Classical music thread

It's been months since I wrote that comment, but I meant the atmospheric and textural aspect of progressive rock, not the structural aspect. Therefore I didn't say Wagner's music was complicated. It obviously isn't.

Turning stuff that are noticable and simple into a epic sounding, gigantic and "in your face" nature is no easy deal. To be honest, most Iron Maiden songs use the same technique. Simple stuff with correct arrangements, texture and harmony.
 
The Flash said:
Turning stuff that are noticable and simple into a epic sounding, gigantic and "in your face" nature is no easy deal. To be honest, most Iron Maiden songs use the same technique. Simple stuff with correct arrangements, texture and harmony.
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I was going to make the same point.
 
OK ENOUGH! I won't let Power Metal be trashed talked any longer! Let's just say this... at least it is no Hair Metal. Now, whether it is Classical Music or Metal every genre has it's "high" and "low" spectrum. Classical has it's geniuses and giants as well as plenty of elevator music and horrible soundtracks. Metal has its Opeths and its Quiet Riots. Power Metal may be cheesy, Power Metal may not be intellectually stimulating (to some), but I would much rather listen to cheesy songs about knights, dragons and elves that inspire and promote honor, bravery and fighting for what you believe in than "Girls, Girls, Girls" or "Round and Round."

Now, having said THAT. Not everything has to be an intellectual pursuit. I like nerding out as much as the next loser with no girlfriend living in his mother's basement working on his doctorate dissertation on the life cycle of the earthworm, BUT sometimes we just want to feel good, sometime we just want to have fun. Sometimes we just want to get drunk, sing some Karaoke and belt out "We're Not Gonna Take It," fantasizing we are in our boss' office letting them have it with Twisted Sister as your posse.

Wagner may not due it for the erudite, but he was a damn good composer who probably got more pussy than all of Motley Crue and while that may not be a measure of the quality of his work, we are debating it hundreds of years later.

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"Girls Girls Girls" is a fine song.
For a good mixture of classical music and power metal, try this:

And Perun is right -- Wagner can't hold a candle to Dvorak in terms of epic-ness and raw emotion.
 
Onhell said:
Now, having said THAT. Not everything has to be an intellectual pursuit. I like nerding out as much as the next loser with no girlfriend living in his mother's basement working on his doctorate dissertation on the life cycle of the earthworm, BUT sometimes we just want to feel good, sometime we just want to have fun. Sometime we just want to get drunk, sing some Karaoke and belt out "We're Not Gonna Take It," fantasizing we are in our bosses office letting them have with Twisted Sister as your posse.

Wagner may not due it for the erudite, but he was a damn good composer who probably got more pussy than all of Motley Crue and while that may not be a measure of the quality of his work, we are debating it hundreds of years later.

[/rant]
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This. Sometimes I just want to have fun with my music, why does it always have to be intellectual? That goes for Classical too, in fact most of it isn't as intellectual as people make it out to be anyway.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
"Girls Girls Girls" is a fine song.
For a good mixture of classical music and power metal, try this:

And Perun is right -- Wagner can't hold a candle to Dvorak in terms of epic-ness and raw emotion.
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I didn't say Perun was wrong regarding Dvorak v. Wagner. Haven't listened to enough Dvorak to form an educated opinion regarding the two. As for Blind Guardian, that song, heck, that album is a great example of a great classical/metal mix. Feels like a soundtrack. As much as I like them and that album I still prefer these two:


And

 
I've been getting into some classical music lately. I remembered my favourite composer being Vivaldi so I went the "mainstream" way and listened to his Seasons. I haven't gone far from him and need to do a lot of listening but at this moment, Winter is my favourite piece of music overall. It's ingenious and really inspiring, working on a classical piece myself now. There's a million options so I'll have to figure out where to go apart from Vivaldi.

 
When Johannes Brahms was a child, his father called him "Hannes" as a nickname. Got me thinking: if Johannes translates to English as Jonathan, then Hannes ought to be Nathan. Now I think of him as Nate Broom. Seems a little more human somehow. To a native English speaker like me, at least.

Here's my favorite Brahms piece. Reasonably metal for 1875.


Some other English names:
Sebastian Brook (J.S. Bach, who in daily life used his middle name, not Johann)
Lou Bitecourts (L. v. Beethoven, whose ancestry is Flemish and name derives from Dutch)
Frank Flour (F. Liszt)
Joe Green (G. Verdi)
Jake Reddy (G. Rossini)

According to Google translate, German "schu" = English "scatterbrained". Now we know why Robert Schumann went batshit crazy.
 
SinisterMinisterX said:
When Johannes Brahms was a child, his father called him "Hannes" as a nickname. Got me thinking: if Johannes translates to English as Jonathan, then Hannes ought to be Nathan. Now I think of him as Nate Broom. Seems a little more human somehow. To a native English speaker like me, at least.
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Hm, actually "Johannes" just translates into English as "John".
 
