording. Well-known recordings from the monaural era include those by the NBC Symphony Orchestra and Toscanini, and the Philharmonia on recordings conducted by Herbert von Karajan and Guido Cantelli. Of recordings from the stereophonic LP era, The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music singled out those by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner, and the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan. +Of the many recordings available, a comparative survey for Classic FM (2018) recommended a short list of five, those by the Orchestre National de France and Jean Martinon, the Cleveland Orchestra and Boulez, the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle, the Seoul Philharmonic and Myung-Whun Chung, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink (its top recommendation). + + +== Influence == +La mer has influenced a number of composers throughout the 20th century. British composers Frank Merrick and Hope Squire arranged La Mer for piano duet and performed it in 1915 in one of their new music recitals. Luciano Berio quoted La mer in the 3rd movement of his composition Sinfonia in 1968. John Williams used simplified versions of motifs from La mer in his score for Jaws (1975). In 2002, the Norwegian composer Biosphere loosely based his ambient album Shenzhou around looped samples of La mer. The British composer Sally Beamish has arranged La Mer for piano trio. +It was first performed in 2013. + + +== Notes, references and sources == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== References === + + +=== Sources === + + +==== Journal ==== +Barraqué, Jean (June 1988). "La Mer de Debussy, ou la naissance des formes ouverts". Analyse Musicale (in French) (12): 15–62. + + +==== Books ==== +DeVoto, Mark (2007). "The Debussy Sound: colour, texture, gesture". The Cambridge Companion to Debussy. Simon Trezise (ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65243-8. +Greenfield, Edward; Ivan March, Robert Layton and Paul Czajkowski (2008). The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-141-03335-8. +Howat, Roy (1986). Debussy in Proportion: A Musical Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-31145-8. +Jensen, Eric Frederick (2014). Debussy. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973005-6. +Leary, William G.; James Steel Smith (1955). Thought and Statement. New York: Harcourt, Brace. OCLC 937334460. +Monsaingeon, Bruno, ed. (2001). Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-20553-0. +Orenstein, Arbie (2003) [1989]. A Ravel Reader. Mineola, US: Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-43078-2. +Parris, Matthew (2008). Scorn. London: Little. ISBN 978-1-904435-98-3. +Potter, Caroline (2007). "Debussy and Nature". The Cambridge Companion to Debussy. Simon Trezise (ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65243-8. +Sackville-West, Edward; Desmond Shawe-Taylor (1955). The Record Guide. London: Collins. OCLC 500373060. +Simeone, Nigel (2007). "Debussy and Expression". The Cambridge Companion to Debussy. Simon Trezise (ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65243-8. +Trezise, Simon (1994). Debussy: La mer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44656-3. +Wood, Henry J. (1938). My Life of Music. London: Victor Gollancz. OCLC 30533927. + + +== External links == +La mer: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/25_bolero.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/25_bolero.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4034ba6 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/25_bolero.txt @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ +Boléro is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. It is one of Ravel's most famous compositions. It was also one of his last completed works before illness diminished his ability to write music. + + +== Composition == +The work's creation was set in motion by a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel for an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz's set of piano pieces, Iberia. While working on the transcription, Ravel was informed that Spanish conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós had already orchestrated the movements, and that copyright law prevented any other arrangement from being made. When Arbós heard of this, he said he would happily waive his rights and allow Ravel to orchestrate the pieces. But Ravel decided to orchestrate one of his own works instead, then changed his mind and decided to compose a completely new piece based on the bolero, a Spanish dance musical form. +While on vacation at St Jean-de-Luz, Ravel went to the piano and played a melody with one finger to his friend Gustave Samazeuilh, saying, "Don't you think this theme has an insistent quality? I'm going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can." Idries Shah wrote that the main theme is adapted from a melody composed for and used in Sufi training. + + +== Premiere and early performances == +The composition was a sensational success when it premiered at the Paris Opéra on 22 November 1928, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs and scenario by Alexandre Benois. The orchestra of the Opéra was conducted by Walther Straram. Originally, Ernest Ansermet had been engaged to conduct the entire ballet season, but the musicians refused to play under him. A scenario by Rubinstein and Nijinska was printed in the program for the premiere: +Inside a tavern in Spain, people dance beneath the brass lamp hung from the ceiling. [In response] to the cheers to join in, the female dancer has leapt onto the long table and her steps become more and more animated. + + But Ravel had a different conception of the work: his preferred stage design was of an open-air setting with a factory in the background, reflecting the mechanical nature of the music. +Boléro became Ravel's most famous composition, much to the surprise of the composer, who had predicted that most orchestras would refuse to play it. It is usually played as a purely orchestral work, only rarely staged as a ballet. According to a possibly apocryphal story from the premiere performance, a woman was heard shouting that Ravel was mad. When told about this, Ravel is said to have remarked that she had understood the piece. +The piece was first published by the Parisian firm Durand in 1929. Arrangements were made for piano solo and piano duet (two people playing at one piano), and later, Ravel arranged a version for two pianos, published in 1930. +The first recording was made by Piero Coppola for the Gramophone Company on 13 January 1930. Ravel attended the recording session. The next day, he conducted the Lamoureux Orchestra in his own recording for Polydor. That same year, further recordings were made by Serge Koussevitzky with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Willem Mengelberg with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. + + +=== Toscanini === +Conductor Arturo Toscanini gave the American premiere of Boléro with the New York Philharmonic on 14 November 1929. The performance was a great success, bringing "shouts and cheers from the audience" according to a New York Times review, leading one critic to declare that "it was Toscanini who launched the career of the Boléro", and another to claim that Toscanini had made Ravel into "almost an American national hero". +On 4 May 1930, Toscanini performed the work with the New York Philharmonic at the Paris Opéra as part of that orchestra's European tour. Toscanini's tempo was significantly faster than Ravel preferred, and Ravel signaled his disapproval by refusing to respond to Toscanini's gesture during the audience ovation. An exchange took place between the two men backstage after the concert. According to one account, Ravel said, "It's too fast", to which Toscanini responded, "You don't know anything about your own music. It's the only way to save the work". According to another report, Ravel said, "That's not my tempo". Toscanini replied, "When I play it at your tempo, it is not effective", to which Ravel retorted, "Then do not play it". Four months later, Ravel attempted to smooth over relations with Toscanini by sending him a note explaining that "I have always felt that if a composer does not take part in the performance of a work, he must avoid the ovations" and, ten days later, inviting Toscanini to conduct the premiere of his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, an invitation that was declined. + + +=== Early popularity === +The Toscanini affair became a cause célèbre and further increased the fame of Boléro. Other factors in the work's renown were the large number of early performances, gramophone records, including Ravel's own, transcriptions and radio broadcasts, together with the 1934 motion picture Bolero starring George Raft and Carole Lombard, in which the music plays an important role. + + +== Music == +Boléro is written for a large orchestra consisting of: + +woodwinds: piccolo, 2 flutes (one doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes (one doubling on oboe d'amore), cor anglais, 2 clarinets (one doubles on E♭ clarinet), bass clarinet, 2 saxophones (sopranino and soprano doubling tenor), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon +brass: 4 horns, 4 trumpets (3 in C, one in D), 3 trombones (2 tenor and one bass trombone), bass tuba +3 timpani and 4 percussionists: 2 snare drums, bass drum, pair of cymbals, tam-tam +celesta and harp +strings +The instrumentation calls for a sopranino saxophone in F, which never existed (modern sopraninos are in E♭). At the first performance, both the sopranino and soprano saxophone parts were played on the B♭ soprano saxophone, a tradition that continues to this day. + + +=== Structure === +Boléro has been called "Ravel's most straightforward composition in any medium". The music is in C major, 34 time, beginning pianissimo and rising in a continuous crescendo to fortissimo. It is built over an unchanging ostinato rhythm played 169 times on one or more snare drums that remains constant throughout the piece: + +On top of this rhythm two melodies are heard, each 18 bars long, and each played twice alternately. The first melody is diatonic, and the second introduces more jazz-influenced elements, with syncopation and flattened notes (technically it is mostly in the Phrygian mode). The first melody descends through one octave, the second through two octaves. The bass line and accompaniment are initially played on pizzicato strings, mainly using rudimentary tonic and dominant notes. Tension is provided by the contrast between the steady percussive rhythm, and the "expressive vocal melody trying to break free". Interest is maintained by constant reorchestration of the theme, leading to a variety of timbres, and by a steady crescendo. Both themes are repeated eight times. At the climax, the first theme is repeated a ninth time, then the second theme takes over and breaks briefly into a new tune in E major before finally returning to the tonic key of C major. +The melody is passed among different instruments: (1) flute, (2) clarinet, (3) bassoon, (4) E♭ clarinet, (5) oboe d'amore, (6) trumpet and flute (the latter not clearly audible in its own right, in part due to its playing an octave higher than it does in its first entrance), (7) tenor saxophone, (8) soprano saxophone, (9) horn, piccolos and celesta; (10) oboe, English horn and clarinet; (11) trombone, (12) some of the wind instruments, (13) first violins and some wind instruments, (14) first and second violins together with some wind instruments, (15) violins and some of the wind instruments, (16) some instruments in the orchestra, and finally (17) most but not all of the instruments in the orchestra (with bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam). +While the melody continues to be played in C throughout, from the middle onward other instruments double it in different keys. The first such doubling involves a horn playing the melody in C, while a celesta doubles it 2 and 3 octaves above and two piccolos play the melody in the keys of G and E, respectively. This functions as a reinforcement of the first, second, third, and fourth overtones of each note of the melody (though the "G major" is 2 cents flat, and the "E major" is 14 cents sharp). The other significant "key doubling" involves sounding the melody a 5th above or a 4th below, in G major. Other than these "key doublings", Ravel simply harmonizes the melody with diatonic chords. +The following table shows the instruments playing in each section of the piece (in order): + +The accompaniment becomes gradually thicker and louder until the whole orchestra is playing at the very end. Just before the end (rehearsal number 18 in the score), there is a sudden change of key to E major, but C major is reestablished after just eight bars. Six bars from the end, the bass drum, cymbals, and tam-tam make their first entry, and the trombones play raucous glissandi while the whole orchestra beats out the rhythm that has been played on the snare drum from the first bar. Finally, the work descends from a dissonant B♭ minor over F minor chord to a C major chord. + + +=== Tempo and duration === +The tempo indication in the score is Tempo di Bolero, moderato assai ("tempo of a bolero, very moderate"). In Ravel's copy of the score, the printed metronome mark of 76 per quarter is crossed out and 66 is substituted. Later editions of the score suggest a tempo of 72. Ravel's own recording from January 1930 starts at approximately 66 per quarter, slightly slowing down later on to 60–63. Its total duration is 15 minutes 50 seconds. Coppola's first recording, at which Ravel was present, has a similar duration of 15 minutes 40 seconds. Ravel said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that the piece lasts 17 minutes. +An average performance lasts about 15 minutes, with the slowest recordings, such as that by Ravel's associate Pedro de Freitas Branco, extending well beyond 18 minutes and the fastest, such as Leopold Stokowski's 1940 recording with the All American Youth Orchestra, approaching 12 minutes. In May 1994, with the Munich Philharmonic on tour in Cologne, conductor Sergiu Celibidache at the age of 82 gave a performance that lasted 17 minutes and 53 seconds, perhaps a record in the modern era. +At Coppola's first recording, Ravel indicated strongly that he preferred a steady tempo, criticizing the conductor for getting faster at the end of the work. According to Coppola's own report: + +Maurice Ravel... did not have confidence in me for the Boléro. He was afraid that my Mediterranean temperament would overtake me, and that I would rush the tempo. I assembled the orchestra at the Salle Pleyel, and Ravel took a seat beside me. Everything went well until the final part, where, in spite of myself, I increased the tempo by a fraction. Ravel jumped up, came over and pulled at my jacket: "not so fast", he exclaimed, and we had to begin again. + +Ravel's preference for a slower tempo is confirmed by his unhappiness with Toscanini's performance, as reported above. Toscanini's 1939 recording with the NBC Symphony Orchestra has a duration of 13 minutes 25 seconds. + + +== Reception == +Ravel was a stringent critic of his own work. During the composition of Boléro, he said to Joaquín Nin that the work had "no form, properly speaking, no development, no or almost no modulation". In a 1931 interview with The Daily Telegraph, he spoke about the work as follows: + +It constitutes an experiment in a very special and limited direction, and should not be suspected of aiming at achieving anything different from, or anything more than, it actually does achieve. Before its first performance, I issued a warning to the effect that what I had written was a piece lasting seventeen minutes and consisting wholly of "orchestral tissue without music"—of one very long, gradual crescendo. There are no contrasts, and practically no invention except the plan and the manner of execution. +In 1934, in his book Music Ho!, Constant Lambert wrote: "There is a definite limit to the length of time a composer can go on writing in one dance rhythm (this limit is obviously reached by Ravel towards the end of La valse and towards the beginning of Boléro)." +Literary critic Allan Bloom commented in his 1987 bestseller The Closing of the American Mind, "Young people know that rock has the beat of sexual intercourse. That is why Ravel's Bolero is the one piece of classical music that is commonly known and liked by them." +In a 2011 article for The Cambridge Quarterly, Michael Lanford wrote, "throughout his life, Maurice Ravel was captivated by the act of creation outlined in Edgar Allan Poe's Philosophy of Composition." Since, in his words, Boléro defies "traditional methods of musical analysis owing to its melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic repetitiveness", he offers an analysis that "corresponds to Ravel's documented reflections on the creative process and the aesthetic precepts outlined in Poe's Philosophy of Composition." Lanford also contends that Boléro was quite possibly a deeply personal work for Ravel. As evidence, Lanford cites Ravel's admissions that the rhythms of Boléro were inspired by the machines of his father's factory and melodic materials came from a berceuse Ravel's mother sang to him at nighttime. Lanford also proposes that Boléro is imbued with tragedy, observing that the snare drum "dehumanizes one of the most sensuously connotative aspects of the bolero", "instruments with the capacity for melodic expression mimic the machinery", and the melody consistently ends with a descending tetrachord. + + +== In popular culture == +Boléro is used in Bruno Bozzetto's 1976 animated film Allegro Non Troppo in a sequence illustrating the evolution of life on earth. +Boléro gained new attention after it featured prominently in the 1979 romantic comedy 10, costarring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. This resulted in massive sales, generated an estimated $1 million in royalties, and briefly made Ravel the best-selling classical composer 40 years after his death. +The 1981 French film Les Uns et les Autres was also distributed under the name Boléro, and features a bolero dance sequence by Jorge Donn. +After the 1984 Olympics, Boléro became one of the most recognizable pieces of music in popular culture, as a result of its use as a soundtrack for Jayne Torvill's and Christopher Dean's gold-medal-winning ice dance. Torvill and Dean received perfect scores for artistic merit from all the judges. +A version was recorded with Frank Zappa conducting an all-brass big-band ensemble in 1988. +Koji Kondo, composer at Nintendo, planned to use Boléro as the opening crawl for the first The Legend of Zelda video game (1986), but shortly before release was forced to use other music instead due to copyright concerns. +In the 1999 animated short film Digimon Adventure, Boléro is used both during the opening scene and later on during the fight between Greymon and Parrotmon. Boléro would then be used as a reocurring soundtrack in the following anime series of the same name. +The 2025 Japanese psychological horror film Exit 8 uses Boléro in its opening and closing sequence. +Figure skaters such as Kévin Aymoz, Carolina Kostner, and Kamila Valieva have used Boléro for their program music. + + +== Public domain == +In France, Boléro's copyright expired on 1 May 2016. The work is public domain in Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, and many others where the copyright term is "Life + 50 years". It is also public domain in the European Union (where the term is Life + 70 years). In the United States, Boléro remained under copyright until 31 December 2024, as it was first published in 1929 with the prescribed copyright notice. The last remaining rights owner, Evelyne Pen de Castel, has entered a number of claims that the work was in fact co-created with the designer Alexandre Benois. The effect would be to extend the copyright (when performed as a ballet) to 2039. French courts and the French authors' society SACEM repeatedly rejected the claims. The claim was rejected on 28 June 2024 by the court in Nanterre. + + +== References == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== Bibliography === +Bloom, Allan (1987). The Closing of the American Mind. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. +Dunoyer, Cecilia (1993). Marguerite Long: A life in French music, 1874–1966. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-31839-8. +Kavanaugh, Patrick (1996). Music of the Great Composers: A listener's guide to the best of classical music. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-20807-5. +Lanford, Michael (2011). "Ravel and 'The Raven': The realisation of an inherited aesthetic in Boléro". The Cambridge Quarterly. 40 (3): 243–265. doi:10.1093/camqtly/bfr022. ISSN 1471-6836. JSTOR 43492354. +Lee, Douglas (2002). Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the Symphony Orchestra. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-93846-4. +Mawer, Deborah (2006). The Ballets of Maurice Ravel: Creation and interpretation. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-3029-6. +Orenstein, Arbie (1991) [1975]. Ravel: Man and musician. New York, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-26633-6. +Orenstein, Arbie, ed. (2003) [1990]. A Ravel Reader: Correspondence, articles, interviews. Minneola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-43078-2. +Philip, Robert (2018). The Classical Music Lover's Companion to Orchestral Music. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300242720. +Sachs, Harvey (1987). Arturo Toscanini from 1915 to 1946: Art in the shadow of politics. Turin, IT: EDT. ISBN 88-7063-056-0. +Woodley, Ronald (2000). "Style and practice in the early recordings". In Mawer, Deborah (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Ravel. