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.

William Baines. Coloured Leaves for piano

Not long ago, searching for new piano sheet music, I saw in the Internet the works by William Baines 'Coloured Leaves' unknown to me. This is a small piano cycle of three pieces: Prelude, Valse, and Still day. It is absolutely charming piano miniatures written in Romantic style. They attracted my attention, as if to take these three pieces separately, they can be played by middle class students (I’m a piano teacher at a music school), and the cycle as a whole suits for a high school program.
Usually, when I introduce the children to new pieces, we also acquaint ourselves with authors’ biographies. It upset me to learn that the life of William Baines was not so rosy and very short. A very young soul begot these compositions. And each of them is like a page of his life.

Here you may find the sheet music of Coloured Leaves

I thought that the pieces, written by their peer, will be very close to the children. The first piece Prelude sounds like a story. It’s expressed in a frequent meter change, emphasis change and even calm rhythm. The second piece is a light and graceful Valse, which firstly seems to be simple, but has many melodic details, and, well performed, can sound very impressive. But most of all I liked the final piece Still day. It’s full of sadness, calm and serenity.
In my opinion, the title 'Coloured Leaves' fits this cycle very well. Although all three pieces have the same romantic mood, they are very different in their genre and character. Therefore, I suggest you performing of the entire cycle. The piece won’t be arid, and, at the same time, it will allow the students to demonstrate their skills to embody different characters and moods.

S. Smith's Piano Music. Grande Fantaisie L' elisire d' amore

This piece is a brilliant piano fantasia on the themes from opera "The Elixir of Love"("L' elisir d'amore") by Donizetti. Smith showed masterfully feelings of the main characters of the opera: affection, coquetry, rivalry, jealousy, and above all, love - and made them festal and playful.
It’s surprisingly, that the composer retained in his piano piece the characters of the opera’s heroes. It seems the author is painting the image of a timid young peasant Nemorino, of the beautiful coquette Adina, dreaming of elevated love, of the cunning and tricky quack Dulkamar; of the brave but ignorant Sergeant Belcore and of many other characters. Following Donizetti, Smith makes his own parody interpretation of the legend about the magic love potion. In an effort to portray different characters, as well as to embody the comicalness of the situation, the author combines in The Grande Fantaisie 'L' elisire d'amore' absolutely contrasting moments, which require different manners of playing. Frequent changes of dynamic nuances, accents, techniques and ways of playing music help to create a vivid and colorful imagery of the piece. And the light, lofty theme of the "love drink" is a unifying element in such a multifarious and variegated work.
Smith has created a great piece - light, refined, but worthy of virtuoso performers and large concert halls.