Classical music plays a vital role in
developing cells of the brain of the child
and is also known to make one
smarter in many fields of life.
There might be different views
as regards music but one fact
cannot be ignored that it has
a great effect on our emotions.
When a child takes birth, it starts reacting
to the various sounds in its surroundings
such as toys, human voice and others. At
times, when you see someone shouting or
screaming with joy, it simultaneously
affects you and fills you with joy.
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Born: Eisenach (Germany), 21 March
1685
Died: 28 July 1750
One of the greatest Baroque composers
along with Handel. His most famous works
are probably the Brandenburg Concerti, the
Well-tempered clavier, The art of fugue, his
Mass in B-minor, and the St. Matthew
Passion. Needless to say, I wholeheartedly
recommend each and every one of the
above works.
From what I’ve read and heard, Bach is now
considered somewhat atypical as far as
Baroque composers go. His “obsession”
with the fugue was apparently rather
anachronistic; most other composers of the
same era held that the fugue was an outdated form.
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Born: Bonn, 16 December 1770
Died: Vienna, 26 March 1827
Without doubt, one of the true greats. Just awesome, man.
Beethoven didn’t write as much as Mozart or Schubert, but what he
produced is all worth listening to. (The stereotype has it that he
sweated over every note in a way that Mozart didn’t. This makes
light of Mozart unduly however; letters of his describe how he found
the composition of works such as his later quartets very hard.)
I can recommend all of Beethoven’s symphonies but in particular, the
third (Eroica), the fifth, the sixth (“Pastoral”), the seventh and the
ninth (“Choral”). The last three piano concerti (nos. 3, 4 and 5), the
Missa Solemnis, the triple concerto (for violin, piano and cello) and
the string quartets are also all well worth listening to.
Apart from the triple concerto mentioned above, a wonderful violin
concerto, and a Choral Fantasy for piano, orchestra and choir, I
believe that Beethoven didn’t write any other concerti for orchestral
instruments. Though this seems a shame, I suspect it was probably
because he had little experience of other instruments. (Beethoven
was primarily a pianist, having earned his living for a while in Vienna
from performing, but did also play the viola). My own theory is that
perhaps this came about because concerti for instruments for other
instruments seemed unduly “light”.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Born: Salzburg, 27 January 1756
Died: Vienna, 5 December 1791
Along with Haydn, one of the first classical composers. Wrote music of
many different genres. Major works would include his Requiem, the
operas Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte, the clarinet
concerto, the string quartets, the later piano concerti (nos. 20 onwards)
and the later symphonies (numbers 36, 38, 39, 40 and 41).
There does seem to be a tendency among some people to label Mozart
as nothing more than the composer of “pretty tunes” or little twiddles. I
couldn’t disagree more. In particular, I think his religious music exhibits a
great deal of feeling, and transcends mere “twiddles”. In my opinion, the
problem is probably that people tend to know things like Eine kleine
Nachtmusik, and because this particular piece is eminently hummable,
not particularly “deep”, and played to death in Muzak-like environments,
people assume that all of Mozart’s music is like that.
The best Mozart site on the web is probably The Mozart Project. But you
may also find the online site for the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe fascinating.
This is an online presentation of authoritative editions of all of Mozart’s
music, freely available for personal use. For more information on
Mozart’s home-town, and some biographical details about Mozart, see
the Visit Salzburg site.
• Tchaikovsky, Piotr Ilyitch
• Born: Votkinsk, 7 May 1840
• Died: St. Petersburg, 6 November 1893
• Tchaikovsky is probably most famous for
ballet music (The Nutcracker Suite, Swan
Lake and the like) and the 1812 Overture.
However, his work in the standard forms is
definitely worth a listen. I have heard the
violin concerto and the Pathétique
symphony live, and these are both great
works. The first piano concerto with its
initial crashing chords is also very famous.
Chopin, Frederic (Fryderyk)
Born: Zelazowa Wola (Poland), 1 March 1810
Died: Paris, 17 October 1849
A composer famed for his ability at the piano, who in turn
wrote the vast majority of his music for that instrument.
Many of his pieces are quite short (being Rondos,
Mazurkas and the like) but they are all beautiful. Not being
a piano player myself, it is difficult to appreciate their
comparative difficulty, but I am assured that most of
Chopin’s music is very difficult to play.
Played well, it doesn’t sound it.
Though born in Poland, Chopin spent the last half of his life
in Paris, arriving there in 1831. In Paris, he came to know
the novelist George Sand, and was her lover for a time.
The Vancouver Chopin Society have an interesting website with more information on Chopin and his works.
Mendelssohn, (Jacob Ludwig) Felix
Born: Hamburg, 3 February 1809
Died: Leipzig, 4 November 1847
Another composer who was
famous as something of a
child prodigy, Mendelssohn
didn’t manage to achieve the
fame of composers such as
Mozart or Beethoven. He wrote five symphonies
(the last of which, the Reformation symphony, I
particularly recommend), a famous violin
concerto and some famous theme music for A
Midsummer Night’s Dream (the Wedding March
from this is often used at real weddings).
Mendelssohn also wrote a number of religious
works, including the St. Paul oratorio.
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Schubert, Franz Peter
Born: Vienna, 31 January 1797
Died: Vienna, 19 November 1828
Famous song composer. :-) But seriously, Schubert also
wrote a number of symphonies (the so-called Great is in
fact very good, if not great), piano sonatas, chamber
music in general, including the famous Trout Quintet,
operas (26 of them!), masses and much else. He was
probably even more prolific than Mozart.
• Schubert died just a year after Beethoven, and it was
thought quite tragic that Vienna should lose two great
composers so close upon each other’s heels.
• Tomoko Yamamoto has a published a page celebrating
the two-hundredth anniversary of Schubert’s birth. Bart
Berman has some notes on Schubert, with particular
reference to some of his piano music.
Shostakovich, Dimitri
Born: St. Petersburg, 25 September 1906
Died: Moscow, 9 August 1975
One of my current favourite composers, Shostakovich would certainly lay claim to
my Greatest of the 20th century crown. All of his music that I have heard is full of
feeling, though the feeling expressed is often bitterness, sadness, or sardonic
"humour".
Stravinsky apparently said of Shostakovich that he was one of the most frightened
men he had ever met (this reported comment may in fact have been something
similar made by Robert Craft), and this feeling of fear (terror, even) is something
one can often hear in Shostakovich’s music. This is not to imply that all of his work
is irredeemably grim. The second movement of the second string quartet is
beautifully sad and sweet, for example. Significant works include his fifth and tenth
symphonies, the eighth quartet, the two cello concerti and the 24 preludes and
fugues.
Shostakovich had a strong musical education. He entered the St. Petersburg
Conservatory at a young age and was taught there by Glazunov, among others. His
first symphony was his graduation piece (composed in 1925), and was well
received. He supported himself and his mother in this period by playing the piano at
silent movie screenings.
In later works, Shostakovich made frequent use of a D-Eflat-C-B theme. Written
using the German notation this reads D-S-C-H, his “initials” (given another
Romanization of his name; Dimitri SCHostakovich).
There are a large number of other music pages and resources on the Web devoted
to Shostakovich, so I’ve collected them together into a Shostakovich links page
Vivaldi, Antonio Lucio
Born: 4 March 1678
Died: 28 July 1741
Very prolific Baroque composer.
Composed a large number of concerti,
inspiring Bach to the same form. He
composed much of his work for the
orchestra at the girl’s orphanage in
Venice where he was music master.
His most famous work is undoubtedly
the Four seasons, but his flute
concerto La Notte is also well-known
and very good listening.