Die Kraft der Klänge - Musik als Medizin

Musik wirkt auf allen Ebenen des menschlichen Gehirns mit direktem Zugang zu unseren Emotionen. Sie prägt uns schon im Mutterleib, berührt uns im tiefsten Inneren und treibt zu Höchstleistungen.

    

 Und sie kann helfen, gesünder und glücklicher zu leben.

Das Geheimnis der Rhythmen und Melodien erforschen Neurowissenschaftler wie Peter Vuust und Stefan Kölsch. Sie untersuchen die Funktion und Entwicklung unseres Gehirns. Musik helfe unserem Körper vielleicht besser als viele Medikamente, schon vorhandene Heilkräfte zu aktivieren, meint Stefan Kölsch von der Universität Bergen in Norwegen. 

Beim Kochen summen wir zu Popsongs aus dem Radio und schnippen im Takt, wenn ein besonders grooviger Song läuft. Peter Vuust vom "Music in the Brain-Institut" in Aarhus, Dänemark, hat das Geheimnis des Grooves erforscht und weiß, warum wir bei manchen Songs nicht mehr stillsitzen können. 

Beim Sport lassen wir uns von fetzigen Beats zu Hochleistungen antreiben. Tom Fritz vom Max-Planck-Institut in Leipzig hat herausgefunden: Noch leistungsstärker werden wir, wenn wir die Musik beim Training selbst erzeugen. Die Dokumentation "Die Kraft der Klänge - Musik als Medizin" untersucht den positiven Einfluss von Musik auf uns - vom Kleinkind bis zum älteren Menschen.

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Giuseppe Verdi: A True Revolutionary? A True Romantic?

by Ursula Rehn Wolfman , Interlude

Later mythologized as a true Italian, Giuseppe Verdi was born on October 10, 1813 in Busseto as a French subject, which seems to have disturbed him enough to lead him to represent that he had in fact been born in 1814, in which year the Dukedom of Parma, to which Busseto belonged, became an independent Italian state. Throughout most of the 19th century, Italy was not a political entity, but rather a cultural idea, where everyone, whether in Milano, Venice, Genoa, in the Piedmont and in the many other cities and states, could live as a member of an ancient, noble and respectable cultural community, irrespective of borders, customs and tariffs. A political union had been impossible, since the major European powers — Germany, Spain, France and Austria, as well as the Papal States — controlled the various Italian regions. The 19th century saw a re-awakening, the ‘risorgimento’ as it would later be called — a cry for political unity and independence, whose most outspoken representative was the writer Vittorio Alfieri, whom Verdi very much admired. Alfieri conceived Italian nationalism as a spiritual/political idea of liberation and freedom, a concept which became the focus of various political movements in the following years.

The Italian Root of Giuseppe Verdi

In Italy, even language divided the different Italian regions, in which everyone spoke the specific dialect of the district — Italian as such was used only as a written language and was unfamiliar to most. The only languages everyone did understand, were those of music and poetry, such as that of Ludovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso. Music and opera made it possible for every Italian to be part of this nation of culture, a unity of the people. Music, as the true expression of feelings, of the heart, of passions, could therefore be considered the true language of the people. Already in earlier centuries, Italians knew that they were a European musical power, for example with Cherubini in Paris and Spontini in Berlin, and that Vienna, with Vivaldi, Salieri and many others, was the Italian musical capital per se. In the 19th century, even though Italy was not a single national political entity, opera brought people together. Italian masters, Rossini from Bologna, Bellini from Catania and Donizetti from Bergamo, were successful in all of Europe and brought Italian opera to the North.

Verdi was very much influenced by Italian republican ideas — he named his children Icilio and Virginia after idealized Republican Roman heroes — but he also made sure not to offend the Austrian authorities by openly supporting the regional independence movements.