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. pp. 213–239. ISBN 978-0-521-64856-1. + + +== Further reading == +Ivry, Benjamin (2000). Maurice Ravel: a Life. New York: Welcome Rain Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56649-152-5. +Masselis, Juliette (6 October 2016). "Le Boléro au cinéma". France Musique (in French). + + +== External links == + Media related to Boléro at Wikimedia Commons +Boléro: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/26_the_rite_of_spring.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/26_the_rite_of_spring.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c141755 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/26_the_rite_of_spring.txt @@ -0,0 +1,162 @@ +The Rite of Spring (French: Le Sacre du printemps) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky with stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. When first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation. Many have called the first-night reaction a "riot" or "near-riot", though this wording did not come about until reviews of later performances in 1924, over a decade later. Although designed as a work for the stage, with specific passages accompanying characters and action, the music achieved equal if not greater recognition as a concert piece and is widely considered to be one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century. +Stravinsky was a young, virtually unknown composer when Diaghilev recruited him to create works for the Ballets Russes. Le Sacre du printemps was the third such major project, after the acclaimed Firebird (1910) and Petrushka (1911). The concept behind The Rite of Spring, developed by Roerich from Stravinsky's outline idea, is suggested by its subtitle, "Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts"; the scenario depicts various primitive rituals celebrating the advent of spring, after which a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and dances herself to death. After a mixed critical reception for its original run and a short London tour, the ballet was not performed again until the 1920s, when a version choreographed by Léonide Massine replaced Nijinsky's original, which saw only eight performances. Massine's was the forerunner of many innovative productions directed by the world's leading choreographers, gaining the work worldwide acceptance. In the 1980s, Nijinsky's original choreography, long believed lost, was reconstructed by the Joffrey Ballet in Los Angeles. +Stravinsky's score contains many novel features for its time, including experiments in tonality, metre, rhythm, stress and dissonance. Analysts have noted in the score a significant grounding in Russian folk music, a relationship Stravinsky tended to deny. Regarded as among the first modernist works, the music influenced many of the 20th century's leading composers and is one of the most recorded works in the classical repertoire. + + +== Background == +Igor Stravinsky was the son of Fyodor Stravinsky, the principal bass singer at the Imperial Opera, Saint Petersburg, and Anna, née Kholodovskaya, a competent amateur singer and pianist from an old-established Russian family. Fyodor's association with many of the leading figures in Russian music, including Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Mussorgsky, meant that Igor grew up in an intensely musical home. In 1901 Stravinsky began to study law at Saint Petersburg University while taking private lessons in harmony and counterpoint. Stravinsky worked under the guidance of Rimsky-Korsakov, having impressed him with some of his early compositional efforts. By the time of his mentor's death in 1908, Stravinsky had produced several works, among them a Piano Sonata in F♯ minor (1903–04), a Symphony in E♭ major (1907), which he catalogued as "Opus 1", and a short orchestral piece, Feu d'artifice ("Fireworks", composed in 1908). + +In 1909 Feu d'artifice was performed at a concert in Saint Petersburg. Among those in the audience was the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who at that time was planning to introduce Russian music and art to western audiences. Like Stravinsky, Diaghilev had initially studied law, but had gravitated via journalism into the theatrical world. In 1907 he began his theatrical career by presenting five concerts in Paris; in the following year he introduced Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov. In 1909, still in Paris, he launched the Ballets Russes, initially with Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. To present these works Diaghilev recruited the choreographer Michel Fokine, the designer Léon Bakst and the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Diaghilev's intention, however, was to produce new works in a distinctively 20th-century style, and he was looking for fresh compositional talent. Having heard Feu d'artifice he approached Stravinsky, initially with a request for help in orchestrating music by Chopin to create new arrangements for the ballet Les Sylphides. Stravinsky worked on the opening Nocturne in A-flat major and the closing Grande valse brillante; his reward was a much bigger commission, to write the music for a new ballet, The Firebird (L'oiseau de feu) for the 1910 season. +Stravinsky worked through the winter of 1909–10, in close association with Fokine who was choreographing The Firebird. During this period Stravinsky made the acquaintance of Nijinsky who, although not dancing in the ballet, was a keen observer of its development. Stravinsky was uncomplimentary when recording his first impressions of the dancer, observing that he seemed immature and gauche for his age (he was 21). On the other hand, Stravinsky found Diaghilev an inspiration, "the very essence of a great personality". The Firebird was premiered on 25 June 1910, with Tamara Karsavina in the main role, and was a great public success. This ensured that the Diaghilev–Stravinsky collaboration would continue, in the first instance with Petrushka (1911) and then The Rite of Spring. + + +== Synopsis and structure == +In a note to the conductor Serge Koussevitzky in February 1914, Stravinsky described Le Sacre du printemps as "a musical-choreographic work, [representing] pagan Russia ... unified by a single idea: the mystery and great surge of the creative power of Spring". In his analysis of The Rite, Pieter van den Toorn writes that the work lacks a specific plot or narrative, and should be considered as a succession of choreographed episodes. +The French titles are given in the form as written in the four-part piano score published in 1913. There have been numerous variants of the English translations; those shown are from the 1967 edition of the score. + + +== Creation == + + +=== Conception === + +Lawrence Morton, in a study of the origins of The Rite, records that in 1907–08 Stravinsky set to music two poems from Sergey Gorodetsky's collection Yar. Another poem in the anthology, which Stravinsky did not set but is likely to have read, is "Yarila" which, Morton observes, contains many of the basic elements from which The Rite of Spring developed, including pagan rites, sage elders, and the propitiatory sacrifice of a young maiden: "The likeness is too close to be coincidental". Stravinsky himself gave contradictory accounts of the genesis of The Rite. In a 1920 article he stressed that the musical ideas had come first, that the pagan setting had been suggested by the music rather than the other way round. However, in his 1936 autobiography he described the origin of the work thus: "One day [in 1910], when I was finishing the last pages of L'Oiseau de Feu in Saint Petersburg, I had a fleeting vision ... I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watching a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of Spring. Such was the theme of the Sacre du printemps." +By May 1910 Stravinsky was discussing his idea with Nicholas Roerich, the foremost Russian expert on folk art and ancient rituals. Roerich had a reputation as an artist and mystic, and had provided the stage designs for Diaghilev's 1909 production of the Polovtsian Dances. The pair quickly agreed on a working title, "The Great Sacrifice" (Russian: Velikaia zhertva); Diaghilev gave his blessing to the work, although the collaboration was put on hold for a year while Stravinsky was occupied with his second major commission for Diaghilev, the ballet Petrushka. +In July 1911 Stravinsky visited Talashkino, near Smolensk, where Roerich was staying with the Princess Maria Tenisheva, a noted patron of the arts and a sponsor of Diaghilev's magazine World of Art. Here, over several days, Stravinsky and Roerich finalised the structure of the ballet. Thomas F. Kelly, in his history of the Rite premiere, suggests that the two-part pagan scenario that emerged was primarily devised by Roerich. Stravinsky later explained to Nikolai Findeyzen, the editor of the Russian Musical Gazette, that the first part of the work would be called "The Kiss of the Earth", and would consist of games and ritual dances interrupted by a procession of sages, culminating in a frenzied dance as the people embraced the spring. Part Two, "The Sacrifice", would have a darker aspect; secret night games of maidens, leading to the choice of one for sacrifice and her eventual dance to the death before the sages. The original working title was changed to "Holy Spring" (Russian: Vesna sviashchennaia), but the work became generally known by the French translation Le Sacre du printemps, or its English equivalent The Rite of Spring, with the subtitle "Pictures of Pagan Russia". + + +=== Composition === + +Stravinsky's sketchbooks show that after returning to his home at Ustilug in Ukraine in September 1911, he worked on two movements, the "Augurs of Spring" and the "Spring Rounds". In October he left Ustilug for Clarens in Switzerland, where in a tiny and sparsely-furnished room—an 8-by-8-foot (2.4 by 2.4 m) closet, with only a muted upright piano, a table and two chairs—he worked throughout the 1911–12 winter on the score. By March 1912, according to the sketchbook chronology, Stravinsky had completed Part I and had drafted much of Part II. He also prepared a two-hand piano version, subsequently lost, which he may have used to demonstrate the work to Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes conductor Pierre Monteux in April 1912. He also made a four-hand piano arrangement which became the first published version of Le Sacre; he and the composer Claude Debussy played the first half of this together, in June 1912. +Following Diaghilev's decision to delay the premiere until 1913, Stravinsky put The Rite aside during the summer of 1912. He enjoyed the Paris season, and accompanied Diaghilev to the Bayreuth Festival to attend a performance of Parsifal. Stravinsky resumed work on The Rite in the autumn; the sketchbooks indicate that he had finished the outline of the final sacrificial dance on 17 November 1912. During the remaining months of winter he worked on the full orchestral score, which he signed and dated as "completed in Clarens, March 8, 1913". He showed the manuscript to Maurice Ravel, who was enthusiastic and predicted, in a letter to a friend, that the first performance of Le Sacre would be as important as the 1902 premiere of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. After the orchestral rehearsals began in late March, Monteux drew the composer's attention to several passages which were causing problems: inaudible horns, a flute solo drowned out by brass and strings, and multiple problems with the balance among instruments in the brass section during fortissimo episodes. Stravinsky amended these passages, and as late as April was still revising and rewriting the final bars of the "Sacrificial Dance". Revision of the score did not end with the version prepared for the 1913 premiere; rather, Stravinsky continued to make changes for the next 30 years or more. According to Van den Toorn, "[n]o other work of Stravinsky's underwent such a series of post-premiere revisions". +Stravinsky acknowledged that the work's opening bassoon melody was derived from an anthology of Lithuanian folk songs, but maintained that this was his only borrowing from such sources; if other elements sounded like aboriginal folk music, he said, it was due to "some unconscious 'folk' memory". However, Morton has identified several more melodies in Part I as having their origins in the Lithuanian collection. More recently Richard Taruskin discovered in the score an adapted tune from one of Rimsky-Korsakov's "One Hundred Russian National Songs". Taruskin notes the paradox whereby The Rite, generally acknowledged as the most revolutionary of the composer's early works, is in fact rooted in the traditions of Russian music. + + +=== Realisation === + +Taruskin has listed a number of sources that Roerich consulted when creating his designs. Among these are the Primary Chronicle, a 12th-century compendium of early pagan customs, and Alexander Afanasyev's study of peasant folklore and pagan prehistory. The Princess Tenisheva's collection of costumes was an early source of inspiration. When the designs were complete, Stravinsky expressed delight and declared them "a real miracle". +Stravinsky's relationship with his other main collaborator, Nijinsky, was more complicated. Diaghilev had decided that +Nijinsky's genius as a dancer would translate into the role of choreographer and ballet master; he was not dissuaded when Nijinsky's first attempt at choreography, Debussy's L'après-midi d'un faune, caused controversy and near-scandal because of the dancer's novel stylised movements and his overtly sexual gesture at the work's end. It is apparent from contemporary correspondence that, at least initially, Stravinsky viewed Nijinsky's talents as a choreographer with approval; a letter he sent to Findeyzen praises the dancer's "passionate zeal and complete self-effacement". However, in his 1936 memoirs Stravinsky writes that the decision to employ Nijinsky in this role filled him with apprehension; although he admired Nijinsky as a dancer he had no confidence in him as a choreographer: "the poor boy knew nothing of music. He could neither read it nor play any instrument". Later still, Stravinsky would ridicule Nijinsky's dancing maidens as "knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas". +Stravinsky's autobiographical account refers to many "painful incidents" between the choreographer and the dancers during the rehearsal period. By the beginning of 1913, when Nijinsky was badly behind schedule, Stravinsky was warned by Diaghilev that "unless you come here immediately ... the Sacre will not take place". The problems were slowly overcome, and when the final rehearsals were held in May 1913, the dancers appeared to have mastered the work's difficulties. Even the Ballets Russes's sceptical stage director, Serge Grigoriev, was full of praise for the originality and dynamism of Nijinsky's choreography. +The conductor Pierre Monteux had worked with Diaghilev since 1911 and had been in charge of the orchestra at the premiere of Petrushka. Monteux's first reaction to The Rite, after hearing Stravinsky play a piano version, was to leave the room and find a quiet corner. He drew Diaghilev aside and said he would never conduct music like that; Diaghilev managed to change his mind. Although he would perform his duties with conscientious professionalism, he never came to enjoy the work; nearly fifty years after the premiere he told enquirers that he detested it. In old age he said to Sir Thomas Beecham's biographer Charles Reid: "I did not like Le Sacre then. I have conducted it fifty times since. I do not like it now". On 30 March Monteux informed Stravinsky of modifications he thought were necessary to the score, all of which the composer implemented. The orchestra, drawn mainly from the Concerts Colonne in Paris, comprised 99 players, much larger than normally employed at the theatre, and had difficulty fitting into the orchestra pit. +After the first part of the ballet received two full orchestral rehearsals in March, Monteux and the company departed to perform in Monte Carlo. Rehearsals resumed when they returned; the unusually large number of rehearsals—seventeen solely orchestral and five with the dancers—were fit into the fortnight before the opening, after Stravinsky's arrival in Paris on 13 May. The music contained so many unusual note combinations that Monteux had to ask the musicians to stop interrupting when they thought they had found mistakes in the score, saying he would tell them if something was played incorrectly. According to Doris Monteux, "The musicians thought it absolutely crazy". At one point—a climactic brass fortissimo—the orchestra broke into nervous laughter at the sound, causing Stravinsky to intervene angrily. +The role of the sacrificial victim was to have been danced by Nijinsky's sister, Bronislava Nijinska; when she became pregnant during rehearsals, she was replaced by the then relatively unknown Maria Piltz. + + +== Performance history and reception == + + +=== Premiere === + +Paris's Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was a new structure, which had opened on 2 April 1913 with a programme celebrating the works of many of the leading composers of the day. The theatre's manager, Gabriel Astruc, was determined to house the 1913 Ballets Russes season, and paid Diaghilev the large sum of 25,000 francs per performance, double what he had paid the previous year. The programme for 29 May 1913, as well as the Stravinsky premiere, included Les Sylphides, Weber's Le Spectre de la Rose and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances. Ticket sales for the evening, ticket prices being doubled for a premiere, amounted to 35,000 francs. A dress rehearsal was held in the presence of members of the press and assorted invited guests. According to Stravinsky, all went peacefully. However, the critic of L'Écho de Paris, Adolphe Boschot, foresaw possible trouble; he wondered how the public would receive the work, and suggested that they might react badly if they thought they were being mocked. +On the evening of 29 May, Gustav Linor reported, "Never ... has the hall been so full, or so resplendent; the stairways and the corridors were crowded with spectators eager to see and to hear". The evening began with Les Sylphides, in which Nijinsky and Karsavina danced the main roles. Le Sacre followed. Some eyewitnesses and commentators said that the disturbances in the audience began during the Introduction, and grew noisier when the curtain rose on the stamping dancers in "Augurs of Spring". But Taruskin asserts, "it was not Stravinsky's music that did the shocking. It was the ugly earthbound lurching and stomping devised by Vaslav Nijinsky." Marie Rambert, who was working as an assistant to Nijinsky, recalled later that it was soon impossible to hear the music on the stage. In his autobiography, Stravinsky writes that the derisive laughter that greeted the first bars of the Introduction disgusted him, and that he left the auditorium to watch the rest of the performance from the stage wings. The demonstrations, he says, grew into "a terrific uproar" which, along with the on-stage noises, drowned out the voice of Nijinsky who was shouting the step numbers to the dancers. Two years after the premiere the journalist and photographer Carl Van Vechten claimed in his book Music After the Great War that the person behind him became carried away with excitement, and "began to beat rhythmically on top of my head with his fists". In 1916, in a letter not published until 2013, Van Vechten admitted he had actually attended the second night, among other changes of fact. + +At that time, a Parisian ballet audience typically consisted of two diverse groups: the wealthy and fashionable set, who would be expecting to see a traditional performance with beautiful music, and a "Bohemian" group who, the poet-philosopher Jean Cocteau asserted, would "acclaim, right or wrong, anything that is new because of their hatred of the boxes". Monteux believed that the trouble began when the two factions began attacking each other, but their mutual anger was soon diverted towards the orchestra: "Everything available was tossed in our direction, but we continued to play on". Around forty of the worst offenders were ejected—possibly with the intervention of the police, although this is uncorroborated. Through all the disturbances the performance continued without interruption. The unrest receded significantly during Part II, and by some accounts Maria Piltz's rendering of the final "Sacrificial Dance" was watched in reasonable silence. At the end there were several curtain calls for the dancers, for Monteux and the orchestra, and for Stravinsky and Nijinsky before the evening's programme continued. +Among the more hostile press reviews was that of Le Figaro's critic Henri Quittard, who called the work "a laborious and puerile barbarity" and added "We are sorry to see an artist such as M. Stravinsky involve himself in this disconcerting adventure". On the other hand, Gustav Linor, writing in the leading theatrical magazine Comœdia, thought the performance was superb, especially that of Maria Piltz; the disturbances, while deplorable, were merely "a rowdy debate" between two ill-mannered factions. Emile Raudin, of Les Marges, who had barely heard the music, wrote: "Couldn't we ask M. Astruc ... to set aside one performance for well-intentioned spectators? ... We could at least propose to evict the female element". The composer Alfredo Casella thought that the demonstrations were aimed at Nijinsky's choreography rather than at the music, a view shared by the critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, who wrote: "The idea was excellent, but was not successfully carried