The great German composer Robert Schumann was born 200 years ago this year and died in tragic circumstances in 1856 . He is one of the most important composers of the 19th century , and is the very embodiment of German romanticism .
He was born in Zwickau , Saxony , in what used to be called East Germany before reunification , the son of a bookseller and publisher , which explains his great interest in literature as well as music and explains its infuence on his compositions. Schumann hoped to become a great pianist and studied with the noted piano pedagogue Friedrich Wieck, whose daughter Clara he married .
But his ambitions to become a pianist were thwarted by a finger injury caused by a mechanical device which he used in an attempt to strengthen his keyboard technique , and he then concentrated on composing . His wife Clara was one of the most famous pianists of the 19th century and was an ardent champion of her husband's piano works . She survived him for 40 years and the couple had no fewer than eight children . She even composed music on her own , some of which has been recorded .
Schumann's later years were clouded by mental illness which may have been caused by syphillis , and he had to be confined to a mental institution toward the end . His mental instability caused him to attempt suicide by jumping into the Rhine at one time . But prior to his tragic later years , he poured out a substantial number of beatifully melodious and highly imaginitive works in many forms ; piano pieces , songs , four symphonies , a concerto for piano written for his wife , oratorios , assorted works for chamber ensembles and even one opera which has occaisionally been revived over the years .
Some of his most important piano works are Kinderszenen(scenes from childhood), Kreisleriana , inspired by the German poet and musician E.T.A. Hoffmann , Carneval, a depiction of the Carneval season , Papillons(French for butterflies), and the Fantasia in C . All have extra-musical associations based on literature .
There are many beautiful songs for voice and piano with poetry by such great German poets as Goethe and Joseph Eichendorff , including the song cycles Dichterliebe (poet's love) and Frauenliebe Und Leben (woman's love and life ), which is about a young woman who gets married , bears a child and is eventually widowed , and assorted other songs , including the famous "Two Grenadiers", about two soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars and find their homeland devastated .
The famous piano concerto has been in the repertoire of almost every great pianist for over 150 years , and there are two other concertos, one for violin and one for cello . The first of Schumann's four symphonies is known as the "Spring Symphony " , and was inspired by a poem about that season, and the third is known as the "Rhenish", having been inspired by his time living in Cologne in the Rhineland . The slow movement is supposed to represent a solemn ceremony at Cologne's famous cathedral , which dates from medieval times .
Although his music is strongly influenced by great composers who proceeded him such as Bach and Beethoven , Schumann brought a new kind as fantasy and emotionalism into music and broke from the tendency of past composers to keep music purely abstract and reliant on pre-existing formal tendencies .
There is a highly personal, subjective and quirky quality in Schumann's music which you should find highly appealing . Many great pianists , singers, conductors and other musicians have recorded Schumann's music , including pianists Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Kempff , Marthat Argerich , Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu for example to name only a handful , and the great German baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau ,now retired , and ther great singers such as Christa Ludwig and Lotte Lehmann have made superlative recordings of the songs .
Great conductors who have recorded the symphonies include Wilhelm Furtwangler, George Szell, Leonard Bernstein , Daniel Barenboim , Rafael Kubelik , James Levine , to name only some. A good place to look for these and other Schumann recordings is arkivmusic.com.
If Classical music is something completely new to you , and you don't know Beethoven from a baseball , where do you start ? Good question . I suppose the best way is simply to start listening to recordings of the most famous works by the most famous composers , and then go on to listen to more and more classical works , and just get accustomed to listening to this kind of music .
Also , get a really good book for Classical newbies such as Classical Music 101 by Fred Plotkin , which you can easily get at Amazon.com or other similar websites . Or "What To Listen For In Music " by the great American composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990) ,also easily available on the internet . This gives you technical information about classical music in a wonderfully clear and down to earth manner .
Listening to classical music is a completely different experience from the kind of music you know. it's not just meant to be for casual listening , and it tends to be much more complex than popular music . Also, if you're accustomed to Rock music or pop , you'll be listening to a lot of music which is purely instrumental , such as orchestral and chamber music , although vocal music is a very important part of classical .
And there are many degrees of complexity in it . Mozart and Haydn from the 18th century are much less complex than much music from the 20th century or even the 19th . So it might be a goood idea to start with music from the 18th century by composers such as Bach , Handel, Vivaldi , Haydn and Mozart , and then proceed to Beethoven and later composers .
For example , you might start with Handel's "Water Music ", the stately suite of music written by this German-born, London based composer who lived from 1685 to 1759 . It's called water music , because the composer wrote ceremonial music for a trip on a Royal barge for the English monarch .
Then you might listen to Handel's famous Oratoirio "Messiah", a great work for orchestra, chorus and vocal soloists taken from the Bible dealing with the birth and crucifiction of Christ . You might then try the six "Brandenburg Concertos " of Handel's great contemporary Bach , who wrote these wonderfully melodious and vivacious instrumental works for a German aristocrat .
