Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Bela Bartók is my all time favorite composer. He was born in Hungry. His music is chaotic while at the same time managing this almost imposable organization. one misstep when you play his music and the whole piece is no better than a snowball into hell, but preforming and hearing the intricacy is one of the most fulfilling and difficult things i have ever done in my life. His compositions are exciting to preform and hear. Every thing in his music is energetic and alive. you can feel what he felt when he wrote the music. It has a life of its on and wile I'm preforming his music, or i should say trying to preform it, i get frustrated at first but i always am overjoyed when i get the music perfect. Mastering any of his songs always feels like a great accomplishment!
One of my favorite composer is Antonin Dvorák. Dvorák was born in 1841 in the Czech republic or Bohemia. His father was a musician. His father taught him to play the violin to entertain the guest. He sang in the choir and preformed at fairs. He loved gypsy music. He had limited musical training when he was young. Unlike most families his father was thrilled to have a musician in the family. To help pay for his lessons he preformed in cafes, but he went cold and hungry just so he could continue his studies in the organ school. After he graduated he was the conductor at the opera. He never abandoned his home town he used bohemian folk music in most, if not all, of his compositions. Brahms a friend of Dvorák heard his music that was inspired for the love of his country and encouraged him to enter a contest. He won first prize, and was given a grant for poor musicians. He won the competition for two more years. His music gained recognition and he was published. His love for his home country was reflected is his music. He later traveled to America. one of Dvorák's student was African American and he loved to sing spirituals which he incorporated into his new world symphony. No matter where he went he took a little of the native folk music and incorporated it into his music. I love his music because you can hear the passion about what hes composing. I also live the sound of gypsy music its just so free, and real. His home and struggles makes him who he is as a musician and i not only love him as a musician but a person. He was modest and he went through a lot of trials to get his music heard by the people.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
The curse of the 9th symphony
If you ask any musician they have probably heard about or know what the curse of the 9th symphony is, and why musician now frequently skip over the 9th and publish what was suppose to the be the 9th as the 10th. Most musicians feel that those who publish a 9th symphony are challenging fate, and will die before completing there 10th. Why do they believe this you might ask? You have to look back in history to find the answer to this question. Some of the most famous musician’s have died after writing there 9th symphony. The list of composers consists of Beethoven, Dvorak, Schoenberg, Kurt Atterberg, Elie Siegmeister, Alferd Schnittke, Roger Sessions, Egon Wellesz, Peter Mennin, Malcolm Arnold and Vaughan Williams. This slowly became a superstation among musicians, and composer causing musicians and composers to skip the 9th symphony and going straight to the 10th. Some musicians like Schoenberg pompously said he would beat the curse of the 9th symphony. He believed he had when he began composition on his tenth. He died before he finished composition of his 10th symphony therefore strengthen the legend of the curse. Most musicians choose not to go up against the curse. I mean if Schoenberg lost his battle with the curse who really wants to test fate?
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