ludwig van Beethoven
piano concerto no. 3 in c minorDIVE IN!
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) began sketching ideas for what would become his 3rd piano concerto in 1796, began working on it in earnest in 1799, and finished it in 1803. This was during the time Beethoven was struggling to come to terms with his worsening deafness, but also at a time when he was having great professional success. The concerto has hallmarks of the influence of Mozart’s 24th piano concerto, also written in c minor, and although it’s in a minor key and begins in a brooding almost military style it is a triumphant joyful and beautiful piece of music.
RESOURCES:A fantastic historical recording of Artur Rubinstein.Mozart’s Piano Concerto #24 for comparison.HIGHLIGHTS:
Ludwig van Beethoven composed Piano Concerto #3 between 1796 and 1803 when he was just 26–33 years old. He premiered it in 1803 with himself as soloist, which was a good thing because he hadn’t finished writing out the solo part and ended up playing most of it from memory!
According to his friend Ignaz von Seyfried who was asked to be the page turner for that concert, “I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all the solo part from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had time to set it all down on paper. He gave me a secret glance whenever he was at the end of one of the invisible passages, and my scarcely concealable anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly and he laughed heartily at the jovial supper which we ate afterwards.”
The concerto is in 3 movements: Allegro con brio, Largo, and Rondo Allegro - a typical Classical/Romantic era fast, slow, fast construction. It usually lasts about 35 minutes.
Beethoven calls for an orchestra of 2 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets plus timpani and strings.Nerd Assignment!
Start with a Conversation:
What exactly is dialogue? How is dialogue made? Think about constructing a brief dialogue between two people. What can you do to alter this dialogue so that one participant becomes a a whole group of people? What are some examples of this type of dialogue you can think of in your every day life? [call and response in pep rallies, a religious service, etc.] Now imagine what it might be like if each person in the large group had an individual response in this dialogue. Would we be able to understand all the responses simultaneously? In music, many different sounds (often called ‘voices’) can be processed simultaneously by the human ear. Because of this it’s possible to have a two part musical dialogue with many individual voices!
Listening for dialogue in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3
Listen to the performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #3 and again via recording if possible. Try to listen carefully for musical dialogue in this composition. The most obvious conversation is the one between the piano and the orchestra. What other dialogue do you hear? Think about some musical elements Beethoven uses to create dialogue as you listen. How did the composition activity help you to better listen for question/answer and statement/reaction in music? Why do you think it might be important to have dialogue in music, and especially a concerto?
richard strauss
don juan
Costume Design of Don Juan's many characters...DIVE IN!
Don Juan is a fantastically showy and colorful work of musical storytelling for large orchestra. Have fun diving in to this piece of music, popular with audiences since 1888!A nerd festival! One hour video of rehearsal and performance with Karl Bohm and Vienna Phil.A live recording with Andres Orozco-Estrada leading Frankfurt Radio SymphonyAn entertaining clip of "Don Juan" starring John Barrymore. From Warner Bros: Before movies talked, they clacked with swords, gonged with wedding bells and pulsed with perfectly matched orchestral accompaniment. The process that made it happen was Vitaphone, a sound-on-disk system that made its feature-film debut in this lavish 1926 classic.HIGHLIGHTS:
Don Juan is a tone poem – a story told in music – for large orchestra written by the German composer Richard Strauss in 1888. He was just 24 years old.
It was an international success at the time of its premiere performance in 1889 and continues to be popular now.
The musical inspiration is based on a play after the Don Juan legend which originated in Renaissance-era Spain. Johann Strauss reprinted three excerpts from the play directly into his score.
In the story, Don Juan is a flirtatious cad who searches in vain for the perfect woman. Ultimately he finds that his pursuit is hampered by his inauthentic approach and ultimately falls into despair, willing his own death.
Musically, it is often singled out as a symbol of turn of the century Modernism, particularly for the flourishing mood of its opening material.
Although already fairly well connected professionally, Don Juan's immediate impact established his reputation as an important new composer of Modernist music.
Don Juan lasts just under 20 minutes and call for a big colorful orchestra.
RICHARD STRAUSS
TILL EULENSPIEGEL'S MERRY PRANKSDIVE IN!
Who is Till?
Composer Richard Strauss is perhaps best known for his tone poems — music that tells a story or evokes a character. Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche celebrates a legendary prankster from fourteenth century Germany. Literally translated it is "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks". In the piece we hear some of the character of Till, as well as his adventures and eventual capture.RESOURCES:An energetic live recording.
A great illustrated children’s book (ages 5–9) about Till.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Richard Strauss composed Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks) in 1894-95 when he was just 30 years old.
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is a tone poem - a story told in music – for full orchestra. It tells the story of a 14th century German folk hero who got into all sorts of mischief.
This tone poem features two main themes. The first, an off kilter swaying melody with sharp punctuation at the end, is primarily heard in the French horn. The second, a cheeky short motive that falls down before bouncing up, is primarily represented in a very high pitched clarinet. Each of these themes represent characteristics of Till.
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks lasts for about 15 minutes and is scored for a large orchestra of 3 flutes and piccolo, 3 oboes and English horn, 2 B-flat clarinets plus E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet, 3 bassoons and contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle and large ratchet (my personal favorite!), plus the usual string section of violins, VIOLAS (😎), cellos, and basses.EXPLORE THE MUSIC:
The music starts in the strings with a soft and gentle introduction of what will become the high pitched clarinet cheeky Till theme. It’s like the beginning of a child’s fairy tale.
Shortly after this the French horn brings the first iteration of the off kilter swaying melody. Then this melody begins to be tossed around the rest of the orchestra as the story gets started.
The first time we hear the high pitched clarinet version of the cheeky Till theme it sounds a bit like mocking laughter.
Basically from here the music tells various stories of Till’s adventures on horseback, causing chaos in a marketplace, mocking clergymen (in this case a very wholesome sounding viola section), flirting with women, and making fun of scholars (played here by some furrowed brow bassoons).
This goes on for a while in a vignette style until we hear some pretty stark sounding music. Till has finally been arrested. He is brought before a judge and sentenced to death. At this point the music turns dark in the orchestra and the mocking cheeky theme in the high pitched clarinet becomes at first manic and then desperate.
After a dramatic pause the opening softer strings version of the theme returns in an unsettling memory of the child’s tale opening to close our story of Till.NERD ASSIGNMENT:
What does a folk hero sound like?
This music is about a real person, Till Eulenspiegel, whose antics made him a legendary German folk hero. Some of the music is used to characterize Till, while other moments seem to represent his story. Think about musical sounds that could represent an American folk legend, such as John Henry or Molly Pitcher. What could his main theme sound like? [maybe strong and loud with lots of brass, etc.] Take a moment to write down these ideas or share some of them with a friend.
A rascal’s consequences.
Till Eulenspiegel was a prankster who got into a lot of trouble. Richard Strauss chose to characterize him with the clarinet playing music that sounds a little mocking, like laughter. Near the end of the piece Till is captured and we hear his theme three times in the midst of some very serious sounding music. There is a capture scene included in Richard Strauss's music. Each time we hear the clarinet theme it sounds a bit different – mocking, desperate, etc. In one moment it’s pretty obvious this is the capture music based on what’s happening all around the clarinet theme. How do you think that music might sound? What instruments might be used?
Create your own musical prank!
Richard Strauss's musical idea for the legendary rascal Till Eulenspiegel included lots of surprises. Till enjoyed playing tricks and Strauss wanted to communicate this through music. Think of some types of surprises. What kinds of sounds would make a convincing musical interpretation of surprise?
Any surprise or prank needs a state of normalcy to begin with. If you can, find a friend or family member or a bunch of students if you’re a teacher. First create a musical texture using voices or instruments that seems to go on undisturbed, without dramatic change. Now rehearse and perform these 30 second textures. Record these so you can listen and evaluate.
Now discuss what might disrupt or disturb the texture they created. Think of some ways to inject these sounds into the texture in ways that seem mischievous or aggressive. Practice, perform, and record the musical pranks with the texture you already created. Compare the texture recording to the texture with pranks recording. How did your ideas work? What worked best and why? What different ideas would you try?
How do you think this activity might help you listen for musical surprises in Till Eulenspiegel?
ludwig van Beethoven
piano concerto no. 3 in c minorDIVE IN!
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) began sketching ideas for what would become his 3rd piano concerto in 1796, began working on it in earnest in 1799, and finished it in 1803. This was during the time Beethoven was struggling to come to terms with his worsening deafness, but also at a time when he was having great professional success. The concerto has hallmarks of the influence of Mozart’s 24th piano concerto, also written in c minor, and although it’s in a minor key and begins in a brooding almost military style it is a triumphant joyful and beautiful piece of music.
RESOURCES:A fantastic historical recording of Artur Rubinstein.Mozart’s Piano Concerto #24 for comparison.HIGHLIGHTS:
Ludwig van Beethoven composed Piano Concerto #3 between 1796 and 1803 when he was just 26–33 years old. He premiered it in 1803 with himself as soloist, which was a good thing because he hadn’t finished writing out the solo part and ended up playing most of it from memory!
According to his friend Ignaz von Seyfried who was asked to be the page turner for that concert, “I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all the solo part from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had time to set it all down on paper. He gave me a secret glance whenever he was at the end of one of the invisible passages, and my scarcely concealable anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly and he laughed heartily at the jovial supper which we ate afterwards.”
The concerto is in 3 movements: Allegro con brio, Largo, and Rondo Allegro - a typical Classical/Romantic era fast, slow, fast construction. It usually lasts about 35 minutes.
Beethoven calls for an orchestra of 2 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and trumpets plus timpani and strings.Nerd Assignment!
Start with a Conversation:
What exactly is dialogue? How is dialogue made? Think about constructing a brief dialogue between two people. What can you do to alter this dialogue so that one participant becomes a a whole group of people? What are some examples of this type of dialogue you can think of in your every day life? [call and response in pep rallies, a religious service, etc.] Now imagine what it might be like if each person in the large group had an individual response in this dialogue. Would we be able to understand all the responses simultaneously? In music, many different sounds (often called ‘voices’) can be processed simultaneously by the human ear. Because of this it’s possible to have a two part musical dialogue with many individual voices!
Listening for dialogue in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3
Listen to the performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #3 and again via recording if possible. Try to listen carefully for musical dialogue in this composition. The most obvious conversation is the one between the piano and the orchestra. What other dialogue do you hear? Think about some musical elements Beethoven uses to create dialogue as you listen. How did the composition activity help you to better listen for question/answer and statement/reaction in music? Why do you think it might be important to have dialogue in music, and especially a concerto?
richard strauss
don juan
Costume Design of Don Juan's many characters...DIVE IN!
Don Juan is a fantastically showy and colorful work of musical storytelling for large orchestra. Have fun diving in to this piece of music, popular with audiences since 1888!A nerd festival! One hour video of rehearsal and performance with Karl Bohm and Vienna Phil.A live recording with Andres Orozco-Estrada leading Frankfurt Radio SymphonyAn entertaining clip of "Don Juan" starring John Barrymore. From Warner Bros: Before movies talked, they clacked with swords, gonged with wedding bells and pulsed with perfectly matched orchestral accompaniment. The process that made it happen was Vitaphone, a sound-on-disk system that made its feature-film debut in this lavish 1926 classic.HIGHLIGHTS:
Don Juan is a tone poem – a story told in music – for large orchestra written by the German composer Richard Strauss in 1888. He was just 24 years old.
It was an international success at the time of its premiere performance in 1889 and continues to be popular now.
The musical inspiration is based on a play after the Don Juan legend which originated in Renaissance-era Spain. Johann Strauss reprinted three excerpts from the play directly into his score.
In the story, Don Juan is a flirtatious cad who searches in vain for the perfect woman. Ultimately he finds that his pursuit is hampered by his inauthentic approach and ultimately falls into despair, willing his own death.
Musically, it is often singled out as a symbol of turn of the century Modernism, particularly for the flourishing mood of its opening material.
Although already fairly well connected professionally, Don Juan's immediate impact established his reputation as an important new composer of Modernist music.
Don Juan lasts just under 20 minutes and call for a big colorful orchestra.
RICHARD STRAUSS
TILL EULENSPIEGEL'S MERRY PRANKSDIVE IN!
