That is a theme that’s been popping up a lot so I want to explore it for a little bit. Name some pieces that arose from a composer in despair about The Great War:
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Vierne: Piano Quintet (for his son; a very dark elegiac work)
Bridge: Cello Sonata
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin (dedicated to a lot of his friends who died in the War) are my starters
Ranging from violin sonatas to viola sonatas to cello sonatas to other string instrument sonatas.
I really enjoy Grieg’s just for the melodic genius of Grieg. And maybe The Devils Trill Sonata
I used to cherish these when I was like 11. See I had gotten similar cards to these but some of the lesser known presidents got cut in half with other presidents on a card which I was thought was really stupid. My mom randomly got me that from Amazon clueless to that I would later be interested in presidents. When I figured out there was a much better version of these, I immediately wanted that forever until we finally had the obvious idea that they’d be on eBay. There was also this (2nd photo) I got when I visited the Monticello gift shop on our presidential type trip from Greenville Sc-monticello va-williamsburg va- dc (mt Vernon where we rode the trail)- then back home. What learning material like this about presidents did you cherish?
I inherited it from my grandfather who apparently would ask me to put the mozart cd into the player while he would sleep. It’s kind of for amateur beginners getting into the classical world so they’re not like specialist recordings but I do like how some of the selections are kind of rare choices too.
The contents are:
CD 1: Mozart
CD 2: Bach
CD 3: Beethoven
CD 4: Strauss II
CD 5: Wagner
CD 6: Tchaikovsky
CD 7: Vivaldi
CD 8: Chopin
CD 9: Schubert
CD 10: Verdi
And there was also an edition where CD 10 was Handel. Also CD 11/12 released separately are Mendelssohn and Schumann symphonies.
Some I have are:
Ponchielli’s La Gioconda in Renaissance Venice
Giordano’s Andrea Chenier and the French Revolution
Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvrer about the actress
Giordano’s Fedora and Siberia about Russia
Add some of your nominations cause I love connecting similarities and such
(Srry if multiple appeared. An issue on my end)
I have my personal niche favourites (basically a bunch of Smetana stuff) but I’m interested in knowing what the broader consensus is on the repertoire.
Mine is Smetana’s The Bartered Bride and a few other ones by him like Dalibor, Libuse, and The Two Widows.
Sinfonietta for the orchestration and the ending of the piece. And most of his operas for his approaches to realistic and heavy topics. Jenufa (social stigma, infanticide) and Katya Kabanova (domestic abuse)
Mine are generic but the Pomp and Circumstance March #1, the Cello Concerto, and The Enigma Variations
I have none since I am not a string player. Just a chronically online classical music enthusiast. Even though I spent time practicing the cello (ages 8-10). But I’m interested in your experiences
I’m going to paraphrase for a bit but when I think of Verdi, I think of a very respectable long life well lived. Here’s the paraphrase that I think applies to this composer: he lived and worked in a major historical context for his nation, and he came to create a internationally renowned culture for this new nation, and also just one of Italy’s biggest political advocates, earning a spot in the government, I believe . But ranging from his early tragedies, to his personal scandals, to basic political stuff, it was definitely far from an easy battle. And adding to this description of him, wrote some of the greatest operas that have stood the test of time in the canon. And even created a retirement home for musicians out of his wealth that he earned.
So! I am a young adult who lives in Greenville SC, who loves to take day trips to Western North Carolina and even Tennessee and then drive back.
Examples have been :
4/12 going to Asheville for the day
4/19 going to Johnson City-Grandfather Mountain-Greenville
5/9 going with a friend up to Sylva North Carolina and back (backroads-US 64/23) (back to Greenville: 74-40-26-25)
And then now 5/16: going to Knoxville through the gorge of I-40 because I want to check out what it looks like, and Knoxville is a decent city.
Well….on May 21st, i’m driving down to my mom‘s family (grandparents first in Gulfport MS ranging from 5/21-6/14) then up to Brandon MS the 14-30.
And because I have that free time (besides various family interactions) I want some day trips to do because I’m gonna get bored being in the same city all day for two weeks. Please give me some suggestions
Mine is Mozart’s K 452 in E- flat Major and Beethoven’s modeled off of that.
Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms, Krommer, Myslivecek and Smetana are mine. Whats yours?
I like The Bartered Bride one from 2 weeks ago that was recently mentioned. I just enjoy the opera to death wether I like it or not. Lots of people ignorant to classical music have likely heard the overtures and dances at one point (kind of like how Carmen is, except Carmen is far from festive). But yeah! I was not disappointed
Flotow’s Martha, Albert Lortzing works are another, and also Smetana’s The Bartered Bride.
I do consider Martha and also Lortzing proto-operetta if that makes sense. Me and a friend agree.
“Treat Lortzing like Offenbach or Sullivan. That’s his place in the repertoire” - acquaintance
I feel they’re much more major than people give them credit for, especially for czech opera which is getting a revival. Even Slavic opera is getting revived.
His operatic output ranges from romantic comedies, to tragedy, to festive nationalistic works.
Who are some 20th century composers who “evolved a language of music which is distinct to their own aesthetic and which are successful at expressing what they want to express”
I heard it somewhere and thought it might be interesting what you pop up with.
Im pulling from a meme on this subreddit but:
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Saint Nicholas
- Nelson Mandela
- Galileo Galilei
- Alan Turing