Beethoven (German Composer)

(1770 - 1827)

Beethoven is often considered to have been the last classical and the first romantic composer. Troubled by failling hearing from about 30, he nevertheless produced his greater string quartets after he became totally deaf at 45.Beethoven developed the sonatas and symphony from the point reached by Haydn and Mozart, expanding their scale and intensifying their emotional content. He greatly widened the range of expression of the piano and the orchestra, demanding in such works as his 9th symphony for larger forces than had ever used before. This symphony broke new ground in having a choral finale. In his work, a steady progression can be traced from the style he inheritated from his immediate predeccessors toward the romanticism oh his successors.

Ampersands & angle brackets need to be encoded.

Bela Bartok (1881-1945)

Hungarian composer, Bartok was one of the leading nationalists and modernists of the earlier 20th century . He studied at the Budapest Conservatory and became known as a brilliant pianist .

Ampersands & angle brackets need to be encoded.

Johann Sebastien Bach (1685-1750 )

1685-1750



A German composer, Bach was born at Eisenach. In his life time, Bach was chiefly famous as an organist and his style of composition was regarded as over elaborated and old-fashioned. He combined extraordinary contrapuntal skill with mastery of picturesque and passionate expression. His music was always written for a practical purpose-for church services, patrons or instruction of his sons. Bach's output can be divided into 3 groups- organ works, instrumental and orchestral works (including concertos, suites and keyboard) and religious choral works (including motets, cantatas, passion, oratorios and masses).

Ampersands & angle brackets need to be encoded.

The Classical

1750-1820

- Late 18th century
- The second half of the 18th century
- Early 19th century



The Instrument
1. The orchestra was developed and the woodwind family became more established
2. Piano - Though invented in 1709, it is in the Classical period that it gained acceptance. It gradually replaced the harpsichord as the main keyboard media and concertos were written for it .

STRING              - Violin
                            - Viola
                            - Cello
                            - Double Bass

WOODWIND     - 1 or 2 Flutes
                            - 2 Oboes
                            - 2 Clarinets
                            - 2 Bassoons

BRASS                - 2 Trumpets
                            - 2 Horns
                            - Trombone

PERCUSSION    - Timpani


The Form
1. Musical forms were developed and established in the Classical period.
    Sonata Form - This is a basic instrumental form in three or four movements. It is used by solo sonatas, symphonies, concertos and chamber music with certian changes
2. The following are works using the sonata form .
    Sonata
    Symphony
    Concerto
    String Quartet

Ampersands & angle brackets need to be encoded.

Igor Stravinsky

" I compose," says Igor Stravinsky, one of the most important leaders in twentieth century music, "because I am made for that and cannot do otherwise." He believes in inspiration, but does not wait for it. For him, composition is a gaily fuction which he must discharge.
The man whose music has caused near-riots when it was first performed, who has been praised and misunderstood and argued over, is slight and thin, with nervous gestures and penetrating eyes behind strong lenses. He has great energy and leads a vigorous life.
As a boy he grew up in a musical atmosphere. His father was the leading bass in the Russian Imperial Opera, his mother was a trained pianist. He often went to the opera to hear his father sing, and early learned to read and enjoy the scores. In the winters there was the exciting musical world of St. Petersburg, in the summers the family went to the country where young Igor heard stirring national folk song which were later to influence his music
His father wanted him to study law because it was a safer career than art. But when Stravinsky met Rimsky- Korsakov and studiedunder him, he was encouraged to give up law for music. For the wedding of Rimsky's daughter, Stravinsky wrote Fireworks  and sent it as a surprise to the master. It was a great blow to have the package returned unopened because of Rimsky sudden death.
A lifelong friendship with Diaghilev, the impresario of Russian ballet, brougt both men fame. For Diaghilev, Stravinsky wrote numerous ballets which established his reputation and influenced the development of modern music.

Ampersands & angle brackets need to be encoded.

Bela Bartok (1881-1945)

In his Budapest home, Bela Bartok had a studio with two doors- one heavely padded to keep out all sounds. There he composed by the hour, sitting on a window-seat where the sun could beat down on him.
The folk songs he loved and had discovered in a two-year trip throughout the countryside formed the basis of much of his composition. Wherever he went in later years, he studied the folk music particularly. He believed that there was a relation between the folk music of Hungary and that of Turkey. The Turks had occupied Hungary during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and had a strong effect on its culture. So one of his trips was to Anatolia. He and a friend jounced in primitive horse-drawn carts over the rocky roads to remote districts where nomadic tribes lived. Bartok carefully carried the old-fashioned Edison phonograph with its wax cylinders on his lap all the way

(to be continued)

Ampersands & angle brackets need to be encoded.