1.
Maurice Ravel
–
Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, in the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as Frances greatest living composer. After leaving the conservatoire Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity, incorporating elements of baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. He liked to experiment with form, as in his best-known work, Boléro. He made some arrangements of other composers music, of which his 1922 version of Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known. As a slow and painstaking worker, Ravel composed fewer pieces than many of his contemporaries. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, many of his works exist in two versions, a first, piano score and a later orchestration. Some of his music, such as Gaspard de la nuit, is exceptionally difficult to play. Ravel was among the first composers to recognise the potential of recording to bring their music to a wider public, from the 1920s, despite limited technique as a pianist or conductor, he took part in recordings of several of his works, others were made under his supervision. Ravel was born in the Basque town of Ciboure, France and his father, Pierre-Joseph Ravel, was an educated and successful engineer, inventor and manufacturer, born in Versoix near the Franco-Swiss border. His mother, Marie, née Delouart, was Basque but had grown up in Madrid, in 19th-century terms, Joseph had married beneath his status – Marie was illegitimate and barely literate – but the marriage was a happy one. Both Ravels parents were Roman Catholics, Marie was also something of a free-thinker, a trait inherited by her elder son and he was baptised in the Ciboure parish church six days after he was born. The family moved to Paris three months later, and there a younger son, Édouard, was born and he was close to his father, whom he eventually followed into the engineering profession. Maurice was particularly devoted to their mother, her Basque-Spanish heritage was an influence on his life. Among his earliest memories were folk songs she sang to him, the household was not rich, but the family was comfortable, and the two boys had happy childhoods. Ravel senior delighted in taking his sons to factories to see the latest mechanical devices, in later life, Ravel recalled, Throughout my childhood I was sensitive to music. My father, much better educated in art than most amateurs are, knew how to develop my taste. There is no record that Ravel received any formal schooling in his early years
Maurice Ravel
–
Ravel in 1925
Maurice Ravel
–
Joseph Ravel (1875), Marie Ravel (1870) and Maurice Ravel aged four (1879)
Maurice Ravel
–
Piano class of
Charles de Bériot in 1895, with Ravel on the left
Maurice Ravel
–
Gabriel Fauré, Ravel's teacher and supporter
2.
Ballet
–
Ballet /ˈbæleɪ/ is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own based on French terminology. It has been influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres. Becoming a ballet dancer requires years of training, Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art. Ballet may also refer to a dance work, which consists of the choreography. A well-known example of this is The Nutcracker, a ballet that was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained artists, the word came into English usage from the French around 1630. Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries before being spread from Italy to France by an Italian aristocrat, Catherine de Medici, in France, ballet developed even further under her aristocratic influence. The dancers in these early court ballets were mostly noble amateurs, Ballets in this period were lengthy and elaborate and often served a political purpose. Ornamented costumes were meant to impress viewers and restricted freedom of movement. The ballets were performed in large chambers with viewers on three sides, French court ballet reached its height under the reign of King Louis XIV. Known as the Sun King, Louis symbolized the brilliance of France, in 1661 Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse to establish standards and certify dance instructors. In 1672, Louis XIV made Jean-Baptiste Lully the director of the Académie Royale de Musique from which the first professional ballet company, Lully is considered the most important composer of music for ballets de cour and instrumental to the development of the form. Ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it continued to develop in Denmark, Italy, the arrival in Europe on the eve of First World War of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, revived interest in the ballet and started the modern era. The Russian choreographer Michel Fokine challenged tradition and called for reforms that reinvigorated ballet as an art form, in the 20th century, ballet had a wide influence on other dance genres, and subgenres of ballet have also evolved. In the United States, choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet, other developments include contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet. Also in the century, ballet took a turn dividing it from classical ballet to the introduction of modern dance. Stylistic variations have emerged and evolved since the Italian Renaissance, early, classical variations are primarily associated with geographic origin
Ballet
–
Classical bell tutus in The Dance Class by
Degas, 1874
Ballet
–
Anna Pavlova in
Giselle, wearing a romantic tutu
Ballet
–
Scene from act 4 of
Swan Lake,
Vienna State Opera, 2004
Ballet
–
Harlequin and
Columbina from the mime theater at
Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark
3.
Waltz
–
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple time, performed primarily in closed position. There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the waltz that date from 16th century Europe, the French philosopher Montaigne wrote of a dance he saw in 1580 in Augsburg, where the dancers held each other so closely that their faces touched. Kunz Haas wrote, Now they are dancing the godless Weller or Spinner, the peasants of Bavaria, Tyrol, and Styria began dancing a dance called Walzer, a dance for couples, around 1750. The Ländler, also known as the Schleifer, a dance in 34 time, was popular in Bohemia, Austria, and Bavaria. While the eighteenth century upper classes continued to dance the minuet, describing life in Vienna, Don Curzio wrote, The people were dancing mad. The ladies of Vienna are particularly celebrated for their grace and movements of waltzing of which they never tire, there is a waltz in the second act finale of the opera Una Cosa Rara written by Martin y Soler in 1786. Solers waltz was marked Andante con moto, or at a pace with motion, but the flow of the dance was sped-up in Vienna leading to the Geschwindwalzer. In the transition from country to town, the hopping of the Ländler, a known as Langaus, became a sliding step. In the 19th century, the word primarily indicated that the dance was a one, one would waltz in the polka to indicate rotating rather than going straight forward without turning. The Viennese custom is to anticipate the second beat of each measure, making it sound as if the third is late. The metronome speed for a full bar varies between 60 and 70, with the waltzes of the first Strauss often played faster than those of his sons. Shocking many when it was first introduced, the waltz became fashionable in Vienna around the 1780s, according to contemporary singer Michael Kelly, it reached England in 1791. During the Napoleonic Wars, infantry soldiers of the Kings German Legion introduced the dance to the people of Bexhill and it became fashionable in Britain during the Regency period, having been made respectable by the endorsement of Dorothea Lieven, wife of the Russian ambassador. Diarist Thomas Raikes later recounted that No event ever produced so great a sensation in English society as the introduction of the waltz in 1813, in the same year, a sardonic tribute to the dance by Lord Byron was anonymously published. Influential dance master and author of manuals, Thomas Wilson published A Description of the Correct Method of Waltzing in 1816. Come, its time to be going home, the waltz, and especially its closed position, became the example for the creation of many other ballroom dances. Subsequently, new types of waltz have developed, including many folk and it incorporated hesitations and was danced to fast music. A hesitation is basically a halt on the foot during the full waltz measure
Waltz
Waltz
–
An
early moving picture demonstrates the waltz
4.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
World War I
–
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
World War I
–
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
World War I
–
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
World War I
–
Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
5.
Vienna
–
Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
Vienna
Vienna
Vienna
Vienna
6.