Next try Bach's famous "Goldberg Variations", which can be played on either harpsichord or piano , and the four suites for orchestra . For Vivaldi , try the famous and ubiquitous "Four Seasons", four concertos for violin and string orchestra , each depicting a different season, and any of his many concertos for violin , cello and other instruments .
Try Mozart's symphonies 39, 40 and 41 , and some of his many piano concertos , such as nos 20-27 , and his five violin concertos . For Joseph Haydn , some of his best known symphonies , such as nos 88, 94 , and 104 . Or Mozart's four horn concertos .
Then you might go on to Beethoven's nine symphonies , his five piano concertos, his one for violin , and some of hisd 32 sonatas for piano . Then symphonies 5,8 and 9 by Franz Schubert , the four of Robert Schumann , nos 3 and 4 by Felix Mendelssohn , the four of Johannes Brahms , nos 7,8 and 9 of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak , the one symphony by Belgian composer Cesar Franck , no 3 by Frenchman Camille Saint-Saens, and nos 4,5 and 6 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky .
Now you're into the 19th century . For more piano concertos , try those by Schumann , Norwegian Edvard Grieg , Tchaikovsky , Brahms and Sergei Rachmaninov , a Russian who lived from 1873 - 1943 . For violin concertos , the ones by Mendelssohn , Brahms, Tchaikovsky , and Beethoven .
For miscellaneous orchestral works , such as tone poems , which tell a story or describe things in nature etc , try Romeo &Juliet by Tchaikovsky , the middle eastern flavored suite Scheherezade by Nikolai Rimsky -Korsakov , The Planets by English composer Gustav Holst , La Mer(The Sea) by Frenchman Claude Debussy , and by Ravel, another French composer , Bolero , Daphis and Chloe suite no 2 , La Valse , and Rhapsodie Espagnole .
The Moldau , by 19th century Czech composer Bedrich Smetana , describes the course of a river which runs through what is now called the Czech republic ; by German composer Richard Strauss (1964-1949 ), the tone poems Till Eulenspiegel , Don Juan , Also Sprach Zarathustra (made famous by Kubrick's classical sci-fi film 2001 ), Don Quixote and Ein Heldenleben (A hero's life). Or by his great Finnish contemporary Jean Sibelius : Finlandia , En Saga, The Swan of Tuonela, and Tapiola .
These are just some basic famous works to try . There's so much to explore by these and other great composers . And when you start , listen carefully . Concentrate on the music . And if you don't seem to connect with a piece at first, give it repeated hearings , and it should start to make more sense to you . As I said , classical music is not for casual listening . But if you take the time and effort to get accustomed to it , classical music will provide you with a lifetime of pleasure and excitement .
Here are some interesting stories about the latest developments in the world of classical music . As the old Chinese saying (or possibly curse ) goes, may you live in interesting times !
Italian conductor Fabio Luisi has just resigned from his prestigious position as music director of the legendary Saxon State Opera in Dresden and conductor of the world's oldest orchestra, the Staatskapelle, Dresden, which functions both as the city's opera and concert orchestra .
Luisi was angered by the fact that a special New Year's eve concert by his orchestra led by German conductor Christian Thielemann, who is set to take over the same position in 2112 was scheduled by the orchestra's management without his consultation .
Formidable American piano virtuoso Earl Wild has died at the age of 94 . Wild was a pianist of phenomenal technique and panache , and also a composer . He was a specialist in the flamboyant piano works of the 19th and early 20th century and leaves numerous acclaimed recordings .
The Philadelphia Orchestra , one of the world's most prestigious orchestras , is facing such severe financial difficulties that it may declare bankruptcy soon . If so , it will be the first of America's so-called "Big Five " orchestras, which also include the New York Philharmonic , Boston and Chicago symphonies and the Cleveland Orchestra , to do so . Other US orchestras have been forced to do this , most recently the Honolulu Symphony . Not a good trend .
The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and its music director Michael Tilson Thomas have won the Grammy award for the best classical recording of the year for their performance of Mahler's monumental 8th symphony , for huge orchestra , 8 vocal soloists chorus and children's chorus . This is part of the orchestra's cycle of recordings of all 9 Mahler symphonies and is on the orchestra's own record label , which releases some of its live performances on CD .
The rising Italian conductor Alberto Veronesi will succeed Eve Queler as music director of the Opera Orchestra Of New York , founded nearly 40 years ago by Ms. Queler as a means to give concert performances of rarely heard but interesting operas a chance to be heard and using many acclaimed opera singers and rising vocal talents . Veronesi is active primarily in Italy and has conducted recordings of such rarely perfomed Italian operas as Puccini's early Edgar and Pietro Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz for Deutsche Grammaphon records .
