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The Blue Bird (Stanford)
''The Blue Bird'' is a partsong (Op. 119 No. 3) composed by Charles Villiers Stanford in 1910. It is set to the words of ''L'Oiseau Bleu'', a poem by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, which depicts a bluebird in flight over a lake. It is written for soprano, divided altos, tenor and bass. "The Blue Bird" is the third of Stanford's ''Eight Part Songs'' which are all settings of texts by Coleridge. It was widely performed by choral societies in England during Stanford's life and is considered one of the best English partsongs ever written. It has been recorded by ensembles including The Cambridge Singers, Oxford Camerata, Tenebrae, and the Gabrieli Consort. Context Before composing "The Blue Bird", Charles Villiers Stanford had already established himself as an accomplished writer of partsongs. He began by writing three collections of them in an Elizabethan style, the first of which (Op. 47, 1892) was praised by the ''Musical Times'' as being among the best of their kind. He then turn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partsong
A part song, part-song or partsong is a form of choral music that consists of a song to a secular or non-liturgical sacred text, written or arranged for several vocal parts. Part songs are commonly sung by an SATB choir, but sometimes for an all-male or all-female ensemble. This music is usually homophonic, meaning that the highest part carries the melody and the other voices or parts supply the accompanying harmonies, in contrast to songs that are contrapuntal, as are madrigals. Part songs are intended to be sung a cappella, that is without accompaniment, unless an instrumental accompaniment is particularly specified. The part song was created in Great Britain, first growing from, and then gradually superseding, the earlier form of glee, as well as being particularly influenced by the choral works of Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847). This was linked with the growth of choral societies during the 19th century which were larger groups than glee clubs had been.Hillier, Paul. Prefac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (which includes his "Wedding March"), the '' Italian Symphony'', the '' Scottish Symphony'', the oratorio ''St. Paul'', the oratorio ''Elijah'', the overture ''The Hebrides'', the mature Violin Concerto and the String Octet. The melody for the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is also his. Mendelssohn's ''Songs Without Words'' are his most famous solo piano compositions. Mendelssohn's grandfather was the renowned Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, but Felix was initially raised without religion. He was baptised at the age of seven, becoming a Reformed Christi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George MacDonald
George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including Lewis Carroll, W. H. Auden, David Lindsay, J. M. Barrie, Lord Dunsany, Elizabeth Yates, Oswald Chambers, Mark Twain, Hope Mirrlees, Robert E. Howard, L. Frank Baum, T. H. White, Richard Adams, Lloyd Alexander, Hilaire Belloc, G. K. Chesterton, Robert Hugh Benson, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Fulton Sheen, Flannery O'Connor, Louis Pasteur, Simone Weil, Charles Maurras, Jacques Maritain, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, C. H. Douglas, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phantastes
''Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women'' is a fantasy novel by Scottish writer George MacDonald, first published in London in 1858. It was later reprinted in paperback by Ballantine Books as the fourteenth volume of the ''Ballantine Adult Fantasy series'' in April 1970. The story centres on the character Anodos ("pathless" in Greek) and takes its inspiration from German Romanticism, particularly ''Novalis''. The story concerns a young man who is pulled into a dreamlike world and there hunts for his ideal of female beauty, embodied by the "Marble Lady". Anodos lives through many adventures and temptations while in the other world, until he is finally ready to give up his ideals. The edition published in 1905 was illustrated by Pre-Raphaelite painter Arthur Hughes. C. S. Lewis wrote, concerning his first reading of ''Phantastes'' at age sixteen, "That night my imagination was, in a certain sense, baptized; the rest of me not unnaturally, took longer. I had not the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lark Ascending (Vaughan Williams)
''The Lark Ascending'' is a short, single-movement work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by the 1881 poem of the same name by the English writer George Meredith. It was originally for violin and piano, completed in 1914, but not performed until 1920. The composer reworked it for solo violin and orchestra after the First World War. This version, in which the work is chiefly known, was first performed in 1921. It is subtitled "A Romance", a term that Vaughan Williams favoured for contemplative slow music. The work has gained considerable popularity in Britain and elsewhere and has been much recorded between 1928 and the present day. Background Among the enthusiasms of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams were poetry and the violin. He had trained as a violinist as a boy, and greatly preferred the violin to the piano, for which he never had a great fondness.De Savage, pp. xvii–xxKennedy, p. 11 His literary tastes were wide-ranging, and among the English po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. Vaughan Williams was born to a well-to-do family with strong moral views and a progressive social life. Throughout his life he sought to be of service to his fellow citizens, and believed in making music as available as possible to everybody. He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–1908 with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music and free it from Music of Germany, Teutonic influences. Vaughan Williams i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
