Collection of music videos

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a French composer, an eminent figure in program music and romanticism in general. His father, a doctor, sent him to Paris to study medicine; but he abandoned medicine and enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire where he studied composition. From here to Rome where, while on a scholarship, he wrote several operas, symphonies, overtures, various songs and choral works. He took notice of the hymns of his teacher, Jean-François Lesueur , and did a lot of imitation of Beethoven , then unknown in France ; also Gluck, Mozart, Étienne Méhul and Carl Maria von Weber. In 1844 he composed the first known work for saxophone, the Canto Sagrado sextet, which was premiered under the baton of Berlioz himself and with Adolphe Sax on saxophone.

Overture is the instrumental introduction to an opera or other dramatic work, musical or not, although some independent instrumental compositions of the 19th and 20th centuries were also called overtures by their composers. The first operas dating from the early seventeenth century , did not have overtures but an introduction made by the vocalists in which they made a summary of the action that was going to take place immediately afterwards. Instrumental introductions began to be used regularly in the mid- 17th century ; the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck was one of the first to use material from his operas for overtures. In this way, they established the emotional profile of the opera that followed.

The Roman Carnival overture, which we are suggesting today, is actually the prelude to act II of the opera Benvenuto Cellini ; opera that had a lamentable acceptance both in its debut and in the two subsequent performances that were made during the composer's lifetime; so he decided to present it as an independent work in 1844, obtaining a resounding success. Today we offer it under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas (1944) pianist, composer and important American conductor.

Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909). He was a virtuoso guitarist and composer (“el Sarasate de la guitarra”), born in Villarreal (Castellón), whose childhood was marked by an accident, when he fell into a ditch due to the carelessness of the girl who took care of him, and his impaired sight. His father, fearing that he would go blind, moved to Castellón so that he could attend music classes and earn a living as a musician. Later, in 1874, he entered the Madrid Conservatory , where he studied composition with Emilio Arrieta . By the age of eighteen he was already giving guitar classes and regularly offering concerts. From 1880 he began his international tours, visiting cities such as Paris, Lyon or London , while his recitals throughout the state were innumerable.

Tárrega was interested in combining the romantic tendency that prevailed in classical music with the Spanish popular elements. He is considered the creator of the foundations of 20th century classical guitar technique and the growing interest in the guitar as a recital instrument. He died on December 15, 1909 in Barcelona due to a stroke at the age of 57.

Today we offer Recuerdos de la Alhambra , one of his most popular works and written for solo guitar after a trip to Granada and its Alhambra , whose incessant tremolos (each note is played repeatedly quickly) remind us of the whisper of its sources with the symbology of water present at all times. The execution is in charge of Sharon Isbin , American classical guitarist, praised for her lyricism, precise technique and versatility, she is one of the first interpreters of classical guitar in the international arena.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian priest, violinist, and composer known as the red priest (“il prete rosso”). He was born in Venice and as a child learned to play the violin from his father; at the age of 15 he entered the Seminary and once ordained a priest, he could barely attend to his religious obligations due to his health problems; so he was appointed violin teacher in an orphanage where he taught theory and instrument classes. At the age of 40, he was appointed Chapel Master in Mantua where he wrote his famous Four Seasons . From there he moved to Milan , then to Rome ; later, again to Venice and finally, to Vienna where he would die. Throughout his life he composed almost 800 works, of which half were concerts, 40 operas, 60 religious works and numerous sonatas.

The Concerto is a musical form written for one or more solo instruments accompanied by an instrumental ensemble. It was Vivaldi who established the fundamental bases of its structure with three movements ( I fast-II slow-III fast ) and presented as a dialogue between the soloists and the instrumental ensemble. Starting from classicism, especially from the bases created by CPE Bach , the first movement is built following the patterns of the sonata form (exposure, development, re-exposition) , while the second and third movements adopt free and punctual forms. Frequently, at the end of the first and/or third movement, the soloists have a cadence without orchestral accompaniment with which they can show off their virtuosity.

Today we offer Vivaldi 's Concert for two oboes, strings and continuo performed by the young students of the Reina Sofía School of Music .

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was a Russian pianist, conductor, and composer born into an aristocratic family of musicians; He began playing the piano at the age of four, formalizing his studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and later at the Moscow Conservatory. After the premiere of his First Symphony and the criticism received, he suffered a creative crisis for four years. Once surpassed, he wrote the Piano Concerto No. 2 , which received worldwide recognition. After the Russian revolution, he moved with his family to Switzerland and, in 1935, to the USA , writing numerous works for piano solo and concertante, chamber music, symphonic and lyric. He is considered one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century and one of the most representative Russian composers.

