Hand It to Handel

 

George Frideric Handel was born on February, 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany. One of the most prolific composers, several later composers have created variations of Handel’s works:

• ·       Beethoven’s 12 Variations in G major is based on Handels’ Judas Maccabaeus.
• ·       Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Opus 24 is based on Handels’ second harpsichord suite.
• ·       Philippe Gaubert’s Petite Marche for flute and piano is based on Handel’s Trio Sonata Opus 5, No. 2 fourth movement.
• ·       Luis Gianneo composed Variations on a Theme by Handel for piano.
• ·       Arnold Schoenberg’s Concerto for String Quarter and Orchestra in B-flat major is based on Handel’s Concerto Grosso Opus 6/7.
• ·       Percy Grainger composed Variations on Handel’s ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’. Later, he reworded the first part of that piece to create Handel in the Strand, including a piano version.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Handel has been greatly flattered.

"Chill' July Piano Composers

 

Summertime can heat up; one way to “chill” is with a good piano selection. And there are several piano composers with July birthdays, so you can celebrate the month AND their music at the same time.

Tomoko studies composers as part of her preparation for performing, and she considers the style of each composer when she chooses pieces for her students. Here are some of Tomoko’s favorite July composers.

Number one on the list for Tomoko has to be Mozart, born on July 26, 1791. “I have a natural feeling about Mozart,” Tomoko says;“I could play a piece of his twenty  times, and not tire of it.” And Mozart has helped Tomoko’s career. For instance, while at the conservatory student on a US visa, Tomoko had to audition to prove that she was a serious music student. She played a Mozart concerto as her audition piece, which showcased her expertise and self-confidence; her performance enabled her to stay in the conservatory’s program.

Two July-born composers, Field and Granado, are featured on Tomoko’s CD Baroque-20^th Century. John Field was born on July 26, 1782, in Dublin. His music was considered one of the most influential of the early Romantic period, inspiring several of Tomoko’s composers, whose music she plays regularly: Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann.  In contrast, Spaniard Enrique Granados was born on July 27, 1867. He is known for both a romantic style and for nationalistic pieces such as Spanish Dances. Some of the compositions have been transcribed for classical guitar.

Also linked with folk music is Percy Grainger, who was born on July 8, 1882 in Brighton, Australia. He led the movement of reviving British folk music as reflected in his arrangement of the folk dance tune Country Gardens. Many of his other compositions are experimental, including the use of music machines. Tomoko values traditional musical forms, which express a sense of communal culture.

Tomoko is also a devotee of Bach. One July piano composer with a good sense of humor is Peter Schickele, who has composed parodies of Bach’s music using the alias of P. D. Q. Bach; sample titles include “Canine Cantata” and “A Little Nightmare Music.” Schickele has also composed music for Joan Baez, and done more serious compositions as well. Schickele was born on July 17, 1935. He was also a music educator, and hosted a long-running weekly radio program called Schickele Mix.

One 20^th century Japanese compatriot piano composers born in July was Yasushi Akutagawa, born on July 12, 1925. Akutagawa attended the same university as Tomoko: Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. His compositions were influenced by several composers whom Tomoko likes: Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev. Akutagawa was also a music educator like Tomoko.

Piano Music for Gardening

 

The adage “April showers bring May flowers” signals the time for gardening, a favorite pastime of Tomoko. She considers it as a way to wake up, to recharge her psychic batteries. “It’s a fresh feeling.”

Refresh yourself with these ten piano pieces inspired by gardens, with a little information about each piece.

In the 1930s Hungarian Bela Bartok wrote a collection of 85 short pieces entitled For Children. One of those compositions is "Rose Garden." These pieces attest to his belief in the importance to educating youngsters in contemporary musical styles.

Amy Beach was the first major American female composer of large-scale art music. Her 1922 Opus 97, Grandmother’s Garden, consists of five parts, each capturing a different flower.

Aaron Copland’s Down a Country Lane was commissioned by Life magazine to be featured in a 1962 issue, which includes photographs and an article explaining that this piano piece was one of the few compositions written express for young students by a major composer.

Claude Debussy’s “Jardins sur la pluie” (Gardens in the rain) is part of his 1903 composition Estampes (Prints). It captures the round of raindrops that storm a French garden. 

As a gift to his mother, Australian Percy Aldridge Grainger arranged an English folk tune into the 1918 piano piece “Country Gardens.” The piece was his greatest success financially, selling over 40,000 copies yearly in the United States. However, Grainger came to resent having to perform it constantly.

A visit to a monastic garden inspired English composer Albert Ketelbey to write “In a Monastery Garde.” In 1915. Ketelbey was known for light orchestral music, and wrote music for silent films.

Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s 1938 suite Window on the Garden consists of four lyrical movements. The piece reflects his short stay in Paris just before escaping from the forthcoming Nazi invasion.

Edward McDowell was America’s best known composer at the beginning of the 20^th century. His 1902 piano New England Idyls combines classical European harmonic elements and American textual imagery, as exemplified in the piece "An Old Garden."

Rachmaninoff became known for his lyrical inspiration, where the piano captures the sentiments of the text. Lilacs, Op 21, No. 5 “Lilacs, along with Daisies” was composed in 1902 as a song with accompaniment, but was later transcribed as a sensitive piano solo miniature.

In 1893 Tchaikowsky wrote his last solo piano work, 18 Pieces, one a day. Value-bluette, No. 11, was dedicated to the daughter of his lawyer and friend Nikolay Kondratyev.

.