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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German violinist, organist, conductor and composer. He was born in Eisenach into the most prominent musical family in history, with more than 30 famous composers in its midst. In 1703 he obtained his first job as court musician to the Prince of Arndstat and in 1707 he moved to Mülhausen as an organist, where he married his cousin Maria Barbara with whom he had seven children. After the death of his wife in 1720, after a year and a half of widowhood, he married Maria Magdalena again, with whom he would have another thirteen children. In 1723 he moved to Leipzig, where he would reside until his death at the age of 65. A prolific composer, he is considered one of the three main geniuses in the history of music along with Mozart and Beethoven.
The catalogue of Bach's works or Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis , better known by its initials BWV , consists of a numbered index of all the composer's works arranged thematically by type of work or genre and according to their vocal or instrumental nature and used by scholars and musicians around the world. This catalogue was created in 1950 by the German musicologist Wolfgang Schmieder .
A prelude is a short piece of music, usually without a particular internal form. While it may have served as an introduction to the successive movements of a work during the Baroque period, it may also have been a stand-alone work during the Romantic era. It usually features a small number of rhythmic and melodic motifs of an improvisatory nature that are repeated throughout the piece.
Today we offer the Prelude that opens the Suite in G minor BWV 995 in a guitar version performed by the Slovenian guitarist Karmen Stendler .
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was a German composer, one of the pillars of Romanticism . He studied piano, although due to an incurable injury to his right hand, he gave up his piano career to focus on composition. He married Clara Wieck ("Clara Schumann"), daughter of his former teacher, a composer and prodigious pianist; both maintained a close friendship with Brahms . From the age of 23 he suffered several depressive episodes and hallucinations and attempted suicide in 1854. Until the age of 30 he only wrote works for piano and lieder (songs); but encouraged by his wife, he dared to undertake works of greater weight and thus he would write several choral works, chamber works, orchestral works among which stand out his four symphonies, a dramatic poem, Manfred , and an opera.
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 is a concertante piece for piano and orchestra written by Robert Schumann between 1841 and 1845. It was premiered on 4 December 1845 in Dresden and was first published in 1846. The work is dedicated to the German pianist and composer Ferdinand Hiller . It is one of the most performed and recorded piano concertos of the Romantic period . Structured in three movements, the concerto has an almost symphonic character, in sharp contrast to the then predominant view of the concerto as a primary vehicle for virtuoso display, exemplified by the concertante works of Franz Liszt and Nicolò Paganini . Indeed, the technical demands of the work, while not inconsiderable, are almost totally subordinated to the thematic interest and structural clarity.
First movement , Allegro affettuoso . Written in the key of A minor and in 4/4 time, the movement is roughly and very freely constructed in traditional sonata form . It opens without an orchestral introduction with a darkly martial downward turn. The entire piece is structured around a beautiful main theme marked by great solemnity, which becomes the primary source of melodic material. The development moves from one mood to another almost dizzyingly, at the same time exploring the ambiguities of the different component themes. Schumann skilfully uses the long cadenza as a battleground for further emotional conflict before concluding the movement with a decisive return of the soaring first theme.
Today the Moscow pianist Osetinskaya Polina , accompanied by the Moscow Symphony conducted by the Dutch maestro Arthur Arnold, offers us the First Movement of said concert.
Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 1936) was an Italian composer, conductor and musicologist. He began studying piano and violin with his father and continued at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna , as well as composition and historical studies of early music. In 1900 he accepted the role of principal violist in the orchestra of the Russian Theatre in St. Petersburg , where he met Rimsky-Korsakov , with whom he studied orchestration for five months, after which he returned to Bologna. In 1913 he was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome , a post he held for the rest of his life. He wrote works for piano, guitar, violin and piano, various chamber ensembles, numerous symphonic music, choral music, eight operas and five ballets.
Antiche arie e danze is a set of three orchestral suites by Respighi , freely transcribed from original pieces for lute. Suite No. 3 is arranged for string orchestra and is based on lute songs by Besard , a piece for baroque guitar by Ludovico Roncalli , and lute pieces by Santino Garsi da Parma and other anonymous composers. The Siciliana , which we suggest today, is the third movement of the suite and is a melody of unknown authorship from the 16th century .
