Hang Around the World: April 2013

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Music #366 - Other Composers of the Era

Other Composers of the Romantic Era

TO BE CONSTRUCTED

Georges Bizet

(1838-1875)

In a career cut short by his early death, this French composer mainly of operas, achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen.

Carmen

Bizet is well-known for his opera (in French) Carmen, the name of this wild factory gypsy girl in Sèville (/səˈvɪl/), Spain.
- Opera comique - with French subtitles
- Topless performers

Some well-known extracts:
* Prelude
* Habanera: L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Love is a rebellious bird)
* Seguidilla: Près de remparts de Sèville (Near the ramparts of Seville)
* Avec La Garde Montante (Street Boys March)
* Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre (Your toast, I can make it)

= = = = =
Bonus:
* 葛蘭 in 卡門電影《野玫瑰之戀》

* 羅文＆梅艷芳

* 陳美鳳

L'Arlesienne Suite / The Girl from Arles

- love tragedy in ballet presentation

* Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Totaling about 37 minutes.

* Flashmob at Paris North Station

Les pêcheurs de perles / The Pearl Fishers opera

Je crois entendre encore / I think I still hear song

- by Alain Vanzo - with French lyrics to sing along

- by Yasuharu Nakajima - with English subtitles
- by David Gilmour - a modern interpretation
It is simply beautiful.

Symphony in C

was completed by Bizet at age 17.
- Ricardo Araujo conducting
Totaling about 38 minutes

Professor Rogoff gives an interesting briefing on Symphony in C.

In 1947, George Balanchine adopted Symphony in C to ballet, as beautifully performed by the following companies:

* Houston Ballet (cute dolly ballerinas)

* Miami City Ballet: Part 1 Part 2

See the ballerinas' chopstick legs in amazingly beautiful ballet movements?

Charles-François Gounod

[ʃaʁl fʁɑ̃swa ɡuno] (1818 – 1893)

A French composer, Charles Gounod was known for his Ave Maria (based on a work by Bach) as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.

Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)
* Diana Damrau sings

Faust
* Soldiers' Chorus from Act 4
* the full opera (2h48m)

Roméo et Juliette

* Je veux vivre (I want to live) - Juliette's aria, after she refuses her father's wish to marry her cousin.
* First duet: Ange adorable (adorable angel) - falling in love at first sight
* Second duet: Romeo - Douce amie (Romeo - sweet love) - the balcony scene
* Third duet: Va! Je t'ai pardonne ...(I pardon you for having killed my cousin) - wedding night
* Fourth duet: C'est la, Salut ... (This is grave ...) - the end of the couple

Funeral March for a Marionette

* piano - nice

* organ - interesting

* mandolin orchestra - nice

* orchestra with animated marionettes - interesting

* first 7 seconds of the theme for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" TV series.

Music #363 - Liszt

Franz Liszt

(1811-1886)

Liszt on piano

The central figure of the Romantic movement, Liszt was responsible for introducing the solo “recitals” in the late 1830s. Playing from memory, in his time, was considered dangerously radical.

His early works were showpieces that took piano technique to new heights of difficulty. Particularly in the symphonies of Beethoven and Berlioz, he found ways to transform the piano into a substitute orchestra.

Following his retirement from concert life, he studied composition intensively. He became a true composer, whose harmonic language influence Ravel and Wagner.

Famous for his astonishing pianistic gifts and music, he worked tirelessly to promote his colleagues' work, and to teach subsequent generations of pianists and composers.

Ständchen (Horch! Horch! die Lerch! / Hark! Harl! The lark!)

- originally composed by Schubert, and rearranged by Liszt

* James Berry (piano)

* Peter Schreier (vocal)

La campanella

- Paganini's Violin Concerto No.2 - III

* Julia Fischer (vioin)

... rewritten by Liszt for piano:

(L) Watch her fingers and hear the bells!

Piano Concerto No. 1

- consists of 4 shorter movements, which are performed without breaks

* Martha Argerich (piano)

Piano Concerto No. 2

- consists of 1 single long movement of 6 sections

* Sean Cotty (piano)

Hungarian Rhapsodies

- a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes

No. 2 is particularly famous.

Nos. 10 (L) and 6 (R) are also well-known.

Liebesträume (Dreams of Love)

- a set of 3 solo piano works

- often, the term Liebestraum refers specifically to No.3, the most well-received of the three

(L) Look at his looks!

(R) Do not look at his looks!

Faust Symphony

- aka "A Faust Symphony in three character pictures"

- the 3 movements depict the 3 main characters: Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles

- ends with the addition of a tenor soloist and male chorus, for a setting of Goethe’s "Chorus Mysticus."

Mephisto Waltz No.1

- the program for this work comes from Austrian poet Nikolaus Lenau's Faust, which differs from Goethe’s play.