While working in Milano in 1832, which at that time was still under Austrian command, he not only heard Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and major works of Viennese classical music, but broke his contract to work in Busseto in order to remain in Milano, where his first opera, ‘Oberto’, received a favorable reception.

Nationalism in Giuseppe Verdi’s Operas?

In 1842, again in Milano, Verdi achieved real fame with his opera, ‘Nabucco’, which also saw tremendous success in Vienna in 1843. All of the famous salons in Milano now became open to him, in particular the salon of Clarina and Andrea Maffai (descendants of the Italian/German aristocracy with familial connections to Munich and Salzburg), who introduced Verdi to ‘world literature’, in particular the works of Klopstock, Schlegel, Goethe, Schiller, Grillparzer and particularly Madame de Staël’s book on Germany (‘De l’Allemagne’). Andrea Maffai was also a member of the ‘Societá dei filodrammatici’, whose focus was to unite opera and drama – an idea Verdi would apply to all of his future operas – just as Wagner was seeking to do. Under the influence of Maffai and his friends, Verdi became one of the Italian composers most knowledgeable about European dramatic literature. The northern ‘high’ aristocratic families, such as the Strassoldo, Colloredo, Pallavicini, Thurn und Taxis as well as many others, had international focus and background — they provided support to artists without consideration of language or nationality. For them, music, and in particular opera, had to be good, with themes that could be presented anywhere — not patriotic political pieces, but great Italian music. Verdi did not think of an Italian nationalistic piece when he composed ‘Nabucco’, but in later years, the choir of prisoners, ‘Va pensiero’, anchored the myth that Verdi had given voice to Italian demands for freedom, unity and independence. Interestingly, nowhere other than in Italy, whether in Vienna, Berlin or Weimar, was the famous choir of prisoners considered as political provocation, and the opera was a great success.

Elements of many of his other works, such as parts of Ernani, I Lombardi, Don Carlos and Macbeth, were also later seen by Italians as the voice of the people protesting foreign dominance, although Verdi himself made no such connection. Unlike Wagner, who had actively participated in the 1848 revolution in Dresden, Verdi saw the various Italian political attempts at liberation and reunification from afar –(i.e., the revolutions of 1830, 1848, 1861, 1866 and finally, the unification of Italy in 1871) — from Paris or from his luxurious country estate in Roncole. In his personal letters, he expressed his interest in Italian political matters, but what most interested him was the financial success of his operas and his friendships throughout Europe. Italy was and remained for him a cultural idea, an idea of Italian art, music and way of life.

Can Giuseppe Verdi Be Considered a True Romantic?

As I have mentioned before, Verdi was very familiar with the ‘classical’ works of Shakespeare, the ‘romantic’ works of Victor Hugo, Lord Byron and Alexandre Dumas and based many of his operas on their works. Interestingly, Shakespeare had been rediscovered by the French Romantic painters and writers in the 19th century, who saw him as a revolutionary playwright. In his plays, Shakespeare had never adhered to, and had broken, with the classical French dictum of the ‘unity of time, action and space’, where all stage performance had to adhere to the 24-hour rule, i.e. that all the action on stage had to be started and completed within a 24 hour day. In opera, one such example of the rule is Mozart’s ‘Abduction from the Seraglio’, where the action starts with the abduction and ends with the resolution and celebratory meal 24 hours later. Another example is Puccini’s ‘Tosca’, which starts with the meeting of the protagonists in church and ends with the execution the next morning, again 24 hours. Virtually all classical plays and operas would follow these rules.