Emmanuel Chabrier
–
Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas, songs. He was admired by composers as diverse as Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Satie, Schmitt, Stravinsky, Chabrier was also associated with some of the leading writers and painters of his time. He was especially friendly with the painters Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, a number of such paintings from his personal collection are now housed in some of the worlds leading art museums. Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier was born in Ambert, a town in the Auvergne region of central France and his father was an attorney, his childhood nanny Anne Delayre remained close to him throughout her life. He began his music lessons at the age of six, the earliest of his compositions to survive in manuscript are piano works from 1849, a piano piece from this period, Le Scalp. was later modified into the Marche des Cipayes. In 1856 the family made Paris their home, and the young Chabrier continued serious studies in both of his chosen fields, despite this, his passion was music, during the 1860s he composed a number of minor piano works. His enthusiasm for Wagners music began at this time, and he copied out the score of Tannhäuser. From 1862 he entered the circle of the Parnassians in Paris and his passion for poetry led to a long friendship with Paul Verlaine, who contributed librettos to two early operettas that Chabrier did not complete. The wife of Renoir, a friend of Chabrier, wrote, one day Chabrier came and it sounded as if a hurricane had been let loose. He pounded and pounded the keyboard, the street was full of people, and they were listening, fascinated. When Chabrier reached the last crashing chords, I swore to myself I would never touch the piano again Besides, Chabrier had broken several strings and put the piano out of action. Alfred Bruneau recalled that he played the piano as no one has played it before. During the Franco-Prussian War and Commune, Chabrier continued with his job as the ministry moved from Tours to Bordeaux to Versailles. In 1873, he married Marie Alice Dejean, with whom he had three sons, one of whom died in early childhood and he began several stage works during the 1870s. His first one to be completed was Létoile, which achieved 48 successful performances at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in 1877, on a trip to Munich with Henri Duparc in 1879, he discovered Wagners opera Tristan und Isolde. This event led him to realize his passion for composition. That year he composed his piano cycle Pièces pittoresques, of which the Idylle greatly influenced Francis Poulenc, Chabrier plunged himself into the scores of Wagner, and became an assistant to Charles Lamoureux in preparing concert performances of the German composers works in Paris
Emmanuel Chabrier
–
Emmanuel Chabrier in 1882
Emmanuel Chabrier
–
Plaque recording Chabrier's period at the French Interior Ministry
Emmanuel Chabrier
–
Emmanuel Chabrier, 1880, painting by
Édouard Manet, Ordrupgaard Museum,
Charlottenlund, Denmark
Emmanuel Chabrier
–
Tomb of Emmanuel Chabrier, Montparnasse cemetery (division 9), Paris.
7.
Motif (music)
–
It is commonly regarded as the shortest subdivision of a theme or phrase that still maintains its identity as a musical idea. The smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity, a harmonic motif is a series of chords defined in the abstract, that is, without reference to melody or rhythm. A melodic motif is a formula, established without reference to intervals. A rhythmic motif is the term designating a characteristic rhythmic formula, a motif thematically associated with a person, place, or idea is called a leitmotif. Occasionally such a motif is a cryptogram of the name involved. A head-motif is an idea at the opening of a set of movements which serves to unite those movements. In hearing a phrase as a figure, rather than a motif, we are at the time placing it in the background, even if it is. strong. Any motif may be used to construct complete melodies, themes and pieces, musical development uses a distinct musical figure that is subsequently altered, repeated, or sequenced throughout a piece or section of a piece of music, guaranteeing its unity. Such motivic development has its roots in the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Motivic saturation is the immersion of a motive in a composition. The use of motives is discussed in Adolph Weiss The Lyceum of Schönberg, hugo Riemann defines a motif as, the concrete content of a rhythmically basic time-unit. Anton Webern defines a motif as, the smallest independent particle in a musical idea, arnold Schoenberg defines a motif as, a unit which contains one or more features of interval and rhythm presence is maintained in constant use throughout a piece. Head-motif refers to a musical idea of a set of movements which serves to unite those movements. It may also be called a motto, and is a frequent device in cyclic masses
Motif (music)
–
A phrase originally presented as a motif may become a
figure which accompanies another
melody, as in the second movement of
Claude Debussy 's
String Quartet (1893). Play (
help ·
info) White would classify the accompaniment as motivic material since it was, "derived from an important motive stated earlier".
8.
French Army
–
The French Army, officially the Land Army is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. Along with the French Air Force, the French Navy and the National Gendarmerie, the current Chief of Staff of the French Army is General Jean-Pierre Bosser, a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff. All soldiers are considered professionals following the suspension of conscription, voted in parliament in 1997, as of 2014, the French Army employed 111,628 personnel. In addition, the element of the French Army consisted of 15,453 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the Hundred Years War and these units of troops were raised by issuing ordonnances to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These Compagnies dordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme Cavalry into the sixteenth century, stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also made for Francs-archers units of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes. The bulk of the infantry for warfare was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in 1480s Swiss instructors were recruited and these men would be paid and contracted and receive training. Henry II further regularised the French army by forming standing Infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure, the first of these the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne were called the Les Vieux Corps. It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the Kings own Household Troops the Maison du Roi being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so called after the region in which they were raised, or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. In 1684 there was a reorganisation of the French infantry and again in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIVs plans. This reshuffle created many of the regiments of the French Army and standardised their equipment. The army of the Sun King tended to wear coats with coloured linings. There were exceptions and the troops, recruited from outside France. In addition to these regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units, the Swiss Guards, French Guards, the revolution split the army with the main mass losing most of its officers to aristocratic flight or guillotine and becoming demoralised and ineffective. The French Guard joined the revolt and the Swiss Guards were massacred during the storming of the Tuileries palace, under Napoleon I, the French Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars
French Army
–
The
French Royal Army at the
battle of Denain (1712).
French Army
–
French Army
French Army
–
The
Gardes françaises at the
battle of Fontenoy (1745)
French Army
–
The
French Revolutionary Army at the
battle of Jemappes (1792)
9.
Sergei Diaghilev
–
Sergei Diaghilev was born to a wealthy and cultured family in Selishchi, Russia, his father, Pavel Pavlovich, was a cavalry colonel, but the familys money came mainly from vodka distilleries. After the death of Sergeis mother, his father married Elena Valerianovna Panaeva, the family lived in Perm but had an apartment in Saint Petersburg and a country estate in Bikbarda. In 1890, Sergeis parents went bankrupt, having for a time lived beyond their means. After graduating in 1892 he abandoned his dreams of composition, during his years at University, Diaghilevs cousin Dmitry Filosofov introduced him to a circle of art-loving friends who called themselves The Nevsky Pickwickians. They included Alexandre Benois, Walter Nouvel, Konstantin Somov, although not instantly received into the group, Diaghilev was aided by Benois in developing his knowledge of Russian and Western art. In two years, he had voraciously absorbed this new obsession and came to be respected as one of the most learned of the group, with financial backing from Savva Mamontov and Princess Maria Tenisheva, the group founded the journal Mir iskusstva. In 1899, Diaghilev became special assistant to Prince Sergei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky, in 1900–1901 Volkonsky entrusted Diaghilev with the staging of Léo Delibes ballet Sylvia, a favorite of Benois. The two collaborators concocted an elaborate plan that startled the established personnel of the Imperial Theatres. At the same time, some of Diaghilevs researchers hinted at his homosexuality as the cause for this conflict. However, his homosexuality had been known long before he was invited into the Imperial Theatres. In the following year he took a major exhibition of Russian art to the Petit Palais in Paris and it was the beginning of a long involvement with France. In 1907 he presented five concerts of Russian music in Paris and this led to an invitation to return the following year with ballet as well as opera, and thus to the launching of his famous Ballets Russes. The company included the best young Russian dancers, among them Anna Pavlova, Adolph Bolm, Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina and Vera Karalli, and their first night on 19 May 1909 was a sensation. During these years Diaghilevs stagings included several compositions by the late Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, such as the operas The Maid of Pskov, May Night and his choreographer Michel Fokine often adapted the music for ballet. Diaghilev also worked with dancer and ballet master Léonide Massine, the artistic director for the Ballets Russes was Léon Bakst. Together they developed a complicated form of ballet with show-elements intended to appeal to the general public. The exotic appeal of the Ballets Russes had an effect on Fauvist painters, coco Chanel is said to have stated that Diaghilev invented Russia for foreigners. Perhaps Diaghilevs most notable composer-collaborator, however, was Igor Stravinsky, Diaghilev heard Stravinskys early orchestral works Fireworks and Scherzo fantastique, and was impressed enough to ask Stravinsky to arrange some pieces by Chopin for the Ballets Russes
Sergei Diaghilev
–
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev
–
Portrait of Sergei Diaghilev by
Valentin Serov (1904)
Sergei Diaghilev
–
Portrait of Serge Diaghilev with His Nanny, by
Léon Bakst (1906).
Sergei Diaghilev
–
Diaghilev's gravestone,
Isola di San Michele,
Orthodox section,
Venice, Italy (April, 2011)
10.