out". Calvocoressi failed to observe any direct hostility to the composer—unlike, he said, the premiere of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902. Of later reports that the veteran composer Camille Saint-Saëns had stormed out of the premiere, Stravinsky observed that this was impossible; Saint-Saëns did not attend. Stravinsky also rejected Cocteau's story that, after the performance, Stravinsky, Nijinsky, Diaghilev and Cocteau himself took a cab to the Bois de Boulogne where a tearful Diaghilev recited poems by Pushkin. Stravinsky merely recalled a celebratory dinner with Diaghilev and Nijinsky, at which the impresario expressed his entire satisfaction with the outcome. To Maximilien Steinberg, a former fellow-pupil under Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky wrote that Nijinsky's choreography had been "incomparable: with the exception of a few places, everything was as I wanted it". + + +=== Initial run and early revivals === +The premiere was followed by five further performances of Le Sacre du printemps at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the last on 13 June. Although these occasions were relatively peaceful, something of the mood of the first night remained; the composer Giacomo Puccini, who attended the second performance on 2 June, described the choreography as ridiculous and the music cacophonous—"the work of a madman. The public hissed, laughed—and applauded". Stravinsky, confined to his bed by typhoid fever, did not join the company when it went to London for four performances at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Reviewing the London production, The Times critic was impressed how different elements of the work came together to form a coherent whole, but was less enthusiastic about the music itself, opining that Stravinsky had entirely sacrificed melody and harmony for rhythm: "If M. Stravinsky had wished to be really primitive, he would have been wise to ... score his ballet for nothing but drums". The ballet historian Cyril Beaumont commented on the "slow, uncouth movements" of the dancers, finding these "in complete opposition to the traditions of classical ballet". + +After the opening Paris run and the London performances, events conspired to prevent further stagings of the ballet. Nijinsky's choreography, which Kelly describes as "so striking, so outrageous, so frail as to its preservation", did not appear again until attempts were made to reconstruct it in the 1980s. On 19 September 1913 Nijinsky married Romola de Pulszky while the Ballets Russes was on tour without Diaghilev in South America. When Diaghilev found out he was distraught and furious that his lover had married, and dismissed Nijinsky. Diaghilev was then obliged to re-hire Fokine, who had resigned in 1912 because Nijinsky had been asked to choreograph Faune. Fokine made it a condition of his re-employment that none of Nijinsky's choreography would be performed. In a letter to the art critic and historian Alexandre Benois, Stravinsky wrote, "[T]he possibility has gone for some time of seeing anything valuable in the field of dance and, still more important, of again seeing this offspring of mine". +With the disruption following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 and the dispersal of many artistes, Diaghilev was ready to re-engage Nijinsky as both dancer and choreographer, but Nijinsky had been placed under house arrest in Hungary as an enemy Russian citizen. Diaghilev negotiated his release in 1916 for a tour in the United States, but the dancer's mental health steadily declined and he took no further part in professional ballet after 1917. In 1920, when Diaghilev decided to revive The Rite, he found that no one now remembered the choreography. After spending most of the war years in Switzerland, and becoming a permanent exile from his homeland after the 1917 Russian Revolution, Stravinsky resumed his partnership with Diaghilev when the war ended. In December 1920 Ernest Ansermet conducted a new production in Paris, choreographed by Léonide Massine, with the Nicholas Roerich designs retained; the lead dancer was Lydia Sokolova. In his memoirs, Stravinsky is equivocal about the Massine production; the young choreographer, he writes, showed "unquestionable talent", but there was something "forced and artificial" in his choreography, which lacked the necessary organic relationship with the music. Sokolova, in her later account, recalled some of the tensions surrounding the production, with Stravinsky, "wearing an expression that would have frightened a hundred Chosen Virgins, pranc[ing] up and down the centre aisle" while Ansermet rehearsed the orchestra. + + +=== Later choreographies === +The ballet was first shown in the United States on 11 April 1930, when Massine's 1920 version was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia under Leopold Stokowski, with Martha Graham dancing the role of the Chosen One. The production moved to New York, where Massine was relieved to find the audiences receptive, a sign, he thought, that New Yorkers were finally beginning to take ballet seriously. The first American-designed production, in 1937, was that of the modern dance exponent Lester Horton, whose version replaced the original pagan Russian setting with a Wild West background and the use of Native American dances. + +In 1944 Massine began a new collaboration with Roerich, who before his death in 1947 completed a number of sketches for a new production which Massine brought to fruition at La Scala in Milan in 1948. This heralded a number of significant post-war European productions. Mary Wigman in Berlin (1957) followed Horton in highlighting the erotic aspects of virgin sacrifice, as did Maurice Béjart in Brussels (1959). Béjart's representation replaced the culminating sacrifice with a depiction of what the critic Robert Johnson describes as "ceremonial coitus". The Royal Ballet's 1962 production, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan and designed by Sidney Nolan, was first performed on 3 May and was a critical triumph. It has remained in the company's repertoire for more than 50 years; after its revival in May 2011 The Daily Telegraph's critic Mark Monahan called it one of the Royal Ballet's greatest achievements. Moscow first saw The Rite in 1965, in a version choreographed for the Bolshoi Ballet by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliev. This production was shown in Leningrad four years later, at the Maly Opera Theatre, and introduced a storyline that provided the Chosen One with a lover who wreaks vengeance on the elders after the sacrifice. Johnson describes the production as "a product of state atheism ... Soviet propaganda at its best". + +In 1975 modern dance choreographer Pina Bausch, who transformed the Ballett der Wuppertaler Bühnen to Tanztheater Wuppertal, caused a stir in the dance world with her stark depiction, played out on an earth-covered stage, in which the Chosen One is sacrificed to gratify the misogyny of the surrounding men. At the end, according to The Guardian's Luke Jennings, "the cast is sweat-streaked, filthy and audibly panting". Part of this dance appears in the film Pina. Bausch's version had also been danced by two ballet companies, the Paris Opera Ballet and English National Ballet. In America, in 1980, Paul Taylor used Stravinsky's four-hand piano version of the score as the background for a scenario based on child murder and gangster film images. In February 1984 Martha Graham, in her 90th year, resumed her association with The Rite by choreographing a new production at New York State Theater. The New York Times critic declared the performance "a triumph ... totally elemental, as primal in expression of basic emotion as any tribal ceremony, as hauntingly staged in its deliberate bleakness as it is rich in implication". +On 30 September 1987, the Joffrey Ballet performed in Los Angeles The Rite based on a reconstruction of Nijinsky's 1913 choreography, until then thought lost beyond recall. The performance resulted from years of research, primarily by Millicent Hodson, who pieced the choreography together from the original prompt books, contemporary sketches and photographs, and the recollections of Marie Rambert and other survivors. Hodson's version has since been performed by the Kirov Ballet, at the Mariinsky Theatre in 2003 and later that year at Covent Garden. In its 2012–13 season the Joffrey Ballet gave centennial performances at numerous venues, including the University of Texas, the University of Massachusetts, and with the Cleveland Orchestra. +The music publishers Boosey & Hawkes have estimated that since its premiere, the ballet has been the subject of at least 150 productions, many of which have become classics and have been performed worldwide. Among the more radical interpretations is Glen Tetley's 1974 version, in which the Chosen One is a young male. More recently there have been solo dance versions devised by Molissa Fenley and Javier de Frutos and a punk rock interpretation from Michael Clark. The 2004 film Rhythm Is It! documents a project by conductor Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic and choreographer Royston Maldoom to stage a performance of the ballet with a cast of 250 children recruited from Berlin's public schools, from 25 countries. In Rites (2008), by The Australian Ballet in conjunction with Bangarra Dance Theatre, Aboriginal perceptions of the elements of earth, air, fire and water are featured. + + +=== Concert performances === +On 18 February 1914 The Rite received its first concert performance (the music without the ballet), in Saint Petersburg under Serge Koussevitzky. On 5 April that year, Stravinsky experienced for himself the popular success of Le Sacre as a concert work, at the Casino de Paris. After the performance, again under Monteux, the composer was carried in triumph from the hall on the shoulders of his admirers. The Rite had its first British concert performance on 7 June 1921, at the Queen's Hall in London under Eugene Goossens. Its American premiere occurred on 3 March 1922, when Stokowski included it in a Philadelphia Orchestra programme. Goossens was also responsible for introducing The Rite to Australia on 23 August 1946 at the Sydney Town Hall, as guest conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. +Stravinsky first conducted the work in 1926, in a concert given by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam; two years later he brought it to the Salle Pleyel in Paris for two performances under his baton. Of these occasions he later wrote that "thanks to the experience I had gained with all kinds of orchestras ... I had reached a point where I could obtain exactly what I wanted, as I wanted it". Commentators have broadly agreed that the work has had a greater impact in the concert hall than it has on the stage; many of Stravinsky's revisions to the music were made with the concert hall rather than the theatre in mind. The work has become a staple in the repertoires of all the leading orchestras, and has been cited by Leonard Bernstein as "the most important piece of music of the 20th century". +In 1963, 50 years after the premiere, Monteux (then aged 88) agreed to conduct a commemorative performance at London's Royal Albert Hall. According to Isaiah Berlin, a close friend of the composer, Stravinsky informed him that he had no intention of hearing his music being "murdered by that frightful butcher". Instead he arranged tickets for that particular evening's performance of Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro, at Covent Garden. Under pressure from his friends, Stravinsky was persuaded to leave the opera after the first act. He arrived at the Albert Hall just as the performance of The Rite was ending; composer and conductor shared a warm embrace in front of the unaware, wildly cheering audience. Monteux's biographer John Canarina provides a different slant on this occasion, recording that by the end of the evening Stravinsky had asserted that "Monteux, almost alone among conductors, never cheapened Rite or looked for his own glory in it, and he continued to play it all his life with the greatest fidelity". + + +== Music == + + +=== General character === +Commentators have often described The Rite's music in vivid terms; Paul Rosenfeld, in 1920, wrote of it "pound[ing] with the rhythm of engines, whirls and spirals like screws and fly-wheels, grinds and shrieks like laboring metal". In a more recent analysis, The New York Times critic Donal Henahan refers to "great crunching, snarling chords from the brass and thundering thumps from the timpani". The composer Julius Harrison acknowledged the uniqueness of the work negatively: it demonstrated Stravinsky's "abhorrence of everything for which music has stood these many centuries ... all human endeavour and progress are being swept aside to make room for hideous sounds". +In The Firebird, Stravinsky had begun to experiment with bitonality (the use of two different keys simultaneously). He took this technique further in Petrushka, but reserved its full effect for The Rite where, as the analyst E.W. White explains, he "pushed [it] to its logical conclusion". White also observes the music's complex metrical character, with combinations of duple and triple time in which a strong irregular beat is emphasised by powerful percussion. The music critic Alex Ross has described the irregular process whereby Stravinsky adapted and absorbed traditional Russian folk material into the score. He "proceeded to pulverize them into motivic bits, pile them up in layers, and reassemble them in cubistic collages and montages". +The duration of the work is about 35 minutes. + + +=== Instrumentation === +The score calls for a large orchestra consisting of the following instruments: + +Despite the large orchestra, much of the score is written chamber-fashion, with individual instruments and small groups having distinct roles. + + +=== Part I: The Adoration of the Earth === + +The opening melody is played by a solo bassoon in a very high register, which renders the instrument almost unidentifiable; gradually other woodwind instruments are sounded and are eventually joined by strings. The sound builds up before stopping suddenly, Hill says, "just as it is bursting ecstatically into bloom". There is then a reiteration of the opening bassoon solo, now played a semitone lower. + +The first dance, "Augurs of Spring", is characterised by a repetitive stamping chord in the horns and strings, based on E♭ dominant 7 superimposed on an F♭ major triad, i.e. F♭, A♭, and C♭. White suggests that this bitonal combination, which Stravinsky considered the focal point of the entire work, was devised on the piano, since the constituent chords are comfortable fits for the hands on a keyboard. The rhythm of the stamping is disturbed by Stravinsky's constant shifting of the accent, on and off the beat, before the dance ends in a collapse, as if from exhaustion. Alex Ross has summed up the pattern (italics = rhythmic accents) as follows: + +According to Roger Nichols "At first sight there seems no pattern in the distribution of accents to the stamping chords. Taking the initial quaver of bar 1 as a natural accent we have for the first outburst the following groups of quavers: 9, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 3. However, these apparently random numbers make sense when split into two groups: + +Clearly the top line is decreasing, the bottom line increasing, and by respectively decreasing and increasing amounts ...Whether Stravinsky worked them out like this we shall probably never know. But the way two different rhythmic 'orders' interfere with each other to produce apparent chaos is... a typically Stravinskyan notion." +The "Ritual of Abduction" which follows is described by Hill as "the most terrifying of musical hunts". It concludes in a series of flute trills that usher in the "Spring Rounds", in which a slow and laborious theme gradually rises to a dissonant fortissimo, a "ghastly caricature" of the episode's main tune. + +Brass and percussion predominate as the "Ritual of the Rival Tribes" begins. A tune emerges on tenor and bass tubas, leading after much repetition to the entry of the Sage's procession. The music then comes to a virtual halt, "bleached free of colour" (Hill), as the Sage blesses the earth. The "Dance of the Earth" then begins, bringing Part I to a close in a series of phrases of the utmost vigour which are abruptly terminated in what Hill describes as a "blunt, brutal amputation". + + +=== Part II: The Sacrifice === + +Part II has a greater cohesion than its predecessor. Hill describes the music as following an arc stretching from the beginning of the Introduction to the conclusion of the final dance. Woodwind and muted trumpets are prominent throughout the Introduction, which ends with a number of rising cadences on strings and flutes. The transition into the "Mystic Circles" is almost imperceptible; the main theme of the section has been prefigured in the Introduction. A loud repeated chord, which Berger likens to a call to order, announces the moment for choosing the sacrificial victim. The "Glorification of the Chosen One" is brief and violent; in the "Evocation of the Ancestors" that follows, short phrases are interspersed with drum rolls. The "Ritual Action of the Ancestors" begins quietly, but slowly builds to a series of climaxes before subsiding suddenly into the quiet phrases that began the episode. + +The final transition introduces the "Sacrificial Dance". This is written as a more disciplined ritual than the extravagant dance that ended Part I, though it contains some wild moments, with the large percussion section of the orchestra given full voice. Stravinsky had difficulties with this section, especially with the final bars that conclude the work. The abrupt ending displeased several critics, one of whom wrote that the music "suddenly falls over on its side". Stravinsky himself referred to the final chord disparagingly as "a noise", but in his various attempts to amend or rewrite the section, was unable to produce a more acceptable solution. + + +== Influence and adaptations == +The music historian Donald Jay Grout has written: "The Sacre is undoubtedly the most famous composition of the early 20th century ... it had the effect of an explosion that so scattered the elements of musical language that they could never again be put together as before". The academic and critic Jan Smaczny, echoing Bernstein, calls it one of the 20th century's most influential compositions, providing "endless stimulation for performers and listeners". Taruskin writes that "one of the marks of The Rite's unique status is the number of books that have been devoted to it—certainly a greater number than have been devoted to any other ballet, possibly to any other individual musical composition ..." According to Kelly the 1913 premiere might be considered "the most important single moment in the history of 20th-century music", and its repercussions continue to reverberate in the 21st century. Ross has described The Rite as a prophetic work, presaging the "second avant-garde" era in classical composition—music of the body rather than of the mind, in which "[m]elodies would follow the patterns of speech; rhythms would match the energy of dance ... sonorities would have the hardness of life as it is really lived". The work is regarded as among the first examples of modernism in music. +Among 20th-century composers most influenced by The Rite is Stravinsky's near contemporary, Edgard Varèse, who had attended the 1913 premiere. Varèse, according to Ross, was particularly drawn to the "cruel harmonies and stimulating rhythms" of The Rite, which he employed to full effect in his concert work Amériques (1921), scored for a massive orchestra with added sound effects including a lion's roar and a wailing siren. Aaron Copland, to whom Stravinsky was a particular inspiration in the former's student days, considered The Rite a masterpiece that had created "the decade of the displaced accent and the polytonal chord". Copland adopted Stravinsky's technique of composing in small sections which he then shuffled and rearranged, rather than working through from beginning to end. Ross cites the music of Copland's ballet Billy the Kid as coming directly from the "Spring Rounds" section of The Rite. For Olivier Messiaen The Rite was of special significance; he constantly analysed and expounded on the work, which gave him an enduring model for rhythmic drive and assembly of material. Stravinsky was sceptical about over-intellectual analysis of the work. "The man has found reasons for every note and that the clarinet line in page 3 is the inverted counterpoint of the horn in page 19. I never thought about that", he allegedly replied to Michel Legrand when asked about Pierre Boulez's take on the matter. +After the premiere the writer Léon Vallas opined that Stravinsky had written music 30 years ahead of its time, suitable to be heard in 1940. Coincidentally, it was in that year that Walt Disney released Fantasia, an animated feature film using music from The Rite and other classical compositions, conducted by Stokowski. The Rite segment of the film depicted the Earth's prehistory, with the creation of life, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs as the finale. Among those impressed by the film was Gunther Schuller, later a composer, conductor and jazz scholar. The Rite of Spring sequence, he says, overwhelmed him and determined his future career in music: "I hope [Stravinsky] appreciated that hundreds—perhaps thousands—of musicians were turned onto The Rite of Spring ... through Fantasia, musicians who might otherwise never have heard the work, or at least not until many years later". In later life Stravinsky claimed distaste for the adaptation, though as Ross remarks, he said nothing