Opera/Ballet/Play Fans?

[HillBilly]

oh, decifering of note:

Hi, you square eyes,
Turn this shi t off &
listen to something Digital
sound on the net is shi t. OFFICIALLY

[Sarah]

That's cool, do you listen to the bagpipes as well?

[HillBilly]

me? damn straight I do

[Sarah]

Awesome! So, do you enjoy operas and such as previously mentioned?

(wow.. I hijacked my own thread... hehehe)

[cornflower]

I love ballet. I took ballet for 7 years and really enjoyed it! I'd go to the ballet frequently if I could.

[Sarah]

I ued to take ballet when I was really little, and now I'm taking it again.. I've caught that dancing bug. Highland, tango and ballet, Here I come!

[Sarah]

Nusy, you like Rammstein too!!!!!? Awesome!

Du...
Du hasse
Du hasse
Du hasse mich
Du hasse mich
Du hasse mich berjic-something... hehehe

[Agent_V]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

It may be perfectly splendid from an academic standpoint. It may hew beautifully to some recondite rules of composition. But it simply cannot be listened to as music. It's ivory tower rubbish and little more.

"The emperor has no clothes."

the word "peasant" springs instantly to mind...

you show your ignorance pretty damn well. None of the composers I mentioned thought anything of abstruse rules of composition, they were considered (quite rightly) to be hindrinces to musical expression.
In fact, all the well-known composers today broke the musical rules of their times. People think of brahms and beethoven as great romantic composers, yet in some of their most beautiful chord progressions one can recognize elements of dissonence making an appearance.

Certainly some of the more strange-sounding modern works have been created to test an abstruse musical idea, leaving us with something very difficult to listen to, if theoretically brilliant. However, most composition is done through the musical intuition of the composer: if it sounds good, it is good. If the composer's idea cannot be formulated under the existing "regime" of musical ideas, the composer breaks those rules and sometimes along the way formulates his/her own new idea as a theory to explain what is going on with the piece. A great example of this is exemplified with Shoenberg developing his 12-tone system. Listen to Verklärte Nacht, which is a quite accessible piece (comparatively). While many of his later compositions (eg his violin concerto) carry the 12-tone idea much further, which challenge our inherited classical and romantic assumptions about music even futher and thus sound to you upon first listening as "ivory tower nonsense", to dismiss them as such is a wonderful exercise in close-mindedness.

Alexander

[Agent_V]

Originally Posted by Nusy

Wow... You like Bartók? Do you know the Castle of the Bluebearded Prince? I really like it!

hmm, I've heard good things about that piece before too, but haven't had the chance to hear it yet.

My favorite Bartok consists of his 2 violin concertos, all 6 string quartets, concerto for orchestra (a very accessible piece), piano concerto no 1, two portraits and the miraculous manderin suite.

I don't know too much about opera, I've heard Aida, magic flute and butterfly, how are the others on your list? Are they more in the classical/romantic style, or more like the crazy Berg opera?
Carmen used to be my fav, until I heard La Traviata. Absolutely heart-rending...

Alexander

[Agent_V]

Originally Posted by telkanuru

Then I suggest you listen to the "Rite of Spring" or "The Firebird Suite" by Igor Stravinsky. They are my two favourite pieces, and I'll be damned if you could keep musical time to either. Very good for footwork practice

And to note, Gilbert and Sullivan wrote Operettas, not musicals.

heh, just try playing the rite of spring
most required-concentration-intensive piece ever...

[Iwant2bafencer]

DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT
DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT UND ICH HAB NICHTS GESAGT

[Iwant2bafencer]

Yeah I dunno why that's in caps or a different font. Odd. *shrug*

[Sarah]

That's such a great song... *sigh*

[Epictetus]

Originally Posted by Agent_V

In fact, all the well-known composers today broke the musical rules of their times. People think of brahms and beethoven as great romantic composers, yet in some of their most beautiful chord progressions one can recognize elements of dissonence making an appearance.

