Classical Piano June Composers

 Happy June birthday to the following classical composers of piano music who were born in June! Tomoko has played the pieces of several of these famous musicians.

Mikhail Glinka was born June 1, 1804, in Novospasskoye, Russia. He is known as the father of Russian classical music. As a child, the first music he heard were church bells (which he didn’t like) and folk songs, which influenced his compositional style, particularly his art songs.

Robert Schumann was born June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Germany. He wanted to have a career as a virtuoso pianist, but a hand injury dashed that dream. The musical world benefitted as he became a renown composer for piano; in fact, he wrote exclusively for the piano until 1840.

Richard Strauss was born June 11, 1864, in Munich, Germany. He bridged the late Romantic and early modern styles. He is famous for his lieder tone poems piano compositions.

Edward Grieg was born June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway. He was both a concert pianist and composer of the Romantic era. His mother was his first piano teacher.

Igor Stravinsky was born June 17, 1882, in Lomonosov, Russia. He is most known for his Firebird suite, The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, and is 1924 Sonata for piano. After his Russian phase, her transitioned to a more austere neoclassical style.

Charles Gounod was born June 18, 1818, in Paris, France. He is best known for his Ave Maria and his “Funeral March of a Marionette,” which was used as the theme song for the TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach was born June 21, 1732, in Leipzig, Germany. He was Johann Sebastian Bach’s ninth son. He wrote mainly keyboard compositions: for sonatas, choir pieces, oratorios, motels, operas, and songs.

Romantic June

The month of June is often associated with romance and weddings. Tomoko was born in June, the same month as several of her favorite composers of the Romantic age.

Mikhail Glinka. (born June 1, 1804 in Russia) was the first Russian composer to be well known in his country, creating operas, orchestral works, chamber music, art songs, along with piano pieces. For years his composition "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" was the country’s national anthem.

Robert Schumann (born June 8, 1810 in Germany) intended to become a virtuoso pianist, but instead he became known as one of the greatest Romantic era composers. For years, he wrote only piano pieces; later he added other orchestral instruments to his compositions and write many lieder.

Richard Strauss (born June 11, 1864 in Germany) wrote his first composition at age six and continued composing music into his eighties. He represents later German Romanticism. He is best known for his operas, but also wrote tone poems, lieder, orchestral works, chamber works, and solo pieces. Straus also made live-recording play piano rolls.

Edvard Grieg (born June 15, 1843 in Norway) made Norwegian music famous and helped develop its national identity, especially when he based his compositions on Norwegian folk music. Grieg was the cournty’s leading Romantic composers.  Professionally, he started as a concert pianist, but was inspired by Norwegian composers he met to write his own music, including piano pieces.

For Freedom and Independence

 

In July several countries celebrate the spirit of freedom and independence: National Canada Day on July 1, the U.S. Independence Day on July 4, France’s Bastille Day on July 14, to name a few. Such patriotic fervor has long time roots. And it reverberates today as much as ever in our hearts.

 Tomoko places a high value on freedom and independence. She was a very brave young woman seeking opportunity when she left Japan for the United States, and she was worked hard as an independent woman, breaking ground as the first Asian woman teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, for instance.

Composers have also revered freedom and independence through their piano music.

One of Tomoko’s favorite composers, Frederic Chopin, was one of the first composers to incorporate nationalistic elements into his compositions: mainly through the folk idiom of his mazurkas and polonaises.

Another Polish composer, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, was also inspirited by Polish folk music such as his Polish Fantasy for piano and orchestra. Paderewski became a diplomat and spokesman for Polish independence.

The founder of the Russian national school of composition, Mikhail Glinka highlighted Russian culture in his subjects and melodies, as exemplified in his Capriccio on Russian themes for piano duet.

Czech composer Antonin Dvorak also drew on his native Slavic folk dance forms in his piano duet piece Slavonic Dances. Moravian and other Eastern European traditional music forms also inspired him.

Another one of Tomoko’s favorite composers, Franz Liszt, was known as a Hungarian nationalist. In that vein, he based his Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano  on traditional  art songs performed by Romani band.