critical at the time; according to Ross, the composer Paul Hindemith observed that "Igor appears to love it". + + +== Recordings == + +Before the first gramophone disc recordings of The Rite were issued in 1929, Stravinsky had helped to produce a pianola version of the work for the London branch of the Aeolian Company. He also created a much more comprehensive arrangement for the Pleyela, manufactured by the French piano company Pleyel, with whom he signed two contracts in April and May 1921, under which many of his early works were reproduced on this medium. The Pleyela version of The Rite of Spring was issued in 1921; the British pianolist Rex Lawson first recorded the work in this form in 1990. +In 1929 Stravinsky and Monteux vied with each other to conduct the first orchestral gramophone recording of The Rite. While Stravinsky led L'Orchestre des Concerts Straram in a recording for the Columbia label, at the same time Monteux was recording it for the HMV label. Stokowski's version followed in 1930. Stravinsky made two more recordings, in 1940 and 1960. According to the critic Edward Greenfield, Stravinsky was not technically a great conductor but, Greenfield says, in the 1960 recording with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra the composer inspired a performance with "extraordinary thrust and resilience". In conversations with Robert Craft, Stravinsky reviewed several recordings of The Rite made in the 1960s. He thought Herbert von Karajan's 1963 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, was good, but "the performance is ... too polished, a pet savage rather than a real one". Stravinsky thought that Pierre Boulez, with the Orchestre National de France (1963), was "less good than I had hoped ... very bad tempi and some tasteless alterations". He praised a 1962 recording by The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra for making the music sound Russian, "which is just right", but Stravinsky's concluding judgement was that none of these three performances was worth preserving. +As of 2013 there were well over 100 different recordings of The Rite commercially available, and many more held in library sound archives. It has become one of the most recorded of all 20th century musical works. + + +== Editions == + +The first published score was the four-hand piano arrangement (Edition Russe de Musique, RV196), dated 1913. Publication of the full orchestral score was prevented by the outbreak of war in August 1914. After the revival of the work in 1920 Stravinsky, who had not heard the music for seven years, made numerous revisions to the score, which was finally published in 1921 (Edition Russe de Musique, RV 197/197b. large and pocket scores). +In 1922 Ansermet, who was preparing to perform the work in Berlin, sent to Stravinsky a list of errors he had found in the published score. In 1926, as part of his preparation for that year's performance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Stravinsky rewrote the "Evocation of the Ancestors" section and made substantial changes to the "Sacrificial Dance". The extent of these revisions, together with Ansermet's recommendations, convinced Stravinsky that a new edition was necessary, and this appeared in large and pocket form in 1929. It did not, however, incorporate all of Ansermet's amendments and, confusingly, bore the date and RV code of the 1921 edition, making the new edition hard to identify. +Stravinsky continued to revise the work, and in 1943 rewrote the "Sacrificial Dance". In 1948 Boosey & Hawkes issued a corrected version of the 1929 score (B&H 16333), although Stravinsky's substantial 1943 amendment of the "Sacrificial Dance" was not incorporated into the new version and remained unperformed, to the composer's disappointment. He considered it "much easier to play ... and superior in balance and sonority" to the earlier versions. A less musical motive for the revisions and corrected editions was copyright law. The composer had left Galaxy Music Corporation (agents for Editions Russe de la Musique, the original publisher) for Associated Music Publishers at the time, and orchestras would be reluctant to pay a second rental charge from two publishers to match the full work and the revised Sacrificial Dance; moreover, the revised dance could only be published in America. The 1948 score provided copyright protection to the work in America, where it had lapsed, but Boosey (who acquired the Editions Russe catalogue) did not have the rights to the revised finale. +The 1929 score as revised in 1948 forms the basis of most modern performances of The Rite. Boosey & Hawkes reissued their 1948 edition in 1965, and produced a newly engraved edition (B&H 19441) in 1967. The firm also issued an unmodified reprint of the 1913 piano reduction in 1952 (B&H 17271) and a revised piano version, incorporating the 1929 revisions, in 1967. +The Paul Sacher Foundation, in association with Boosey & Hawkes, announced in May 2013, as part of The Rite's centenary celebrations, their intention to publish the 1913 autograph score, as used in early performances. After being kept in Russia for decades, the autograph score was acquired by Boosey & Hawkes in 1947. The firm presented the score to Stravinsky in 1962, on his 80th birthday. After the composer's death in 1971 the manuscript was acquired by the Paul Sacher Foundation. As well as the autograph score, they have published the manuscript piano four-hands score. +In 2000, Kalmus Music Publishers brought out an edition where former Philadelphia Orchestra librarian Clint Nieweg made over 21,000 corrections to the score and parts. Since then a published errata list added some 310 more corrections. Then in 2021, Serenissima Music published a newer Nieweg edition, incorporating 2,200 more corrections based on Stravinsky's autograph manuscript score, superseding the older 2000 edition. + + +== Notes and references == + + +=== Notes === + + +=== Citations === + + +=== Sources === + + +== Further reading == +Hodson, Millicent (1996). Nijinsky's Crime Against Grace: Reconstruction of the Original Choreography for Le Sacre du printemps. Pendragon Press. + + +== External links == + +Le Sacre du Printemps, Stravinsky's autograph manuscript +Performance of Stravinsky's four-hand piano arrangement of The Rite of Spring by Jonathan Biss and Jeremy Denk from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format +The Rite of Spring: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +The Rite of Spring: 'The work of a madman' by Tom Service, The Guardian, 13 February 2013 +BBC Proms 2011 Stravinsky's Rite of Spring diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/27_messiah_handel.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/27_messiah_handel.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0318f75 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/27_messiah_handel.txt @@ -0,0 +1,163 @@ +Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. +Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of Italian opera. He turned to English oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public taste; Messiah was his sixth work in this genre. Although its structure resembles that of opera, it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on Jesus as the Messiah called Christ. The text begins in Part I with prophecies by Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds, the only "scene" taken from the Gospels. In Part II, Handel concentrates on the Passion of Jesus and ends with the Hallelujah chorus. In Part III, he covers Paul's teachings on the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in heaven. +Handel wrote Messiah for modest vocal and instrumental forces, with optional alternative settings for many of the individual numbers. In the years after his death, the work was adapted for performance on a much larger scale, with giant orchestras and choirs numbering up to 800 performers. Efforts to update its orchestration began with Mozart's Der Messias. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the trend has been towards reproducing a greater fidelity to Handel's original intentions, although "big Messiah" productions continue to be mounted. A near-complete version was issued on 78 rpm discs in 1928; since then the work has been recorded many times. +The autograph manuscript of the oratorio is preserved in the British Library. + + +== Background == +The composer George Frideric Handel, born in Halle in Brandenburg-Prussia (modern Germany) in 1685, took up permanent residence in London in 1712, and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. By 1741 his pre-eminence in British music was evident from the honours he had accumulated, including a pension from the court of King George II, the office of Composer of Musick for the Chapel Royal, and—most unusually for a living person—a statue erected in his honour in Vauxhall Gardens. Within a large and varied musical output, Handel was a vigorous champion of Italian opera, which he had introduced to London in 1711 with Rinaldo. He subsequently wrote and presented more than 40 such operas in London's theatres. + +By the early 1730s public taste for Italian opera was beginning to fade. The popular success of John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch's The Beggar's Opera (first performed in 1728) had heralded a spate of English-language ballad-operas that mocked the pretensions of Italian opera. With box-office receipts falling, Handel's productions were increasingly reliant on private subsidies from the nobility. Such funding became harder to obtain after the launch in 1730 of the Opera of the Nobility, a rival company to his own. Handel overcame this challenge, but he spent large sums of his own money in doing so. +Although prospects for Italian opera were declining, Handel remained committed to the genre, but as alternatives to his staged works he began to introduce English-language oratorios. In Rome in 1707–08 he had written two Italian oratorios at a time when opera performances in the city were temporarily forbidden under papal decree. His first venture into English oratorio had been Esther, which was written and performed for a private patron in about 1718. In 1732 Handel brought a revised and expanded version of Esther to the King's Theatre, Haymarket, where members of the royal family attended a glittering premiere on 6 May. Its success encouraged Handel to write two more oratorios (Deborah and Athalia). All three oratorios were performed to large and appreciative audiences at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford in mid-1733. Undergraduates reportedly sold their furniture to raise the money for the five-shilling tickets. +In 1735 Handel received the text for a new oratorio named Saul from its librettist Charles Jennens, a wealthy landowner with musical and literary interests. Because Handel's main creative concern was still with opera, he did not write the music for Saul until 1738, in preparation for his 1738–39 theatrical season. The work, after opening at the King's Theatre in January 1739 to a warm reception, was quickly followed by the less successful oratorio Israel in Egypt (which may also have come from Jennens). Although Handel continued to write operas, the trend towards English-language productions became irresistible as the decade ended. After three performances of his last Italian opera Deidamia in January and February 1741, he abandoned the genre. In July 1741 Jennens sent him a new libretto for an oratorio; in a letter dated 10 July to his friend Edward Holdsworth, Jennens wrote: "I hope [Handel] will lay out his whole Genius & Skill upon it, that the Composition may excell all his former Compositions, as the Subject excells every other subject. The Subject is Messiah". + + +== Synopsis == + +In Christian theology, the Messiah is the saviour of humankind. The Messiah (Māšîaḥ) is an Old Testament Hebrew word meaning "the Anointed One", which in New Testament Greek is Christ, a title given to Jesus of Nazareth, known by his followers as "Jesus Christ". Handel's Messiah has been described by the early-music scholar Richard Luckett as "a commentary on [Jesus Christ's] Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension", beginning with God's promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in heaven. In contrast with most of Handel's oratorios, the singers in Messiah do not assume dramatic roles; there is no single, dominant narrative voice; and very little use is made of quoted speech. In his libretto, Jennens's intention was not to dramatise the life and teachings of Jesus, but to acclaim the "Mystery of Godliness", using a compilation of extracts from the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible, and from the Psalms included in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. +The three-part structure of the work approximates to that of Handel's three-act operas, with the "parts" subdivided by Jennens into "scenes". Each scene is a collection of individual numbers or "movements" which take the form of recitatives, arias and choruses. There are two instrumental numbers, the opening Sinfony in the style of a French overture, and the pastoral Pifa, often called the "pastoral symphony", at the mid-point of Part I. +In Part I, the Messiah's coming and the virgin birth are predicted by the Old Testament prophets. The annunciation to the shepherds of the birth of the Christ is represented in the words of Luke's gospel. Part II covers Christ's passion and his death, his resurrection and ascension, the first spreading of the gospel through the world, and a definitive statement of God's glory summarised in the Hallelujah. Part III begins with the promise of redemption, followed by a prediction of the day of judgment and the "general resurrection", ending with the final victory over sin and death and the acclamation of Christ. According to the musicologist Donald Burrows, much of the text is so allusive as to be largely incomprehensible to those ignorant of the biblical accounts. For the benefit of his audiences Jennens printed and issued a pamphlet explaining the reasons for his choices of scriptural selections. + + +== Writing history == + + +=== Libretto === + +Charles Jennens was born around 1700, into a prosperous landowning family whose lands and properties in Warwickshire and Leicestershire he eventually inherited. His religious and political views—he opposed the Act of Settlement of 1701 which secured the accession to the British throne for the House of Hanover—prevented him from receiving his degree from Balliol College, Oxford, or from pursuing any form of public career. His family's wealth enabled him to live a life of leisure while devoting himself to his literary and musical interests. Although musicologist Watkins Shaw dismisses Jennens as "a conceited figure of no special ability", Burrows has written: "of Jennens's musical literacy there can be no doubt". He was certainly devoted to Handel's music, having helped to finance the publication of every Handel score since Rodelinda in 1725. By 1741, after their collaboration on Saul, a warm friendship had developed between the two, and Handel was a frequent visitor to the Jennens family estate at Gopsall. +Jennens's letter to Holdsworth of 10 July 1741, in which he first mentions Messiah, suggests that the text was a recent work, probably assembled earlier that summer. As a devout Anglican and believer in scriptural authority, Jennens intended to challenge advocates of Deism, who rejected the doctrine of divine intervention in human affairs. Shaw describes the text as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief", and despite his reservations on Jennens's character, concedes that the finished wordbook "amounts to little short of a work of genius". There is no evidence that Handel played any active role in the selection or preparation of the text, such as he did in the case of Saul; it seems, rather, that he saw no need to make any significant amendment to Jennens's work. + + +=== Composition === +The music for Messiah was completed in 24 days of swift composition. Having received Jennens's text some time after 10 July 1741, Handel began work on it on 22 August. His records show that he had completed Part I in outline by 28 August, Part II by 6 September and Part III by 12 September, followed by two days of "filling up" to produce the finished work on 14 September. This rapid pace was seen by Jennens not as a sign of ecstatic energy but rather as "careless negligence", and the relations between the two men would remain strained, since Jennens "urged Handel to make improvements" while the composer stubbornly refused. The autograph score's 259 pages show some signs of haste such as blots, scratchings-out, unfilled bars and other uncorrected errors, but according to the music scholar Richard Luckett the number of errors is remarkably small in a document of this length. The original manuscript for Messiah is now held in the British Library's music collection. It is scored for two trumpets, timpani, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo. +At the end of his manuscript Handel wrote the letters "SDG"—Soli Deo Gloria, "To God alone the glory". This inscription, taken with the speed of composition, has encouraged belief in the apocryphal story that Handel wrote the music in a fervour of divine inspiration in which, as he wrote the Hallelujah chorus, "He saw all heaven before him". Burrows points out that many of Handel's operas of comparable length and structure to Messiah were composed within similar timescales between theatrical seasons. The effort of writing so much music in so short a time was not unusual for Handel and his contemporaries; Handel commenced his next oratorio, Samson, within a week of finishing Messiah, and completed his draft of this new work in a month. In accordance with his practice when writing new works, Handel adapted existing compositions for use in Messiah, in this case drawing on two recently completed Italian duets and one written twenty years previously. Thus, Se tu non lasci amore HWV 193 from 1722 became the basis of "O Death, where is thy sting?"; "His yoke is easy" and "And he shall purify" were drawn from Quel fior che all'alba ride HWV 192 (July 1741), "For unto us a child is born" and "All we like sheep" from Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi HWV 189 (July 1741). Handel's instrumentation in the score is often imprecise, again in line with contemporary convention, where the use of certain instruments and combinations was assumed and did not need to be written down by the composer; later copyists would fill in the details. +Before the first performance Handel made numerous revisions to his manuscript score, in part to match the forces available for the 1742 Dublin premiere; it is probable that his work was not performed as originally conceived in his lifetime. Between 1742 and 1754 he continued to revise and recompose individual movements, sometimes to suit the requirements of particular singers. The first published score of Messiah was issued in 1767, eight years after Handel's death, though this was based on relatively early manuscripts and included none of Handel's later revisions. + + +== Premières == + + +=== Dublin, 1742 === + +Handel's decision to give a season of concerts in Dublin in the winter of 1741–42 arose from an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire, then serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A violinist friend of Handel's, Matthew Dubourg, was in Dublin as the Lord Lieutenant's bandmaster; he would look after the tour's orchestral requirements. Whether Handel originally intended to perform Messiah in Dublin is uncertain; he did not inform Jennens of any such plan, for the latter wrote to Holdsworth on 2 December 1741: "…it was some mortification to me to hear that instead of performing Messiah here he has gone into Ireland with it." After arriving in Dublin on 18 November 1741, Handel arranged a subscription series of six concerts, to be held between December 1741 and February 1742 at the Great Music Hall, Fishamble Street. The venue had been built in 1741 specifically to accommodate concerts for the benefit of The Charitable and Musical Society for the Release of Imprisoned Debtors, a charity for whom Handel had agreed to perform one benefit performance. These concerts were so popular that a second series was quickly arranged; Messiah figured in neither series. +In early March Handel began discussions with the appropriate committees for a charity concert, to be given in April, at which he intended to present Messiah. He sought and was given permission from St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals to use their choirs for this occasion. These forces amounted to sixteen men and sixteen boy choristers; several of the men were allocated solo parts. The women soloists were Christina Maria Avoglio, who had sung the main soprano roles in the two subscription series, and Susannah Cibber, an established stage actress and contralto who had sung in the second series. To accommodate Cibber's vocal range, the recitative "Then shall the eyes of the blind" and the aria "He shall feed his flock" were transposed down to F major. The performance, also in the Fishamble Street hall, was originally announced for 12 April, but was deferred for a day "at the request of persons of Distinction". The orchestra in Dublin comprised strings, two trumpets, and timpani; the number of players is unknown. Handel had his own organ shipped to Ireland for the performances; a harpsichord was probably also used. +The three charities that were to benefit were prisoners' debt relief, the Mercer's Hospital, and the Charitable Infirmary. In its report on a public rehearsal, the Dublin News-Letter described the oratorio as "…far surpass[ing] anything of that Nature which has been performed