Ludwig van Beethoven

gentle melody comforts as if telling the hope is still there behind that. This work is also known as the one composed while Beethoven was losing his hearing. To the musician like Beethoven, it must be very critical and scary. Yet, he overcame his illness and composed many works even after this. In my own view, the Symphony No 5 is very similar to the life of Beethoven:…

Edward Alexander MacDowell (1861-1908) was a pianist and composer. He was among the first American composers to receive an international reputation, and by the late 19th century he was considered the greatest composer of the United States. On December 18, 1861, MacDowell was born into an upper-middle-class family in New York City. During his childhood he showed great potential as a musician and began piano lessons at eight years old. When he was fifteen he was taken by his mother to go…

“I have never drawn a distinction between music for films and for operas or concerts” –– Erich Wolfgang Korngold Many conclude that Korngold was born in the wrong era. Instead of his romantic concepts excelling, his ideals and concepts were overshadowed not only by the vogue of the Second Viennese school composers: Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern, he was also amidst an era of chaos, including the happenings of the first World War. In addition, the rise of Nazism turned his move to…

Seiji Ozawa is a Japanese conductor, known for his work with the San Francisco Symphony and Boston Symphony, and his advocacy for modern composers. At the age of 15, Ozawa sprained his finger in a rugby game, unable to continue studying the piano; he shifted his musical focus from piano performance to conducting. Over the course of his lifetime, Ozawa has received international acclaim and many awards from a number of institutions. Ozawa also holds a number of honorary doctorate degrees from…

Operatic Symphony ‘Yamada Nangamaza’ by Klaus Pringsheim (1883-1972). A German composer, conducter, and pianist who was the most influential idol who played a very successful role as an outstanding pupil of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Mahler was the great composer of Romantic era who has been recognized as the most superior romantic composers. Pringsheim was a German Composer and Conductor, born in 1883 at Starnberg, the outskirts of Munich, where there was a villa owned by his family, he died in…

Art Tatum and peanut m&ms share many of the same characteristics. The hard shell of the m&m is similar to the many challenges Art Tatum faced in his life and the chocolatey filling on the inside that surrounds the peanut is his family always surrounding him with support. Lastly, the peanut in the center is taste of peanut that never fades just like his music. It will never fade through the centuries. Art Tatum had lots of support from his family and friends growing up and was exposed to music at…

A world of pure domination and immense stardom came violently crashing down before the eyes of the remarkable Frank Sinatra. While walking through Times Square one cold day in February of 1951 he spotted the name of a new male singer, Eddie Fisher, on the sign of the Paramount Theatre. Only seven years ago, Frank had drawn thousands of obsessed female fans to watch him perform; the same girls were obsessing over Fisher, which Frank could not handle. He rushed back to where he was staying, made…

Michael Hollin April 20th, 2015 Survey of Wind Literature Dr. Prescott Copland’s American Nationalism in Wind Ensemble Music During the 20th century, the wind band repertoire experienced unparalleled growth. This was especially the case in the United States, a nation with several professional wind bands and a notable amount of amateur wind bands. As wind band became an increasingly popular fixture on American life, its presence began to flourish throughout America’s universities and secondary…

At the turn of the twentieth century, jazz was still in its early phases. While there are many musicians that are credited with making jazz into what it is today, one of the earliest attributors was the “King of Ragtime,” Scott Joplin. Joplin earned his title due to his success—despite racial barriers—in developing the sub-genre of ragtime in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Joplin’s sound and style created a crucial link in the history of jazz and laid the foundations for…

Joey Peixoto Music Appreciation Listening Assignment Romantic: "Erlkönig" begins with the piano playing fast triplets to make a feeling of direness and reproduce the steed's running. The left hand of the piano part presents a low-enlist leitmotif made out of progressive triplets. The right hand plays triplets all through the piece until the last three bars. The steady triplets drive the incessant tweaks of the piece as it switches between the characters. This theme is specifically connected…