Essays on Classical Music

Contrasting motives and different lines are the main themes in the second movement of Stravinsky´s “Three pieces for String quartet”. The movement divides into 5 different sections that all have different materials and tempos. The first section (bars 1-14) begins with repeated descending movements in all voices. The movement goes down a semitone in I…

“Franz Schubert was a programmatic composer”. Discuss this statement with reference to two pieces studied and refer to three of the concepts of music in your answer. Composers of the Romantic Period were attracted to programme music – music that provides a story, idea or scene. Franz Schubert, one of the earliest 19th Century composers,…

Richard Wagner is considered as the greatest German composer of opera. He wrote both the scenario and the libretto of his operas; and more than that he is also a conductor, theatre director and essayist. He is known for his works like Die Feen (The Fairies), Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), and Der Ring…

Franz Josef Haydn wrote quite a few concerti for piano, which have neverreally enjoyed the popularity of such pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Whilesome accuse Haydn’s piano concerti of being too ‘light’ or having ‘no meaning’,I find those to be inaccurate surface impressions. I have found a great deal ofenjoyment from these pieces of Haydn,…

A concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. The music may be performed by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band. Kinds of Concerts Chamber Music is generally a small group of musicians performing without…

Introduction The development of seventeenth-century music is famous for an increase of instrumental music which was unimaginable in a former time. Composers of violin music such as Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi were active at the century’s end. To play the violin, to teach violin playing, and to compose music all formed part of theirs…

Puccini’s “Un Bel Di” vs. Adele’s “One and Only” “Un Bel Di” of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is perhaps the most well-known aria of all time. In this particular piece Butterfly, the main character of the play, is painting a picture of her lover’s return. What Butterfly fails to realize is that her husband is no…

     The author of hundreds of energetic, effusive instrumental works, Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi is highly distinguished as the master of the Baroque instrumental concerto, which he meticulously perfected and popularized more than any of his contemporaries.      Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in March 4, 1678. His father, Giovanni Battista, a professional violinist…

Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg to a Lutheran family, and spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is grouped with J. S Bach and Beethoven to be one of the ‘three Bs’. Brahms was a virtuoso pianist, and premiered many of his own works – many of the pieces that he composed…

Antonio Salieri (August 18, 1750 – May 7, 1825), born in Legnano, Italy, near the Austrian dukedom of Mantua, was a composer and conductor who received considerable public acclaim in his day. He studied violin and harpsichord with his brother Francesco, who was a student of Giuseppe Tartini. After the death of his parents, he…