DEATH MUSIC

So we've all heard the sweet soundtrack for Requiem for a Dream, but what is a requiem anyway??  A requiem originated as a catholic mass specifically dedicated to the passing of a particular person's soul to the next life (or whatever it is that Catholics believe).  The term is more widely used to describe any piece dedicated to a person's passing. 

Requiems are often the most bad-ass piece that a composer ever makes.  It's not hard to understand why a composer might put an extra amount of creative energy into such a serious piece, and usually Requiems are written late in a composer's life so the composer has had time to develop and mature stylistically.

Let's look at two examples of note:

1. Verdi's Requiem.  You may have seen this small section of the requiem posted the other day:



Written to commemorate painter Alessandro Manzoni.  The full work is definitely worth a listen but it's not exactly over in the blink of an eye.

2.Mozart's Requiem!  Mozart's Requiem is one of my favorite pieces of music, certainly my favorite piece by Mozart.  It's emotive force and heavy orchestration outmatch not only his other compositions, but any other work of the era (1791).  Mozart wrote the piece on his deathbed for an anonymous commision so part of the lore is that from the composer's perspective he was writing his own death piece (and in fact he expired before it was finished).  A few of the parts...

Intro:


Kyrie:


Lacrimosa


I could go on, but the truth is each section is equally gripping - if you ever have the opportunity to see this piece live, spare no expense to do so. 

Stay tuned for movie music!

DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST TURN UP THE VOLUME AND LISTEN

DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST TURN UP THE VOLUME AND LISTEN:


That was the Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem premiered in 1874.  And now that I have your attention let's talk about hallucinations...

Auditory hallucinations are an interesting and well-documented phenomenon.  The question is: what's the line between vivid musical creativity and hallucinations?  Is it that one is within the mind's control?  Those of you who have written your own music may have experienced the sensation of original sound spontaneously entering your imagination.  There are those, however, who would do anything to silence the muses in their minds.  Tchaikovsky for example was found weeping as a young child, grieving about the loud music he was hearing which would not cease.  Another example comes from the end of Schumann's life when he gradually went deaf and all real auditory input was replaced by sounds of his brain's own design:

"Schumann spent the end of his life experiencing auditory hallucinations. Schumann’s diaries state that he suffered perpetually from imagining that he had the note A5 sounding in his ears. The musical hallucinations became increasingly complex. One night he claimed to have been visited by the ghost of Schubert and wrote down the music that he was hearing. Thereafter, he began making claims that he could hear an angelic choir singing to him. As his condition worsened, the angelic voices transmogrified into demonic voices." Laqueur, Thomas (2007-09-03). "Spirited Away". pp. 36–42.
 Even Beethoven was seen in his last years dancing and jumping around in fields to the music  coming from between his ears.

     Before we get away from the topic of Schumann though, I'll just throw in a note about his wife Clara for good measure.  Clara was also an extremely talented musician and composer and by some accounts her accomplishments in composition eclipsed those of her husband.  Unfortunately for her, getting your music published as a woman in the 19th century was quite difficult so a lot (though not all) of her compositions ended up being published under her husband's name and even to this day there is some ambiguity about which pieces are hers.
     Robert Schumann was jealous his whole life of his wife's relationship with the composer Johannes Brahms.  The two were extremely good friends (plus Mrs. Brahms was known to rip Johannes' compositions to pieces if she found flaws in them so I could see why he might need a breath of fresh air...).  I'm also kinda into Brahms because he made this:



and also this:



Stay tuned for death music...

Humans Are Insane!

First of all, this is totally insane!!!



This is a piece by contemporary composer Steve Reich, written for two pianists.  It's called a phase shift meaning it's the exact same thing played over and over again at two very slightly different tempos.  The fact that one human is able to do it is insane.  This video is a little abridged, but you can see the effect of the phase shift.

Now on to Satie...



That is the soothing, soothing sound of Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1 from his Trois Gymnopedies.  Satie was another composer from the turn of the twentieth century.  He was french and although he composed around the same time as Ives and Scriabin, he was known for the simplicity of his melodies and his adherence to common tonalities.  He was friends with (and a great influence on) his much more well known contemporary Claude Debussy.  Debussy arranged a number of Satie's piano works for orchestra - here is a stunning orchestration by Debussy of Gymnopedie No 1:



Satie preferred the title of 'phonometrician' (someone who measures sounds) to that of musician.  If you enjoyed the Gymnopedie, I strongly encourage you to check out the music of contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Part, particularly his Spiegel Im Spiegel.

Stay Tuned Next Week for Some Schooling in the Classics and a Look at the Modern Traditions...

Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?

     

     As continued from yesterday, we are looking at the strange music from the beginning of the twentieth century.  Charles Ives is an interesting case of someone whose upbringing was the quintessence of boring perfection but whose music stretches the sonic limits.

