DOCSLIB.ORG

Stamitz 595 Text

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Stamitz 595 Text Carl Stamitz, geboren am 7. Mai 1745 zu Mannheim, Carl Stamitz, born on 7 May 1745 in Mann- war ältester Sohn von Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz heim, was the eldest son of Johann Wenzel (1717–1757). Ersten Kompositionsunterricht erhielt Anton Stamitz (1717–1757). His first composi- er von seinem Vater. Nach dessen Tod waren Christian tion teacher was his father. When the latter died, Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer und Franz Xaver Richter his teachers were Christian Cannabich, Ignaz seine Lehrer. 1762 trat er als Geiger in das berühmte Holzbauer and Franz Xaver Richter. In 1762 he Mannheimer Hoforchester ein. 1770 zog es ihn nach joined the famous Mannheim court orchestra as Paris, um in die Dienste des Herzogs von Noailles zu violinist. In 1770 he was drawn to Paris, where treten. Mit seinem Bruder Anton trat er daneben mit he entered the service of the Duke of Noailles. eigenen Werken in den Concerts Spirituel auf. Von He also appeared in the Concerts Spirituel with Paris aus unternahm er Konzertreisen, die ihn nach his brother Anton, performing works of his own. Wien, Frankfurt und Straßburg führten. Es folgten From Paris, Carl Stamitz went on tours that took 1777/78 erfolgreiche Jahre in London. 1782/83 weilte him to Vienna, Frankfurt and Strassburg. Suc- Stamitz in Holland, konzertierte in Den Haag und in cessful years in London followed in 1777/78. In Amsterdam, wo auch Werke von ihm verlegt wurden. 1782/83 he spent time in Holland, giving recit- 1785 nach Deutschland zurückgekehrt, suchte er in als in The Hague and Amsterdam, where works Hamburg, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Leipzig und Berlin als of his were published. Returning to Germany in reisender Virtuose, vornehmlich auf der Viola und der 1785, he first sought to consolidate his artistic Viola d’amore, und als Leiter musikalischer Akademien reputation by appearing as a touring virtuoso, seinen künstlerischen Ruf zu festigen. 1789 amtete mainly on the viola and viola d’amore, and direct- er als Direktor der Liebhaberkonzerte in Kassel. Des ing “musical academies” in Hamburg, Lübeck, Reisens müde, ließ er sich nach erfolgloser Bewerbung Magdeburg, Leipzig and Berlin. In 1789/90 he um einen Posten am Schweriner Hof als akademischer was director of the amateur concerts in Kassel. Musiklehrer in Jena nieder. Hier starb er verarmt und Tired of travelling, he settled as a music teacher at verschuldet am 9. November 1801. the academy in Jena, after fruitlessly applying for Der kompositorische Nachlaß von Carl Stamitz a post at the Schwerin court. He died poor and in ist enorm. Er schrieb etwa 50 Sinfonien, 38 kon- debt in Jena on 9 November 1801. zertante Sinfonien, deren Typus Mozart übernahm, The compositional legacy of Carl Stamitz is an die 60 Konzerte für Violine, Viola, Flöte, Klari- great. He wrote some 50 symphonies, 38 concer- nette, Fagott und Bassetthorn, sowie vom Quintett bis tante symphonies, a genre Mozart took over, some zum Duo eine Fülle an Kammermusik, deren melodi- 60 concerti for violin, viola, flute, clarinet, bassoon schem Liebreiz sich kein Musizierer entziehen kann. and basset-horn, as well as a rich and melodically Gut 42 Trios sind von Stamitz in Drucken überliefert, entrancing oeuvre of chamber music which ranges fast ausnahmslos in der Standardbesetzung von 2 Vio- from the quintet to the duo. A good 42 trios by linen im Wechsel mit Flöten und Violoncello. Viele Stamitz are extant in print, almost entirely for davon wurzeln noch in der barocken Tradition mit the standard formation of 2 violins or flutes and beziffertem Baß, wobei hier bereits in Solopartien die violoncello. Many of these are still rooted in the Bezifferung abgestreift wird und sich mit in Bewe- baroque figured bass tradition, although figures are gung aufgelösten Harmonien Raum schafft zum kon- omitted