Day #13 A piece about fairies
Youtube link -> different recording
All I can think of after reading the day's topic is Mendelssohn's overture based on A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. It was a separate piece, composed when Mendelssohn was only 17. Later, not long before his death, Mendelssohn included it to the incidental music composed for the same play.
The overture is in a sonata form and the first theme, which shows up after a few chords at the beginning, represents the dancing fairies. I've also heard it's called a mist motif, which is crazy, because it really does SOUND like a mist.
Obviously we can hear it later in the development of the piece. It's quite a solid overture and I like it very much.
Day #14 A piece which contains sounds from the nature
We can think whatever about this piece, we may not even like it, but we can't say it's not the most natural piece that was ever composed.
If some of you doesn't know what 4'33" is and after checking the recording I've included here you were left out with eyes wide open, because, well... There's nothing there!!! Just 4'33" of background noise!!!
Well, let me tell you, that's what the piece is. The sheet music is full of pauses and it's meant to be played for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Although the musician doesn't play at all. They can use any instrument and flip the pages during this time. And the music is everything you can hear while listening to the piece. Dog's barking, squeaking of a chair, your own breath, just everything. And that's the piece. You're admiring the soundscape you're in, because, according to the composer's philosophy, music is just any sound. Do I agree? I don't know, probably not. But it's an interesting piece of art.
Youtube link -> different recording
Time for some Mozart! And my choice for today, because we finally made it to October 15th, is Mozart's Adagio for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello. Glass harmonica was invented in XVIII century by Benjamin Franklin. It looks like this. How it's meant to be played - the musician rotates these glass bowls with a pedal and make a sound while touching it with a wet finger. The sound is very mysterious and, in my opinion, a bit cold, that's exactly why I chose this piece for today's topic.
This instrument quickly became an equivalent of Empfindsamer Stil (also called a sentimentalism, but it applies only to the musical style), which was all about being vulnerable in front of the listener, showing the real and natural emotions and the in this stylr compositions were exactly like that - what we can hear, for example, in CPE Bach's fantasies (dude was barely using bars in his music, what the hell). Glass harmonica was great in showing this kind of vibe, and what's interesting, it was played mostly by women, because they were seen as more sensitive.
Mozart composed a few pieces for one of such women, a blind glass harmonica virtuoso Marianne Kirchgessner, which is what I'm showing you today. This piece has two movements - Adagio and Rondo, but the first one especially has this mysterious, frozen vibe, which I love. It's truly one of Mozart's gems. I mean, besides the glass harmonica, this set of instruments is pretty interesting and they all sound awesome together!
Anyway, if you made it to the end of my ramble, thank you and see you tomorrow!
