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Sinfonia
Sinfonia (; plural ''sinfonie'') is the Italian word for symphony, from the Latin ''symphonia'', in turn derived from Ancient Greek συμφωνία ''symphōnia'' (agreement or concord of sound), from the prefix σύν (together) and ϕωνή (sound). In English it most commonly refers to a 17th- or 18th-century orchestral piece used as an introduction, interlude, or postlude to an opera, oratorio, cantata, or suite (, who gives the origin of the word as Italian) . The word is also found in other Romance languages such as Spanish or Portuguese. In the Middle Ages down to as late as 1588, it was also the Italian name for the hurdy-gurdy . Johann Sebastian Bach used the term for his keyboard compositions also known as '' Three-part Inventions'', and after about 1800, the term, when in reference to opera, meant "Overture" . In George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah (HWV 56), "Overture to the Messiah" ( French Overture in E minor) was originally titled "Sinfony". In the 20th and ...
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Northern Sinfonia
Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. Since 2004, the orchestra has been resident at Sage Gateshead. In June 2013 Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the title 'Royal' on the orchestra, formally naming it the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Description Michael Hall (1932–2012) founded the ensemble in 1958 as the first permanent professional resident chamber orchestra in Britain outside London. The ensemble gave its first concert on 24 September 1958 as the 'Sinfonia Orchestra', at the City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne, and gave six concerts in its first season, 1958–1959.Griffiths, Bill, ''Northern Sinfonia''. Northumbria University Press, p. 3 (). Hall acted as the organization's single leader, in effect as "general manager, secretary, artistic director, conductor and fund-raiser", though without a f ...
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Inventions And Sinfonias (Bach)
The Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772–801, also known as the Two- and Three-Part Inventions, are a collection of thirty short keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): 15 '' inventions'', which are two-part contrapuntal pieces, and 15 ''sinfonias'', which are three-part contrapuntal pieces. They were originally written as "''Praeambula''" and "''Fantasiae''" in the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, a ''Clavier-booklet'' for his eldest son, and later rewritten as musical exercises for his students. Bach titled the collection: Forthright instruction, wherewith lovers of the clavier, especially those desirous of learning, are shown in a clear way not only 1) to learn to play two voices clearly, but also after further progress 2) to deal correctly and well with three obbligato parts, moreover at the same time to obtain not only good ideas, but also to carry them out well, but most of all to achieve a ''cantabile'' style of playing, and thereby to ac ...
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BWV 1046a
The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1046–1051), are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, MacDonogh, Giles. ''Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters''. St. Martin's Griffin. New York. 2001. in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). The original French title is ''Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments,'' meaning "Six Concertos for several instruments". Some of them feature several solo instruments in combination. They are widely regarded as some of the best orchestral compositions of the Baroque era. History In 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach compiled a collection of six concertos and presented it to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, titled ''Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments'' (Six Concertos for several instruments).Johann Sebastian Bach's Werke, vol. 19: Kammermusik, dritter band, Bach-Gesellschaft, Leipzig; ed. Wilhelm Rust, 1871 Bach wrote out th ...
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Wir Danken Dir, Gott, Wir Danken Dir, BWV 29
(We thank you, God, we thank you), 29, is a sacred cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig in 1731 for , the annual inauguration of a new town council, and first performed it on 27 August of that year. The cantata was part of a festive service in the . The cantata text by an unknown author includes in movement 2 the beginning of Psalm 75, and as the closing chorale the fifth stanza of Johann Gramann's "". Bach scored the work in eight movements for four vocal parts and a festive Baroque orchestra of three trumpets, timpani, two oboes, strings, an obbligato organ and basso continuo. The organ dominates the first movement ''Sinfonia'' which Bach derived from a ''Partita'' for violin. The full orchestra accompanies the first choral movement and plays with the voices in the closing chorale, while a sequence of three arias alternating with two recitatives is scored intimately. Bach used the music from the choral movement for both the and of his Mass in B minor. ...
