Georg Friedrich Händel: Sarabande

Eric Satie - His Music and His Life

Erik Satie — an eccentric, an esteemed music composer and a performing pianist of extremely anti-establishment nature is hailed as a genius in contemporary classical music. Versatile as he was, Satie composed theatre and ballet music and performed for café and cabaret audiences. Often criticized by critics for being dull, his music compositions were original, humorous, weird, and minimalistic. Termed as furniture music, his works are said to be the reflection of everyday life. However, it was only after his death that his achievements were acknowledged and he was hailed a genius. Simple in structure and marked by an innovative and characteristic wit, his works were explicitly anti-romantic and anti-impressionistic. His works were also a kind of revolt against the works of Romantic composers such as Richard Wagner, whose works were jazzier than his. He left a scarce work behind as most of his works were composed for piano. However, his revolutionary usage of bitonal and polytonal notes became a trademark of the twentieth century music.

Erik Satie’s Childhood and Early Life

Satie was born on 17 May 1866 in London to Scottish parents Alfred Satie and Jane Leslie. Satie was born in Honfleur in Normandy, the home that is open to public now. When Satie was just four years old, his family relocated to Paris, where his father was offered the job of a translator. After his mother passed away in 1872, he and his younger brother Conrad was send to Honfleur to live with his grandparents. It was from here that he received his first lessons in music from a local organist. When his grand mother passed away in 1878, he and his brother were reunited with their father in Paris. His father remarried a piano teacher after a short period. The year 1880’s witnessed Satie publishing salon compositions by his stepmother and by himself.

 

In 1879, Satie joined Paris Conservatoire where his tutors branded him as incompetent and useless. Georges Mathias, who was his piano professor, labeled his piano technique as ‘insignificant, ‘laborious’ and ‘worthless’. Emile Descombes, another piano teacher at the Conservatoire, tagged him as the most indolent student. After he was sent back home for two and a half years, he rejoined the Conservatoire at the end of 1885, but failed to create a positive impression on his teachers. As a result, he decided to quit music and take up a military career a. However, his military career was short lived as he was infected with bronchitis and was discharged of military duties within a few months.

 

Career

In 1887, Satie left home for Montmartre. During this time, he also got his first compositions published by his father. He also published his “Gymnopedies”, which was followed by publishing compositions in the same vein. In this period, he befriended Claude Debussy. By 1891, he became the composer and chapel master of Rosicrucian Order, of which the leader was Sar Josephin Peladan. Here, he produced many compositions.

 

The middle of 1892 witnessed him composing the first pieces in a compositional system of his making, publishing his first hoax and giving incidental music to a chivalric esoteric play. In 1893, he met Maurice Ravel with Satie’s style emerging in the first composition of the youngster. One of his compositions during that time called ‘vexations’ remained undisclosed until his death. By the time the year ended, he had founded ‘The Metropolitan Church of the Leading Christ’. Being its only member, he composed ‘Grande Messe’ and penned numerous pamphlets, letters and articles, which showed his self-assuredness in religious and artistic matters.

 

By the middle of 1896, he was forced to move to a much smaller lodging as he was deprived of all financial means. He moved to a place called Rue Cortot and to Arcueil in 1897, a suburb that is five kilometers from the central part of Paris. During this time, he restored the lost relationship with his brother, Conrad for the sake of practical and financial matters. He also disclosed some of his inner emotions and feelings and those letters validated the religious ideas, which Satie had set aside.

 

From the year 1899, he started performing as a cabaret pianist, finding his feet in over hundred compositions of well-liked music for piano and adding some of his contributions. Most of them became immensely popular. However, in the later phases, Satie rejected all these cabaret music as contemptible and against his nature as it was composed just for the time being, especially for income.

 

In October 1905, Satie joined an Organisation in Paris to study classical counterpoint while continuing the cabaret work. The students and professors there were as dumbfounded when they heard of his intentions to return to the classrooms. Satie attended the classes as a respected pupil in Schola for almost five years, receiving the diploma in 1908. A few of his classroom counterpoint exercises were published posthumously.

 

Most of his publications validate that Satie did not reject Romanticism, but it’s certain aspects. Through this career, he totally rejected the concept of musical development. According to him, a composer must not take more time from the public than it is strictly essential. Satie also avoided melodrama strictly in his music. He had also written works, which are a parody of that genre.

