jmc's classics
A sonata today is considered a piece of chamber music for one or more solo instruments. Many composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Grieg and Scriabin, etc. have written piano sonatas. There are also sonatas for solo violin or solo cello such as those by J. S. Bach and solo cello works by Roger Sessions.
There also are works for piano and violin or piano and cello which are my favorite. Beethoven, Brahms Debussy and Richard Strauss all wrote at least one of these type pieces. The standard form of a three or four movement sonata is the first movement as Allegro, the second as a slow movement such as Andante then the third or forth as Allegro or Presto and if a forth movement as a Rondo. There are both three and four movement sonatas. The word "Sonata" comes form the Italian word "to sound". the word "Cantata" comes form Italian "to sing". A cantata is a group of songs. I don't have time to discuss this form of music Sonata Form is a musical technique used in symphonies and concerti where three themes are used an introduction then the music is sort of mixed up in form then regurgitated as a theme. this may be too technical for some. Or introduction, exposition and finally development. Themes from the music are mixed up and finally comes out as before. This is not connected to a sonata. However some sonatas do use this technique. There were Baroque era sonatas for continuo etc. A continuo is a small group of instruments usually containing a Bass Fidle or Souble Bass.
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Today is the birthday of Demetri Shostakovich (1906-1975) one of the leading composers of the 20th Century. he was a soviet composer of Russian and more remotely of Polish decent. His son Maxim Shostakovich is a leading conductor. The younger Shostakovich has been off and on with the New Orleans Philharmonic and has promoted his father's works.
Shostakovich was friends with Mstislav Rostropovich the famed Russian cellist. He wrote 15 each symphonies and string quartets. He was not affected by "the curse of the ninth" like many earlier composers were. He lived in the Soviet Union Some of his works were criticized and sentured by Soviet authorities. I have wrote about the situation of musicians and other artisans in the former Soviet Union. He did visit the united states in 1949 to promote his music. This was during the Cold War period. His most famous works were his Fifth and Tenth Symphonies. I have a copy of the Fifth Symphony. It is the Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra version which I recommend. I have heard his Cello Concertos. He wrote music for Soviet films. I am not familiar with films from the former Soviet Union. Most of them were propaganda. He wrote Two piano trios which I have not yet heard. The piano trio is not as popular today. Shostakovich was remembered as obsessed about cleanliness and his house being kept clean and neat. He could have been considered a 'neat freak'. In the 1968 movie "In The Shoes of the Fishermen" staring Anthony Quin and Laurence Olivier there is reference made to Shostakovich. His music was known in the west. He made the cover of Time Magazine on July 20 1942 when the Soviet Union was our ally during WWll. The above mentioned movie is a movie about the Vatican. It involves the election of a Soviet block cardinal being elected pope. It shows some scenes about the election of popes and what goes on at the Vatican and is prophetic. Ten years after it was released a cardinal from behind the Iron Curtain was elected pope. His music is worth listening to and hearing. Although he wrote for the Soviet government his music should be listened to. Some of his music was commissioned by the Communist Party. He was not Jewish but some of his music had Jewish themes He "Was Intrigued by Jewish music's ability to build jolly melodies on sad themes" The Soviet Union had a strong Jewish community. Symphony and opera season begins. The SLSO has some interesting new premiers coming up. I like to listen to some of the newer music and discovering obscure conductors etc.
As mentioned there ae a lot of obscure composers. One such was Anton Reicha (1770-1836) who was born the same year as Beethoven and was also a friend of Beethoven's. I saw on Facebook a few days ago a link to a New York Times article on Reicha. I am not a fan of the new York Times but they do have some good articles on music. He was also a music theorist and a teacher among his students were Berlioz and Liszt. Both studied counterpoint under Reicha. His uncle was Joseph Reicha (1752-1795) who was also a composer and a cellist.
His works seem to be making a comeback. Serbian-American pianist Ivan Ilic is due to release a set of Cds on his works. I currently own one Cd of his which also features the woks of Mozart, tellemann and Johan Christian Bach. It involves Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich and Jean-Pierre Rampal. The wok of Reich is his variations from Mozart's Marriage of Figero. I have recently played it. He wrote numerous quintets for winds, as well as quintets for other groups of instruments etc. He wrote one symphony. Arkiv Music lists 48 recordings of his. He was of Czech origin but lived in Germany and Austria and eventually became a French citizen. His music was obscure but I hope that it can be revived in the near future. I don't have a link to the New York Times. But Check it out if you can. As mentioned there are many minor composers or obscure ones. One such is Jan Kalivoda or Kalliwoda (18-01-1866). I heard his Sixth Symphony last month on the Classical Music Channel on Cable and later ordered a CD. He was of Czech origin and many of the Slavic last names are spelled funny and hard to pronounce "Jan" is Czech for John.
He was a violinist and conductor in addition to being a composer. I checked out Arkiv Music and there are 30 recordings of his music. He is described by David Hurowitz of Classics Today as a "Missing link between Beethoven and Schuman". Among his compositions are seven symphonies, three String quartets several concertinos for violin and orchestra. A concertino is a short concerto. Also several overtures and piano music. He also wrote church music. He was music director of the now defunct Lower Rhenish Music Festival. He was very prolific with over 200 opus numbers. Of his contemporaries Robert Schumann admired his music. Robert Schumann was a mentor to Brahms. Much of Kalivoda's music is influenced by Czech folk music like his fellow countryman Anonin Dvorak. so was Bedrich Smetena who was also Czech. There are several other important Czech composers the two most famous are Dvorak and Smetena. I emjoy his sixth Symphony. the CD that I have is on the Centar label with with Jiri Malat conducting the Pilsen Radio orchestra. Pilsen (sometimes spelled "Plzen") is a city in the Czech Republic. This is where Pilsner beer was invented in the 19th century. I hope to be able to listen to more of his music in the near future. I remember classical music from when I was a child. My parents had a few classical records. My dad liked a lot of German and East European folk music. So did my mom. In St. Louis there were a lot of foreign language radio programs on the lesser known stations that aired on the weekends.
There are a lot of programs and CDs etc. introduce classical music to children. One such is the Classical Kids series which came out in the early 90's. To the best of my knowledge it is still available. It has episodes on Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, handle and Vivaldi. It also has one for Christmas and and another one on lullabies. If they are still producing they could make one on Brahmas , Hayden or Debussey. It was produced in Canada I would recommend this series for teaching children about classical music. September is Classical Music Month. My birthday is also later this month. I am not in to Labor Day. I wish that summer would last longer. We still have warm weather till October and sometimes November. in 1994 Former President Bill Clinton signed joint House Bill 3239 proclaiming September as Classical Music Month. I am not in to Columbus Day or New Years Day either.
Symphony and opera seasons begin to start up this time of year. I wish that tickets for or CDs would go on sale this time of year. I Googled Classical music month and I did find some good sites. One such site was national day calendar nationaldayclaendar.com it does have a lot about other national days and months. |
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