Consolation No.3

- Leezy

Dante Symphony

- aka "A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy"

Symphonic poem

* No. 3 "Les préludes"

12 Transcendental Études

Liszt Haus, Weimar

Long after retiring from public performance,
Liszt would treat listeners to private recitals
at his house in Weimar,
now a museum devoted to him.

Music #362 - Schumann - songs

Grave of Robert &
Clara Schumann

Robert Schumann

/SHOE-mahn/ (1810 – 1856)

Frauenliebe und -Leben

/ A Woman's Love and Life
It is a cycle of poems by Adelbert von Chamisso, describing the course of a woman's love for her man. Selections were set to music as a song-cycle by masters of German Lied.
The setting by Schumann is now the most widely known. There are eight poems in his cycle, together telling a story from the protagonist first meeting her love, through their marriage, to his death.
* Bożena Harasimowicz - top tracks

Seit ich ihn gesehen / Since I Saw Him
Er, der Herrlichste von allen / He, the Noblest of All
Ich kann's nicht fassen, nicht glauben / I Cannot Grasp or Believe It
Du Ring an meinem Finger / You Ring Upon My Finger
Helft mir, ihr Schwestern / Help Me, Sisters
Süßer Freund, du blickest mich verwundert an / Sweet Friend, You Gaze
An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust / At My Heart, At My Breast
Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan / Now You Have Caused Me Pain for the First Time

Dichterliebe

/ A Poet's Love
- The best-known song cycle of Schumann, with the texts for the 16 songs from Heinrich Heine.
- It explores the journey from the joy of new love, through failure, to renunciation.

- Schumann completed this entire masterpiece in only 9 days.

* Songs No.1-6

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai --- In beautiful May, when the buds sprang, love sprang up in my heart: in beautiful May, when the birds all sang, I told you my desire and longing.
Aus meinen Tränen sprießen --- Many flowers spring up from my tears, and a nightingale choir from my sighs: If you love me, I'll pick them all for you, and the nightingale will sing at your window.
Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne --- I used to love the rose, lily, dove and sun, joyfully: now I love only the little, the fine, the pure, the One: you yourself are the source of them all.
Wenn ich in deine Augen seh --- When I look in your eyes all my pain and woe fades: when I kiss your mouth I become whole: when I recline on your breast I am filled with heavenly joy: and when you say, 'I love you', I weep bitterly.
Ich will meine Seele tauchen --- I want to bathe my soul in the chalice of the lily, and the lily, ringing, will breathe a song of my beloved. The song will tremble and quiver, like the kiss of her mouth which in a wondrous moment she gave me.
Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome --- In the Rhine, in the sacred stream, great holy Cologne with its great cathedral is reflected. In it there is a face painted on golden leather, which has shone into the confusion of my life. Flowers and cherubs float about Our Lady: the eyes, lips and cheeks are just like those of my beloved.

* Songs No.7-11

Ich grolle nicht --- I do not chide you, though my heart breaks, love ever lost to me! Though you shine in a field of diamonds, no ray falls into your heart's darkness. I have long known it: I saw the night in your heart, I saw the serpent that devours it: I saw, my love, how empty you are.
Und wüßten's die Blumen, die kleinen --- If the little flowers only knew how deeply my heart is wounded, they would weep with me to heal my suffering, and the nightingales would sing to cheer me, and even the starlets would drop from the sky to speak consolation to me: but they can't know, for only One knows, and it is she that has torn my heart asunder.
Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen --- There is a playing of flutes and violins and trumpets, for they are dancing the wedding-dance of my best-beloved. There is a thunder and booming of kettle-drums and shawms. In between, you can hear the good cupids sobbing and moaning.
Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen --- When I hear that song which my love once sang, my breast bursts with wild affliction. Dark longing drives me to the forest hills, where my too-great woe pours out in tears.
Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen --- A youth loved a maiden who chose another: the other loved another girl, and married her. The maiden married, from spite, the first and best man that she met with: the youth was sickened at it. It's the old story, and it's always new: and the one whom she turns aside, she breaks his heart in two.

* Songs No.12-14

Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen --- On a sunny summer morning I went out into the garden: the flowers were talking and whispering, but I was silent. They looked at me with pity, and said, 'Don't be cruel to our sister, you sad, death-pale man.'
Ich hab' im Traum geweinet --- I wept in my dream, for I dreamt you were in your grave: I woke, and tears ran down my cheeks. I wept in my dreams, thinking you had abandoned me: I woke, and cried long and bitterly. I wept in my dream, dreaming you were still good to me: I woke, and even then my floods of tears poured forth.
Allnächtlich im Traume --- I see you every night in dreams, and see you greet me friendly, and crying out loudly I throw myself at your sweet feet. You look at me sorrowfully and shake your fair head: from your eyes trickle the pearly tear-drops. You say a gentle word to me and give me a sprig of cypress: I awake, and there is no sprig, and I have forgotten what the word was.