So it's a mixture of good and bad in the complex and multi-faceted world of classical music . But don't believe any one who says things are dull and humdrum there !
The next season of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center will feature a diverse and interesting collection of operas ranging from the 18th century to the present day , and as usual , the world's foremost singers, conductors , opera directors and stage designers will be there .
There are several new productions which appear like something worth looking forward to , and some notable debuts by eminent conductors . Opening night in late September this year will be Wagner's sweeping mythical epic Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) , which inaugurates the Met's new Ring , and will continue later in the season with the second of the Ring operas Die Walkure (The Valkyrie) .
The brilliantly innovative Canadian director Robert Lepage is responsible for the new Ring, and this is supposed to feature bold new computer technology in the sets and staging . This production replaces the controversial previous Met Ring , which was damned by some critics for being too old-fashioned but beloved of audiences for its freedom from the Eurotrash gimmickry which has been so common in European Wagner productions .
Master Wagnerian James levine, the Met's veteran and beloved music director ,will conduct , and some of today's leading Wagner singers will be in the casts .
Gioacchino Rossini's zany comic opera "Le Comte Ory "(Count Ory ) will have its first Met staging , and Verdi's sombre and powerful "Don Carlo" will have a new production. This is based on 16th century Spanish history and deals with the conflict between prince Carlos of Spain and his imperious father King Philip of Spain , and the conflict between the tyranny of the Spanish inquisition and freedom fighters in occupied Flanders .
The Met's first new production of Modest Mussorgsky's epic "Boris Godunov" in nearly 40 years will feature the great German bass Rene Pape (Pah-peh) as the tormented Russian Tsar Boris , and Valery Gergiev, incomparable master of Russian music , will conduct .
John Adams, one of America's foremeost composers , will conduct the Met's new production of his strikingly original opera "Nixon In China" , which is about Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972. Other characters in the opera are believe it or not, Henry Kissinger, Mao Zedong and Chou En Lai ! The opera had its world premiere at the Houston Opera in 1987, and has gone on to become one of the most acclaimed operas of our time .
The other operas are such staples of the repertoire at Puccini's La Boheme,Tosca , Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor, Bizet's Carmen, a new production this season , Verdi's Rigoletto, Il Trovatore , Gluck's Orfeo&Euridice , Donizetti's Don Pasquale , a return of this season's new Tales Of Hoffmann , Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte and The Magic Flute , and Gounod's Romeo& Juliette .
Other operas include Alban Berg's Wozzeck , Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, Debussy's Pelleas &Melisande , Puccini's La Fanciulla Del West , Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride , Rossini's Armida (new this season) , Verdi's Simon Boccanegra (also done this season), and the final opera of Richard Strauss , Caprioccio .
The distinguished English conductor Sir Simon Rattle, currently head of the Berlin Philharmonic , makes his Met debut with Debussy's Pelleas , and baroque specialist William Christie , an American conductor and harpsichordist based in Paris , makes his debut with Cosi Fan Tutte .
Among the starry names in the casts are such outstanding singers as Renee Fleming , Karita Mattila, Deborah Voigt , Natalie Dessay , Diana Damrau , the indestructable Placido Domingo , now almost 70 and still going strong , Olga Borodina, Rene Pape, Dolora Zajick , Stephanie Blythe , Daniele De Niese , Angela Gheorghiu , Joyce DiDonato , Anna Netrebko, Sondra Radvanovsky , Jonas Kaufmann, Matthias Goerne , Elena Garanca , Patricia Racette , Nathan Gunn , David Daniels, Susan Graham , Juan Diego Florez, and Ildar Abdrazakov , to name only some . It's a who's who of opera today . Keep in touch with the Met's website metopera.org, for further information shortly .
And even if you can't make it to New York , you can attend the HD broadcasts in movie theaters around the country , listen to the Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts and see Met performances on the internet .
The next new production at the Metropolitan Opera this season is Giuseppe Verdi's 1846 blood-and -thunder opera Attila (AT- tila) , which premieres on February 23 . This is an exciting if not too historically accurate portrayal of the brutal 5th century conqueror who was known throughout Europe as the "Scourge of God . "
This is the ninth of Verdi's 26 operas , and had been long neglected until about only 30 or so years ago , when there was renerwed interest in the great Italians early operas in Europe and America , and there have been a fair number of productions in recent years . This is the Met's first production , but the neighboring New York City Opera revived it back in the 1980s .
The opera is set in the area around Venice in the 5th century , at the very end of the Roman empire , when the marauding Huns sacked Italy . Attila is impressed by the bravery of a young Roman patrician woman named Odabella , who is the daughter of a prominent patrician he has just killed . She is loved by a young noble named Foresto , and the two hope to assasinate Attila as soon as possible .