in the solo passages, where the harmonies zertanten Wettstreit. flower freely in concertante competition. Während das C-dur-Duo in einer Handschrift der While there is a second manuscript of the Duo Berliner Staatsbibliothek existiert, ist das Duo in D-dur in C major in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, the nur in einer Handschrift in Cesky Krumlov (Krum- Duo in D major only exists as a manuscript, with mau) in der Tschechei, zusammen mit dem C-dur- that in C major, in Cesky Krumlov (Krummau) Duo, überliefert. Dieses letztere Manuskript gilt zwar in Czech. This last manuscript is considered the als Autograph, aber seine ungewöhnlich große Feh- autograph, although its unusual amount of mis- lerhaftigkeit scheint dies in Frage zu stellen. Außer takes makes one wonder. Apart from such cor- diesen Korrekturen war in sehr vielen Fällen eine rections, adjustment of the very imprecise and Angleichung der sehr ungenauen und unterschiedli- differing phrasing and dynamics was necessary in chen Phrasierungen und der Dynamik notwendig. very many cases. UMSCHLAG / COVER Eugen Adam (1817–1880): Marktszene / The Market.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 Eighteenth-Century Music in a Twenty-First Century Conservatory of Music Or Using Haydn to Make the Familiar Exciting by Mary
    1 Morrow, Mary Sue. “Eighteenth-Century Music in a Twenty-First Century Conservatory of Music, or Using Haydn to Make the Familiar Exciting.” HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America 6.1 (Spring 2016), http://haydnjournal.org. © RIT Press and Haydn Society of North America, 2016. Duplication without the express permission of the author, RIT Press, and/or the Haydn Society of North America is prohibited. Eighteenth-Century Music in a Twenty-First Century Conservatory of Music or Using Haydn to Make the Familiar Exciting by Mary Sue Morrow University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music I. Introduction Teaching the history of eighteenth-century music in a conservatory can be challenging. Aside from the handful of music history and music theory students, your classes are populated mostly by performers, conductors, and composers who do not always find the study of music history interesting or even necessary. Moreover, when you step in front of a graduate-level class at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, everybody in the class is going to know all about the music of the eighteenth century: they’ve played Bach fugues and sung in Handel choruses; they’ve sung Mozart arias and played Haydn string quartets or early Beethoven sonatas. They have also been taught to revere these names as the century’s musical geniuses, but quite a number of them will admit that they are not very interested in eighteenth-century music, particularly the music from the late eighteenth-century: It is too ordinary and unexciting; it all sounds alike; it is mostly useful for teaching purposes (definitely the fate of Haydn’s keyboard sonatas and, to a degree, his string quartets).
    [Show full text]
  • My Musical Lineage Since the 1600S
    Paris Smaragdis My musical lineage Richard Boulanger since the 1600s Barry Vercoe Names in bold are people you should recognize from music history class if you were not asleep. Malcolm Peyton Hugo Norden Joji Yuasa Alan Black Bernard Rands Jack Jarrett Roger Reynolds Irving Fine Edward Cone Edward Steuerman Wolfgang Fortner Felix Winternitz Sebastian Matthews Howard Thatcher Hugo Kontschak Michael Czajkowski Pierre Boulez Luciano Berio Bruno Maderna Boris Blacher Erich Peter Tibor Kozma Bernhard Heiden Aaron Copland Walter Piston Ross Lee Finney Jr Leo Sowerby Bernard Wagenaar René Leibowitz Vincent Persichetti Andrée Vaurabourg Olivier Messiaen Giulio Cesare Paribeni Giorgio Federico Ghedini Luigi Dallapiccola Hermann Scherchen Alessandro Bustini Antonio Guarnieri Gian Francesco Malipiero Friedrich Ernst Koch Paul Hindemith Sergei Koussevitzky Circa 20th