The Well-Tempered Ear
Nobody expressed romantic love in music better or more often than Robert Schumann
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today — Feb. 14, 2023 — is Valentine’s Day.
When it comes to composing music that expresses romantic love, The Ear thinks nobody did it more consistently or better than Robert Schumann.
Inspired by his wife Clara, a former student who defied her father to marry Robert, Schumann (seen below with Clara) put romantic love at the heart of so many pieces.
One of his finest is the second movement of the eight-movement piano suite “Kreisleriana,” Op. 16. Perhaps you will agree after listening to it played by Martha Argerich in the YouTube video below.
Check it out.
Does it move you?
If you have a different choice for a composer or a piece suitable for the occasion today, please include it, perhaps with a YouTube link, as a comment.
Happy Valentine’s Day
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: This Saturday night, the Con Vivo woodwind quintet makes its debut. Plus, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble performs a variety of chamber music
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By Jacob Stockinger
Valentine’s Day weekend is turning out to be a popular time for concerts. Here are two more performances on this coming Saturday night:
CON VIVO
Con Vivo!, or “Music With Life,” continues its 18th season of chamber music concerts with the inaugural performance of CVQ, the Con Vivo woodwind quintet (below).
The concert will take place this Saturday night, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave., across from Camp Randall Stadium.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and students.
Convenient free parking is only 2 blocks west at the University Foundation, 1848 University Ave.
The debut concert will include music — no specific titles have been named — by Aaron Copland, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Gyorgy Ligeti and Ludwig van Beethoven. The woodwind quintet comprises flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn.
Says Con Vivo’s artistic director Robert Taylor: “We continue our season with our newest members joining forces to perform pieces for the woodwind quintet genre, providing new sounds for our audiences. We are excited to add these fabulous musicians to our group. This concert will be a great way to shake off those winter blues!”
Con Vivo (below) is a professional chamber music ensemble comprised of Madison area musicians assembled from the ranks of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and various other performing groups familiar to Madison audiences.
For more information, go to: convivomusicwithlife.org
WISCONSIN BAROQUE ENSEMBLE
The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble (below) will perform a concert of baroque chamber music this Saturday night, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street.
Players include: Eric Miller, viola da gamba; Sigrun Paust, recorder; Chelsie Propst, soprano; Charlie Rasmussen, baroque cello and viola da gamba; Daniel Sullivan, harpsichord; and Anton TenWolde, baroque cello and viola da gamba.
Tickets at the door only are: $20, $10 for students.
The program includes:
François Couperin – Pieces for viol, Suite No. 1 (You can hear the Prelude, played by Jordi Savall, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre – Cantata “Jacob and Rachel”
Pietro Castrucci – Sonata No. 3 for recorder and basso continuo
Jean-Baptiste Barriere – Adagio from Sonata No. 2 for cello and basso continuo, Book 1
Marin Marais – Chaconne 83 from Pieces for Viol, Book 5
Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana – “Veni dulcissime Domine” (Come, Sweet Lord)
Girolamo Frescobaldi – Toccata No. 8, Partita on the Aria of Monicha (1637)
Unico van Wassenaer – Sonata No. 2 for recorder and basso continuo
Johann Michael Nicolai –Sonata for Three Viola da Gambas in D major
For more information, go to: www.wisconsinbaroque.org
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Classical music: This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra celebrates Valentine’s Day with violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Amanda Forsyth in the Romantic “Double Concerto” by Brahms
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By Jacob Stockinger
This coming weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of John DeMain, will celebrate Valentine’s Day.
The program “Romantic Encounter” examines the brashness of French composer Hector Berlioz’s “Le Corsaire” Overture, as well as the thundering seriousness of American composer Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3.
The husband-and-wife duo (below) of violinist Pinchas Zukerman, and cellist Amanda Forsyth make their return to Madison to reprise their performance of German composer Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor. (You can hear the passionate slow movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Performances will be held in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, on Friday, Feb. 14, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 16, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $19 to $95. See below for details.
Says maestro DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) about the world-renowned duo: “The married team of Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth return to recreate their exciting interpretation of the Brahms Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra.