* Songs No.15-16

Aus alten Märchen winkt es --- The old fairy tales tell of a magic land where great flowers shine in the golden evening light, where trees speak and sing like a choir, and springs make music to dance to, and songs of love are sung such as you have never heard, till wondrous sweet longing infatuates you! Oh, could I only go there, and free my heart, and let go of all pain, and be blessed! Ah! I often see that land of joys in dreams: then comes the morning sun, and it vanishes like smoke.
Die alten, bösen Lieder --- The old bad songs, and the angry, bitter dreams, let us now bury them, bring a large coffin. I shall put very much therein, I shall not yet say what: the coffin must be bigger than the 'Tun' at Heidelberg. And bring a bier of stout, thick planks, they must be longer than the Bridge at Mainz. And bring me too twelve giants, who must be mightier than the Saint Christopher in the cathedral at Cologne. They must carry the coffin and throw it in the sea, because a coffin that large needs a large grave to put it in. Do you know why the coffin must be so big and heavy? I will also put my love and my suffering into it.

Source: Wikipedia

Music #361 - Schumann - music

Robert Schumann

/SHOE-mahn/ (1810 – 1856)

A German composer and influential music critic, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.

He intended to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.

Carnaval

One of Schumann's most characteristic piano works

Kinderszenen / Scenes from Childhood

[ˈkɪndɐˌszeːnən]
A set of 13 pieces of music for piano to provide us with Schumann's adult reminiscences of childhood.
* Kinderszenen

Mvt.7 - Träumerei / Dreaming

Leezy on piano

Fantasiestücke / Fantasy Pieces

- a set of eight pieces for piano

Kreisleriana

A composition of eight movements for solo piano. Dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, it is a very dramatic work and is considered to be one of Schumann's finest compositions.
* Kreisleriana - No.1
* Kreisleriana - Nos.1-8 - audio only

Fantasy in C

Later revised and dedicated to Franz Liszt, it is generally described as one of Schumann's greatest works for solo piano, and is one of the central works of the early Romantic period.

Waldszenen / Forest Scenes

Symphony No 2

Symphony No 3 - Rhenish

Piano Concerto

Source: Wikipedia

Music #360 - Chopin (DoB+200)

200^th Anniversary of the Birth of Chopin

Fryderyk Chopin

[1810 – 1849]

With a French father and a Polish mother, Chopin regarded Poland his motherland.

On 10/10/10, a concert in commemoration of the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Chopin (birthday on March 1) was held in the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre. The selection of works was very unusual. The following are the same pieces available on YouTube, but by other performers.

Polish Songs

/ Chants Polonais [op.74]

where 18 of the 19 Chopin’s Polish songs were nicely sung, here are 3:-

* No.1 - A Maiden’s Wish: "A maiden longing to be transformed into the sun and a bird, so that she could near her beloved’s window all day long."

* No.11 - Two Deaths: "Separated from one and other, a maiden and her Cossack lover died prematurely. While the maiden spent her last moment surrounded by grieving loved ones, the soldier’s body was accompanied by wolves and ravens in the field."

* No.4 - A Drinking Song by 4 singers in turn.

Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano [op.8]

where niece Winty was on the violin,
though not in the following:
Mvt.1 Allegro con fuoco
Mvt.2 Scherzo con motto
Mvt.3 Adagio sostenuto
Mvt.4 Finale: Allegretto

Godowsky’s version of Chopin’s Études / 練習曲

* Op.10 no.6
* Op.10 no.11

* Op.25 no.3

* Op.25 no.2

* Op.10 no.3

Nicknamed "Tristesse" (Sadness) or "Chanson de L’Adieu" (Farewell Song)

= = = = =

Bonus:

* Études Op.10 no.5

* Études Op.10 no.12
Nicknamed the "Revolutionary Étude"

or the Étude on the Bombardment of Warsaw

* Études Op.25 no.9

Nicknamed "Le Papillon"

Music #359 - Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

[sho-PAN] (1810 – 1849)

"Chopin was a Polish composer, virtuoso pianist, and music teacher, of French–Polish parentage. He was one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called 'the poet of the piano'."

Waltz Op.64 No.1

- "Minute Waltz" - "Little Dog Waltz"

* Yuja Wang
* Victor Borge & Leonid Hambro - 2 savvy back-to-back pianists each playing 30 seconds to add up to 1 minute [MINit], although Minute [mai-NJUT] is intended to mean small/tiny

Grande Valse Brillante

Chopin wanted to exceed Strauss, by adding elegance into his 19 waltzes written for the piano. It turned out that the dancers stopped dancing in order to appreciate the rich music.

(But who could waltz to this music?)

Piano Sonata No. 2

- in B flat minor

- The 3^rd movement is popularly known as the Funeral March / Marche Funèbre

Hear the solemn church bells? See the long and slow funeral procession with heavy foot-steps? Now, recall the words and deeds when the dead was still alive? Then, the solemn church bells again. The long and slow funeral procession again.

* Margaret Thatcher @[1:30]
* Franklin D Roosevelt
* John F. Kennedy