in this or any other Kingdom". Seven hundred people attended the premiere on 13 April. So that the largest possible audience could be admitted to the concert, gentlemen were requested to remove their swords, and ladies were asked not to wear hoops in their dresses. The performance earned unanimous praise from the assembled press: "Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight it afforded to the admiring and crouded Audience". A Dublin clergyman, Rev. Delaney, was so overcome by Susanna Cibber's rendering of "He was despised" that reportedly he leapt to his feet and cried: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!" The takings amounted to around £400, providing about £127 to each of the three nominated charities and securing the release of 142 indebted prisoners. +Handel remained in Dublin for four months after the première. He organised a second performance of Messiah on 3 June, which was announced as "the last Performance of Mr Handel's during his Stay in this Kingdom". In this second Messiah, which was for Handel's private financial benefit, Cibber reprised her role from the first performance, though Avoglio may have been replaced by a Mrs Maclaine; details of other performers are not recorded. + + +=== London, 1743–59 === +The warm reception accorded to Messiah in Dublin was not repeated in London. Indeed, even the announcement of the performance as a "new Sacred Oratorio" drew an anonymous commentator to ask if "the Playhouse is a fit Temple to perform it". Handel introduced the work at the Covent Garden theatre on 23 March 1743. Avoglio and Cibber were again the chief soloists; they were joined by the tenor John Beard, a veteran of Handel's operas, the bass Thomas Rheinhold and two other sopranos, Kitty Clive and Miss Edwards. The first performance was overshadowed by views expressed in the press that the work's subject matter was too exalted to be performed in a theatre, particularly by secular singer-actresses such as Cibber and Clive. In an attempt to deflect such sensibilities, in London Handel had avoided the name Messiah and presented the work as the "New Sacred Oratorio". As was his custom, Handel rearranged the music to suit his singers. He wrote a new setting of "And lo, the angel of the Lord" for Clive, never used subsequently. He added a tenor song for Beard: "Their sound is gone out", which had appeared in Jennens's original libretto but had not been in the Dublin performances. + +The custom of standing for the Hallelujah chorus originates from a popular belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand. There is no convincing evidence that the king was present, or that he attended any subsequent performance of Messiah; the first reference to the practice of standing appears in a letter dated 1756, three years prior to Handel's death. +London's initially cool reception of Messiah led Handel to reduce the season's planned six performances to three, and not to present the work at all in 1744—to the considerable annoyance of Jennens, whose relations with the composer temporarily soured. At Jennens's request, Handel made several changes in the music for the 1745 revival: "Their sound is gone out" became a choral piece, the soprano song "Rejoice greatly" was recomposed in shortened form, and the transpositions for Cibber's voice were restored to their original soprano range. Jennens wrote to Holdsworth on 30 August 1745: "[Handel] has made a fine Entertainment of it, though not near so good as he might & ought to have done. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grosser faults in the composition…" Handel directed two performances at Covent Garden in 1745, on 9 and 11 April, and then set the work aside for four years. + +The 1749 revival at Covent Garden, under the proper title of Messiah, saw the appearance of two female soloists who were henceforth closely associated with Handel's music: Giulia Frasi and Caterina Galli. In the following year these were joined by the male alto Gaetano Guadagni, for whom Handel composed new versions of "But who may abide" and "Thou art gone up on high". The year 1750 also saw the institution of the annual charity performances of Messiah at London's Foundling Hospital, which continued until Handel's death and beyond. The 1754 performance at the hospital is the first for which full details of the orchestral and vocal forces survive. The orchestra included fifteen violins, five violas, three cellos, two double basses, four bassoons, four oboes, two trumpets, two horns and drums. In the chorus of nineteen were six trebles from the Chapel Royal; the remainder, all men, were altos, tenors and basses. Frasi, Galli and Beard led the five soloists, who were required to assist the chorus. For this performance the transposed Guadagni arias were restored to the soprano voice. By 1754 Handel was severely afflicted by the onset of blindness, and in 1755 he turned over the direction of the Messiah hospital performance to his pupil, J. C. Smith. He apparently resumed his duties in 1757 and may have continued thereafter. The final performance of the work at which Handel was present was at Covent Garden on 6 April 1759, eight days before his death. + + +== Later performance history == + + +=== 18th century === + +During the 1750s Messiah was performed increasingly at festivals and cathedrals throughout the country. Individual choruses and arias were occasionally extracted for use as anthems or motets in church services, or as concert pieces, a practice that grew in the 19th century and has continued ever since. After Handel's death, performances were given in Florence (1768), New York (excerpts, 1770), Hamburg (1772), and Mannheim (1777), where Mozart first heard it. For the performances in Handel's lifetime and in the decades following his death, the musical forces used in the Foundling Hospital performance of 1754 are thought by Burrows to be typical. A fashion for large-scale performances began in 1784, in a series of commemorative concerts of Handel's music given in Westminster Abbey under the patronage of King George III. A plaque on the Abbey wall records that "The Band consisting of DXXV [525] vocal & instrumental performers was conducted by Joah Bates Esqr." In a 1955 article, Sir Malcolm Sargent, a proponent of large-scale performances, wrote, "Mr Bates ... had known Handel well and respected his wishes. The orchestra employed was two hundred and fifty strong, including twelve horns, twelve trumpets, six trombones and three pairs of timpani (some made especially large)." In 1787 further performances were given at the Abbey; advertisements promised, "The Band will consist of Eight Hundred Performers". +In continental Europe, performances of Messiah were departing from Handel's practices in a different way: his score was being drastically reorchestrated to suit contemporary tastes. In 1786, Johann Adam Hiller presented Messiah with updated scoring in Berlin Cathedral. In 1788 Hiller presented a performance of his revision with a choir of 259 and an orchestra of 87 strings, 10 bassoons, 11 oboes, 8 flutes, 8 horns, 4 clarinets, 4 trombones, 7 trumpets, timpani, harpsichord and organ. In 1789, Mozart was commissioned by Baron Gottfried van Swieten and the Gesellschaft der Associierten to re-orchestrate several works by Handel, including Messiah (Der Messias). Writing for a small-scale performance, he eliminated the organ continuo, added parts for flutes, clarinets, trombones and horns, recomposed some passages and rearranged others. The performance took place on 6 March 1789 in the rooms of Count Johann Esterházy, with four soloists and a choir of 12. Mozart's arrangement, with minor amendments from Hiller, was published in 1803, after his death. The musical scholar Moritz Hauptmann described the Mozart additions as "stucco ornaments on a marble temple". Mozart himself was reportedly circumspect about his changes, insisting that any alterations to Handel's score should not be interpreted as an effort to improve the music. Elements of this version later became familiar to British audiences, incorporated into editions of the score by editors including Ebenezer Prout. + + +=== 19th century === + +In the 19th century, approaches to Handel in German- and English-speaking countries diverged further. In Leipzig in 1856, the musicologist Friedrich Chrysander and the literary historian Georg Gottfried Gervinus founded the Deutsche Händel-Gesellschaft with the aim of publishing authentic editions of all Handel's works. At the same time, performances in Britain and the United States moved away from Handel's performance practice with increasingly grandiose renditions. Messiah was presented in New York in 1853 with a chorus of 300 and in Boston in 1865 with more than 600. In Britain a "Great Handel Festival" was held at the Crystal Palace in 1857, performing Messiah and other Handel oratorios, with a chorus of 2,000 singers and an orchestra of 500. +In the 1860s and 1870s ever larger forces were assembled. Bernard Shaw, in his role as a music critic, commented, "The stale wonderment which the great chorus never fails to elicit has already been exhausted"; he later wrote, "Why, instead of wasting huge sums on the multitudinous dullness of a Handel Festival does not somebody set up a thoroughly rehearsed and exhaustively studied performance of the Messiah in St James's Hall with a chorus of twenty capable artists? Most of us would be glad to hear the work seriously performed once before we die." The employment of huge forces necessitated considerable augmentation of the orchestral parts. Many admirers of Handel believed that the composer would have made such additions, had the appropriate instruments been available in his day. Shaw argued, largely unheeded, that "the composer may be spared from his friends, and the function of writing or selecting 'additional orchestral accompaniments' exercised with due discretion." +One reason for the popularity of huge-scale performances was the ubiquity of amateur choral societies. The conductor Sir Thomas Beecham wrote that for 200 years the chorus was "the national medium of musical utterance" in Britain. However, after the heyday of Victorian choral societies, he noted a "rapid and violent reaction against monumental performances ... an appeal from several quarters that Handel should be played and heard as in the days between 1700 and 1750". At the end of the century, Sir Frederick Bridge and T. W. Bourne pioneered revivals of Messiah in Handel's orchestration, and Bourne's work was the basis for further scholarly versions in the early 20th century. + + +=== 20th century and beyond === + +Although the huge-scale oratorio tradition was perpetuated by such large ensembles as the Royal Choral Society, the Tabernacle Choir and the Huddersfield Choral Society in the 20th century, there were increasing calls for performances more faithful to Handel's conception. At the turn of the century, The Musical Times wrote of the "additional accompaniments" of Mozart and others, "Is it not time that some of these 'hangers on' of Handel's score were sent about their business?" In 1902, Prout produced a new edition of the score, working from Handel's original manuscripts rather than from corrupt printed versions with errors accumulated from one edition to another. However, Prout started from the assumption that a faithful reproduction of Handel's original score would not be practical: + +[T]he attempts made from time to time by our musical societies to give Handel's music as he meant it to be given must, however earnest the intention, and however careful the preparation, be foredoomed to failure from the very nature of the case. With our large choral societies, additional accompaniments of some kind are a necessity for an effective performance; and the question is not so much whether, as how they are to be written. +Prout continued the practice of adding flutes, clarinets and trombones to Handel's orchestration, but he restored Handel's high trumpet parts, which Mozart had omitted (evidently because playing them was a lost art by 1789). There was little dissent from Prout's approach, and when Chrysander's scholarly edition was published in the same year, it was received respectfully as "a volume for the study" rather than a performing edition, being an edited reproduction of various of Handel's manuscript versions. An authentic performance was thought impossible: The Musical Times correspondent wrote, "Handel's orchestral instruments were all (excepting the trumpet) of a coarser quality than those at present in use; his harpsichords are gone for ever ... the places in which he performed the 'Messiah' were mere drawing-rooms when compared with the Albert Hall, the Queen's Hall and the Crystal Palace. In Australia, The Register protested at the prospect of performances by "trumpery little church choirs of 20 voices or so". +In Germany, Messiah was not so often performed as in Britain; when it was given, medium-sized forces were the norm. At the Handel Festival held in 1922 in Handel's native town, Halle, his choral works were given by a choir of 163 and an orchestra of 64. In Britain, innovative broadcasting and recording contributed to reconsideration of Handelian performance. For example, in 1928, Beecham conducted a recording of Messiah with modestly sized forces and controversially brisk tempi, although the orchestration remained far from authentic. In 1934 and 1935, the BBC broadcast performances of Messiah conducted by Adrian Boult with "a faithful adherence to Handel's clear scoring." A performance with authentic scoring was given in Worcester Cathedral as part of the Three Choirs Festival in 1935. In 1950 John Tobin conducted a performance of Messiah in St Paul's Cathedral with the orchestral forces specified by the composer, a choir of 60, a countertenor alto soloist, and modest attempts at vocal elaboration of the printed notes, in the manner of Handel's day. The Prout version sung with many voices remained popular with British choral societies, but at the same time increasingly frequent performances were given by small professional ensembles in suitably sized venues, using authentic scoring. Recordings on LP and CD were preponderantly of the latter type, and the large scale Messiah came to seem old-fashioned. + +The cause of authentic performance was advanced in 1965 by the publication of a new edition of the score, edited by Watkins Shaw. In the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, David Scott writes, "the edition at first aroused suspicion on account of its attempts in several directions to break the crust of convention surrounding the work in the British Isles." By the time of Shaw's death in 1996, The Times described his edition as "now in universal use". +Messiah remains Handel's best-known work, with performances particularly popular during the Advent season; writing in December 1993, the music critic Alex Ross refers to that month's 21 performances in New York alone as "numbing repetition". Against the general trend towards authenticity, the work has been staged in opera houses, both in London (2009) and in Paris (2011). The Mozart score is revived from time to time, and in Anglophone countries "singalong" performances with many hundreds of performers are popular. Although performances striving for authenticity are now usual, it is generally agreed that there can never be a definitive version of Messiah; the surviving manuscripts contain radically different settings of many numbers, and vocal and instrumental ornamentation of the written notes is a matter of personal judgment, even for the most historically informed performers. The Handel scholar Winton Dean has written: + +[T]here is still plenty for scholars to fight over, and more than ever for conductors to decide for themselves. Indeed if they are not prepared to grapple with the problems presented by the score they ought not to conduct it. This applies not only to the choice of versions, but to every aspect of baroque practice, and of course there are often no final answers. + + +== Music == + + +=== Organisation and numbering of movements === + +The numbering of the movements shown here is in accordance with the Novello vocal score (1959), edited by Watkins Shaw, which adapts the numbering earlier devised by Ebenezer Prout. Other editions count the movements slightly differently; the Bärenreiter edition of 1965, for example, does not number the recitatives and runs from 1 to 47. The division into parts and scenes is based upon the 1743 word-book prepared for the first London performance. The scene headings are given as Burrows summarised the scene headings by Jennens. + + +=== Overview === + +Handel's music for Messiah is distinguished from most of his other oratorios by an orchestral restraint—a quality which the musicologist Percy M. Young observes was not adopted by Mozart and other later arrangers of the music. The work begins quietly, with instrumental and solo movements preceding the first appearance of the chorus, whose entry in the low alto register is muted. A particular aspect of Handel's restraint is his limited use of trumpets throughout the work. After their introduction in the Part I chorus "Glory to God", apart from the solo in "The trumpet shall sound" they are heard only in Hallelujah and the final chorus "Worthy is the Lamb". It is this rarity, says Young, that makes these brass interpolations particularly effective: "Increase them and the thrill is diminished". In "Glory to God", Handel marked the entry of the trumpets as da lontano e un poco piano, meaning "quietly, from afar"; his original intention had been to place the brass offstage (in disparte) at this point, to highlight the effect of distance. In this initial appearance the trumpets lack the expected drum accompaniment, "a deliberate withholding of effect, leaving something in reserve for Parts II and III" according to Luckett. +Although Messiah is not in any particular key, Handel's tonal scheme has been summarised by the musicologist Anthony Hicks as "an aspiration towards D major", the key musically associated with light and glory. As the oratorio moves forward with various shifts in key to reflect changes in mood, D major emerges at significant points, primarily the "trumpet" movements with their uplifting messages. It is the key in which the work reaches its triumphant ending. In the absence of a predominant key, other integrating elements have been proposed. For example, the musicologist Rudolf Steglich has suggested that Handel used the device of the "ascending fourth" as a unifying motif; this device most noticeably occurs in the first two notes of "I know that my Redeemer liveth" and on numerous other occasions. Nevertheless, Luckett finds this thesis implausible, and asserts that "the unity of Messiah is a consequence of nothing more arcane than the quality of Handel's attention to his text, and the consistency of his musical imagination". Allan Kozinn, The New York Times music critic, finds "a model marriage of music and text ... From the gentle falling melody assigned to the opening words ("Comfort ye") to the sheer ebullience of the Hallelujah chorus and the ornate celebratory counterpoint that supports the closing "Amen", hardly a line of text goes by that Handel does not amplify". + + +=== Part I === + +The opening Sinfony is composed in E minor for strings, and is Handel's first use in oratorio of the French overture form. Jennens commented that the Sinfony contains "passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more unworthy of the Messiah"; Handel's early biographer Charles Burney merely found it "dry and uninteresting". A change of key to E major leads to the first prophecy, delivered by the tenor whose vocal line in the opening recitative "Comfort ye" is entirely independent of the strings accompaniment. The music proceeds through various key changes as the prophecies unfold, culminating in the G major chorus "For unto us a child is born", in which the choral exclamations (which include an ascending fourth in "the Mighty God") are imposed on material drawn from Handel's Italian cantata Nò, di voi non-vo'fidarmi. Such passages, says the music historian Donald Jay Grout, "reveal Handel the dramatist, the unerring master of dramatic effect". +The pastoral interlude that follows begins with the short instrumental movement, the Pifa, which takes its name from the shepherd-bagpipers, or pifferari, who played their pipes in the streets of Rome at Christmas time. Handel wrote the movement in both 11-bar and extended 32-bar forms; according to Burrows, either will work in performance. The group of four short recitatives which follow it introduce the soprano soloist—although often the earlier aria "But who may abide" is sung by the soprano in its transposed G minor form. The final recitative of this section is in D major and heralds the affirmative chorus "Glory to God". The remainder of Part I is largely carried by the soprano in B-flat, in what Burrows terms a rare instance of tonal stability. The aria "He shall feed his flock" underwent several transformations by Handel, appearing at different times as a recitative, an alto aria and a duet for alto and soprano before the original soprano version was restored in 1754. The appropriateness of the Italian source material for the setting of the solemn concluding chorus "His yoke is easy" has been questioned by the music scholar Sedley Taylor, who calls it "a piece of word-painting ... grievously out of place", though he concedes that the four-part choral conclusion is a stroke of genius that combines beauty with dignity. + + +=== Part II === + +The second Part begins in G minor, a key which, in Christopher Hogwood's phrase, brings a mood of "tragic presentiment" to the long sequence of Passion numbers which follows. The declamatory opening chorus "Behold the Lamb of God", in fugal form, is followed by the alto solo "He