“One of Berlioz’s finest overtures, the exhilarating Le Corsaire opens the concert. And Aaron Copland’s majestic, powerful and lyrical Third Symphony — which is one of Copland’s great masterpieces and includes his Fanfare for the Common Man — is heard on the second half of the program.”
Eight minutes long, Berlioz’s swashbuckling “Le Corsaire” was composed in Nice, France, after the final break-up of his marriage. The composer resided in a tower above the sea, which explains the ruined fortification’s depiction in his overture. “Corsaire” translates to “a ship used for piracy,” but this meaning is not related to the work.
The Double Concerto was Brahms’ final work for orchestra. He composed the concerto for his old but estranged friend, violinist Joseph Joachim, as well as for cellist Robert Hausmann. With few recent precedents, the closest comparison to this work would be the Baroque concerto grosso, in which a soloist or small group is contrasted with an entire ensemble.
Copland’s monumental Symphony No. 3 was commissioned by conductor Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The work perfectly reflects the spirit of post-war America and impressively holds the title of “Greatest American Symphony.” In writing this piece, Copland (below) borrowed from himself by incorporating his triumphant Fanfare for the Common Man.
ABOUT PINCHAS ZUKERMAN
With a celebrated career encompassing five decades, Pinchas Zukerman reigns as one of today’s most sought-after and versatile musicians — violin and viola soloist, conductor and chamber musician. He is renowned as a virtuoso, admired for the expressive lyricism of his playing, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of over 100 albums.
Born in Tel Aviv, Zukerman came to the United States where he studied at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian as a recipient of the American-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship. He received the National Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan and is a recipient of the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence in Classical Music.
ABOUT AMANDA FORSYTH
The Canadian and Juno Award-winning Amanda Forsyth is considered one of North America’s most dynamic cellists. She has achieved her international reputation as soloist, chamber musician and was principal cello of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra from 1999 to 2015. Her intense richness of tone, remarkable technique and exceptional musicality combine to enthrall audiences and critics alike.
PROGRAM NOTES, TICKETS AND EVENT DETAILS
The lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. The MSO recommends that concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the Prelude Discussion that takes place one hour before each concert.
Program notes are available at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1920/5.Feb20.html
- Single Tickets are $19-$95 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/romantic-encounter/through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online and phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/buy-tickets/group-discounts/.
- Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/buy-tickets/student-rush/
- Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Major funding for the February concert has been provided by NBC 15; The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club; Marvin J. Levy; Fred and Mary Mohs; Nancy Mohs; and David and Kato Perlman.
Additional funding has been provided by Robert Benjamin and John Fields; Boardman and Clark LLP; Forte; Barbara Melchert and Gale Meyer; and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Classical music: You can celebrate Valentine’s Day this Thursday, Feb. 14, with live concerts of new music or old music in a large hall or a small cafe
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By Jacob Stockinger
If you are looking to celebrate Valentine’s Day on this coming Thursday, Feb. 14, with live classical music, there are at least two excellent choices facing you.
The larger event is a FREE concert at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall by the UW Symphony Orchestra (below top) under the award-winning conductor and professor Chad Hutchinson (below bottom) and two graduate student conductors, Michael Dolan and Ji Hyun Yim.
The program features the “Valse Triste” (Sad Waltz) by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and the Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
But the main focus will be on two works by the living American composer Augusta Read Thomas (below), who lives in Chicago and whose music is widely performed because of its accessible style.
The two works by Thomas are “Of Paradise and Light” and “Prayer and Celebration.”
Thomas, who this week will be doing a residency at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will also hold a free and open master class in Music Hall, at the base of Bascom Hill, from 2 to 5 p.m. that same day. (You can listen to her discuss how she composes in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For more information about the concert, the program and especially about Thomas – including an audio sample — go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra/
A BAROQUE VALENTINE’S DAY
On Valentine’s Day, baroque chamber music enthusiasts can hear the music of the Kim-Kielson Duo as they perform a program on period instruments, titled Canons, Chaconnes and Chocolate!
Longtime friends and performers, baroque violinist Kangwon Lee Kim and recorder player Lisette Kielson (below top, right and left respectively) will be joined by viola da gambist James Waldo (below bottom).
