Mozart
Child Mozart in
Schönbrunn Palace
Rameau and Paisiello Operas First Performed
Classical Music Datebook: August 23
Operas of Rameau and Paisiello Premieres
- Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera-ballet Les Indes galantes premieres in Paris on August 23, 1735.
- Giovanni Paisiello’s opera Il Re Teodoro in Venezia premieres in Vienna this day, in 1784.
Related Article:
French Opera Beginnings
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Claudio Monteverdi, Italian Composer
Claudio Monteverdi, Composer of Late Renaissance and Early Baroque Eras.
Life and works of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, famous for La Favola d’Orfeo (The Fable of Orpheus), and considered the father of modern opera.
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (15 May 1567 (baptized) – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer and singer. He was known for opera La Favola d’Orfeo (The Fable of Orpheus), stood across the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods, and made the most important contribution to the opera’s early development and a pioneer in modern orchestration.
Monteverdi composed religious music and specialized in opera, motets and many madrigals.
Image Credit:
Monteverdi Painting by Bernardo Strozzi, Wikimedia Commons
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Felix Mendelssohn Conducts His Hebrides Overture
Classical Music Milestone: May 14, 1832 – Mendelssohn “Fingal’s Cave” Premieres.
A year before Felix Mendelssohn premiered his “Italian” Symphony 4, he conducted in London the first performance of his Hebrides Overture (German for Die Hebriden), referred to as “Fingal’s Cave” (die Fingalshöhle.) Performances of the overture typically run between 10½ and 11 minutes.
The Hebrides Overture (German: Die Hebriden), Op. 26, is a concert overture that Mendelssohn composed in 1839. It was inspired by a cavern known as Fingal’s Cave on Staffa, an island in the Hebrides located off the west coast of Scotland. As is common with Romantic era pieces, this is not an overture in the sense that it precedes a play or opera. The piece is a stand-alone musical selection, a concert overture, which has now become part of standard orchestral repertoire.
The overture consists of two primary themes and is played by the violas, cellos, and bassoons… signifying feelings of loneliness and solitude. The second theme depicts movement at sea with the rolling of waves. It is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings.
His work was completed on December 16, 1830 and was originally entitled Die einsame Insel (The Lonely Island), but Mendelssohn revised the score, completing it by June 20, 1832, retitling it Die Hebriden, or The Hebrides. Despite this, the title of Fingal’s Cave was retained: on the orchestral parts he labelled the music The Hebrides, but on the score the great composer labelled the music Fingal’s Cave.
The piece was dedicated to then Crown Prince of Prussia, now King Frederick William IV of Prussia.
Trivia: Incidentally, Mendelssohn’s beloved sister, Fanny, also died the same day on May 14 (1847), 15 years later.
Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave’) Op. 26 (Video Courtesy: YouTube)
Resources:
- Geoff Kuenning. “Program Notes: Mendelssohn: “Hebrides” Overture”. Accessed May 16, 2011.
- “Overture to “Fingal’s Cave”". Music With Ease. Accessed May 16, 2011.
- Wikipedia
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History of Baroque Music
Brief History of Baroque Music
| Written by Tel Asiado | |
| The word ‘baroque’ is used to describe a particular musical style, a term originally borrowed from the style of architecture popular between 1600 and 1750. The buildings were ornate or elaborately decorated, and often flamboyant. The music of the time can be seen in this way too, that is, elaborate and heavily ornamented.
Famous examples of this Baroque music are compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Henry Purcell, among others. The 17th century music is usually divided into two: the early Baroque period, from 1600 to 1680, and the late Baroque period, 1680 to 1750. |
Full article … [Brief History of Baroque Music]
Courtesy: Music Education Magic
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