E♭ (musical Note)
E (E-flat) or mi bémol is the fourth semitone of the solfège. It lies a diatonic semitone above D and a chromatic semitone below E, thus being enharmonic to D ( D-sharp) or ''re dièse''. In equal temperament it is also enharmonic with F (F-double flat). However, in some temperaments, D is not the same as E. E is a perfect fourth above B, whereas D is a major third above B. When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of the E above middle C (or E4) is approximately 311.127 Hz. See pitch (music) for a discussion of historical variations in frequency. In German nomenclature, it is known as Es, sometimes (especially in the context of musical motifs, e.g. DSCH motif) abbreviated to S. Designation by octave Scales Common scales beginning on E * E major: E F G A B C D E * E natural minor: E F G A B C D E * E harmonic minor: E F G A B C D E * E melodic minor ascending: E F G A B C D E * E melodic minor descending: E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Dibble
Jeremy Dibble is a British musicologist. He is (at 2021) a professor of musicology at Durham University. He works in the university's department of music having been appointed as a lecturer there in 1993. Before this he was a lecturer at University College, Cork. His studies were at Trinity College, Cambridge and at Southampton University. He has published extensively on a wide range of topics in the fields of British nineteenth and twentieth century composition, criticism and aesthetics. His publications include: * (1992, rev 1998) '' C. Hubert H. Parry: His Life and Music'', Oxford: OUP * (2002) ''Charles Villiers Stanford: Man and Musician'', Oxford: OUP * (2007) ''John Stainer: A Life in Music'', Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer * (2010) '' Michele Esposito', 'Dublin: Field Day Press * (2013) ''Hamilton Harty: Musical Polymath, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer * With Julian Horton (2018) ''British musical criticism and intellectual thought, 1850-1950'', Woodbridge The Boydell Press * ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supertonic
In music, the supertonic is the second degree () of a diatonic scale, one whole step above the tonic. In the movable do solfège system, the supertonic note is sung as ''re''. The triad built on the supertonic note is called the supertonic chord. In Roman numeral analysis, the supertonic chord is typically symbolized by the Roman numeral "ii" in a major key, indicating that the chord is a minor chord (in C: D–F–A). In a minor key, it is indicated by "ii" if it is built on the a natural minor scale, indicating that the chord is a diminished chord (in C: D–F–A). Because it is a diminished chord, it usually appears in first inversion (iio6) so that no note dissonates with the bass note. These chords may also appear as seventh chords: in major, as ii7 (in C: D–F–A–C), while in minor as ii7 (in C: D–F–A–C) or rarely ii7. They are the second-most-common form of nondominant seventh chords. The supertonic chord normally functions as a predominant chord, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Second
In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more details). For example, the interval from C to D is a major second, as the note D lies two semitones above C, and the two notes are notated on adjacent staff positions. Diminished, minor and augmented seconds are notated on adjacent staff positions as well, but consist of a different number of semitones (zero, one, and three). The major second is the interval that occurs between the first and second degrees of a major scale, the tonic and the supertonic. On a musical keyboard, a major second is the interval between two keys separated by one key, counting white and black keys alike. On a guitar string, it is the interval separated by two frets. In moveable-do solfège, it is the interval between ''do'' and ''re''. It is considered a melo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secondary Seventh
A secondary chord is an music analysis, analytical label for a specific harmony, harmonic device that is prevalent in the tonality, tonal idiom of Western culture#Music, Western music beginning in the common practice period: the use of Diatonic and chromatic, diatonic Function (music), functions for tonicization. Secondary chords are a type of altered chord, altered or borrowed chord, chords that are not part of the music piece's Key (music), key. They are the most common sort of altered chord in tonal music. Secondary chords are referred to by the function they have and the key or chord in which they function. Conventionally, they are written with the notation "''function''/''key''". Thus, the most common secondary chord, the dominant of the dominant, is written "V/V" and read as "five of five" or "the dominant of the dominant". The Major triad, major or minor triad on any diatonic Degree (music), scale degree may have any secondary function applied to it; secondary functions may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