The concert is on this Thursday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m. at Chocolaterian Cafe, 6637 University Ave., in Middleton.
You can name your own ticket price — $20-$35 per person is suggested, payable in either cash or check.
There also will be Special Valentine’s Day Chocolate available for purchase.
The program celebrates the popular baroque forms of the canon and chaconne as composed by Italian, German and French masters.
The duo will perform three chaconnes by Tarquinio Merula, Antonio Bertali and Marin Marais plus canonic duos by Georg Philipp Telemann as well as an arrangement of canons from The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, by Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Classical music: Do Stephen Sondheim musicals qualify as opera?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Do Broadway musicals by Stephen Sondheim (below) qualify as opera?
Granted, putting strict boundaries or criteria on certain musical genres only artificially limit their appeal.
But the question matters since this month will see two local opera companies stage two different works by Sondheim, who got his big break back when he collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on “West Wide Story.”
This Friday night at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., on Feb. 8 and 10 respectively, the Madison Opera will stage its production of the popular “A Little Night Music” – a great offering about many varieties of love so close to Valentine’s Day — in the Capitol Theater at the Overture Center.
For more information about the production (photos of it are by James Gill for Madison Opera) and performances, including ticket sales, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=sondheim
(Below are Charles Eaton and Katherine Pracht.)
Then later in the month, for five performances from Feb. 21 through Feb. 24 in Shannon Hall of the Wisconsin Union Theater, University Opera and University Theatre team up to stage Sondheim’s popular “Into the Woods,” based on classic fairy tales.
Find out more information here: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/into-the-woods/
So, do Stephen Sondheim musicals deserve to be included with operas by Mozart and Verdi, Wagner and Puccini?
The Madison Opera’s general director Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill) — a Harvard graduate and an opera veteran who worked at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera before coming to Madison — agreed to discuss that question as it relates to her company’s production of “A Little Night Music” this weekend.
Smith writes:
A Little Night Music has been performed by opera companies around the world since 1983, so it is a natural part of the repertoire.
Sondheim himself says, “For me, an opera is something that is performed in an opera house in front of an opera audience. The ambience, along with the audience’s expectation, is what flavors the evening.”
A Little Night Music is particularly intriguing because it is a modern operetta; that’s what the New York Times called it when it premiered in 1973.
The costumes and scenery make it look a bit like traditional operettas such as The Merry Widow, but its story and wit are distinctly modern, with a clear-eyed view of the complexities of adult relationships. (Below, from left, are Cassandra Vasta, Benjamin Barlow, Sarah Day, Emily Pulley and Maddie Uphoff.)
Sondheim’s musical sophistication is on brilliant display; the Act I finale (“A Weekend in the Country”) reminds me of the way Mozart or Rossini finales build scene upon scene. (You can hear a concert version of “A Weekend in the Country,” performed at the BBC Proms, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
I find A Little Night Music compelling for its beauty, style and humanity. The book and lyrics are laced with witty lines, but the underlying relationships are very real, as is the way people stumble on the way towards a happy ending.
It manages the trick of being simultaneously moving and entertaining, with glorious music underscoring it all.
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Classical music: Sunday afternoon the Wisconsin Chamber Choir will perform “Sing To Me a Love Song” featuring the “Liebeslieder” Waltzes by Johannes Brahms
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By Jacob Stockinger
With Valentine’s Day coming up, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below) will present an afternoon of love songs including Johannes Brahms’ beloved Liebeslieder Waltzes (Set 1), sung in German. (You can hear the opening waltz in the YouTube vide at the bottom)
The program “Sing Me a Song of Love” is filled with various music styles and sizes of ensembles. The intimate concert is a chance to hear a wide variety of music composed by Brahms, Samuel Barber, Gaetano Donizetti, Leo Delibes, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz and others.
The concert takes place this Sunday afternoon, Feb. 10, 2019, at 3 p.m. in the First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium (below), 900 University Bay Drive.
Advance tickets for the performance are available for $15 ($10 for students) from www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org, via Brown Paper Tickets, or from a member of the choir.