     Ives' early musical exposure came from his father who was a bandleader in the civil war.  The theory instruction Ives received from his father was anything but standard and experimentation was encouraged.  Ives also gained exposure to hymns while serving as a church organist. He attended Yale and as a top athlete was chided because his passion for music got in the way of his athletic career.  His senior project was his first symphony, a masterful mixture timbres and dynamics.  Ives' creative license quickly spiraled out of control and he eventually began writing songs in which the voice and the accompaniment have little or nothing to do with one another.  Many speculate that his preference for such music came from listening simultaneously to his father's band and other bands perform simultaneously from across town square while growing up.

     Fun Fact: As with Jean Sibelius, one day Ives walked downstairs weeping one day and told his wife: "Nothing sounds right!" and that he could no longer compose.  He spent the last 30 years of his life without creating any new compositions but if you mention his name around those in the field of insurance you may get an avid response.  Ives was as prolific in the insurance industry as he was in music!

Stay Tuned for the Soothing Sounds of Erik Satie...

Music for the End of the World

First of all, if you are interested in the neuroscience of music I suggest the video on the left about music and the elderly.  This week we'll look at some of the more peculiar people and music from the turn of the 20th century.   

First of all a strange Russian man named Scriabin whose harmonies pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the time.  Scriabin believed that humanity was like a pregnant storm cloud which was working towards its ultimate lightning-strike goal and that his music was the catalyst.  Later we will get into Charles Ives, a Yale athlete macho-man who was as revolutionary in the insurance industry as he was in music.  Ives had a tendency to put two totally unrelated melodies on top of each other and the result was often unique to say the least.  Also in store we have a French man named Erik Satie who in the midst of all this wild music found the beauty in the soft and the simple.  Satie was a friend of and a huge influence on the wildly famous Claude Debussy.

Alexander Scriabin, the little frail Russian man with a tenuous relationship with god.  In one of his notebooks he actually claims to BE god.  I might also claim that if Rachmaninoff  decided to play my music for a recording.  Antisocial as a child, enamored with self-fashioned mysticism as a man, he had a system of associating certain colors with certain tones.  He is by no means the first person to draw up such a detailed synesthesia:
Scriabin created the "Mystic Chord," a cluster of six tones which is also often seen in Jazz.  Such tone clusters gave both his piano and orchestral music a unique flavor.
"For some time before his death he had planned a multi-media work to be performed in the Himalayan Mountains, that would cause a so-called "Armageddon", "a grandiose religious synthesis of all arts which would herald the birth of a new world"... The Mysterium was, psychologically, a world Scriabin created to sustain its own evolution."
 And on that note I leave you to wonder what Charles Ives holds in store...

Sibelius Goes Hard

"All of the doctors who told me to stop drinking and smoking have long since died." - Jean Sibelius at the age of 91.



Heyo, today we discuss briefly the life, times, and music of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) musical genius and Finnish national hero.  In fact, the composer is such a point of pride in Finland that his face is on the 100-mark bill, and Finnish flag day is on his birthday.  His most famous piece Finlandia (above) is a brilliant tribute to his beloved homeland.  Yes, he was a reckless alcoholic, and yes he spent the last 30 years of his life in a wild manic-depressive state, unable to compose (arguably insane).

He enjoyed nature walks and the horn part in the last movement of his fifth symphony is based on swan calls which he heard on one of his walks.  If you love good music with a little edge and character I would suggest all of his symphonies and violin concertos.

Fun fact, the Finnish government spends 200 times what the US does (per capita) on the arts.

"You're welcome JRR Tolkien"


     The other day I briefly mentioned "Program Music" but did not give much of an explanation.  Program music is music which represents something as opposed to music whose only meaning is the notes which are heard.  You know, like Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. I've got some rockin examples for you but first a shameless plug for my new track and a note on Nordic Mythology...

     Recently a friend of mine was talking about JRR Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and I started blabbering on about how Tolkien took much of the material for the narrative from Wagner's "Der Ring Des Nibelungen."  There are many obvious parellels both thematic and musical such as a ring which grants its bearer ultimate power and the necessity of its destruction in order to redeem the world.  It would be a lot easier to believe Tolkien if his claim were that Wagner's Ring played only a small part in the conception of LOTR; however, Tolkien claims not to have been influenced by it at all.

     But hold on a minute, what is "Der Ring Des Nibelungen?" Often referred to as The Ring Cycle, it is a work of art which has no parallel.  Wagner believed that no artistic work could reach its full potential unless it incorporated as many different art forms as possible.  So he invented the "Gesamtkunstwerk" (or total-artwork). Gesamtkunstwerk is essentially an epic opera.  Epic meaning 4 hours long with a gigantic chorus and orchestra and deep psychological themes.  The Ring Cycle is a cycle of four operas totaling about 15 hours which took 30 years to create. It is the most written about work of musical art in existence (partally because every character and emotion in the cycle has a specific musical theme called a leitmotif attached to it).

