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Mahler's Symphony No. 8
The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. As it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is normally presented with far fewer than a thousand performers and the composer did not sanction that name – actually, he disapproved of it. The work was composed in a single inspired burst at his Maiernigg villa in southern Austria in the summer of 1906. The last of Mahler's works that was premiered in his lifetime, the symphony was a critical and popular success when he conducted the Munich Philharmonic in its first performance, in Munich, on 12 September 1910. The fusion of song and symphony had been a characteristic of Mahler's early works. In his "middle" compositional period after 1901, a change of style led him to produce three purely instrumental symphonies. The Eighth, marking the end of the middle period, returns to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choral Symphony
A choral symphony is a musical composition for orchestra, choir, and sometimes solo (music), solo vocalists that, in its internal workings and overall musical architecture, adheres broadly to symphony, symphonic musical form. The term "choral symphony" in this context was coined by Hector Berlioz when he described his ''Roméo et Juliette (Berlioz), Roméo et Juliette'' as such in his five-paragraph introduction to that work."Avant-Propos de l'auteur", Reiter-Biedermann's vocal score (Winterthur, 1858), p. 1. As quoted in The direct antecedent for the choral symphony is Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven), Ninth Symphony. Beethoven's Ninth incorporates part of the ''Ode an die Freude'' ("Ode to Joy"), a poem by Friedrich Schiller, with text sung by soloists and chorus in the last movement. It is the first example of a major composer's use of the human voice on the same level as instruments in a symphony. A few 19th-century composers, notably Felix Mendelssohn and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. Beethoven was born in Bonn. His musical talent was obvious at an early age. He was initially harshly and intensively tau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B Minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The B harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are: : : Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739–1791) regarded B minor as a key expressing a quiet acceptance of fate and very gentle complaint, something commentators find to be in line with Bach's use of the key in his ''St John Passion''. By the end of the Baroque era, however, conventional academic views of B minor had shifted: Composer-theorist Francesco Galeazzi (1758–1819) opined that B minor was not suitable for music in good taste. Beethoven labelled a B-minor melodic idea in one of his sketchbooks as a "black key". Notable compositions in B minor * Johann Sebastian Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar (or measure) is a segment of time corresponding to a specific number of beats in which each beat is represented by a particular note value and the boundaries of the bar are indicated by vertical bar lines. Dividing music into bars provides regular reference points to pinpoint locations within a musical composition. It also makes written music easier to follow, since each bar of staff symbols can be read and played as a batch. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the time signature. In simple time, (such as ), the top figure indicates the number of beats per bar, while the bottom number indicates the note value of the beat (the beat has a quarter note value in the example). The word ''bar'' is more common in British English, and the word ''measure'' is more common in American English, although musicians generally u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alma Mahler
Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel (born Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler; 31 August 1879 – 11 December 1964) was an Austrian composer, author, editor, and socialite. At 15, she was mentored by Max Burckhard. Musically active from her early years, she was the composer of nearly fifty songs for voice and piano, and works in other genres as well. Only 17 songs are known to survive. In her early years, she had an affair with composer and conductor Alexander von Zemlinsky, but their relationship did not last long. She became the wife of composer Gustav Mahler, who was not interested in her compositions. Eventually she fell into depression from being artistically stifled. While her marriage was struggling, she had an affair with Walter Gropius. Gustav started to encourage Alma's composing and helped prepare some of her compositions for publication, but died soon after this attempted reconciliation in 1911. Alma married Gropius in 1915 and the couple had a daughter together, Manon Grop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts (e.g., melody, bassline, etc.) of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra. In classical music, composers have historically orchestrated their own music. Only gradually over the course of music history did orchestration come to be regarded as a separate compositional art and profession in itself. In modern classical music, composers almost invariably orchestrate their own work. However, in musical theatre, film music and other commercial media, it is customary to use orchestrators and arrangers to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedrich Rückert