Verdi used Victor Hugo’s play ‘Hernani’ as the basis for his opera by the same name. In 1830, Hugo’s ‘Hernani’ had its first Paris performance as the first Romantic play, and had met with fierce opposition from the French audience, although valiantly defended by Hector Berlioz, Théophile Gautier and many of the French Romantic writers and painters. Hugo had broken all of the classical rules — the locale and action in his play changed often and they exceeded the 24 hour day. Composed in 1844, Verdi insisted that his opera libretto follow Hugo’s play as closely as possible, and so, in Act I, the action is situated in the mountains of Aragon; in Act II, in Don Ruy Gomez Castle; in Act III, in Charlemagne’s tomb in Aachen; and in act IV, back to Spain, in Saragossa. The opera also shows the young Verdi honing his operatic skills in creating dramatic tension (three men pay court to one woman), with the conspiracy scene, its evocative orchestral coloring, and in general, the lyrical fervor of his arias (‘Ernani… Ernani involami’; ‘Vieni meco, sol di rose’, etc.), setting the new standards for Romantic operas — Italian style.

In the 19th century, we not only see the change from the Classical to the Romantic canon in theatre and music, but also in painting. Verdi continued his successes with ‘Rigoletto’ (based on Victor Hugo’s, ‘Le Roi s’amuse’), ‘Il Trovatore’, and ‘La Traviatia’ (based on Alexandre Dumas’ play ‘La dame aux camélias’). All three operas can be seen as Verdi’s supreme achievement of the Romantic Italian melodrama, and we can consider him a true Romantic — but not a true Revolutionary.

Pop-Classical Connection

by Maureen Buja, Interlude 

Barry Manilow © Ticketmaster

We know…there’s only 12 notes in a scale and how many different ways can there be of combining them? Sometimes, you get a song in your ear and start to hear it in many different places. Sometimes it was deliberate on the part of the modern composer. If we look at Barry Manilow’s 1971 song and 1975 hit Could It Be Magic we can hear immediately that there’s something classical on the loose! The story is that Manilow was playing around with a melody that he’d been playing at home – a little piano prelude by Chopin – and by elaborating on the melody, came up with his own song. By adding his quotation of the Chopin original at the beginning and end of his song, he framed his own reading of the work beautifully. 

Jean-Paul-Égide Martini’s vocal romance Plaisir d’amour, written in 1783, is a bittersweet song about a disappointed lover: ‘I left everything for…Sylvie, she left me for another lover’ with the constant refrain of ‘Love’s pleasure last but a moment, Love’s disappointment lasts a lifetime.’ It is a standard for the classical singer.

In the hands of songwriters Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss, however, the song became an affirmation of love: ‘Darlin, so it goes, Some things were meant to be.’ Our lover is swept along, unable to help giving not only his hand but his ‘whole life, too’ to his beloved.

Another Elvis hit based on a song from earlier times was his 1960 No. 1 hit It’s Now or Never. Before it was a pop favourite, however, it was a song written in 1898 in the Neapolitan dialect celebrating not only the beauty of the sun but the beauty of his love’s face. Eduardo di Capua’s song, developed from a set of melodies he had purchased from Alfred Mazzucchi, is traditionally sung in Neapolitan rather than standard Italian (where the title would be Il mio sole). Luciano Pavarotti’s performance of the song won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance.

© 45cat

In 1949, new lyrics were given to it as ‘There’s no tomorrow’ and it was a hit for Tony Martin. Elvis heard the song in Germany and made a private recording and when he was back in the States, requested new lyrics for it. He also heard the Mario Lanza recording of the original while he was in Germany. Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold came up with ‘It’s Now or Never.’ Now there’s a sense of urgency – ‘tomorrow will be too late’ for his ‘love won’t wait.’ The song became one of Elvis’ best-selling singles, with over 20 million copies. The song was No. 1 on the charts in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and South Africa; it only got to No. 2 in Germany. In concert, Elvis always acknowledged the origin of the song, speaking about its origin and having a singer perform a brief part of the original.

The Russian composer Alexander Borodin proved to be inspirational for the 1950s. The 1911 play Kismet by Edward Knoblock was adapted by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis and had lyrics and music adapted and created by Robert Wright and George Forrest. The whole project had been commissioned by Edwin Lester of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. The music they adapted came from 9 different works by Borodin, including 4 different pieces from his opera Prince Igor. Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D major was the source for the song ‘Baubles, Bangles, and Beads’.

