Klaus Döring's Classical Music/Klaus Döring's Klassische Musik

by   Georg Predota, Interlude Marie and Karoline Esterházy It is certainly telling that the earliest surviving music by  Franz Schubert  is the extended Fantasie D. 48 for piano duet. Composed at the age of thirteen, Schubert composed prolifically for the medium until his untimely death at the age of 31. For Schubert and his friends,  four-hand piano music  was a natural part of convivial evenings. Since this repertoire was almost exclusively destined for the private amateur salon market, however, a large number of these genial and charming works are still virtually unknown. Presumably written in 1818 or 1824, Schubert’s Variations D. 968a for piano four hands is one of series of compositions written for the two daughters of Count Johann Karl Esterházy. Schubert was engaged as music tutor to the two girls and spent two summers at the Count’s estate at Zseliz in Hungary. Schubert wrote to his friend Moritz von Schwind, “I have composed a big sonata and variation...

by Fanny Po Sim Head, Interlude  For years, film and television producers and writers have been using classical music to make their work more memorable. It should come as no surprise that some of our earliest memories of classical music might be from the cartoons we watched as children. From  Beethoven  to  Wagner , cartoons have used this music not only as a charming background, but also as a point of focus, almost like another character. In this article I’ve collected a few of my favorite musical cartoon collaborations. Let us know your favorite appearance of classical music in cartoons! SpongeBob SquarePants Spongebob and Gary Classical music is so popular that it is frequently used in cartoons, including this award-winning cartoon,  SpongeBob SquarePants (SpongeBob) ! Premiered in 1999,  Spongebob  is one of the longest-running animated series in the United States. It is currently in its thirteenth season. Created by former marine biologist and ani...

by Georg Predota, Interlude Rossini’s  Otello We celebrate Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) as one of the most successful and popular operatic composers of his time. And although you might never have actually seen or heard a complete Rossini opera, I am sure you know a good many of his overtures. In fact, the overtures have long been staples of the orchestral repertory and much more frequently performed than the operas to which they belong. It is a curious situation in that the reputation of his dramas has never equaled the sweetness “of their melodies, the richness of their harmonies, the brilliance of their orchestration, and the power of their rhythms.” We do know that almost all of his overtures make use of musical elements and melodies that appear somewhere in the opera, which begs the question if Rossini composed the overture before or after he had completed the opera? According to legend, that’s exactly the question a young composer asked Rossini, who described six di...

by Georg Predota, Interlude Franz Schubert On 19 November 1828, Franz Schubert died at the age of 31 in his brother’s flat in Vienna. He had been seriously ill for some time, with the primary symptoms of syphilis presenting themselves as early as December 1822. Premonitions of death consistently haunted Schubert following his diagnosis, and he wrote to a close friend, “I feel myself to be the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, a man whose most brilliant hopes have perished, to whom love and friendship have nothing to offer but pain, whose enthusiasm for all things beautiful is gone, and I ask you, is he not a miserable, unhappy being? Each night, on retiring to bed, I hope I may not wake again, and each morning but recalls yesterday’s grief.” His physical and mental health oscillated between hope and despair, and Schubert took to bed with a fever on 5 November. Suffering from tertiary syphilis and th...

Mariah Carey sets the record straight.  Picture: Alamy By Sophia Alexandra Hall @sophiassocials   G - B - D - F - G - F - D - B - G - C - D - G - D Ah,  Christmas ; the smell of French fries, ketchup packets, and a Big Mac in a pear tree. Or at least that’s what McDonald’s wants you to think of, as it announced its Christmas menu collaboration for 2021 last night. The cryptic message  G - B - D - F - G - F - D - B - G - C - D - G - D  was posted on Twitter, and fans were unsurprisingly puzzled. Some Twitter users immediately started guessing what the global fast-food giant was trying to say. One fan questions if the sequence holds the secret to the meaning of life...  Picture: Twitter Others, such as American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth, used this as an opportunity to ask that their favourite McDonald’s meal item remain on the menu forever... Then, musical fans in the comments section began to realise the sequence could actually be musical, and man...