Friedrich Rückert (16 May 1788 – 31 January 1866) was a German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages. Biography Rückert was born in Schweinfurt and was the eldest son of a lawyer. He was educated at the local '' Gymnasium'' and at the universities of Würzburg and Heidelberg. From 1816 to 1817, he worked on the editorial staff of the ''Morgenblatt'' at Stuttgart. Nearly the whole of the year 1818 he spent in Rome, and afterwards he lived for several years at Coburg (1820–1826). Rückert married Luise Wiethaus-Fischer there in 1821. He was appointed a professor of Oriental languages at the University of Erlangen in 1826, and, in 1841, he was called to a similar position in Berlin, where he was also made a privy councillor. In 1849 he resigned his professorship at Berlin, and went to live full-time in his ''Gut'' (estate) at Neuses (now a part of Coburg). When Rückert began his literary career, Germany was engaged in her life-and-death struggle with Napole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Des Knaben Wunderhorn
''Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder'' (German language, German; "The boy's magic horn: old German songs") is a collection of German folk poems and songs edited by Ludwig Achim von Arnim, Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and published in Heidelberg, Grand Duchy of Baden, Baden. The book was published in three editions: the first in 1805 followed by two more volumes in 1808. The collection of love, soldiers, wandering, and children's songs was an important source of idealized folklore in the Romantic nationalism of the 19th century. ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' became widely popular across the German-speaking world; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of the most influential writers of the time, declared that ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' "has its place in every household". Cultural-historical background Arnim and Brentano, like other early 19th-century song collectors, such as the Englishman Thomas Percy (Bishop of Dromore), Thomas Percy, freely modified the poems in their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kindertotenlieder
(''Songs on the Death of Children'') is a song cycle (1904) for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler. The words of the songs are poems by Friedrich Rückert. Text and music The original were a group of 428 poems written by Rückert in 1833–34 in an outpouring of grief following the illness (scarlet fever) and death of two of his children. Karen Painter describes the poems thus: "Rückert's 428 poems on the death of children became singular, almost manic documents of the psychological endeavor to cope with such loss. In ever new variations Rückert's poems attempt a poetic resuscitation of the children that is punctuated by anguished outbursts. But above all the poems show a quiet acquiescence to fate and to a peaceful world of solace." These poems were not intended for publication, and they appeared in print only in 1871, five years after the poet's death. Mahler selected five of Rückert's poems to set as Lieder, which he composed between 1901 and 1904. The songs are writte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rückert-Lieder
' (Songs after Rückert) is a collection of five Lieder for voice and orchestra or piano by Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Rückert. The songs were first published in ''Sieben Lieder aus letzter Zeit'' (''Seven Songs of Latter Days''). The songs # ''Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!'' (Look not, love, on my work unended!) – 14 June 1901 # ''Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft'' (I breathed the breath of blossoms red) – July 1901 # ''Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen'' (O garish world, long since thou hast lost me) – 16 August 1901 # ''Um Mitternacht'' (At midnight hour) – Summer 1901 # ''Liebst du um Schönheit'' (Lovest thou but beauty) – August 1902 The first four songs were premiered on 29 January 1905 in Vienna, Mahler himself conducting, together with his ''Kindertotenlieder'' (also on poems by Rückert). The last song, ''Liebst du um Schönheit'', was not orchestrated by Mahler himself but by Max Puttmann, an employee of the first publisher, after Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wörthersee
Wörthersee (; Slovene: ''Vrbsko jezero'', en, Lake WörthTesch, F. W. 1977. ''The Eel: Biology and Management of Anguillid Eels''. Transl. Jennifer Greenwood. London: Chapman and Hall, p. 195.) is a lake in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia. The bathing lake is a main tourist destination in summer. Geography Wörthersee is Carinthia's largest lake. It is elongated, about long and wide, and stretches from the outskirts of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt in the east to the bay of Velden in the west. Situated within the Klagenfurt Basin, its shores are flanked to the north and south by the foothills of the Gurktal Alps and the Karawanks range, all covered with dense forests beyond which snow-capped Alpine peaks are visible. The lake's water is of a distinctive blue-green colour and transparent. Lake Wörth and its basin in the central Carinthian foothills were largely formed by glaciers during the last ice age. The lake is divided into three basins by several isla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carinthia
Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carinthian dialect group, Carinthian Slovene dialects, forms of a South Slavic languages, Slavic language that predominated in the southeastern part of the region up to the first half of the 20th century, are now spoken by a Carinthian Slovenes, small minority in the area. Carinthia's main Industry (economics), industries are tourism, electronics, engineering, forestry, and agriculture. Name The etymology of the name "Carinthia", similar to Carnia or Carniola, has not been conclusively established. The ''Ravenna Cosmography'' (about AD 700) referred to a Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps, Slavic "Carantani" tribe as the eastern neighbours of the Bavarians. In his ''History of the Lombards'', the 8th-c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