century Leopold Wolfsohn Rubin Goldmark Archibald Davinson Clifford Heilman Edward Ballantine George Enescu Harris Shaw Edward Burlingame Hill Roger Sessions Nadia Boulanger Johan Wagenaar Maurice Ravel Anton Webern Paul Dukas Alban Berg Fritz Reiner Darius Milhaud Olga Samaroff Marcel Dupré Ernesto Consolo Vito Frazzi Marco Enrico Bossi Antonio Smareglia Arnold Mendelssohn Bernhard Sekles Maurice Emmanuel Antonín Dvořák Arthur Nikisch Robert Fuchs Sigismond Bachrich Jules Massenet Margaret Ruthven Lang Frederick Field Bullard George Elbridge Whiting Horatio Parker Ernest Bloch Raissa Myshetskaya Paul Vidal Gabriel Fauré André Gédalge Arnold Schoenberg Théodore Dubois Béla Bartók Vincent
    [Show full text]
  • VIVACE AUTUMN / WINTER 2016 Photo © Martin Kubica Photo
    VIVACEAUTUMN / WINTER 2016 Classical music review in Supraphon recordings Photo archive PPC archive Photo Photo © Jan Houda Photo LUKÁŠ VASILEK SIMONA ŠATUROVÁ TOMÁŠ NETOPIL Borggreve © Marco Photo Photo © David Konečný Photo Photo © Petr Kurečka © Petr Photo MARKO IVANOVIĆ RADEK BABORÁK RICHARD NOVÁK CP archive Photo Photo © Lukáš Kadeřábek Photo JANA SEMERÁDOVÁ • MAREK ŠTRYNCL • ROMAN VÁLEK Photo © Martin Kubica Photo XENIA LÖFFLER 1 VIVACE AUTUMN / WINTER 2016 Photo © Martin Kubica Photo Dear friends, of Kabeláč, the second greatest 20th-century Czech symphonist, only When looking over the fruits of Supraphon’s autumn harvest, I can eclipsed by Martinů. The project represents the first large repayment observe that a number of them have a common denominator, one per- to the man, whose upright posture and unyielding nature made him taining to the autumn of life, maturity and reflections on life-long “inconvenient” during World War II and the Communist regime work. I would thus like to highlight a few of our albums, viewed from alike, a human who remained faithful to his principles even when it this very angle of vision. resulted in his works not being allowed to be performed, paying the This year, we have paid special attention to Bohuslav Martinů in price of existential uncertainty and imperilment. particular. Tomáš Netopil deserves merit for an exquisite and highly A totally different hindsight is afforded by the unique album acclaimed recording (the Sunday Times Album of the Week, for of J. S. Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos, which has been instance), featuring one of the composer’s final two operas, Ariane, released on CD for the very first time.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Booklet
    Classics Contemporaries of Mozart Collection COMPACT DISC ONE Franz Krommer (1759–1831) Symphony in D major, Op. 40* 28:03 1 I Adagio – Allegro vivace 9:27 2 II Adagio 7:23 3 III Allegretto 4:46 4 IV Allegro 6:22 Symphony in C minor, Op. 102* 29:26 5 I Largo – Allegro vivace 5:28 6 II Adagio 7:10 7 III Allegretto 7:03 8 IV Allegro 6:32 TT 57:38 COMPACT DISC TWO Carl Philipp Stamitz (1745–1801) Symphony in F major, Op. 24 No. 3 (F 5) 14:47 1 I Grave – Allegro assai 6:16 2 II Andante moderato – 4:05 3 III Allegretto/Allegro assai 4:23 Matthias Bamert 3 Symphony in G major, Op. 68 (B 156) 24:19 Symphony in C major, Op. 13/16 No. 5 (C 5) 16:33 5 I Allegro vivace assai 7:02 4 I Grave – Allegro assai 5:49 6 II Adagio 7:24 5 II Andante grazioso 6:07 7 III Menuetto e Trio 3:43 6 III Allegro 4:31 8 IV Rondo. Allegro 6:03 Symphony in G major, Op. 13/16 No. 4 (G 5) 13:35 Symphony in D minor (B 147) 22:45 7 I Presto 4:16 9 I Maestoso – Allegro con spirito quasi presto 8:21 8 II Andantino 5:15 10 II Adagio 4:40 9 III Prestissimo 3:58 11 III Menuetto e Trio. Allegretto 5:21 12 IV Rondo. Allegro 4:18 Symphony in D major ‘La Chasse’ (D 10) 16:19 TT 70:27 10 I Grave – Allegro 4:05 11 II Andante 6:04 12 III Allegro moderato – Presto 6:04 COMPACT DISC FOUR TT 61:35 Leopold Kozeluch (1747 –1818) 18:08 COMPACT DISC THREE Symphony in D major 1 I Adagio – Allegro 5:13 Ignace Joseph Pleyel (1757 – 1831) 2 II Poco adagio 5:07 3 III Menuetto e Trio.
