Music Composers of Nineteenth Century: Ludwig Van Beethoven and Frederic Chopin - Assignment Example

16 May Project One One of the most renowned and influential composers of all times in the nineteenth century was from Germany, by the of Ludwig Van Beethoven. Beethoven’s works have been preserved today and are literally worshipped by composers and pianists world over because of the beautiful harmony and music that the man had created during his time. Beethoven was the composer that helped to transform music and take it from the Classical to the more Romantic eras of Western Classical Music. His work is used widely even today and he has been marked as one of the figures of inspiration on the planet. Music was something that flowed through Beethoven’s veins as it was more of a family inheritance that he had sought from his grandfather. Beethoven’s father also helped to train his musical skills by teaching him how to play the piano as well as the violin, much like any other teacher would. According to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, his father was said to be a harsh teacher as he believed in training and disciplining his son to the best of his abilities without bringing in any bias in between the musical relationship that the two shared with each other. ("Grove Music”) Later, Beethoven began taking lessons in music from a Christian Gottlob Neefe, a famous teacher in Bonn, the place where he had taken birth. Neefe was the teacher who had the patience to teach Beethoven how to compose music and it was under his very guidance that the young musician first composed his music, his first few piano sonatas, also called ‘Kurfurst’ or ‘Elector’. (Solomon, Maynard) Beethoven has also been known to travel to Vienna in order to learn music and composition under the influence of the renowned composer Mozart however was unable to do so because of his ailing mother who soon after died due to an overdose of alcohol. He was also a member of the local Order of the Illuminati. He soon began to earn for the family by playing the viola in the Court orchestra which helped him to understand and familiarize himself with compositions and music pieces that were taught and heard world over, including those of Mozart’s. With time, the young composer settled in Vienna where he devoted time to understanding and learning music and its counterparts instead of simply going ahead and trying to establish a career in the same field for him. He gave a vast amount of importance to education and it can be seen in his academic records with respect to music. As he gained maturity in music, he slowly began to compose pieces and play in front of larger audiences while capturing their hearts with his soulful music. With age, it has been said, that Beethoven also lost his hearing. This was brought on by a weird ringing in his ears which caused him to become partially deaf with time. However, this did not stop the genius from advancing on his musical prowess because despite being hearing impaired, Beethoven continued to make some of the best music and composed some of the best pieces of his lifetime which have influenced and motivated people in the modern day and age even to make music. Beethoven has been known to have composed music in several different genres including symphony orchestras, piano sonatas, string quartets and chamber music. Symphony orchestras consist of a vast variety of instruments with usually about eighty musicians playing on the roster. Beethoven has been known to compose music for more than this many musicians at a time as well. He has been known to have written a number of concerti and famous nine symphonies. Despite these many achievements, Beethoven’s most famous works include his piano sonatas. Piano sonatas consist of three or four movements and are usually written for solo playing on a piano. Beethoven has even composed sonatas that consist of only two movements. He usually wrote his work in the Classical period and then moved on to the Romantic Era as well. There are about 32 well known sonatas written by Beethoven that include the very renowned Pathetique Sonata and the Moonlight Sonata. These works have been considered to be his masterpieces and are played world over even today. Throughout the later bits of his career in the nineteenth century, the composer drew on to the Romantic era as he wrote piano sonatas like Piano Sonata No. 29. This work is one of his most famous, played even today by many composers and pianists all around the world. Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 was also known as ‘Hammerklavier’ in German and has been considered to be one of the greatest works of the composer during the course of his third period of making music and composing sonatas for the Piano. It is quite difficult by normal standards and has been known to be one of the most challenging and difficult piano pieces to play around the world till date. This Sonata took some time for the famous composer to write. It was based on and dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria, a Cardinal and member of the House of Hasburg-Lorraine. He was Beethoven’s patron and had influenced him a great deal. This Sonata took almost a year for Beethoven to compose and consist of a variety of traditional forms of music from the confines of the late period of Beethoven’s musical career. This composition is so challenging mainly because of the brusque humour and bass as well as tought harmony that it strikes between various chords within the same classical form. It consists of a sonata form well equipped with movements ranging from fifteen to twenty minutes. The name of this Piano sonata consists of a transferred epithet from the use of both German and Italian words to describe its mild yet beautifully passionate musical sense. Hammerklavier means Hammer keyboard whereas pianoforte refers to a soft-loud musical harmony that the piece consists of. (Siepmann, Jeremy) The structure of this sonata consists of four main movements termed as Allegro, Scherzo: Assai vivace, Adagio Sostenuto, Introduzione: Largo – Fuga: Allegro Resoluto. All these movements combined are played for duration of over an hour. Such a tough piece composed by Beethoven has helped to influence composers and pianists in the