Wednesday, December 6, 2023

O Du Fröhliche | Elbphilharmonie Christmas Carols to Sing Along With


Our organist Thomas Cornelius has recorded four Christmas hits in the Great Hall - the first Christmas Karaoke from the Elbphilharmonie! For all those who want to sing in several voices or liven up the family orchestra, sheet music is also available for download. So dust off your instruments, oil your voices and get going: https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/de/med... #Christmas carols #Odufröhliche #Elbphilharmonie #Organ #Karaoke ________ ELBPHILHARMONIE HAMBURG At the Elbphilharmonie, architecture and music merge to create a unique overall experience. Having first opened its doors in 2017, it has firmly established itself as one of the most popular concert halls in the world, delighting a broad audience with its diverse programme, outstanding acoustics and numerous participatory activities. The building, a converted warehouse positioned on the Elbe River, was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. As a Hamburg landmark, it attracts millions of visitors each year.

Michael Buble and Blake Shelton - Home ( Live 2008 ) HD



#nowwatching Natalie Cole LIVE - Unforgettable



White Christmas - Percy Faith & His Orchestra


Jean Sibelius - His Music and Life


Jean Sibelius was born on December 8, 1865 in Tawastehus/Finland and passed away September 9, 1957 in Helsinki.

Many of his in-laws and forefathers were well-known doctors, artists and clergy members. Sibelius began to study law at first. But unsatisfied, he changed his mind soon and shifted courses to music. 

In 1890, his real composition works started. The first decade had been the most fruitful and successful period of Sibelius' whole career and life.

Finland's history and its wonderful ferry tales and legends had been inexhaustible source for symphonies and incredible orchestral suites such as "En Saga" (1892, revised in 1901), "Karelia" (1893), "Four Legends for Orchestra" (1895) and "Finlandia" (1900). Sibelius took most of his musical ideas from his native land Finland with Finnish longing and melancholy.

One might ask, whether Sibelius' "Violin Concert" was the composer's carefully planed revenge on the deities of this instrument.

In his childhood, Sibelius had first played the piano, but after a few years he switched to the violin. He later confessed: "The violin took me over completely. From then on for the next ten years or so my profoundest wish, the loftiest aspiration of my ambitions, was to become a great violin virtuoso." But Sibelius never quit managed to reach these goals. 

As I mentioned earlier: Sibelius took most of his musical ideas from his native land Finland. In this respect, the music that he wrote in 1906 for Hjalmar Procope's play "Belshazar's Feast" represents a rare excursion for the composer into the exotic and the oriental.