‘Baubles, Bangles and Beads’ occurs in the scene with our heroine Marsinah in the marketplace, where she’s seen by the young Calif. The Calif later, in the guise of a gardener, sings Stranger in Paradise (based on the ‘Polovtsian Dances’ from Prince Igor) when he sees her. In 1954, the musical won three Tony Awards for Best Music, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, and Best Conductor and Musical Director.

What could possibly connect Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony with a song that was voted one of the best songs of the first decade of the 21st century and has become a sports anthem? Well, if we take the theme used in first and fourth movements (at 02:29 and 00:46), we have the fundamentals of the guitar riff of Jack White’s Seven Nation Army.

White came up with the guitar riff while on tour in Melbourne in 2002. It then developed further as ‘a little experiment’ where White tried to create a song that was compelling but that didn’t have chorus. The title, a mishearing of ‘Salvation Army’ as ‘Seven Nation Army’, was first used as a placeholder name and then it stuck. 

Muzio Clementi‘s Sonatina, Opus 36, No. 5’s third movement Rondo was the basis for a chart-topper recorded by The Mindbenders in 1965 and later by Phil Collins in 1988.

A Groovy Kind of Love had been written by Tony Wine and Carole Bayer Sager as a play on the new word that had come to popularity in the mid-1960s, ‘groovy’. It was the happening word of the day and once they came up with the hook of ‘a groovy kind of love’ they say the song wrote itself in about 20 minutes.

The Mindbender’s 1965 version was nowhere close in speed to the Clementi original, but Phil Collins’ 1988 version slowed the tempo to a ballad and it reached No. 1 on the UK and US charts. 

We think of Rachmaninoff’s piano works as full of grand gestures, great voiced chords that move from one end of the piano to the other. Yet, he was also a composer of delicate, sweet melodies, as was discovered by Eric Carmen.

His 1975 song All By Myself made No. 1 in the US and Canadian charts. Carmen’s use of the theme from the second movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was deliberate, and, unfortunately, was also still in copyright. Rachmaninoff’s work was out of copyright in the US but was still protected outside the US and he had to pay royalties to the Rachmaninoff estate for his use of the melody. 

We saw this composer’s effect on Barry Manilow, but if we look back a century ago, another work by Frédéric Chopin was also a pop hit. His Fantaisie-Impromptu of 1834 was published in 1855 after Chopin’s death, despite his explicit instructions that none of his unpublished works be brought out. Chopin guessed wrong as his Fantaisie-Impromptu has become one of his most frequently performed works.

This work inspired vaudeville composer Harry Carroll to write I’m Always Chasing Rainbows in 1917, which was used in the Broadway show Oh Look! in 1918 and in Hollywood films in 1941 and 1944. In 1973, it was added into the revival of the 1919 musical Irene. There was also a revival of the song in 1946, where it was a hit for singers such as Perry Como, and the duo of Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes.

From Broadway to Hollywood and to the Top 10 in Pop Music – there’s always a place for classical music!

Harry Potter’s Tom Felton was ‘desperate’ as a child to become a professional violinist

Tom Felton starred as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series. Picture: Alamy/Classic FM

By Sophia Alexandra Hall, ClassicFM

@sophiassocials

 

Tom Felton shot to stardom as a child actor in the Harry Potter film series, but prior to the big screen, he was a violinist and local chorister.

British actor Tom Felton is best known for his portrayal of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

The child star made his big screen debut in 1997 as Peagreen Clock in The Borrowers, four years before he joined the cast of the first Harry Potter film, but prior to his first acting gigs, he had another performing arts interest.

In an interview with The Guardian, Felton, 34, revealed that “a few months before acting, I was desperate to be a violinist”.

Abacus Agency represented Felton when he was cast as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, and his agency card included his prowess in both violin playing, and singing.