modern day, like Pierre Boulez and Felix Weingartner. Project Two The early nineteenth century witnessed a rise of a number of great musicians and composers all over the world which has led to a complete revolution in Classical Western music. From Poland, the world saw the likes of a man with ultra skills in composing structures and pieces, playing the Piano as well as being a great music teacher. Frederic Chopin has been known to be one of the greatest masters that the era of Romantic music has ever witnessed. He was a true child prodigy, his talents being discovered very early in life. His parents put a great amount of emphasis in him learning the art of music and completing his musical education before starting on to the path of his musical career based journey. Soon, the man settled in Paris where he was influenced by the romance that the city brought to his ears through the various sounds and music that wafted through the fresh Parisian air despite the uprisings and revolutions that were bring cast upon the world at the time. Nothing deterred Chopin from creating his music and helping to spread the beauty of the harmonies he was able to create, to the rest of the world. He has been known to create some of the best solo pianist sonatas and pieces, played even today by pianists all around the world. He was a true sense of inspiration, and still is, for most composers and pianists world over. Not having Chopin’s name almost amounts to creating blasphemy in the name of music. The Polish language and culture was very deeply rooted within Chopin’s mind and heart and that was the reason for which despite living in France most of his life, he never really took onto changing his identity. At the young age of seven, his parents had hired a professional tutor to teach him music, and soon, his compositions made the teacher praise him by comparing him with the greats of his time, like Beethoven and Mozart. At the age of eleven, he was lucky to portray his talent in the presence of the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I, and thus attracted worldwide attention soon enough because of his musical prowess. (Nicholas, Jeremy) Under his Czech tutor Zwyny, Chopin continued to learn the art of music and praised him for having taught him so much in such little time despite his personal bouts of talent. This helped to show the kind of humility that the young boy possessed at the time which would later take him higher in life with respect to his musical career. Soon, as he left his teens, Chopin was composing music with many greats around the world and thus in turn learning from them while creating his own musical compositions. He was claimed to be a true musical genius by many renowned musicians of his age including Robert Schumann. Liszt’s composition also included Chopin and he also had a hold on the last and sixth composition in Bellini’s theme. Most of his works have been based on piano solos and compositions written as sonatas for the piano. He had the power to express his feelings and emotions through the keys of a piano, helping the world understand the turmoil of emotions that were going through within himself. His works had a great amount of technicality attached to them and today, world renowned pianists and composers have to really spend time working on his compositions in order to reproduce them. His works are heard all over the world in large orchestras even today as people enjoy the same. This is how his greatness has been retained all over the years despite his passing away. Chopin’s ticket to fame arrived very early in his life, and despite knowing about his musical capabilities, he still trained humbly under his tutors and strained to achieve greater heights. A number of his compositions have been influenced by works of other great composers. Pieces like the Minute Waltz and Funeral March have become famous all over the world as symbols of grief and bereavement as well. Liszt and Schumann are two great composers who have admitted to using Chopin’s style within their music in order to reach greater heights in their respective careers. The Funeral March is also known as the Piano Sonata No 2 written and composed entirely by Chopin. The piece took him nearly a long time to write and finally heard its debut in the year 1837. It is extremely difficult and very few people can play it correctly in the world today. It is full of heavy technical movements and turns in the music and demands a vast amount of knowledge on the piano to be able to be played smoothly, the way Chopin had intended it to be. The piece consists of four movements namely Grave: Doppio Movimento, Scherzo, Marche Funebre: Lento and the Finale: Presto. It opens with a stormy and heavy kind of music which slowly sifts into a lyrical and soft theme and reaches a climax. This theme has been used at famous funerals including that of John F Kennedy and several Soviet leaders. It was also played during the death of Chopin, the renowned man behind the composition itself. According to many musicians, the piece takes heavy influence from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32 where the end of the Sonata seems to have had a likely effect on the Funeral March. It has a number of variations and can be heard and easily associated with other works of Chopin as well. A number of musicians and composers all over the world have also used variations of this very Funeral March in order to apply it to their works. (Lederer, Victor, Idil Biret, and Frédéric Chopin ) Works Cited Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven. New York: Schirmer, 1977. Print. "Grove Music Online in Oxford Music Online." Home Page in Oxford Music Online. Web. 16 May 2011. . Siepmann, Jeremy. Beethoven: His Life & Music. Naperville, IL: Source MediaFusion, 2006. Print. Works Cited Nicholas, Jeremy. Chopin: His Life & Music. Naperville, IL: Source, 2007. Print. Lederer, Victor, Idil Biret, and Frédéric Chopin. Chopin: a Listeners Guide to the Master of the Piano. Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus, 2006. Print. "Keynote Lecture: “Chopin’s Time,” by Jeffrey Kallberg — McIntire Department of Music, U.Va."College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia. 17 Sept. 2010. Web. 17 May 2011. . Read More