Scherzos (Chopin)
Frédéric Chopin's four scherzos (or scherzi) are single- movement pieces for solo piano, composed between 1833 and 1843. They are often linked to Chopin's four ballades, composed in roughly the same period; these works are examples of large scale autonomous musical pieces, composed within the classical framework, but surpassing previous expressive and technical limitations. Unlike the classical model, the musical form adopted by Chopin is not characterised by humour or elements of surprise, but by highly charged "gestures of despair and demonic energy". Commenting on the first scherzo, Robert Schumann wrote: "How is 'gravity' to clothe itself if 'jest' goes about in dark veils?" Niecks, Frederick (2009). ''Frédéric Chopin as a Man and Musician''. Echo Library. p. 494. (originally published in 1888). Retrieved 30 August 2010. Overview Starting in the early 1830s, after his departure from Poland, Chopin's musical style changed significantly, entering a mature period with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scherzo No 4 Op 54 E Major Frédéric Chopin
A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western world, western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a Movement (music), movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often refers to a movement that replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or string quartet. The term can also refer to a fast-moving humorous composition that may or may not be part of a larger work. Origins The Italian language, Italian word ''scherzo'' means "joke" or "jest." More rarely, the similar-meaning word ''badinerie'' (also spelled ''battinerie''; from French language, French, "jesting") has been used. Sometimes the word ''scherzando'' ("joking") is used in musical notation to indicate that a passage should be executed in a playful manner. An early use of the word ''scherzo'' in music is in light-hearted madrigals of the Baroque music#Early baroque mu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sotto Voce
''Sotto voce'' (, ; literally 'under the voice') means intentionally lowering the volume of one's voice for emphasis. The speaker gives the impression of uttering involuntarily a truth which may surprise, shock, or offend. Galileo Galilei's (probably apocryphal) utterance "" (" And yet he Earthmoves"), spoken after deciding to recant his heliocentric theory, is a legendary example of a ''sotto voce'' utterance. Uses Law In law, "sotto voce" on a transcript indicates a conversation heard below the hearing of the court reporter. Drama, literature, and rhetoric In drama, literature, and rhetoric, ''sotto voce'' is used to denote emphasis attained by lowering one's voice rather than raising it, similar to the effect provided by an aside. Also similar to an aside, ''sotto voce'' can be used to express a character's thoughts out loud. For example, in Chapter 4 of ''Jane Eyre'', Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Nicholls (; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855), commonly known as Charlo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him seven Grammy Awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon. Early life and education Vladimir Ashkenazy was born in Gorky, Soviet Union (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), to pianist and composer David Ashkenazi and to actress Yevstolia Grigorievna (born Plotnova). His father was Jewish and his mother came from a Russian Orthodox family. Ashkenazy was christened in a Russian Orthodox church. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini (5 January 1942 – 23 March 2024) was an Italian pianist and conductor. He was known for performances of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, and the Second Viennese School, among others. He championed works by contemporary composers, including Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, George Benjamin, Roberto Carnevale, Gianluca Cascioli and Bruno Maderna. Several compositions were written for him, including Luigi Nono's '' ... sofferte onde serene ...'', Giacomo Manzoni's ''Masse: omaggio a Edgard Varèse'', and Salvatore Sciarrino's Fifth Sonata. As a conductor he was instrumental in the Rossini revival at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, conducting '' La donna del lago'' from a new critical edition in 1981. He also conducted from the keyboard. Pollini was also a left-wing activist in the 1960s and 1970s, and he remained politically engaged in later life. He maintained some separation between these ideals and his music. Life and career 1942–early ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (; 5 January 1920 – 12 June 1995) was an Italian classical pianist. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. According to ''The New York Times'', he was perhaps the most reclusive, enigmatic and obsessive among the handful of the world's legendary pianists. Early life and studies Benedetti Michelangeli was born near Brescia, in Italy. His date of birth is usually given as 5 January 1920. He himself once said that he was born 'during the first hour of the morning of 6 January 1920'. His father, who was a count and a lawyer by profession, was also a musician and a composer and began teaching music to Benedetti Michelangeli before he was four years old. Benedetti Michelangeli learned to play the violin at the age of three and would later study the instrument at the Venturi Institute in Brescia before switching to piano under Dr. Paolo Chimeri, who accepted him into his class following an audition. He also studied orga ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Emil Gilels