was despised" in E-flat major, the longest single item in the oratorio, in which some phrases are sung unaccompanied to emphasise Christ's abandonment. Luckett records Burney's description of this number as "the highest idea of excellence in pathetic expression of any English song". The subsequent series of mainly short choral movements cover Christ's Passion, Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection, at first in F minor, with a brief F major respite in "All we like sheep". Here, Handel's use of Nò, di voi non-vo'fidarmi has Sedley Taylor's unqualified approval: "[Handel] bids the voices enter in solemn canonical sequence, and his chorus ends with a combination of grandeur and depth of feeling such as is at the command of consummate genius only". +The sense of desolation returns, in what Hogwood calls the "remote and barbarous" key of B-flat minor, for the tenor recitative "All they that see him". The sombre sequence finally ends with the Ascension chorus "Lift up your heads", which Handel initially divides between two choral groups, the altos serving both as the bass line to a soprano choir and the treble line to the tenors and basses. For the 1754 Foundling Hospital performance Handel added two horns, which join in when the chorus unites towards the end of the number. After the celebratory tone of Christ's reception into heaven, marked by the choir's D major acclamation "Let all the angels of God worship him", the "Whitsun" section proceeds through a series of contrasting moods—serene and pastoral in "How beautiful are the feet", theatrically operatic in "Why do the nations so furiously rage"—towards the Part II culmination of Hallelujah. + +The Hallelujah chorus, as Young points out, is not the climactic chorus of the work, although one cannot escape its "contagious enthusiasm". It builds from a deceptively light orchestral opening, through a short, unison cantus firmus passage on the words "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (the theme based on the fugue theme from Corelli's "Fuga a Quattro Voci"), to the reappearance of the long-silent trumpets at "And He shall reign for ever and ever". Commentators have noted that the musical line for this third subject is based on "Wachet auf", Philipp Nicolai's popular Lutheran chorale. + + +=== Part III === + +The opening soprano solo in E major, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" is one of the few numbers in the oratorio that has remained unrevised from its original form. Its simple unison violin accompaniment and its consoling rhythms apparently brought tears to Burney's eyes. It is followed by a quiet chorus that leads to the bass's declamation in D major: "Behold, I tell you a mystery", then the long aria "The trumpet shall sound", marked pomposo ma non-allegro ("dignified but not fast"). Handel originally wrote this in da capo form, but shortened it to dal segno, probably before the first performance. The extended, characteristic trumpet tune that precedes and accompanies the voice is the only significant instrumental solo in the entire oratorio. Handel's awkward, repeated stressing of the fourth syllable of "incorruptible" may have been the source of the 18th-century poet William Shenstone's comment that he "could observe some parts in Messiah wherein Handel's judgements failed him; where the music was not equal, or was even opposite, to what the words required". After a brief solo recitative, the alto is joined by the tenor for the only duet in Handel's final version of the music, "O death, where is thy sting?" The melody is adapted from Handel's 1722 cantata Se tu non-lasci amore, and is in Luckett's view the most successful of the Italian borrowings. The duet runs straight into the chorus "But thanks be to God". +The reflective soprano solo "If God be for us" (originally written for alto) quotes Luther's chorale Aus tiefer Not. It ushers in the D major choral finale: "Worthy is the Lamb", leading to the apocalyptic "Amen" in which, says Hogwood, "the entry of the trumpets marks the final storming of heaven". Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring, wrote in 1760 that this conclusion revealed the composer "rising still higher" than in "that vast effort of genius, the Hallelujah chorus". Young writes that the "Amen" should, in the manner of Palestrina, "be delivered as though through the aisles and ambulatories of some great church". + + +== Recordings == +Many early recordings of individual choruses and arias from Messiah reflect the performance styles then fashionable—large forces, slow tempi and liberal reorchestration. Typical examples are choruses conducted by Sir Henry Wood, recorded in 1926 for Columbia with the 3,500-strong choir and orchestra of the Crystal Palace Handel Festival, and a contemporary rival disc from His Master's Voice (HMV) featuring the Royal Choral Society under Sargent, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. +The first near-complete recording of the whole work (with the cuts then customary) was conducted by Beecham in 1928. It represented an effort by Beecham to "provide an interpretation which, in his opinion, was nearer the composer's intentions", with smaller forces and faster tempi than had become traditional. His contralto soloist, Muriel Brunskill, later commented, "His tempi, which are now taken for granted, were revolutionary; he entirely revitalised it". Nevertheless, Sargent retained the large-scale tradition in his four HMV recordings, the first in 1946 and three more in the 1950s and 1960s, all with the Huddersfield Choral Society and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Beecham's second recording of the work, in 1947, "led the way towards more truly Handelian rhythms and speeds", according to the critic Alan Blyth. In a 1991 study of all 76 complete Messiahs recorded by that date, the writer Teri Noel Towe called this version of Beecham's "one of a handful of truly stellar performances". +In 1954 the first recording based on Handel's original scoring was conducted by Hermann Scherchen for Nixa, quickly followed by a version, judged scholarly at the time, under Sir Adrian Boult for Decca. By the standards of 21st-century performance, however, Scherchen's and Boult's tempi were still slow, and there was no attempt at vocal ornamentation by the soloists. In 1966 and 1967 two new recordings were regarded as great advances in scholarship and performance practice, conducted respectively by Colin Davis for Philips and Charles Mackerras for His Master's Voice. They inaugurated a new tradition of brisk, small-scale performances, with vocal embellishments by the solo singers. A 1967 performance of Messiah by the Ambrosian Singers conducted by John McCarthy accompanying the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Charles Mackerras was nominated for a Grammy Award. Among recordings of older-style performances are Beecham's 1959 recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with orchestration commissioned from Sir Eugene Goossens and completed by the English composer Leonard Salzedo, Karl Richter's 1973 version for Deutsche Grammophon, and David Willcocks's 1995 performance based on Prout's 1902 edition of the score, with a 325-voice choir and 90-piece orchestra. +By the end of the 1970s the quest for authenticity had extended to the use of period instruments and historically correct styles of playing them. The first of such versions were conducted by the early music specialists Christopher Hogwood (1979) and John Eliot Gardiner (1982). The use of period instruments quickly became the norm on record, although some conductors, among them Sir Georg Solti (1985) and Sir Andrew Davis (1989) continued to favour modern instruments. Gramophone magazine and The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music highlighted two versions, conducted respectively by Trevor Pinnock (1988) and Richard Hickox (1992). The latter employs a chorus of 24 singers and an orchestra of 31 players; Handel is known to have used a chorus of 19 and an orchestra of 37. Performances on an even smaller scale have followed. +Several reconstructions of early performances have been recorded: the 1742 Dublin version by Scherchen in 1954, and again in 1959, and by Jean-Claude Malgoire in 1980. In 1976, the London version of 1743 was recorded by Neville Marriner for Decca. It featured different music, alternative versions of numbers and different orchestration. There are several recordings of the 1754 Foundling Hospital version, including those under Hogwood (1979), Andrew Parrott (1989), and Paul McCreesh. In 1973 David Willcocks conducted a set for His Master's Voice in which all the soprano arias were sung in unison by the boys of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, and in 1974, for Deutsche Grammophon, Mackerras conducted a set of Mozart's reorchestrated version, sung in German. + + +== Editions == +The first published score of 1767, together with Handel's documented adaptations and recompositions of various movements, has been the basis for many performing versions since the composer's lifetime. Modern performances which seek authenticity tend to be based on one of three 20th-century performing editions. These all use different methods of numbering movements: + +The Novello Edition, edited by Watkins Shaw, first published as a vocal score in 1959, revised and issued 1965. This uses the numbering first used in the Prout edition of 1902. +The Bärenreiter Edition, edited by John Tobin, published in 1965, which forms the basis of the Messiah numbering in Bernd Baselt's catalogue (HWV) of Handel's works, published in 1984. +The Peters Edition, edited by Donald Burrows, vocal score published 1972, which uses an adaptation of the numbering devised by Kurt Soldan. +The Van Camp Edition, edited by Leonard Van Camp, published by Roger Dean Publishing, 1993 rev. 1995 (now Lorenz pub.). +The Oxford University Press edition by Clifford Bartlett, 1998. +The Carus-Verlag Edition, edited by Ton Koopman and Jan H. Siemons, published in 2009 (using the HWV numbering). +The edition edited by Chrysander and Max Seiffert for the Deutsche Händel-Gesellschaft (Berlin, 1902) is not a general performing edition, but has been used as a basis of scholarship and research. +In addition to Mozart's well-known reorchestration, arrangements for larger orchestral forces exist by Goossens and Andrew Davis; both have been recorded at least once, on the RCA and Chandos labels respectively. + + +== Notes == + + +== References == + + +=== Citations === + + +=== Sources === + + +== Further reading == +King, Charles (December 2024). Every Valley: The Story of Handel's Messiah. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-1847928450. + + +== External links == + +Messiah: Handel's autograph manuscript in the British Library +Messiah (Handel): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project +Handel's Messiah at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics +Der Messias, ed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K. 572: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/28_carmina_burana_orff.txt b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/28_carmina_burana_orff.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c812b21 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/28_carmina_burana_orff.txt @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ +Carmina Burana is a cantata composed in 1935 and 1936 by Carl Orff, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. Its full Latin title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis ("Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magical images"). It was first performed by the Oper Frankfurt on 8 June 1937. It is part of Trionfi, a musical triptych that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. The first and last sections of the piece are called "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" ("Fortune, Empress of the World") and start with "O Fortuna". +The autograph manuscript of the work is preserved in the Bavarian State Library, and was issued in a facsimile edition by Schott Music. + + +== Text == + +In 1934, Orff encountered the 1847 edition of the Carmina Burana by Johann Andreas Schmeller, the original text dating mostly from the 11th or 12th century, including some from the 13th century. Michel Hofmann was a young law student and an enthusiast of Latin and Greek; he assisted Orff in the selection and organization of 24 of these poems into a libretto mostly in secular Latin verse, with a small amount of Middle High German and Old French. The selection covers a wide range of topics, as familiar in the 13th century as they are in the 21st century: the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of spring and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust. + + +== Structure == +Carmina Burana is structured into five major sections, containing 25 movements in total, including one repeated movement (O Fortuna) and one purely instrumental one (Tanz). Orff indicates attacca markings between all the movements within each scene. + +Much of the compositional structure is based on the idea of the turning Fortuna Wheel. The drawing of the wheel found on the first page of the Burana Codex includes four phrases around the outside of the wheel: + +Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno.(I shall reign, I reign, I have reigned, I am without a realm). +Within each scene, and sometimes within a single movement, the wheel of fortune turns, joy turning to bitterness, and hope turning to grief. "O Fortuna", the first poem in the Schmeller edition, completes this circle, forming a compositional frame for the work through being both the opening and closing movements. + + +== Staging == + +Orff subscribed to a dramatic concept called "Theatrum Mundi" in which music, movement, and speech were inseparable. Babcock writes that "Orff's artistic formula limited the music in that every musical moment was to be connected with an action on stage. It is here that modern performances of Carmina Burana fall short of Orff's intentions." Orff subtitled Carmina Burana a "scenic cantata" in his intention to stage the work with dance, choreography, visual design and other stage action; the piece is now usually performed in concert halls as a cantata. +John Butler was the first of several choreographers to tackle the score. His Carmina Burana was premiered by the New York City Opera on 24 September 1959, featuring Carmen de Lavallade, Veronika Mlakar, Scott Douglass, and Glen Tetley. It has since been performed by numerous companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet West, and Richmond Ballet and is now considered a canonical modern-ballet work. +A danced version of Carmina Burana was choreographed by Loyce Houlton for the Minnesota Dance Theatre in 1978. In honour of Orff's 80th birthday, an acted and choreographed film version was filmed, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for the German broadcaster ZDF; Orff collaborated in its production. +Kent Stowell choreographed the work for Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. It premiered on 5 October 1993, with scenic design by Ming Cho Lee. +Carmina Burana was used in the collaboration program between Mao Daichi, Japanese actress and former top star of the famed all-female troupe Takarazuka Revue, and Yuzuru Hanyu, Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic champion. The program was part of the annual ensemble ice show Yuzuru Hanyu Notte Stellata, an event that commemorates the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.The first half of the choreography, where Hanyu skates alone, was choreographed by the Canadian ice dancer and choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne, and the second part, where Hanyu battles against the ‘goddess of fate’ played by Daichi, was choreographed by the Japanese musical theatre choreographer Rino Masaki. Through the performance, Hanyu wanted to convey “a strong message that even though we may feel the pain of disasters that are beyond our control, we must accept them and move on.” + + +== Musical style == + +Orff's style demonstrates a desire for directness of speech and of access. Carmina Burana contains little or no development in the classical sense, and polyphony is also conspicuously absent. Carmina Burana avoids overt harmonic complexities, a fact which many musicians and critics have pointed out, such as Ann Powers of The New York Times. +Orff was influenced melodically by late Renaissance and early Baroque models including William Byrd and Claudio Monteverdi. It is a common misconception that Orff based the melodies of Carmina Burana on neumeatic melodies; while many of the lyrics in the Burana Codex are enhanced with neumes, almost none of these melodies had been deciphered at the time of Orff's composition, and none of them had served Orff as a melodic model. His shimmering orchestration shows a deference to Stravinsky. In particular, Orff's music is very reminiscent of Stravinsky's earlier work Les noces (The Wedding). +Rhythm, for Orff as it was for Stravinsky, is often the primary musical element. Overall, Carmina Burana sounds rhythmically straightforward and simple, but the metre changes freely from one measure to the next. While the rhythmic arc in a section is taken as a whole, a measure of five may be followed by one of seven, to one of four, and so on, often with caesura marked between them. +Some of the solo arias pose bold challenges for singers: the only solo tenor aria, Olim lacus colueram, is often sung almost completely in falsetto to demonstrate the suffering of the character (in this case, a roasting swan). The baritone arias often demand high notes not commonly found in baritone repertoire, and parts of the baritone aria Dies nox et omnia are often sung in falsetto, a rare example in baritone repertoire. Also noted is the solo soprano aria Dulcissime, which demands extremely high notes. Orff intended this aria for a lyric soprano, not a coloratura, so that the musical tensions would be more obvious. + + +== Instrumentation == +Carmina Burana is scored for a large orchestra consisting of: + + +== Reception == +Carmina Burana was first staged by the Oper Frankfurt on 8 June 1937 under conductor Bertil Wetzelsberger (1892–1967) with the Cäcilienchor Frankfurt, staging by Oskar Wälterlin and sets and costumes by Ludwig Sievert. Shortly after the greatly successful premiere, Orff said to his publisher, Schott Music: "Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin." +The first American performance was on 10 January 1954, by the University of San Francisco's Scholar Cantorum, at the city's Opera House. +Several performances were repeated elsewhere in Germany. The Nazi regime was at first nervous about the erotic tone of some of the poems but eventually embraced the piece. It became the most famous piece of music composed in Germany at the time. The popularity of the work continued to rise after the war, and by the 1960s Carmina Burana was well established as part of the international classic repertoire. The piece was voted number 62 at the Classic 100 Ten Years On, in the top ten of the Classic 100 Voice, and is at number 144 of the 2020 Classic FM Hall of Fame. +Alex Ross wrote that "the music itself commits no sins simply by being and remaining popular. That Carmina Burana has appeared in hundreds of films and television commercials is proof that it contains no diabolical message, indeed that it contains no message whatsoever." + + +=== Subsequent arrangements === +The popularity of the work has ensured the creation of many additional arrangements for a variety of performing forces. +In 1956, Orff's disciple Wilhelm Killmayer created a reduced version for soloists, SATB mixed choir, children's choir, two pianos and six percussion (timpani + 5), and was authorized by Orff. The score has short solos for three tenors, baritone and two basses. This version is to allow smaller ensembles the opportunity to perform the piece. +John Krance's concert band transcription was published in 1968. +An arrangement for wind ensemble was prepared by Juan Vicente Mas Quiles (born 1921), who wanted both to give wind bands a chance to perform the work and to facilitate performances in cities that have a high-quality choral union and wind band, but lack a symphony orchestra. A performance of this arrangement was recorded by the North Texas Wind Symphony under Eugene Corporon. In writing this transcription, Mas Quiles maintained the original chorus, percussion, and piano parts. +Carmina Burana became popular in Greece through its use at the beginning and end of Andreas Papandreou's election speeches from the 1974 legislative election to those of the 1993 legislative election. +The Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps included sections from Orff's Carmina Burana in their 2025 show, The Point of No Return. + + +== Notable recordings == +Eugen Jochum (conductor) with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Chorus (Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks), Munich, Germany, with choir master Josef Kugler, with Elfriede Trötschel (soprano), Paul Kuën (tenor), Hans Braun (baritone), recorded October 1952, released in 1953 and then in 1957 as part of Trionfi (reissued in 2012 on Major Classics, 3CD, M2CD016, 5 060294 540168) +Wolfgang Sawallisch with the Cologne Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra (Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester), Agnes Giebel (soprano), Paul Kuen (tenor), and Marcel Cordes (baritone). Recorded in stereo in 1956 at West German radio in Cologne, released on LP in 1957 by Capitol in mono, reissued by EMI in stereo (duration 59:10) — Supervised by Orff (who can be heard applauding at the end of the last track), this was the first recording he called "authorized version". +Leopold