Tomoko celebrated Mothers’ Day celebrated
recently, and music composers have celebrated mothers throughout the year for
centuries. Here is a sampling of pieces that are These pieces are
mother-approved.
Robert Schumann’s cycle of eight songs, “Frauen-Liebe
und Leben” (“A Woman’s Life and Love”), follows a woman’s life of falling in
love, marrying, and, becoming a mother. It has a very happy tone, but
Schumann’s wife did not like the distraction of motherhood from her own musical
career.
Richard Strauss’s piece “Muttertändelei” (“Mother-chatter”) recounts
a mother’s praise of her child. It was written two years after Strauss’s wife
gave birth to their son Franz.
Among Dvorak’s collection of gypsy songs is “Songs My
Mother Taught Me.” One of his most famous melodies, this piece tells of a
mother teaching her children the songs she herself learned from her mother.
Dvorak’s daughter was composer Josef Suk’s mother –
and the inspiration for Suk’s piece pieces “About Mother, which were written
for his children.
Ravel was another composer who wrote for children. Ma
Mere l’Oye (or Mother Goose) His piano duet suite is a piano duet composed
for his friend’s children.
Speaking of Mother Goose, Christina Rossetti penned nursery
rhymes that were put to music in 1918 by John Ireland to become Mother
and Child.
The 1910 piano piece “Empress of Night” was a husband and
wife effort; Amy Beach composed the music and her husband wrote the
text. The piece was dedicated to Amy’s mother.