 

Meanwhile, Satie became a member of radical socialist party, started associating with the Arcueil community, and developed some interesting hobbies such as maintaining a collection of imaginary buildings, most of which were described as made if metal. Occasionally, he would make anonymous announcements in journals offering some of these buildings for rent or for sale.

 

Height Of Success

In 1912, his miniatures for piano became quite popular, which he wrote and published in the following years. He also had a habit of maintaining scores for the compositions with all kinds of written remarks.

 

However, the success in Satie’s life was not due to the popularity of his piano pieces, but due to Ravel, who inspired the characteristics of Satie’s remaining years. In 1910, a group of young musicians who were based around Ravel stated their preference for the works of Satie, reaffirming the idea that Satie is a forerunner of Debussy. In the initial phases, Satie was pleased about the public attention that his works received. However, when he realized that his recent works were being overlooked, he sought the help of other artists with better ideas. Thus, he started his association with Roland-Manuel, Georges Auric and Jean Cocteau. Along with Roland-Manuel, he started to publicize his thoughts with more irony than he had done before. In 1915, he met Jean Cocteau with whom he started working on the production of Shakespeare’s “A midsummer Night’s Dream”. In 1916, he and Cocteau worked jointly on a ballet “Parade”, which had its premiere in 1917. The costumes of the ballet were done by Pablo Picasso and choreographed by Leonide Massine. Through Picasso, he became quite acquainted with other cubists such as Georges Braque.

 

Satie formed a group along with Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, and Germaine Tailleferre after writing “Parade”. However, in September 1918, he withdrew from the group without any formal explanation. In 1919, Satie became associated with Tristan Tzara, who was the initiator of Dada Movement and met artists like Francis Picabia and Andre Derain. In Zurich, Dadaists made Satie the honorary member of their organisation. He also contributed to the movement through works such as ‘The Gift’ in 1921. In 1924, his second ballet, which was staged by Picabia, led to an uproar in Paris. However, the work that reflected his true spiritual legacy was ‘Socrate’ in 1919.

 

Satie also tried to evade the influence of composers like Wagner and literally led a revolt against them in the early phases of the 20th century. Dryness was the characteristic of his works, which he tried to escape through writing pieces with silly titles such as ‘Limp Preludes for a Dog’.After he was accused of writing music without any form, Satie composed ‘Trois morceaux en forme de poire’ ("Three Pieces in the Pear Form").He was also the godfather of a group named ‘Les Six’, which consisted of loosely knit band of composers working under Cocteau to get rid of the heavy Germanic and the impressionistic influences on current music.This group intended to emphasize straightforwardness, briefness and a commitment to the themes of modern music.

 

Personal Life

Satie and Suzanne Valadon had a long courtship. Though they did not marry, they started living in adjacent rooms. However, she moved away ending a six month relationship, leaving Satie heartbroken. Suzanne was the only women with whom Satie had an intense relationship.

 

Death

Satie passed away on 1 July 1925, due to liver cirrhosis in Paris in France, which was mainly because of excessive drinking.

 

Georg Friedrich Händel - His Music and His Life

Born February. 23, 1685 in Halle, Germany. Died April 14, 1759 in London, United Kingdom. 

 

The king of opera, Handel’s exceptional disposition for music was evident from a very early age. A barber-surgeon and chamberlain for the Duke of Saxe, Handel’s father was opposed to the solid musical tuition the young musician received in Halle from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, (1663-1712). Handel consolidated his reputation from city to city, from the harpsichord to the organ and through his encounters with Telemann and Buxtehude before settling in Hamburg.

After composing two operas, the young composer decided to leave for Italy to perfect his style and meet Domenico Scarlatti, Corelli and Pasquini. The composer had his operas performed in Florence, Rome and Venice. A great traveller, Handel went to Hanover and London where his opera Rinaldo was a triumph. He took English nationality in 1726 and composed for the British numerous Italian operas, which were very in vogue. A victim of plots and conspiracies, Handel skilfully managed to remain venerated by the British public who made him rich and renowned. Berlioz noted, “The heavy wigged head of this barrel of pork and bear named Handel”. 