Symphonic Dances , Op. 45, is an orchestral suite in three movements. Completed in 1940, it is the last composition by Sergei Rachmaninov . The work is fully representative of the late style of the composer with its curious, shifting melodies, similar to that of Prokofiev , as well as the grotesque central movements and the color focus of each instrument throughout the work (highlighting the use of the alto saxophone in the first dance ). The Dances evoke a nostalgia for the Russia he knew, as well as his lifelong fascination with ecclesiastical themes.

The origin of the Carnival seems to come from the festivities that were celebrated in the Roman Empire in honor of Bacchus , god of wine and parties, to celebrate the arrival of spring. In Western culture, Carnival is associated with Catholicism, since Lent begins with Ash Wednesday , after which comes Holy Week ; all of them days of recollection and penance. In this way, knowing what is coming, the last holiday is celebrated, Shrove Tuesday ; party that begins the previous Thursday, called Jueves Lardero or Fat Thursday . The characteristic of these days basically consists of the celebration in the street of a festive and collective debauchery expressed in costumes, couplets, dances, parades and any occurrence that arises .

Samba is a musical genre with African roots that emerged in Brazil , from which a type of dance derives. It is one of the main manifestations of Brazilian popular culture and a symbol of national identity. (Not to be confused with the Zamba , a completely different musical genre, of Argentine origin.) Although in some countries the female voice ( the samba ) is used, in Brazil and in some countries such as Argentina and Uruguay , the male voice ( the samba ) is used. It was in the old capital of Brazil where the dance of the freed slaves came into contact with other musical genres and incorporated them, acquiring a singular character. In this way, it was the carioca samba that reached the status of a symbol of Brazilian national identity, spreading throughout Brazil , associated with Carnival.

Gozategi is a Basque music group that achieved great success in the Basque Country with trikitixa melodies in the 1990s. The group consists of the brothers Asier Gozategi and Ainhoa ​​Gozategi and others. The Gozategi group brought an unusual format in the trikitixa: the trio. They added another member to the traditional pair of sound players and tambourine: the bass and brass. Asier Gozategi (trikitixa and voice), Ainhoa ​​Gozategi (tambourine and voice) and Iñigo Goikoetxea (bass, brass) began offering pilgrimages in 1992 under the name Gozategi Anai-arrebak . Subsequently, they became Gozategi . Elkar presented them as a representative of the new generation of trikitilaris, releasing their first album: Gozategi (1995). He highlighted the youth, freshness, vibrancy and color of the trio's music, adding that it was "for young listeners of all ages".

Ainhoa ​​(Elkar 1996), the album that we offer today, was his second album and his greatest success, specifically with the song Nirekin (6'23''). It was a summer song from 1996 and the catchphrase "emoiztaxuz muxutxuek..." spread by word of mouth.

Niccoló Paganini (1782-1840) Italian composer of violin virtuosity. A child prodigy, his father forced him from an early age to spend long hours studying the violin; so that by the age of fourteen his teachers declared themselves incompetent to continue teaching him. As a violin soloist he made different tours of Italy, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, Berlin, Paris and London ; admired for his astonishing technique, he obtained declared recognition from Liszt and Berlioz , among others; His technique caused admiration to such an extent that it was said of him that he had made a pact with the devil. He wrote numerous works for violin and also for guitar, viola and bassoon. He died of tuberculosis at age 58.

Satanella (known also as Le Diable amoureux ) is a ballet in three acts written by the French dancer and choreographer Joseph Mazilier (1801-1868) with music by Napoléon Henri Reber (1807-1880) and François Benoist (1794-1878), based musically in Paganini 's Carnival of Venice . Today we offer several numbers of this ballet in the interpretation of Eugenia Obraztsova, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Mariinsky Ballet , and Alexander Sergeyev , principal dancer, likewise, of the Mariinsky Ballet .

The chirigota is a choral musical group of carnival character that sings mainly through the streets offering humorous couplets to the city. The songs performed by these choral formations are also generically called chirigotas . The chirigotas are recitative and monologue couplets and have very simple musical forms from the pasodoble, the rumba, the tanguillo, the seguidilla, the jota, the isa canaria, etc. The ad-hoc invented letrillas are coupled to this music and deal with a wide variety of topics, focusing above all on current affairs, both political and from the gossip. The main objective of the chirigota is to make the public laugh through satirical-humorous criticism.

The chirigota of Cádiz is made up of a maximum of 12 components and a minimum of 7. The voice that the chirigota usually uses is the tenor, who carries the melody and is generally accompanied by second voices, a bass drum, a snare drum, two guitars and of the güiros The repertoire interpreted by the chirigotas that appear in the Official Contest of Carnival Groups consists of a presentation (not necessarily with unpublished music) that is related to the type (costume) that group wears, two pasodobles (with original music from the group). , two cuplés (with original music), a chorus (sung at the end of each cuplé and also original) that is related to the type of group and a medley (divided into quatrains).