Not entirely true. Mozart, more than any other composer, is known for his unbelieveable ability to follow the "rules" of music and create something amazing out of them. There is an anecdote, I don't know if it's true or not, that when he was very young, Mozart's father took him to a piano concert. Mozart was so impressed with the work, that when he returned home, he copied it down verbatim onto sheet music, having only heard it once. However, he corrected all the "mistakes" of the original composer, to make it work better.

I don't know about all that, but from personal experience, playing music, discordant chords can sound amazing if they are done right. Much like so called "modern art", there is so much modern classical music, that it is hard to find the gems in it. They are there, however, if you look for them.

But, back to the topic at hand. Plays, opera, and especially music are near and dear to me. I play trombone, both in the school Jazz Band and Orchestra, so much of what I enjoy is based on what I have played.

Mozart's Requiem: Simply the best expression of the fear and hope that is so central to the human condition as we look to what comes after this life.

Giovanni Gabrieli: The organ master at St. Marc's cathedral in Venice in the early 1600s. Pioneered the "anitphonal" style of brass composition. One brass choir would be in one of the wings, the other on the other side. A theme would start on one side, then echo back and forth between the two. Early surround sound.

Sibelious Finlandia: Perhaps because it was once made into what I would consider the most beautiful hymn ever written (bring me to tears every time), but this has to be at the top of any list. The words that were eventually put to the closing hymn are the perfect expression of how I feel about the world.
"This is My Song" Hymn
Gotta love being Unitarian.

Looking back on the list, I just noticed that all the music I listed is religious in some way. Why is it that often the most beautiful music so often comes from spiritual sources?

[pacer]

I studied the violin for years and played in several non-professional symphonies. Still enjoy going to concerts and I'd really like to try conducting some time.
Also enjoy the ballet, especially some of the newer ones - I'll be going to see the Colorado ballet's production of Dracula againg this year. It's strangely creepy and scary, not only because of the dancing but because of the great lighting and set design.

[Sarah]

ooh, I want to see that! ... I will be searching... Dracula, be wary!

[telkanuru]

I should note I have my limits. There was a performance of the entire Ring Cycle that I quite deliberately skipped out on this year in Boston.

[HillBilly]

Originally Posted by Agent_V

In fact, all the well-known composers today broke the musical rules of their times. People think of brahms and beethoven as great romantic composers, yet in some of their most beautiful chord progressions one can recognize elements of dissonence making an appearance.

[snipped]

Alexander

I agree whole-hertedly with Mr V-Rodes, here. I ... don't agree ( ) with most modern composer's sense of chord progressions, but when one sees through the dissonance into the juicy heart of it... It sounds alright.

Bach was considered a rebel for his musical writings, was he not? Perhaps I have the wrong guy again...

[latenight]

One of my favorites.

Get the live from berlin DVD. It's awesome to see, they put on an incredible show.

[Louweasel]

Originally Posted by HillBilly

Bach was considered a rebel for his musical writings, was he not? Perhaps I have the wrong guy again...

No, you are right HillBilly. Bach broke some rules - the one I can think of is *drags mind back to A-level* that when learning the strict rules of harmony structure, you are taught that if you use the seventh note of the scale as the penultimate note in a phrase, you should always go on to the tonic to finish the phrase. Bach often broke this rule. And if we're talking discordant notes, the very first two notes (the second comes in overthe first in a different part) of the first chorus in his famous St John Passion are a clash - the interval is a major second.

Interestingly enough, seventies pop group ABBA (ask your mum and dad HillBilly!) often used near-perfect Bach-era harmony in their songs. If you were given the melody of "Lay all your love on me" for your A-level music harmony and counterpoint paper, and you harmonized it in the same way ABBA did, you would get very good marks. So, whilst rule breaking and trying new things is essential to musical development, old methods can still work...

Back to topic. I played the cello from the age of 6 tothe age of 22 (I occasionally pick it up now but I don't play regularly) and have sung in choirs since I was little as well - still do. Consequently I would be here all night if I started listing pieces, but some of my favourite composers, the ones that spring to mind anyway, are:

Bach
Mussorgsky
Parry
Mozart
Fauré
Rachmaninov
Bizet
Stanford
Vaughn-Williams
Writers of Elizabethan madrigals such as Morley etc.

This si getting long so I'll be back tomorrow to talk about ballet/plays.