Marcelle Meyer
–
Marcelle Meyer was a French pianist. She worked with a group of known as Les Six of whom she was the favored pianist. Marcelle Meyer was born in Lille, France on 22 May 1897 and she then studied Ravel with Ricardo Vines and Spanish Literature. She gave the first all-Debussy recital in Debussys presence, premiering his etudes, Meyer also became Erik Saties favored pianist and she also premiered Francis Poulencs Sonata for piano four-hands with the composer. She premiered several of his works and recorded with him, in the early 1920s she also played for Darius Milhaud and Stravinsky. She became famous for her talent and played concerts in England, Holland, and Germany as well as premieres, including works by Honegger, Roland-Manuel. She died on 17 November 1958 in Paris after suffering an attack while playing at her sisters piano. The actor Pierre Bertin was her first husband and she later married Carlo Di Vieto, an Italian lawyer, with whom she had two daughters. A Short Biography of Marcelle Meyer
Marcelle Meyer
–
Le Groupe des six, 1921 painting by
Jacques-Émile Blanche. In the center: Marcelle Meyer. From bottom to top:
Germaine Tailleferre,
Darius Milhaud,
Arthur Honegger,
Louis Durey. On the right:
Georges Auric,
Francis Poulenc,
Jean Cocteau.
11.
Duel
–
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules. Duels in this form were chiefly practiced in early modern Europe with precedents in the code of chivalry. During the 17th and 18th centuries, duels were fought with swords. But beginning in the late 18th century in England, duels were more commonly fought using pistols, fencing and pistol duels continued to co-exist throughout the 19th century. The duel was based on a code of honor, on rare occasions, duels with pistols or swords were fought between women, these were sometimes known as petticoat duels. Legislation against dueling goes back to the medieval period, the Fourth Council of the Lateran outlawed duels, and civil legislation in the Holy Roman Empire against dueling was passed in the wake of the Thirty Years War. From the early 17th century, duels became illegal in the countries where they were practiced, Dueling largely fell out of favor in England by the mid-19th century and in Continental Europe by the turn of the 20th century. Dueling declined in the Eastern United States in the 19th century and by the time the American Civil War broke out, dueling had begun to decline, public opinion, not legislation, caused the change. In Western society, the concept of a duel developed out of the medieval judicial duel. In Medieval society, judicial duels were fought by knights and squires to end various disputes, countries like Germany, United Kingdom, and Ireland practiced this tradition. Judicial combat were of two forms in society, the feat of arms and chivalric combat. The feat of arms were done to settle hostilities between two parties and supervised by a judge. The battle was fought when one partys honor was disrespected or challenged upon in which the conflict cannot be resolved in court, a spiked hand guard for pumbling, and extra grip for half swording. The duel lasted until the party was too weak to fight back. In early cases, the party was then subsequently executed. If a traveling venans did not have weapons or horse to meet the challenge, one might be provided, if a lady passed unescorted, she would leave behind a glove or scarf, to be rescued and returned to her by a future knight who passed that way. The Roman Catholic Church was critical of dueling throughout medieval history, judicial duels were deprecated by the Lateran Council of 1215, but the judicial duel persisted in the Holy Roman Empire into the 15th century. The word duel comes from the Latin duellum, cognate with bellum, during the early Renaissance, dueling established the status of a respectable gentleman, and was an accepted manner to resolve disputes
Duel
–
"The Code Of Honor—A Duel In The Bois De Boulogne, Near Paris", wood engraving by
Godefroy Durand (
Harper's Weekly, January 1875)
Duel
–
German students of a
Burschenschaft fighting a sabre duel, around 1900, painting by
Georg Mühlberg (1863–1925)
Duel
–
Dueling remained highly popular in European society, despite various attempts at banning the practice.
Duel
–
An anti-duelling sermon written by an acquaintance of
Alexander Hamilton.
12.
Ida Rubinstein
–
Ida Lvovna Rubinstein was a Russian dancer, actress, art patron and Belle Époque figure. She performed with Diaghilevs Ballets Russes in 1909-1911 then quit to form her own company, Boléro by Ravel was among her commissions. Rubinshtein was born one of Russias richest families, to Jewish parents in Kharkov, Russian Empire. For many years, it was a mystery whether she was born in Kharkiv or Saint Petersburg, Rubinshtein herself would not confirm where she was born, nor if Ida was a nickname, preferring the aura of mystery. She had a sister, Rachel, born in 1876. Idas grandfather, Ruvim Rubinshtein, had been a sugar trader in Kharkov. He moved to Saint Petersburg, where he founded the company, Roman Rubinshtein & Sons, the family multiplied their investment many times over, becoming millionaires by the time Ida was born. The family expanded to own several banks, sugar mills and breweries, the family donated large sums of money to charities, particularly the arts. Lev and Adolf were both educated, they regularly hosted prominent intellectuals and artists in their home. Adolfs son Iosif became a successful pianist who studied under Franz Liszt and her mother died when Ida was very young, and in 1892, her father died in Frankfurt, leaving her a vast fortune. In 1893, the 8-year-old Ida was sent to Saint Petersburg to live with her aunt, Rubinshtein grew up in her aunts mansion on the citys famed Promenade des Anglais, where she was given the best education. She became fluent in English, French, German and Italian, when she became interested in Ancient Greece, a Greek professor was invited to tutor her in Saint Petersburg. She was also given the best instruction in music, dance and theatre and she lacked natural dance ability, but she worked constantly on her posture, movements and pirouettes. Eventually, secretly intent on going on stage herself, she went to Paris under the guise of continuing her education, in Paris, Rubinshtein began her career as an actress, appearing on stage in various stages of indecent garb. The news reached Saint Petersburg and the ears of her conservative Orthodox family, while it was perfectly respectable for the upper class to be seen at the theatre, being an actress was no different from being a prostitute in the eyes of her horrified relatives. Her brother-in-law, a Parisian doctor named Lewinsohn, had her declared insane in order to commit her to a mental asylum to save the familys honor. Her family in Kharkiv and Saint Petersburg, unhappy with her being in an asylum, demanded she be released, once in Saint Petersburg, she was chaperoned at all times by her governess, as was customary for an unmarried young woman of her social class. To earn her freedom and right to control her fortune, she married her first cousin Vladimir Gorvits and she had, by the standard of Russian ballet, little formal training
Ida Rubinstein
–
Ida Rubinstein in 1912
Ida Rubinstein
–
Rubinstein in 1922
Ida Rubinstein
–
Valentin Serov, portrait of Ida as Salomé, 1910.
13.
Bronislava Nijinska
–
Bronislava Nijinska was a Polish dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Nijinska played a role in the pioneering movement that turned against 19th-century Classicism. A breakthrough came in 1910, when she created her first solo, Nijinska was born in Minsk, the third child of the Polish dancers Tomasz Nijinsky and Eleonora Nijinska. She was the sister of the renowned dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Early on in life, Nijinska learned folk dances at home, Nijinska’s parents were professional dancers as well. They danced with the Warsaw Wielki Theatre and her parents taught her Polish, Hungarian, Italian, and Russian folk dances. Additionally, her father taught her some acrobatics which she incorporated into some of her choreographic works. She was four years old when she made her debut in a Christmas pageant with her brothers in Nizhny Novgorod. Nijinska trained with Enrico Cecchetti before joining the Imperial Ballet School in 1900 and she was a student there until 1908 and was taught by Nicolai Legat and Mikhail Fokine. In 1908, Nijinska joined the Imperial Ballet following in her brothers footsteps, in her first year, she performed Fokines Les Sylphides, where she directly experienced Fokines choreographic vision. Both she and Nijinsky left Russia in 1909 to join Diaghilevs Ballets Russes and it is argued that Nijinskas brother Vaslav had the greatest influence on Nijinska. In Nijinska’s memoir, she speaks of the overwhelming curiosity Vaslav possessed from a young age, historical references often note his low performance in school, Nijinska attributes this to Vaslav’s impatience and interest in taking risk. When Nijinsky created LAprès-midi dun Faune he used Nijinska to rehearse it in secret and she was to be the original Chosen One in Le Sacre du Printemps but due to pregnancy Nijinska did not make that debut. It was during this tour that Nijinsky controversially married Ramola de Pulsky and it is questionable if this would have happened had Bronislava been on tour, according to Bronislava’s memoirs. Nijinska explains how Vaslav was very reserved, and had few close colleagues, Nijinska left the Ballet Russes to follow her brother after he was dismissed from the company for his relationship with Ramona de Pulsky. Bronislava and Vaslav started a short lived company in London, some attribute the downfall of the company to Vaslav’s erratic emotional tendencies. In 1919, she opened a school in Kiev called LEcole de Mouvement and her training philosophy focused on preparing dancers to work with choreographers such as her brother. She asked for flowing movement, free use of the torso, in 1921, Nijinska was asked to return to Ballet Russes, but this time as a choreographer
Bronislava Nijinska
–
Bronislava Nijinska
Bronislava Nijinska
–
Nijinska in Petrouchka,
Ballets Russes, 1913
14.
