Influential Russian Composers: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The first of Igor Stravinsky's three famous early ballets, The Firebird is the most traditional and derivative. While The Firebird, similar to Petrushka and The Rite Of Spring, is unquestionably one of Stravinsky's masterpieces, if considered strictly historically it can be, with some justice, viewed as warmed-over Rimsky-Korsakov (the device of contrasting a folkloristic, diatonic style representing human characters, with a highly chromatic style reserved for depicting the supernatural had its most conspicuous use in Rimsky's

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky is the author of six symphonies and the finest and most popular operas in the Russian repertory. Tchaikovsky was also one of the founders of the school of Russian music. He was a brilliant composer with a creative imagination that helped his career throughout many years. He was completely attached to his art. His life and art were inseparably woven together. "I literally cannot live without working," Tchaikovsky once wrote, "for as soon as one piece of work is finished and one would wish to relax, I desire to tackle some new work without delay." The purpose of this paper is to give you a background concerning Tchaikovsky's biography, as well as to discuss his various works of

George Gershwin is one of the greatest influences to American music in the 20th century. His compositions can be found throughout the entertainment world, ranging from Broadway to motion pictures. Though he had a short career, George Gershwin's music continues to bring inspiration and delight almost sixty years later.

Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring “ are two of the most influential ballets to ever be recorded. Their ballets have been played and duplicated for many years. I will start this paper with a summary of each composer which will include where they are from culturally, geographically and musically. Then I talk about each ballet. Where it was written, the story behind each piece, and its reception now and its reception at the time it was published. I will also include the popularity of each ballet in other forms such as Disney. Finally, I will provide a detailed concert report of each ballet.

Over the course of history, the arts have played an important role in aspects of people’s lives. More specifically, music is something that has been around for centuries and will continue to play a part in shaping people into who they are. There have been numerous talented composers in America, but some worth mentioning are Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin.

Born Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich on the 25th September, 1906, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the composer began his descent into classical music at the age of 9, before later moving on to study at the Petrograd conservatory. Throughout his life he compiled 15 symphonies, 15 string quartets and 36 film scores as well as many other compositions. Within his musical work and the course of his career Shostakovich managed to both adhere to traditions set within classical music as well as dissent from them, I will be exploring these.

	For the next few years, Stravinsky and Diaghilev worked very closely together. Diaghilev wanted all of Stravinsky’s new works to be produced by his company. Stravinsky's next two works for the ballet, Petrouchka (1910-11) and The Rite of Spring (1912-13) are perfectly crafted, powerful pieces, drawing on Stravinsky's rhythmic and harmonic imagination. The most amazing part is that Stravinsky had not even reached middle age at the time he composed these pieces. The Rite of Spring created a violent reaction because no one had ever heard music that carried this much premature power. It was almost as though there was a sense of jealousy from his colleagues. The entire musical establishment criticized stravinsky, but he didn’t really seem to care.

Once being presented with this opportunity to write this paper I found it as a wonderful opportunity to express my opinion on two different musical greats. The one that I decided to choose for the old would have to be Tchaikovsky, and for the new by far my favorite choice would be the beetles. The selection of these two specific artist was almost a no brainer for me, they embody the perfect blend of inspirational music that delivers a specific, yet powerful message, both artist belong to different genres one from a classical genre and one from a more modern form of music.Also, both these artists viewed music regardless of the genre as a form of communicating a message to the masses, in the beetles era war was occurring in the world and in terms of Tchaikovsky he was one of the best ballet composers of his

Horton, Andrew J. "The Forgotten Avant Garde: Soviet Composers Crushed by Stalin." Central Europe Review vol. 1, no. 1, 28 June 1999. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.

The Cold War was a worldwide conflict from 1948 to 1989 which put socialist states against communist states around the world. This was a time of political hatred and for musicians this was a time of uproar and crackdowns by the government. One of the largest communist states at the time was the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) and within this state there was the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Although this group were not law makers they did hold a great deal of power within the state. “The Central Committee’s membership was elected by the party congress in which this membership ordinarily went to the holders of the most important positions in the Soviet government and economy, thereby enabling the committee to serve as the party’s chief tool within the government” (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). In 1948, this group had made a special resolution to music which criticized many famous Soviet composers. Through this resolution there would now be strict criteria for which music was acceptable including the music had to use traditional harmony, should not be too discordant, should include folk and popular idioms, should have words, and many others. These criteria would keep the music in line therefore keeping the artists and from there the people in line. We have seen through this course that music is a very powerful motivator for not only the artist but also for the audience.

ATchaikovsky=s music is not only one of the cornerstones of Russian musical society and world music . . . It is at the same time a creative and technical encyclopedia to which every Russian composer has reference in the course of his own work,@ commented Dimitri Shostakovich.1 This was a typical view held by Tchaikovsky=s contemporaries. He was well known and well respected, especially in his later years. In addition, Tchaikovsky was recognized as the most expressive Romantic composer in Russia.2 He was often idolized and put on a pedestal, particularly during his tour of the United States in 1891 when he conducted concerts of his own works in some of the leading concert halls. Tchaikovsky brought national attention to

The history of American music begins with a fundamental process of exchange through all different social lines, where diverse cultures meet, and mix. Music has and always will be defined as sounds that are arranged in a particular pattern that are played to be meaningful and pleasurable. The chronology of music began in the Medieval period, when chanting was introduced into the Church. Music has then moved its way through many stages: renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and leading up to 20th century American music. American 20th century music is made up of a diverse number of styles that are reflected by cultural traditions and the era’s of the past. Immigrants from Spain, France, England, Germany and Ireland all contributed and brought their own unique styles to the forefront, hence creating American music. African Americans created influential musical traditions that include rhythm and improvisation that were later combined with European traditions and other indigenous music.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was one of the greatest composers of Soviet Russia. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is regarded today as the father of Western music. They came from opposite ends of music history and lived in entirely different environments, but Shostakovich was undoubtedly influenced by Bach’s music, and their respective musical styles came from the same core tradition of Western music. But most importantly, underneath the obvious differences and the subtle similarities, these composers shared the same artistic spirit.

At this time last year, I would have considered all music before the 20th century to be classical. However, after taking a Dual Credit Music Appreciation course, I realized that “old” music cannot simply be grouped into a single category. There are so many differences that I had no idea existed. Throughout the years, music has changed and evolved, meeting the needs of listeners and performers. Different composers have been catalysts in this change as they have developed new styles and genres. Even though the classical period is directly subsequent of the baroque period, baroque and classical music have countless different qualities and characteristics.

Tchaikovsky excelled at composing the genre of ballet. While others struggled with this genre he had all of the right compositional skills that make the perfect opera. Unlike other composers he was not good at creating intricate thematic relationships over a long period of time. Instead, he could create one outstanding melody after the other. This was exactly what is needed for ballet. It creates one distinct scene and then moves on to the next. His short-segment style was perfect for ballet because dancing in a ballet is very tiring and usually only lasted for three minutes at a time (Wright,