    [Show full text]
  • 7619990104068.Pdf
    Franz Xaver Richter Johann Stamitz Flute Concertos & Trios Jana Semerádová transverse flute Ensemble Castor Petra Samhaber-Eckhardt, Recording: 14-16 February 2019, Landesmusikschule, Ried (Austria) Monika Toth violin Recording producer, digital editing & mastering: Uwe Walter Executive producer: Michael Sawall Peter Aigner viola Layout & booklet editor: Joachim Berenbold Translation: Katie Stephens (English) Peter Trefflinger violoncello Cover picture: “Boy playing the flute“, Judith Leyster (early 1630s), Nationalmuseum Stockholm Barbara Fischer violone + © 2019 note 1 music gmbh, Heidelberg, Germany CD manufactured in The Netherlands Erich Traxler harpsichord Franz Xaver Richter (1709-1789) Franz Xaver Richter Flute Concerto in E minor Harpsichord Trio in D major for transverse flute, strings & b.c. for obbligato harpsichord, violin & cello 1 Allegro moderato 9:09 10 Allegretto 7:18 2 Andantino 7:33 11 Larghetto 6:49 3 Allegro, ma non troppo 4:15 12 Presto, ma non troppo 3:00 Trio Sonata Op. 4 No. 1 in B flat major Harpsichord Trio in G minor for 2 violins & b.c. for obbligato harpsichord, violin & cello 4 Allegro brillante 3:25 13 Andante 7:37 5 Poco andante gracioso 5:23 14 Larghetto - Un poco andante 4:39 6 Allegro 2:39 15 Allegro, ma non troppo 3:02 Johann Stamitz (1717-1757) Flute Concerto in G major for transverse flute, strings & b.c. 7 Allegro moderato 6:07 8 Adagio 4:53 9 Presto 4:01 Was haben die Medici, die gleichsam wohlha- ein beträchtliches Vermögen verfügen konnte. erkannte Karl Theodor das repräsentative Einer der Vorreiter des neuen musikalischen bende und einflussreiche Bankiersfamilie aus Einer Überlieferung zufolge soll Anna Maria Potential der Instrumentalmusik.
    [Show full text]
  • FRIENDS a Munich Chamber Orchestra Hans Stadlmair, Conductor Andrea Griminelli, Flute CHAMBER Sunday, March 29, 1992, 3:00 P.M
    FRIENDS a Munich Chamber Orchestra Hans Stadlmair, Conductor Andrea Griminelli, Flute CHAMBER Sunday, March 29, 1992, 3:00 p.m. Faye Spanos Concert Hall University of the Pacific MUSIC Stockton, California Program Divertimento in F major, K. 138 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Allegro Andante Presto Five Deutsche (German Dances) and Franz Schubert Seven Trios with Coda, D. 90 Capriccio for Solo Flute and 15 Strings Hans Stadlmair - Intermission - Adagio and Fugue in G minor Franz Xaver Richter Flute Concerto in G major, Op. 29 Carl Stamitz Allegro Andante non troppo moderato Rondo - Allegro ** * * * * ** * ** * * COLUMBIA ARTISTS MANAGEMENT, INC. Personal Direction: DAVID V. FOSTER Associate: Michael Mushalla 165 West 57th Street, New York, New York 10019 This concert is partially underwritten by a generous grant from the City ofStockton. Munich Chamber Orchestra The soloist is the prize-winning young 5 piano pieces, and twelve chamber Hans Stadlmair, Conductor Italian flutist Andrea Griminelli, who works, including a wind octet, a wind Violin I has studied under Jean-Pierre Rampal nonet, five string quartets and the Five Slobodan Fio, Concertmaster at the Paris Conservatory and John German Dances and Seven Trios ioizb Wladimir Astrachanzew, Assistant Galway. Coda, D. 90. As rapid writers as Bach, Concertmaster Griminelli, winner of the prestigious Handel and Haydn were, none of them Page Woodworth Prix de Paris award, will be heard in ever showed a feat of fecundity such as Bernhard Jestl one of Hans Stadlmair's own works, this. Indeed, having died at age 31, his Romauld Kozik the Capriccio for Solo Flute and 15 short creative period of eighteen years produced over one thousand works.
    [Show full text]
  • What Motivates Composers to Compose?
