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Symphony No. 13 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 13 in B-flat minor, Op. 113 for bass soloist, bass chorus, and large orchestra was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1962. It consists of five movements, each a setting of a Yevgeny Yevtushenko poem that describes aspects of Soviet history and life. Although the symphony is commonly referred to by the nickname ''Babi Yar'', no such subtitle is designated in Shostakovich's manuscript score. The symphony was completed on July 20, 1962, and first performed in Moscow on December 18 of that year. Kirill Kondrashin conducted the premiere after Yevgeny Mravinsky declined the assignment. Vitaly Gromadsky sang the solo part alongside the basses of the and the Moscow Philharmonic. Movements The symphony consists of five movements. :: In this movement, Shostakovich and Yevtushenko transform the 1941 massacre by Nazis of Jews at Babi Yar, near Kiev, into a denunciation of anti-Semitism in all its forms. (Although a monument was not erected at Babi Yar by the Soviet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostakovich achieved early fame in the Soviet Union, but had a complex relationship with its government. His 1934 opera '' Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'' was initially a success but later condemned by the Soviet government, putting his career at risk. In 1948, his work was denounced under the Zhdanov Doctrine, with professional consequences lasting several years. Even after his censure was rescinded in 1956, performances of his music were occasionally subject to state interventions, as with his Thirteenth Symphony (1962). Nevertheless, Shostakovich was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death), as well as chairman of the RSFSR Union of Composers (1960–1968). Over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Frank's last months". AnneFrank.org, 31 March 2015 was a German-born Jewish girl who gained worldwide fame posthumously for keeping a diary documenting her life in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. In the diary, she regularly described her family's everyday life in their hiding place in an Amsterdam attic from 1942 until their arrest in 1944. Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1929. In 1934, when she was four and a half, Frank and her family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands after Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party gained control over Nazi Germany, Germany. By May 1940, the family was trapped in Amsterdam by the Reichskommissariat Niederlande, German occupation of the Netherlands. Frank lost her G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B or C trumpet. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to the 2nd Millenium BC. They began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, appearing in orchestras, concert bands, chamber music groups, and jazz ensembles. They are also common in popular music and are generally included in school bands. Sound is produced by vibrating the lips in a mouthpiece, which starts a standing wave in the air column of the instrument. Since the late 15th century, trumpets have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bassoon
The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity. It is a non-transposing instrument and typically its music is written in the bass and tenor clefs, and sometimes in the treble. There are two forms of modern bassoon: the Buffet (or French) and Heckel (or German) systems. It is typically played while sitting using a seat strap, but can be played while standing if the player has a harness to hold the instrument. Sound is produced by rolling both lips over the reed and blowing direct air pressure to cause the reed to vibrate. Its fingering system can be quite complex when compared to those of other instruments. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band, and chamber music literature, and is occasionally heard in pop, rock, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedal Point
In music, a pedal point (also pedal note, organ point, pedal tone, or pedal) is a sustained Musical note, tone, typically in the bass note, bass, during which at least one foreign (i.e. consonance and dissonance, dissonant) harmony is sounded in the other part (music), parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a "non-chord tone", placing it in the categories alongside Suspension (music), suspensions, Suspension (music), retardations, and passing tones. However, the pedal point is unique among non-chord tones, "in that it begins on a consonance, sustains (or repetition (music), repeats) through another chord as a dissonance until the harmony", not the non-chord tone, "resolves back to a consonance".Frank, Robert J. (2000)"Non-Chord Tones" , ''Theory on the Web'', Southern Methodist University. Pedal points "have a strong tonal effect, 'pulling' the harmony back to its root (chord), root". Pedal points can also build drama or intensity and expectation. When a pedal point occurs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B♭ (musical Note)
B (B-flat), or, in some European countries, B, is the eleventh step of the Western chromatic scale (starting from C (musical note), C). It lies a diatonic semitone above A (musical note), A and a chromatic semitone below B (musical note), B, thus being enharmonic to A♯ (musical note), A, even though in some musical tunings, B will have a different sounding pitch than A. B-flat is also enharmonic to C (C-double flat). When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A (musical note), A above middle C as 440 hertz, Hz, the frequency of the B above middle C is approximately 466.164 Hz. See pitch (music), musical pitch for a discussion of historical variations in frequency. While orchestras tune to an A provided by the oboe, oboist, wind ensembles usually tune to a B-flat. In Germany, Russia, Poland, Scandinavia and Slovakia this pitch is designated B, with 'H' used to designate the B-Natural (music), natural. Since the 1990s, B-flat is often denoted Bb or "Bess" instead o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agitprop
Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literature, plays, pamphlets, films, and other art forms, with an explicitly political message in favor of communism. The term originated in the Soviet Union as a shortened name for the Department for Agitation and Propaganda (, '), which was part of the central and regional committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Within the party apparatus, both agitation (work among people who were not Communists) and propaganda (political work among party members) were the responsibility of the ''agitpropotdel'', or APPO. Its head was a member of the MK secretariat, although they ranked second to the head of the ''orgraspredotdel''. Typically Russian agitprop explained the ideology and policies of the Communist Party and attempted to persuade th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Largo (music)
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmosphere. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often using conventional Italian terms) and, if a specific metrical pace is desired, is usually measured in beats per minute (bpm or BPM). In modern classical compositions, a " metronome mark" in beats per minute, indicating only measured speed and not any form of expression, may supplement or replace the normal tempo marking, while in modern genres like electronic dance music, tempo will typically simply be stated in bpm. Tempo (the underlying pulse of the music) is one of the three factors that give a piece of music its texture. The others are meter, which is indicated by a time signature, and articulation, which determines how each n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plagal Cadence
In Western musical theory, a cadence () is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (1999). ''The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', pp. 105-106. . A harmonic cadence is a progression of two or more chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music. A rhythmic cadence is a characteristic rhythmic pattern that indicates the end of a phrase. A cadence can be labeled "weak" or "strong" depending on the impression of finality it gives. While cadences are usually classified by specific chord or melodic progressions, the use of such progressions does not necessarily constitute a cadence—there must be a sense of closure, as at the end of a phrase. Harmonic rhythm plays an important part in determining where a cadence occurs. The word "cadence" sometimes slightly shifts its meaning depending on the context; for example, it can be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects."Burlesque" ''Oxford English Dictionary'', , accessed 16 February 2011 The word is loaned from French and derives from the Italian ', which, in turn, is derived from the Italian ' – a joke, ridicule or mockery. Burlesque overlaps with , and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the Modernism (music), modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi Germany, Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. Born in Kingdom of Bohemia, Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire) to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the University of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamie Macpherson
James Macpherson (–1700) was a Scottish outlaw, famed for his lament before execution. He grew up a talented swordsman and fiddle player, then became leader of a gang of robbers. He was arrested in Keith and died in Banff. The lament was rewritten by Robert Burns as ''McPherson's Farewell''. Early life James Macpherson was born the illegitimate son of a Clan Macpherson laird from Invereshie, Inverness-shire and a woman who was either Romani or a Traveller. He was brought up at Invereshie House then after his father died prematurely, he lived with his itinerant mother. Outlaw MacPherson grew up a talented swordsman and fiddle player, who formed a gang which robbed the rich lairds of the Province of Moray and gave to the poor, making him a Robin Hood figure. The Parliament of Scotland had made it illegal to be or suspected of being Romani with the Gypsies Act 1609, so Macpherson lived as a criminal as soon as he joined his mother and furthermore he had angered a local land ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