Although Handel composed over forty operas, sometimes conventional with mediocre librettos, his genius was particularly evident in his oratorios and keyboard pieces. His sense of the melodic line was unequalled and thanks to the company of the great singers and castratos of the time, Handel wrote eminently vocal music with natural curves and refined, elegant eloquence. His pieces for keyboard displayed this same art with a sharp sense of counterpoint. A clever man, Handel ingeniously drew from German, Italian and English styles. He is no doubt the first great European composer.

Things you didn't know about Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach-ing mad: the great composer summed up in dog gifs

By Kyle Macdonald 

The history of one of the world's greatest composers, illustrated by cute dogs. 

 

Born 1685 in Eisenach

Johann Sebastian was born into a musical dynasty. Uncles, cousins, fathers, cats, dogs; you name it, the Bachs were legendary in musical circles. 

The child prodigy 

By age 10, Bach's mother and father had both died, he moved to the nearby town of Ohrdruf with his elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach. His brother taught him music, but wasn't too keen on Johann Sebastian copying out his scores. The younger Bach had to sneak peaks at Johann Christoph's music library under cover of darkness. This 10-year-old was getting good, and nobody could hold him back.

The amazing organist

Bach took a choral scholarship at St. Michael's School in Lüneburg. The surname on the CV probably helped. He met all sorts of people, and heard a whole heap of new musical styles. He sang and played the organ; he was very good at the organ - leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else.

Off to see his hero

Bach had an idol, and it was Dieterich Buxtehude. He decided that Buxtehude's famously extravagant Abendmusiken concerts in Lübeck had to be experienced, so the young composer famously made the 250-mile journey on foot. Let's hope he enjoyed the gig.

Getting into fights

The maestro apparently called one of his students a "nanny-goat bassoonist" - and it sparked a marketplace brawl. Boys will be boys.

Doing what he did best: church music

Bach took another church job in Weimar, and soon became known as one of Germany's greatest composers and virtuosos, taking on organ pupils from far and wide. He also married Maria Barbara – so happy times all round (for the time being at least).

A bit of aristocratic chamber music

Either he'd had enough of the church, or he just fancied a bit of extra shut-eye on a Sunday morning, but Bach soon moved on to pastures new: Prince Leopold's court in Cöthen . Here, he pumped out huge amounts of chamber music. And a good thing too.

And heading to Leipzig

Bach's first wife died suddenly, and the composer got married for a second time - to singer Anna Magdalena Wilcke. Prince Leopold had married too, but his wife wasn't too fond of music. It was time for the Bach family to move on again, and Leipzig it was.

A big family

He wasn't just prolific in music - his family was flourishing (he had 20 children in all). His wife Anna Magdalena helped in the music copying, and several of his sons were making big names for themselves as composers and musicians.

His inner geek released

Bach grew increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the authorities at St. Thomas's Church - so he amused himself in creating large scale, and quite geeky, compositional projects. 

So enigmatic...

Bach loved numbers, and musical riddles. Many of his great works contain encoded numerological messages and complex things like mirrored sections. 

All sorts of puzzles and fugues

The Musical Offering was a collection of musical puzzles on a single melodic theme - and included something termed the 'Crab Fugue'.

Bach, and the future

When Bach died in 1750 his style of composition was considered old-fashioned and rather out-of-date. His sons. composing in new styles, were now considered the hottest things in town. But over the following decades and centuries Bach's music was rediscovered and he became regarded as one of the finest composers in musical history. Many have since tried to imitate, but there's only one.

Joseph Haydn - His Music and His Life

Of humble origins, Franz Joseph Haydn (March 31, 1732 - May 31, 1809) was born in the village of Rohrau, near Vienna. When he was eight years old he was accepted into the choir school of Saint Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he received his only formal education. Dismissed from the choir at the age of 17, he spent the next several years as a struggling free-lance musician. He studied on his own the standard textbooks on counterpoint and took occasional lessons from the noted Italian singing master and composer Nicola Porpora. In 1755 Haydn was engaged briefly by Baron Karl Josef von Furnberg, for whom he apparently composed his first string quartets. A more substantial position followed in 1759, when he was hired as music director by Count Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin. Haydn's marriage in 1760 to Maria Anna Keller proved to be unhappy as well as childless.