Stokowski with the Houston Symphony, Guy Gardner, Virginia Babikian, Clyde Hager, the Houston Chorale and the Houston Youth Symphony Boys Choir. Released 1959 Capitol Records +Herbert Kegel with the MDR Rundfunkchor, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and Jutta Vulpius, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, Kurt Hübenthal and Kurt Rehm. Recorded and released 1960 (VEB Deutsche Schallplatten). +Eugene Ormandy, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Rutgers University Choir, Recorded and released, 1960, reissued, 1987 CBS Masterworks Records +Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos with the New Philharmonia Orchestra, the New Philharmonia Chorus (chorus master: Wilhelm Pitz), Wandsworth School Boys' Choir, John Noble, Raymond Wolansky, Lucia Popp, EMI Classics, 1966. +Kurt Prestel (1915–1988) with Chor & Orchester des Mozarteum Salzburg, Gerda Hartman (born 1943), Richard Brünner (1913–1994), Rudolf Knoll (1926–2007), Intercord, 1969 +Eugen Jochum with the choir and orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Gundula Janowitz, Gerhard Stolze, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Recorded October 1967 in Berlin's Ufa-Studio, released 1968 (Deutsche Grammophon). This version was also endorsed by Orff himself and was the first choice of the BBC Radio 3 CD Review "Building a Library" review in 1995. +Seiji Ozawa with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Children's Chorus Of The New England Conservatory, New England Conservatory Chorus, Evelyn Mandac, Stanley Kolk, Sherrill Milnes, RCA, 1970. +Ferdinand Leitner with the Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie Orchester, the Kölner Rundfunkchor led by Herbert Shernus, and the Tölzer Knabenchor, led by Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, was "Carl Orff's authorized recording"; Ruth-Margret Pütz (soprano), Michael Cousins (tenor), Barry McDaniel (baritone), Roland Hermann (bass). Released 1973 by Acanta and as part of seven CD set "Carl Orff Collection" (Acanta, 1992) and on Arts Archives (2003). +Kurt Eichhorn with the Munich Radio Orchestra and Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Tölzer Knabenchor; Lucia Popp, John van Kesteren, Hermann Prey; film directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for ZDF; recorded July 1973, released 1974 on Eurodisc; CD reissues on BMG in 1984 and 1995. Both the film adaptation and recording were endorsed by Orff himself (Orff also collaborated on the film in honour of his 80th birthday) +Michael Tilson Thomas with the Cleveland Orchestra, Chorus and Boys Choir; Judith Blegen, Kenneth Riegel and Peter Binder; recorded 1974, released 1975 CBS Records (quadrophonic); CD re-release 1990 MK 33172 CBS Records Masterworks. This recording was used in Michael Smuin's 1997 ballet Carmina Burana, choreographed for Smuin Ballet. +André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra, with Sheila Armstrong, Gerald English, Thomas Allen, St Clement Danes Grammar School Boys' Choir, London Symphony Chorus. Recorded 25–27 November 1974, Kingsway Hall, first issued on LP October 1975. First recommendation in Penguin Record Guide 2nd edition. +Riccardo Muti with Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus and Arleen Auger, John van Kesteren and Jonathan Summers. Recorded 1979 (EMI), featured in the top three of BBC Radio 3's review and is also recommended by Classics Today. +Robert Shaw with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and Atlanta Boy Choir; Judith Blegen, William Brown, and Håkan Hagegård; recorded 1981, released 1983 by Telarc. +Ray Manzarek, keyboard player for the Doors, produced by Philip Glass and Kurt Munkacsi. Arrangements by Ray Manzarek. Carmina Burana, released 1983 on A&M Records. +James Levine with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and June Anderson, Philip Creech, and Bernd Weikl. Recorded 1984 (Deutsche Grammophon). This version won the 1987 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. +New York Choral Society accompanied by Jeffrey Reid Baker using synthesizers. A 1988 recording. +Herbert Blomstedt with the San Francisco Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, led by Vance George, won the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 1992. The recording was released by Decca on October 11, 1991. +Seiji Ozawa with the Berlin Philharmonic and Shin-Yu Kai Chorus; Kathleen Battle, Frank Lopardo and Thomas Allen; 1990 Philips DVD video. +John Williams with the Boston Pops at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. +Charles Dutoit with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Saint Lawrence Choir soloists Beverly Hoch, Stanford Olsen, Mark Oswald. 1997, Decca 028945529028. +Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic and Berlin Radio Choir; Sally Matthews, Lawrence Brownlee and Christian Gerhaher; 2005 EMI Classics. +Leonard Slatkin with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, RCA 09026 61673–2, featured in the top three of BBC Radio 3's review +Christian Thielemann with the choir and orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Knabenchor Berlin. Released 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon; named "Editor's Choice" by Gramophone +Jos Van Immerseel with Anima Eterna Brugge, Collegium Vocale Gent, and Cantate Domino; Yeree Suh, Yves Saelens and Thomas Bauer; 2014 Zigzag. + + +== References == + +Sources + +Kater, Michael H. (2000). "Carl Orff: Man of Legend". Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509924-9. +Taruskin, Richard (2005). The Oxford History of Western Music. Vol. 4 "The Early Twentieth Century". Oxford: Oxford University Press. +Various authors (eds.): Carl Orff und sein Werk. Dokumentation, 8 vols., Schneider, Tutzing 1975–1983, ISBN 3-7952-0154-3, ISBN 3-7952-0162-4, ISBN 3-7952-0202-7, ISBN 3-7952-0257-4, ISBN 3-7952-0294-9, ISBN 3-7952-0308-2, ISBN 3-7952-0308-2, ISBN 3-7952-0373-2 + + +== Further reading == +Babcock, Jonathan. "Carl Orff's Carmina Burana: A Fresh Approach to the Work's Performance Practice". Choral Journal 45, no. 11 (May 2006): 26–40. +Fassone, Alberto: "Carl Orff", in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, London: Macmillan 2001. +Lo, Kii-Ming, "Sehen, Hören und Begreifen: Jean-Pierre Ponnelles Verfilmung der Carmina Burana von Carl Orff", in: Thomas Rösch (ed.), Text, Musik, Szene – Das Musiktheater von Carl Orff, Mainz etc. (Schott) 2015, pp. 147–173. +Steinberg, Michael. "Carl Orff: Carmina Burana". Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 230–242. +Werner Thomas: Das Rad der Fortuna – Ausgewählte Aufsätze zu Werk und Wirkung Carl Orffs, Schott, Mainz 1990, ISBN 3-7957-0209-7. + + +== External links == + +"Ave Formosissima", "O Fortuna" on YouTube, Coro Sinfônico Comunitário da Universidade de Brasília +Text, original and translated in English, as it appears in Orff's libretto +Program notes on Carmina Burana Archived 2023-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, 28 March 2004, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia +"The Lasting Appeal of Orff's Carmina Burana", sound files and transcription at NPR +Full lyrics to Carmina Burana +"Carl Orff: Carmina Burana" (complete performance, 1:11 hours), University Chorus and Alumni Chorus, UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Boychoir at the Mondavi Center (4 June 2006) +"The Story of the Carmina Burana", Radio Netherlands Archives, 19 December 2004 +Leitner: Carmina Burana at Discogs +[1], Carl Orff's Carmina Burana with WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln in conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, in 75th anniversary concert in WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/data/sources.json b/assignments/daexvk/data/sources.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7dd44b --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/data/sources.json @@ -0,0 +1,180 @@ +{ + "description": "Raw Wikipedia text extracts for week3 RAG corpus. 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(Wikipedia text)", + "api_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=json&prop=extracts%7Cinfo&explaintext=1&redirects=1&inprop=url&titles=Cello+Concerto+%28Elgar%29" + }, + { + "file": "raw/24_la_mer_debussy.txt", + "title": "La mer (Debussy)", + "source_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mer_(Debussy)", + "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0 / GFDL (Wikipedia text)" + }, + { + "file": "raw/25_bolero.txt", + "title": "Boléro", + "source_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro", + "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0 / GFDL (Wikipedia text)", + "api_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=json&prop=extracts%7Cinfo&explaintext=1&redirects=1&inprop=url&titles=Bol%C3%A9ro" + }, + { + "file": "raw/26_the_rite_of_spring.txt", + "title": "The Rite of Spring", + "source_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring", + "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0 / GFDL (Wikipedia text)" + }, + { + "file": "raw/27_messiah_handel.txt", + "title": "Messiah (Handel)", + "source_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)", + "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0 / GFDL (Wikipedia text)", + "api_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=json&prop=extracts%7Cinfo&explaintext=1&redirects=1&inprop=url&titles=Messiah+%28Handel%29" + }, + { + "file": "raw/28_carmina_burana_orff.txt", + "title": "Carmina Burana (Orff)", + "source_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Burana_(Orff)", + "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0 / GFDL (Wikipedia text)", + "api_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=json&prop=extracts%7Cinfo&explaintext=1&redirects=1&inprop=url&titles=Carmina+Burana+%28Orff%29" + } + ] +} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/week3/README.md b/assignments/daexvk/week3/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a00b728 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/week3/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +# Week 3 RAG Assignment + +클래식 공연 예습 도메인의 원문 RAG 파이프라인입니다. + +## 요구사항 반영 + +- Loader: `assignments/daexvk/data/raw/*.txt` 원문 로드 +- Splitter: 2개 전략 비교 + - `recursive_character` + - `token` whitespace token splitter +- Embedding: HuggingFace `sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2` 우선 사용 + - 로컬에 `sentence_transformers`가 없으면 같은 인터페이스의 `sklearn` TF-IDF fallback 사용 +- Store: FAISS +- Retrieve: `similarity_search` +- 2-step RAG: `retrieve` 후 `generate_answer` +- 답변에는 근거 문서 파일명과 chunk 정보를 포함 + +## 실행 + +```bash +source /Users/nozerose/Documents/GitHub/rag-agent-study/.venv/bin/activate +python -m py_compile rag_pipeline.py +``` + +노트북은 `week3_mission.ipynb`입니다. diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/week3/rag_pipeline.py b/assignments/daexvk/week3/rag_pipeline.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3354ca8 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/week3/rag_pipeline.py @@ -0,0 +1,371 @@ +import os +from dataclasses import dataclass +from pathlib import Path +from typing import Iterable, Literal + +from dotenv import load_dotenv +from langchain.chat_models import init_chat_model +from langchain_community.vectorstores import FAISS +from langchain_core.documents import Document +from langchain_core.embeddings import Embeddings +from langchain_text_splitters import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter +from sklearn.feature_extraction.text import TfidfVectorizer + +PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[3] +DATA_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "data" / "raw" +DEFAULT_HF_MODEL = "sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2" + + +def load_project_env() -> None: + load_dotenv(PROJECT_ROOT / ".env", override=False) + os.environ.setdefault("LANGSMITH_TRACING", "false") + os.environ.setdefault("LANGSMITH_TRACING_V2", "false") + + +@dataclass +class RagIndex: + strategy: str + documents: list[Document] + chunks: list[Document] + embeddings: Embeddings + vectorstore: FAISS + + +class SentenceTransformerEmbeddings(Embeddings): + """HuggingFace sentence-transformers embedding wrapper. + + Used when sentence_transformers is installed and the model is available. + """ + + def __init__(self, model_name: str = DEFAULT_HF_MODEL): + from sentence_transformers import SentenceTransformer + + self.model_name = model_name + self.model = SentenceTransformer(model_name) + + def embed_documents(self, texts: list[str]) -> list[list[float]]: + vectors = self.model.encode(texts, normalize_embeddings=True, show_progress_bar=False) + return vectors.tolist() + + def embed_query(self, text: str) -> list[float]: + return self.model.encode([text], normalize_embeddings=True, show_progress_bar=False)[0].tolist() + + +class TfidfEmbeddings(Embeddings): + """Local free fallback embedding model with the same index/query interface.""" + + def __init__(self): + self.model_name = "local:sklearn-tfidf" + self.vectorizer = TfidfVectorizer(max_features=8192, ngram_range=(1, 2), lowercase=True) + self._is_fit = False + + def fit(self, texts: list[str]) -> "TfidfEmbeddings": + self.vectorizer.fit(texts) + self._is_fit = True + return self + + def embed_documents(self, texts: list[str]) -> list[list[float]]: + if not self._is_fit: + self.fit(texts) + return self.vectorizer.transform(texts).toarray().astype("float32").tolist() + + def embed_query(self, text: str) -> list[float]: + if not self._is_fit: + raise RuntimeError("TfidfEmbeddings must be fit on documents before querying.") + return self.vectorizer.transform([text]).toarray().astype("float32")[0].tolist() + + +def create_embedding_model(texts: list[str], prefer_huggingface: bool = True) -> Embeddings: + """Use the free HuggingFace model if available; otherwise use local TF-IDF. + + Both indexing and querying use the exact same returned object. + """ + + if prefer_huggingface: + try: + return SentenceTransformerEmbeddings(os.getenv("RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL", DEFAULT_HF_MODEL)) + except Exception as exc: + print(f"HuggingFace embedding unavailable, using TF-IDF fallback: {type(exc).__name__}: {exc}") + + return TfidfEmbeddings().fit(texts) + + +def load_raw_documents(data_dir: Path = DATA_DIR) -> list[Document]: + documents = [] + for path in sorted(data_dir.glob("*.txt")): + text = path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip() + if not text: + continue + title = path.stem[3:].replace("_", " ").title() + documents.append( + Document( + page_content=text, + metadata={ + "source_file": path.name, + "source_path": str(path), + "title": title, + }, + ) + ) + return documents + + +def split_recursive(documents: list[Document], chunk_size: int = 1200, chunk_overlap: int = 180) -> list[Document]: + splitter = RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter( + chunk_size=chunk_size, + chunk_overlap=chunk_overlap, + separators=["\n\n", "\n", ". ", " ", ""], + ) + chunks = [chunk for chunk in splitter.split_documents(documents) if len(chunk.page_content.strip()) >= 180] + return _add_chunk_metadata(chunks, "recursive_character") + + +def split_token(documents: list[Document], chunk_tokens: int = 220, token_overlap: int = 45) -> list[Document]: + """Token-like splitter using whitespace tokens to avoid external tokenizer downloads.""" + + chunks: list[Document] = [] + step = max(1, chunk_tokens - token_overlap) + for doc in documents: + tokens = doc.page_content.split() + for start in range(0, len(tokens), step): + window = tokens[start : start + chunk_tokens] + if not window: + continue + content = " ".join(window) + if len(content.strip()) < 180: + continue + metadata = dict(doc.metadata) + metadata.update({"token_start": start, "token_end": start + len(window)}) + chunks.append(Document(page_content=content, metadata=metadata)) + if start + chunk_tokens >= len(tokens): + break + return _add_chunk_metadata(chunks, "token") + + +def _add_chunk_metadata(chunks: list[Document], strategy: str) -> list[Document]: + for index, chunk in enumerate(chunks): + chunk.metadata = dict(chunk.metadata) + chunk.metadata["strategy"] = strategy + chunk.metadata["chunk_index"] = index + chunk.metadata["source_id"] = f"{chunk.metadata.get('source_file')}#{index}" + return chunks + + +def build_index( + strategy: Literal["recursive", "token"], + documents: list[Document] | None = None, + prefer_huggingface: bool = True, +) -> RagIndex: + if documents is None: + documents = load_raw_documents() + + if strategy == "recursive": + chunks = split_recursive(documents) + elif strategy == "token": + chunks = split_token(documents) + else: + raise ValueError(f"unsupported strategy: {strategy}") + + texts = [chunk.page_content for chunk in chunks] + embeddings = create_embedding_model(texts, prefer_huggingface=prefer_huggingface) + vectorstore = FAISS.from_documents(chunks, embeddings) + return RagIndex(strategy=strategy, documents=documents, chunks=chunks, embeddings=embeddings, vectorstore=vectorstore) + + +QUERY_EXPANSIONS = { + "베토벤 5번": "Symphony No. 5 Beethoven Fate Symphony four note motif movements", + "베토벤 교향곡 5번": "Symphony No. 5 Beethoven Fate Symphony four note motif movements", + "베토벤 9번": "Symphony No. 9 Beethoven Ode to Joy choral symphony", + "베토벤 교향곡 9번": "Symphony No. 9 Beethoven Ode to Joy choral symphony", + "말러 5번": "Symphony No. 5 Mahler Adagietto trumpet funeral march movements", + "말러 교향곡 5번": "Symphony No. 5 Mahler Adagietto trumpet funeral march movements", + "드보르자크 9번": "Symphony No. 9 Dvorak New World Symphony Largo", + "드보르자크 교향곡 9번": "Symphony No. 9 Dvorak New World Symphony Largo", + "클래식": "classical music", + "공연예절": "concert etiquette applause attire mobile phone", + "공연 예절": "concert etiquette applause attire mobile phone", + "박수": "applause clap concert etiquette movement pause", + "복장": "attire dress concert etiquette", + "교향곡": "symphony orchestral work movement", + "협주곡": "concerto soloist orchestra", + "실내악": "chamber music string quartet ensemble", + "소나타": "sonata", + "악장": "movement", + "동기": "motif theme", + "첫 동기": "opening motif four note motif", + "베토벤": "Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven", + "모차르트": "Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart", + "바흐": "Bach Johann Sebastian Bach", + "말러": "Mahler Gustav Mahler", + "드뷔시": "Debussy Claude Debussy", + "차이콥스키": "Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky", + "라흐마니노프": "Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2", + "멘델스존": "Mendelssohn Violin Concerto", + "엘가": "Elgar Cello Concerto", + "비발디": "Vivaldi Four Seasons", + "헨델": "Handel Messiah", + "오르프": "Orff Carmina Burana", + "볼레로": "Bolero Ravel", + "봄의 제전": "The Rite of Spring Stravinsky", + "사계": "The Four Seasons Vivaldi", + "레퀴엠": "Requiem Mozart", + "5번": "No. 5 fifth", + "9번": "No. 9 ninth", +} + + +def expand_query(query: str) -> str: + additions = [] + lowered = query.lower() + for korean, english in QUERY_EXPANSIONS.items(): + if korean.lower() in lowered: + additions.append(english) + if not additions: + return query + return query + " " + " ".join(dict.fromkeys(additions)) + +TARGET_SOURCE_HINTS = { + "베토벤 5": ["symphony_no_5_beethoven"], + "베토벤 교향곡 5": ["symphony_no_5_beethoven"], + "베토벤 9": ["symphony_no_9_beethoven"], + "말러 5": ["symphony_no_5_mahler"], + "말러 교향곡 5": ["symphony_no_5_mahler"], + "드보르자크 9": ["symphony_no_9_dvorak"], + "라흐마니노프": ["piano_concerto_no_2_rachmaninoff"], + "멘델스존": ["violin_concerto_mendelssohn"], + "엘가": ["cello_concerto_elgar"], + "박수": ["concert_etiquette"], + "공연 예절": ["concert_etiquette"], + "교향곡": ["symphony"], + "협주곡": ["concerto"], + "실내악": ["chamber_music"], +} + + +def _target_source_hints(query: str) -> list[str]: + lowered = query.lower() + hints = [] + for key, values in TARGET_SOURCE_HINTS.items(): + if key.lower() in lowered: + hints.extend(values) + return list(dict.fromkeys(hints)) + + +def _is_low_value_reference_chunk(doc: Document) -> bool: + text = doc.page_content.strip().lower() + low_value_prefixes = ( + "== references", "== notes", "== citations", "== sources", "== further reading", + "== bibliography", "== external links", "=== notes", "=== citations", "=== sources", + ) + bibliography_markers = (" doi:", " isbn", " pp.", " vol.", "journal", "quarterly", "bibliography") + if text.startswith(low_value_prefixes): + return True + marker_hits = sum(1 for marker in bibliography_markers if marker in text) + return marker_hits >= 2 + + + +def retrieve(index: RagIndex, query: str, k: int = 4) -> list[Document]: + expanded_query = expand_query(query) + fetch_k = max(24, k * 8) + candidates = index.vectorstore.similarity_search_with_score(expanded_query, k=fetch_k) + hints = _target_source_hints(query) + + reranked = [] + for rank, (doc, score) in enumerate(candidates): + source_file = doc.metadata.get("source_file", "").lower() + adjusted = float(score) + rank * 0.001 + if _is_low_value_reference_chunk(doc): + adjusted += 1.5 + for hint in hints: + if hint in source_file: + adjusted -= 0.8 + reranked.append((adjusted, doc)) + + reranked.sort(key=lambda item: item[0]) + return [doc for _, doc in reranked[:k]] + + +def compare_retrievers(indexes: dict[str, RagIndex], queries: Iterable[str], k: int = 4) -> list[dict]: + rows = [] + for query in queries: + for name, index in indexes.items(): + docs = retrieve(index, query, k=k) + rows.append( + { + "query": query, + "strategy": name, + "top_sources": [doc.metadata.get("source_id") for doc in docs], + "top_titles": [doc.metadata.get("title") for doc in docs], + "chunk_lengths": [len(doc.page_content) for doc in docs], + } + ) + return rows + + +def format_sources(docs: list[Document]) -> str: + lines = [] + for i, doc in enumerate(docs, start=1): + lines.append( + f"[{i}] {doc.metadata.get('source_file')} " + f"chunk={doc.metadata.get('chunk_index')} strategy={doc.metadata.get('strategy')}" + ) + return "\n".join(lines) + + +def format_context(docs: list[Document], max_chars_per_doc: int = 1200) -> str: + blocks = [] + for i, doc in enumerate(docs, start=1): + snippet = doc.page_content[:max_chars_per_doc].replace("\n", " ") + blocks.append(f"[source {i}: {doc.metadata.get('source_id')}]\n{snippet}") + return "\n\n".join(blocks) + + +def generate_answer(question: str, docs: list[Document], use_llm: bool = True) -> str: + """2-step RAG generate step. Falls back to extractive output if LLM is unavailable.""" + + context = format_context(docs) + sources = format_sources(docs) + if use_llm: + try: + load_project_env() + model_name = os.getenv("CLASSICAL_AGENT_MODEL", "openai:gpt-5.4-mini") + model = init_chat_model(model_name) + prompt = f""" +You are a Korean classical-concert prep assistant. +Answer the question using only the retrieved context. +If the context is insufficient, say what is uncertain. +Include a short Korean answer and then cite the source file list. + +Question: +{question} + +Retrieved context: +{context} + +Source files: +{sources} +""".strip() + response = model.invoke(prompt) + return str(response.content) + except Exception as exc: + print(f"LLM generation unavailable, using extractive fallback: {type(exc).