The performance will be by the Korean amateur orchestra Uni String Ensemble conducted by Kim Ji Hoon .
Cesare Andrea Bixio (Naples, 11 October 1896 – Rome, 5 March 1978) was an Italian composer of soundtracks for theatre, film, radio and television.
Luciano Pavarotti (Modena, 12 October 1935 – Modena, 6 September 2007) was an Italian tenor with an intense voice in the high notes and rich in the mids, with clear phrasing and a clear timbre. Pavarotti is considered one of the most famous singers of the last decades of the 20th century and the first of the 21st century , both in the world of lyrical singing and in popular music, and credited as the best tenor in history.
Today we offer the song Mamma , a work by the Neapolitan composer Bixio arranged by Mancini and performed by Pavarotti accompanied by the Philarmonia Orchestra conducted by maestro Leone Magiera .
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Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679 – 1745) was a Czech Baroque composer, born in Louňovice pod Blaníkem , a small town southwest of Prague (now the Czech Republic ). Although little is known about his childhood and youth, it was probably his father, who was a teacher and organist in the town of Lunovice , who introduced him to the world of music. From 1715 to 1719 he studied with Johann Joseph Fux in Vienna and with Antonio Lotti and Alessandro Scarlatti in Italy . In 1719 he took up permanent residence in Dresden , where he was appointed in 1721 deputy chapel master at the court of Augustus II of Poland and in 1729, director of church music.
Zelenka composed both instrumental and vocal music, although the majority of his work is devoted to church music. His music is unconventional and highly original; nevertheless, most of his work was forgotten after his death and it was not until the end of the 20th century that some of his works were performed again. About 20 masses, 4 Requiems, 2 Magnificats, numerous psalms, a cappella responses, 3 oratorios and an opera Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis are known by him. In his instrumental music Zelenka introduces elements of Czech popular music; notable are 6 chamber sonatas, 5 capriccios for orchestra, a symphony, a suite-overture, a program overture, Hipochondria , and a concerto for orchestra in G major.
Zelenka 's music is recorded and arranged thematically in Wolfgang Reich 's catalogue Zelenka-Werke-Verzeichnis (ZWV).
Today we present Zelenka 's Miserere offered by the Moscow Oratorio Society Artistic conducted by maestro Alexander Tsaliuk .
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) was a German harpsichordist and composer, the second son of Johann Sebastian Bach 's first marriage, with whom he studied harpsichord, performance and composition; he was one of the founders of Classicism . In 1738 he became a member of the Court of Frederick the Great . Feeling insufficiently appreciated, he left the Court to move to Zittau and later to Leipzig . In 1768, after the death of Telemann , he succeeded him as Chapel Master of Hamburg , where he resided until his death in 1788. Throughout his career he wrote numerous keyboard works, some two hundred chamber works, nineteen symphonies, fifteen concertos for different instruments, several songs and hymns, two oratorios and twenty passions.
The works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach are found under two different references, Wq. and H. , which refer to two different catalogues: Wq. (sometimes W.) is an abbreviation for Wotquenne , an index compiled by Alfred Wotquenne ; it is the older catalogue (1905). On the other hand, H. is the catalogue compiled by E. Eugen Helm , which is more complete and up-to-date.
Today we present the Concerto for cello and string orchestra in A major, Wq 172 , by CPE Bach ; a concert structured in three movements: I (0´13´´) ALLEGRO .-. II (6´55´´) ADAGIO .- III (14´10´´) ALLEGRO and today offered by the German cellist Monika Leskovar accompanied by the Zagreb Soloists .
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was born in Nelahozeves , then Bohemia , now Czech Republic , and is considered one of the great masters of the second half of the 19th century and a leading exponent of Czech nationalism. In 1847 he entered the grammar school in his village, where he received his first musical education, showing precocious talent. Later he entered the organ school in Prague, developing as a professional violist; he played the viola in the Orchestra of the Bohemian Provisional Theatre , which was directed from 1866 by Bedřich Smetana .
He visited England on nine occasions, usually to present and conduct his own music, where he received important prizes, as well as in Prague and Berlin. From 1892 to 1895 Dvořák was director of the National Conservatory in New York ; from his arrival in the USA in 1892 Dvořák showed a great interest in Native American music, as evidenced by his well-known New World Symphony. In April 1895 he left the United States and returned permanently to his homeland, from which he left only very rarely. As soon as he arrived in Prague he resumed his work as a teacher at the Conservatory . In the last years of his life the great composer continued to receive all kinds of honours and recognition.
