Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, a Symphonic Poem for Chamber Orchestra
German composer Richard Wagner conducts his Siegfried Idyll in his Swiss villa on Christmas morning, December 25, 1870, as a 33rd birthday surprise for his wife, Cosima (daughter of Franz Liszt). It is also a tribute to the birth of their son, Siegfried. The music lasts approximately twenty minutes.
Mozart in Thomas Hardy's poem and a novel by Chinese author Dai Sijie (trans. by Ina Rilka) Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Literature
The information was sent to me by Terry McIntee, a friend from one of my early Mozart groups way back 2006. I originally posted his email in my first classical music website CM Lounge. I'm republishing the content to share with Mozarteans and other Mozart enthusiasts. (Thanks a lot, Terry.)
Terry found a couple of things that connects Mozart to literature. He knows that I've always been most interested with any trivia relating to Mozart, including this musical genius's mention in books, movies, to about anything worth knowing.
The first is a poem by Thomas Hardy called: LINES to a movement in Mozart's e-flat symphony
The Nutcracker ballet is in two acts and three scenes to a scenario by Marius Petipa and choreographed by Lev Ivanov after Alexandre Dumas Père’s version of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Tchaikovsky arranged an orchestral suite, op. 71a.
The ballet debuted on December 17, 1892, at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, with a double bill show: Tchaikovsky’s grim opera Iolanta (Iolanthe), followed by the light-hearted ballet The Nutcracker. It was a terrible blow to the composer since The Nutcracker wasn’t warmly received, and the critics, merciless. The composer died less than a year after the ballet’s flop. Interestingly, the ballet was in Mariinsky’s active repertoire for 37 years. It was even performed by other Russian composers, although not that popular.
The complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous
popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet
companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North
America. The ballet's score has been used in several film adaptations of Hoffmann's story.
Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda.
Suggested Listening:
Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker without ballet, rather focus is on the orchestra's musicians playing beautifully their parts. Artists: Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest. Conductor - Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Image Credit:
Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Ballet (BalletTheatre) Kirov Ballet. St Petersburg. Accessed December 17, 2012.
Resource:
Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
(c) December 2012. Updated September 29, 2019. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Robert's Schumann's Symphony No.4 premiered. It was conducted by Ferdinand David at Leipzig's Gewandhaus.
Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, op. 120, was composed by Robert Schumann. Although a version of this work was completed in 1841, Schumann heavily revised it in 1851, the version that reached publication.
The 1851 (published) version of the work is in five movements which follow each other without pause:
Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft
Romanza: Ziemlich langsam
Scherzo: Lebhaft
Etwas zurückhaltend - Langsam
Lebhaft
The 1841 version used Italian rather than German tempo indications and had four movements, as follows:
Andante con moto - Allegro di molto
Romanza: Andante
Scherzo: Presto
Largo - Finale: Allegro vivace
Schumann's biographer Peter Ostwald comments that this earlier version is "lighter and more transparent in texture" than the revision, but that Clara "always insisted that the later, heavier, and more stately version of 1851 was the better one." Both versions are included on the recent recording of Schumann's complete symphonies by John Eliot Gardiner.
A candlelight vigil for Wolfgang Mozart, 2012 Dec 5
Candles up for Mozart! If his music has brought you joy, please consider lighting a candle in his memory.
Light your candle at 12:20am (local time) and extinguish it at 12:55am. This 35 minute duration represents Mozart's 35 years of life and 12:55am represents the time his light left our world on December 5, 1791. This vigil is intended to be a unique and personalized shared experience for Mozart admirers worldwide.
Mozart: Andantino from Concerto in C for Flute and Harp
Mozart's Requiem: The last composition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the Requiem, K 626, Mass in D minor, one of his masterpieces and most popular works. While ailing and confined to bed, he tirelessly worked on it. He left the Requiem unfinished as he died almost an hour after midnight of December 5, 1791.
In form, the work is in eight parts and contains fourteen musical numbers, as completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr, Mozart’s pupil. Check out my related articles:
Mozart Andantino from Concerto in C for Flute and Harp. Uploaded by MusicalConcepts. Renee Siebert, flute; Catherine Michel, harp; Wuttemberg Chamber Orchestra , Jorg Faerber. Mozart set to mesmerizing candles. Accessed Dec 5, 2012.