     But we all know opera is boring, right (just kidding)? The important thing is that Wagner was a huge proponent of program music.

And now the important stuff: a few bits of knowledge on program music which will make you sound smart should you find yourself at a fancy dinner party...

1)Beethoven only wrote one opera, it was entitled "Fidelio" and the consensus among music scholars is that it is not very good.  Beethoven's Achilles heal so to speak.

2)In 1916 English composer Gustav Holst wrote "The Planets" - a suite in seven movements with each movement representing the astrological character of one planet from our solar system.  My personal favorite is Saturn - Bringer of Old Age which begins timid and mellow and proceeds to rock your face off...  Sarah you might also like Jupiter - Bringer of Jolity it's probably the most famous of the movements.

3)In 1874 Mussorgsky wrote Pictures at an Exhibition - a suite in ten movements which represents a walk through an exhibition of his friend, painter Viktor Hartmann.  The main theme is the 'promenade' which represents the viewer of the exhibition walking from piece to piece.  Each recurrence of the promenade has a different feeling depending on the mood of the pictures which have just been observed. Though originally composed for piano the suite is so colorful that it has been re-orchestrated time and time again.  The most famous version was done by Maurice Ravel.  Here are The Gnome and The Great Gates of Kiev - two of the movements as orchestrated by Ravel.

Stay tuned this week for fast cars, explosions and sex...

Thursday

I've thrown a lot at you in the past week so I'm not going to give any new listening material today.  Here's a list of what we've covered so far:

Intro)Warsaw Village Band - At My Mother's
Intro)Chopin - Raindrop Prelude
1)Beethoven - Symphony no. 9 in D minor, Opus 125. First movement
2)Beethoven - String Quartet C# minor, Op.131-7. Allegro
3)Franz Liszt's 'Un Sospiro'
4)Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor
5)Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Suggested listening
     A)Gubaidulina - Seven Words
     B)Mussorgsky's - Night on Bald Mountain
     C)Fantomas - Delirium Cordia
6)Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight
Suggested listening
     A)Beethoven - String Quartet Opus 132, Movement 3
     B)Ralph Von Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis
     C)Sigur Ros - Track 3 from the album ()
 
Please feel free to contact me re: questions you'd like answered or music you've enjoyed thus far and would like to hear more of. Peter.m.valente@gmail.com or follow me on twitter with the button on the top-right of the blog.

Stay Tuned Tomorrow for Friday Fun...

Happy Hump Day!!! Time for beautiful music...

7) Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight 2004
     Richter is a contemporary classical composer.  There has been some debate among music scholars as to whether or not his work should be considered classical but I definitely consider it classical.  The hardest thing for a lot of music scholars to get over is the fact that the form of many of his pieces is so simple.  This piece, for instance, is basically one chord progression repeating with a new voice added each time. The musical form is definitely classical though, and is actually called a "Canon." 
'Canon: a musical form in which a tune is imitated by individual parts at regular intervals; known as a round when each part is continuously repeated. In simple examples, such as "London Bridge is Falling Down," the successive voices enter at a same pitch and at the same speed.  In more elaborate examples, such as the canons in J.S. Bach's keyboard work [optional listening] known as the Goldberg Variation, the voices may enter at different pitches and present the tune at different speeds or even backwards or upside down (in inversion). ' -Enjoythemusic.com
If you give another listen to the famous classic Pachelbel's Canon in D major which was written more than 300 years ago, you will clearly notice the same repetitive form.  If you give a listen to the work of post-rock band Godspeed you! black emperor [optional listening] you will also notice the same form although you will probably end up in an electric guitar-induced frenzy (Godspeed is DEFINITELY NOT classical because the conception of their songs is entirely organic and by ear and not at all rooted in any written tradition).  To me it is clear that Richter's work is art music from a written tradition (aka classical music).  Richter has released albums, done film and television scores.  This piece is riveting.

Suggested listening for those looking to weep over gorgeous string music:
C)And today's arguably popular selection: Sigur Ros - Track 3 from the album ()

The Horror!

DC residents please notice on the left that I have added a special section for my recommendations of upcoming concerts in the DC area. Use it!

Alright, before we get started with Spooky Tuesday I want to address a couple of very good questions which Sarah brought up.

First of all she is wondering why Wikipedia makes a distinction between popular and folk music but in my first post I seem to make no such distinction.  What I meant when I said "Popular music is folk music or  music for consumption." is that popular music is derived from folk music.  For example blues and rock and Jazz all come from aural folk traditions.  Technically, they are not always one and the same, it's more of a ven diagram situation (my mother would be proud). The important thing is that neither of them is classical.  Linus and Lucy is Jazz which, too keep a very long story very short, comes from African American Folk music (though it wouldn't exist if Creole musicians in New Orleans hadn't been kicked out of white orchestras and forced to take their brass and woodwind skills to the streets).