The turning point in Haydn's fortunes came in 1761, when he was appointed assistant music director to Prince Pal Antál Esterházy; he became full director, or Kapellmeister, in 1762. Haydn served under the patronage of three successive princes of the Esterházy family. The second of these, Pal Antál's brother, Prince Miklós Jozsef Esterházy, was an ardent, cultivated music lover. At Esterháza, his vast summer estate, Prince Miklós could boast a musical establishment second to none, the management of which made immense demands on its director. In addition to the symphonies, operas, marionette operettas, masses, chamber pieces, and dance music that Haydn was expected to compose for the prince's entertainment, he was required to rehearse and conduct performances of his own and others' works, coach singers, maintain the instrument collection and music library, perform as organist, violist, and violinist when needed, and settle disputes among the musicians in his charge. Although he frequently regretted the burdens of his job and the isolation of Esterháza, Haydn's position was enviable by 18^th-century standards. One remarkable aspect of his contract after 1779 was the freedom to sell his music to publishers and to accept commissions. As a result, much of Haydn's work in the 1780s reached beyond the guests at Esterháza to a far wider audience, and his fame spread accordingly.

After the death of Prince Miklós in 1790, his son, Prince Antál, greatly reduced the Esterházy musical establishment. Although Haydn retained his title of Kapellmeister, he was at last free to travel beyond the environs of Vienna. The enterprising British violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon lost no time in engaging the composer for his concert series in London. Haydn's two trips to England for these concerts, in 1791-92 and 1794-95, were the occasion of the huge success of his last symphonies. Known as the "Salomon" or "London" symphonies, they include several of his most popular works: "Surprise" (#94), "Military" (#100), "Clock" (#101), "Drum Roll" (#103), and "London" (#104).

In his late years in Vienna, Haydn turned to writing masses and composed his great oratorios, The Creation (1798) and The Seasons (1801). From this period also comes his Emperor's Hymn (1797), which later became the Austrian national anthem. He died in Vienna, on May 31, 1809, a famous and wealthy man.

Haydn was prolific in nearly all genres, vocal and instrumental, sacred and secular. Many of his works were unknown beyond the walls of Esterháza, most notably the 125 trios and other assorted pieces featuring the baryton, a hybrid string instrument played by Prince Miklós. Most of Haydn's 19 operas and marionette operettas were written to accommodate the talents of the Esterháza company as well as the tastes of his prince. Haydn freely admitted the superiority of the operas of his young friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In other categories, however, his works circulated widely, and his influence was profound. The 107 symphonies and 68 string quartets that span his career are proof of his ever-fresh approach to thematic materials and form, as well as of his mastery of instrumentation. His 62 piano sonatas and 43 piano trios document a growth from the easy elegance suitable for the home music making of amateurs to the public virtuosity of his late works.

Haydn's productivity is matched by his inexhaustible originality. His manner of turning a simple tune or motive into unexpectedly complex developments was admired by his contemporaries as innovative. Dramatic surprise, often turned to humorous effect, is characteristic of his style, as is a fondness for folkloric melodies. A writer of Haydn's day described the special appeal of his music as "popular artistry", and indeed his balance of directness and bold experiment transformed instrumental expression in the 18^th century.

Ferruccio Busoni - His Music and His Life

The Italian Ferruccio Busoni was born in Florenz on April 1, 1866. His father was also an Italian, but the father of Busoni's mother was a German.

At the age of 7, the child prodigy Busoni performed on stage for first time. At the age of 9, incredible piano performances in Vienna followed. When hes was 12, he conducted a symphony orchestra. At 15, Busoni became the youngest member of the Bologna Music Academy in Italy.

Busoni has been remembered as restless and have been all over the world. The cosmopolitan composer's biography shows really all colors of life: piano teacher in Leipzig,Germany; he married in Sweden; be became a chairman in Mosow; Boston followed; an artistic trip to Berlin; he became a General Director of Liceo musicales in Bologna, and much more... .

During World War I, Busoni lived in Switzerland. His glory and fame came through an incredible virtuoso. Bach's organ compositions had been arranged for piano by Busoni.

(To be continued!)

George Bizet - His Music and Life

Born on October 25, 1838, in Paris, the French George Bizet passed away -also in Paris- on June 3, 1875.

