Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Nikolai Rimski-Korssakoff - His Music and Life
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.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Serge Prokofieff - His Music and Life (II)
After the Russian revolution 1917-1918, Prokoieff pulled out to live abroad in Japan, U.S.A., and Upper Bavaria/Germany.His opera "Love to Three Oranges" (1919) also flopped; only the opera march remained as hit up to now.
The children's opera "Peter and the Wolf" is classical music equipment. I grew up with this antique record (by the way, the first in my classical music collection), when I started playing piano at the age of 4 sometime in 1957.
Prokofieff composed fantastic ballet works: "Romeo and Juliet" (1935), "Cinderella" (1941-1944 during World War II), or "The Stony Flower" (1949).
During my stay in Russia in 1981, Prokofieff's ballet works became main parts of Moscow's theatres. Prokoieff's last work (opus 125) has been "The Concerto for violin cello and orchestra", which has been dedicated to Msistlaw Rostropowitsch, a great violin cello virtuoso from the Moscow College of Music.
Serge Prokofieff - His Music and Life
Born in Sonzowka-Jekaterinoslaw/Russia on April 23, 1891, Serge Prokofieff passed away on March 5, 1953. His father was an estate trustee; his mother taught him effusive music classes.
At the age of 9, Prokofieff couldn't read or write, but being able to compose, he started with his first opera. His teachers have been all very well-known: Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956), Anatol Liadow (1855-1914), and Nikolai Rimsky-Korssakof (1844-1908).
The "Piano Sonata f-minor" from 1909 became his Opus 1. In 1913, Prokofieff played his "Second Piano Concerto in g-minor" for the honorable dedication of Serge Diaghilew (1872-1929).
At the end of his studies in 1914, he won the "Rubinstein Trophy".
Prokofieff's ballet "Ala and Lolly" became a flop; some pieces from this ballet, known as "Skythetic Suite" became a scandal in 1916. Prokofieff's ironical hemisphere, especially remarkable in his piano pieces "Sarcasm" (1912, opus 17) widened certain uneasiness among music lovers.
His "Symphony classic d-major" (1916/1917) became a continuous success.
(To be continued!)
Friday, November 2, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Franz Liszt - His Music and Life
Liszt's father, an estate-trustee of Prince Esterhazy, resigned from his job, because his son as a six years old lad showed a surprising music-talent. At the age of 9, Franz Liszt gave concerts in a sensational performance. Art-sensible Hungarian noblemen donated a scholarship for six years.
Liszt and his parents moved to Vienna in 1821, where he got Carl Czerny (Vienna 1791-1857) and Antonio Salieri (Italy, Austria 1750-1825) as wonderful teachers. In Vienna, he was allowed to play something for the great Ludwig van Beethoven. In 1823, Liszt made his first concert tour to Paris. Luigi Cerhubini (1760-1842) rejected Liszt as student of the Conservatoire de Paris, because he didn't like child prodigies.
Liszt learned a lot from Niccolo Paganini and Frederic Chopin. The meaningful piano work started in 1826 with "24 Grandes Etudes pur le piano" followed by the "3 Nocturnes Dreams of Love" (1850). No. 3 became a well known orchestral version up tonow.
The 19 "Hungarian Rhapsodies" didn't get their original extraction from Hungarian melodies or folk dances, as Liszt erroneously thought about. His "Piano Concertos No. 1 in e-flat major" (1855) and "a-major" (1857) are music treasures and are regularly included in my playlist of my radio show.
Liszt's more or less 40 orchestral works came into being within 10 years, such as "Tasso" (1854), "Les Preludes" (1854), "Faustus Symphony" (1857) or "Dance of Death" (1858), a para-phrase on "Dies Irae" for piano and orchestra.
All in all Franz Liszt composed 673 musical works and became valid as founder of the General German Music Association in 1861.
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