|
Fantasie In C (Schumann)
The ''Fantasie in C'', Op. 17, was written by Robert Schumann in 1836. It was revised prior to publication in 1839, when it was dedicated to Franz Liszt. It is generally described as one of Schumann's greatest works for solo piano, and is one of the central works of the early Romantic period. It is often called by the Italian version, ''Fantasia''; the word "Fantasie" is the German spelling. Structure The Fantasie is in loose sonata form. Its three movements are headed: The first movement is rhapsodic and passionate; the middle movement is a grandiose rondo based on a majestic march, with episodes that recall the emotion of the first movement; and the finale is slow and meditative. Genesis The piece has its origin in early 1836, when Schumann composed a piece entitled ''Ruines'' expressing his distress at being parted from his beloved Clara Wieck (later to become his wife). This later became the first movement of the Fantasy. Later that year, he wrote two more movements ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. His teacher, Friedrich Wieck, a German pianist, had assured him that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing. In 1840, Schumann married Friedrich Wieck's daughter Clara Wieck, after a long and acrimonious legal battle with Friedrich, who opposed the marriage. A lifelong partnership in music began, as Clara herself was an established pianist and music prodigy. Clara and Robert also maintained a close relationship with German composer Johannes Brahms. Until 1840, Schumann wrote exclusively for the piano. Later, he composed piano and orchestral works, and many Lieder (songs for voice and piano). He composed four symphonies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musical Quotation
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work (self-referential), or from a different composer's work (appropriation). Sometimes the quotation is done for the purposes of characterization, as in Puccini's use of ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' in reference to the American character Lieutenant Pinkerton in his opera ''Madama Butterfly'', or in Tchaikovsky's use of the Russian and French national anthems in the ''1812 Overture'', which depicted a battle between the Russian and French armies. Sometimes, there is no explicit characterization involved, as when Luciano Berio used brief quotes from Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Alban Berg, Pierre Boulez, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Paul Hindemith, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern, and others in his ''Sinfonia''. Quotation vs. variation Musical quotation is to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alicia De Larrocha
Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' "one of the world's most outstanding pianists", and ''The Guardian'' "the leading Spanish pianist of her time". She won multiple Grammy Awards and a Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. She is credited with bringing greater popularity to the compositions of Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados. In 1995, she became the first Spanish artist to win the UNESCO Prize. Life and career Alicia de Larrocha was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She began studying piano with Frank Marshall at the age of three. Both her parents were pianists and she was also the niece of pianists. She gave her first public performance at the age of five at the International Exposition in Barcelona. She performed her first concert at the age of six at the World's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, recording the complete sonatas of both composers. He is considered to have been one of the chief exponents of the Germanic tradition during the 20th century and one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life Kempff was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, in 1895. He grew up in nearby Potsdam where his father was a royal music director and organist at St. Nicolai Church. His grandfather was also an organist and his brother Georg became director of church music at the University of Erlangen. Kempff studied music at first at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik at the age of nine after receiving lessons from his father at a younger age. Whilst there he studied composition with Robert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, tone color, and the public excitement engendered by his playing. Life and early career Horowitz was born on October 1, 1903, in Kiev, then in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). There are unsubstantiated claims that he was born in Berdichev (a city near Zhitomir in Volhynian Governorate), but his birth certificate unequivocally states that Kiev was his birthplace. He was the youngest of four children of Samuil Horowitz and Sophia Bodik, who were assimilated Jews. His father was a well-to-do electrical engineer and a distributor of electric motors for German manufacturers. His grandfather Joachim was a merchant (and an arts-supporter), belonging to the 1st Guild, which exempted him from ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nelson Freire