As a music professor's son, Bizet started to study at the Parisienne College of Music at the age of 9!!! During the ten academic years Bizet passed many examinations with distinctions. One of his teacher was Jacques Halevy a.k.a. Elias Levy (1799-1862), his then future father-in-law.

At the age of 17 (1855), Bizet composed his first symphony in c-major. The premiere took place only in 1935 through Felix von Weingaertner (1863-1942) in Basel, Switzerland. Bizet considered this composition as immature 'schoolboy-work".

In 1857, his operetta "Le Docteur Miracle" (The Wonder Doctor0 won the first prize. In Italy, Bizet composed the comic opera "Don Procopio" with its premiere only 1906 in Monte Carlo.

The following operas remained as very unsuccessful, even they content many wonderful classic compositions: "Le Pecheurs de Perles" (1863), "Ivan le Terrible" (1865) or "Djamileh" (1877).

The two "L'Arlesienne Suites" (1872 and 1876) remained as world record classical compositions till today and are being aired on European radio stations many times.

The opera "Carmen" is one of the most performed operas worldwide up to now and remained as Bizet's great success.

Alban Berg - His Music and Life

Born on February 9, 1885 in Vienna, the Austrian Alban Berg passed away on December 24, 1935 - also in Vienna.

Berg became a civil servant, but gave up this unique career while becoming a student of Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951, Los Angeles).

He was a down to earth person and thought himself to be part of the restored classical composers. His first compositions had been in rapture over disarming sounds and tones. The highlight became the "Four Clarinet Pieces" from 1913.

"Wozzeck", Berg's only opera reflected his experiences as a soldier during World War I. His supposed last opera "Lulu", composed in a 12-sound-technique, remained unfinished up to its premiere 1937 in Zurich/Switzerland.

The Best of Beethoven - exlusively for you HERE...

10000 singing Beethoven - Ode an die Freude / Ode to Joy / 歓喜に寄せて

Nikolai Rimski-Korssakoff - His Music and Life

Born in Tichwin-Nowgorod on March 18, 1844, the Russian composer Nikolai Rimski-Korssakoff passed away in Lubensk-St. Petersburg on June 21, 1908. Alternate he studied music and visited the navy academy, which made it possible for him to join a world sailing tour.

His leisure time at sea, Rimski-Korssakoff made use of composing his first symphony; by the way: this work has been played for the first time under the conductor Mily Balakirew in 1865.

1871, Rimski-Korssakoff became Professor for Instrumentation and Compositions at the St. Petersburg College of Music. His strict self-training and contra dot studies brought him into an extraordinary position among all other Russian composers. Almost all Russian composers belonging to the younger generation passed through his musical instructions.

His operas went for Russian legends and fairy tales: "Sadko" (1898, very known "The Song of the Indian Merchant"), "The Night in May" (1880); por"Tsar Sultan" (1900, very known "The Flight of the Bumble Bee").

Brilliant orchestral works have been "Scheherazade". "Cappricio Espagnol" or "Russian Easter".

His biography has been published in German language already in 1928.

Johannes Brahms - His Music and Life

Johannes Brahms was born on May 7, 1833 in Hamburg/Germany and passed away on April 3, 1897 in Vienna/Austria.

Brahms became a contra-bass-player and respected horn player. As a young boy Brahms earned his livings by performing in different sailor saloons and dives.

After wretched and puny school years he did try to build up a higher education through self-confidence and self-study. Brahms surprisingly drew people's attention to his impressing piano playing, especially when he accompanied the Hungarian violinist Eduard Remeny on virtuoso touring.

In 1858, Brahms became Musical Director in Detmold/Germany. In 1863, Brahms has been in charge of the Vienna Academy of Music. As freelance artist Brahms lived a carefree life. Schubert had been forced to it, Beethoven succeeded in doing at the beginning.

The Piano was Brahms' source of composing work. He could fulfill a sonata's gigantic measurements and extents. Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms have been the "Children of Romanticism", but only Brahms has lacked the pathos of theatrical language and expressionism. But, Brahms' compositions have become a world power - equal to Beethoven and Wagner.

This space doesn't allow mentioning the whole life's work of an incredible German classical composer named Johannes Brahms.

More in my next post about him.

(To be continued!)