But the wily Roman politician Aetius (Ezio in the opera) hopes to cut a deal with the brutal Hun by which he will spare Italy . In an aria , he tells Attila that "he may have the world, but leave Italy to me . " Aetius was a real historical figure who actually dealt with Attila . At the end of the opera , Odabella is about to marry Attila , but she stabs him to death , and the Romans rejoice !
That's not what really happened ; according to history , Attila died on his wedding night to some forgotten woman of a nose bleed ! But no matter; Verdi's music is truly stiirring and melodious . In the opera , Attila may be a brutal conqueror , but he is a noble and honorable man none the less .
The eminent Italian conductor Riccardo Muti makes his long awaited Met debut with this production . He has made something of a specialty of this opera , and you should definitely get the DVD of the La Scala Milan production of Attila which dates from almost 20 years ago , with the formidable American bass Samuel Ramey in the title role . He's near the end of his great career now and was perhaps the foremost exponent of the role in our time, and you might also check out the EMI recording of the opera they made at this time if it's still available .
The Russian bass Ildar Abrazakov is Attila . Interestingly , since he is an ethnic Tatar , he may actually be of related ethnic stock to Attila and the Huns !
The exciting Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana is Odabella , and tenor Ramon Vargas is her betrothed Foresto . Baritone Carlos Alvarez sings Ezio . Unfortunately , this production is not one of the Met;s HD movie broadcasts , so do look for the DVD .
There's so much talk today about what's wrong with America ; the vulgar , lowest common denominator culture , the rampant ignorance of so many Americans (ever see the hilarious but embarassing exposes of ignorant Americans with Jay Leno ?) , the poor education received by so many youngsers in our public schools etc .
But the fact that this nation also has so many world -class symphony orchestras and opera companies and has produced so many great classical musicians is something that we Americans can and should be proud of . It shows that this nation is not entirely a country of crass materialism and apathy .
This is why the news that the world-famous Philadelphia Orchestra , a historic ensemble which has toured the world to great acclaim and made so many great recordings is not only facing serious financial problems but may actually declare bankruptcy soon is so disturbing . It's only one of many great classical music institutions in America which are threatened by the difficult economic times .
If so , it will be the first of America's so-called big fig orchestras (New York , Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Chicago ) to do this . Not an encouraging sign . Other fine orchestras such as those of Columbus Ohio, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Phoenix, and elsewhere have succumbed to financial woes , and others are at risk .
In addition , the Baltimore Opera, Opera Pacific in California, the Connecticut and Orlando operas have gone under , and others are feeling the crunch . What a shame ! With all the cultural crassness surrounding us , these great institutions have to go begging . And the livlihoods of so many gifted , hard-working and dedicated musicians are at risk . All of these musical organizations are a national treasure . We have many other national treasures,too. If they were at risk of being lost , there would be great distress nationwide . But where is the national outcry over the sorry state of classical music in America , except among its devotees ?
Joseph Horowitz is a cultural historian of music , author , commentator , consultant to orchestras and former music critic for the New York Times . I've always found him a thought provoking commentator on classical music , even though he can be irritatingly tendentious in his arguments at times and specious in his assertions .
His new blog at the always interesting website artsjournal.com is called "The Unanswered Question ", named after a brief and puzzling orchestral piece by the great American composer Charles Ives . It discusses the current state of classical music in America , what he finds wrong with it , changes in the field , and historical perspective . As he usually does , Horowitz makes comparisons , often invidious , between what classical music was in the past in America and the present day .
Among his assertions are that classical music is too conservative and commercialized today , and that our orchestras and opera companies are much too conservative in their programming , and that there is more interest in virtuoso performers than contemporary composers . However , he merely tends to rehash many of the myths about classical music which I recently discussed here .
One of his bugaboos is what he calls "The Culture Of Performance ". In books such as "Classical Music In America " and "Understanding Toscanini , he deplores the way audiences in America have supposedly been more interested in such legendary musicians as conductor Arturo Toscanini , violinist Jascha Heifetz , and other classical superstars past and present , than in hearing important new works by contemporary composers , and how this has supposedly harmed musical culture in America ,made it too commericalized and hidebound .
To a certain extent , he's right . Many concertgoers ARE hidebound in their tastes and are extremely reluctant to hear difficult new music and even difficult works from the past by once avant-garde composers . And there is a great deal of hype and slick publicity surrounding famous classical musicians, past and present .
But what he neglects to mention is that this has in no way prevented new music from being heard in our time . In his book Understanding Toscanini , he shows how conservative the legendary Italian conductor's programming was in the late years of his remarkably long career , when he was conductor of the NBC Symphony in New York, which functioned from 1937 until his death in 1957 ,shortly before his 90th birthday .