Throughout his life he wrote music for piano, violin and piano, trios, quartets, quintets, a sextet, two series of Slavonic dances, serenades, suites, overtures, three rhapsodies, five symphonic poems, nine symphonies, several concertos, 100 songs and vocal duets and several operas.
Catalogue of Dvořák 's works . His works are classified by their Opus number (from Latin opus 'work'; op. abbreviation), which is a term used in music to catalogue the works of most composers since the 17th century .
Zlatý kolovrat (The Golden Spinning Wheel), Op. 109 , is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Antonín Dvořák , composed from January to April 1896. The work is inspired by the poem of the same name found in Kytice , a collection of Karel Jaromír Erbe 's folk ballads. The Golden Spinning Wheel was the third of his five symphonic poems.
Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) was an Armenian composer under the Soviet regime. At the age of 16 he entered the Moscow Conservatory to study with Nikolai Myaskovsky , among other teachers. At the age of 22 he began to write for piano and chamber music. Later he delved into the production of orchestral music, theatre music, film music and ballet music, including the ballet Spartacus and the ballet Gayane , to which the well-known Sabre Dance belongs. His work, despite holding important positions, was dismissed as “anti-people” during the Stalin era. His music is clear, agile and vibrant, and his works reflect the popular Armenian music, to which he was always attracted. In Armenia he is considered its main composer.
Gayaneh is a ballet in four acts with music by Aram Khachaturian , composed in 1942 to a libretto by Konstantin Derzhavin , and choreographed by Nina Anissimova ; it was premiered by the Kirov Ballet in Perm (Russia) on 9 December 1942. The score was revised in 1952, and in 1957, with a new libretto. It tells the story of a young Armenian girl whose patriotic feelings collide with personal ones when she discovers her husband's betrayal. However, the plot was subsequently modified several times, emphasizing the importance of romance rather than patriotism. Today we offer a suite from the ballet, beginning with the aforementioned Sabre Dance , performed by the Sofia Philharmonic under the direction of Italian maestro Beatrice Venezi .
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Benny Carter (190-2003) was an American jazz musician, clarinetist, alto saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and big band leader, one of the leading figures in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and acknowledged by other jazz musicians as the King . In 1958 he performed with Billie Holiday at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival . The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Benny Carter its highest honor in jazz, the 1986 NEA Jazz Masters Award. He also received the 1987 Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the 1994 Grammy Award for " Prelude to a Kiss ", and, that same year, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Additionally, in 2000, at the request of the National Endowment for the Arts , he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton .
Indila , whose real name is Adila Sedraïa , was born in France but has very diverse origins: India, Cambodia, Algeria, Egypt … for this reason, she describes herself as a “child of the world”. Her musical career took off in 2010 when she began to collaborate with famous artists such as Nessbeal, Soprano, Patrick Bruel . In 2013, her composition Derniére danse burst onto the music scene; in just a few hours the video clip of this song gained 20 million views, and today it has more than 600 billion views, critics speak of this work as “a retro-style postcard”. In 2014 she was named the best new artist of French song and the following year, she was awarded the prestigious “Victoire de la Musique” prize. (Extracted from an article in Los 40 )
Armando Manzanero Canché (1935-2020), was a Mexican composer, singer, actor, musician and record producer, considered by specialists, the press and musicians as one of the most successful Mexican composers in history. He wrote more than four hundred songs, of which more than fifty have achieved international fame, such as "Somos novios", "Esta tarde vi llover", "Contigo aprendí" and "Adoro" . His songs earned him the pseudonym of King of Romanticism and were performed by multiple international stars.
He was awarded a Grammy for his artistic career, participated in numerous radio and television programs, recorded more than thirty albums and composed music for numerous films.
Dulce Pontes (1969) is a Portuguese fado singer and composer; she is considered a world music artist. Her artistic activity contributed to the fado renaissance in the nineties of the last century. Pontes is distinguished by her versatile, dramatic and warmly emotional voice; some of the songs in her repertoire are her own compositions. In 1991 she won the RTP Song Festival and represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest; that same year she participated in the OTI Festival , held in Acapulco . Throughout her career she has performed alongside artists such as Ennio Morricone, Giorgos Dalaras, Andrea Bocelli and José Carreras.
