Essay on Russian Composers

The introduction of Christianity into Russia spurred the development of the country’s fine arts. For 600 years, Christian forms of art dominated Russian painting, music, architecture, and literature. Russian artists, however, applied their unique vision and dramatically altered the style imported so it became their own. Especially in painting, the blending of foreign influences with native genius produced some of the world’s most beautiful icons. In the early 15th century Andrey Rublyov, one the greatest of

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

1819 is the year in which his hearing was thoroughly depleted. He could no longer play the piano virtuously and had to communicate by text. As a result, he spent a majority of his time composing. Beethoven would sketch out his compositions in a book. These books have been maintained and it is evident that he would work on several pieces at once. During this time, his compositions ranged from simple melodies to more elaborate and edited works. In 1804 Beethoven completed his Third Symphony. This piece was originally a tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte, but when Beethoven found that Napoleon was proclaimed an emperor he deleted the dedication. At this point in his life, Beethoven seriously considered marriage. His first love was for a woman named Giulietta Guicciardi. When this relationship eventually broke, he sought the hand of Giulietta’s cousin, Josephine. The bond between them broke and the engagement was ended. Beethoven’s final attempt with a woman was with his doctor’s daughter, Therese Malfatti. As is expected, this relationship also failed and Beethoven reached the final part of his life as a bachelor. The rate and quality of his compositions slowed and he became more and more isolated. Another depressing and negative event in Beethoven’s life took place in 1815. His brother died. Caspar Anton Carl left behind a son and a widow and instructed

Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular of all composers. The reasons are several and understandable. His music is extremely tuneful, opulently and colourfully scored, and filled with emotional passion. Undoubtedly the emotional temperature of the music reflected the composer's nature. He was afflicted by both repressed homosexuality and by the tendency to extreme fluctuations between ecstasy and depression. Tchaikovsky was neurotic and deeply sensitive, and his life was often painful, but through the agony shone a genius that created some of the most beautiful of all romantic melodies. With his rich gifts for melody and special flair for writing memorable dance tunes, with his ready response to the atmosphere of a theatrical situation

Beethoven had reached complete deafness in the 1810’s. At this time he piano playing and conducting were deteriorating. At the age of 44 he was no longer able to play in public, but insisted on conducting still. Often times the performances were chaotic and he was hard to comprehend by musicians. He had a custody battle for his nephew Karl, in which he won. This caused disaster as Beethoven craved attention and companionship. After 1818, Beethoven conducted some of his greatest works even though he was completely deaf. Beethoven’s music was influenced by Haydn and Mozart although he had his own unique style. He was one of the greatest composers ever and had to overcome his complete deafness and suffering to put out these great works.

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.

After many personal crises in his life, Beethoven's music reflects his mood. His masterpiece represented struggle followed by triumph. Later, his influence has been worked by the ideals of the Enlightenment, which led him to dedicate the symphony "Erotica" Napoleon. Symphony "Ode to Joy" was estimated at about the brotherhood of humanity. His works are admired for their intellectual depth, intense expression, and experimental forms. It is considered one of the greatest minds of humanity. His work was ambitious head of the transition between eras of classical and romantic music led Beethoven's life of a child to an adult. A overcame alcoholic father; the death of his mother did not, and has provided a way to support his family. He carried through personal crises, including the loss of his hearing and earned him critical acclaim in social circles. His

Some of the most well known composers came to be in the in the classical music period. Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the composers, along with other greats of the time like Haydn and Mozart, which helped to create a new type of music. This new music had full rich sounds created by the new construction of the symphony orchestra.

During the latter part of his life, rumors emerged of Tchaikovsky being a homosexual. This effected how his works were received, mainly in the Western part of the world. According to Poznansky, “His music began to be criticized as sentimental, romantically excessive, charged with many imperfections and even pathological” (Poznansky, 2012). It is now known that although Tchaikovsky was married to Antonina Miliukova in July 1877, their marriage lasted less than three months. Tchaikovky admits to having homosexual escapades in 1861 and even to falling in love with a student, Losif Kotek. It is quite obvious that these events have no bearing on the popularity of his work now.

Looking back in time at the great composers of the world, only one foreign composer stands out for his many contributions to classical music and in helping America to find its own music. Antonin Leopold Dvorak was born on September 8th, 1841, in a small village of Nelahozeves in Bohemia that lies on the bank of the Mauldau River. The village Dvorak was born into was in good company and surroundings however also retained much of its native luster even through the worst times of political oppression (1).

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

Ludwig van Beethoven was, and remains today, an influential figure in the history of classical music. Perhaps no other composer in history wrote music of such inspiring power and expressiveness. His influence on the last 150 years of music is unequalled.

This is also the time when the middle period starts. From now up until 1813, Beethoven develops and enhances the high classical style into a more dynamic and individualistic style. It is now that he writes symphonies Nr. 3 - 8, piano consert Nr. 5 and a lot of chamber music. But as he learns to control his craft and develop the music into new undiscovered grounds, he also suffers from reminders of the pains of real life. He has early in life discovered that his hearing wasn't what it should be, and the disorder gets worse as time goes by. It gets to the point where Beethoven is thinking of ending his life as he sees no way out of his despair. That fact is documented in the letter he wrote to his brothers in 1802, the so called . This hearing disorder seems to have affected his social life to a great extent. He became difficult to handle in social interactions and could suddenly burst into outbreaks of anger and show bad temper where he usually insulted someone. If that is the reason for his troubles with women, or if their is something traumatic hidden in his childhood, I don't know, but the fact is that he never got involved with a woman in a normal relation. Beethoven seems to have been attracted to women he couldn't get, or at least was hard to get. An example is Antoine Brentano, with whom he had a relationship, but who broke up with him to marry a friend. It is

During his years in Moscow, Tchaikovsky was able to teach, compose, write, travel, and associate with other composers of the time. With one of those, Balakirev, a member of a group of Russian composers known as "the Five", he formed a close friendship, and from him he gained the idea for the fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet. But the relationship between him and the Five soured, and he even later parodied in one of ballets their use of certain folk melodies over and over again. Although Tchaikovsky was enjoying life in Moscow among his composer friends, he found himself constantly in periods of deep depressions and unhappiness. The largest contributor to his bouts of depression and sadness was his self-hatred and guilt that he had from carrying a heavy secret: Tchaikovsky was gay.

Peter Tchaikovsky was a famous Composer from the 19th Century. He is known as the most famous Russian composer in history (“Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Biography”). Some historians think that he was Russia’s first truly professional composer ("Tchaikovsky Music's – Famous”). His music was performed during the late 1800s. He created many musical works throughout this time as a composer and many of these works are still listened to today.