It's true that Toscanini tended to concentrate on the familiar masterpieces by Beethoven, Schubert , Brahms , etc in his later years , and was totally out of symapthy with most contemporary composers at the time . But this did not prevent other leading conductors of the day, such as Leopold Stokowski , Dimitri Mitropoulos and others from regularly performing new music by a wide variety of then living composers , nor did it have a lastingly negative effect on classical music up to the present day , as he speciously maintains .
Today , we have many prominent American ,European and Asian conductors who champion the important composers of the present . Yes, the familiar masterpieces of the past are still popular, but they co-exist with new music , as they should . And audience enthusiasm and curiosity about superstar performers is nothing new . In 18th century opera in Europe, the Castrati , or male eunuch singers , were the Rock stars of the time, and operagoers went crazy over them . In the early 19th century , the legendary violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini was a superstar who captured the imagination of concertgoers all over Europe ; there were many superstar muscians in the past .
Horowitz has his own website josephhorowitz.com, where you can read some of his articles and commentary , and find out about his books, which you should definitely read, but take with a grain of salt .
The colorful and melodious music of such 19th century Russian composers as Tchaikovsky , Rimsky-Korsakov , Mussorgsky and Borodin has been a fixture at orchestral concerts everywhere for well over a century , but there is another Russian composer whose music has somehow never managed to establish itslef in the repertoire . This is Mily Balakirev (1837-1910 ) , who died a century ago this year .
This is truly unfortunate , because any one who enjoys the music of the previously mentioned composers should find Balakirev's (accent the second syllable), very appealing . He was a close associate of Mussorgsky , Rimsky, and the other leading 19th century Russian composers , and a very important influence on the develpment of Russian music .
Let's hope that the centennial of his death will give the classical music world a chance to get to know his music better . Balakirev was born in the city of Nizhny Novgorod in 1837 and like his contemporary Russian composers , was largely self taught , as Russia did not have a tradition of music schools and established teachers of composition . Conservatories did not open in Moscow and St.Petersburgh until well into the 19th century .
Balakirev was an accomplished pianist and learned empirically by studying the music of western composers from the extensive music library of a wealthy Russian music lover by the name of Ulibishev as a young man , and was also influenced by the father of Russian music Mikhail Glinka (1804 -1857 ) , best known for his two operas A Life For The Tsar and Russlan And Ludmilla . He made an intensive study of Russian folk songs , and became interested in the exotic folk music of the Caucasus , which Russia had colonized .
Perhaps his best known work is the fiendishly difficult piano piece Islamey , which has been a showpiece for many of the greatest piano virtuosos for well over a century , and which was orchestrated by another Russian composer by the name of Sergei Liapunov , now pretty much forgotten , as well as the 20th century Italian composer Alfredo Casella . Islamey is based on the folk music of the Caucasus , the ancient and exotic land mass between the Black and Caspian seas , and which has currently been in the news because of the conflict between Russia and the recently independent Republic of Georgia .
Balakirev also wrote two symphonies , a variety of other short piano pieces and two piano sonatas , two piano concertos , choral works and several orchestral works etc. The first symphony is a work whose neglect is difficult for me to understand ; it is full of wonderful thematic ideas and melodic invention . It has however , been recorded by such eminent conductors as Herbert von Karajan , Sir Thomas Beecham , Neeme Jarvi and Yevgeny Svetlanov etc, and you should not miss it .
The symphonic poem Tamara is a highly atmospheric orchestral work about a treacherous medieval Georgian queen and actual historical figure who was reputed to have had all her paramours killed and thrown into the Aragvi river, which flows through the Georgian capital of Tbilisi .
Balakirev was a part of the so-called "Group of five" , which included Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin , Mussorgsky and the now forgotten Cesar Cui , a minor composer best known as a rather acerbic critic music critic , who were responsible for establishing a Russian national school of composition . Tchaikovsky was not part of it , and was considered too cosmopolitan and infuenced by western European music , despite the fact that his music is just as Russian as the others .
Unfortunately , as far as I can tell , Balakirev's orchestral works are not being performed by today's leading conductors in his centennial year , but you should definitely go to arkivmusic.com to look for recordings by this sadly neglected composer ; you be glad you did .
There are a number of myths about classical music which keep circulating . Some of these are popular misconceptions about this magnificent , centuries old art form and others are canards which have been circulated by music critics and other supposed experts .
1 Myth : Classical music is stuffy , boring and "elitist ". Fact : Classical music is no "stuffier " than other kinds of music . True , audiences aren't as loud and rowdy as at Rock concerts , and orchestra musicians tend to wear formal dress ar concerts, but what on earth is wrong with that ? Orchestras in formal wear can look quite spiffy . Many years ago , in the heyday of such great Jazz musicians as Duke Ellington and Count Basie , Jazz musicians wore snazzy apparel and no one complained .