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (19 October 191614 October 1985, born Samuil) was a Soviet pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. His sister Elizabeth, three years his junior, was a violinist. His daughter Elena became a pianist. Early life and education Gilels was born to a Jewish family on 19 October 1916 (6 October, Old Style) in Odessa (then part of the Russian Empire, and now Ukraine) to Gesya and Grigory Gilels. His father worked as a clerk in a sugar refinery. Gilels had perfect pitch, and at the age of five-and-a-half, he began lessons with , a piano pedagogue in Odessa. A quick learner, he was playing all three volumes of Loeschhorn's studies within a few months, and soon afterwards Clementi and Mozart sonatinas. Gilels later credited this strict training with Tkach for establishing the foundation of his technique. In turn, Tkach commented of Gilels, using a diminutive, "Milya Gilels possesses the abilities of one who is born solel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein Order of the British Empire, KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist."Artur Rubinstein" ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers and many regard him as one of the greatest Frédéric Chopin, Chopin interpreters of his time. He played in public for eight decades. His repertoire also included the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Schumann and more. Early life Arthur Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Walter Gieseking
Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a French-born German pianist and composer. Gieseking was renowned for his subtle touch, pedaling, and dynamic control—particularly in the music of Debussy and Ravel; he made integral recordings of all their published works which were extant during his life. He also recorded most of Mozart's solo piano works. Career Born in Lyon, France, the son of a German doctor and lepidopterist, Gieseking first started playing the piano at age four, without formal instruction. His family traveled frequently and he was privately educated. From 1911 to early 1916, he studied at the Hanover Conservatory. There his mentor was the director Karl Leimer, with whom he later coauthored a piano method. He made his first appearance as a concert pianist in 1915, but was conscripted in 1916 and spent the remainder of World War I as a regimental bandsman. His first London piano recital took place in 1923, establishing an exceptional and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alfred Cortot
Alfred Denis Cortot ( , ; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his poetic insight into Romantic piano works, particularly those of Chopin, Franck, Saint-Saëns and Schumann. For Éditions Durand, he edited editions of almost all piano music by Chopin, Liszt and Schumann. A central figure of the French musical culture in his time, he was well known for his piano trio with violinist Jacques Thibaud and cellist Pablo Casals. Biography Early life Cortot was born in Nyon, Vaud, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, to a French father and a Swiss mother. His nationality was French. His first cousin was the composer Edgard Varèse. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Émile Decombes (a student of Frédéric Chopin), and with Louis Diémer, taking a ''premier prix'' in 1896. He made his d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (November 5, 1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing. Life and early career Horowitz was born on October 1, 1903, in Kiev, then in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine).Schonberg, 1992. According to Nicolas Slonimsky, Horowitz was born in Berdichev, a city near Zhitomir in the Volhynian Governorate. However, his birth certificate states that Kiev was his birthplace. He was the youngest of four children of Samuil Horowitz and Sophia (''née'' Bodik), who were Jewish assimilation, assimilated Jews. His father was a well-to-do electrical engineer and a distributor of electric motors for German manufacturers. His grandfather Joachim was a merchant (and an arts-supporter), belonging to the First Merchant's Guild, which exempted him from having to reside in the Pale of Settlement. In order to make him appea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nohant-Vic
Nohant-Vic () is a commune in the Indre department in central France. It is located near La Châtre, on the D943, approximately southeast of Châteauroux and consists of two villages, Vic and Nohant, extended along the road. Geography The commune lies on the lower Jurassic rocks at the southern margin of the Paris Basin. Just to the south of La Châtre, some twelve kilometres south of Vic, the Variscan-faulted rocks of the Massif Central begin with Cambrian/Ordovician migmatite. It is near the southern end of the old province of Berry. Population Sights The House of George Sand is a country house dating from late eighteenth century, built for the governor of Vierzon and acquired in 1793 by Madame Dupin de Francueil, grandmother of the writer. George Sand spent her childhood and adolescence there. Most of her writing was done at the house. She received some illustrious guests including Liszt and Marie d'Agoult, Balzac, Chopin and Flaubert. Delacroix also worked at No ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Balearic Islands have been an autonomous region of Spain since 1983. There are two small islands off the coast of Mallorca: Cabrera, Balearic Islands, Cabrera (southeast of Palma) and Dragonera (west of Palma). The anthem of Mallorca is "La Balanguera". Like the other Balearic Islands of Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera, the island is a highly popular holiday destination, particularly for tourists from the Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The international airport, Palma de Mallorca Airport, is one of the busiest in Spain; it was used by 28 million passengers in 2017, with use increasing ever ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |