Jean sibelius
the swan of tuonelaDIVE IN!
Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957 ) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early Modern eras. He is celebrated as Finland's greatest composer from these periods, succeeded by Kajia Saariaho in the latter part of the 1900s into the 2000s. His music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from Russia. The Finnish 100 mark note featured his image until 2002, when the euro was adopted. Since 2011, Finland has officially celebrated Sibelius's birthday of December 8, which is also known as the Day of Finnish Music.
RESOURCES:A live performance by the Finnish RSO led by Esa-Pekka SalonenDisney animators' storyboards for a segment intended for FantasiaEnglish horn masterclass with Berlin Philharmonic's Dominik Wollenweber,
to hear more of this beautiful instrument and to nerd out listening to a lesson! 🤓😎HIGHLIGHTS:
Sibelius composed music inspired by nature, Nordic mythology, and the Finnish mythological epic, Kalevala. His seven symphonies are regularly performed around the world, as are some of his most popular works Finlandia, Valse triste, The Swan of Tuonela, and the sweeping epic Violin Concerto.
The Swan of Tuonela is from his 1895 tone poem Lemminkäinen Suite, based on the Kalevala. He revised it in 1897 and again in 1900.
The Swan of Tuonela was first recorded in 1929 by the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Leopold Stokowski.
Walt Disney wanted to continue adding segments to the original 1940 Fantasia film, including The Swan of Tuonela. Disney animators created storyboards for this segment, but the Fantasia project was not extended and therefore it was never added.
The music requires a small orchestra of English horn, oboe, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trombones, timpani, bass drum, harp, and strings.
The English horn is the voice of the swan. The music paints a dark and ethereal image of a mystical swan floating through Tuonela, the realm of the dead. Lemminkäinen, the hero of the epic, has been tasked with killing the sacred swan but on the way he is shot with a poisoned arrow and dies.
A typical performance lasts about 9 minutes.Enjoy listening!Wolfgang amadeus mozart
violin concerto #3 in G majorDIVE IN!
Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, aka Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, aka Wolfie (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer of the Classical era. He is one of the most instantly recognizable composers of Western European classical music, and together with Franz Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven created the First Viennese School of compositional style. His 3rd violin concerto is charming, elegant, and playful.
RESOURCES:A 2007 live performance, featuring Hilary Hahn and Gustavo Dudamel with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony
and a very stern looking Pope Benedict XVI in the background (!!)
Cadenzas are original by Hilary Hahn.Cadenzas by powerhouse violinists of the mid 1900s for comparison. Jacques Thibaud vs Fritz KreislerJust for extra nerding out, a short 4 minute masterclass video on the Sam Franko first movement cadenza
featuring Ana Chumachenco at Verbier Festival AcademyHIGHLIGHTS:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed Violin Concerto #3 in 1775 when he was just 19 years old.
Violin Concerto #3 is in three movements: Allegro, Adagio, and Rondeau Allegro which in English means Lively, Slow, and Lively with a repeated theme throughout.
The concerto is scored for solo violin, 2 flutes (in the second movement only), 2 oboes (only in the first and third movements), two horns, and strings. This is the only time in all five violin concertos by Mozart where a pair of flutes are used instead of oboes.
Concerto #3 in G major is a standard early concerto to learn among serious violin students. Of the three most often performed - numbers 3, 4, and 5 - it is the introvert's concerto; not quite as flamboyant as #5 or as heroic as #4. It has a beautiful simplicity to it, and is a lovely straightforward expression of Mozart's melodic and rhythmic prowess.
A typical performance of Violin Concerto #3 lasts about 27 minutes.NERD ASSIGNMENTS!
Start with a Conversation:
A concerto is a type of musical form that creates dialogue and drama between a single instrument or small group of instruments, and a much larger group of instruments. 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 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!
Try an Activity!
Go ahead and dive down that internet rabbit hole! Listen to at least three different recordings of Mozart's Violin Concerto #3 for comparison and contrast. How do you find the interpretation of different soloists and orchestras affect the overall piece of music? What specific things do you notice? Do you have any favorite interpretations or moments? What draws you toward some and/or turns you away from others?
Listening for dialogue and interpretation
Listen to the performance live and again via recording if possible. Try to listen carefully for musical dialogue and dramatic interpretive elements in this composition. How did the conversation and comparison/contrast activities help you to better engage as a listener?Gustav mahler
Symphony #1DIVE IN!
Austro-Bohemian Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) is one of the most influential and revered conductors and composers of the late Romantic era. His Symphony #1 is one of his best known works, even though it got off to a rocky start. Enjoy learning about Mahler and the Symphony, and listening to your Colorado Symphony’s performance.HIGHLIGHTS:
Gustav Mahler composed Symphony #1 in 1887 and 1888, and made several revisions by 1898 to bring it to its published form. He was just 27 years old when he first began working on it.
Symphony #1 lasts for about 55 minutes and is in four movements, or musical chapters. The symphony follows a traditional structure of fast paced outer movements with dance form and slow inner movements.
The original structure of Symphony #1 was as a five movement symphonic tone poem. For the first three performances, the second movement called Blumine (flower piece) was included but removed thereafter. It is now often performed and recorded as a stand alone work. However, if you listen closely you can hear quotes of the main theme in the second and fourth movements of the symphony.
