Johann Strauss II [image: Inline image 1]
The Blue Danube Waltz - Vienna Philharmonic - Vals del Danubio Azul http://youtu.be/_CTYymbbEL4 Tales from the Vienna Woods - Brazil Orquestra Filarmônica, Belo Horizonte http://youtu.be/MaOVp8FfGRo "Johann Strauss II was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 400 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as "The Waltz King", and was largely then responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. Some of Johann Strauss's most famous works include The Blue Danube, and Tales from the Vienna Woods." Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Strauss_II On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 7:14 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > Richard Wagner > > [image: Inline image 1] > > Rienzi Overture (Full) - The Symphony Orchestra of the LISZT School of > Music, Weimar > http://youtu.be/URIwWtwn6qA > > "Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theater director, > polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas. Wagner > revolutionized opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total > work of art"), by which he sought to synthesis the poetic, visual, musical > and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama, and which was announced > in a series of essays between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realized these ideas > most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des > Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung)." > > Read more: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner > > A note on Wagner: > > Apparently Wagner wore pink underwear, climbed trees, and liked to stand > on his head. To match his pink pink underwear he often wore satin breeches, > a pink eiderdown-padded house robe and pink slippers with the rose > bouquets. In spite of this, some people think he wrote some nice music. Go > figure. > > As a young college student I listened to several of his operas (works) in > two courses of music appreciation. I attended this course twice so that I > could get the perspective from two different professors of music. We would > sit here for hours listening to the arias,which were translated,probably > because nobody in the class could understand all those complicated German > words. > > You can always tell a genuine Wagner opera because they last for hours on > end when performed on the stage. One critic at the time wrote about a > Wagner opera: > > "Of all the clumsy,lumbering, boggling, baboon-blooded stuff I ever saw on > a human stage; of all the affected, sapless, soul-less, beginingless, > endless, topless, bottomless, topsy-turviest doggerel of sound I ever > endured the deadliness of,that eternity of nothing was the deadliest." > > Work cited: > > 'Lives of the Musical Greats' > by Victor Borge > Doubleday-Tarcher, 1971 > p. 119 > > > > On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 9:19 PM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Igor Stravinsky >> >> [image: Inline image 2] >> >> The Firebird - Gergiev · Vienna Philarmonic >> http://youtu.be/RZkIAVGlfWk >> >> Petrushka - Boston Symphony Orchestra >> http://youtu.be/ZZIEKCN-rIU >> >> The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) - Leonard Bernstein >> http://youtu.be/5Kyso5VmZ6g >> >> "Igor Stravinsky is considered to be one of the most important and >> influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky's compositional >> career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved >> international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Sergei >> Diaghilev and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The >> Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). Stravinsky >> was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the >> century." >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky >> >> >> On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 10:41 PM, Richard Williams >> <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> [image: Inline image 1] >>> >>> Aram Khachaturian - Sabre Dance, Seiji Ozawa >>> http://youtu.be/ejIk_Za-q4Y >>> >>> "Sabre Dance" is a movement in the final act of the ballet Gayane (1942) >>> by Aram Khachaturian. It is considered Khachaturian's most famous work. It >>> is based on Armenian folk music, especially its middle section." >>> >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_Dance >>> >>> [image: Inline image 2] >>> >>> "Aram Khachaturian was a Soviet Armenian composer. Alongside Sergei >>> Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, Khachaturian is sometimes called one of >>> the three 'titans' of Soviet music. He is also considered 'one of the major >>> musicians' of the 20th century." >>> >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aram_Khachaturian >>> >>> >>> On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 10:08 PM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com >>> > wrote: >>> >>>> [image: Inline image 3] >>>> >>>> Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Andante (2nd >>>> Movement) - Daniel Barenboim >>>> http://youtu.be/DRCEwy5XQSs >>>> >>>> The second movement was featured in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira >>>> Madigan. >>>> >>>> "Elvira Madigan is a 1967 Swedish film directed by Bo Widerberg, based >>>> on the tragedy of the Danish tightrope dancer Hedvig Jensen (born 1867), >>>> working under the stage name of Elvira Madigan at her stepfather's >>>> travelling circus, who runs away with the deserter Swedish lieutenant >>>> Sixten Sparre (born 1854)" >>>> >>>> [image: Inline image 4] >>>> >>>> Elvira Madigan: >>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvira_Madigan<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvira_Madigan_%28film%29> >>>> >>>> "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the >>>> Classical era. Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest >>>> childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the >>>> age of five and performed before European royalty." >>>> >>>> Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: >>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart >>>> >>>> >>>> On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 8:15 PM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com >>>> > wrote: >>>> >>>>> [image: Inline image 1] >>>>> >>>>> Beethoven Symphony No. 9, 'Choral' - Daniel Barenboim, Royal Albert >>>>> Hall, 27 July 2012 >>>>> http://youtu.be/sJQ32q2k8Uo >>>>> >>>>> Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 - Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra >>>>> http://youtu.be/POVjeuef0RY >>>>> >>>>> Ludwig van Beethoven: >>>>> >>>>> "A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic >>>>> eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and >>>>> influential of all composers. His best known compositions include 9 >>>>> symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string >>>>> quartets." >>>>> >>>>> Read more: >>>>> >>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 6:10 PM, Richard Williams < >>>>> pundits...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> [image: Inline image 1] >>>>>> >>>>>> Night on Bald Mountain - Ludwig Symphony Orchestra >>>>>> http://youtu.be/XyR-poMsSWI >>>>>> >>>>>> Pictures at an Exhibition - Vienna Philharmonic, Valery Gergiev, >>>>>> http://youtu.be/fiv2i-25wZ8 >>>>>> >>>>>> Modest Mussorgsky: >>>>>> >>>>>> "Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five". He was an >>>>>> innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove to achieve a >>>>>> uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the >>>>>> established conventions of Western music. >>>>>> >>>>>> Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, >>>>>> and other nationalist themes. Such works include the opera Boris Godunov, >>>>>> the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mountain, and the piano suite >>>>>> Pictures at an Exhibition." >>>>>> >>>>>> Read more: >>>>>> >>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Mussorgsky >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>> >> >