After a bit more research, it seems Lou Bettincourt is the proper English name for Beethoven. Given his Flemish ancestry, it's likely his family was named after this place.

Dammit, I was trying to post a silly joke and I wound up learning something anyways...

Edit: Natalie found this. The lofty Amadeus is actually just Wolf Foolhard.
 
The Beethoven piece with which I started this thread has a new animated video:


This video is great for understanding how Beethoven built the piece. The instruments are color-coded: orange for 1st violin, red for 2nd violin, green for viola, blue for cello. The shapes of the notes indicate thematic function. Big ovals are the main theme. Blurry dots are the first counter-theme. Connected pairs of dots are the second counter-theme. Everything else is a rectangle, and is derived from the themes.

In fact, this video only scratches the surface. Both counter-themes, and thus every note you hear is derived from the first four notes of the main theme. Just like the famous opening movement of the Fifth Symphony.

This piece (1825) was literally a century ahead of its time. Beethoven's contemporaries thought the piece was trash, mere proof that Louis was deaf. Since about the start of the 20th century, it's been recognized as one of LvB's greatest works.
 
Playing some classical on shuffle, and I ran across the string quartet from the Avengers scene where Loki puts on his show in Germany. In case anybody is wondering, that piece is Franz Schubert's "Rosamunde" Quartet, first movement.

 
The Baltimore Symphony website has put together all the data about what the major American orchestras are playing this season.

They're releasing the findings over a few weeks. Here's the summary so far:

  • Collectively, the 21 orchestras will perform more than 1,000 different pieces in part or full by 286 different composers a total of almost 4,600 times.
  • 9.5% of all pieces performed are written since the year 2000.
  • The average date of composition of a piece performed during the year is 1886.
  • A little more than 11% of the works performed are from composers who are still living.
  • Female composers account for only 1.8% of the works performed. When only looking at works from living composers, they account for 14.8%
  • German composers account for more than 23% of the total pieces performed, followed by Russians (19%) and Austrians (14% — in large part due to Mozart).
  • American composers made up less than 11% of the pieces performed. When looking at only works by living composers, however, they account for more than 54%
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Beethoven and Mozart dominate the most popular composer list as usual. If you attend any random concert by a major American orchestra this season, you have a 1 in 8 chance of seeing either a Beethoven or Mozart performance.

Someone on reddit went through the data and found that most of the pieces by living composers are new works this year written on commission. There are only 12 pieces written since 1975 that are being played by two or more different orchestras.
 
Soon to be a lost art:

There's no notation that can't be done on computer, so once the old engravers die off this will be a lost art.

Related tidbit: the origin of "score" as meaning "printed music" comes from engraving. The first thing you do is you score the lead plate with a 5-pointed tool to make the staff.
 
Onhell said:
Wagner may not due it for the erudite, but he was a damn good composer who probably got more pussy than all of Motley Crue
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Looking up at other stuff in this thread, I saw this and... first, no. Wagner got his share, but you're talking about the fucking Crue.

More interesting, Wagner's sex life is actually a big part of origin of the phrase "the three B's: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms."

The phrase was coined by another B, Hans von Bulow. He was the most famous and influential conductor in Europe in the second half of the 1800s. For instance, he was the guy who started conducting everything from memory (no score or even podium), and he made that the expectation for all other top-level conductors to this day. He loved being famous, and liked to have witty answers for every question. So when someone asked his favorite composers, he would say: "The three B's of course: Bach, Beethoven and Berlioz".

Hector Berlioz got famous about 20 years before Johannes Brahms, and that's when the phrase originated; in 1850, those were the three big B's. But Hans didn't change right away when Brahms became a big name. By that time, von Bulow was working on a 5-year partnership with Wagner, premiering operas like Tristan und Isolde and Tannhauser. During these 5 years, Wagner had an affair with von Bulow's wife Cosima (herself the daughter of Franz Listz, mentor to both von Bulow and Wagner). By the end of the 5 years, everyone in Europe knew about the affair except Hans.

Finally, von Bulow found out he was the most famous cuckold in Europe and things blew up. He divorced Cosima, who married Richard and has been known to history as Cosima Wagner. Hans moved back to Vienna and began hanging out with Brahms.

European music politics at the time: Wagner and Brahms were taken by most as rivals, the leaders of the "progressive" and "conservative" schools. It was like Mets and Yankees for a New Yorker - you couldn't be a fan of both. When von Bulow became Brahm's best friend, everyone in Europe got the subtext. And when von Bulow changed to saying "Bach, Beethoven and Brahms", everyone at the time knew it (at least in part) meant "Bach, Beethoven and Fuck Wagner".
 
@SinisterMinisterX

I just listened to the Jaws theme and it reminded me of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring". Do you know of any connection or inspiration between the two? Not very familiar with composers of the 20th century...

 
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