The beginning of the third movement features a double bass solo playing a variation on the theme of “Frere Jacques”, which is unusual and noteworthy as bass solos are rare delights.
Mahler's score calls for 4 flutes and 2 piccolos, 4 oboes and English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, and E-flat clarinet, 3 bassoons and contrabassoon, 7 horns, 5 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, 6 timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, harp, and strings.
Mahler himself conducted more performances of this symphony than of any of his later works.
Random fun fact: Some stalwart nerdy geeks are convinced the Star Trek Next Generation theme music is built on the opening material of the first movement. Whether intentional or not, I agree with the stalwart nerdy geeks enough to have made and posted a mashup video here for your consideration!RESOURCES:A live performance recording of the full symphonyDominic Seldis, principal bass of Concertgebouw, getting nerdy about the solo in movement 3
The removed "Blumine" movement, with scoreThe 1974 Ken Russell movie “Mahler"Star Trek Next Generation theme as compared to the beginning of Symphony #1
As if I wasn't already headed for classical music hell... 😂🤓😎LISTENING MAP:
Movement 1: Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut. Im Anfang sehr gemächlich (in English: Slow. Dragging. Like a sound of nature. Very leisurely at the beginning.)
The first music we hear is a hollow and somewhat eery quiet ring of sound in the strings. It is essentially a column of A pitches, spread from very high to quite low, all held in a long tone with no added coloration. It somehow feels both suspenseful and calming, like bright light shining under a door in the dark. Layered over this we hear other instruments playing a slow falling figure, followed by a short fanfare in the woodwinds and then later in off stage trumpets. A high clarinet bird song precedes a proud sounding far off horn call, and then we start hearing more movement and rhythm which transitions into a lovely simple melody first in the low strings and then throughout the orchestra. The entire opening is the waking of nature. Who wouldn't want an alarm clock like this?? ❤️
As the movement continues we hear various expressions of this awakening of, and to, nature. It finishes in a whirl of bright optimism.
Movement 2: Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (in English: Vigorous, Agitated, but Not Too Fast)
This movement is a swinging Ländler, which is a type of Austrian waltz. It's a standard three part, or ABA, form in which we start and finish with similar music. The 'A' music is youthful, boisterous, and fun. It starts with a rousing call to dance in the lower strings with the swinging sensation initially provided by the upper strings and finishes with a lot of joyous racket in the entire orchestra. The 'B' music in the center is slower and much more sentimental, with a sort of flirtatious longing to it.
Movement 3: Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen (in English: Solemn and Measured, Without Dragging)
The 3rd movement is a funeral march built on the tune Frere Jacques or Brüder Jacob, but he presents it in the darker minor mode. We first hear it in the solo string bass, followed by bassoon, cellos, tuba, and then throughout the orchestra. About the time we settle firmly into the funeral march, Mahler transitions us into the sound world of a klezmer band, bringing us into that poignant meeting of celebration and grief. He creates this sound and mood with a bit perkier tempo and by using bass drum, cymbal, oboes, clarinets, and trumpets. We return to the original sound world and march our way out into the far away distance.
Movement 4: Stürmisch bewegt (in English: Passionate, Agitated)
This final movement starts off with a ferocious bang and proceeds to take us on a journey through textures, styles, and moods right through to the triumphant sounding ending. In addition to introducing new ideas, Mahler incorporates themes from the previous movements so that this final movement is like a summation of the entire piece. This was a tradition established by Ludwig van Beethoven from his 9th symphony which many composers adopted thereafter. In this movement, we begin in what sounds like a terrifying place, have a momentary respite with a beautiful soft melodic section, and then return to terror for a moment before introducing more hopeful music in the form of a heroic sounding theme. These competing ideas of peril, beauty, and heroism make for a thrilling finish to the symphony.CONSIDER AND DISCUSS:
Mahler revised Symphony #1 several times before submitting it for official publication. This included removing the original 2nd movement "Blumine", and removing the original programmatic text description. This text was intended to guide listeners but instead Mahler found it got in the way of the listeners' ability to individually personalize their connection to the music. You may appreciate learning the history and back story of creators and their works, but do you prefer to learn this in advance or after observing the work? Do you have a 'read the tag' first, or a 'look at the painting' first kind of preference? Why and why not?
Here is Mahler's programmatic text for the original iteration of what became Symphony #1:
Part I: From the days of youth, "youth, fruit, and thorn pieces".- Spring and no end. This introduction describes the awakening of nature at the earliest dawn.
- Flowerine Chapter. [*note* this is the "Blumine" movement which was removed]
- Set with full sails.
- Stranded. A funeral march in the manner of Callot.
- Dall'inferno al Paradiso (From Hell to Heaven), as the sudden expression of a deeply wounded heart.
Considering Mahler's original work was intended to be a "symphonic tone poem", how do you think reading this programmatic text prior to hearing the music might or might not be helpful to listeners of the Symphony in its final established form?
READY TO ENGAGE!
Please share your experience with me – cbeeson69@gmail.com!
I’d love to hear about it or see any of your activities, journaling, or creations!
I’d love to hear about it or see any of your activities, journaling, or creations!