Welcome back to a Measure of Music! It has been over two months since we last spoke. My last post was about Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca. This month I will continue to highlight some of Mozart’s most popular works. Today’s selection is the 1791 motet Ave Verum Corpus (“Hail, True Body”).
Read MoreI introduced Mozart in my Intro to Classical Music. Mozart made frequent use of the sonata form, one of classical music’s most important legacies. In his short life, he composed 18 piano sonatas, 36 violin sonatas, and several more for other instruments. Today we consider the third movement of his 11th Piano Sonata, Rondo alla Turca. This allows us to learn about the rondo form and observe the mathematical symmetry that is common to Classical-era pieces.
Read MoreI introduced Johann Sebastian Bach in my introduction to classical music. He composed a vast number of musical works using every form known to him.* The Goldberg Variations showed us how thoroughly he explored the various possibilities that a musical form offered. Today we consider another musical form, the orchestral suite, by highlighting a beloved piece of music whose origins are unfamiliar to most casual listeners: Air on a G String.
Read MoreMuzio Clementi (1752-1832), the “Father of the Piano,” was an Italian-born composer, pianist, teacher, publisher, and even a piano builder. He was highly renowned in his lifetime - in 1781, he famously engaged Mozart in a piano duel before Emperor Joseph II of Austria and did not lose. He composed over 100 piano sonatas. Today’s selection is his very last one.
Read MoreFrederic Chopin (1810-1849) is Poland’s greatest composer. In fact, he is almost certainly the most popular composer of solo piano works in all of history. The 19th-century English poet Jean Ingelow suggested that Chopin was to music as Tennyson was to poetry. The characterization of him as the “poet of the piano” has now become commonplace, for it conjures up imagery that serves far better than mere words, especially as the grace and beauty of his music often beggar description.
Read MoreYou have probably heard Claire de Lune. It’s Debussy’s most famous work, and it’s been in a few movies. Debussy is one of the most unique and influential figures in classical music history, and Victor Borge is... well, that’s like asking who Daffy Duck is. You’ll have to find out for yourself.
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