Following Liszt’s model, Hungarian Bela Bartok, was inspired by Magyar folk melodies, which were well times with his society’s interested in traditional nature culture. An interesting example are 80 folk tunes collected in the two-volume set For Children.

Edvard Grieg helped create a national identity through his compositions, which were inspired by Norwegian folk music. Grieg recorded many of his own piano works.  

Finlandia is the ultimate patriotic song, composed by Jean Sibelius.

Tomoko enjoys the freedom and independence that are expressed in these European piano composers. In that respect, their value of traditional musical form expresses a sense of communal  culture and independence that transcends any nationalism.

.

Gleaning Glinka

On her CD Touria, Tomoko plays a mazurka composed by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. Not as well known as other Russian composers, Glinka significantly influenced the famous Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, and later Tchaikovsky.

Mikhail Glinka was born in 1804 to a noble family who lived near Belarus. He grew up listening to local folk songs, church choirs, and serf orchestras. While at boarding school in St. Petersburg, Glink studied piano and violin, and he networked with orchestral musicians. Glinka entered civil service, but due to an illness, his doctor recommended spending time in Italy. That time extended to three years as Glinka became more acquainted with Italian opera and began composing operatic airs. From there he traveled to Berlin and Vienna, discovering his need to write in his own Russian musical vernacular. Thereafter, Glinka returned to Russia, where he was commissioned to write a Russian opera, which featured peasant folk song motifs. The opera’s success led to his appointment at the Court Chapel Choir, during which time he composed church music, a set of twelve songs, incidental music, and piano pieces. In 1842 he composed his second opera Ruslan and Lyudmila, which had a magical theme and tone that became an evocative mainstay up to Stravinsky’s Firebird. Later, Glinka would travel to Paris where he worked with Berlioz and then to Spain where he was influenced by that country’s folk music.  He continued to travel in Europe, dying in 1857.

Glinka’s musical legacy consists of laying the groundwork for Russian musical nationalism. He soaked up a variety of European techniques and assimilated them into a Russian idiom. 

Glinka’s “Mazurka in C minor” was influenced by Chopin, one of Tomoko’s favorite composers. This piece, written in 1843, is more refined and intimate than his earlier mazurkas, with its sinuous sensibility. His lifelong thread of songs and music for solo piano plays well to Tomoko’s own predilections.

The Culture of Music

Continuing the spirit of countries, as reflected in the conversation about Independence day, Tomoko talks about culture’s impact on music. “I have a student from India. Each country has a traditional music. The people in each country meet for a unique reason. During their gatherings a special harmony is produced, and even the way to perform that ritual music is unique.” Tomoko then relates that national or cultural experience to art. You can imagine a museum in that country. Its art reflects the county’s geography, its lifestyles, its artistic sensibilities. So when you listen to the sound of a country, you are one step closer to its art. Both of these creative expressions reflect the country.”

Tomoko sees the importance of experiencing music through the lens of a country, and comparing those different expressions. She suggests: “Compare Christmas songs from different countries. They are a way to connect with culture.”

Tomoko relates some of her own musical experiences as she has traveled in different countries. “In a Korea donut shop you might hear cello sonata music. In Korea you find good singing performance. Koreans see singing as a discipline. In Japan they have high-class music. The rules of music are very important, just as the direction of kimono is important. In Japan people are not supposed to show their emotions; their expressions are like a mask. Similarly, their approach to music is more technical rather than emotional.”

Tomoko then compares how people relate to music in France. “In France each person has a chance to shine, to be individual. Musicians ask: Why should I perform music the same way as another person?” Tomoko perceives another attitude in German music. “The Germans have a proverb: The weed is stronger than the flower. The weak, the fragile, have to do more than show up when playing music; they cannot stay in their safe zone. Instead, German performers know that they have to practice repeatedly; constant discipline is needed. They are never satisfied until they are strong, overcoming any musical challenges.”

You can hear the feelings of the country in Tomoko’s performance of several piano pieces that were inspired by traditional melodies such as Chopin's Polanaise a A flat major and Glinka's Masurkas. Enjoy them on the Touria album, available at https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tomokohagiwara13.