Gustav Mahler Essay

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 at the Berlin Philharmonie, gifted the audience with a masterful rendition of the movements within the symphony. The Symphony divides into three separate parts, in which the movements complement each other's characteristics. The symphony orchestra features a myriad of orchestral instruments featuring the Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, and Percussion families. Furthermore, the various movements throughout the performance utilize various musical concepts that bring the music to life. Albeit, the complexity of Mahler’s symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed superbly throughout the performance.

On his return to Hamburg he ventured, on 21st September 1848, to give a concert on his own account for the first time. The programmed included the adagio and tondo from a concerto by Rosenhain, Dohler?s fantasy on William tell, a serenade for the left hand alone by his master, Marxsen, a study by the fashionable Henri Herz, a Bach fugue, and his own Variations on a Folksong. He early showed as love for the folksong of his fatherland, which he used as themes for some remarkable variations a musical form, by the

Franz Marc was a German artist and printmaker, and also one of the key statistics of the German Expressionist movement. Franz Marc was born in February 8, 1880 in Munich and past away in March 4, 1916, eventually Marc was only 36 years old. Wilhelm, the father, was an expert landscape painter; his mother, Sophie, was a strict Calvinist. Marc began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in 1900. In 1903 and 1907, he spent time in France, intensely in Paris, visiting the city’s museums and copying many paintings, a conventional way for artists to study and improve technique.

5. Smart, Mary Ann. Mimomania : music and gesture in nineteenth-century opera. Berkeley : University of California Press, 2004.

The second concert I attended was performed by the Richardson Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra performed “Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582” by Bach, which is part of the Baroque era. The string instruments of the orchestra performed with the hair of the bow, in other words, arco (7). By using lots of motion or most commonly known as mosso (8), the orchestra increased the tension of the piece. The orchestra played at a pretty fast tempo (9), probably allegro. The piece had a distinct part where the harp played. The ensemble was large, in order to attain the full sound of the piece. The instruments played in the orchestra did not comply with the typical orchestras of the Baroque era because it did not have a distinct part where were the main instruments were the piano and the bass, or more commonly known as basso continuo (10).

In any musical drama, be it opera, oratorio, or even musical theatre, it is possible for a composer to convey the personality of their characters through compositional and musical techniques. Doing so heightens the audience’s understanding of the characters, their motivations, and the relationships between them. Monteverdi, as a pioneer of opera, was one of the first to capitalize on this opportunity to heighten the audience’s understanding of the characters. This is highly apparent in his last opera, L’Incoronazione di Poppea. The music for two of the characters, Poppea and Nerone, is especially well composed to demonstrate personality, and this is no more apparent than in the dialogue which introduces the audience to them, Signor, deh

This was evidently appreciated by the audience as it permitted them to understand the background of the piece better. Correspondingly, being that there wasn’t a conductor, the body language was interesting to watch, as the performers organized and timed themselves accordingly. I found that the passion in the duo was more prominent than in past concerts. You could see this reflect on the audience as after the end of every piece, the audience couldn’t help but burst into applause as the passion and exhilaration built up till the very end of the pieces. Moreover, the pieces that where performed felt more intriguing using a wider range of music styles, from jazz to classical waltz. Therefore, the pieces ranged in dynamics, tone and mood evoking many more moods and

Also he had composed keyboard pieces, oratorios, symphonies, and operas. He performed his first major opera when he was fourteen it was staged in Milan in 1770 the style of the opera was opera seria, Mitriade.

Aside from that, nationalism could be shown in the works of these composers, yearning for unification of their motherlands. Both librettist and composers sought to include elements that could entertain all possible listeners. By the late nineteenth century, the standard opera repertory came to light and newly composed operas were less frequently staged. Over the time, the opera works that survived have become associated with high culture and had set a mark in the world of western music.

He removed the overuse of da capo aria or the showing off desire of the singer; he also broke down the contrast of the recitative and aria and gave his opera more dramatic relevance than had been the case in opera seria:

German composer and pianist, Ludwig van Beethoven, was born December 1770 and spent most of his life in Vienna, Austria. His first teacher was his alcoholic father, who worked as a musician at the Court of Bonn. Teaching him day and night, Ludwig suffered from his father's harsh and erratic behavior. For a time, he and his father played at the Church. As his father's alcoholism increased, Ludwig became the main musician.

Felix Mendelssohn is a well-known German composer, pianist and organist of the early Romantic Era. At a very young age, Felix Mendelssohn quickly established himself as a musical prodigy and is now studied by people across the world. What many do not know is that Felix had an older sister who was also a musical prodigy; however, unfortunately, she does not get the same credit as her older brother. Due to the gender politics of this time, women who performed after the age of one who should be married were looked at negatively in society. Women were meant to serve their husbands and take care of the children, not to compose or perform at musical venues. Pieces from both Songs without Words composed by Felix Mendelssohn and Das Jahr composed by Fanny Mendelssohn have so many similarities. When taking a closer look at Felix’s compositional work, it is sometimes indistinguishable to the works of Fanny.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was one of the greatest opera writers of all time. He helped to take opera to a whole new level from even Verdi and Puccini. Some say that Wagner was very egotistic, however; “his extreme egotism rested on conviction, Wagner had the ability to do great things” (Colles 207). He was extraordinary at composing music as well as formulating words. He was not a prodigy however his musical skills surpassed many other composers from his time period.

Mahler was born in Kalischt, Bohemia, on July 7, 1860. At the time, Bohemia (later to form a major component of Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic) was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, then enduring its final crumbling decades, and the region where Mahler spent his youth was strongly associate with the Czech independence movement. However, Mahler also was a Jew, and Jews in the region were associated by ethnic Czechs with Germans. Mahler famous quote is: "I am thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed." Then add to that the fact that the public considered Mahler to be a gifted conductor with a habit of

The first roots of modern opera first appeared in Italy in the 17th century from the Camerata (an academy of Florentine poets, musicians, and scholars). The Camerata, inspired by ancient Greek drama, sung dialogues and choruses which were accompanied by musical instruments. The Camerata developed the “stile recitative,” in order to integrate drama, action, dialogue and narration. In this “sung speech,” a singer delivered a recitative melody with an actor’s dramatic and oratorical skills, achieving the goal of providing