Yes, audiences at concerts tend to be quiet at concerts (but not when it's time to applaud ), but this is no different than when people go to the movies . No one likes loud, disruptive people at at the movies ; they're trying to concentrate on the film . Why should it be any different at concerts ? And when you're listening to classical music at concerts , it's not just casual entertainment ; you're trying to concentrate on music that's much more complex than what you hear at a concert by some Pop star .
And the term "elitist " implies that our orchestras and opera companies are trying to exclude people who aren't wealthy and who may be people of color etc . They don't want to exclude any one. On the contrary , they very much want to reach out to people , of whatever age and ethnicity who haven't previously come to concerts or opera performances . Their adminoistrations emply people whose job is to try to reach out to people and get them to come on a regular basis or at least sometimes . Every one involved in classical music , whether as performer, administrator or educator , wants to increase the audience for classical music .
Myth : There's something wrong with classical music today . There's too much music from the past being performed , and too little new music . In the past, all or most music was new . Today it's the opposite . Fact: There is absolutely no lack of new music today . New operas by many different contemporary composers have been premiered in recent years , among them , Philip Glass, John Adams , William Bolcom , Tan Dun , Harrison Birtwistle , Hans Werner Henze , Thomas Ades (Ah-des), Ned Rorem , Kaaia Saariaho , James MacMillan, Elliott Carter , Tobias Picker , Jake Heggie, Richard Danielpour , Helmut Lachenmann , and others . These composers include Germans, Americans , Englishmen, and ones from Scandinavia , Scotland and China , and there are also ones from other countries such as France , the Netherlands, South Korea , Russia , Poland , Italy , and elsewhere .
An enormous number of new orchestral works have been premiered in recent years by who knows how many composers from all over the world , and not only white males . There are more women composers than ever before , and some have written works which have been widely performed .
And it's misleading to say that in the past , most music was new . In the time of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven etc , the orchestra as we know itwas a relatively new thing ; they simply did not have the enormous accumulation of repertoire which exists today . Also , that are vastly more orchestras and opera companies today than in the past , and a vastly greater number of composers and performing musicians . The world of classical music is infinitely larger than in the past , and no longer confined to Europe and America .
Myth : Classical music is not "relevant " any more . It has nothing to offer most people . It's a distant thing from the past totally out of touch with the realities of today . Relevance is a loaded word, because what's relevant to one person isn't necessarily relevant to another . And every kind of music , whether classical ,Jazz , Rock,Pop, Folk , Country or whatever is relevant to those who loveat particular kind of music . Devotees of classical music could just as easily say that other kinds of music aren't relevant , and that classical is the only "relevant" music , but other people would condemn them for being snobs and elitists .
Myth: Classical music is in decline in regards to performance standards . Opera isn't what it used to be; the are few if any great singers , and in the past we had the golden age of opera , when great singers were abundant . Also , solo violinists, cellists and pianists of today are nowhere near the equal in interpretive flair and imagination as those of the past , when musicians had real individuality ,style and flair . Today , all or most musicians are pedantically literal performers and there are few if any musicians with any individuality or "personality ". The same is true of conductors today.
Fact : There is absolutely no lack of great opera singers , violinists ,pianists , cellists , conductors or whatever kind of performers . Reports of the pedantic literalism have been greatly exaggerated , as there have been countless reviews in recent years by criticshave mercilessly lambasted musicians for all the liberties they have allegedly taken with the music .
Orchestras today sound alike . There are few if any which have distinctive sound , unlike in the past , when you could tell national differences between orchestras , whether German , French , Russian etc.
Fact : It's impossible for orchestras to sound alike , as they consist of different musicians playing different makes of instruments in concert halls with different acoustics . There have been rumors of all or most orchestras sounding alike today for many years , but this appears to be a psychological illusion caused by the assumption that everything in classical music was so much better in the past . German, French , American , Russian, Czech and English orchestras etc, still sound very different .
So please don't believe these myths . They give people the mistaken idea that it's not worth attending orchestra concerts or the opera , or whatever kind of classical performance . On the contrary ; it's never been more worthwhile .
This January , Opera News magazine has the gorgeous Latvian mezzo soprano Elina Garanca (ga-RAN-cha) on the cover . She's anything but your stereotypical operatic "Fat Lady " . Garanca is the latest of no fewer than 70 sopranos and mezzos to sing the juicy role of the gypsy Femme Fatale Carmen in Bizet's ever popular opera at the Met .
Carmen can be sung either by sopranos or mezzos , and has been a specialty of such great singers as Leontyne Price , Marilyn Horne . Grace Bumbry , Teresa Berganza , Tatiana Troyanos , Regina Resnik , Rise Stevens , to name only a handful . There are interesting interviews with Garanca and the director of the new Carmen , Richard Eyre , a distinguished English director , who is making his Met duebut with this new production .