Though the actor has shared videos of his singing throughout the years, fans are yet to see a video of his violin skills.

Felton picked up the guitar aged 19, and began sharing his own music as a singer-songwriter on YouTube via a channel called ‘Feltbeats’.

In March 2009, Felton was interviewed by ‘Feltbeats.com’ ahead of the release of his six-track album, In Good Hands.

Felton shared that as well as the guitar, he also plays the piano, violin, bass guitar, ukulele, harmonica, and the drums.

Adding to that exhaustive list, he was also in his local church choir for five years and was “actually offered a place in a big cathedral choir.”

 Felton’s Harry Potter co-star Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, is also a singer, and recorded the track ‘Lightning’ for the 2014 Postman Pat Movie.

Maybe we’ll get a Grint x Felton musical collaboration in the future, and Felton can finally show off his classical violin flair for the fans.

Classical Music Beyond the Concert Stage: Ten Classical Pieces Used in Commercials

by Fanny Po Sim Head, Interlude 

© Contently

Have you ever heard any advertisement music on the radio and TV that sounds familiar to you? A lot of them are excerpts or adaptations from classical music. I am going to share with you ten pieces that have been used in advertisements from all over the world.

William Tell Overture

Guillaume Tell © dinosoria.com

Composed by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), William Tell Overture is frequently used in advertisements and commercials. It was the last opera that Rossini wrote and perhaps one of the most popular among his 39 operas. It is the overture to the opera Guillaume Tell, and it consists of four continuous movements. The last part of the overture was particularly popular. It was taken as the theme music in a TV drama The Lone Ranger and since then it is always associated with horse-riding. Hong Kong Jockey Club used this theme for quite some years but recently, this theme is featured in a commercial which is unrelated to horse-riding. 

Ride Of The Valkyries

One of the best-known pieces by Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Ride Of The Valkyries is the opening of Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), the second opera of the Ring Cycle. The story of this opera is based on a Norse mythology, and the title character, Valkyrie Brünnhilde, carries some supernatural power. In the opera, “The Ride Of The Valkyries” plays when the Valkyries, warrior maidens ride back from a battle. Play

But here is one of the commercials with the use of this theme:

The Flower Duet

The Flower Duet is a piece in the first act of Léo Delibes‘ opera Lakmé (1883). It is a duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, and it is sung by Lakmé and her servant Mallika when they are getting some flowers by a river.

This duet is a popular concert piece, and it has been used frequently in advertisements and films.

Léo Delibes (1836-1891) was a French Romantic composer. His best-known works include this opera and his ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876).

Queen of the Night Aria

It is not difficult to find Mozart’s works on TV commercials. This work, Queen of the Night aria, is one of the most famous arias of all time. It is an aria in the second act of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). 

Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra © Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Also Sprach Zarathustra

Another popular repertoire used in TV commercials and TV dramas and films is Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss (1864-1949). This tone poem has nine sections and is based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Each section is named after the title of the selected chapter of the book. While Zarathustra’s philosophical journey in the novel inspired Strauss creating this influential work, this commercial doesn’t seem very philosophical at all:

Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

Composed by Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), Cavalleria Rusticana is considered one of his masterpieces and classic verismo operas. Mascagni wrote this piece for a competition held by Milanese music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno in 1888. He spent less than two months; he submitted it on the last day of the competition’s deadline, and he won! This opera is based on Giovanna Verga’s novel about a passionate love tragedy. The sentimental melody suits this commercial very well.

Overture from La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie)

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) wrote this two-act opera La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) based on an 1815 comedy La Pie Voleuse by JMT Badouin d’Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez. The story is about discovering a magpie that had been stealing a silver spoon and hiding it in its nest. This overture has been used quite often for television and radio advertisements, including this award-winning one: 

The first page of the oldest surviving copy of Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon and Gigue in D major.”

