March On for Classic Piano Composers

 

As spring arrives, here we get to celebrate ten major piano composers born in March.

Frédéric Chopin (March 1, 1810): Known almost exclusively for his piano works, Chopin's output includes legendary nocturnes, etudes, and ballades.

Antonio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678): A prolific Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, and priest, he significantly influenced the development of the concerto form. He is most famous for composing The Four Seasons.

Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875): A master of Impressionism, Ravel composed complex piano masterpieces like Gaspard de la nuit and Le Tombeau de Couperin.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (March 8, 1714): A pioneer of the "sensitive style" (Empfindsamer Stil), he was a prolific composer of keyboard sonatas that bridged the Baroque and Classical eras.

Samuel Barber (March 9, 1910): While known for his Adagio for Strings, he wrote significant piano music, including his formidable Piano Sonata and the Excursions.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (March 18, 1844): Known for his nationalistic style, he produced famous works like Scheherazade and the Russian Easter Festival Overture, while also serving as a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. 

Johann Sebastian Bach (March 21/31, 1685): Though a Baroque composer, his keyboard works like The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations are fundamental to piano pedagogy and performance. His birthday is often celebrated on March 21st (Old Style) or March 31st (New Style).

Modest Mussorgsky (March 21, 1839): A Russian composer, he drew heavily on Slavonic folk music and natural speech rhythms. He is most known for his vivid piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.

Béla Bartók (March 25, 1881): A major 20th-century composer who wrote extensive piano music, including the pedagogical series Mikrokosmos and three piano concertos.

Franz Joseph Haydn (March 31, 1732): A prolific composer of over 50 keyboard sonatas, he helped define the Classical style.

Melodies about Mermaids

Tomoko was born in Tokyo long before that city’s Disneyland Sea, which features the mermaid Ariel. Mermaids have inspired piano composers for centuries because of their mythical and ethereal nature. These compositions often feature Impressionistic, flowing piano, or orchestral techniques to evoke the sea's mystery. Here are a few examples.

• Franz Joseph Haydn composed "The Mermaid's Song" (1794) as part of his 12 English Canzonettas. It features a shimmering piano prelude meant to evoke the movement of water.
• Enrique Granados wrote a piano piece titled "La Sirena" during his early career (c. 1884–1895) as he developed his distinct Spanish romantic style.
• William Gillock included a piece titled "Song of the Mermaid" in his 24 Preludes in Romantic Style, a popular educational collection for solo piano.
• Claude Debussy’s movement "Sirènes" from Nocturnes is a cornerstone of mermaid-inspired music. His piano prelude "La Cathédrale Engloutie" (The Sunken Cathedral) also evokes a similar mystical underwater atmosphere. 

The mermaid motif continues today in piano compositions.

• Alan Menken, known for his music for Disney’s The Little Mermaid, has been extensively arranged for classical piano solo and duet, notably by Phillip Keveren.
• Alla Pavlova composed "The Mermaid" as part of her Six Piano Impressions After Fairy Tales by H.C. Andersen (2015).
• Vladimir Titov wrote "Mermaid" Op. 8 No. 2, which features a mirrored hand technique on the piano. 

Tomoko is no mermaid, but over the years she has certainly made a splash with her piano performances and teaching.

Autumn Leaves of Notes

Autumn offers a subtle mix of weather and somberness. Here are some composers and their works related to autumn:

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: 

  His "October, Autumn Song" is a programmatic piano piece from The Seasons, a set of twelve character pieces representing each month of the year. 
• Fanny Mendelssohn: 

  Her piano cycle Das Jahr ("The Year") features pieces for each month; "September," "October," and "November" specifically evoke autumnal moods. 
• Antonio Vivaldi: 

  While primarily for violin and orchestra, his famous "Autumn" from The Four Seasons (1723) is the quintessential programmatic piece capturing the season. 
• Joseph Haydn: 

  His oratorio The Seasons includes a section on "Autumn," reflecting the composer's musical portrayal of the season and its joys. 
• Jules Massenet: 

  He wrote songs, including the piece "Pensée d'automne" ("Thoughts in Autumn"), which conveys the passing of time and fading memories. 
• Edvard Grieg: 

  Composed an overture In Autumn, which features many elements found in his orchestral and piano works. 

Out of This World Music

 

Some music is out of this world! Or maybe it sounds spacy. Many composers have written about outer space. Here is a sampling, all of which have been composed or arranged for piano.

Gustav Holst’s The Planets is the most obvious example. While it was composed as an orchestral suite with seven movements (one for each planet), piano arrangements for one and two pianos have be written.

Three centuries early, in 1648, Heinrich Schutz wrote a motet based on the Psalm 19, which begins “The heavens declare the glory of God.”

Over a century later, Joseph Haydn used the same Psalms in his 1798 oratorio The Creation. This piece too has been arranged for the piano.

On to the next century. In 1868 Josef Strauss (Johann’s younger brother) wrote the waltz  Music of the Spheres.