Nelson José Pinto Freire (; 18 October 19441 November 2021) was a Brazilian classical pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, he was noted for his "decorous piano playing" and "interpretive depth". His extensive discography for labels such as Sony Classical, Teldec, Philips, and Decca has garnered awards including the Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or. Freire appeared as soloist with the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He played and recorded piano duo music with Martha Argerich, a long-time musical and personal friend. Life Nelson José Pinto Freire was born on 18 October 1944 in Boa Esperança. He began playing the piano at age three. He replayed from memory pieces his older sister, Nelma, had just performed. His teachers in Brazil were Lucia Branco, a former student of Arthur De Greef, a pupil of Franz Liszt, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annie Fischer
Annie Fischer (July 5, 1914April 10, 1995) was a Hungarian classical pianist. Biography Fischer was born into a Jewish family in Budapest and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Ernő Dohnányi and Arnold Szekely. She began her career as a concert pianist in 1924 at age ten, making her debut performance with Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1. When she was 12, she appeared with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 and Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto. In 1933, Fischer won the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in her native city with a performance of Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor. Throughout her career she played mainly in Europe and Australia. She was seldom heard in the United States until late in her lifetime, giving only two concerts there by that time. She was married to influential critic and musicologist (and later director of the Budapest Opera) Aladar Toth and is buried with him in Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jorge Bolet
Jorge Bolet (November 15, 1914October 16, 1990) was a Cuban-born American virtuoso pianist and teacher. Among his teachers were Leopold Godowsky, and Moriz Rosenthal – the latter an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt. Life Bolet was born in Havana and studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he himself taught from 1939 to 1942. His teachers included Leopold Godowsky, Josef Hofmann, David Saperton, Moriz Rosenthal and Fritz Reiner."Bolet, Jorge" ''Grove Music Online'', 2007. Accessed June 2, 2007. In 1937, he won the Naumburg Competition and gave his debut recital. In 1942, Bolet joined the US Army. He was sent to |
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He is originally from Russia and has held Icelandic citizenship since 1972. He has lived in Switzerland since 1978. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him five Grammy awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon. Early life Vladimir Ashkenazy was born in Gorky, Soviet Union (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), to pianist and composer David Ashkenazi and to actress Yevstolia Grigorievna (born Plotnova). His father was Jewish and his mother came from a Russian Orthodox family. Ashkenazy was christened in a Russian Orthodox church. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claudio Arrau
Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. Life Arrau was born in Chillán, Chile, the son of Carlos Arrau, an ophthalmologist who died when Claudio was only a year old, and Lucrecia León Bravo de Villalba, a piano teacher. He belonged to an old, prominent family of Southern Chile. His ancestor Lorenzo de Arrau, a Spanish engineer, was sent to Chile by King Carlos III of Spain. Through his great-grandmother, María del Carmen Daroch del Solar, Arrau was a descendant of the Campbells of Glenorchy, a Scottish noble family. Arrau was raised as a Catholic, but gave it up in his late teens. Arrau was a child prodigy and he could read music before he could read words, but unlike many virtuosos, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich (; Eastern Catalan: ɾʒəˈɾik born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and education Argerich was born in Buenos Aires. Her paternal ancestors were Spaniards from Catalonia who had been based in Buenos Aires since the 18th century. Her maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, who settled in Colonia Villa Clara in Argentina's Entre Ríos Province, one of the colonies established by Baron de Hirsch and the Jewish Colonization Association. The provenance of the name '' Argerich'' is Catalonia. A precocious child, Argerich began kindergarten at the age of two years and eight months, where she was the youngest child. A five-year-old boy, who was a friend, teased her that she would not be able to play the piano, and Argerich responded by playing perfectly, by ear, a piece their teacher played them. The teacher immediately called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, Leif Ove Andsnes has signed to Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journey" project, which included the composer's five piano concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The works were recorded over three years, beginning with Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 3 in 2012, followed by Concertos Nos 2 and 4 in 2013 and the Fifth Piano Concerto and ''Choral Fantasy'' in 2014. He is represented by IMG. Biography Andsnes was born at Karmøy and studied with Jiří Hlinka at the Bergen Music Conservatory, making his debut in Oslo in 1987. He appeared in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival with the Oslo Philharmonic in 1989, and in the United States with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi in 1990. He is renowned as a champion of the works of Edvard Grieg. In 2002 he played Grieg's Piano Concerto at the Last Nig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.png "Click for more on -> Musical Quotation")
_by_Erling_Mandelmann.jpg "Click for more on -> Wilhelm Kempff")