Brahms’ Liebeslieder (Love Songs) explore various aspects of love, both pleasant and painful, set to an accompaniment of a piano duet played by Mark Brampton Smith (below top) and Sherri Hansen (below bottom).
The remainder of the program features solos, duets and small ensembles sung by talented soloists from the choir including tenor Chris Eggers (below top), contralto Natalie Falconer (below second), soprano Julie Hutchinson (below third), mezzo-soprano Rachel Wood (below bottom), and many other performers.
A mix of classical music and musical theater selections balance out the program, including the sumptuous “Flower Duet” from Lakmé, the opera aria Una furtiva lagrima from The Elixir of Love, and entertaining musical theater selections such as The Miller’s Son (A Little Night Music) and All I Care About Is Love (Chicago).
Immediately following the event, audience members are invited to join the singers for a reception with complimentary hors d’oeuvres, wine and chocolates.
Tags: #ALittleNightMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrownPaperTickets, #ChoralMusic, #ChrisEggers, #ContraltoSinger, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FlowerDuet, #FrankLloydWright, #GaetanoDonizetti, #GermanLanguage, #GuestSoloist, #Horsd'oeuvres, #JohannesBrahms, #JulieHutchinson, #LandmarkAuditorium, #LeoDelibes, #LiebesliederWaltzes, #LoveSong, #MarkBramptonSmith, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MusicalStyle, #MusicalTheater, #MusicalTheatre, #NatalieFalconer, #OperaMusic, #PianoAccompaniment, #RachelWood, #SamuelBarber, #SherriHansen, #SopranoSinger, #StephenSchwartz, #StephenSondheim, #TenorSinger, #TheElixirofLove, #ValentinesDay, #WineReception, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #YouTubevideo, A Little Night Music, accompaniment, afternoon, aria, Arts, audience, blog, Brown Paper Tickets, Chamber music, Chicago, chocolate, Choir, choral music, Chris Eggers, Classical music, composer, Concert, contralto, duet, ensemble, event, Facebook, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Flower Duet, forward, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaetano Donizetti, German, hors d'oeuvres, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Julie Hutchinson, Lakme, Landmark Auditorium, Leo Delibes, Liebeslieder Waltzes, like, link, Love, love song, Madison, Mark Brampton Smith, me, member, Mezzo-soprano, Music, Natalie Falconer, opera, Orchestra, painful, performer, Piano, pleasant, post, posting, program, Rachel Wood, reception, Samuel Barber, selection, share, Sherri Hansen, sing, singer, small, solo, soloist, soprano, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim, style, sung, tag, tenor, The Elixir of Love, theater, theatre, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Valentine's Day, vocal music, Waltz, Wine, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Choir, YouTube
Classical music: It’s Valentine’s Day 2018. Let us now praise musical couples and say what music we would play to celebrate romantic love
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ALERT: If you are a fan of new music, you might not want to miss a FREE concert this Thursday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall by the UW-Madison Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.
The program of “Ideas and Landscapes,” assembled and directed by UW’s award-winning composer Laura Schwendinger, includes works by UW students and alumni as well as a world premiere of a work for solo oboe by Schwendinger herself.
For more details about the composers, the performers and the complete program, go to:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/contemporary-chamber-ensemble/
By Jacob Stockinger
It is Valentine’s Day 2018, and music plays a big role in celebrating the holiday — as the portrait of Cupid (below) expresses.
This week, musician and teacher Miles Hoffman was featured by National Public Radio (NPR) on the program “Morning Edition” with a most appropriate story about famous musical couples who were also linked romantically.
The Ear was particularly pleased that a same-sex couple – British composer Benjamin Britten (below left) and British tenor Peter Pears (below right) — was recognized during this time when the homophobic administration of President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence keeps attacking the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people under the guise of protecting and promoting religious tolerance. The leaders use the concept of religious freedom as camouflage for bigotry, zealotry and prejudice.
But more conventional and traditional couples were also recognized, and deservedly so.
Here is a link to the story that also contains some wonderful musical samples:
And here is what The Ear wants to know:
First: Can you think of other musical couples – especially local ones — to single out for recognition on Valentine’s Day? The Karp family as well as pianists-singers Bill Lutes and Martha Fischer plus singers Cheryl Bensman Rowe and Paul Rowe, conductor Kyle Knox and Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Naha Greenholtz, and violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino and cellist Leonardo Altino all come immediately to mind. But surely there are others The Ear has overlooked.