Back to the 20^th century. One of Hector Villa-Lobo’s most popular piano compositions is a set of three piano miniatures called “The Three Marys,” which refers to the three stars in the constellation Orion’s belt.

More recently, Bela Bartok (one of Tomoko's favorite composers) created a series of 153 piano pieces called Microkosmos. This six-volume set starts with simple etudes and progresses to advanced technical works. This “little world” of music is its own cosmology.

Noting the New Year

 Several musical pieces are associated with New Year’s Eve and the new year. Here is a brief history of probably the most famous song for New Year’s Day: Auld Lang Syne.

The song started as an 18^th century Scottish folk song with Robert Burns’ collection of older lyrics. Its first recorded use was heard as the end of the 1782 opera Rosina’s overture by English composer William Shield. Ten years later Haydn arranged Auld Lang Syne and more than 400 other Scottish folk songs, which helped popularize the song. Beethoven also wrote an arrangement of song in his 1814 collection 12 Scottish Folksongs. In the early 20^th century, songwriter George M. Cohan integrated the first part of Auld Lang Syne into the last part of the chorus of his song “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” During World War One, British soldiers sang “We’re Here Because We’re Here” to the tune of Auld Lang Syne . A decade later John Philip Sousa incorporated the melody of Auld Lang Syne in his march “Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.” About 50 years ago English composer Ernest Tomlinson wrote a Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne, which wove in 152 snippets of other composers.

Since its beginning, Auld Lang Syne has been translated into many languages and sung around the world. Its pentatonic scale matches Eastern Asian scales, which has helped its adoption in those cultures. Tomoko may have sung it as a child growing up. Just as New Year’s Day is universal, so is its mascot song Auld Lang Syne.

Praising Easter through Music

When Tomoko was in college, she played the organ for Catholic masses. Easter is the most important event in Catholicism, and music has been an important part of Mass throughout the ages, including at Easter. Here are some representive samples of classical pieces for Easter.

Probably the most famous classical piece played at Easter is Handel's Messiah, particularly the “Hallelujah” chorus. The entire composition, which traces the highlights of Jesus's life, took Handel 14 years to finalize, in 1741.

Over a hundred years earlier, in the 1630s, Italian composer Gregorio Allegri set the Latin text of Psalm 51 to music, Miserere mei, Deus, for two choirs. Pope Urban VIII first used it for Holy Week services in the Sistine Chapel.

Bach's first major composition for Easter was St. John Passion, written in 1724 for that year's Good Friday Vespers service. Bach used John 18 and 19's account of Christ's crucifixion as the basis for his masterpiece.

St. Matthew Passion, also written by Johann Sebastian Bach, is often played at Easter because it is the story of Christ's suffering and death. It was performed only three times in the 18^th century, and not performed again until almost a hundred years later.

One more Bach piece, his Easter Oratorio, was first conceived as a cantata for Easter Sunday in 1725.

Even though Haydn was an Austrian composer, his orchestral work The Seven Last Words of Christ (which Haydn also approved in piano version) was written for the 1786 Good Friday service at Oratoria de la Santa Cueva in Spain.

Mahler's 1894 Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, evokes the beauty of that event. At the same time, this piece has both its light and dark moments.

Rimsky-Korsakov's 1888 Russian Easter Festival Overture evokes a grand Easter morning service.

While it is often associated with the American South, the song “Amazing Grace” dates back to 1779, written by John Newton: a clergyman in the Church of England. Poet William Cowper collaborated with him on this hymn.

The more contemporary hymn “How Great Thou Art,” often sung at Easter, was actually based on a traditional Swedish folk tune.

Bring Harmony to 2024

What better way to bring in the new year than with music? And piano music offers a way for an individual to kinesthetically set the tone for the upcoming 365 days. 

The new year is a time of creation. As the 18th century was coming to a close, Joseph Haydn wrote the sacred oratorio The Creation to depict the creation of the world. While it was originally scored for voice and symphonic orchestra, it has also been arranged for solo and four-hand piano. 

J. S. Bach thought systematically about the year, not surprisingly; “In dir ist Freude” is a gladsome way to herald the new year. This chorale prelude is one of the preludes collected in Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, which marks various points in the liturgical year. 

Particularly in Vienna, people welcome the new by clapping to Johann Strauss’s Radetzky March, composed in 1848. It can be arranged for piano solo and duets. The Champagne Polka is another selection by Johann Strauss that fits for New Year’s Eve parties. He wrote the piece as a little joke, imitating the sound of champagne bottles being uncorked. While the piano version does not “pop” as convincingly, it still captures the spirit of the pol,ka 

Since 1936 musicians gather to perform at New Year’s concert in Vienna, and Johann Strauss II’s Pizzicato Polka was played that first year. Another piece by Strauss II performed at the first concert was Die Fledermaus Overture of his famous opera. This Strauss’s Blue Danube is another piece performed at the New Year’s concert, often as an encore. All three pieces have been arranged for the piano. 