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Geist Und Seele Wird Verwirret, BWV 35
(Spirit and soul become confused), 35, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the solo cantata for alto voice in Leipzig for the twelfth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 8 September 1726. Bach composed the cantata in his fourth year as ''Thomaskantor'' (musical director) in Leipzig. The text is based on the day's prescribed reading from the Gospel of Mark, the healing of a deaf mute man. The librettist is Georg Christian Lehms, whose poetry Bach had used already in Weimar as the basis for solo cantatas. The text quotes ideas from the gospel and derives from these the analogy that as the tongue of the deaf mute man was opened, the believer should be open to admire God's miraculous deeds. The cantatas for this Sunday have a positive character, which Bach stressed in earlier works for the occasion by including trumpets in the score. In this work, he uses instead an obbligato solo organ in several movements. The cantata is structured in seven movem ...
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard works such as the '' Goldberg Variations'' and '' The Well-Tempered Clavier''; organ works such as the '' Schubler Chorales'' and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and vocal music such as the '' St Matthew Passion'' and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. The Bach family already counted several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician in Eisenach. After being orphaned at the age of 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother Johann Christoph, after which he continued his musical education in Lüneburg. From 1703 he was back in Thuringia, working as a musician for Protest ...
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Overture
Overture (from French language, French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn, Mendelssohn composed overtures which were independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that foreshadowed genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme". History 17th century The idea of an instrumental opening to opera existed during the 17th century. Jacopo Peri, Peri's ''Euridice (Peri), Euridice'' opens with a brief instrumental ritornello, and Claudio Monteverdi, Monteverdi's ''L'Orfeo'' (1607) opens with a toccata, in this case a fanfare for muted trumpets. More important, however, was the prologue, which comprised sung dialogue between Allegory, allegorical characters which introduced the overarching themes of the sto ...
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Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12
(Weeping, lamenting, worrying, fearing), 12, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for Jubilate, the third Sunday after Easter, and led the first performance on 22 April 1714 in the , the court chapel of the '' Schloss'' in Weimar. Bach was appointed in Weimar in the spring of 1714, a position that called for the performance of a church cantata each month. He composed ''Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen'' as the second cantata in the series, on a text probably written by court poet Salomon Franck. The work is structured in seven movements, an instrumental '' Sinfonia'', a choral passacaglia, a recitative on a Bible quotation, three arias and, as the closing chorale, the last stanza from Samuel Rodigast's hymn "" (1674). The cantata is scored for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, trumpet, oboe, bassoon, two violins, two violas, and basso continuo. Bach performed the cantata again in his first year as ''Thomaskantor'' – director of c ...
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Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). Etymology and origins The word ''symphony'' is derived from the Greek word (), meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "co ...
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Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as '' Singspiel'' and '' Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two st ...
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Ich Hatte Viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (I had much grief), 21 in Weimar, possibly in 1713, partly even earlier. He used it in 1714 and later for the third Sunday after Trinity of the liturgical year. The work marks a transition between motet style on biblical and hymn text to operatic recitatives and arias on contemporary poetry. Bach catalogued the work as (and for all times), indicating that due to its general theme, the cantata is suited for any occasion. The text is probably written by the court poet Salomon Franck, who includes four biblical quotations from three psalms and from the Book of Revelation, and juxtaposes in one movement biblical text with two stanzas from Georg Neumark's hymn " Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten". The cantata possibly began as a work of dialogue and four motets on biblical verses. When Bach performed the cantata again in Leipzig in 1723, it was structured in eleven movements, including an opening sinfonia and additional recit ...
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Christ Lag In Todes Banden, BWV 4
(also spelled ; "Christ lay in death's bonds" or "Christ lay in the snares of death"), 4, is a cantata for Easter by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, one of his earliest church cantatas. It is agreed to be an early work partly for stylistic reasons and partly because there is evidence that it was probably written for a performance in 1707. Bach went on to complete many other works in the same genre, contributing complete cantata cycles for all occasions of the liturgical year. John Eliot Gardiner described it as Bach's "first-known attempt at painting narrative in music". is a chorale cantata, a style in which both text and music are based on a hymn. In this instance, the source was Martin Luther's hymn of the same name, the main hymn for Easter in the Lutheran church. The composition is based on the seven stanzas of the hymn and its tune, which was derived from Medieval models. Bach used the unchanged words of a stanza of the chorale in each of the seven vocal movem ...
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