George Balanchine
–
Styled as the father of American ballet, he co-founded the New York City Ballet and remained its Artistic Director for more than 35 years. He was a known for his musicality, he expressed music with dance. Balanchine was invited to America in 1933 by an arts patron named Lincoln Kirstein. Along with Kirstein, Balanchine also co-founded the New York City Ballet, the rest of Balanchines Georgian side of the family comprised largely artists and soldiers. Little is known of Balanchines Russian, maternal side and his mother, Melitons second wife, Maria Nikolayevna Vasilyeva, was fond of ballet and viewed it as a form of social advancement from her lower reaches of the St. Petersburg society. She was eleven years younger than Meliton and rumored to have been his former housekeeper, as a child, Balanchine was not particularly interested in ballet, but his mother insisted that young Giorgi audition with his sister Tamara, who shared her mothers interest in the art. Georges brother Andria Balanchivadze instead followed his fathers love for music, tamaras career, on the other hand, was cut short by her death in unknown circumstances as she was trying to escape on a train from besieged Leningrad to Georgia. After graduating in 1921, Balanchine enrolled in the Petrograd Conservatory while working in the corps de ballet at the State Academic Theater for Opera and his studies at the conservatory included advanced piano, music theory, counterpoint, harmony, and composition. Balanchine graduated from the conservatory during 1923, and danced as a member of the corps until 1924, while still in his teens, Balanchine choreographed his first work, a pas de deux named La Nuit. This was followed by duet, Enigma, with the dancers in bare feet rather than ballet shoes. During 1923, with dancers, Balanchine formed a small ensemble. At this time, the impresario Sergei Diaghilev invited Balanchine to join the Ballets Russes as a choreographer, Diaghilev soon promoted Balanchine to ballet master of the company and encouraged his choreography. Between 1924 and Diaghilevs death in 1929, Balanchine created nine ballets and he described it as the turning point in my life. Apollo is regarded as the original neoclassical ballet, apollo brought the male dancer to the forefront, giving him two solos within the ballet. Apollo is known for its minimalism, utilizing simple costumes and sets and this allowed the audience not to be distracted from the movement. Balanchine considered music to be the influence on choreography, as opposed to the narrative. Suffering a serious injury, Balanchine had to limit his dancing. After Diaghilevs death, the Ballets Russes went bankrupt, to earn money, Balanchine began to stage dances for Charles B
George Balanchine
–
George Balanchine
George Balanchine
–
Balanchine's father Meliton
George Balanchine
–
Apollo, 1928
George Balanchine
–
Architect
Philip Johnson designed the
New York State Theater to Balanchine's specifications.
15.
Frederick Ashton
–
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM CH CBE was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film, determined to be a dancer, despite the opposition of his conventional middle-class family, Ashton was accepted as a pupil by Léonide Massine and then by Marie Rambert. In 1926 Rambert encouraged him to try his hand at choreography, Ashton was chief choreographer to Ninette de Valois, from 1935 until her retirement in 1963, in the company known successively as the Vic-Wells Ballet, the Sadlers Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet. He succeeded de Valois as director of the company, serving until his own retirement in 1970, Ashton is widely credited with the creation of a specifically English genre of ballet. Among his best-known works are Façade, Symphonic Variations, Cinderella, La fille mal gardée, Monotones I and II, Enigma Variations, Ashton was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the fourth of the five children of George Ashton and his second wife, Georgiana, née Fulcher. George Ashton was manager of the Central and South American Cable Company, in 1907 the family moved to Lima, Peru, where Ashton attended a Dominican school. When they returned to Guayaquil in 1914, he attended a school for children of the English colony, one of his formative influences was serving as altar boy to the Roman Catholic Archbishop, which inspired in him a love of ritual. Another, still more potent, influence was being taken to see Anna Pavlova dance in 1917 and he was immediately determined that he would become a dancer. Dancing was not a career acceptable to a conventional English family at that time, Ashton later recalled, My father was horrified. You can imagine the middle-class attitude and my mother would say, He wants to go on the stage. She could not bring herself to say into the ballet, Ashtons father sent him to England in 1919 to Dover College, where he was miserable. Homosexual, and with a distinctly Spanish accent that his classmates laughed at and he was not academically inclined, and his father decided that on leaving the school in 1921 Ashton should join a commercial company. He worked for a firm in the City of London. In January 1924 George Ashton committed suicide and his widow was left financially dependent on her elder sons, who ran a successful business in Guayaquil. She moved to London to be with Ashton and his younger sister, despite family disapproval Ashton pursued his ambition to dance professionally. He auditioned for Léonide Massine, at the late age of twenty he was accepted as a pupil. After Massine left London, Ashton was taken on as a student by Marie Rambert and she encouraged him to try choreographing. His first attempt was in 1926 for a revue staged by Nigel Playfair, the Observer commented on an engaging little ballet called A Tragedy of Fashion, or The Scarlet Scissors which Mr. Eugene Goossens has set most suitably to music
Frederick Ashton
–
Sir Frederick Ashton
OM,
CH,
CBE
Frederick Ashton
–
Massine in 1914
Frederick Ashton
–
Ninette de Valois with whom Ashton was associated from 1931
Frederick Ashton
–
Antony Tudor, invited by Ashton to make works for Covent Garden
16.
Glissando
–
In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, in some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento. Some colloquial equivalents are slide, sweep, bend, smear, rip, lip, some instruments, such as the clarinet and saxophone, can produce a continuous pitch change, although their characteristic design is to provide distinct pitches. The latter could thus be thought of as capable of glissando or portamento. On some instruments, discrete tones are clearly audible when sliding, on a harp, the player can slide their finger across the strings, quickly playing the scale. Wind, brass, and fretted-stringed-instrument players can perform a rapid chromatic scale. Maurice Ravels piece Alborada del Gracioso contains notable piano glissando passages in thirds executed by the right hand, arpeggio effects are also obtained by bowed strings and brass, especially the horn. Musical instruments with variable pitch can effect a portamento over a substantial range. Many electric guitars are fitted with an arm which can produce either a portamento. Tremolo is a variation of loudness while holding pitch constant. List of ornaments Bent note Octave glissando Portamento Shepard tone Staccato Meend Boyden, David D. the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, hoppe, Ulrich, Frank Rosanowski, Michael Döllinger, Jörg Lohscheller, Maria Schuster, and Ulrich Eysholdt. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc
Glissando
–
Glissando notation
17.
