Parlour music Parlour music is a type of popular music which, as the name suggests, is intended to be performed in the parlours of middle-class homes by amateur singers and pianists. Disseminated as sheet music, its heyday came in the 19th century, as a result of a steady increase in the number of households with enough surplus cash to purchase musical instruments and instruction in music, and with the leisure time and cultural motivation to engage in recreational music-making. Its popularity waned in the 20th century as the phonograph record and radio replaced sheet music as the most common method of dissemination of popular music. Front cover of "Just Awearyin' for You" (published 1901), a widely selling example of a parlor song. In contrast to the chord-based classical music era, parlour music features melodies which are harmonically independent or not determined by the harmony. Mediant-octave mode examples[edit] Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Papageno's Glockenspiel tune: Sources[edit]
Ballades (Chopin) Chopin, 1835 Frédéric Chopin's four ballades are one-movement pieces for solo piano, composed between 1831 and 1842. They are some of the most challenging pieces in the standard piano repertoire.[1][2] The term "ballade" was associated with an old French verse-form used for grand and rhetorical subjects, but may also have connotations of the Medieval heroic ballad, which was sung and danced. There are dramatic and dance-like elements in Chopin's use of the genre, and he may be said to be a pioneer of the ballade as an abstract musical form. The four ballades are said to have been inspired by poet Adam Mickiewicz.[1][3] The exact inspiration for each individual ballade, however, is unclear and disputed. The four ballades are among the most enduring of Chopin's compositions and are frequently heard in concerts.[4] They have been recorded many times. Main theme of Ballade No. 1 Opening bars of Ballade No. 2 Opening bars of Ballade No. 3 The second theme sounds like a donkey's pace.
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, T.O.S.F. (German: [fʁant͡s lɪst]; Hungarian: Liszt Ferencz; October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886), in modern use Liszt Ferenc[n 1] (Hungarian pronunciation: [list ˈfɛrɛnt͡s]); from 1859 to 1867 officially Franz Ritter von Liszt,[n 2] was a 19th-century Hungarian[1][2][3] composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, teacher and Franciscan tertiary. Liszt gained renown in Europe during the early nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. Life[edit] Early life[edit] The earliest known ancestor of Liszt is his great-grandfather, Sebastian List who was one of the thousands of German migrant serfs locally migrating within the Austrian Empire's territories (around the area now constituting Lower Austria and Hungary) in the first half of the 18th century. Anna Liszt, née Maria Anna Lager (portrait by Julius Ludwig Sebbers between 1826 and 1837) In Vienna, Liszt received piano lessons from Carl Czerny, who in his own youth had been a student of Beethoven and Hummel. Paganini[edit]
Ballad Origins[edit] Ballad form[edit] The horse | fair Ann | et rode | upon | He amb | led like | the wind |, With sil | ver he | was shod | before, With burn | ing gold | behind |.[4] However, there is considerable variation on this pattern in almost every respect, including length, number of lines and rhyming scheme, making the strict definition of a ballad extremely difficult. In southern and eastern Europe, and in countries that derive their tradition from them, ballad structure differs significantly, like Spanish romanceros, which are octosyllabic and use consonance rather than rhyme.[9] Ballads usually use the common dialect of the people and are heavily influenced by the region in which they originate. Composition[edit] Transmission[edit] The transmission of ballads comprises a key stage in their re-composition. Classification[edit] European Ballads have been generally classified into three major groups: traditional, broadside and literary. Traditional ballads[edit] Broadsides[edit]
Mazurkas (Chopin) Over the years 1825–1849, Frédéric Chopin wrote at least 69 mazurkas, based on the traditional Polish dance (see mazurka): 58 have been published 45 during Chopin's lifetime, of which 41 have opus numbers13 posthumously, of which 8 have posthumous opus numbers11 further mazurkas are known whose MSS are either in private hands (2) or untraced (at least 9). The serial numbering of the 58 published mazurkas normally goes only up to 51. The remaining 7 are referred to by their key or catalogue number. His composition of these mazurkas signaled new ideas of nationalism, and influenced and inspired other composers—mostly eastern Europeans—to support their national music. Chopin based his mazurkas on the traditional Polish folk dance, also called the mazurka (or "mazur" in Polish). Chopin started composing his mazurkas in 1825, and continued composing them until 1849, the year of his death. After scholars created this myth, they furthered it through their own writings in different ways.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works.[1] He spent most of his working career outside of the United States. Life and career[edit] Gottschalk was born in New Orleans to a Jewish businessman from London and a Creole mother. Only two years later, at the age of 13, Gottschalk left the United States and sailed to Europe, as he and his father realized a classical training was required to fulfil his musical ambitions. In May 1865, he was mentioned in a San Francisco newspaper as having "travelled 95,000 miles by rail and given 1,000 concerts". Gottschalk chose to travel to South America, where he continued to give frequent concerts. Works[edit] Louis Moreau Gottschalk pictured on an 1864 Publication of The Dying Poet for piano Recordings[edit] In popular culture[edit] Author Howard Breslin wrote a historical novel about Gottschalk titled Concert Grand in 1963.[7] Notes[edit]
Through-composed Through-composed is a musical term with a variety of different meanings. Depending on the context the term can mean either music that is completely non-repetitive, music that is not interrupted by dialogue, or music that is composed in linear order. Form[edit] In general usage, a 'through-composed' work is one based on run-on movements without internal repetitions. (The distinction is especially characteristic of the literature of the art-song, where such works are contrasted with strophic settings.) Many examples of this form can be found in Schubert's "Lieder", where the words of a poem are set to music and each line is different, for example, in his Lied "Der Erlkönig" ("The Erlking"), in which the setting proceeds to a different musical arrangement for each new stanza and whenever the piece comes to each character, the character portrays its own voice register and tonality. Opera and musicals[edit] Compositional technique[edit] References[edit] ^ Jump up to: a b Webster, James (2004).
Transcendental Etudes History[edit] The Transcendental Études S. 139 are revisions of his Douze Grandes Études. This third and final version was published in 1852 and dedicated to Carl Czerny, Liszt's piano teacher, and himself a prolific composer of études. When revising the 1837 set of études, Liszt added programmatic titles in French and German to all but the Études Nos. 2 and 10. Other works with a similar title[edit] Sergei Lyapunov, 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, Op. 11 (1897–1905)Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Études transcendantes (100) (1940–44)Brian Ferneyhough, Etudes Transcendantales (1982–85) References[edit] External links[edit]