Essays on Harpsichord

Hanover Baroque Trio Concert

I attended a small ensemble concert that was hosted by the music department in the fine arts building at the college, which featured an all instrumental Trio Sonata. According to the program, the music was all from the baroque period, and it was presented in a smaller room in the “chamber style.” There was not a very large audience. This kept the audience from being a distraction, so that we could really pay attention to the music. The concert featured several instruments, but because it was a trio, only three of them played at a time. These instruments included ...

Hanover Baroque

Type of Concert: Trio Sonata General reaction: I found the concert very smoothing. The venue, at a local episcopal church, was beautiful, and well suited to the small-ensemble, or more chamber style music presented by the trio. There was a sense of both tranquility and ease that punctuated the concert as a result of the combination between the building’s ambiance and the musical genre on display. Concert Summary: The musical concert I attended was a trio, consisting of a violin, a flute, and a harpsichord. Overall, it involved music by eight different composers, each of which took a ...

Introduction

Domenico Scarlatti is one of the most well known Italian Baroque composers. He is best known for his work on the keyboard sonatas. It is known that most of his life he worked for the royal families in Spain and France. While working for the royal family in Spain, he was able to compose over 500 sonatas. Dominico Scarlatti’s history and time spent in Spain has influenced his famous sonatas compositions that use the Spanish guitar style.

History of Domenico Scarlatti

Domenico Scarlatti was born on October 26, 1685 in Naples and died on July 23, 1757 in Madrid. It is known ...

An Examination of Style and Performance

Introduction Joseph Haydn may be the most underrated of all the great composers, especially when it comes to his piano music. Music students in every field, remain taught that Haydn is the “father of the Symphony.” It is this fact that keeps the student from seeking out, discovering, and delighting in his brilliant, often difficult, but worth the challenge of playing Haydn’s late keyboard compositions. Haydn’s major keyboard works are sonatas, generally representing his growth from his early years until 1794 with completion of his final three sonatas. According to Gordon (1996), Haydn often set the ...

In this essay, I will compare and critique three different renditions of the same piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C major from the Well- Tempered Clavier BWV 864. For making the interpretation, I have pick three different pianists; Glenn Gould is the first one, Samuel Feinberg is the second one and Daniel Ben Pienaar is the third and also the last one. After I will listen to all three interpretations, I will discuss the different performing style of this three pianist approaching music components such as dynamics, tempo, colour and articulation. Furthermore, I will comment ...

The first movements of piano concertos by J.C. Bach and W.A. Mozart Mozart’s piano concertos are said to among his best compositions. The Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 488 is testament to this. This graceful composition has three movements and uses small orchestra comprised of instruments from all four classes. The instruments are two flutes, two bassoons, two clarinets and two horns as well the instruments from the string section like the violin. One significant difference of Mozart’s concertos was refusing the harpsichord and clavichord. He started to compose sonata concertos only for piano ...

Introduction

Baroque opera involves two distinguished characteristics which can be acquired by its name. This includes baroque which can be described as an era in the history of art in Europe between the 1600 and 1750 years. This era was after the Renaissance period and was later followed Classical era thus marking the initial years in evolution of opera. An opera in a large scale drama characterized by instruments and delivered to the audience through singing, poetry and drama. The dramatically part of the opera involves poetry, captivating action and pantomime, different scenes and costumes. This combination offers a unified element thus ...

The first movements of piano concertos by J.C. Bach and W.A. Mozart Johann Christian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart have both influenced the development of classical music. Both of them formed the musical style of sonata – most of the 20th and 21th century composers still hold on to the same structure. J.C. Bach was a son of J.S. Bach. Father influenced him a lot – he taught him the art of music since early childhood, but since he died when Johann Christian was only fifteenyears old, he started to compose is his own way.Style of music he wrote was different ...

Relevance to the Los Angeles Baroque Performers

“The Los Angeles Baroque Players” is one of the most famous baroque musicians in Los Angeles who played several instruments such as viola, harpsichord, flute, and oboe. The group is founded in 1983 and over the years; they have able to maintain their par level performance. It only shows that they have unique musical approach, interpretation, and execution, as well. They hold several concerts and one of the most remarkable performances they have are last January 6, 2012. It was fun and breathtaking event. Certainly, a night to be remembered. The night started to become amazing, when Anthony Brazier, ...