Second, the fact that this blog primarily deals with just the past 200 years is entirely a ME thing and not a historical thing... I simply don't enjoy as much of the music from before then so I wouldn't make a good teacher of it.

Finally, "How did Beethoven manage to write crazy amazing music after he became deaf?"  Haha he is a real hero.  It's a combination of things.  His ear was trained from as early as he could walk to recognize what different notes on the page sound like in relation to each other without having to play them.  What that means is that he, like many musicians trained from a young age could look at a piece of music and hear it in his head.  That's the intellectual component.  What amazes me most is that he managed to keep such a keen mastery of orchestration, harmony, and dynamics (in other words what instruments sound good with each other, what different combination of notes sound like when played simultaneously, and the use of volume in composition).  In his own words, spoken directly to a prince: "What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself.  There are and always will be thousands of princes, but there is only one Beethoven."

Alright!! Now on with the listening...

5) In the first half of the twentieth century something horrible called 12 tone music happened.

6) Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima 1959 - (I chose this youtube because it's hilarious)
     In the aftermath of 12 tone music, composers of the twentieth century were able to take much greater liberties with dissonance than they had previously been able to.  Threnody is an example of how composers pushed the sonic envelope to reach new emotional territory.  Fun fact, Threnody was not composed with Hiroshima in mind.  It was not written as "programmed" music (music with  explicit meaning or representation) but the commissioner of the piece gave it that name after it had been composed.  Seems apt though.  This shit is horrifying.  It has been used in many films.  Check out these pictures of the conductor's score:

  Not exactly what you think of when someone says "sheet music" eh?  Believe it or not it is easier for a conductor to follow those scores than it would be to follow the regular music.

Suggested listening for the brave who REALLY like to get scared out of their pants:

A)Sofia Gubaidulina is one of my favorite composers.  She lived in the 20th century and was an understudy of Shostakovich.  I can't find any of my favorites of hers online but here's an example, and if you like it I can always get you more (play this LOUD):


B)Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. Mussorgsky is my favorite composer.
 
C)Delirium Cordia - a single track concept album by super group Fantomas representing the theme of surgery without anesthesia.  It may seem a bit metal at first but I would erg the brave to stick with it because it has a really interesting integration of many traditions from around the world.

Stay tuned tomorrow for heart-wrenching music that will make you cry...

Rock Stars Are Forever

     I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude for the enthusiastic support this project has garnered from my peers.  If all goes according to plan the Kennedy Center and Strathmore will be inundated with new patrons in the coming months.  Also, Sarah has given me some initial questions which I will be addressing in tomorrow's post.  For now: enjoy the lesson...

3) Franz Liszt's 'Un Sospiro' (Italian for "A sigh") 1848.
     Liszt is arguably the greatest pianist ever to live (Although Art Tatum aint bad).  This piece comes from his: "Three Etudes for Piano." An Etude is a piece meant both for study to improve one's technique, but also for concert performance.  Liszts hands were enormous and he often memorized his pieces making it difficult for others to play or learn some of his pieces.  He had the 'rockstar' personality and enjoyed packing concert halls and whimsical courtship of ladies.
"After [his tour of Europe in] 1842, 'Listomania' swept across Europe. The reception Liszt enjoyed as a result can only be described as hysterical. Women fought over his silk handkerchiefs and velvet gloves, which they ripped to shreds as souvenirs. Helping fuel this atmosphere was the artist's mesmeric personality and stage presence. Many witnesses later testified that Liszt's playing raised the mood of audiences to a level of mystical ecstasy." - Walker, Virtuoso Years, 289.
4) Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 1901
     A concerto is written for a full orchestra plus a soloist instrument (in this case piano).  Rachmaninov also had gargantuan hands.  He was a Russian romantic composer of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth.  I consider Russian symphonic music from the late romantic period (late nineteenth/early twentieth century) to be among the most brilliant art in existence.  That is a personal opinion.  Fun fact about Rachmaninov is that he once recorded in Richmond, Indiana (the small town in which Sarah and I attended undergrad)!!!

     This particular movement of this piece was the inspiration for the song "Space Dimentia" by the rock band Muse (popular music).  That is an extremely kick-ass song (not a personal opinion, a fact).  See if you can hear the similarities in two places:  The piano right before the drums kick in, matches the intro to the concerto and the vocal line in the breakdown (2:10 Muse) matches the melody being passed between the horns and violin at around the 1:40 mark in the concerto recording.



Stay tuned to get scared out of your goddamn mind with spooky tuesday...