__name__}: {exc}") + + snippets = [] + useful_docs = [doc for doc in docs if not _is_low_value_reference_chunk(doc)] or docs + for doc in useful_docs[:3]: + text = doc.page_content.replace("\n", " ")[:550] + snippets.append(f"- {text}") + return ( + f"질문: {question}\n\n" + "검색된 원문 근거에서 바로 확인되는 내용은 아래와 같습니다.\n" + + "\n".join(snippets) + + "\n\n근거 문서:\n" + + sources + ) + + +def rag_answer(index: RagIndex, question: str, k: int = 4, use_llm: bool = True) -> dict: + docs = retrieve(index, question, k=k) + answer = generate_answer(question, docs, use_llm=use_llm) + return {"question": question, "answer": answer, "documents": docs, "sources": format_sources(docs)} diff --git a/assignments/daexvk/week3/week3_mission.ipynb b/assignments/daexvk/week3/week3_mission.ipynb new file mode 100644 index 0000000..465dc96 --- /dev/null +++ b/assignments/daexvk/week3/week3_mission.ipynb @@ -0,0 +1,447 @@ +{ + "cells": [ + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "c174233c", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "# Week 3 - Classical Concert RAG Pipeline\n", + "\n", + "클래식 공연 예습 도메인의 원문 데이터(`assignments/daexvk/data/raw/*.txt`)를 사용해 RAG 파이프라인을 직접 구성합니다.\n", + "\n", + "요구사항 반영:\n", + "\n", + "- Loader -> Splitter -> Embed -> Store -> Retrieve 5단계 직접 구성\n", + "- FAISS vector store 사용\n", + "- 같은 embedding 객체를 indexing/query 양쪽에 사용\n", + "- splitter 전략 2개 비교: `recursive_character`, `token`\n", + "- 비교 쿼리 3개 이상\n", + "- 2-step RAG: retrieve -> generate\n", + "- 답변에 근거 문서 파일 정보 출력\n", + "- 테스트 질문 5개 이상: 사실조회, 종합, 비교, 모호한 질문, 공연 예절\n" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 1, + "id": "2d2ccbb3", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "target_dir: /Users/nozerose/Documents/GitHub/rag-agent-study/assignments/daexvk/week3\n" + ] + } + ], + "source": [ + "from pathlib import Path\n", + "import sys\n", + "\n", + "cwd = Path.cwd()\n", + "candidates = [cwd, cwd / \"assignments\" / \"daexvk\" / \"week3\", cwd / \"week3\"]\n", + "target_dir = next(path for path in candidates if (path / \"rag_pipeline.py\").exists())\n", + "sys.path.insert(0, str(target_dir.resolve()))\n", + "print(\"target_dir:\", target_dir.resolve())" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "450679eb", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "## 1. Loader\n", + "\n", + "`assignments/daexvk/data/raw/*.txt`의 Wikipedia plain text 원문 28개를 로드합니다. `sources.json`은 출처/라이선스 추적용이고, RAG ingest 대상은 raw 텍스트 파일입니다." + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 2, + "id": "8a53352c", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "loaded_documents: 28\n", + "first_source: 01_classical_music.txt\n", + "first_chars: Classical music is a tradition of art music in the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as We\n" + ] + } + ], + "source": [ + "from rag_pipeline import load_raw_documents\n", + "\n", + "documents = load_raw_documents()\n", + "print(\"loaded_documents:\", len(documents))\n", + "print(\"first_source:\", documents[0].metadata[\"source_file\"])\n", + "print(\"first_chars:\", documents[0].page_content[:180].replace(\"\\n\", \" \"))" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "f6aa551b", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "## 2. Splitter 전략 2개\n", + "\n", + "- `recursive_character`: 문단/줄/문장 경계를 우선하는 RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter\n", + "- `token`: 외부 tokenizer 다운로드 없이 동작하는 whitespace token window splitter" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 3, + "id": "41515225", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "recursive_character chunks: 1158\n", + "token chunks: 861\n", + "recursive sample: {'source_file': '01_classical_music.txt', 'source_path': '/Users/nozerose/Documents/GitHub/rag-agent-study/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/01_classical_music.txt', 'title': 'Classical Music', 'strategy': 'recursive_character', 'chunk_index': 0, 'source_id': '01_classical_music.txt#0'}\n", + "token sample: {'source_file': '01_classical_music.txt', 'source_path': '/Users/nozerose/Documents/GitHub/rag-agent-study/assignments/daexvk/data/raw/01_classical_music.txt', 'title': 'Classical Music', 'token_start': 0, 'token_end': 220, 'strategy': 'token', 'chunk_index': 0, 'source_id': '01_classical_music.txt#0'}\n" + ] + } + ], + "source": [ + "from rag_pipeline import split_recursive, split_token\n", + "\n", + "recursive_chunks = split_recursive(documents)\n", + "token_chunks = split_token(documents)\n", + "print(\"recursive_character chunks:\", len(recursive_chunks))\n", + "print(\"token chunks:\", len(token_chunks))\n", + "print(\"recursive sample:\", recursive_chunks[0].metadata)\n", + "print(\"token sample:\", token_chunks[0].metadata)" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "b705d715", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "## 3-5. Embed, Store, Retrieve\n", + "\n", + "임베딩은 HuggingFace `sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2`를 우선 사용하도록 구현했습니다. 현재 로컬 환경에는 `sentence_transformers`가 없어 같은 index/query 인터페이스의 `sklearn` TF-IDF fallback을 사용했습니다. 두 경우 모두 같은 embedding 객체가 store 생성과 query retrieval 양쪽에 사용됩니다." + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 4, + "id": "ce923016", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "recursive strategy: recursive\n", + "recursive embedding: local:sklearn-tfidf\n", + "recursive vectorstore: FAISS\n", + "token strategy: token\n", + "token embedding: local:sklearn-tfidf\n", + "token vectorstore: FAISS\n" + ] + } + ], + "source": [ + "from rag_pipeline import build_index\n", + "\n", + "recursive_index = build_index(\"recursive\", documents, prefer_huggingface=False)\n", + "token_index = build_index(\"token\", documents, prefer_huggingface=False)\n", + "\n", + "print(\"recursive strategy:\", recursive_index.strategy)\n", + "print(\"recursive embedding:\", getattr(recursive_index.embeddings, \"model_name\", type(recursive_index.embeddings).__name__))\n", + "print(\"recursive vectorstore:\", type(recursive_index.vectorstore).__name__)\n", + "print(\"token strategy:\", token_index.strategy)\n", + "print(\"token embedding:\", getattr(token_index.embeddings, \"model_name\", type(token_index.embeddings).__name__))\n", + "print(\"token vectorstore:\", type(token_index.vectorstore).__name__)" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "aabbf5b6", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "## Splitter 비교: 비교 쿼리 3개 이상\n", + "\n", + "같은 원문 corpus와 같은 embedding 방식에서 splitter만 바꿔 top-k 결과를 비교합니다." + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 5, + "id": "8ccaeb11", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "QUERY: 베토벤 5번은 몇 악장이고 첫 동기는 무엇인가?\n", + "STRATEGY: recursive_character\n", + "TOP SOURCES: ['15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt#735', '15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt#756', '15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt#754']\n", + "TOP TITLES: ['Symphony No 5 Beethoven', 'Symphony No 5 Beethoven', 'Symphony No 5 Beethoven']\n", + "CHUNK LENGTHS: [748, 1091, 837]\n", + "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n", + "QUERY: 베토벤 5번은 몇 악장이고 첫 동기는 무엇인가?\n", + "STRATEGY: token\n", + "TOP SOURCES: ['15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt#559', '15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt#558', '15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt#545']\n", + "TOP TITLES: ['Symphony No 5 Beethoven', 'Symphony No 5 Beethoven', 'Symphony No 5 Beethoven']\n", + "CHUNK LENGTHS: [1339, 1424, 1402]\n", + "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n", + "QUERY: 교향곡과 협주곡과 실내악은 어떻게 다른가?\n", + "STRATEGY: recursive_character\n", + "TOP SOURCES: ['06_chamber_music.txt#231', '06_chamber_music.txt#186', '06_chamber_music.txt#185']\n", + "TOP TITLES: ['Chamber Music', 'Chamber Music', 'Chamber Music']\n", + "CHUNK LENGTHS: [942, 514, 987]\n", + "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n", + "QUERY: 교향곡과 협주곡과 실내악은 어떻게 다른가?\n", + "STRATEGY: token\n", + "TOP SOURCES: ['06_chamber_music.txt#135', '06_chamber_music.txt#179', '06_chamber_music.txt#162']\n", + "TOP TITLES: ['Chamber Music', 'Chamber Music', 'Chamber Music']\n", + "CHUNK LENGTHS: [1371, 1481, 1408]\n", + "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n", + "QUERY: 공연장에서 언제 박수를 쳐야 하나?\n", + "STRATEGY: recursive_character\n", + "TOP SOURCES: ['02_concert_etiquette.txt#52', '02_concert_etiquette.txt#55', '02_concert_etiquette.txt#59']\n", + "TOP TITLES: ['Concert Etiquette', 'Concert Etiquette', 'Concert Etiquette']\n", + "CHUNK LENGTHS: [454, 1185, 1069]\n", + "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n", + "QUERY: 공연장에서 언제 박수를 쳐야 하나?\n", + "STRATEGY: token\n", + "TOP SOURCES: ['02_concert_etiquette.txt#39', '02_concert_etiquette.txt#38', '02_concert_etiquette.txt#42']\n", + "TOP TITLES: ['Concert Etiquette', 'Concert Etiquette', 'Concert Etiquette']\n", + "CHUNK LENGTHS: [1426, 1497, 1082]\n", + "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n" + ] + } + ], + "source": [ + "from rag_pipeline import compare_retrievers\n", + "\n", + "comparison_queries = [\n", + " \"베토벤 5번은 몇 악장이고 첫 동기는 무엇인가?\",\n", + " \"교향곡과 협주곡과 실내악은 어떻게 다른가?\",\n", + " \"공연장에서 언제 박수를 쳐야 하나?\",\n", + "]\n", + "comparison_rows = compare_retrievers(\n", + " {\"recursive_character\": recursive_index, \"token\": token_index},\n", + " comparison_queries,\n", + " k=3,\n", + ")\n", + "for row in comparison_rows:\n", + " print(\"QUERY:\", row[\"query\"])\n", + " print(\"STRATEGY:\", row[\"strategy\"])\n", + " print(\"TOP SOURCES:\", row[\"top_sources\"])\n", + " print(\"TOP TITLES:\", row[\"top_titles\"])\n", + " print(\"CHUNK LENGTHS:\", row[\"chunk_lengths\"])\n", + " print(\"-\" * 80)" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "2bf4f4dd", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "### 비교 해석\n", + "\n", + "- 두 전략 모두 같은 질의에서 같은 주제 파일을 찾지만 chunk 크기와 경계가 다릅니다.\n", + "- `recursive_character`는 문단 경계를 유지해 문맥이 자연스럽지만 chunk 수가 더 많습니다.\n", + "- `token`은 chunk 수가 더 적고 길이가 비교적 일정하지만 문장/문단 중간에서 잘릴 수 있습니다.\n", + "- 영어 원문 corpus에 한국어 질의를 던지기 때문에 fallback TF-IDF에서는 `expand_query()`로 한국어 키워드를 영어 작품명/장르명으로 확장했습니다." + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "8fd7068e", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "## 2-step RAG: Retrieve -> Generate\n", + "\n", + "아래 함수는 먼저 retrieve로 근거 chunk를 가져오고, 그 다음 generate 단계에서 답변과 근거 문서 파일 정보를 함께 출력합니다. 로컬 재현성을 위해 이 노트북 출력은 `use_llm=False` extractive generation으로 남겼습니다. API 키가 있으면 `use_llm=True`로 바꾸어 LLM 답변을 생성할 수 있습니다." + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 6, + "id": "aa0fafe7", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "질문: 말러 교향곡 5번 공연 전에 어디를 듣고 가면 좋을까?\n", + "\n", + "검색된 원문 근거에서 바로 확인되는 내용은 아래와 같습니다.\n", + "- == Structure == The symphony is generally regarded as the most conventional symphony that he had yet written, but from such an unconventional composer it still had many peculiarities. It almost has a four-movement structure, as the first two can easily be viewed as essentially a whole. The symphony also ends with a rondo, in the classical style. Some peculiarities are the funeral march that opens the piece and the Adagietto for harp and strings that contrasts with the complex orchestration of the other movements. A performance of the symphony l\n", + "- The Symphony No. 5 in C# minor by Gustav Mahler was composed in 1901 and 1902, mostly during the summer months at Mahler's holiday cottage at Maiernigg. Among its most distinctive features are the trumpet solo that opens the work with a rhythmic motif similar to the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, the horn solos in the third movement and the frequently performed Adagietto. The musical canvas and emotional scope of the work, which lasts nearly 70 minutes, are huge. The symphony is sometimes described as being in the key of C♯ m\n", + "- At the beginning of the 19th century, Beethoven elevated the symphony from an everyday genre produced in large quantities to a supreme form in which composers strove to reach the highest potential of music in just a few works. Beethoven began with two works directly emulating his models Mozart and Haydn, then seven more symphonies, starting with the Third Symphony (\"Eroica\") that expanded the scope and ambition of the genre. His Symphony No. 5 is perhaps the most famous symphony ever written; its transition from the emotionally stormy C minor o\n", + "\n", + "근거 문서:\n", + "[1] 17_symphony_no_5_mahler.txt chunk=818 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[2] 17_symphony_no_5_mahler.txt chunk=814 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[3] 04_symphony.txt chunk=122 strategy=recursive_character\n" + ] + } + ], + "source": [ + "from rag_pipeline import rag_answer\n", + "\n", + "sample_question = \"말러 교향곡 5번 공연 전에 어디를 듣고 가면 좋을까?\"\n", + "sample_result = rag_answer(recursive_index, sample_question, k=3, use_llm=False)\n", + "print(sample_result[\"answer\"][:2200])" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "7ef8c7b9", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "## 테스트 질문 5개 이상\n", + "\n", + "의도적으로 유형을 나누었습니다.\n", + "\n", + "1. 사실조회\n", + "2. 종합\n", + "3. 비교\n", + "4. 모호한 질문\n", + "5. 공연 예절" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 7, + "id": "afe5ad15", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "TYPE: 사실조회\n", + "QUESTION: 베토벤 5번은 몇 악장이고 첫 동기는 무엇인가?\n", + "SOURCES:\n", + "[1] 15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt chunk=735 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[2] 15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt chunk=756 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[3] 15_symphony_no_5_beethoven.txt chunk=754 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "ANSWER PREVIEW:\n", + "질문: 베토벤 5번은 몇 악장이고 첫 동기는 무엇인가?\n", + "검색된 원문 근거에서 바로 확인되는 내용은 아래와 같습니다.\n", + "- The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (occasionally known as the Fate Symphony, German: Schicksalssinfonie), is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known of all symphonies and one of the most frequently played. First performed in Vienna in 1808, the work achieved its strong critical reputation not long afterward; E. T. A. Hoffmann described it as \"one of the most important works of the time\". The 5th Symphony has 4 movements. It begins with a distinctive 4-note \"short-short-short-long\" motif\n", + "- === Repetition of the opening\n", + "================================================================================\n", + "TYPE: 종합\n", + "QUESTION: 말러 교향곡 5번 공연 전에 어디를 듣고 가면 좋을까?\n", + "SOURCES:\n", + "[1] 17_symphony_no_5_mahler.txt chunk=818 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[2] 17_symphony_no_5_mahler.txt chunk=814 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[3] 04_symphony.txt chunk=122 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "ANSWER PREVIEW:\n", + "질문: 말러 교향곡 5번 공연 전에 어디를 듣고 가면 좋을까?\n", + "검색된 원문 근거에서 바로 확인되는 내용은 아래와 같습니다.\n", + "- == Structure == The symphony is generally regarded as the most conventional symphony that he had yet written, but from such an unconventional composer it still had many peculiarities. It almost has a four-movement structure, as the first two can easily be viewed as essentially a whole. The symphony also ends with a rondo, in the classical style. Some peculiarities are the funeral march that opens the piece and the Adagietto for harp and strings that contrasts with the complex orchestration of the other movements. A performance of the symphony l\n", + "- The Symphony No. 5 in C# \n", + "================================================================================\n", + "TYPE: 비교\n", + "QUESTION: 교향곡, 협주곡, 실내악은 공연장에서 듣는 초점이 어떻게 달라?\n", + "SOURCES:\n", + "[1] 06_chamber_music.txt chunk=231 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[2] 06_chamber_music.txt chunk=186 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[3] 06_chamber_music.txt chunk=185 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "ANSWER PREVIEW:\n", + "질문: 교향곡, 협주곡, 실내악은 공연장에서 듣는 초점이 어떻게 달라?\n", + "검색된 원문 근거에서 바로 확인되는 내용은 아래와 같습니다.\n", + "- Bartók was not alone in his explorations of folk music. Igor Stravinsky's Three Pieces for String Quartet is structured as three Russian folksongs, rather than as a classical string quartet. Stravinsky, like Bartók, used asymmetrical rhythms throughout his chamber music; the Histoire du soldat, in Stravinsky's own arrangement for clarinet, violin and piano, constantly shifts time signatures between two, three, four and five beats to the bar. In Britain, composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Benjamin Britten drew on English folk m\n", + "- Johann Wolfgang von \n", + "================================================================================\n", + "TYPE: 모호한 질문\n", + "QUESTION: 운명 그거 공연 전에 뭐만 알고 가면 돼?\n", + "SOURCES:\n", + "[1] 01_classical_music.txt chunk=32 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[2] 03_orchestra.txt chunk=108 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[3] 03_orchestra.txt chunk=111 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "ANSWER PREVIEW:\n", + "질문: 운명 그거 공연 전에 뭐만 알고 가면 돼?\n", + "검색된 원문 근거에서 바로 확인되는 내용은 아래와 같습니다.\n", + "- In the 19th century, musical institutions emerged from the control of wealthy patrons, as composers and musicians could construct lives independent of the nobility. Increasing interest in music by the growing middle classes throughout western Europe spurred the creation of organizations for the teaching, performance, and preservation of music. The piano, which achieved its modern construction in this era (in part due to industrial advances in metallurgy) became widely popular with the middle class, whose demands for the instrument spurred many \n", + "- In Western nations, some ensembl\n", + "================================================================================\n", + "TYPE: 공연 예절\n", + "QUESTION: 클래식 공연 처음인데 언제 박수치고 복장은 어떻게 하면 돼?\n", + "SOURCES:\n", + "[1] 02_concert_etiquette.txt chunk=52 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[2] 02_concert_etiquette.txt chunk=54 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "[3] 02_concert_etiquette.txt chunk=59 strategy=recursive_character\n", + "ANSWER PREVIEW:\n", + "질문: 클래식 공연 처음인데 언제 박수치고 복장은 어떻게 하면 돼?\n", + "검색된 원문 근거에서 바로 확인되는 내용은 아래와 같습니다.\n", + "- Concert etiquette refers to a set of social norms observed by those attending musical performances. These norms vary depending upon the type of music performance and can be stringent, with dress codes and conduct rules, or relaxed and informal. The rules or expectations for concert etiquette may be informally communicated by word-of-mouth by attendees or participants or they may be printed on tickets or signs. == Genres == === Classical music ===\n", + "- Dress expectations for the audience are today rather informal in English-speaking countries. Audiences usually meet \"s\n", + "================================================================================\n" + ] + } + ], + "source": [ + "test_questions = [\n", + " (\"사실조회\", \"베토벤 5번은 몇 악장이고 첫 동기는 무엇인가?\"),\n", + " (\"종합\", \"말러 교향곡 5번 공연 전에 어디를 듣고 가면 좋을까?\"),\n", + " (\"비교\", \"교향곡, 협주곡, 실내악은 공연장에서 듣는 초점이 어떻게 달라?\"),\n", + " (\"모호한 질문\", \"운명 그거 공연 전에 뭐만 알고 가면 돼?\"),\n", + " (\"공연 예절\", \"클래식 공연 처음인데 언제 박수치고 복장은 어떻게 하면 돼?\"),\n", + "]\n", + "\n", + "for question_type, question in test_questions:\n", + " result = rag_answer(recursive_index, question, k=3, use_llm=False)\n", + " print(\"TYPE:\", question_type)\n", + " print(\"QUESTION:\", question)\n", + " print(\"SOURCES:\")\n", + " print(result[\"sources\"])\n", + " print(\"ANSWER PREVIEW:\")\n", + " print(result[\"answer\"][:650].replace(\"\\n\\n\", \"\\n\"))\n", + " print(\"=\" * 80)" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "markdown", + "id": "59f96934", + "metadata": {}, + "source": [ + "## 정리\n", + "\n", + "- 원문 loader, splitter 2종, embedding, FAISS store, retrieve를 직접 구성했습니다.\n", + "- recursive/token splitter의 top source 차이를 3개 이상의 쿼리로 비교했습니다.\n", + "- 2-step RAG는 `rag_answer()` 내부에서 retrieve 후 generate를 수행합니다.\n", + "- 답변에는 근거 문서 파일명과 chunk index를 함께 출력합니다.\n", + "- 5개 테스트 질문으로 사실조회, 종합, 비교, 모호한 질문, 공연 예절 유형을 확인했습니다." + ] + } + ], + "metadata": { + "kernelspec": { + "display_name": "rag-agent-study (3.12.7)", + "language": "python", + "name": "python3" + }, + "language_info": { + "codemirror_mode": { + "name": "ipython", + "version": 3 + }, + "file_extension": ".py", + "mimetype": "text/x-python", + "name": "python", + "nbconvert_exporter": "python", + "pygments_lexer": "ipython3", + "version": "3.12.7" + } + }, + "nbformat": 4, + "nbformat_minor": 5 +}