The modern English composer Ernest Tomlinson appreciated light classical music. In 1976 he created Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne, which uses that traditional song as the main theme, but also weaves in snippets of other 150 other pieces. Another orchestral composition, it has also been scored for the piano.  

May 2024 be harmonious…. 

Musical Timing

 

Timing is critical in music. Piano performance certainly relies on it, as Tomoko well appreciates. Piano composers know how timing impacts the musical message such as a dirge versus a festive piece – as well as a performer’s interpretation.  Time itself as a thematic focus has inspired piano composers as the following examples illustrate.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 is nicknamed “The Clock” because of its ticking rhythm. Since its inception, the Andante  second movement has been arranged for piano. Haydn also wrote Music for a Musical Clock for a friend who wanted his clock to play music.

Beethoven’s Pieces for a Mechanical Clock were only discovered after his death. At least some of the pieces were score for piano. The music itself evokes a mechanical clock.

Chopin’s Minute Waltz is well known. What is less well known is that the piece lasts between one and two minutes; the term “minute” actually means small.

Harrison Birtwistle’s piano piece Harrison’s Clocks was inspired by an 18^th century clock maker. Each movement mimics a clock’s mechanisms.

Leroy Anderson’s composition “The Syncopated Clock” is another concert favorite with its lighthearted treatment. Anderson was in the U.S. Army when he was asked to guest conduct for the Boston Pops Orchestra. He wanted to provide a new composition for the concert so quickly wrote the piece and premiered it while he was on a three-day pass to do the conducting. This piece is also available as a piano arrangement.

Playing these piano pieces is a fun – and maybe ironic – way to spend time.

Start the New Year Right with Piano Pieces

 

What better way to bring in the new year than with music? And piano music offers a way for an individual to kinesthetically set the tone for the upcoming 365 days.

The new year is a time of creation. As the 18^th century was coming to a close, Joseph Haydn wrote the sacred oratorio The Creation to depict the creation of the world. While it was originally scored for voice and symphonic orchestra, it has also been arranged for solo and four-hand piano.

J. S. Bach thought systematically about the year, not surprisingly; “In dir ist Freude” is a gladsome way to herald the new year. This chorale prelude is one of the preludes collected in Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, which marks various points in the liturgical year.

Particularly in Vienna, people welcome the new by clapping to Johann Strauss’s Radetzky March, composed in 1848. It can be arranged for piano solo and duets. The Champagne Polka is another selection by Johann Strauss that fits for New Year’s Eve parties. He wrote the piece as a little joke, imitating the sound of champagne bottles being uncorked. While the piano version does not “pop” as convincingly, it still captures the spirit of the pol,ka

Since 1936 musicians gather to perform at New Year’s concert in Vienna, and Johann Strauss II’s Pizzicato Polka was played that first year. Another piece by Strauss II performed at the first concert was Die Fledermaus Overture of his famous opera. This Strauss’s Blue Danube is another piece performed at the New Year’s concert, often as an encore. All three pieces have been arranged for the piano.

The modern English composer Ernest Tomlinson appreciated light classical music. In 1976 he created Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne, which uses that traditional song as the main theme, but also weaves in snippets of other 150 other pieces. Another orchestral composition, it has also been scored for the piano.

May 2022 be harmonious….

Hurray for Haydn

Tomoko’s first commercial album includes a piece by Haydn. It was a good starting choice for Tomoko.  Haydn laid the groundwork for so many musicians, just as Tomoko’s first CD album led to ten more CDs of her performances. Several points in Haydn’s life also resonate for Tomoko.

To start with, Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, which bordered onto Hungary. Tomoko and Desi wed in Austria, and Desi is Hungarian. 

Haydn’s family was musical. His father was a folk musician, and the family sang together. Tomoko’s father played the violin as a hobby, and Tomoko liked to sing. Tomoko’s brother played organ and piano, and Tomoko followed eagerly.

Haydn started his career as a freelance musician as did Tomoko. He was a music teacher, played the organ at a chapel, and was an accompanist. Likewise, as a high schoolers Tomoko accompanied singers, she taught piano early on, and she played the organ for the local Catholic church while in college. 

When Haydn was building his musical reputation, he gained aristocratic patronage. While studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, one of the board members paid Tomoko’s tuition at one point so she could continue her studies. 

Haydn’s concerts were very popular, as are Tomoko’s. Unlike Haydn though, Tomoko’s concerts include performances with others – as well as solo playing by her friends and students. 

While he lived in Vienna, one of Haydn’s friends was Mozart, and was very impressed with Mozart’s work. Tomoko too was very influenced by Mozart and it’s one of her favorite composers to perform. 

Later, Haydn met and taught a young Beethoven. Similarly, some of Tomoko’s students have become professional musicians and composers in their own right. As for Beethoven himself, Tomoko also considers him one of her favorite composers. 

No wonder that Tomoko is in harmony with Haydn.