Chromatic
–
They are very often used as a pair, especially when applied to contrasting features of the common practice music of the period 1600–1900. These terms may mean different things in different contexts, very often, diatonic refers to musical elements derived from the modes and transpositions of the white note scale C–D–E–F–G–A–B. In some usages it includes all forms of scale that are in common use in Western music. Chromatic most often refers to structures derived from the chromatic scale, in ancient Greece there were three standard tunings of a lyre. These three tunings were called diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic, and the sequences of four notes that they produced were called tetrachords, a diatonic tetrachord comprised, in descending order, two whole tones and a semitone, such as A G F E. In the chromatic tetrachord the second string of the lyre was lowered from G to G♭, in the enharmonic tetrachord the tuning had two quarter tone intervals at the bottom, A G F E. For all three tetrachords, only the two strings varied in their pitch. The term cromatico was occasionally used in the Medieval and Renaissance periods to refer to the coloration of certain notes, in works of the Ars Nova from the 14th century, this was used to indicate a temporary change in metre from triple to duple, or vice versa. This usage became common in the 15th century as open white noteheads became the standard notational form for minims. These uses for the word have no relationship to the meaning of chromatic. The term chromatic began to approach its modern usage in the 16th century, Medieval theorists defined scales in terms of the Greek tetrachords. The gamut was the series of pitches from which all the Medieval scales notionally derive, the origin of the word gamut is explained at the article Hexachord, here the word is used in one of the available senses, the all-encompassing gamut as described by Guido dArezzo. The intervals from one note to the next in this Medieval gamut are all tones or semitones, recurring in a pattern with five tones. The semitones are separated as much as they can be, between alternating groups of three tones and two tones, here are the intervals for a string of ascending notes from the gamut. This would include the major scale, and the minor scale. There are specific applications in the music of the Common Practice Period, most, but not all writers, accept the natural minor as diatonic. Among such theorists there is no agreed general term that encompasses the major, inclusive usage Some writers consistently include the melodic and harmonic minor scales as diatonic also. For this group, every scale standardly used in common practice music, mixed usage Still other writers mix these two meanings of diatonic, and this can lead to confusions and misconceptions
Chromatic
Chromatic
–
Melodies may be based on a diatonic scale and maintain its tonal characteristics but contain many accidentals up to all twelve tones of the chromatic scale, such as the opening of
Henry Purcell 's "Thy Hand, Belinda",
Dido and Aeneas (1689) (Play (
help ·
info), Play (
help ·
info) with
figured bass) which features eleven of twelve pitches while chromatically descending by half steps, the missing pitch being sung later.
Chromatic
Chromatic
18.
Glockenspiel
–
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone, however, the glockenspiel, moreover, is usually smaller and higher in pitch. In German, a carillon is also called a Glockenspiel, while in French, in music scores the glockenspiel is sometimes designated by the Italian term campanelli. When used in a marching or military band, the bars are mounted in a portable case and held vertically. However, sometimes the bars are held using a harness similar to a marching snare harness. In orchestral use, the bars are mounted horizontally, a pair of hard, unwrapped mallets, generally with heads made of plastic or metal, are used to strike the bars, although mallet heads can also be made of rubber. If laid out horizontally, a keyboard glockenspiel may be contrived by adding a keyboard to the instrument to facilitate playing chords, another method of playing chords is to use four mallets, two per hand. The glockenspiel is limited to the register, and usually covers about two and a half to three octaves, but can also reach up to three and a half octaves. The glockenspiel is an instrument, its parts are written two octaves below the sounding notes. When struck, the give an very pure, bell-like sound. Glockenspiels are quite popular and appear in almost all genres of music ranging from hip-hop to jazz. A keyboard-operated glockenspiel, as played by Danny Federici on such hit songs as Born to Run and Hungry Heart, is considered part of Bruce Springsteen, john Lennon also plays it on Only a Northern Song. Panic. at the Disco have used glockenspiel in several of their songs, including their hits I Write Sins Not Tragedies and Build God, Then Well Talk. Radiohead have used glockenspiel on their single No Surprises as well as on The Tourist, Lull, Morning Bell/Amnesiac, Sit Down/Stand Up, songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses and Stormwatch. Solo glockenspiel can be heard briefly, but notably at the beginning of Shostakovichs 15th Symphony, a modern example of the glockenspiel can be heard in Steve Reichs 1970–71 composition Drumming, in which the glockenspiel plays a major role in the third and fourth movements. Other instruments that work on the same principle as the glockenspiel include the marimba. The Dulcitone has a sound to the glockenspiel since its sound is made by hammers striking tuning forks. The dulcitone uses soft hammers which damp the forks, compared to the hammers of the glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
–
Glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
–
A Mardi Gras musician playing a glockenspiel.
Glockenspiel
–
Two bell lyres in use
Glockenspiel
–
Most orchestral glockenspiels are mounted in a case
19.
Trill (music)
–
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill. It is sometimes referred to by the German Triller, the Italian trillo, a cadential trill is a trill associated with a cadence. A trill provides rhythmic interest, melodic interest, and—through dissonance—harmonic interest, sometimes it is expected that the trill will end with a turn, or some other variation. Such variations are marked with a few appoggiaturas following the note that bears the trill indication. In most modern musical notation, a trill is indicated with the letters tr above the trilled note. This has sometimes been followed by a line, and sometimes, in the baroque and early classical periods. In those times the symbol was known as a chevron, the following two notations are equivalent, Both the tr and the wavy line are necessary for clarity when the trill is expected to be applied to more than one note. Also, when attached to a single notehead in one part that corresponds to smaller values in another part. The usual way of executing a trill, known as a trill, is to rapidly alternate between the note indicated and the note directly above it in the given scale. Listen to an example of a short passage ending on a trill, the first time, the passage ends in a trill, and the second, the passage does not. These examples are an approximation of how a trill might be executed, in many cases, the rate of the trill will not remain constant as indicated here, but will start slower and become more rapid. Whether a trill is played in this way or not is largely a matter of taste, the number of alternations between notes can vary according to the length of the note in question. Trills may also be played beginning on the note above the one indicated, additionally, a trill is often ended by playing the note below the one indicated followed by the note itself. In the baroque period, a number of signs indicating specific patterns with which a trill should be begun or ended were used, in the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach lists a number of these signs together with the correct way to interpret them. Unless one of these signs is indicated, the details of how to play the trill are up to the performer. Beyond the baroque era, specific signs for ornamentation are very rare, continuing through the time of Mozart, the default expectations for the interpretation of trills continued to be similar to those of the baroque. In music after the time of Mozart, the trill usually begins on the principal note, the trill is frequently found in classical music for all instruments, although it is more easily executed on some than others. For example, while it is easy to produce a trill on the flute
Trill (music)
20.
Modulation (music)
–
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature, modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest. Treatment of a chord as the tonic for less than a phrase is considered tonicization, Modulation is the essential part of the art. Without it there is music, for a piece derives its true beauty not from the large number of fixed modes which it embraces. The modulating dominant is the dominant of the quasi-tonic, the pivot chord is a predominant to the modulating dominant and a chord common to both the keys of the tonic and the quasi-tonic. For example, in a modulation to the dominant, ii/V-V/V-V could be a chord, modulating dominant. For example, G major and D major share 4 chords in common, G, B minor and this can be easily determined by a chart similar to the one below, which compares chord qualities. The I chord in G major—a G major chord—is also the IV chord in D major, so I in G major, any chord with the same root note and chord quality can be used as the pivot chord. However, chords that are not generally found in the style of the piece are not likely to be chosen as the pivot chord. The most common chords are the predominant chords in the new key. In analysis of a piece that uses this style of modulation, an enharmonic modulation takes place when one treats a chord as if it were spelled enharmonically as a functional chord in the destination key, and then proceeds in the destination key. There are two types of enharmonic modulations, dominant seventh/augmented sixth, and diminished seventh. A diminished seventh chord meanwhile, can be respelled in multiple ways to form a diminished seventh chord in a key a minor third. C♯-E-G-B♭, A-C♯-E-G, D-F♯-A takes us to the key of D major - a parallel modulation, enharmonically, C♯-E-G-B♭, A-C♯-E-G = A-C♯-E-G, C♯-E-G♯ modulates to C# minor - a major seventh modulation/half-step descending. C♯-E-G-B♭, C♯-E♭-G-B♭ = E♭-G-B♭-D♭, A♭-C-E♭ leads to A♭ major - a minor third AND relative modulation, in short, lowering any note of a diminished seventh chord a half tone leads to a dominant seventh chord, the lowered note being the root of the new chord. Raising any note of a seventh chord a half tone leads to a half-diminished seventh chord. This means that any diminished chord can be modulated to eight different chords by simply lowering or raising any of its notes and this type of modulation is particularly common in Romantic music, in which chromaticism rose to prominence. Other types of enharmonic modulation include the augmented triad and French sixth, augmented triad modulation occurs in the same fashion as the diminished seventh, that is, to modulate to another augmented triad in a key, a major third or minor sixth away
Modulation (music)
–
Example of modulation from the tonic to the dominant as in vocal music. Play (
help ·
info)
21.