David J Baker also has an interesting article comparing the approaches to interpreting the opera by different singers and conductors on recordings , and you can see pictures of the sets for the new production . Features editor Brian Kellow interviews the conductor of this production, the rising young French Canadian Yannick-Netet-Seguin , who is also making his Met debut and has just become music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic in the Netherlands .
As usual during the radio boradcast season , this month's broadcast operas are profiled , with synopsis , lists of cast, conductors etc , and recommendation for CDs and DVDs to get of each opera . The operas are Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen , Verdi's rarely performed Stiffelio , and Simon Boccanegra, in which tenor Placido Domingo is singing the baritone lead role in the opera for the first time , as he had originally started out as a baritone .
There are reviews of opera performances from Los Angeles , San Francisco , Dallas , Houston , Toronto , Paris , and London , and reviews of the latest opera and vocal recordings and DVDs , including a CD of a recent operatic version of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina by American composer David Carlson , as well as book reviews including a new biography of Tchaikovsky by musicologist Roland John Wiley . You can also check out the magazine's website ,operanews.com .
If you love opera ,or if you'd like to get involved with this fascinating and infinitely diverse art form , you can't afford to mis Opera News Magazine .
The Audition , an absorbing documentary by Susan Froemke , looks at the Metropolitan Opera's 2007 National Council Auditions , a national competition for aspiring young opera singers which gives the winners a chance to sing a concert of opera arias at the Met and possibly launch them onto a major career in opera . It was aired last last night on PBS , but you can easily purchase it on DVD .
These Met auditions have launched the careers of many of America's finest opera singers , including such illustrious names as Renee Fleming , Susan Graham and Thomas Hampson , who make a brief appearance on the documentary recalling how they were winners in this prestigious competition years ago . Thousands of aspiring young singers compete on the national level in local auditions , and the finalists come to New York and the Met for a period of instense coaching and evaluation by exacting judges from not only the Met but other leading US opera houses .
It's a daunting experience ; the talented young singers who have made it through the grueling previous rounds are under enormous pressure must control their nerves and sing before a group of the most demanding experts , including the Met's leading reharsal coaches and artistic administrators , who are looking for the cream of the crop . They are highly exacting, but very sympathetic and supportive . The young singers include sopranos , tenors and a baritone and range from 22 to 30 .
If you think American idol is tough , it's nothing compared to these competitive auditions The general level of talent is infinitely higher and if you don't have what it takes , forget about it . Becoming an opera singer takes years of rigorous training and the technical demands are infinitely greater than for singing popular music . The judges are looking for young singers who don't just sing well , but who can really communicate the essence of the music .
The young singers talk about their hopes , aspirations and goals , and the judges discuss the singer's strengths and weaknesses . There are many factors taken into consideration ; the competitor's appearance , levels of training and experience , their command of different operatic styles , and their potential for development and artistic growth .
The exciting climax of the documentary is the gala concert at the Met where the young singers get to work with the noted Italian conductor Marco Armiliato and the Met orchestra singing a variety of famous arias by composers such as Verdi , Puccini , Rossini and Wagner before the public . Even if you aren't an opera fan , don't miss this fascinating documentary . You can find more information about it at PBS.org .
Hungarian-born opera and vocal expert George Jellinek , 90 long a fixture of WQXR , has passed away at the venerable age of 90 . George was a beloved figure at the nation's top classical music station , and served as its music director for many years .
He was a walking encyclopedia of matters operatic , and an authority on singers and singing . His sindicated program "The Vocal Scene " on WQXR , which went off the air several years ago , was something opera lovers all over America listened to religiously , including your s truly .
The show covered all aspects of opera, operetta , art song and other vocal works , and featured many of the world's greatest opera singers , as well as some once famous ones now known only to experts from very old and precious recordings . Sometimes he would feature recordings by a particular singer ,past or present , and sometimes he would focus on a particular opera , popular or obscure , or the operas and other vocal music of composers such as Mozart , Rossini, Verdi , Puccini, Wagner or whomever .
Famous singers , active or retired , would sometimes appear on his show as guests to discuss their current activities or to wax nostalgic about the past of opera , and sometimes George would have different recordings of a particular opera aria by a variety of singers to compare fine points of interpretation . His show was always highly entertaining and informative . He also wrote a very interesting book called "History Through The Opera Glass" which showed the historical connections to many famous operas based on actual historical personages and events .
Jellinek also reviewed opera and vocal recordings for the now defunct Hi-Fi magazine Stereo Review , and whether one agreed with him or not on his verdicts on any given recording , you could never deny his great expertise . He was a true gentleman and a scholar . Every one who knew him or knew him only from his voice on WQXR or his writings will mis him greatly .
Every year , there are several hundred vacancies in American symphony orchestras , and the comptetition for these jobs is unbelievably stiff , particularly in such top orchestras as New York , Chicago , Boston, Philadelphia , Cleveland , and Los Angeles etc . As the old saying goes , many are called , but few are chosen .
