Destination Broadway

Did you know that though the word “musical” just at the beginning of the 20th century appeared history of this relatively new music genre goes back to the theatres of the ancient Greeks and Rome when ancient dramatists used in their plays musical accompaniment and choreographed dances of the chorus? But, of course, the very first musical was staged many centuries afterwards. This important historical event took place on Broadway in 1866 when the play “The Black Crook” written by Charles M. Barras and produced by William Wheatley was firstly performed.

Generally speaking, musical has always been especially close to people showing ordinary persons in unordinary situations and having an entertaining character though often getting deep thoughts and serious dramatic emotions across the footlights and thereby very popular among the public from different social milieus, while classical theatre plays and operas demand usually a certain level of education and respective knowledge of the piece.
I personally love musicals and adore actors for their amazing versatile talent and physical strength which are surely needed when performing complicated dance figures accompanied by skillful vocal pirouette.
Though most musicals are scored for orchestras and they’re hard to be performed at home, we can sometimes meet smaller plays for piano and voice, as for example here, enjoy this great music and feel like you were joining one of these breathtaking Broadway shows.

Contemporary Sheet Music

As a listener, if I had to choose between contemporary classical music and light modern music as for example pop or r&b songs, I would prefer light music. And this is a musician’s opinion too! Strange, isn’t it? Well, of course I should admit, it is my personal point of view, but I am very curious how many modern musicians are listening to contemporary classical music at home, so to say, just for fun… Do I play contemporary music myself? Yes, sometimes. But I should say that my students are not very happy having contemporary music in their repertoires. I think the contemporary piece in repertoire of pianists is the Must, not the Wish, sometimes. No competitions or serious recitals can avoid some kind of contemporary composition. And it’d better be interesting and valuable. And I am continuously looking for some new worthwhile compositions of contemporary composers. I would recommend one of the biggest and rapidly rising collections of contemporary sheet music both free and paid.

Christmas Sheet Music: Silent Night

Silent night, holy night…This charming music comes along with me from my childhood through all years passed… What would be with Christmas celebration if an Austrian composer Franz Xaver Gruber had never composed Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht? Written December 24, 1818 and performed that very day, this music became very famous during the next two centuries and now it is one of the most popular Christmas carols. It is always so astonishing when a song becomes worldwide popular, when every child in the world knows, enjoys and sings this song. And definitely the Silent Night (Stille Nacht) is absolutely magic song. Listen to it once and you will never forget it. It makes you feel happy; it gives you taste of coming Christmas, joy and pleasure. Numerous musicians have made arrangements and cover versions of the Silent Night for any kind of instrument, voice or ensemble. I enjoy playing the piano arrangements of the Silent Night (Stille Nacht).



There are of course many other beautiful Christmas carols. My other favorite carol is Oh Holy Night.



You can download Christmas sheet music and enjoy playing and singing Silent Night (Stille Nacht) or Oh Holy Night as well as numerous other beautiful carols.

Für Elise by L. van Beethoven

This is undoubtedly the most popular piece for piano ever composed. I have been playing Für Elise (For Elise) since I was 5. At that time I played only the first part with that beautiful theme everyone knows. And though now I am widely smiling, I should admit I did start piano lessons to be able to play Für Elise. I always thought there should be some magic in the Bagatelle WoO 59 in A minor, composed by Ludvig van Beethoven that makes it absolute favorite piece of my students and I am sure of many piano players around the globe. And though musicologists are not sure who that Elise was, I am so grateful to her – who ever she was – for her being in Beethoven’s life. And I believe Beethoven would have been named the greatest composer if he had composed just one this piece, the most famous classical piano music – Für Elise. Download the high quality sheet music of Für Elise, Ludvig van Beethoven’s Bagatelle WoO 59 in A minor.

The Musical Instruments of the Renaissance

The musical art of the Renaissance epoch is characterized by a keen interest in the values of the antique heritage of Greece and Rome. It becomes fashionable to be able to sing, play musical instruments, and sing. The fashion dictates its conditions: common people familiarize themselves with music and noble people keep choirs, orchestras, and sponsor composers’ creative work. On the rising tide of universal love for music musical instruments develop intensively and gain immense popularity. The instruments easy to play on without having particular skills become called for and loved. The viol, flute, lute and horn are found among the most widespread and popular with public. The organ, harpsichord, and virginal stand out due to their venerable nature; one had to have certain expertise to handle them and having high performing skills was a must. However, the music played on any of these instruments was clear and accessible to perceive for it conveyed emotions and feelings and exposed human nature.

Bach vs. Händel

One never knows what to expect from destiny that whimsically rules our life. Take two renowned composers of the 18th century – Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Born in the same year and in the same country they lived diverse earthly and musical lives without ever meeting each other.

Handel as a secular person was fond of publicity, success and recognition while Bach was a devout man who created for the sake of creativity. Handel was a devoted traveller who sojourned in different countries while Bach due to certain circumstances never left his homeland. Each of them followed his own way in creative work: Bach preferred religious themes in his works which were permeated by glorification of God whilst Handel was inclined to compose secular music. Bach received acclamation from public as an organ player and performer in the first place and then as a composer, Handel, on the other hand, purely wrote music.

On the whole, these two unique musicians have one thing in common – they won fame and respect as the greatest composers of the Baroque Era.

Lascia Ch'io Pianga from Opera Rinaldo. Georg Friedrich Händel

THE GROUP OF SIX (“LES SIX”)

The musical culture of the 20th century’s France was substantially formed by a group of six French composers dubbed by music critic Henry Collet the creative group of “Les Six” (1917 -1922).The group was comprised of six innovative composers: Louis Durey, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre. They proclaimed their desire to stand up for the national peculiarity of the musical language and fight against foreign trends (for instance Schoenberg’s atonality). Though they were different in their creative developments, one distinguishing feature made them a unity – their strive for novelty and simplicity at the same time.

The music by Stravinsky along with new timbres and rhythms of the American jazz had a profound impact on them. All members of “The Group of Six” took a great interest in the urbanism and constructivism (Honegger’s Pacific, Milhaud’s Les Machines Agricoles). This explains the desire to find images for their creations in the sounds of the modern city as well as in the new musical forms. Nevertheless, each of them could boast his own original style. Despite sharing the same ideas, in their creative work they often moved in the opposite directions. Durey, for instance, seceded from the group and pursued a career of a public figure, while Honegger, Milhaud and Poulenc continued to work successfully in the field of music.

The young men were devoted to one basic principle i.e. to the creation of works possessing a clear musical language, lacking affectedness, based on real life with all its simplicity.

Gustav Mahler

How often are geniuses put to the test by the ironic and mocking fate? But they are moving forward neglecting the obstacles, conquering one creative summit after another, leaving behind masterpieces big and small. How many such creators are there persecuted and subjected to severe criticism who live unrecognized but are praised posthumously?

Each genius’s destiny is like a comprehensive book on life, and every work of theirs is a separate story tightly connected with their life experience. All this holds so very true for Gustav Malher, the outstanding symphonist and renowned conductor who lived and worked at the turn of the 20th century.

His famous song-cycles namely "Kindertotenlieder" (Songs on the Deaths of Children), "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" (Songs of a Wayfarer), "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (The Youth’s Magic Horn) are of biographical character and carry the imprints of events closely connected with Mahler’s life. Each of his ten symphonies was part of his life, taken away from his strenuous schedule of the director of the Vienne Court Opera or the New York Philharmonic.

As Schubert’s successor and the last representative of the Austro-German Romantic symphony Mahler left a substantial legacy preserving its great importance till our days.