Reference articles on musical topics, history, whatever seems important.
or Influential People: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky By now, we’ve gone through enough of the history of the previous pieces and composers that we kind of already have an understanding of the climate in which the rest of the composers … Continue reading Tchaikovsky and the Composing Circles
This article is in preparation for a concert I’ll be attending tomorrow and some things I got to thinking about while preparing to think about writing the article about said concert that’ll be posted in the next few days. Anyway, … Continue reading Concerts for Newcomers
Epilogue: Total Serialism a.k.a Influential People: Milton Babbitt It’s been a while. If you haven’t read or don’t remember a three-part series I wrote a few months back on the beginnings of the twelve-tone system, go check out the first … Continue reading Dodecaphony: Part 4 (a.k.a. Influential People: Milton Babbitt)
The picture that everyone knows of the composer who looks like George Washington He excelled in every musical genre… He is familiarly known as the ‘father of the symphony’ and could with greater justice be thus regarded for the … Continue reading Influential People: Franz Josef Haydn
How I got here: As stated on my About Me page, my interest in music was rooted in a fascination with the piano. It seems natural, then, that as I started to familiarize myself with classical music, the piano was … Continue reading Dodecaphony: Part 3
To continue our discussion of the twelve tone scheme and the Second Viennese School, we’re going to talk today about the method itself. I’m going to be up front with you, though. I’m not a professional musician, I am not … Continue reading Dodecaphony: Part 2
Do-what? (a.k.a. Influential People: Arnold Schoenberg) part 2 here part 3 here This was going to be a simple introduction to the early works of the Second Viennese School, and to that group of composers itself, but as with many … Continue reading Dodecaphony: Part 1
This is necessary. as a member of the audience, taken low and against my chest so as not to disturb others As posted last week, I attended a concert a number of months ago (that I just now got around … Continue reading Concert Etiquette
or The Composer as Specialist from Hi Fidelity, February 1958 Wikipedia article here Original article here (PDF) Bach, Beethoven, Brahms…. Jump ahead, jump ahead and there’s Babbitt. But there’s also obviously a lot in between. Last week’s post was a … Continue reading Thoughts on Babbitt’s "Who Cares if You Listen"
The title of this video really struck my interest. I was envisioning it as something exciting and revelatory, a heretofore undiscovered secret of the music of this great artist. It’s also a TED talk, which means it will be fun … Continue reading Music and Math: The Genius of Beethoven
I tend to be a bit obsessive about organizing and knowing where everything is. You wouldn’t be able to tell from my desk at home, but I actually (for the most part) know where all that stuff is and what’s … Continue reading How My Classical Music is Organized in iTunes
So this is fun, but also kind of inaccurate. When Mahler was preparing to write his next symphony after the eighth, he was troubled by something. He was worried about a curse or misfortune that could befall him if he … Continue reading The Curse of the Ninth
or, even more controversial, ‘nature vs. nurture’, or slightly less controversial (and actually applicable) ‘the principles of natural selection as applied to art vs. who you know and how life treats you’ I’ve been exploring the Interwebs lately and looking … Continue reading Art vs. Life
(Or how I think about it) part 1: An introduction to Sonata Form and its place in the Symphony This is all highly opinionated, and probably highly unprofessional, but it’s the way I try to get someone who’s never cared … Continue reading How to listen to classical music
they just don’t know it yet! I’m finally getting around to populating this little section here on resources, and I have a big post I’m working on for next week, but I thought it might be good to share something … Continue reading Everyone loves classical music…
Fugue for Thought 