Who is Till?
Composer Richard Strauss is perhaps best known for his tone poems — music that tells a story or evokes a character. Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche celebrates a legendary prankster from fourteenth century Germany. Literally translated it is "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks". In the piece we hear some of the character of Till, as well as his adventures and eventual capture.RESOURCES:An energetic live recording.
A great illustrated children’s book (ages 5–9) about Till.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Richard Strauss composed Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks) in 1894-95 when he was just 30 years old.
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is a tone poem - a story told in music – for full orchestra. It tells the story of a 14th century German folk hero who got into all sorts of mischief.
This tone poem features two main themes. The first, an off kilter swaying melody with sharp punctuation at the end, is primarily heard in the French horn. The second, a cheeky short motive that falls down before bouncing up, is primarily represented in a very high pitched clarinet. Each of these themes represent characteristics of Till.
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks lasts for about 15 minutes and is scored for a large orchestra of 3 flutes and piccolo, 3 oboes and English horn, 2 B-flat clarinets plus E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet, 3 bassoons and contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle and large ratchet (my personal favorite!), plus the usual string section of violins, VIOLAS (😎), cellos, and basses.EXPLORE THE MUSIC:
The music starts in the strings with a soft and gentle introduction of what will become the high pitched clarinet cheeky Till theme. It’s like the beginning of a child’s fairy tale.
Shortly after this the French horn brings the first iteration of the off kilter swaying melody. Then this melody begins to be tossed around the rest of the orchestra as the story gets started.
The first time we hear the high pitched clarinet version of the cheeky Till theme it sounds a bit like mocking laughter.
Basically from here the music tells various stories of Till’s adventures on horseback, causing chaos in a marketplace, mocking clergymen (in this case a very wholesome sounding viola section), flirting with women, and making fun of scholars (played here by some furrowed brow bassoons).
This goes on for a while in a vignette style until we hear some pretty stark sounding music. Till has finally been arrested. He is brought before a judge and sentenced to death. At this point the music turns dark in the orchestra and the mocking cheeky theme in the high pitched clarinet becomes at first manic and then desperate.
After a dramatic pause the opening softer strings version of the theme returns in an unsettling memory of the child’s tale opening to close our story of Till.NERD ASSIGNMENT:
What does a folk hero sound like?
This music is about a real person, Till Eulenspiegel, whose antics made him a legendary German folk hero. Some of the music is used to characterize Till, while other moments seem to represent his story. Think about musical sounds that could represent an American folk legend, such as John Henry or Molly Pitcher. What could his main theme sound like? [maybe strong and loud with lots of brass, etc.] Take a moment to write down these ideas or share some of them with a friend.
A rascal’s consequences.
Till Eulenspiegel was a prankster who got into a lot of trouble. Richard Strauss chose to characterize him with the clarinet playing music that sounds a little mocking, like laughter. Near the end of the piece Till is captured and we hear his theme three times in the midst of some very serious sounding music. There is a capture scene included in Richard Strauss's music. Each time we hear the clarinet theme it sounds a bit different – mocking, desperate, etc. In one moment it’s pretty obvious this is the capture music based on what’s happening all around the clarinet theme. How do you think that music might sound? What instruments might be used?
Create your own musical prank!
Richard Strauss's musical idea for the legendary rascal Till Eulenspiegel included lots of surprises. Till enjoyed playing tricks and Strauss wanted to communicate this through music. Think of some types of surprises. What kinds of sounds would make a convincing musical interpretation of surprise?
Any surprise or prank needs a state of normalcy to begin with. If you can, find a friend or family member or a bunch of students if you’re a teacher. First create a musical texture using voices or instruments that seems to go on undisturbed, without dramatic change. Now rehearse and perform these 30 second textures. Record these so you can listen and evaluate.
Now discuss what might disrupt or disturb the texture they created. Think of some ways to inject these sounds into the texture in ways that seem mischievous or aggressive. Practice, perform, and record the musical pranks with the texture you already created. Compare the texture recording to the texture with pranks recording. How did your ideas work? What worked best and why? What different ideas would you try?
How do you think this activity might help you listen for musical surprises in Till Eulenspiegel?