Second: What piece of classical music would you listen to or play in order to express love for your Valentine?
Leave the names and information, with a YouTube link if possible, in the COMMENT section.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Tags: #ClaraSchumann, #DonaldTrump, #FreedomOfReligion, #GreatBritain, #LauraSchwendinger, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MIkePence, #MorningEdition, #NationalPublicRadio, #NewMusic, #PresidentTrump, #ReligiousFreedom, #RobertSchumann, #TheWelltemperedEar, #UnitedKingdom, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ValentinesDay, #VicePresident, alumni, Arts, assume, Benjamin Britten, big, bigotry, Bil Lutes, bisexual, British, Britten, camouflage, celebrate, Cello, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, Christianity, Clara Schumann, Classical music, composer, concertmaster, conductor, contemporary, couple, cupid, direct, freedom, Galina Vishnevskaya, gay, Holiday, idea, information, Jacob Stockinger, Karp, landscape, Laura Schwendinger, lesbian, LGBT, Love, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Martha Fischer, Miles Hoffman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Music, Music education, Musician, Naha Greenholtz, name, New Music, NPR, Oboe, Paul Rowe, performer, Peter Pears, Piano, portrait, Prejudice, premiere, President, program, promote, protect, Religion, Robert Schumann, role, Romance, Romantic, same-sex, sample, sex, singer, Sonata, song, story, Student, Teacher, tenor, The Ear, The WellTemperedEar, tolerance, transgender, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Valentine's Day, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, world, world premiere, YouTube, zealot, zealotry
Classical music: It’s Valentine’s Day. What piece of classical music would you give to your Valentine?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It’s Valentine’s Day.
If you want to celebrate, there is always chocolate or roses or champagne or a special dinner.
But there is music too.
Many composers come to mind: Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Antonin Dvorak, Johannes Brahms, Peter Tchaikovsky, Gabriel Faure, Giacomo Puccini, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev, and Sergei Rachmaninoff to name a few.
But The Ear thinks one of the most beautiful pieces is a short one, a miniature if you will.
It is the Romance in F-sharp Major, Op. 28, No. 2, by the Romantic German composer Robert Schumann (below with his wife Clara Wieck Schumann). Nobody wrote music about love, music filled with love and yearning, better than Schumann.
Not only does the piece sound intimate.
It IS intimate — with the two thumbs playing the melody a third apart much of the time. It is as if the two thumbs, left and right, are the two lovers.
Little wonder that the composer asked his virtuoso pianist-composer wife Clara to play it for him as he lay dying.
And to top it off, it is not all that difficult to play, so you could learn it and play it for your Valentine.
Here it is, performed in a YouTube video by the late Van Cliburn:
But what about you?
As radio stations like to say ”The Request Line is open!
What piece of classical music – big or small, old or new, hard or easy — would you play or dedicate to your Valentine?
Duets of all kinds seem especially appropriate. But so do songs and symphonies, operas and oratorios, and all kinds of chamber music.
So tell us about your musical gift for Valentine’s Day.
Leave a message in the COMMENT section, with a short explanation and dedicatory comment and perhaps with a YouTube link if possible — the forward it to your Valentine.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Brahms, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, Clara Schumann, Clara Wieck Schumann, Debussy, duet, duets, duo, Dvorak, Faure, Giacomo Puccini, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Liszt, Mozart, Music, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, Piano, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Robert Schumann, Romance, Romantic, Schubert, Sergei Prokofiev, Sonata, song, symphony, Tchaikovsky, thumb, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Valentine, Valentine's Day, Van Cliburn, Viola, Violin, Vivaldi, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: It’s Valentine’s Day 2016. What do you think is the most romantic piece of music ever written? Plus, this afternoon is the last performance of the Valentine program by the Madison Symphony Orchestra
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ALERT: This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall is your last chance to hear the Valentine’s Day program of works by Peter Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel and Ludwig van Beethoven performed by the Madison Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor Daniel Hegge and guest soloist violinist Alina Ibragimova. The opening night performance received fine reviews.