Danse macabre
–
Dance of Death, also called Danse Macabre, is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death, no matter ones station in life, the Dance of Death unites all. The Danse Macabre consists of the dead or personified Death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer. They were produced as mementos mori, to people of the fragility of their lives. Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts, the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now-lost mural in the Saints Innocents Cemetery in Paris dating from 1424 to 1425, the earliest recorded visual example is from the cemetery of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Paris. Marija na Škrilinama in the Istrian town of Beram, painted by Vincent of Kastav, there was also a Dance of Death painted in the 1540s on the walls of the cloister of St Pauls Cathedral, London with texts by John Lydgate, which was destroyed in 1549. The deathly horrors of the 14th century—such as recurring famines, the Hundred Years War in France, and, most of all, the Black Death—were culturally assimilated throughout Europe. Short verse dialogues between Death and each of its victims, which could have performed as plays, can be found in the direct aftermath of the Black Death in Germany. The French term danse macabre may derive from the Latin Chorea Machabæorum, in 2 Maccabees, a deuterocanonical book of the Bible, the grim martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons is described, and was a well-known mediaeval subject. An alternative explanation is that the term entered France via Spain, both the dialogues and the evolving paintings were ostensive penitential lessons that even illiterate people could understand. Numerous mural versions of that legend from the 13th century onwards have survived, since they showed pictorial sequences of men and corpses covered with shrouds, those paintings are sometimes regarded as cultural precursors of the new genre. A danse macabre painting may show a round dance headed by Death or a chain of alternating dead, from the highest ranks of the mediaeval hierarchy descending to its lowest, each mortals hand is taken by a skeleton or an extremely decayed body. The apparent class distinction in almost all of these paintings is completely neutralized by Death as the ultimate equalizer, the Totentanz of Metnitz, for example, shows how a pope crowned with his mitre is being led into Hell by the dancing Death. Usually, a dialogue is attached to each victim, in which Death is summoning him to dance. Who the beggar or the Emperor, ob arm, ob reich, im Tode gleich. Whether rich or poor, equal in death, the famous designs by Hans Holbein the Younger for his Dance of Death series were drawn in 1526 while he was in Basel. They were cut in wood by the accomplished Formschneider Hans Lützelburger and these woodcuts soon appeared in proofs with titles in German. The first book edition, containing forty-one woodcuts, was published at Lyons by the Treschsel brothers in 1538, ten further designs were added in later editions. The Dance of Death refashions the late-medieval allegory of the danse macabre as a reformist satire, most importantly, it was The pictures and the Bible quotations above them were the main attractions
Danse macabre
–
Pieter Brueghel the Elder,
The Triumph of Death (c. 1562) in the
Museo del Prado,
Madrid. Brueghel was strongly influenced by the style of
Hieronymus Bosch.
Danse macabre
–
The Dance of Death (1493) by
Michael Wolgemut, from the
Liber chronicarum by
Hartmann Schedel.
Danse macabre
–
La Danse macabre (
Abbot and
Bailiff). Paris,
Guy Marchant, 1486.
Danse macabre
–
Danse macabre in St Maria in
Bienno.
22.
Piccolo
–
The piccolo /ˈpɪkəloʊ/ is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its sibling, the standard transverse flute. This gave rise to the name ottavino, the name by which the instrument is referred to in the scores of Italian composers, piccolos are now manufactured in the key of C or D♭. It was for this D♭ piccolo that John Philip Sousa wrote the solo in the final repeat of the closing section of his march The Stars. In the orchestral setting, the player is often designated as piccolo/flute III. The larger orchestras have designated this position as a position due to the demands of the literature. Piccolos are often orchestrated to double the violins or the flutes, adding sparkle, in concert band settings, the piccolo is almost always used and a piccolo part is almost always available. Historically, the piccolo had no keys, and should not be confused with the fife, the piccolo is used in conjunction with marching drums in traditional formations at the Carnival of Basel, Switzerland. It is a myth that one of the earliest pieces to use the piccolo was Beethovens Symphony No.5 in C Minor, although neither Joseph Haydn nor Mozart used it in their symphonies, some of their contemporaries did, including Hoffmeister, Süssmayr and Michael Haydn. Also, Mozart used the piccolo in his opera Idomeneo, opera orchestras in Paris sometimes included small transverse flutes at the octave as early as 1735 as existing scores by Rameau show. Finely made piccolos are often available with a variety of similar to the flute. Most piccolos have a body with a cylindrical head, which is like the Baroque flute. There are a number of pieces for piccolo alone, by composers as Samuel Adler, Robert Dick, Michael Isaacson, David Loeb, Polly Moller, Vincent Persichetti. Additionally, there is a selection of chamber music that uses the piccolo. One example is the Quintet for Piccolo and String Quartet by Graham Waterhouse, another is Stockhausens Zungenspitzentanz, for piccolo and two euphoniums, with optional percussionist and dancer. Bryn Mawr, Theodore Presser Company,2008, the Symphonic Debutante Piccolo, Was it Really Beethovens Fifth. The Woodwind Fingering Guide, with piccolo fingerings
Piccolo
–
A Yamaha piccolo. The body is made of
ABS resin, and the head is plated with
silver.
Piccolo
–
The piccolo sounds one
octave higher than written. Sounding:
Piccolo
–
A piccolo being played
23.
Flute
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The flute is a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening, according to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a player, flautist, flutist or, less commonly. Flutes are the earliest extant musical instruments, as paleolithic instruments with hand-bored holes have been found, a number of flutes dating to about 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe. Flutes, including the famous Bansuri, have been a part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC. A major deity of Hinduism, Krishna, has been associated with the flute, the English verb flout has the same linguistic root, and the modern Dutch verb fluiten still shares the two meanings. Attempts to trace the word back to the Latin flare have been pronounced phonologically impossible or inadmissable, the first known use of the word flute was in the 14th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this was in Geoffrey Chaucers The Hous of Fame, today, a musician who plays any instrument in the flute family can be called a flutist, or flautist, or simply a flute player. Flutist dates back to at least 1603, the earliest quote cited by the Oxford English Dictionary, flautist was used in 1860 by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Marble Faun, after being adopted during the 18th century from Italy, like many musical terms in England since the Italian Renaissance. Other English terms, now obsolete, are fluter and flutenist. The oldest flute ever discovered may be a fragment of the femur of a cave bear. In 2008 another flute dated back to at least 35,000 years ago was discovered in Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, the five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. The researchers involved in the officially published their findings in the journal Nature. The flute, one of several found, was found in the Hohle Fels cavern next to the Venus of Hohle Fels, on announcing the discovery, scientists suggested that the finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe. Scientists have also suggested that the discovery of the flute may help to explain the probable behavioural and cognitive gulf between Neanderthals and early modern human. A three-holed flute,18.7 cm long, made from a mammoth tusk was discovered in 2004, the earliest extant Chinese transverse flute is a chi flute discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at the Suizhou site, Hubei province, China. It dates from 433 BC, of the later Zhou Dynasty and it is fashioned of lacquered bamboo with closed ends and has five stops that are at the flutes side instead of the top
Flute
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A selection of flutes from around the world
Flute
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Chinese women playing flutes, from the 12th-century
Song dynasty remake of the Night Revels of Han Xizai, originally by
Gu Hongzhong (10th century)
Flute
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Panflute players.
Cantigas de Santa Maria, mid-13th century, Spain
Flute
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Statue of
Krishna playing a flute
24.
