Lady piper
You don't see this very often -- a lady piper in a fifteenth-century manuscript.
You don't see this very often -- a lady piper in a fifteenth-century manuscript.
An article in today's New York Times points out that one can hear and see some very fine singers on YouTube. You might try, for example --
Celeste Aida, from Verdi's opera Aida, sung by Luciano Pavarotti.
You could also try this superb performance of the
Benedictus, from Mozart's Requiem, by Cecilia Bartoli and Arleen Auger, with Georg Solti conducting.
Best of all, perhaps, you can check out this amazing rendition of Mozart's
Dies Bildnis ist Bezaubernd Schon, by the late and still greatly lamented Fritz Wunderlich.
Or you can do a general search for the performer of your choice. Here are the results for three stars of the past and present --
Bartoli Callas Pavarotti
Sometime last year I heard a piece by American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk on the radio. Immediately captivated by its liveliness and quality, I searched the Internet for more information about him. I ordered a copy of this 2-disc set and have been enjoying it ever since. If you like fine, lively piano music, be sure to send for one for yourself.
(This post was prompted in part by a recent article about Gottschalk, lamenting his nearly-forgotten status in the American repertoire.)The church where Johann Sebastian Bach spent his most productive years -- St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, Germany.
The church is known in German as the Thomaskirche.For a delectable aural experience, listen to a few clips from Mozart's four Horn Concerti, played by Barry Tuckwell, soloist, with the Orchestra of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner. Scroll down the page a bit and you will come to thirteen samples.
(And if you care at all about classical music, keep the ArkivMusic.com site in mind. It's where I go for all my research on classical CDs.) )
This afternoon I am listening to Beethoven's Archduke Trio for the first time. Marvelous!
Who is the Archduke? Rudolf Johann Joseph Rainer Habsburg, that's who -- better known as Archduke Rudolf. Beethoven dedicated more compositions to Rudolf than to any other person. Those works inclue the Triple Concerto, the Grosse Fugue, the Missa Solemnis, two piano concertos, two piano sonatas, one violin sonata, and the eponymous "Archduke" Trio. Archduke Rudolf was a wealthy patron, but also a friend and student, a musically talented young nobleman who accepted Beethoven and his compositions despite the eccentricities of both. (So, at rate, I have read.)
A great site on medieval musical instruments.
String instruments --
Cithare Citole Guitare mauresque Lute Lyre Mandore (mandolin?) Psalterium Zittern (guiterne?)
Bowed instruments Cello Crwth Rebec Trompette marine
The Baroque music site has lots of marvelous information, including pictures and music clips.
Have a look, for example, at Bach's life in pictures. With some musical samples as well.
There is a lovely clip of Albinoni's Oboe Concerto.
Major composers of the Baroque era --
There is a marvelous Baroque music sampler as well.Tomaso Albinoni Johann Sebastian Bach Arcangelo Corelli Francois Couperin Georg Friederich Handel Henry Purcell Alessandro Scarlatti (father) Domenico Scarlatti (son) Georg Philipp Telemann Antonio Vivaldi
"My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary." Martin Luther (1483-1546) "I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music." George Eliot (1819-1880) "Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body." Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)
The benefits of music -- there are so many!
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