Haydn's Miracle Symphony No.102

They call Joseph Haydn the father in music. He is considered to be, indirectly, the father of both the symphony and the string quartet, having contributed to both genres the elements that made them the way we know them today. Haydn was also known for being brave in widely using humour in his works, at the time when classical music had little room for non-serious behaviour and monkeying around (examples: the out-of-the-blue loud chorus in the “Surprise” symphony, false endings in the quartets No.2 (Op.33) and No.3 (Op.50)).

A chandelier

Out of the 106 symphonies composed by J. Haydn, there is one that might not be the brightest in terms of musical style but it’s the one that definitely has a beautiful story connected with it. It is Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 in B Major composed in 1794 as one of his “London Symphonies”. The curious story took place at the premiere of the work. According to the scholars, at the end of the performance a huge chandelier (and you can visualize the size of it in the concert hall) broke and fell from the ceiling. By a lucky coincidence, no one got hurt during that almost-tragic incident: the crowd was marveling over the new composition and rushed altogether to the stage to cheer the orchestra with heavy applause. Therefore, no one remained at the place of the chandelier’s crush, and the work itself immediately got its popular nickname – “Miracle Symphony”.

It was mistakenly believed for a pretty long time that the incident took place at the premiere of Haydn’s Symphony No. 96. But research proved otherwise.

Strauss' Radetzki March on Real Guns

Johann Strauss composed his famous march in 1848 dedicating it to the Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky. Unlike the traditional march that is intended first of all for military bands to march to, Strauss’ composition was rather celebratory. According to an assumption, it was inspired by the singing of Radetzky’s soldiers that entered Vienna after winning the Custoza battle. It is this battle that Strauss was commissioned to write a commemoration to.

Vitaly Kryuchin 'shoots' Radetzky March

It is believed that Radetzky March incorporates the elements from some of Strauss’ earlier works, particularly Jubel-Quadrille. A similarity with Haydn’s Symphony No.100, as well as with the old folksong Alter Tanz aus Wien can also be noted. So, as a result, we have a not-very-traditional representative of the military music genre.

The characteristic rhythmic pattern of the work (3 anapaests and a iamb) made it popular for various interpretations among contemporary performers. But perhaps the most ‘military’ one, to my mind, belongs to the one below. In fact, you can’t get more military than that – Radetzky March was played with guns, Russian shooter Vitaly Kryuchin as ‘soloist’:

Bach’s Influence on Chopin?

Some composers will forever remain the pillars in classical music and that’s for a reason. The names of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, for instance, are something musicians will rely on and by guided by for many generations to come. Out of these three, Bach’s name is perhaps the most often-mentioned when it comes to other composers’ influences.

J.S. Bach and F. Chopin

Music enthusiasts and just common listeners are awed by the music of Bach, needless to say. But other great composers were no less impressed by this great man’s work. Frédéric Chopin who himself had myriads of followers, was one of the most devoted fans of Bach’s music. He was so absorbed in playing his works that could flawlessly perform 14 preludes and fugues by Bach from memory saying that one can never forget how to play that.

Franz Liszt once mentioned that Chopin was Bach’s most enthusiastic pupil. Chopin took it for a rule himself and repeated it to his own pupils: “Always practice Bach!”. He would always shut himself up two weeks before the performance of his own concert and practice Bach for hours on end. He never rehearsed his own works.

The influence of Bach could not but manifest in Chopin’s own compositional style and there are a number of works that prove it with the help of a little analysis. One of such works is Chopin’s Mazurka No. 3, Op. 50. Besides the common Baroque techniques of composing like the polyphonic idea, he used very similar harmonic progressions and horizontalization of chords, so characteristic of Bach. At the same time, Chopin’s style remained unique and authentic.

Balcony Scene from Romeo & Juliet

The motion picture “Romeo and Juliet” is one of those cases when you might be totally indifferent about the movie itself but fall in love with the music. Soundtrack thus is an important part of any movie and sometimes it is even key to success. Recalling the topic of Romeo and Juliet at the time of St. Valentine’s celebrations should be the right thing to do, I thought!

The actual balcony of Juliet in Verona

Reading the names of composers like Craig Armstrong on the cover of the soundtrack album can already mean that we gonna encounter some beautiful and romantic musical settings. The list of artists is also a ‘speaking’ one: The Cardigans, Radiohead, Garbage – all was preparing us for a portion of love drama. The two volumes of the album were both well-sold and conquered a number of chart peaks, especially in Australia.