    University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Honors Theses and Capstones Student Scholarship Spring 2014 What Motivates Composers to Compose? Brian Fanning University of New Hampshire - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/honors Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Fanning, Brian, "What Motivates Composers to Compose?" (2014). Honors Theses and Capstones. 160. https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/160 This Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses and Capstones by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Brian Fanning 1 What Motivates Composers to Compose? Composers must be motivated in order to produce music. Although the expression of oneself is at the crux of the content of compositions, the idea of the composition in the first place does not necessarily start with motivation. Composers may be commissioned by others, moved to respond to an event or disaster, or motivated strictly monetarily by their employer (either a corporation or royal court, depending on the era). This paper poses the question: What motivates composers to compose? The thesis will be drawn out in two examples: Paul Hindemith’s late sonatas and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F. The theory of basic desires to motivation proposed by Steven Reiss will be used to explain each of the composers’ desires to compose. Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) was born in Hanau, Germany which is near Frankfurt.
    [Show full text]
  • The Viennese Classical Concerto
    THE VIENNESE CLASSICAL CONCERTO The Enlightenment in Tone When the talent-mind of the artist exists and has the conditions to express itself, it seems to develop with great speed and daunting ease. — Clive James CULTIVATING A GARDEN The arts flourish when the environment encourages them to grow. If a life in the arts promises advancement and fulfillment — even if it poses challenges and difficulties — the artists will arise. Bill Atkinson, 1970s Andy Herzfeld Maria Theresa Joseph II Voltaire (1694–1778) Rousseau (1712–1778) Holywell Music Room Oxford Built 1748 Leopold Hofmann Christian Cannabich Samuel Wesley William Boyce Adalbert Gyrowetz Jiri Benda Josef Myslivecek Franz Ignaz Beck Johann Baptist Vanhal Carlos Baguer Antonio Rosetti Carl Friedrich Abel Ignace Joseph Pleyel Joseph Martin Kraus Vacslav Pichl Leopold Kozeluch Karl von Ordoñez Karel Kohout Franz Xavier Richter William Herschel Pieter van Maldere François-Joseph Gossec Franz Krommer Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf Muzio Clementi THE EARLY STYLE The Viennese Classical style required time to grow and develop: it did not spring directly into full maturity. The earlier composers are not well remembered today, but they laid the foundations for Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven to come: Georg Matthias Monn Christoph Wagenseil Ignaz Holzbauer Johann Fux Fux: 1660 - 1741 Holzbauer: 1711 - 1783 Wagenseil: 1715 - 1777 Monn: 1717 - 1750 Haydn: 1732 - 1809 Mozart: 1756 - 1791 GEORG CHRISTOPH WAGENSEIL Harp Concerto in G Minor: I WAGENSEIL 1715–1777 From 1749 to his death he was the court composer to the Hapsburgs in Vienna. Among his students were Marie Antoinette, Franz Xavier Dussek, and Leopold Hoffman. Mozart & Haydn knew his music well.
    [Show full text]
  • Sebastian Knauer, Piano
    Sebastian Knauer, player. He had his own opera, spoken Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457 theatre, marionette theatre, church music, (1784) piano and chamber music. Haydn had his hands Approx. performance time: 18 mins. full: he composed, he had to conduct all SMF performance history: 4/02/18, 4/02/12 the music, help with the rehearsals, give Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in MONDAY, APRIL 6, 11 AM lessons and even tune his own keyboard TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, and died instrument in the orchestra. He often in Vienna, Austria, on December 5, 1791. wondered how it had been possible for him NOTES BY KEN MELTZER to compose as much music as he did when Although Mozart’s life was brief, he had an he was forced to lose so many hours in extended and celebrated career, both as purely mechanical tasks. composer and pianist. By the age of 5, Mozart FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809) was writing music, and by the age of 6, he was Haydn composed his Piano Sonata in C minor Piano Sonata No. 33 in C minor, Hob. concertizing throughout Europe. XVI:20 (1771) (his only such work in that key) in 1771. The I. Moderato Sonata was not published until 1880, part Mozart’s contemporaries were virtually unanimous II. Andante con moto of a set of six that Haydn dedicated to the in their praise of his brilliance as a keyboard III. Finale. Allegro Auenbrugger sisters, fine amateur pianists. artist. Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), one of the These Sonatas were the first of Haydn’s works greatest pianists of his time, saw Mozart perform: WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) to be published by the Vienna firm of Artaria “Until then, I had never heard anyone play with Piano Sonata No.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 35, Number 05 (May 1917) James Francis Cooke