Canon in D

The popularity of Canon in D has made its frequent use in tv commercials no surprise. Written by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), this piece is part of his Canon and Gigue for three violins and basso continuo. It was written in D major, but it has been transposed to different keys for various occasions. Let’s watch how this music is used in this Thai’s commercial.

Poster for the premiere of Georges Bizet’s Carmen

L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) from Carmen

Nicknamed Habanera, L’amour est un oiseau rebelle belongs to the first act of Bizet’s opéra comique Carmen (1875). Georges Bizet (1838-1875) actually did not compose the tune of this aria, but he adapted it from “El Arreglito ou la Promesse de marriage” by the Spanish musician Sebastián Iradier. However, Bizet rewrote it and made it one of the most recognizable arias of all time. The tune has been adapted in popular songs, films, and tv commercials such as this one.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5

A lot of Beethoven‘s music were used frequently in commercials, including his famous Symphony No. 5. 

Classical music has a timeless popularity. It can produce a wide range of emotions and atmospheres that make it perfect for use in all kinds of medias such as video games, movies, tv dramas, podcasts…you name it! While some classical compositions contain their own stories, the imagination is the only true limit to the stories this music can tell.

On This Day 10 May: Gabriela Montero Was Born

by Georg Predota, Interlude

Gabriela Montero © Colin Bell

Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero, born on 10 May 1970, has garnered critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage for her visionary interpretations and unique compositional gift. She has come to be known in particular for her real-time improvisation of complex musical pieces on themes suggested by her audience, as well as for performances of standard classical repertoire. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Montero was only seven months old when her parents placed a two-octave toy piano in her playpen. Although Gabriela has no recollections of that event, she was told that it was initially a Christmas gift for an older cousin. Her grandmother, however, insisted that it should be given to Gabriela. “My grandmother, for some bizarre reason,” Montero explained, “just fixated on the idea that I should have this little piano. But I was just eight months old, and I was just a baby in a crib… My grandmother was a very stubborn woman, so the piano ended up in my crib and it was my Christmas present.” Apparently, her parents noticed from the very beginning that she did not pound on the piano, but started to play note by note with her second finger. Montero subsequently reproduced songs her mother sung to her, “and by the time I was eighteen months old, I was already playing all these melodies, including the National Anthem of Venezuela and lullabies.”

J.S. Bach: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (arr. G. Montero) (Gabriela Montero, piano)

The Argentinian pianist Lyl Tiempo started Montero on formal piano lessons at the age of four, and she gave her first public performance at the age of five. She made her public debut at the age of eight, performing the Haydn D Major concerto with the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by José Antonio Abreu. Montero writes, “I did all the competitions and had a lot of success with that. I have always performed, but for me it’s been an ongoing ambivalent kind of question, because it’s not just who you are and what you were born to do, but what you choose to dedicate your life to and the sacrifices that come with that.” At the age of 9, Montero received a scholarship from the Venezuelan government to study in the US, and from 1990 until 1993, she studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hamish Milne. Apparently, Montero hated to practice, “because to me, music is an extension of life, and I don’t like to use the word practicing—but rather discovery. There’s something very mechanical in the idea of practicing, and for me, sitting at the piano should be a journey of discovering yourself, the pieces, and who you are in that moment as a performer—which may be different from who you were the day before. To me the interesting thing about music and being a musician has become so much more about finding ways for the music to reveal itself to me.” 

Following into the footsteps of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, who were celebrated for their ability to improvise, Montero incorporates improvisations based on melodies called out by audience members as part of her solo recital. Montero recalls that she has always improvised since she was little. “Maybe because of my neurology,” she explains, “I have been in contact with improvisation since I was a child. It is who I am, and it has become more and more a tool of storytelling, and reporting what’s going on in the world, and issues that I want to speak about. It has always been there. It’s the first thing I do when I sit down at the piano to say hello.” Her first teacher immediately recognized this talent, but the second teacher in the Unites States was opposite. “She would say to me: Don’t improvise! It’s worth nothing! So, for many years it was something that I kind of kept to myself, and very few people knew that I had this ability. I saw it as something that didn’t belong in the classical world. That’s when Martha Argerich heard me play. She told me, Why don’t you share this with the world, this is unique, you have to show this to the world!” Montero writes, “When I improvise, I connect to my audience in a completely unique way, and they connect with me. Because improvisation is such a huge part of who I am, it is the most natural and spontaneous way I can express myself.” 