To me, the musical heart of the movie is not at all the dramatically charged Garbage performance, it rather hides in the sensual and soothing “Balcony Scene” composed by Craig Armstrong for one of the most touching moments in the entire story. Getting distracted from the theme, it may as well serve as a really relaxing piece of piano music for whenever an injection of peace and calm is needed.

McDonald’s Fights Crime with Music

They were not the first to do it, but their example is a clear and vivid one. A few days ago, I read a story about the fight of a McDonald’s store with crime with the help of classical music – a successful fight!

It happened in Dallas in 1994, when the city’s downtown was weltering in lawlessness with the crime rates going higher every year. One of MDs happened to be located just in the ‘heart’ of all that delinquency, near the Greyhound station. This is when the management came up with what seemed to be a weird idea. The suggestion was pretty simple – install huge speakers that would play the classical music by Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti, Vivaldi and other outstanding composers. The music could be heard both inside and outside the store. With all the initial scepticism, the managers were struck by the 100% result. The drop in arrest went from 391 to 146 annually by 1996. The vagabonds would describe the introduction “I hate that sh*t!”, but the effect was evident.

The music played was selected by a couple of criteria. It was supposed to be relaxing and soothing, no heavy drops, dramatic contrasts and solemn moods. The works of Mahler and Wagner this time had to be avoided, only light and airy excerpts from pieces like Brandenburg Concerto or Blue Danube or Chopin’s waltzes.

There have been a lot of research on the influence of classical music on our neural activities and I keep believing that classical music is an achievement of the humanity that is truly able to make us better people, one way or another!

The Spectacular Adagio from Aram Khachaturian's "Spartacus"

The Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian was one of the leading music writers in the USSR. Some of his first concertos, including 1936 Piano Concerto, 1940 Violin Concerto and 1946 Cello Concerto, brought him recognition beyond the Soviet Union. Khachaturian has also 3 bright symphonies and over 2 dozen film scores.

"Spartacus" on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow

But what I love most in his repertoire is no doubt the ballet music. The 1942 “Gayane” ballet with its famous "Sabre Dance" excerpt that got the most covers in pop culture is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Khachaturian’s ballet creations. However, last night Gayane was not something that got me totally charmed and submerged in the beauty of the music...

It was the Adagio from the “Spartacus” ballet that did all the magic. With the harmonies so rich and rhythms so captivating, the Armenian master made the piece, just like the entire ballet, virtuously colourful and sensuous. The storyline of the ballet describes the slave uprising led by the hero Spartacus, which implies the music to be heroic and dynamic itself, but adagio is something different. It’s rather a lyrical digression, beautiful and tender. Have a listen below.

In 1995, Aram Khachaturian extracted music from his Spartacus to arrange it for 4 orchestral suites. Suites No.1 and No.2 also have amazing adagios; however, it was the original ballet piece that stole my soul.

Beethoven's Eccentric Große Fugue

There is hardly any other fugue in the history of classical music that would attract such a long row of controversial and striking epithets besides the renowned work by one of the most influential composers of all time, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Your face when you are trying to analyse Beethoven's Große Fugue

The massive one-movement “Große Fugue” is definitely in the row of the most complex and complicated classical creations out there. At the time of its composition around 1823, the critics universally reproved the work, calling it all possible negative names: “incomprehensible like Chinese”, “Armaggedon”, “eccentric”, “a confusion of Babel”, “inaccessible”, “filled with paradoxes”, “an indecipherable, uncorrected horror” and so many more. For the record, it annoyed the composer: Beethoven would scream in irritation “Cattle! Asses!” when he found out that the work was never asked for encore, for he never doubted the grandeur of his unique creation.

Originally, the fugue was part of Beethoven’s string quartet No.13 serving its final movement. However, the publisher of the work miraculously managed to convince Beethoven (which is surprising as a fact) to write a different finale. The fugue was thus published independently in 1827.

The awareness of the fugue’s greatness only came in the 20th century. Like Stravinsky mentioned, the fugue was an absolutely contemporary piece that will remain contemporary forever. Perhaps it was too contemporary for its time?

The music critics and researchers never came to a consensus in terms of the fugue’s analysis. Dozens were trying to break down its structure and stylistic patterns but no universal description emerged. Beethoven’s fugue will keep fascinating musicians for years to come, remaining one of his biggest achievements and a truly challenging piece to master.