    Gardner-Webb University Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University The tudeE Magazine: 1883-1957 John R. Dover Memorial Library 5-1-1917 Volume 35, Number 05 (May 1917) James Francis Cooke Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/etude Part of the Composition Commons, Ethnomusicology Commons, Fine Arts Commons, History Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Music Education Commons, Musicology Commons, Music Pedagogy Commons, Music Performance Commons, Music Practice Commons, and the Music Theory Commons Recommended Citation Cooke, James Francis. "Volume 35, Number 05 (May 1917)." , (1917). https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/etude/635 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the John R. Dover Memorial Library at Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University. It has been accepted for inclusion in The tudeE Magazine: 1883-1957 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SYMPHONY NUMBER THE ETUDE PRESSERS MUSICAL MAGAZINE MAY, 1917 FIRST PERFORMANCE IN AMERICA OF GUSTAV MAHLER’S EIGHTH SYMPHONY PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA _ PRICE 15 CENTS $1.50 AYEAR THE ETUDE Page 2S9 MAY 1917 Men at the Heights in Almost Evervj Life Vocation Have Climbed There on Home Made Ladders of Opportunity Music boasts its WAGNER, statecraft its LINCOLN, invention its EDISON, literature its SHAKESPEARE, art its MICHAELANGELO, finance and manufacture its ROCKEFELLERS, CARNEGIES, SCHWABS—all supermen wbo owe tbeir greatness not to colleges and universities, but to books and life. Rich and poor, young and old, worker and dreamer, The college merely starts a man. everybody can find help in these wonderful books, because The conservatory merely starts a woman.
    [Show full text]
  • The Birth of the String Quartet
    The Original Fab Four: The Birth of the String Quartet Welcome everyone. I’m Bob Greenberg, Music Historian-in-Residence for San Francisco Perfor- mances, and the title of this BobCast is The Original Fab Four: The Birth of the String Quartet.. Let us consider ensembles, and no, I’m not talking about smartly matching clothes and hand- bags but musical ensembles. When we think about vocal ensembles—I don’t know about you, but such thoughts occupy a really disproportionate amount of my waking day—we generally think in groups of four. For example, the basic and time-honored distribution of mixed-voice ensembles into soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Barbershop quartets and Gospel quartets. Such household name vocal groups as the Carter Sisters, the Chordettes, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Four Freshman, the Four Seasons, the Four Tops, the Mills Brothers, the Mamas and the Papas, Manhattan Transfer, and the Weavers; vocal quartets all. Why this prevalence of musical foursomes? And it’s not just vocal ensembles. The most com- mon configuration for a rock ‘n’ roll band or pop group is likewise a quartet, from the “Fab Four” (the Beatles), to Metallica, to the Who, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin, Queen, the Doors, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Kiss, the Talking Heads, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. (Good god; I almost forgot to include Weezer and Megadeath.) In the world of so-called concert music, the string quartet has been the pre-eminent genre of chamber music for 250 years. Put simply, no other specific grouping of instruments has shown such longevity; and no other particular grouping of instruments has been lavished with such an extraordinary repertoire.
    [Show full text]
  • Programme, Programme Concept and Programme Notes © Simon Murphy, 2014
    Programme, Programme Concept and Programme Notes © Simon Murphy, 2014 Simon Murphy, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Programme, Strasbourg, December 2014 Programme Title: Birth of the Symphony or “Grand Tour Symphonique” Simon Murphy conductor Gudrun Sidonie Otto soprano Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra A personal welcome from conductor Simon Murphy It is a great pleasure and honour to perform this special, hand-crafted programme for you, here this evening. Taking us on a musical journey visiting some of the glittering 18th century European symphonic centres, the programmes celebrates some specific, distinctive European regional flavours as well as the very special European version of cosmopolitanism which enabled the inspiring, energising cultural exchange which resulted in the creation of such mind-blowing, European cultural phenomena as the symphony and the symphony orchestra. The programme focuses on the period of the “birth of the symphony” and on the enormous energy and vision of this generation of composers which created this expressive medium and musical language in the mid-18th century. In particular, the programme honours the symphonic pioneer Franz Xaver Richter, underlining his special place in the cultural heritage of Strasbourg and the Alsace. Together with fellow Bohemian, Johann Stamitz, Richter was a trail-blazer, a major generator in the process of the creation of the symphony and the symphony orchestra. A central figure at the Mannheim court, Richter's ground-breaking musical impulses gave the new medium of the symphony form and face. After several decades at Mannheim, he became master of music at Strasbourg's Cathedral, preceding Pleyel in the role. Opening the programme this evening is Richter's Symphony in D.
    [Show full text]