Montero has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, and she is a highly sought-after recitalist. However, Montero has also turned to composition and won a Grammy for Best Classical Album at the 2015 Latin Grammy Awards. She focused exclusively on works by Latin American composer, as “more and more there seems to be a real want for this kind of migration of cultures and sounds and composing. I found that with my own concerto, the Latin Concerto, which I play a lot, there’s an incredible openness to classical music language with other rhythms, harmonies, and influences. More and more, we see programming that combines this kind of repertoire and people find the connection between the styles. I see more diversity in programming, which is good.” However, Montero’s work is not limited to musical stages, as she is a committed human rights advocate. Amnesty International named her Honorary Consul in 2015, and the Human Rights Foundation honored her with the Outstanding Work in the Field of Human Rights award for her ongoing commitment to human rights advocacy in Venezuela. She has been outspoken in her support for those who have challenged the current Venezuelan regime, and has deplored the state of the country and the crackdown on protesters. The advice she gives to young professionals and students is straightforward, “There are no guarantees, nor formulas… What keeps you grounded is always just thinking about the music and wanting to be a better artist… Never lose sight of the higher goals, which are really to become a better communicator and a better person through it. Also, realize that you have power as an artist to speak, to get involved. Be informed. Speak for the right people. Speak on behalf of people! Use your music for more than just entertainment!”

On This Day 7 May: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony Was Premiered

by Georg Predota

The Premiere of Beethoven’s Last Symphony

Beethoven in 1823 by Waldmuller

During the final stages of putting the finishing touches on his 9th symphony (which was also Beethoven’s last symphony), Beethoven was adamant that it should be premiered in Berlin. For years, Beethoven had lamented the changing musical taste of Viennese audiences, who numerously flocked to see the operatic entertainments offered by Rossini and other Italian composers. Beethoven and Rossini did meet once in Vienna in 1822, and supposedly Beethoven counseled his young colleague with the words, “Above all, make a lot of Barbers!”

For Beethoven, Rossini was a composer of light comedies, who embraced the “rankest lap of luxury” by pandering to populist demands. And supposedly, Beethoven quipped “Rossini would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough on the backside.” Whether this meeting actually took place or not is clearly beside the point, as it quickly became, and still is, part of a much larger narrative.

Caroline Unger

Beethoven’s threat to take his 9th symphony to Berlin was real enough, and it took a petition signed by a number of prominent Viennese patrons, friends, financiers and performers for the composer to change his mind. As such, Beethoven assembled a large orchestra and recruited Henriette Sontag and Caroline Unger to sing the soprano and the contralto parts, respectively.

According to participating musicians, the work had only two full rehearsals before it was premiered on 7 May 1824 in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna. Various stories and anecdotes surround this momentous occasion, but Beethoven—who had been profoundly deaf for almost a decade—took part in the performance by giving the tempos for each part and turning the pages of his score “as though he wanted to play all the instruments and sing all the chorus parts.”

Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna

However, the “official conductor” Michael Umlauf, had instructed the singers and musician to ignore all of Beethoven’s instructions. When the work had ended, Beethoven was apparently still conducting and Caroline Unger is credited with turning Beethoven to face the applauding audience. Beethoven’s underlying conception of music as a mode of self-expression still resonates strongly today. Whether one agrees with, or rejects his compositional approach, after the premiere of Beethoven’s last symphony, a symphony combining a large orchestra, choir and vocal soloists for the first time, nothing in music could ever be the same.