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.
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.
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 lasttwo. 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!
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student assistant Xipeng (class of 2024) and features works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
A Mini Collection of Mozart
I have to say that my childhood was accompanied with Mozart’s music, and today’s playlist is all about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!
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.
The Shanghai Quartet is one of my favorite string quartets. After receiving coaching from them, I was not only able to work on my own violin techniques efficiently, but also learned to listen and appreciate string quartet music more actively. This semester, the documentary Behind the Strings, shown at the Richmond International Film Festival featured the Shanghai Quartet, so I got to learn more about each member of the quartet and how they have become so successful today.
One of the attributes of the Shanghai Quartet is their Chinese heritage, which I also share similar experiences with. Therefore, in the documentary, I was especially impressed and attracted to the string quartet arrangement they performed based on a number of traditional Chinese folk songs. It is well known that a string quartet is one of the most prominent and common chamber ensemble arrangements in Western Classical music. Collaborating with Chinese folk music, which is largely based on the pentatonic scale and is very different from Western classical music, Shanghai Quartet’s performance illustrates the best possible way of culture integration, as they infuse the music with their personal experiences and emotions growing up in a different cultural background.
Zhou Long, the composer of the album The Flowing Stream: Chinese Folk Songs and Tone Poems, mentioned that “for many years, I have been devoted to merging Eastern and Western cultures through my music. That has meant, specifically, the combining of ancient Chinese musical traditions and western compositional techniques into a coherent and personal statement”. The Shanghai Quartet shared similar experiences and values with Zhou; therefore, they were able to fully support his compositions through their performances.
Chinese folk songs are valued greatly because of their historical and cultural significance. Based on the album’s description, these songs mirror people’s daily lives, thoughts, and sentiments in Chinese culture. Nowadays, these songs are widely re-created and shared in the global music world. One of the songs that I found being the most representative in this album is “Jasmine Flower.” The lyrics are simple, “Jasmine flower, such a beautiful flower, her sweet scent covers all others in the garden…”. In the 2016 Chinese New Year Gala, Celine Dion performed this song with Song Zuying, a Chinese classical/folk singer. Here is a link to the performance:
Here is a link to the version arranged by Zhou Long, as performed by the Shanghai Quartet:
In this version, the first violin starts the main melody, mimicking the soprano vocal line. Then, all four strings pass the melody to each other, accompanied by pizzicatos in the rest of the voices. This arrangement focuses on the aspect that the texture of Chinese folk music is often monophonic, where only one instrument is playing or one voice is leading. To me, hearing Eastern Music performed on Western instruments always creates a different feeling.
There are also four pieces that are created from poems in the Tang Dynasty. Zhou Long composed these four pieces based on four different poems for string quartet and orchestra. The four poems are:
To me, Zhou Long’s inspirations in these four pieces derived from the original poem verses. He emphasized on the meaning of these verses and added his feelings into his composition. I am able to have visual interpretations from his music. For example, in the first piece – “Hut Among the Bamboo,” the rests between different parts, the pizzicatos, and the shifting harmonics vividly presented an image of being in a bamboo forest alone. Meanwhile, I do find the composition style really similar to some characteristics in Igor Stravinsky’s music, as they are both contemporary pieces.
Haitian-American composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (aka DBR) was born in Skokie, Illinois. His family moved to Fort Lauderdale Florida subsequently. As a first-generation American, DBR’s family home was filled with Haitian folk music and his family encouraged him to listen to a variety of classical and contemporary music.
He discovered the violin at age 5. In junior high school, he formed his own rock / hip-hop band playing guitar and synthesizer.
He majored in music composition at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music and continued his studies at the University of Michigan where he earned both his masters and doctoral degrees.
DBR is an innovative composer, performer, activist and educator. His works blend hip-hop, funk, rock and classical music into genre defying, energetic and experimental forms. He has collaborated with many orchestras and chamber ensembles around the world. His eclectic musical interests are reflected in the fact that he has collaborated with all manner of artists like Philip Glass, Lady Gaga, Bill T. Jones, DJ Spooky, and Cassandra Wilson.
DBR taking an unconventional approach to violin playing in a 2012 workshop .
Here’s a quote from Roumain’s website that gives a nice overview of the width and breadth of his work to date:
“Known for his signature violin sounds infused with myriad electronic, urban, and African-American music influences, DBR takes his genre-bending music beyond the proscenium. He is a composer of chamber, orchestral, and operatic works; has won an Emmy for Outstanding Musical Composition for his collaborations with ESPN; featured as keynote performer at technology conferences; and created large scale, site-specific musical events for public spaces.”
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia 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.
Amanda Röntgen-Maier portrait Bergen Public Library Norway from Bergen, Norway
If you look up Amanda Maier in Grove Music Online, the self-styled “world’s premier online music encyclopedia,” you’ll find that she was the first wife of composer Julius Röntgen, as well as a violinist who studied at the Stockholm Conservatory. But Maier (1853-1894) wasn’t “only” a wife and a violinist; she was also a gifted composer whose music was praised by both Brahms and Grieg. After hearing a recording of Maier’s violin concerto on the radio, I resolved to add the works of this unjustly neglected composer to Parsons Music Library’s collection.
Jennifer Martyn, herself a violinist, has filled in some of Maier’s background. Maier’s performing career essentially ended when she married Julius Röntgen, her violin teacher’s son, but she continued to compose until a few years prior to her tragically early death, from a lung ailment, at the age of forty-one.
Two CDs recently acquired by Parsons Music Library are simply titled Amanda Maier,volumes 1and 2 (call numbers RM3.1 .M36 2016 and RM3.1 .M36 2017) They are the brainchild of Swedish producer Erik Nilsson, who plans to record all of Maier’s works. Volume 1 contains the first movement of her Violin Concerto in D Minor, performed by violinist Gregory Maytan and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Stoehr (unfortunately, the second and third movements have been lost). Maier’s final work, her Piano Quartet in E Minor, is played by Maytan with Bernt Lysell (viola), Sara Wijk (cello), and Ann-Sofi Klingberg (piano). The Quartet is a profound work, with a dramatic first movement, a lyrical second movement reminiscent of Brahms, a dancelike third movement, and an exuberant finale. Klingberg also accompanies Maytan on the Swedish Tunes and Dances that Maier and her husband composed together.
Volume 2 of Amanda Maier contains her best known work, the passionate Sonata in B Minor for Violin and Piano, here performed by violinist Cecilia Zilliacus and pianist Bengt Forsberg. This duo also plays her Nine Pieces for Violin and Piano, only six of which have ever been published. Maier’s vocal music is represented on this recording by four unpublished songs setting texts by the now-forgotten poet Carl-David af Wirsén. Soprano Sabina Bisholt and pianist Bengt Forsberg perform these rather melancholy pieces.
