Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826) - Concertant Duo from piano & clarinet

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Musicologie presents tonight Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber who is born in Eutin (germany) on November 18, 1786 and died in London (UK) on June 5, 1826 was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school.  

Carl Maria von Weber 

Module by: Catherine Schmidt-Jones 

Background and Influence 

Carl Maria von Weber's musical career, like that of Ludwig van Beethoven, came at the beginning of the Romantic era. Although it is not nearly as well-known, Weber's music, like Beethoven's, had a major influence on the course of Romantic music. The German folk opera genre that Weber established would eventually lead to the operas of Wagner; and Weber's highly ornamented, virtuoso-style piano music influenced the styles of Schumann, Liszt, and Chopin. 

Weber's operas were, of course, influenced by earlier opera, including Mozart's, but Weber also had a strong sense that he was creating a new, distinctly German, tradition. Weber's melodies often have the flavor of German folk song. And his librettos (texts) and plots were strongly influenced by Romantic-era German literature. His operas are stories of good and evil taken from local legends and fairy tales. The characters are of humble origin, and their fates are affected both by nature - a powerful element of mystery and danger - and the supernatural, both favorite subjects in Romantic literature. 

Biography 

Carl Maria von Weber was born in Eutin (near Lubeck) on November 18th, 1786. The "von" was an affectation; his family was not really aristocracy. His mother was a singer. His father, who was Kapellmeister for a prince bishop and then director of a travelling theatre company, was determined that Carl should be a musical prodigy like Mozart. So young Weber's youth was spent on tour. At age four he could not yet walk properly, because of a congenital disease of the hip, but he could already sing and play piano. He first published a composition at age eleven. 

Weber began his adult career as a concert pianist. His first opera (which has been lost) was produced in 1800 in Freiberg. Soon he was Kapellmeister at Breslau. A later job as the private secretary to Duke Ludwig at Stuttgart did not go well for Weber(it actually led to a short term in prison), but subsequent jobs included director of the Prague Opera and director of the Dresden Court Opera. He exhibited a singular drive, vision, and organized dedication when directing opera companies, but seemed to lack self-discipline in other areas of his life, living a rather Bohemian, financially insecure lifestyle in between directing jobs. 

In spite of failing health, Weber continued directing, composing and touring as a performer until his death (of consumption) on June 5th, 1826, in London, where his final opera had premiered. His body was eventually returned to Germany eighteen years later; the graveside speech was given by Richard Wagner. 

Music 

Weber's operas, with their powerful, inventive, and dramatic music, were his master works. Der Freisschuetz (1821), in particular, was tremendously popular and influential, but Euryanthe (1823), and Oberon (1826) also contained powerful music that influenced later Romantic composers. 

Weber's virtuosic piano compositions were similarly influential. He also composed songs, and two symphonies.

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Johann Pachelbel (1653 - 1706) - Canon in D major

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Musicologie celebrates tonight Johann Pachelbel baptised September 1, 1653 – buried March 9, 1706) was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. 

Popularity of the Canon in D 

Pachelbel's Canon in D major, a piece of chamber music scored for three violins and basso continuo and originally paired with a gigue in the same key, experienced a tremendous surge in popularity during the 1970s. This is believed to be due to a recording by Jean-François Paillard in 1970, which made it a universally recognized cultural item. 

Its visibility was greatly increased by its choice as the theme song for the popular film Ordinary People. Now one of the most recognized and famous baroque compositions, it has in recent years become extremely popular for use in weddings, rivalling that of Wagner's Bridal Chorus.

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Johann Pachelbel 

He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era. Pachelbel's music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many pupils and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany. 

Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis, a set of keyboard variations. Pachelbel's music was influenced by southern German composers, such as Johann Jakob Froberger and Johann Kaspar Kerll, Italians such as Girolamo Frescobaldi and Alessandro Poglietti, French composers, and the composers of the Nuremberg tradition. 

He preferred a lucid, uncomplicated contrapuntal style that emphasized melodic and harmonic clarity. His music is less virtuosic and less adventurous harmonically than that of Dieterich Buxtehude, although, like Buxtehude, Pachelbel experimented with different ensembles and instrumental combinations in his chamber music and, most importantly, his vocal music, much of which features exceptionally rich instrumentation. 

Pachelbel explored many variation forms and associated techniques, which manifest themselves in various diverse pieces, from sacred concertos to harpsichord suites.

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) - Air on the G string

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Musicologie presents tonight to celebrate J.S. Bach the brilliant Air on the G String which is an August Wilhelmj's arrangement of the second movement in Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068.

The original orchestral suite was written by Bach for his patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt some time between the years 1717 and 1723. The title comes from violinist August Wilhelmj's late 19th century arrangement of the piece for violin and piano. By transposing the key of the piece from its original D major to C major and transposing the melody down an octave, Wilhelm was able to play the piece on only one string of his violin, the G string. Later, a spurious story was put about that the melody was always intended to be played on the G string alone.

The Air on the G String was the very first work by Bach to be recorded. This was by the Russian cellist Aleksandr Verzhbilovich and an unknown pianist, in 1902 (as the Air from the Overture No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068).

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Johann Sebastian Bach 

Johann Sebastian Bach  (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. 

Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Mass in B minor, the The Well-Tempered Clavier, more than 200 cantatas, two Passions, and keyboard works. His music is revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty. 

Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach, into a great musical family; his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles were professional musicians. His father probably taught him to play violin and harpsichord, and his brother, Johann Christoph Bach, taught him the clavichord and exposed him to much contemporary music. 

Apparently at his own initiative, Bach attended St Michael's School in Lüneburg for two years. After graduating, he held several musical posts across Germany: he served as Kapellmeister (director of music) to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, Cantor of Thomasschule in Leipzig, and Royal Court Composer to August III. 

Bach's health and vision declined in 1749, and he died on 28 July 1750. Modern historians believe that his death was caused by a combination of stroke and pneumonia. Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period, and as one of the greatest composers of all time...

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Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) - Spring from 4 seasons

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Musicologie presents tonight Spring to celebrate Vivaldi's instrumental works. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741), nicknamed il Prete Rosso ("The Red Priest") because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, Catholic priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. 

Recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe. Vivaldi is known mainly for composing instrumental concertos, especially for the violin, as well as sacred choral works and over forty operas. 

His best known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi had been employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. 

Vivaldi also had some success with stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for preferment. However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later. 

Though Vivaldi's music was well received during his lifetime, it later declined in popularity until its vigorous revival in the first half of the 20th century. Today, Vivaldi ranks among the most popular and widely recorded of Baroque composers.

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Instrumental Works Cross-Reference

Being a great admirer of Vivaldi's instrumental works, I've always wished I had a comprehensive and complete listing of all the master's works with the assigned catalog numbers by the various catalogers structured in such a way as to allow easy searching, sorting and translation between the catalog numbers. 

A fairly thorough search turned up no such resource, so I decided to create a database of Vivaldi's works that could be used to create cross-reference lists including any and all information usually included in the various works lists. These lists are generated from that database.

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