Today is the birthday of our musician of the week, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a famous composer from the Classical Period (right after the Baroque Period). We are listening to some of his famous works:
Eine kleine Nachtmusik (German: “A Little Night Music”)
Symphony No.41 In C (nicknamed “Jupiter” after the chief Roman god; watch the VSO’s performance starting at 14:37)
Piano Sonata No 11 (last movement “Rondo alla Turca”)
Piano Sonata No. 16
Variations on Ah Vous Dirai-je Maman (later known as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)
Overture from The Marriage of Figaro (a comic opera about pranks before Figaro’s wedding)
Queen of the Night Aria (featured in this Volvo commercial) from The Magic Flute (his last opera, about a damsel in distress and the handsome prince who rescues her), see this recording of a boy singing these high notes!
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (clarinet was the first band instrument I learned in grade 6!)
Tag: orchestra
Piotr Tchaikovsky
Our musician of the week is Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from the Romantic Era. We listened to selections from his famous ballet, The Nutcracker, including March and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Div. 1’s flashlight performance in the Virtual Winter Concert). Other famous pieces from this ballet include Waltz of the Flowers, Trepak, and Chinese Dance. Many have made movie adaptions based on this, including a 1990 version and a more recent 2018 version. Take time to watch a movie adaptation, ask your family if they’ve heard of or even seen this ballet live, and remember how to pronounce the name “Tchaikovsky” (chai-cough-ski)!
We discussed another famous ballet called Swan Lake (we watched the Dance of the Little Swans). You can watch the full ballet here! We also watched an excerpt from the 1812 Overture, with canons (sometimes replaced with fireworks) timed to match the music. It has been VSO‘s tradition to end with the 1812 Overture when they play at Deer Lake Park in the summer. Hope you’ll get to see it one summer after COVID!