More than 300 musicians may send in resumes to any given orchestra in the attempt to gain a position there . As a horn player , I've been through the arduous experience of auditioning more than a few times , and it's not a fun experience by any means . You can check an earlier post on my blog about auditioning called "How do you get a job in a symphony orchestra ? "
But few openings receive the kind of publicity as the difficult search to find a successor to the renowned clarinettist Stanley Drucker as principal in the New York Philharmonic after an astonishing 60 years with the orchestra . After auditioning about 200 clarinettists , the audition committee and new music director Alan Gilbert were unable to find a candidate considered worthy to succeed Drucker , despite the fact that the cream of the clarinet world vied for this key position .
Now , according to Daniel Wakin of the New York Times , the orchestra has invited a number of clarinettists from top US orchestras to appear as guests with the orchestra at actual concerts before the final decision is made . Usually at auditions , the process is divided into preliminaries , in which the vast majority of the candidates are eliminated , and final auditions , in which a handful of finalists are given more time to play than in the preliminaries in order for the audition committee and the music director to make a decision . The audition committee is a group of key musicians from the orchestra , whose membership changes based on the instrument being auditioned . If it's a violin opening , the audition committee consists of principals from the string sections , including the concertmaster , who is the first chair violinist . In the case of woodwind and brass, principals and others from those sections make up the audition committee .
The music director , who is the orchestra's chief conductor , joins the committee for the finals only , because they are generally too busy to hear all the candidates in the preliminaries . In order to eliminate any possibility of favoritism or bias based on race or gender , the preliminaries are behind a screen , and each applicant is given a number to ensure anonimity . Only the finals are in the open , although in auditions for the Metropolitan opera orchestra , even the finals are behind a screen . Some orchestras , such as the New York Philharmonic , have an extra round before finals called the semi-finals .
Associate principal New York Philharmonic clarinettist Mark Nuccio has been serving as acting principal until the winning candidate is chosen . But it won't be an easy job succeeding Stanley Drucker .
Last night , on CBS, I something you don't see very often on television ; the Metropolitan Opera actually had a commercial promoting itself . This led me to think. Why don't more of our opera companies and symphony orchestras do this ?
It might be just what they need to increase audiences . Of course , this is expensive . But classical music in America needs all the publicity it can get in order to survive and attract new audiences , young or not so young . Every one in this field is concerned about the graying of audiences . New blood is desperately needed at concerts and opera .
And television isn't the only place where advertising could be useful . Radio commericals and brochures in the mail might be helpful, too . Of course , I regularly get notices in the mail about classical music , but I'm in contact with the classical music world , and on mailing lists .
Even though many people would probbably just throw ads out from the Metropolitan , New York Philharmonic or other similar organizations out , possibly some people who have never attended classical performances and know little or nothing about this kind of music would notice , be intrigued , and try getting tickets for performances . Who knows ?
Possibly more people would come to realize that classical music isn't the "elitist" thing they believe it to be .
Melody is certainly an important part of music , classical or of whatever kind , but in classical music , it's far from being everything . Popular music without catchy melodies would seem to be an oxymoron . But take a symphony , for example , whether by Haydn , Mozart or Beethoven etc . A symphony isn't about melodies , per se , but what a composer does with the themes .
It isn't just a collection of nice tunes . Beethoven could take simple melodic ideas and transform them into a masterpiece by the way he manipulated and transformed those basic building blocks into a coherent whole . As we say in classical music , he developes those melodies . How ?
What we call sonata form , which is found in the first and sometimes last movements of a typical symphony , consists of thre parts ; a exposition , in which the basic themes are presented , the development section in which the themes are transformed and which tends to modulate to different keys from the opening , and the recapitulation , or where the main theme returns in more or less its original form back in the key of the opening . Of course , this is an oversimplification .
In the course of a symphony , the rhythms of the melodies are changed , and they wander into more distant keys ; if the melodies start out in the major , they change to the minor form of the key , and back , or vice versa .
Of course , some classical music is very tuneful , such as the works of Tchaikovsky , for example , or the operas of Verdi and Puccini , and this is very appealing to audiences , which is fine . But other composers , such as Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils in the 20th century often baffles people who are not familiar with it by its apparent lack of hummable melodies , and the fact that it's not in any key .
But if you examine it further , you'll see that there are some recognizable melodic ideas in Schoenberg's 12-tone music . But these melodic ideas are very jagged and not conventionally hummable . And if you take the time and effort to give these challenging works repeated hearings , you may find that they begin to make sense and sound coherent .
This isn't to say that classical music is "superior " to popular music . It's just very different . Much of it is not intended for casual listening ; the mind has to be actively engaged to enjoy it . But that's one of the things which make classical music so rewarding to listen to .
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