In 2013, composer John Luther Adams premiered his contemporary orchestral work Become Ocean. The piece won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music and a Grammy in 2015 for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Become Ocean was inspired by the oceans in the Pacific Northwest (particularly that of Alaska, where Adams lived for much of his life). The name was […]
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Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was one of the most important composers leading into the 20th century. He pushed against boundaries, created his own harmonies, and paved the way for future composers to compose beautiful and unique sounds. Read more about him here. Musical Analysis Nuages is the first movement of a work called Nocturnes, a set of three symphonic […]
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I recently came across a little Mozartian gem called Das Veilchen (“The Violet”), K. 476. It’s a song for voice and piano he wrote in 1785 set to the words of a poem by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The poem was written in the early 1770s as a metaphor for a young man’s broken heart, and […]
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La Valse (The Waltz) by Maurice Ravel, written between 1919 and 1920, exists in three different versions: a piano solo, a piano duet, and an orchestral version. The work was originally written as a ballet, but due to tension between Ravel and commissioner/impressario (one who organizes and produces concerts, plays, or operas) Sergei Diaghilev, it was never turned […]
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About Scriabin Alexander Scriabin: one of the most influential composers of modern music. The Russian composer and pianist, who lived from 1872-1915, either crazy or a genius (or both), influenced prominent 20th century composers (such as Igor Stravinsky and Prokofiev). Scriabin is known for his harsh dissonance and atonal music (music that does not have a tonal […]
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Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn (also known as Joseph Haydn or Papa Haydn) is a staple of the Classical era. Throughout his lifetime (1732-1809), he was highly regarded as a composer; in fact, he is known as “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet” because he was instrumental (pun definitely intended) in shaping […]
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Before we jump into this blog post, let’s listen to the focus piece first. Because it is so beautiful. Background Maurice Ravel was a French composer who lived from 1875-1937. He is best known for composing in the style of French Impressionism (a musical movement focused on creating an atmosphere and describing moods and emotions in […]
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Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, and author Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a virtuoso. He began playing the piano at a young age, and by the time he was eight years old he was already composing. And, as you can see, he spent his whole life studying, writing, and performing music. I’m not […]
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Background In 1808, the Russian Empire marched into Finland and overthrew its Swedish rule. By the end of 1809, Finland had become subject to Russian rule and remained so until 1917. I certainly wouldn’t be happy if the Russian Empire declared itself ruler over my country, so it’s no surprise that Finland wasn’t very happy […]
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Yes, that’s right. Beethoven and Star Wars. What do they have in common? This post will explore that very question, but I am not going to explain the correlation until you have a little bit of background, so stay with me. First, a brief history of Ludvig van Beethoven – pianist and composer extraordinaire. A […]
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