Here is a link to the review by Jessica Courtier for The Capital Times:
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Valentine’s Day.
That makes it a good occasion to talk about romantic music – not necessarily Romantic music (with a capital R) since there is plenty of Baroque, Classical era and modern music that fits the bill.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Antonin Dvorak, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Gabriel Faure, Maurice Ravel, Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev – all of them, and many other composers, wrote some deeply moving romantic music.
And it comes in so many different forms: symphonies and concerto; sonatas and suites; orchestral music; choral music and songs; solo works for piano; chamber music for strings, winds and brass.
The Ear loves listening to and also playing romantic music. He thinks probably the most consistently romantic composer was the German composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856, below with his wife). So many of his greatest pieces — in so many different genres — were inspired by his steadfast and often thwarted, but finally victorious, love of his wife Clara Wieck Schumann.
An outstanding concert pianist, the much younger Clara outlived the mentally troubled Robert, and edited the publication of his works and popularized them through performing them.
But if you asked The Ear to pick the single most romantic piece of music he knows, it would have to be the opening arias from the opera “La Bohème” by Giacomo Puccini.
Every time he hears Rodolfo and Mimi sing to each other and fall in love at first sight, the little hairs on his neck stand up and often his eyes tear up.
You can hear that sung in the YouTube video at the bottom. It features the late superstar tenor Luciano Pavarotti. He could not read music, but he sure could sing. And his voice has a special quality that adds to the romance and poignancy.
What do you think is the most romantic piece of music? What romantic music would you play for someone special or have played for yourself on Valentine’s Day?
Leave your choice – preferably with some personal background or commentary or even a dedication to your Valentine plus, if possible, a link to a YouTube performance – in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Alina Ibragimova, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Brahms, brass, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, choral music, Classical era, Classical music, concerto, Dvorak, Early music, Faure, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Giuseppe Verdi, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, La bohème, Luciano Pavarotti, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, modern music, Mozart, Music, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Prokofiev, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Romantic, solo, Sonata, song, Suite, symphony, Tchaikovsky, The Capital Times, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Valentine's Day, Verdi, Viola, Violin, vocal music, winds, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Edgewood College features a musical collaboration by faculty members to mark Valentine’s Day this Sunday afternoon. Plus a FREE guitar recital of Bach, Scarlatti and Villa-Lobos is at noon on Friday.
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, to take place from 12:15 to 1 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison Meeting House, 900 University Bay Drive, features classical guitarist Naeim Rahmani (below) who will perform music by Domenico Scarlatti, Johann Sebastian Bach, Heitor Villa-Lobos and more.
By Jacob Stockinger
You can celebrate Valentine’s Day this coming Sunday afternoon with “five musical conversations,” a collaborative faculty recital presented by six faculty members from the Music Department at Edgewood College.
The concert is at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive.
Performers include mezzo-soprano Kathleen Otterson, guitarist Nathan Wysock, violinist Laura Burns, percussionist Todd Hammes, and pianists Susan Gaeddert and Jennifer Hedstrom.
Below in the Edgewood College photo are (from left): music department faculty and staff Jennifer Hedstrom (piano), Todd Hammes (percussion), Laura Burns (violin), Nathan Wysock (guitar), Susan Gaeddert, (piano) and Kathleen Otterson (mezzo-soprano).
The six performers will present five musical sets featuring a variety of styles and chamber combinations.
Included on the program are a set of lute songs by John Dowland, performed by Otterson and Wysock; three works by Santiago de Murcia, performed by Wysock and Hammes, a set of modern works by Chick Corea and Todd Hammes, performed by Hammes on vibraphone with Jennifer Hedstrom on piano; Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite (heard at the bottom in a popular YouTube video that features Argentinean Martha Argerich and Chinese Lang Lang in a subtle and colorful performance) for piano, four hands, performed by Hedstrom and Susan Gaeddert; a set of Lieder or art songs by Louis Spohr, sung by Kathleen Otterson with Susan Gaeddert on piano and Laura Burns on violin.
Tickets are available at the door.
Admission is $7, or free with Edgewood College ID.
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