Oboe
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Oboes /ˈoʊboʊ/ OH-boh are a family of double reed woodwind musical instruments. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range, oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with keys, a conical bore. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed and vibrating a column of air, the distinctive oboe tone is versatile, and has been described as bright. When the term oboe is used alone, it is taken to mean the standard treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called a hautbois, hoboy. The spelling of oboe was adopted into English c.1770 from the Italian oboè, a musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist or simply an oboe player. In comparison to other woodwind instruments, the treble oboe is sometimes referred to as having a clear. The Sprightly Companion, a book published by Henry Playford in 1695, describes the oboe as Majestical and Stately. Humorously, the sound of the oboe is described in the play Angels in America as like that of a if the duck were a songbird. The rich timbre of the oboe is derived from its conical bore, as a result, oboes are readily audible over other instruments in large ensembles. The highest note of the oboe is a lower than the nominally highest note of the B♭ clarinet. Since the clarinet has a range of notes, the lowest note of the B♭ clarinet is significantly deeper than the lowest note of the oboe. Music for the oboe is written in concert pitch. Orchestras normally tune to a concert A played by the oboe, according to the League of American Orchestras, this is done because the pitch of the oboe is secure and its penetrating sound makes it ideal for tuning purposes. The pitch of the oboe is affected by the way in which the reed is made. The reed has a significant effect on the sound of the instrument, Variations in cane and other construction materials, the age of the reed, and differences in scrape and length all affect the pitch of the instrument. German and French reeds, for instance, differ in many ways, weather conditions such as temperature and humidity also affect the pitch
Oboe
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A modern oboe with a reed
Oboe
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Classical oboe, copy by Sand Dalton of an original by Johann Friedrich Floth, c. 1805
Oboe
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The members of the oboe family from top:
heckelphone,
bass oboe,
cor anglais,
oboe d'amore, regular oboe, and
piccolo oboe
Oboe
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Oboist
Albrecht Mayer preparing reeds for use. Most oboists scrape their own reeds to achieve the desired tone and response
25.
Cor anglais
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The cor anglais or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, the cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe. This means that music for the cor anglais is written a fifth higher than the instrument actually sounds. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais are essentially the same as those of the oboe, the cor anglais normally lacks the lowest B♭ key found on most oboes and so its sounding range stretches from E3 below middle C to C6 two octaves above middle C. The pear-shaped bell of the cor anglais gives it a more covered timbre than the oboe, the cor anglais is perceived to have a more mellow and plaintive tone than the oboe. Its appearance differs from the oboe in that the reed is attached to a bent metal tube called the bocal, or crook. The cor anglais is usually notated in the treble clef, a fifth higher than sounding. Some composers notated it in the bass clef, when the register was persistently used. Alto clef written at sounding pitch is used, even by as late a composer as Sergei Prokofiev. In late-18th- and early-19th-century Italy, where the instrument was played by bassoonists instead of oboists. French operatic composers up to Fromental Halévy notated the instrument at sounding pitch in the mezzo-soprano clef, although the instrument usually descends only to low B♮, continental instruments with an extension to low B♭ have existed since early in the 19th century. Examples of works requiring this note include Arnold Schoenbergs Gurre-Lieder and Gustav Mahlers Das Lied von der Erde, antonín Dvořák, in his Scherzo Capriccioso, even writes for the cor anglais down to low A, though it seems unlikely that such an extension ever existed. Reeds used to play the cor anglais are similar to those used for an oboe, consisting of a piece of cane folded in two. While the cane on a reed is mounted on a small metal tube partially covered in cork, there is no such cork on a cor anglais reed. The cane part of the reed is wider and longer than that of the oboe, unlike American style oboe reeds, cor anglais reeds typically have wire at the base, approximately 5 mm from the top of the string used to attach the cane to the staple. This wire serves to hold the two blades of cane together and stabilize tone and pitch. Perhaps the best-known makers of modern cors anglais are the French firms of F. Lorée, Marigaux and Rigoutat, the British firm of T. W. Howarth, instruments from smaller makers, such as A. Laubin, are also sought after. Fox has recently made some instruments in plastic resin and in maple, the instrument originated in Silesia about 1720, when a bulb bell was fitted to a curved oboe da caccia-type body by the Weigel family of Breslau
Cor anglais
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Cor anglais or English horn
Cor anglais
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Opening motive from the 2nd movement (Largo) of
Dvořák 's
Symphony No. 9, From the New World
26.
Clarinet
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The clarinet is a musical-instrument family belonging to the group known as the woodwind instruments. It has a mouthpiece, a straight cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist, the word clarinet may have entered the English language via the French clarinette, or from Provençal clarin, oboe. It would seem however that its roots are to be found amongst some of the various names for trumpets used around the renaissance. Clarion, clarin and the Italian clarino are all derived from the medieval term claro which referred to a form of trumpet. This is probably the origin of the Italian clarinetto, itself a diminutive of clarino, according to Johann Gottfried Walther, writing in 1732, the reason for the name is that it sounded from far off not unlike a trumpet. The English form clarinet is found as early as 1733, while the similarity in sound between the earliest clarinets and the trumpet may hold a clue to its name, other factors may have been involved. The trumpet parts that required this speciality were known by the term clarino, Johann Christoph Denner is generally believed to have invented the clarinet in Germany around the year 1700 by adding a register key to the earlier chalumeau. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and these days the most popular clarinet is the B♭ clarinet. However, the clarinet in A, just a lower, is commonly used in orchestral music. Since the middle of the 19th century the clarinet has become an essential addition to the orchestra. The clarinet family ranges from the BBB♭ octo-contrabass to the A♭ piccolo clarinet, the clarinet has proved to be an exceptionally flexible instrument, equally at home in the classical repertoire as in concert bands, military bands, marching bands, klezmer, and jazz. The cylindrical bore is primarily responsible for the clarinets distinctive timbre, the tone quality can vary greatly with the musician, the music, the instrument, the mouthpiece, and the reed. The most prominent were the German/Viennese traditions and the French school, the latter was centered on the clarinetists of the Conservatoire de Paris. The proliferation of recorded music has made examples of different styles of clarinet playing available, the modern clarinetist has a diverse palette of acceptable tone qualities to choose from. The A clarinet and B♭ clarinet have nearly the same bore, orchestral players using the A and B♭ instruments in the same concert could use the same mouthpiece for both. The A and the B♭ instruments have nearly identical tonal quality, the tone of the E♭ clarinet is brighter than that of the lower clarinets and can be heard even through loud orchestral or concert band textures. The bass clarinet has a deep, mellow sound, while the alto clarinet is similar in tone to the bass
Clarinet
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Bass clarinet
Clarinet
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Written range (though it is possible to play higher):
Clarinet
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Sound wave propagation in the soprano clarinet
Clarinet
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Schüller's quarter-tone clarinet
27.
Bass clarinet
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The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B♭ clarinet, it is pitched in B♭. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, Bass clarinets regularly perform in orchestras, wind ensembles/concert bands, occasionally in marching bands, and play an occasional solo role in contemporary music and jazz in particular. Someone who plays a clarinet is called a bass clarinetist. Most modern bass clarinets are straight-bodied, with a small upturned silver-colored metal bell, Early examples varied in shape, some having a doubled body making them look similar to bassoons. The bass clarinet is fairly heavy and is supported either with a strap or with an adjustable peg attached to its body. While Adolphe Sax imitated its upturned metal bell in his design of the larger saxophones, Bass clarinet bodies are most often made of grenadilla or plastic resin, while saxophones are typically made entirely of metal. More significantly, all including the bass have a bore that is basically the same diameter along the body of the instrument. This cylindrical bore differs from the saxophones conical one and gives the clarinet its characteristic tone, causing it to overblow at the twelfth compared with the saxophones octave. A majority of modern bass clarinets, like other clarinets in the family, have the Boehm system of keys and fingering, most modern Boehm system bass clarinets have an extension key allowing them to play to the E♭. This key was added to allow easy transposition of parts for the relatively rare bass clarinet pitched in A. A significant difference between soprano and bass clarinet key work is a key pad played by the index finger with a vent that may be uncovered for certain high notes. This allows a form of half-hole fingering that allows notes in higher registers to be played on the instrument, in addition, older bass clarinets have two register keys, one for middle D♯ and below, the other for middle E and higher. Newer models typically only have one, the second register key makes the altissimo range much easier to play. In addition to differences in keywork, many professional and advanced bass clarinetists own instruments with extensions down to a C a full two octaves below written middle C. At concert pitch this note is the B♭ below the second ledger line below the bass staff, overall, the instrument sounds an octave lower than the B♭ soprano clarinet. As with all instruments, the upper limit of the range depends on the quality of the instrument. According to Aber and Lerstad, who give fingerings up to written C8, the bass clarinet has been regularly used in scoring for orchestra and concert band since the late 19th century, becoming more common during the middle and latter part of the 20th century
Bass clarinet
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Four modern bass clarinets, from left to right
Leblanc L400,
Signet Selmer 1430P, E. M. Winston, Leblanc 330S.
