Tag Archives: Romantic era

Arachnophonia: Camille Saint-Saëns “The Carnival of the Animals”

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Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Xipeng (class of 2024) and features Camille Saint-Saëns’s “The Carnival of the Animals”. Thanks, Xipeng!

Camille Saint-Saëns – “The Carnival of the Animals”

Carnaval des Animaux

Camille Saint-Saëns, born in Paris in 1835, was a prominent French composer of the Romantic era who displayed extraordinary musical talent from a young age. He was a versatile musician, excelling in various genres, including symphonies, operas, and chamber music. His compositions often reflected a blend of traditional forms with modern influences, contributing to his reputation as a forward-thinking composer of his time. “The Carnival of the Animals” is one of Saint-Saëns’ most famous masterpieces that showcases his playful imagination.

French composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

“The Carnival of the Animals” was composed in 1886, a lighthearted and whimsical suite of fourteen movements for chamber ensemble. The piece was originally a private work and the composer requested not to be published during his lifetime, fearing that its playful nature would detract from his more serious reputation. It was published after his death and became one of Saint-Saëns’ most beloved compositions. Each movement in the suite represents a different animal, and each is characterized by distinct melodies, rhythms, and instrumental colors that vividly portray the featured animals.

Here is a performance of “The Carnival of the Animals” by Zagreb Music Academy Chamber Orchestra:

Feel free to check out recordings, scores and biographies at Parsons Music Library!

Arachnophonia: Romantic Arias

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Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Esther (class of 2025) and features a CD collection of opera arias sung by tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Thanks, Esther!

Romantic Arias

Romantic Arias Jonas Kaufmann cd cover

If you frequent the music library, you may remember the question we had on our whiteboard last semester: do you listen to music when studying? If you do, this CD is something you should definitely check out.

Side note: the whiteboard questions are open for anyone to answer!

This CD is a collection of arias, or long accompanied songs for soloists, from a variety of romantic composers. The romantic era in music can usually be characterized by the introduction of chromatic harmonies and new chord progressions that “break” the rules of classical composition. They do not necessarily rely on resolving a melody or having a constant tempo throughout the piece. Romantic composers saw music as a medium to express human emotion and experience; it was seen as a way of communication.

Sung by my favorite tenor, this CD contains arias sung in Italian, French, and German. Jonas Kaufmann is a German operatic tenor noted for his versatility. You may remember seeing him as Don José in Carmen, but I personally became a fan after watching him in Massenet’s Werther. Check out this CD along with the CD players we have available for use in the library for your next study session!

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann

Arachnopnonia: Tchaikovsky “Souvenir de Florence, op. 70”

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Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item(s) in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Brianna (class of 2023) and features a score and a recording of Tchaikovksy’s string sextet “Souvenir de Florence”. Thanks, Brianna!

Tchaikovsky – Souvenir de Florence, op. 70
Score
CD

Florence, Italy

Souvenir de Florence is a chamber piece written by the great Romantic Era composer Tchaikovsky. It involves 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos all playing their own parts. I find this composition incredibly interesting because of the moments of chaos created by 6 different parts being played at once, but also because of the brilliant moments where Tchaikovsky blends the sounds of the 6 instruments incredibly well. Tchaikovsky dedicated this piece to the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society after becoming an Honorary Member.

Souvenir de Florence score first edition

Title page of the first printed edition of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence score

The principle theme of this piece was written during a visit to Florence, Italy, hence the title which translates to “Memory of Florence”. The first movement, in sonata form, is likely the most memorable of the 4 in the piece as it starts off with a bang and returns to the beginning theme at the end with even more energy. However, my favorite movements are the last two. These movements have distinct Russian folk-like melodies that contrast the music in the first two, and which I think are the most interesting of the 4. As a whole, I think this is my favorite chamber piece I have ever heard. Be sure to pick up the score or find it on a CD at the Music Library!

Arachnophonia: David Popper “40 Studies: High School of Cello Playing, opus 73”

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Editor’s note: Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Brianna (class of 2023) and features a collection of studies for cello by Austrian composer David Popper (1843-1913. Thanks, Brianna!

David Popper
40 Studies: High School of Cello Playing, op. 73

David Popper, composer (1843-1913)

David Popper, composer (1843-1913)

I, like most young cellists, have a love-hate relationship with David Popper. Popper was a prominent composer of Romantic-era cello solo music in the 19th century. He wrote four concertos, although his most played solo piece is probably “Tarantella.” What some may not know is that in addition to these concert solo pieces, he wrote a book of etudes dedicated to strengthening cello technique – 40 Studies: High School of Cello Playing. As the description might give away, the music in this book is not meant for performance in a recital or concert series. These etudes focus on playing in different positions, frequent shifting, bow control, and much more, meaning some of them sound very strange and complicated to listeners. Some musicians consider mastery of these etudes (among other things) a hallmark of a professional cellist.

While playing through such a book may sound like every aspiring young cellist’s dream, many of them are harder to play than they appear on paper. Then, considering the book has 40 separate etudes each averaging about two pages, you can only imagine how much time and dedication mastering each and every one might take. It’s a wonderful resource – if you have the patience to spend countless hours on them.

Since I was first assigned an etude out of this book, I have struggled and fumbled my way through roughly a quarter of the 40 available to me until I ended up with something I was happy with. I can’t say that I got as much joy out of this type of practice as I have on recent solo pieces I have rehearsed, but I also must admit that playing through the etudes strengthened my playing more than I could have imagined. Thumb position used to be a region of the cello I never thought I would be able to wander into confidently, but after playing Etude No. 1 and 5, I feel stronger and enjoy going high on the instrument. If you are a cellist and don’t have a copy of this book in your library, consider picking up a copy from the Music Library!