Fado is the most internationally known expression of Portuguese music . In fado, life experiences are expressed through song. It is usually sung by one person, accompanied by the viola (Spanish guitar) and the Portuguese guitar. The most commonly sung themes in fado are melancholy, nostalgia or short stories of daily life in poor neighborhoods, but especially fatalism and frustration.
Documentary evidence of the existence of fado dates back to 1838, although some identify its origin with the songs of seafaring people, inspired by loneliness, nostalgia and the rocking of ships on the water. It is believed that it originated in the neighbourhoods around the port of Lisbon , among the poor classes, sailors, workers, ruffians, chamiceras, bohemian people from Alfama , Bairro Alto and others.
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Jean Schneitzhoeffer (Toulouse, 13 October 1785 – Paris, 4 October 1852) was a French composer and pianist. He was a student of Charles Simon Catel at the Paris Conservatoire . In 1803 ―at the age of 17― he won second prize for piano. According to the artist Charles Seshan , "he played almost all the instruments and was a gifted pianist". In 1815 he obtained the post of cymbalist at the Paris Opera . In 1822 he was appointed chef de chant ('vocal coach'). He was appointed professor in the choir classes at the Paris Conservatoire . In 1840 he was awarded the Legion of Honour .
La Sylphide is a romantic ballet in two acts, choreographed by Filippo Taglioni in 1832, although there is a second version choreographed by Auguste Bournonville in 1836. Bournonville 's version is the only one that has survived and is one of the oldest ballets in the world. Its script tells us the adventures of the young Scotsman, James , engaged to Effie , who falls in love with a Sylph , an ethereal creature invisible to the rest of humanity.
Today we offer Pierre Lacotte 's choreographic version, based on the original by Filippo Taglioni with music by Jean Schneitzhoffer and performed by Ghislaine Thesmar (la Sylphide), Michael Denard (James) and Laurence Nerval (Effie)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a French composer, a leading figure in programmatic music and Romanticism in general. He studied in Paris and Rome , where he was on a scholarship, studying the hymns of his teacher, Jean-François Lesueur , and imitating Beethoven , who was then unknown in France , as well as Gluck, Mozart, Étienne Méhul and Carl Maria von Weber. In 1844 he composed the first known work for saxophone, the sextet Canto Sagrado , which was premiered under the baton of Berlioz himself and with Adolphe Sax on saxophone. He also wrote several symphonies (among which his best-known work, the Symphonie fantastique , stands out), overtures, operas, cantatas, sacred music, non-theatrical dramatic works, choral works and numerous songs.
Romeo et Juliette is a symphony of programmatic music written for soloists, chorus and orchestra, of which today we will watch a choreographed fragment of it, with the performance of the Malandain Ballet Biarritz directed by its main choreographer Thierry Malandain .
Korrontzi is a musical group formed by Agus Barandiaran in 2004 with the aim of promoting traditional Basque music, although updated by new trends, as well as showing some of its most characteristic instruments such as the trikitrixa , the txalaparta or the alboka throughout the world; for all this, it has received numerous awards.
Oinkari dantza taldea is a Basque popular dance group that has put on various shows, such as Aspaldikotik, Amantalen Ahotsa, Ari du, Itsasoaren Emazteak or Sagartu . Today in collaboration with Korrontzi they offer us this song/dance Aupa Maurizia!
The Cueca is the national dance of Chile ; it has a lively rhythm and is danced by mixed couples who, with a white handkerchief in their right hand, express the different stages of a love affair. Its origin seems to come from the imitation of the courtship of the rooster and the hen. The cueca is a musical genre and a dance of loose mixed couples from the late 18th century . The dancers, who carry a handkerchief in their right hand, trace circular figures, with turns and half turns, interrupted by various flourishes. On November 6, 1979, the Cueca was officially declared "national dance of Chile " and in 1989 the Chilean government declared September 17 as " National Cueca Day ".
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Various Wikipedia articles have been used to write these texts.
The texts of Videomusicalis are written in Basque, Spanish and English.
