In a previous post I provided historical information about the composer Antonio Vivaldi. As the weather changes from the season of summer I will focus upon his third movement of the famous “The Four Seasons” – Autumn. This movement, written in 1720 at the height of the Baroque period, has three sections: a country dance […]
Many of us who own pets consider them to be an important part of our lives. Not only do we arrange our schedule around their needs but enjoy their companionship and acceptance. I was surprised when researching this post that several famous composers were influenced by their pets. As a result of that influence […]
In a previous post I mentioned the composer Gioachino Rossini and “The William Tell Overture” (premiered in 1829). If you remember the legend – William Tell, a hunter and tracker, was forced to shot an arrow off the top of his son’s head. From that post I included the second section of the overture – […]
Music is often used as a way to record experiences. These experiences can be from the natural world around us. I contemplated this when listening to the storm as rain fell against my windows. As humans we strive to reproduce what is familiar to us – whether through words, images, movements or sounds. In a […]
Of all the composers that I have studied with my students, everyone remembers Ludwig van Beethoven. He is not remembered necessarily for his music but for the fact that he continued to compose music after he went deaf. During his lifetime ( 1770 – 1825) medical treatment was not effective to stop the loss of […]
To celebrate the season and optimism of Spring we need to acknowledge a remarkable selection that continues to remain important to audiences. Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) was an Italian composer of the Baroque period. Although he wrote hundreds of compositions, one of his most famous “The Four Seasons” was written originally for the girls […]
As many of the Primary Classes are studying Spring I thought I would contribute by including references to two different composers who wrote instrumental music about insects that help pollinate gardens. The first composer is named Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He was consider one of the great Russian nationalist composers of the Romantic period of music. He […]