Bass clarinet
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B ♭ bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
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Michael Lowenstern playing bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
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Edmund Welles, a quartet of bass clarinetists based in the San Francisco Bay Area
28.
Bassoon
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The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor clefs, and occasionally the treble. Appearing in its form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band. The bassoon is an instrument known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, variety of character. Listeners often compare its warm, dark, reedy timbre to that of a baritone voice. Someone who plays the bassoon is called a bassoonist, the word bassoon comes from French basson and from Italian bassone. However, the Italian name for the instrument is fagotto. B♭1–C5 The range of the bassoon begins at B♭1 and extends upward over three octaves, roughly to the G above the treble staff, higher notes are possible but difficult to produce, and rarely called for, orchestral and concert band parts rarely go higher than C5 or D5. Even Stravinskys famously difficult opening solo in The Rite of Spring only ascends to D5, a1 is possible with a special extension to the instrument—see Extended techniques below. The bassoon disassembles into six pieces, including the reed. Bassoons are double reed instruments like the oboe and the English horn, a modern beginners bassoon is generally made of maple, with medium-hardness types such as sycamore maple and sugar maple preferred. Both bore and tone holes are precision-machined, and each instrument is finished by hand for proper tuning and this ensures coverage by the fingers of the average adult hand. Wooden instruments are lined with hard rubber along the interior of the wing and boot joints to prevent damage from moisture, the end of the bell is usually fitted with a ring, either of metal, plastic or ivory. The joints between sections consist of a tenon fitting into a socket, the tenons are wrapped in either cork or string as a seal against air leaks. The bocal connects the reed to the rest of the instrument and is inserted into a socket at the top of the wing joint, bocals come in many different lengths and styles, depending on the desired tuning and playing characteristics. Folded upon itself, the bassoon stands 1.34 m tall, there are also short-reach bassoons made for the benefit of young or petite players. The origins of the dulcian are obscure, but by the century it was available in as many as eight different sizes. Otherwise, dulcian technique was rather primitive, with eight finger holes, the dulcian came to be known as fagotto in Italy. However, the etymology that equates fagotto with bundle of sticks is somewhat misleading
Bassoon
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Two views of a Renard model 220 bassoon
Bassoon
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Dulcians and
racketts, from the Syntagma musicum by
Michael Praetorius.
Bassoon
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Heckel system bassoon from 1870
Bassoon
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Edgar Degas, L'Orchestre de L'Opera, (1868)
29.
Contrabassoon
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The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or bass bassoon is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its cousin, with a few notable differences. The reed is considerably larger than the bassoons, at 65–75 mm in length as compared to 53–58 mm for most bassoon reeds. The large blades allow ample vibration that produces the low register of the instrument, the contrabassoon reed is similar to an average bassoons in that scraping the reed affects both the intonation and response of the instrument. The fingering of the contrabassoon is slightly different than that of the bassoon, particularly at the register change and in the extreme high range. The instrument is twice as long, curves around on itself twice, additional support is sometimes given by a strap around the players neck. A wider hand position is required, as the primary finger keys are widely spaced. The contrabassoon has a key to expel condensation and a tuning slide for gross pitch adjustments. The instrument comes in a few pieces, some models cannot be disassembled without a screwdriver, sometimes, however, the bell can be detached, and instruments with a low A extension often come in two parts. The contrabassoon is a very deep sounding woodwind instrument that plays in the same register as the tuba. It has a range beginning at B♭0 and extending up three octaves and a major third to D4. Donald Erb and Kalevi Aho write even higher in their concertos for the instrument, the instrument is notated an octave above sounding pitch in bass clef, with tenor or even treble clef called for in high passages. Tonally, it sounds much like the bassoon except for an organ pedal quality in the lowest octave of its range which provides a solid underpinning to the orchestra or concert band. The lowest range, in comparison with the bassoon, can be played quieter than the bassoon can, while prominent in solo and small ensemble situations, the sound can be completely obscured in the volume of the full orchestra or concert band. The contrabassoon was developed, especially in England, in the century, the oldest surviving instrument. It was around that time that the contrabassoon began gaining acceptance in church music, however, until the late 19th century, the instrument typically had a weak tone and poor intonation. For more than a century, between 1880 and 2000, Heckel’s design remained relatively unchanged, chip Owen at the American company, Fox, began manufacturing an instrument in 1971 with some improvements. Generally, during the 20th century changes to the instrument were limited to an upper vent key near the socket, a tuning slide
Contrabassoon
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Contrabassoon
Contrabassoon
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Written pitch, sounds one
octave lower Sounding pitch
30.
French horn
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The French horn is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B♭ is the horn most often used by players in professional orchestras, a musician who plays any kind of horn is generally referred to as a horn player. Most horns have lever-operated rotary valves, but some, especially older horns, use piston valves, the backward-facing orientation of the bell relates to the perceived desirability to create a subdued sound, in concert situations, in contrast to the more piercing quality of the trumpet. A horn without valves is known as a horn, changing pitch along the natural harmonics of the instrument. Pitch may also be controlled by the position of the hand in the bell, the pitch of any note can easily be raised or lowered by adjusting the hand position in the bell. Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, the more common double horn has a fourth valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or another tuned to B♭. Triple horns with five valves are made, tuned in F, B♭. Also common are descant doubles, which typically provide B♭ and alto F branches and this configuration provides a high-range horn while avoiding the additional complexity and weight of a triple. A crucial element in playing the horn deals with the mouthpiece, when playing higher notes, the majority of players exert a small degree of additional pressure on the lips using the mouthpiece. It is the goal of all serious brass musicians to develop their technique such that additional mouthpiece pressure is avoided altogether, or at the very least, the name French horn is found only in English, first coming into use in the late 17th century. At that time, French makers were preeminent in the manufacture of hunting horns, as a result, these instruments were often called, even in English, by their French names, trompe de chasse or cor de chasse. The International Horn Society has recommended since 1971 that the instrument be simply called the horn, there is also a more specific use of French horn to describe a particular horn type, differentiated from the German horn and Vienna horn. In this sense, French horn refers to an instrument with three Périnet valves. It retains the narrow bell-throat and mouthpipe crooks of the orchestral hand horn of the late 18th century, and most often has an ascending third valve. This is a whole-tone valve arranged so that with the valve in the up position the valve loop is engaged, the horn is the third-highest-sounding instrument in the brass family, below the trumpet and the cornet. Horns are mostly tuned in B♭ or F, or a combination of both, in some traditions, novice players use a single horn in F, while others prefer the B♭ horn. The F horn is used more commonly than the B♭ horn, sound is produced by vibrating the players lips into the mouthpiece of the instrument. Different partials in the series can be played by adjusting the air pressure and lip tension
French horn
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A hunting horn on the insignia of the Danish "Huntsmen Corps" (Jægerkorpset)
French horn
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Vienna horn
French horn
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The
valves of a
Conn 6D double horn. The 3 lever keys (above the large valves) can be depressed toward the large outer tube. The thumb key (near the left-most valve) moves inward toward the 3 finger keys.
French horn
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A natural horn has no valves, but can be tuned to a different key by inserting different tubing, as during a rest period.
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